Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1858-07-28
The Compensation Bill again.

S'SSStouot compensation Ohh. MI. vi
dings' reiterated assertion that we ha,
preferred charges against him, forces
10 say lin al kindness) a plain word
two upon u respective relations 10 Ii
public. We hold it TO be cur p~rivilee
and bounded duty 10 c%riticise candid
but fearlesdy all public measures passe
BY Congress; and if our opinion of tn
policy or impolicy of a measure differ
from that of a Congressman, we canno
admit that VIC are TO withhold cur iudg
meni on that account, or that any repre-
sentative, however long his term of officl
may have been, has acquired any pre-
scriptive right TO claim infallibility or /,
dictate the opinions ether of the people
or the press.
When Mr.. Gi1dings simply defends the
Bill, he meets US fairly; but when he per-
sisis in constituting our remarks into a
personal attack, Notwithstanding our as
surances TO the contrary, he must pardon
US for saying that we think he errs as 10
the mode of satisfying US or the public.
The Substance" Of what we said was not
that Mr.. Giddings voted for The compen-
sation bill. We said that a compensation
bill had been passed which was exlrava-
giant, and entirely opposed TO the econo-
my professed by the Republican party as
a party of reform. We simply iniroduc
ed by approving remarks, an editorial
from the ". z Tribune on the subject.
''The very head and front OF our o~-ending
Hath this extent, no more"
We attacked the Bill, not Mr.. Gid
dings, and if he has called particular al
,ention to the fact that he voted for if, and
sill defends it, he ought 10 remember that
it was his choice to DO SO, no, ours. Few
men pay such close attention to the votes
given in Congress that they could have |
told, without Mr.. Giddings' reminder,
that he was one of The one hundred who
voted for this Bill, against the nine,y-nine
who voted nav; and if he forces comment
upon the fact that his vote would have
defeated the bill if he had voted as did
nearly all of the Republican members
from this State, he can blame no one but
himself.
Mr.. Giddings does not over estimate
our candor in supposing that We will ad
nat our error when he demonstrates the
proPriety and economy of the new COM
pensation. Neither his former letter nor
his present one seems to lis 10 afford the
required proof, and we will show their
insuficieney. :
The objections we raised to the Bill :
were ihree;-the salary of three thousand :,
dollars for a session, the gift of books, .
and the mileage. On the book question
Mr.. G. Processes to be satisfied with what
has already been sail, and il he is, We
certainly are. We shall confne our at ,
.,ention, therefore, TO the other points Of
difference, AMI examine the argument as :
far as it has gone. =
We were told in Mr.. G.'s first letter
that eight dollars per day was an INSULT :
cieni salary. To this we replied that in
that very letter Mr.. Giddings claimed :
that it was SO profitable a compensation
That it made it the interest Of the members :
to Prolong the session as much as possible.
In his second letter he SAYS no more as
10 the insuficiency Of The old pay, and :,
regard him as abandoning that argu-
III Ia
HE next argument was that the bill
nad a moral tendency; the Members Of
Congress were made more virtuous and
temperate by their larger salary. We
that The voiing up,n the Lee :,
bill, and its final passage in the
OF the odious English Bill, proved
hat bribery furnished as much as ever. :,
whilst the closing of n ~siauran in the
by order of the Vice President .'
bowed that drunkenness and brawlinp :,
we're noticeable enough. To this the re. -
'ly is that the Lecomptnn Bill was not
'assed, and that the Vice President did II
'ot close "onr" (the lIouse's) restaurant.
ir. Giddings must not be offended if we ~
ay his reply might easily have been I'd
'ere candid and more complete. Wheih q
e the English Bill wa technically the I'll
,ecomPion Bill is of little consequence, Is
the. assertion was that in The pas. Pc
age Of that act corruption reached if, al
cme, and men who began the session "
nth long and loud speeches in favor of oi
ne positions nf the Crittenden amend. as
rent, ended il with selling themselves vi
hamefaily TO the administration, and vo- u
nc for this bastard Lecompion act, of " :.
hitch Senator Wade we'll said: ..
of
Il Tonld infinitely prefer, for The hon. II.
OF the nation, both North and South. IL,
lat YOU had the force in both branches m
} put your Lecomp:on Constitution tel
'rongh here, rather than have been COM ST
elled to resort to this indircction. in 40
10 accomplish the same result: be. VI,
ause IFS effects in demoralizing the ma J."
on. rerversn and injurious ss | think be
was, would have been Infinitely less th,
by this monster of a proposition. an
If ever Mr.. Giddings saw Congress- tn,
zen drought like sheep in the market" mi
. use his own language he saw it then, lh'
vindication of history in regard fc
the name of the Lecompton measure, tir
PES not, to Il poor comprehension, sufi- do
emily prove that the last congress was ag
II as corrupt with a three thousand dol de
r salary, as IFS predecessors had been c.
seI, fifteen hundred. ms