The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-09-03

Expenses" Ofthe Government Allow
ed by the Constitution rs before In
Ierpretcd, and those that have been
Actually Paid, as well as those esti
mated for the Present Year.
Editor Of the Register.
| copy the express provisions of the
Constitution, which are directly appll-
cable to the subject under cOnsidera-
tion, and to individuals Immediately
concerned, and will make such comments
as may seem necessary, with suggestions
that may occur.
Article 5, section 2nd, of the COnsti-
tuition reads thus; The Governor shall
reside at the seat of Government: shall
receive t,ro thousand dollars year for his
serrices, and during his continuance IN Of
flee shall reCeire no other emOtHmeat trOjR
this, or dRy other Government.
The word "eROlumeRt" Is defined 10y
Webster thus: "The profit arising from
Office or employment; that which is re-
ceived as a compensation for service, or
which is annexed to the possession OF an
office, as salary, fees and perquisites:
advantage; gain, public or private.
No more comprehensive or unequlvocal
word could have been used in that eX-
press prohibition. 1t excludes allpoSsi-
BILE inference.
Same Article, section Z, reads thus;
"A Secretary of State, Treasurer and
Auditor, shall be elected at the same
time, and for the same terms as the Gov
ernOr. Their duties shall be prescribed by
lar. The Secretary OfState shall re-
ceive thirteen hundred, the Treasurer
fourteen hundred, and the Auditor nj
teen hundred, dollars year"
| need not say that according to all
Just rules of Interpretation, this express
provision fixing their salaries, necessa-
rilv implies prohibition scarcely less
emphatic than i'll the Governors case
that they shall receive no other com
peusation for their official services IN
any form. even if the Legislature
should, during their term OF othce' en-
large to any degree, the duties ana Ia
hors properly pertaining to either Tor, as
will be observed, the Constitution leaves
it with the Legislature to PreSertRe ne
duties of their Ofices-to increase OF Gl-
miuish at will, but no pOtrer to change me
compensation. And, il seems TO me, 1t Is
| not in the power of language to express
| a Constitutional prohibition stronger or
clearer than has been done by the people
! in this case. Nor need | state that any APP
propriations by the Legislature, 10 give
| any of these officers more than the Con-
stitution has here expressly provided for
their cOmpensatiOn-in what ever form
it NAV he attempted to be done whether
in that of house rent, provisions ana
clothes for themselves and families, OF
anv other-the whole is a nulllty, and
whoever receives it does il against lac,
and holds il in trust for tie state, and
is bound TO refund with interest. !hlS
certainly follows as matter OF law, say
ing nothing of the moral aspect IN
which it places the giverS and receivers
both acting under oath to support the
Constitution. which is the expression OF
the peoples will. See Osborn and others,
rs Bank I. S, 9th Wheaton, 73S, Chief
Justice Marshall delivering the opinion.
And what makes the unconstitutional
ty still more manifest, is this further
clause of the constitution: Art. sd, sec
: reads thus: NO E.rtrd compensation
shall he granted or allowed to arg PUbHc
officer. agent or contractor, after the
service shall have been rendered, or the
contract entered into; nor shall the sal
ary or compensation of any public OF
fcer be increased or diminished, dring
his term Of office"
Adyerting to the facts i'll this conncc-
tion. these Orhcers offered themselves rs
candidates for election in the Spring OF
'63 with full knowledge ofwhat their pay
was to be, were elected and accepted
their thereby agreeing to take the
amounts fixed and by their oaths to sup
port the Constitution, slrOre to receive
that. and no more. All but two ablded
bv their contract during the fraction OF
the year IS. In the tall of '63 the first
regular election took place, and candi-
dates again offered with full knowledge,
of course, of what their compensation
was to be, and some were elected and
accepted their offices, wih Ike under
standing and oath. The Auditorand Sec
retary of State, impatient of the re-
straints the Constitution imposes as TO
compens alton, claimed years salary,
commencing more than three and a half
months before the .Nc,r state hat GrtStcHce,
and while one of them was acting as
Auditor and receiving pay from the Old
State; and oar Court Of APpedts GIoced
their claim. But the Legislature has
persistently refused to make any ap-
preparation TO pay them.
I'm January, "a, the regular Govern
ment organized and entered upon the
duties of their respective offices, eN.
pecting, of course, the compensation pro-
vided in the Constitution, and no more.
1t would seem that the men composing
that Legislature were prudent and
earnest, chaStened and subdued by the
severity of the times. The war was
then at its height. The great campaign
of '6l, under Gen. Grant, was about open
/ ing. The same feeling seemed TO per
wade the other departments. Their leg
| islation denotes such to have been the
case. Though just starting the new
government, and having much to fash
! ior and provide, its appropriations for
"ordinary expenses did not mUck, # any,
erceed 100000, and the whole amount
appropriated for contingent expenses
for all the departments, civil and mill
tary, was only $4,000; and this ut a
time when war was on all sides, and
new emergencies were daily springing
up, requiring expenditures which could
not be foreseen. They allowed the ian
itor and guard of the executive offices
S4OO :" which was raised to $500 IN DO
and $1,000 in &c, which is the sum III the
present "cstimate'-three hundred ana
Nifty dollars more for ,rdtchiRg, than ,'
paid for the rent Of the Erecutire buiiding'
and grounds connected A gentleman
who was a member of that Legislature
tells me that move was made in that
/ body TO increase the Governors com
pensation $3.50, under the guise of "EX
ecutlve mansion" because Old Virginia
has one-and it was at once voted dOwI
t as being clearly unconstitutional