The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-01-21
Speech OF NEr. BossOn, CT Earde-


Speech OF Mr.. RossOn, CT EEarde-
man,
In opposition to the Bill to allow the Secre- |
tary Of State to employ Clerk at the ex-
pense Of the State, at a salary of one
hundred dollars per month.
Mr. SPEAKER-It Is with some reluctance !
that rise TO protest against the passage Of |
this bill, involving, as it es, the same |
principles as the bill pass ID by this House |
few days ago, allowing the late Comptrol-
er the sum of five thousand, eight hundred
dollars for extra clerk hire while he was in
Office, and in OPPOSITE IN to which l exhaust
ed all the arguments ] was master Of
many of which | shall haze to repeat In op-
position to this bill.
But, sir, l know such appropriations to
be wrong in both principle and practice,
and cannot sit silently by and permit their
passage without protesting, in the name of
the tax~paying people of the tate, against
such unwarrantable extravaganza.
Gentlemen on this floor will remember
that | said, while arguing against the prOpo-
sition to allow the Comptroller clerk, shat
it would be referred TO as precedent to con-
troll or action in like cases hereafter; and
now, sir, we have it aaunted in our faces by
the gentleman from Davidson, Robertson,
Montgomery and Cheatham, that we have
the secretary is equally entitled to one.
And | presume we shall soon have a like
! proposition from the Treasurer and the
same presidents referred to; where are
! those modest requests to end?
| maintain, sir. that those official gentle
men took their Offices and were glad to get
them in full view of the duties imposed and
the ices allowed by the law at the time
they were impOrtuning the Legislature to
confer them But now, before they are
mere than comfortably warm IN the Off
cial seats you have given them, they are
very modes thy" impOrtuning you to hire a
clerk at a large salary to perform the very
service You elected them to perform. And
against proposition monstrOus solemn
" protest, and ask the gentlemen on this
floor if it is right?
but oh" says the gentleman from Da-
wilson, 1.-The salary and perquisites of the
Office OF Secretary is so low tn t it will not
support Il competent man and bis family IN
Nashville! - Well. in answer to that L will
say, that if Mr. Butler has got in'o so bad
an Office that it will not support him and his
family | am sorry for him, and would ad-
wise him to get out of it as quick as possible.
But suppose the salary is so low that 1t will
: not support the Secretary and his family in
the great city of Nashville, | ask the gentle
man from Davidson, in all candOr, bow
much more meat and bread will 1t afford his
wife and children for the Legislature to hire
a man to do the work they elected him &c
: do?
Now, Mr.. Speaker, upon the subject Of
precedents, | know it looks hard and partla
to make this allowance to one of these Off
Gals and withhold it from another, equally
deserving. But | maintain, sir, that two
wrongs never did make a right, and if we
were wrong in allowing it to the presen
Comptroller, and giving the five thousand
eight hundred dollars to the late COmptrol
Ter, as | confidently believe we did, then lie
us stop the evil at the earliest possible
moment, though it may seem unjust to the
Secretary of State; but making these un
warrantable expenditures is infinitely more
unjust to our burthened tax-paying people
of the State
Now, sir, in answer to the left~handeC
compliment the gentleman from Davidson
! pays me when he says l am trying to imi'
tate the gentleman from Nashville, and tina
we are both following in the fOots tops o
the illustrious George w. Jones as watch
dogs Of t! Treasury, l must confess. sir
: that 1 feel complimented by the comparison
C and if the gentleman from Nashville car
5 stand it, | can; and if the Hon. G. w. JOne
has not suffered by the comparison we ma,
both well feel complimented. But | viii
say to the gentleman that, watch dogs OF TIN
} Treasury though we be, the suckips
! pups of the Treasury have become too mum
erous for US, and are consuming all the pap
= have already said more on this subjec
than l intended, after the effort L made tht
S other day TO defeat the Blackburn appropri
alton. and will conclude by hoping that thi
bill will not pass.