The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-04-08

three dollars per day. This session will
include one hundred and eight days
The pay for this would be three hundred
and twenty four dollars. In 1855 the A.
merican or Know Nothing Legislature
chosen, in 1854, raised the pay to the
salary Of FIVE hundred dollarslper session,
and If an extra session was convened by
the Executive, three dollars day was
PAID as the compensation for its duration;
with this the Democrats and old line
Wings found fault, and so did many of
the americans. The Legislature of 1856
which was Democratic, met and did not
change the act of the previous session.
1n 1857 another Democratic Legisla-
ture met. and received the regular salary
of five hundred dollars, and took besides
two hundred dollars more. AMONG the
people this act was very much censured.
How do We stand on this question: When
elected every nan knew what the salary
was and il he did not intend to take that
as the reward of bis services he should
not have come here. 1t is said that We
do not make much. This | grant. Bue
did We come here merely to make money!
Have We no regard for the interests Of the
Commonwealth! Cannot we devote few
days to her service without expecting to-
become rich by it? The aggregate ftbis
Legislative punder is $26, ,00O-no in
considerable sun
If We have right, in di.charging our
duty faithfully to our constituents, to take
two hundred dollars piece out of the
the treasury in this claDdestiDe way, why
may We not vote ourselves one thousand
dollars or more if there was enough there
to crafty our avarieioaS propen>ities'-
Ii by an amendment of the kind added
in com mttee of the whole, We had laid
our greedy hands on one thousand or
twelve hundred dollars each, those who
sent US here would have been appalled, at
the enormity Of the deed and would have
spared DO terms Of denuncia,iou in ap-
plying suitable epitbets to our plundering
act. Hence it is obvious that the differ
ence is only in degree-the principle is
the same. Gentlemen say their eonsttu-
ents applaud and commend such acts
The gentleman from Scbuylkll, (Mr.
Hipple,) believes his constituents would
do 1t; get he seems somewhat sore in ref
erencc to my conrse on this question:
He seems to feel unpleasant, notwitEstan-
ding the vauDtcd laudation Of bis eon6d-
ing constituents. I inform him that /
haze performed my duty according to my
conscientious convictions, and il his cor
science has led hin to make money, he
can pursue his own course.
We are daily finding fault with the
vultures here who act as borcrs, and con-
s,tute the third House. This body is
believed to be more numerous than the
Senate. Some Of them ar Intelligent
all are shrewed-and it is fair to presume
that they are not Influenced b. pure mo-
tives. Ii we take money out Of the treas
ury by law which we pass to shield our
selves from imputation of it as the steal
ings Of Office, are We better than borers-
are We not vultures. who have been cho-
sen 70 guard the treasury, and who, from
haging itching palms, are unfaithfnl SEN
theis! We are sworn to support the
Constitution, and to perform our duty
with 6delity. When We came here wa
had no right 10 this Law. We cannot
take it out of the treasury without an act
being passed by ourselves to authorize it.
10 this We only differ from other plum
derers by having the power to legalize
our dishonesty.
More than this, We are lcgislating, by
passing acts, and that very properly, to
punish Saving Fund and Bank officers for
en'bczziement-for putting their bands to
the money entrusted 10 their charge,
whilst We are doing the same. No Sa-
wing Fund or Bank officers Who takes the
money committed to bis care, and appro-
PIRATES it to bis own use, occupies, in
morals, different situation from what
We do by using the State funds 10 the
same manner. II this act is passed, | can
never receive one cent of such H. gotten
gains. Like the wedge of gold that A
chan took, in my estimation it Is Infamous
No funds Of this sort shall ever enter nv
possession. | will leave it here it ought
o be, for the benefit Of the State in the
he Sinking Fund.