Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-09-07

party in its administration of our
State Government, these Seh0clbouse
orators OF Democracy snap and snari
about newspapers, postage, &C., tnat
are appropriated, IN this state a.
elsewhere, for the use and benefit OF
the General Assembly. These men
are utterly incapable of rising to a
higher or nobler plane OF argument
There is no manliness in their criti-
cisms, and no fairness in their con-
illusions. They desire to measure
every mans grain in their own half
bi.shel. But you will not fail TO OBJ
serve that these men strangely omit
any reference TO what the Democratic
partyao:omp lished duringitseighteen
years OF power in Iowa. on viii
note this singular fact whichever you
hear them. They content themselves
with carping at few items Of Legis-
lative expenditure.
now desire todirect your attention
to the speech heretofore referred to.
Its assertions may be briefly answered
and disposed Of:
The author Of this speech com
mences his philippe by complaining
OF the frc dollars per day allowed ~
members Of the General Assembly.
In reply TO this grave charge ] have
only To say that no member Of the
Legislature who resides at the State
Capital, during session, III "a re-
spectacle manner, and dceentlymeetS
the unavoidable daily demands upon
his purse, can do 80 with smaller
compensation. This fact was real
lied and admitted by men of both
parties; and the Act increasing the
per diem Of members was, therefore,
not party measure. Bat this speech
tells Us that newspapers, postage and
other things known as perquisites,
are in excess Of this per diem, and
are therefore received in violation Of
the Constitution, which provides that
"nO General Assembly shall have the
power 10 increase the compensation
Of It's members This IL IA most re-
markable conclusion. How do you
suppose this astute gentleman ar
rive8 at it? ! will tell you: BY err
rOneously denOminating these items
Of Legislative expenditure ''cOInpcn-
sationn to the members, he gravely
makes out a charge Of Stealing"
against the entire Legislative body
Of your State; for you will bear in
in mind that all the members, Dem
ocratic and Republican, fare and take
alike i'm these matters; and so they
do i'm all Legislative bodies.
| begin with the item Of postage:
The entire amount Of postage for
which appropriations were made by
the Legislature Of 1868 was SIG, 1884.
Now in order to make this sum ap-
pear enormous in the eyes Of his
hearers, and justify his coarse accusa-
ton against the members Of that
body, the author Of this speech says
"This allowance was made that they
might write letters to their friends
and tell them that they were meH."
This mans profound ignorance, or
total disregard Of well-known facts,
has led him into the error of suppos-
ing that members Of your General
Assembly have no other use for post
age except on letters occasionally in
dited to their friends. Nearly every
intelligent man can form some ade-
quatc idea Of the great mass Of docu-
ments, papers and letters that are
daily sent out from our Legislative
Halls. The printed Messages, and
Reports Of executive officers, such
Reports as those Of the State Auditor,
Secretary, Treasurer, Register OF
Land Office, of the Pcnetentiary,
Adiutant General, all yoar benevo-
lent Institutions, Of the educational
Institutions under State control, Re-
ports of Committees, daily papers
containing reports of Legislative
proceedings, and many other docu-
ments, too numerous to mention,
which accumulate during the pro-
grcss of a session, are furnished to
members, and by them distributed
through the mails all over the State.
1t is by this means that the people
are informed Of the affairs and man
agement OF the State Government.
We do not all get these things, it is
true, for there are not enough for all.
These documents, you will bear in
mind, are not all printed and furn-
ishcd at one time. They are printed
as ordered during the session, and
placed from time to time on the
desks Of members. IL Is for these
laudable purposes that these appro-
priations for postage are made. In
this way / have known individual
members of the Legislature to use
from ten to fifteen dollars worth OF
postage in single day. Many of
these documents are not printed until
after the Legislature adjourns, but
provision is always made for their
being mailed after the members 90
home. ] entertain no doubt, from
my personal knowledge of these
matters, that every dollars worth of
postage is thus faithfully used for the
benefit Of the people, and the only
wonder is that these vast loads Of
public matter are distributed SO
cheaply. This gratuitous and nm
manly charge that members use this
postage for their private purposes, is
too bold-faced and silly for serious
comment. | certainly think no
honest-mindcd man would suspect
SO mean a thing.
But this speech still further COM
plains about postage used by officers
4 4 ..