The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-09-03
RATES OF
JOB WORK,
From the New York Tribune. "a
The Increased Fay of Congress
men.

tFrom the New York Tribune.
The Increased Fay of Congress
men.
The Members of the present Con
gress were elected under a law of fort,
years standing whereby the compensa
tion for their services was fixed at eigh
dollars per day, with forty cents TO
each mile necessarily travelled in goin,
to or returning from the Seat of Govern
ment. If any one did not consider this
q satisfaction recompeUse for the devotion
of his time and talents to the publ,
exigeBcies, he was entirely at liberty tt
withhold them. No man was constrain
ed to serve-hardly one placed in pemi
nation without ito put the case mildly
his previous assent. Aud bad each OF.
been ~iterrogated, while IA candidate, af
ter this fashion. will you serve in
Congress for the compensation by Law
established ? or shall you vote your
self more when snugly in your seat?"-
we are confident that f~ve-sixths of them
would have spurned the idea of raising
their own wages as an impeachment of
their personal integrity and honor.
The Federal Constitution Art. I.
Sac. 81 Frescribes TINT,
" The Senators and Representatives.
shall receive q compensation for their
services to be ascertained BY law. > :
No Senator or Representative shall, du-
ring the term for which he was elected,
: be appointed to any civil office, under
the authority of the U. s., which shall
have been created, or the emoluments
whereof shall have been Increased, du-
ring such term" e..
Now we admit that the terms of these
provisions do not, but we insist that the
spirit does, forbid the Members of a
Congress taking to themselves twice as
much pay as the avs existing at the
time CT their election would have given
them. What force is there in the phrase
"Sscertained by law" if, after their
term is nearly out, and they have re-
ceived and spent their pay or two-thirds
of it at the rate of eight dollars per day,
they may rnsh through a new act doub-
ling or trebliDg their compensation, and
on the strength of this, 20 back aud ram
their arms into the Treasury up to the
shoulder over again ? WHAT is the pur-
pose of the prohibition of the appoint
ment of Members to offices the emoiu-
nlents whereof shall have been Increased
during their term of service, but to pre-
ven their legislatiug money iuto their
own pockets? And have they rot just
doue this by their new Compensation
Act ?
It was just forty years ago that the
Congress of that dag undertook 10 iu-
crease the pay of Members. They put
it up barely to 81 500 u yea-, which is
about what they o receive, on the
average, at the old charge of SIS per day
We believe they did not make the rise
retrospective, as the new act docs. Yet
this $500 a year demolished neprly all
who were concerned in it. Henry Clay,
who had not had a competitor at the
polls for some time previous, barely
saved himself from defeat by superhu-
man exertions, pnrivaled ability on the
stump, by appealing to his great and
admitted public services, aud by virtu.
ally confessing that lie had done wrong
and promising to do better. Members
of moderate abilities and ordinary SER
vices went down before the surge of pub
lie indignation like dry grass before a
pr~airie-fre. The new Congress hasten
ed to repeal the Compensation Act and
60 back to the So per day, which did
lot look so Insignificant to their coLstitu-
ents at their lonely fre-s;des as to the
dispensers of Millions at Washington.
We do not object to Il change FROM So
much per day to an annual stipend. It
will tend to shorten Sessions and xpe
dite business, and SO to the saying of
public money. Nor will we here insist
that SO per day is quite enough, though
that is our very decided opinion. Let
those who coatrovert it make out a table
of the pay of legislators throughout tae
world, and they will fad that our BIem-
bers of Congress nav hitherto been
better paid than almost any other body
of lawmakers on earth. Make the
salary 5000 a year, and there will still
be Members who will lose money by sorv-
ing. But consider that the lawyers run
home, ever to Ohio aud Massachusetts,,
to look after their cases in Court-time-
that the ablest of them haze lucrative
practice in the Supreme Court-that
merchants, bankers, manufactures, rail
road men, do not abandon the oversight
of their business while in Congress, and
you will have obtained new light Oh the
subject. The fact that the oslg session |
not limited by law is usually protracted,
through seven or eight months proves
that it is not a sacr: ice to a majority of
the Members TO remain at Wa%shington
at So per day. Ii it7wcre, they would
shut off the flow Of gas aud bring the
Session to IN earlier conclusion.
But the retrospective feature of the
new act is most indefcnsible. Every
Member now in Congress virtually con-
tracted to serve through the next term
for $3.50. Instead of that, a majority |
have now voted to take to themselves
$4,000 for that service. This is not ex-
actly stealing; but it is a very sharp
kind of conveying. See if it does not
bowl down a good many of those en-
gagged in it'll We earnestly advise all
parties not to put up Members who voted
for this grab III any of the close districts.
It will not be safe.
We object to the new act that it COR
,rects none of the old abuses, not even
where it pretends to do so. 1t is a farce
to provide that an absent Members paw
shall be deducted except when his alb
,sence is occasioned by his own sickness,
orsthat of some member Of the Gunilyl
A coach and six may be driven through
that Ioop-hole. A Member absent with
good excuse should receive 40 pay for
the term of such absence; if absent
without excuse, he should forfeit double
or treble his pay. Why should Gen.
Bayly, who left Washington last De-