New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-02-01
P1ISLNG SALARIES.

There are a good many public employees OF
one and another class boring Congress and Ou
| State Legislature to enlarge their respective
AMOR or eimet-holcs into the Federal, Stote
or CITY Treasury, as the case may be. Some
of them are able to make out very good cases
! We will admit very much that we ma on the
briefs of their attOrneys-that they are clever
| fellows-that they have never been caught
! stealing-that they are paid less in proportion
to the value of their services than some Others
are-that the cost of living is largely increased,
while their compensation is no greater than 1t
was several years agO-that, as compared WIN
mechanics and laborers, their condition Is not
so good as it has becn-and almost any th'hs
else that they can fairly ask
| Now let us loOllIat the other SIDE
The public burdens of ali kinds are Tear
fully heavy, and ought to remain 30 tlll our
gigantic public administrations, state,
Conntv. &c-shall have been largely reduced
&c not utterly wiped out. We should prefer
novcr 70 reduce n tax of any kind, unless we
could thereby render it more productive, until
the last dime of our Federal and State debts
shall have been paid. Twenty years at most
will suffice to clear off the whole of them. I'M
ill then. il is our business to keep the taxes at
bigb-water marll-Or 50 near it as we can.
Now. the people are willing to pay-mean to
nav the last dime that they honestly owc-but,
while they are made to sweat blood for their
country, they insist on the utmost frugalty ut
the hands of their rulers. When n man is pay
ing in taxes One-fourth of all ho earns or gets,
he with reason insists that every dime shall be
made to tell We have very little fear OF
L.,
Members of Congress who voted themselves
$4,000 per year for services which they had
undertaken to perform for $4,000, wall be largely
responsible for it, Make every dime tell III re-
ducng THE debt, and those who now pay n
fourth of their income in taxes may be called
ON for n third and they will not refuse; but let
them see that their hard earnings are squan-
dcred, and they will not long he content to pay
as they do now.
The business Of 1866 has, not, on the whole
resulted favorably. Very many who paid a
large income tax on the business OF 1863, VIII
will pay a much smaller, or none, on that OF
1866; and the prospect is not good Tor 1901
Almost every one looks for hard times ahead; ;
and this apprehension is doubtless well founded
II is very likely that the same rates OF taxa
iion would yield One Hundred Millions less TO
the Federal Treasury In the calendar year
1861 than they did in 1866
We insist, then, that, while the incomes OF
tax-paycrs have generally shr,lnk, and are still
shrinking, il will not do TO increase the current
demands upon them of the tax consumers. The
camcrs back will break if you keep piling on.
Our legislators must stcrnly resist importantly
cut down expenses wherever they can, and
ipcreasr them nowhcrc-till We shall have re-
turned TO specie payments, natural prices, and
a hcal,hful and solid, if moderate, property
If Congress would only give us Resumption,
no one could reasonably complain of his present
compensation; but, while we still founder in
! Suspension. every one will consider his pay too
| little. He feels that it does not buy him the
comforts he once had the clerk who had $1,000
pcr annum and now has POO knows that his
compensation is not higher but lower than it
was. Of course, if he stills gets but $1,000, il
| is far lover We are sorry for him; but, II he
can do better elsewhere than in Office the
world is all before him; and, if ne chooses to
hold on, the fair presumption Is that he Is pad
! all his services will sell for.
We pray Congress and Our Legislature to in
/ crease no salary, no compensation, no allowance.
! If the Army officers think it would he nice to
/ have their pay increased 20 per cent, while
! that of enlisted men is left as it is you who
have canyasscd and felt the public pulse, ought
to know better. Begin where you will-incrcase
ever so littlc-yOu cannot add dime to any
ones pay without making n precedent that will
dcpletc the Treasury by thousands on thousands.
Tom may mean only TO help one good fellow
but, if you raise single salary, you will enable
| thousands to help themselves out of the Treas
ury. Shut the door firmly, then, and stand
|