The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1858-09-29
Rinuhnm,s Extra Mileage.

The lates, plan that Bingham and lis friends
take to get arounl his taking SIIO,iO more
mile-ge than he was legally entitled to, IS, that
he took what the committee on mileage gave
him, without knowing whether il was tbs prop
er amount or not OF all the excuses we have
ever heard tell of for doing wrong act, that is
the most fiimsy and ridiculous. Il is as much
as to say that John A. Bingham does not know
the amount Of milCa % he ,e CIV s,or tbs amount
he rs entitled to. According to their way of
apOlogizing for him, he must be a very ignorant
man, and is not capable of transacting hiS own
business, But we shall give Bingham more
credit for his business capacity than hiS apollo
loss,s do, before We get thr Il "a with this arti'
cls.
This mileage hush ess is made up in this man
uer; L. eac'i house Of Congress a committee
OF mileage Is appointed. This committee asks
each mem'er o Congress tn, distance it is from
hS place Of residence TO Washington City
Mhca this cammittoe asked Bingham the dis
tance rom Cadi5 to Was',iHg.o on City, he told
/ twice for each session or four times for each
] term; which would make 1000 miles that
Bingham said he was entitled to receive mileage
! for his first term as a member Of Congress-
/ How be made the distance from Cadz to Wash
ington City 500 miles is more than we can
imagine, that is, ifhe was dcsrous ofgiving the
true distance. The distance by the post Office
route is 43l miles from Cadiz to Washington
City, or 60 miles less than Bingham said il
was. And to go by the direct route from this
place there is a still less distance. But does any
person suppose that John A. Bingham was that
ignorant that he did not know the distance be.
twedn the two places? II he was that ignor-
ant he certainly is not fit for member Of Con-
gress But he was not that ignorant, for he
knew the exact distauce as well as any mar
does that has ever travelled over the route
What then was his object in mixing it appear
to be greater distance than what itreally was
That question can be answered very easily ant
very readily. Each member is allowed So fol
every 20 miles that he travels in going and re
turning from Washington City. If he had Civ
en- the distance ofthe post office as the direc
route, his mileage would amount to the SNUG
sum Of S689, SO; but by telling the committee OF
mileage that it was 500 miles to Washington
! City, or that he travelled 1000 miles during hi
first term, he would receive $500, 90, SEHO,-
40 more than'be is entitled to BY the direct rout
Is it not plainenough to the understanding o
any man why Bingham charged for 276 mile!
that he never travelled? We think that ever,
person knows the reason 1t was adding more
money to his pay as a member of Congress.
The excuses, Mr. Bingham that you and youl
friends make for your receiving extra mileag
will not do. You are not the ignorant incapa
ble man they try to make you out. You ar,
\ good enough mathematician to know that yol
would receive more money for 1000 miles than
you would for l724 miles. That much yol
learned before you thought about being a Con
gresham. And for your own credit, there ar
two things We would advise you to do An'
they are--First: Pay back to the Government
the $l1O,AO that you got that you were no
entitled to; and secondly, stop your friends iron
trying to make you an ignorant man. BY doint
these two things you will raise yourself in til
estimation Of your constituents at least 800 pc
, cent You may stop your friends from try in
? TO make you out an ignorant and incapable ina
' but whether you will over refund that sac,
40 remains to be seen.