The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-08-26
III bts.sSr.- -l47
NO.

roads; increasing the public debt, and
to be paid back in carrying freight,
mails and troops, without any security
whatever,, as though armies and bag
gage trains we're to be the settled insti,
ltutions of the country. IF the govern
ment is TO build railroads, let it do il,
7directly. by an appropriation Of money,
lin tho care of hopest and ,economi cal
men, and not in such manner as to
eclipse all human speculation with the
Sastpess of the struggle for piunder
But the government has no legal. au
'thority to embark in private enterprise
es. 1t is a &c cvernment CT the whole
Union, and the public property cannot,
constitutionally, be appropriated to any
section: The railroad swindlers of
Congress are Eot in the interest of the
laboring and .tax-paying people of the
West or of any section.
rs INCREASE OF SALARY.
On the 2Sth2 day of July, 1866,
| Congress adopted new policy in ref
erenee to is own salary. From the
foundation of the gove ernment up to
the above date, IL had been the invar-
liable policy of Congress not to disturb,
for its own benefit the sa'ary or pay
which had previously been. fixed n
There Is no constitutional provision on
the subject. The reason of this omis
sion was, the faith and confidence our
fathers bad in the personal integrity of
the representatives Of the people. Tie
reasoning was, that to provide against
such public robbery, would be stand
ing insult to Congress, and that if their
descendants tecame so, corrupt as Ito
vote money to themselves, the people
would correct the evil, or there would
be too little virtue LETT to. make it
matter Of interest what kind of gov
ernment we had. Seventy years of
government showed the faith of our
fathers well founded ; but the, Con
gress Of 1866, proved to be an anomaly
in human speculation, Not finding any
previous Congress abandoned enough
to increase tie salary of Cong ressmen
to S1l per day, for the whole year, or
to $40 per day for the time Congress
ought to be in session, they wisely in
vented solution of the 6oancial diff
Guilty, by simply voting money into
their own pockets, not for the future,
ther, but for the past; for the law
p: divided that the salary shall be com
puted "from the first day. of the pres
e,t session." or first Monday of Decem-
Der, precee ding They, also,' voted
themselves twenty cents per mile, to be
estimated both waysl Why did1't
they vote $4,000, or say Sl0O,000 per
year and 800 per mile /? They could
have done it as vel as do what they
did t..-. .r .... ..--
They have, at least, esiabl shed the
precedent for some body else as corrupt
as themselves. Looking at this in
crease of salary, in the light of homes
ty, and as precedent, it is the mt t
degraded, dangerous, and unblushing
piece of villainy in all the policy estab-
lished by any Congress, and, certainly
indicates not only disregard of COM
mon decency, but total want of re-
spect for the people, and an absence of
the commonest sentiments OF honesty
1t is criminal breach of trust a
crime against the treasury, and The peo
pie, that ought to be punished Some
of the members of Congress, to be
sure, did not vote for the law, but all
received the wac es of this, sin and
ought to be visited with political death.
EXPENSES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
-. sENTATIVEs. ts
With such demoralizing influence at
work, as [ have mentioned, we ought
10 expect to see extravaganza and chit
eanery everywhere. Upon examina
ton Of the expenditures of the lower
house of Congress, for there is where
legislative riots have most held their
earnivals, 1 find that the expenses have
been enormous. The following state
ment shows the expenditures
Fortheyear ending June 80 1864 ss53.6so 90