New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-07-24

phttle, 90 that successor shall be chosen 10!
the next Session. or some part of it, he mus.
be paid his Mileage of course; so that three
Milsages will be paid for the same Congress,
in express contrsventiOn of subsistns
law. Hence my condemnation of your haste
to grab the second. Is il not justfed'
III. Having thus secured your second aud
last Mileage, and being, as you say, resolved
not to seek Q reelection, you met the PROPOSE
ton of Mr.. Colfsx for reduction of the
Mileage from $40 to $50 for each hundred
miles Travelled, BY an amendment abolishing
Mileage altogether! That is to say: having
pocketed $1,000 for your travelling expenses in
attending the sessions OF this Congress- you
move that your successor, while suoJect 10
like expenses, shall not be paid the frat cent
of them Mr.. Aldrich! this is not reform,
because it is not justice. 1t is not right that
q Member from Delaware and Member from
Oregon shall receive exactly similar amounts
from the Treasury. The latter 10 subjected to
heavy expenses which the former escapes by
reason of the vicinity Of his home to the Fed
eral city: the Dclswarean need not utterly
neglect his business, nor deny himself the en'
joyments Of home, nor be nearly so long absent
from his family, as the Oregonian must, unless
he brings them with him at a heagy additional
outlay. You seek to remedy one grOas IN
equality and injustice BY creating another, and
this you call reforming a. the Mileage abuse"
/ assert that the success OF your proposition
would aggravate that abuse. Let the honest
and clear sighted advocates Of Reform Judge
between us.
III. You object to my eharacterizing your
course on this Mileage question as TRICKY and
knaysh. Tho public will note your exception.
1 might have used more courteous phrases.
But, Mr. Aldrich feel deeply on this sub
ject and l cannot stop to measure my words.
More than thirteen years have elapsed since
first called attention to what seems TO me
gross and crying abuse. with view to It's
correction. was met at the outset BY mis-
representation. calumny md personal abuse.
Every dodge was resorted TO with intent to
proye-not that the change l suggested was
unjust or inexpedlent, but that l was unworthy,
dishonest. or inconsistent. And, throughout
these thirteen years, every attempt to carry
a Mileage Reform through Congress has been
met BY just such dirty tricks--so must
regard them--as this of yours. Never once
have the changes I advocate been sqnarely
voted down--in every instance, something ex-
cessive, extravagant, unreasonable, has been
substituted for the original proposition then
this has been voted down or suffered to fall
between the two Houses. | have seen this
game played so often that can no longer
regard il with patience. Henceiorth | call 4
spade spade, sad those who would prefer a
softer term must bear or resent my plaanes'
as they may.
". You thnk--Or you sag-I should blame
the Senate, not the House, for the failure OF
Mileage Reform, because they did not pas your
not only abolishing Mileage altogcther, bu. pre-
scribing that the Members OF this Congress
shall refund to the Treasury all the mileage
that has been paid them The public VIII Judge
NE if | am too harsh in saving that the House
did not mean nor desire that this proposition
should pass the Senate-that those who voted
for il in the House would have been very clear
OF doing so had they not known that the
Senate would never touch the bill. Tie OBJ
lee. of your aud of Thomas's proposition re-.
spectively was to defeat any Mileage Reform.
and you Succeeded. Not a man Of you eI.
pected or desired q different result.
V. You see fit, Mr.. Aldrich, 10 drag party
politcs into our discussion. They have prop
erly no relation 10 il. Your Hepublicanism Is
not at all in question; your integrity is. Keep
TO the point II TnE TRrBr vi has been able
10 serve and advance tho Republican cause, it
has derived its power to do 20 from widely
difiused conviction that il viii not hesitate to
denounce abuses and corruptions though their
authors accord with it in party politics. In
the course OF my efforts for Mileage Reform,
have found Wings, Democrats, Americans,
Republicans, UnlOnsts, and those who are now
Secessionists, on either slde-some of each party
cooperating with, while others, more or less
openly, opposed me. have endsavored to be
Just 20 each aud al. And every intellis GENT
citizen--certanly every Republican Member of
Congress-knows what think and how feel
on this subect,-snows how | shall regard and
treat such . strategy az yours. You know
well that there il nothing personal in my con-
denins'ion OF your course on this top!c-tlat
it IL dictated solely by my conviction that you
have done grieyous and wllful wrong. c,n-
not see why politics should be named IN the
premises. | 10 no. ye. Mow--not having seen
tue Yeas and Nsys--whst proportion OF the
nomncrnts or OF the Rcnuhlicans voted with