Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1869-11-11

Ss,ltf w
The fee system, it appears, is still
employed to compensate some of the OF.
6cer, Of Congress. If there is a " call
Of the House,. e., a general hunting
up of absent members, the Sergeant.at'
Arms is permitted to charge five dollars
and tw enty cents for " arresting, bring
ing before the House and dischnrging'
each absentee. If q hundred members
are absent, which is not u~nfrequently
the case, a call Of the House costs the
country FIVE hundred and twenty dollars.
IL witnesses arc summoned to testify
before q committee, the S~ergeant-at-
Arms charges II fec and mileage for
each. Thus every person summoned
from New Orleans to testify with regard
to the negro massacre, cost us three
hundred and seventeen dollars, and the
cost of merely summoning the witnesses
in that affair WAS S2,392. 1t cost S3l7
to summon "General Hamliu" to testify
before q committee. The object of tho
committee could no doubt have been
accomplished for three cents and a half
half a cent for stationery and three
cents for postage.
Now, if money is to be thrown away
in this reckless manner, If the Capital
is to remain the scene Of waste and pro-
fusion we find it now, then | say the
people have y choice with regard TO the
persons who shall be benefited by it.
They do not see any justice or any pro-
priety in Henry Wilson's being COM
PEELED to pinch on FIVE thousand dollars
a year, while servants Of the body to
which he belongs retire rich after four
years service. 1t brings a blush to the
cheek Of every properly constituted per-
son to think that a Justice Of the SUI
preme Court should be compelled to ex-
pend his whole salary for W o rooms
and board for his family, while a man
who gets stationery contracts sets up his
carriage and buys pictures. II the
Government is to be plundored at every
point by evory hand, it is time the spells
were more fairly divided.
There is only one remedy for this
profusion at the Capital. Congress has
honestly attempted to cut of the oppor-
tuuities for petty larceny. It has at
tempted it many times, but never
with much success. The mileage
system, the franking privilege, the
wild and ~wondrous waste Of station
cry, tho pocketing of French ink
stands and costly p%enholders, the lug
ging home Of half reams OF paper, and
all tho small stealings Of committee
rooms, have been, by turns, the theme
of ridicule and the object Of legislation.
Some leaks have been stopped but
others have been Immediately opened,
and the same thieves who p%ilfered under
the old law have p~lundsrsd under the
new. We ought to know BY this time
thatA privilege is a thing which is a.
ways and everywhere abused. We ought
to know that q perquisite is always and
everywhere q means Of corruption. We
ought to know that nearly every one in
the world who is compensated by fees
gets much too much, or much too little,
or riots in abundance now, to be starved
tomorrow. Let Congressman simply
abolish fees, ~rerquisites and privileges,
and accept in lieu thereof proper in
crease to their salaries-say double
what they now receive. Lot members
pay thoir own postage, subscribe for
their own newspapers, buy their W
writing paper, aud compensate all their
officers by salaries.
Nothing short Of this will ever answer
the purpose. II Congress should permit
only so much as a bottle of ink TO be
furnished to each committee room once
"a week, and charged to Contingent
Expenses, a widening c%revice woald DO
established through which a torrent Of
colored fluids would continually posr.
Add pens to the ink, and you would see
exquisite pcnholders, fitted with the
most costly diamond pointed gold pens,
and huge cases of tho fines: products Of
elliott, heaped high in the store-room
Of the Capitol. Complete the list with
paper, and you have a thick volume of
wonderful items, and run up n station
cry bill, the mere clippings and extras
Of which build houses and found estate.
The sole remedy is to pay each member
a decent compeusatiou-not less Ethan
SlO,O 900 a year-and allow neither to
members nor to committees SO much as
q sheet oil foolscap Oh a penny penholder.
James Parton in The Atlantic Monthly.