Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-04-01

interludes OF business and for the want o
regula. employment.
The State officers on an average are paid
about S 500 per annum this bill proposes
TO make the average of these officers about
I 5 $500 per annum The present compen
sation is equal 10 the emoluments of the
mos; lucrative private ~employments. Nei'
Their the farmer. the merchant, nor the me.
chanic, make anything like the amount Of
the present salaries unless they employ in
their business in connection with their Ia
Dor a large amount Of capital. For instance
you may take a farmer, with an improved
farm of 200 acres, with a family of three Oh
four grown boys, with his farm we'll stocked,
aud the old gentleman and all his boys may
work bard all the year and if he makes q
thousand dollars off from his farm and keep
his stock entire upon his farm. every farmer
upon this floor would say he was doing very
we'll. Gentlemen OF talent and learning
are to be found in all the private occupa-
lions of life, industriousiy employed, whose
average income is vastly below the average
amour of our sficiai salaries. Public jour-
~nalists, professors and teachers in our col
leges and universities, have quite as much
learning, and labor as hard for salaries much
less than are paid to public officers. II is
a great mistake to suppose that all the tall
eni and learning Of the country are TO be
found in any one profession or calling.
1t is q fact however, deeply to be regret
ted, that the most talented men oftthe conF-
try are not always TO be found in public life.
This can be said with reference to both the
State and Federal Governments and es.
Pecially the latter. The Federal Govern
ment is controlled and administered by q
party whose only object and aim is to up
hold and extend the Institution of slavery.
Men of talent and learning viii not work
for slavery at any price, and the conse.
quence is that all the officers OF the FEEDER
al Government, from the Cabinet Minister
down to the village Postmaster, with rare
exceptions, are filed with inferior and Sec
ond class men. And in the State Govern
inent where this slavery test is not applied
the people do not always elect their best
men. The remedy for this evil is not to in
crease the salaries. but in a change of the
administration. The argument upon which
the gentleman from Madison <Mr. Harrisonl
seemed to put the most stress in favor oil
this bill, was that the salaries paid by the
Federal Government TO her off GERS were SO
much more liberal than the salaries paid by
the State Government, our ableSt aud best
men declined offices in the State Govern.
nent and sought Offices at Washington. n
this is SO, the argument proves that the SAL
aries OF the Federal officers are TOO much,
and Instead of cqualizing the saiaries OF the |
and State Governments by passing
his bill, those of the National Government
should be reduced. The gentleman from
cited the present compensation of
members of Congress in support of his po-
,ifion.
Now, sir, l nsk that gentleman il when
heir compensation was So per day instead
e $1,000 per year and mileage, II a seat in
Congress was not considered just as desira-
and as anxiously sought by men of abil-
ty. The able representative (Afr. Harlan)
rom the 7th u strict, in which he resides,
nd the very distinguished member ( Mr. Stan
on) from the 9Th District. in which | re-
ide. were both Members of Congress be
ore the passage of the SALARY bill, aud uppa-
emily both as willing to serve their consti-
then as now; and the same can be
aid with reference to other members OF
The act Of Congress changing
be compensation of members of Congress
'om u per diem TO a salary would have
cen a very unpopular measure with the
eople passed ut any other time than when
was. II wastquietly passed without a sin
lie speech being made in opposition to it,
I the commencement of the Presidential
aInpuign in '56, when the whole country
as in a biaze of excitement North aud
outh, and in the hubbub and tumult OF a
residential election the viliiany of the
ieasure was overlooked by the people
he principle oil paying Legislators u SALARY
stead OF d per diem is wrong, and whenev~
and wherever tried lis operations have
zen found to be imrraciicable. Ii begets !
in legislation and early a~djournments
I'd embarrasses the Government. The :
embers receive The same pHy for a short u
sslon they do for a long one; whether the
ssion is a month Or a year the pay is the r
me. :
In 1915, Congress passed a law changing
2 per diem OF members from six dollars Il
r day to u salary of fifteen hundred hun v
- US "a III picSSHt CNUlQeDSd-
u, aud the measure excited universal indig- u
lion all over the country, and the following
election almost every member h
Congress who voted Tor the measure W as n
for a reelection. G vernon Throp, II
New York, ard a great number of the
brilliant young men of the country, b,
re among the number borne down and Oh
lshed for the time being by the popular al
Y mt indignation it excited. Henry Clay Ri
s then ia the height OF his power and pop ii.
rIty in the Lexington District, and to save &C
election he was driven to The desperate
'essity of bipgipg himself to vote for .he iii
cal of law he had himself aided in en- tn
ing, and then only escaped defeat by a
agre majority. The popular fury and in ar
nation over the passage of the salary bill Be-
500, would hive been as great as it was
1925, had it not been for the causes m,
e named. ] admit the disparity in the 81,
lries of the State and national Govern r,
ITS is to too great. There are two ways SUI
them. One is 10 increase the We
lries OF the officers in the State govern
1t. The other is to reduce the salaries Sc
Offices in the National government. ho
'ESlFf iIE laiter mode. believe n hit
I'D be more equitable and just, ard far fro
g satisfactory to the oppressed tax pay
the Safe, whose servants we are, Wi
whose will we should obey or resign ,ro
Their argument urged by the gentleman
Madison in favor of this bill as an scl ed
Istice to the office holder, was that the des
rds of the Probate Courts would show Inv
the estates Of office holders in some in ms
ces were insolvent. The gentleman
lot undertake TO slow what amount the an,
les Of ofice-hulders should be to save cei,
estates from insolvency. He might S
found it n troublesome and difficult, cor
ton to solve. ] had supposed office
ers were very much like other people.
lere Is a class Of men whose expenses DE-,
Us exceed their income. If they had S,,-
nnual income of ten thousand dollara ~,