Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1864-01-27
THE PAYMENT OF OUR ARMY:
Join or Currency Mr.. Brooks Proposition

THE PA MINI VI UUh AIM
Coin or Currency-Mr Brooks Proposition
Mr.. JAMES Brooks introduced into a
caucus of the Democratic and Conservative
members of Congress, on the 9th ofJanuary,
in the capital, the following resolutions,
which were unanimously adopted
Whereas, Gold or silver is paid our Minis
tiers. Consuls and Comissioners representing
the nation in foreign countries, and gold and
silver are received from the people at the
Custom-house In payment Of duties; and
whereas, the people are taxed to pay capital
lists their interest III specie IN their invest
ments in the national debt therefore
Be It ResOlred, That the officers, and sol
diers and sailors in the army and navy
should be paid in gold and silver or their
equivalents in amount and
Be 1t also Resoired, That the Chairman
of this meeting be instructed to prepare
amendments to the army and navy bills to
this affect,
We need hardly say that the standard
which ought to regulate the wages of volun-
teer soldiers in any country, III which com
mon sense and common prudence exercise
any influence on public affairs, Is the rate OF
wages III the labor market. They ought 10
receive not only what they could receive IN
hilN OGiltT DuL tlS iIloAC &c
may be considered compensation for en-
countering the greater hardships and dan
gers of a military life When man enllsts,
he thereby declares that he considers the
terms satisfactory, and as far as the mere
bargain goes, this ends or ought to end the
matter. But we believe there is no DISPOSE
ton on the part of our public to hold our
soldiers to the letter of an agreement which
a change In circumstances has rendered less
advantageous to them than when they enter
ed into it. Prices have all risen since the
pay of the troops was fixed, and 1t Is, there
fore but lust and fair that their pay should
also be raised until it bears the proportion
above indicated to the rate OF wages in the la
Dor market at home. More than this, we be-
lieye there is no disposition on the part of
anybody to haggle about the price of our
nationality and independence. Everybody
is disposed to pay the soldiers anything in
reason and that we can otford to pay, and
there have never been any soldiers in the
world half as well paid, or clad or fed as ours
have been, and there has not been the
slightest mprmur againsti it from any quarter.
" hat cverysone desires now IS that their
wages should be 1lised 10 any point which
fair inquiry shall find to be Just and suitable.
The bounties, we need hardly say, are al
ready so high that they are working mischief
and spreading Generalization.
So that in so far as the Democratic and
Conservative caucus seeks such an increase
Of the soldier pay, as shall make it bear the
same proportion to the prices Of comm0di-
ties which it bore when the war broke out;
or even such further increase as shall induce
men TO inlist in such numbers as we want
them, we are entirely with them. But the
resolutions which they passed on Saturday
night have an entirely different object in view.
4 glance at them is sufficient to show that
their main purpose is first to embarrass the
Government and shake the public credit,
and the next, TO SOW the seeds Of discomfort
in the army. There was not single man
who voted for them who desires to make the
military service either more attractive to
those who are not in It, or more satisfactory
to those who are The great aim of Hon.
JAMES Brooks and his associates during
the past two years has been TO dlssuade
men from enlisting, and to indnce those who
are eniisting not to fight, or to fight badly:
They have made so little attempt to conceal
their aim. that we doubt if there are ten men
in the community who will be so ignorant
or so stupid as to suppose these resolutions
were dictated by the smallest particle OF soll-
citude touching either the condition OF the
soldier or of his family.
The preamble is a complete revelation OF
their purpose, and it is model piece OF
absurdity it does not rise to the rank OF
The fact that our Ministers
abroad are paid in gold coin, and the customs
duties are received in gold and the interests
on the national debt is paid in gold, is no
more reason, though it is given as such,
for paying our soldiers in gold, or its equiva-
lent, than forquartering a company of infant
ry in Mr.. Blocks house in New Y York.
It is all but impossible to sell drafts in Eu
rope at present payable in the United States
in anything but gold. Owing to the varia-
tions in the exchange, nobody will buy draft
butwill take his chance of whatever he may
get in currency. Moreover the salaries of all
our Ministers and Consuls are fixed, not
since the war began, but many years before
it began, and We're then notoriously insuf-
icient. They were i'll adapted to "a scale of
prices which prevailed at that time. They
were so i'll adapted to those which prevail at
present through Europe that it is well known
that American representatives, are the worst
paid members of the diplomatic body, and
the least able to cut the figure that the Eu-
-opean public expects from the agents OF a
irst-class Power To compel them to draw
their salaries now in currency, and then buy
gold withit to supply their wants, would
be equivalent TO cutting down their pay by