Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1858-06-23
The next Congress.

county will be entitled 10 seven delegate!
The next Congress.
As the time is near at hand when III
people of this Congressional District wi
elect member TO represent them in ih
next congress, il is a duty which The
owe TO themselves and 10 the public, tina
the position of that member in regard
the question Of retrenchment in the emol
uments of Members of. Congress b
known. The extravaganza of the Gen
eral Government under the administra
ton OF Mr.. Buchanan has been without
parallel in the history of the couutry
and upon the next Congress will devolyt
the duty 10 set bounds to this waste o
the public money. But r~etreDchment
like charity, should begin at home, and
so long as members of Congress them
selves, receive for a simple term Of tive
sessions Of some four or five months each
lin all, less than one years time,) the
sum of sir thousand dollars, 4 valuable
library of books, and extra mileage ad.
iD1fnitum, it is useless TO preach re-
I enchment and reform in other branches
of Government.
When the bill which fixed the present
rates of Compensation 10 members, was
passed. il did not meet the appreciation OF
ofihe Reserve. We venture 10 say that
there are not to-day, in this District, two
hundred voters who would favor it. The
attention of citizens should be given 20
il, and We heartily commend the follow
ing article from the New York Times, 10
their consideration.
The XXXVth Congress will almost
certainly close its first session on Monday
next, and the canvass for the succession
,e the seats now filled By its Members
may be said practically TO begin imme-
.diately thereafter. A few nominations,
indeed, have already been made, and in
Missouri, Arkansas, and perhaps one or
two other States, the Members will be
chosen on the first Monday in AUGUST;
while Vermont and Maine follow in Sep
TENDER; but the October Elections, espe-
cially those held on the second Tuesday
by Pennsylvania, Ohio. Indiana, DC,
followed BY New-York, Massachusetts,
Illinois, &C., in November, will pretty
SURELY determine the character of the new
House. We desire to address 10 the PEG.
pie a few words of caution with refer
ence to these Elections, and these words
shall relate to the trite and abused but
still important subject of Retrenchment
and Reform.
1t would be very easy to launch into a
party diairibe on this subject-to quote
the Cincinnati Platform and Buchanan's
Inaugural in laudation of Public Econo-
my, and then hold up in contrast there
with the inordinate expenditures and con
sequent financial ~expendients of the pres
ent administration; bat 10 what end?
Every word of Gen. Wilson's and Mr..
;Sherman's late Speeches on these top
les is true; but what of it? 1t isl
not enough that our present rulers
are ~extravaga1t and reckless; if the Peo-
pie are 10 be moved by an exhibition
o'these facts, they must have some ASST
rance that their efforts are 10 result no;
merely in supplaniiog the bad, but in re
placing it by the better. We demand,
then, of those candidates for Congress
Republican Or other-who may be dispos-
ed to make the extravaganza of our Fed
eral Expenditures a topic of Sirtuous dec
lamation in the approaching canvass, that
they be prepared toindicate, not vaguely,
not loosely, not by e Of figures of
rhetoric, but by those of figures of
a itbmetic-whatthe y mean by Retr+ nch
ment. and how they propose to effect that
end. And, as an Indictment to others, We
will here briefly set forth our own views
on the subject:
1. Congress We believe the indis
pensable base of a true Financial Reform
Us a reduction of the e~moluments of Con-
gress. No other legislative body in the
world, unIessitbe Louis Napoleon dun
mics. is SO well paid as our Congress now
is. Generally, Legislation is regarded as
a trust TO be rev 4rded only by the honor
it bestoWs and The opportunities it affords.
w regard this as a principle TO be re-
.spected in the spirit, not in the letter.
To pay Members $4,000, with generous
mileage, for less han a years service in
either House during a Congress, is be-
yond all reason. We do not care to 90
back to a daily stipend; but in our judy
ment 81. 600 for a term-S9. 500 for the
and 81 500 for the shorter SEES
twenty instead of forty cents
per mile Calculated by the topographer
of the Post Office Department, accord
ing to the most direct mail route 1.-THE
pay subject to a deduction of SO for
each and every call ofthe Yeas and Nays
to which the Members fails to respond.
would b. generous and just, and we think
this Congress should not finally adjourn
effecting this reform. If it does,
The people should have another ready to
it, which will not let a month
pass over its head without reducing its
own compensation.
g.