The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-02-03
CONGRESSIONAL.
SPEECH OF HON. GEO. w. JONES,


| fr1r OF TKssEssEE,
On the contingent expenses of Congress- delivered in the
House Of Representatives January 27, 1857.
The House proceeded to consider bill to regulate the
disbursement OF the contingent expenses Of Congress- re-
ported from the Committee OF Ways and Means with an
amendmentj the pending question being on motion 10
recommt said bill to the Committee of Ways and Means
The bill was read, as follows;
Be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
Of the United States Of America in Congress assembled That
all moneys appropriated for the contingent OF the
sna Of sn the aoas
y upon accounts which shall have been examined and sp
ans %
mtee and not otherwise and such accounts when 50 ap
| counting officers of the treasury.
following amendment: arar- Is ..
Add at the end of the bill the following;
And shall be the duty Of the accounting officers Of the
Senate Of the Clerk Representatives
spectively, at the end OF each and every session.
Mr.. JONES, of Tennessee Mr.. Speaker the bill which
has Just been read is short and appears very plain and
vision in the BILL and that is that the accounts passed upon
and directed to be paid out of the contingent fund OF the
House by your Committee Accounts shall be conclusive
upon the accounting officers of the treasury with whom
the clerk required to settle his accounts Sir is there
any necessity for such act? II is right think that
before legislae and pass law there should be some
necessity for that law What is the necessity in this
Have the accounting officers of the treasury rejected
refused to account ordered by your Committee
Accounts to be paid by your clerk If sir, such an
in the hands of the clerk of this House has ever
been rejected by the accounting officers of the treasury
have yet to learn that fact Then if there has been no
in which he has refused to give credtto the vouchers
why pass this bill2 ..M 9
The necessity for this does not arise from refusal to
pass vouchers certified by your Commtee on Accounts
No. sir is higher than and goes behind that and it is
question raised between the accounting officers and this
House. which this law cannot reach until the people shall
revise the organic law What is it, sir2 The constitution
limited Droyides q
money shall be drawn from the treasury but in
appropriations made by law. The founders of gov
| ernment wise and honest men. They understood
what they bated for during the sevenyears revolution
out of which they had recently emerged when engaged in
framing constitution They wisely divided hepowers
of the government into three branchesthe executive,
legislative, and judicia-assignng to each of those
branches their appropriate functions in the discharge
Of their duties Here in the Congress Of the United
States alone can money be appropriated out OF the
treasury The executive officers have the custody of
that treasury and they not only to support
of Congress are but they also execute
the laws Sir, pass law in Congress- but the
officers to judge whether we have appropriated
the money or not and the question here and which
has given rise to the bill under consideration and to its
supposed necessity not the rejection of vouchers but
whether Congress has made an appropriation for the bene
fit of certain persons for which appropriation your clerk
made requson upon the treasury of the United States
The accounting officer Of the treasury says such appro
priaton was made as was asked for by the requson;
and there appropriation for that purpose he
therefore said C" cannot fill your requision in the alb
sence of law and in violation of that provision of the
stption which provides that no money shall be drawn
from the treasury but in consequence Of appropriations
| made by law .#s III
Now sir in order to understand this case it will be best
perhaps to go back few years. and what has been
the legislation and the practice upon this subject of extra
compensation to employees of the legislative branch of the
government Let US go back to the memorable contest of
S40 when the country was arrayed into two partieshe
democratic and the whig partesand when the whig par
ty out of that contest victorious What the at
tack then made upon the democratic party which had ad
What the main point of attack? 1t was for exrava
gance and proAgacy in the Of the public moneys by
the dominant party during the preceding twelve years The
people decided that issue against the democratic party and
in favor of their adversaries, the whig party.
What did the whg party do when they into this
House the Congress after that victory? One of the
first things they did was to appoint special committee
for the purpose Of investigating and reporting to the House
Representatives how many persons were employed about
the hall Of the House OF Representatives under its author
iy, what their compensation was and if there any
If how many there were whose services could be
dispensed with and the aggregate expenditure for such
services, At the head of that committee dstn-
guished gentleman from the State of Virginia. Mr. Sum-
mers The report of that committee recommended that
there should be one clerk at salary of $4,000 one as
sstanJ at 300; eight other assistants at ST. ,500
sergeantatams at $780, doorkeeper at ST. 5oo
postmaster at $780, draughsman at 81 ,50O three
messengers in the clerks office one aborer in the clerks
office messengers for the House, two laborers for the
House. four messengers for the post eight pages for
the House; Commissioner of Public Buildings five
i wachmen; attendant the furnaces gardener
and twelve gardeners laboers These the officers Of
the House with their salaries annexed Them sir having
adopted this report aud fixed the salaries rule of this
IIouse-the lbOth-was adopted ...-
"That no extra compensation shall be allowed any off,
messenger page abore other person the
the House, engaged in or about the public grounds
n or buildngs." ...-
That the l5Oh rule of the House. adopted on this re-
port the 9th Of March, ls42 And sir they do stop
here At the Congress law was passed that no Off
any branch of the public service or any other per-
whose salary pay or emoluments is or are fixed by
law regulation shall receive any additional pay extra
allowance compensation in any form whatever for the
disbursement of public money for any other service
duty whatsoever unless the shall be by
and the appropriation therefor explicitly forth that it is
That Congress- believe adhered TO and observed the prov
sions of this rule and this law but when the Congress
here they got clear of the rule by suspendng it, and
in disregard of that law which, understand still stands
unrepaled the statute book re-
solution adopted giving to the officers and assistants
whose salaries were year and upwards twenty per
cent on their salaries being addition of $500 to sala
900; to messengers whose compensation or two
and half dollars day extra compensation of $3.50
and to pages, $500 extra. .aa.
Resolutions for extra compensation passed each
eeedng session of Congress until 1854. will stop
here to inquire at length how these resolutions passed
Did they here in the ordinary of business
when could have opportunity of discussing then
were introduced towards the close of your session. when
almost everything of importance is crowded into the last
few days. There is rule of the House which provides
that there shall be restaurant places for the sale of
liquor about this part of the building, and yet in violation
of that rule there tables kept here spread sumptuousy
with meat and drink in committee rooms, furnished and
paid for by these clerks officers messengers pages and
other of The VIII