Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-02-11

WASHINGTON, Feb. b, 1891.
The bill to which alluded in recent let
ter, which was to prevent the accounting Of
fcers of the government from revising and
auditing the accounts of the House of Repre-
sentatives ard Senate, has passed the House
by very large majority. Men of all parties
voted against it, and some of those who have
been esteemed as the peculiar guardians of
the Treasury sustained the bin. The circum-
stances which led to the introduction of this
bill arose ont of the refusal Of the Secretary
of the Treasury to pay to the employees of
the House Of Representatives the extra COM
peDsation which was voted to them, (which
has become one Of the usual abuses of Con-
gress,) payable out Of the contingent fund
To force the executive officers to pay this sp-
preparation out of the contingent fund, this
blu has been passed. This system of extra
compensation is an outrage and cannot be too
strongly condemned and denounced, and the
passage of bill to override all ussges, to break
down one of the barriers which have been
thrown around the disbursement of money, is,
to call it by no harder name, a usurpation,
dangerous usurpation, which is fraught with
evils and corruption. If this bill become
law, the House and Senate can vote what they
please and for any purpose, any amount of
money out oftheir respective contingent funds.
They will first Jointly or concurrenuy vote
million, perhaps a dozen millions, into their
respective contingent funds, from which a
majority can vote it. These "extras" have
usually been voted out on the eve Of the ad-
journmeDt of Congress, VIXEN members (many
of them) are excited by the gratuitous drink
which these very employees have set out in
some committee room, fer the purpose of max
ing the members drunk, to obtain the extras.
The cost of these entertainments are assessed
pro rata upon the employees, thus oontribu-
ton or assessment of $40 yields an ''e1tra" of
$500, which is the amount voted to a mes
senger, whose salary is $500 Bat not only
are the regular employees entitled to it, but
all who may have been employed even sec-
ond in the service of the House during the
session; for instance, man was employed to
fold some documents, his salary or pay for the
services amounted (scOording to the record to
SO cents, and he received $3.50 ''extra." Such
being the case, every loafer and huinbug about
Washington strives to get days work in the
folding room, as that is the asylum for the
purpose of draining the ''extra." But nearly
all the regular and temporary employees of
the House Of Representatives are entitled to
it by usage-even the cleaners of the streets,
gardeners, and others whose connection with
Congress is still more remote. l have thus
gone into the particulars to justify my as
sault upon the bill in my last letter, and if
any of your readers need fuller exposition of
the outrageous character of this bill and its
objects, refer them to the speeches of Hon.
George W. Jones and Hon. ThOs. S. Bocock.
| have no partially for either of these mem
beers Of Congress; but win do the frat the
justice 10 say that his speech on this subject is
unanswerable.
The House, by passing this bill, has endorsed
these extra compensations, and attempted to
legalize that which was plainly violation of
the constitution. / cannot refrain from de-
nouncing it as an outrage; and must express
my surprise that men, who are above suspi
cion, whose integrity no one would doubt,
should have supported such measure.
The people will have to make these abuses
their cause. Committees of investigation
have no terrors. The people must bring to
bear their potential voice and their vote.
Washington City is fast becoming city of
corruption, and every arm Of the government
is being paralyzed by corruption. This imbe-
cile administration has augmented these cor.
ruptions ten-fold.