Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1871-08-30
The Democrats Party a. . Retreachnezt

Party.
The Republics L Lsgislasurs 4 1888
passed an act. still on the statua books.
fixing the number and compensstioa Of
the ofaeers Of each branch Of tho Legis-
lature.
The number of officers of the Senate
was fixed at / chief clerk, 2 assistants,
transcribing clerks, l librarian, SER
geant-at arms and two ASSISTANTS. door
keeper and 2 assistants. l messenger and
2 assistants, l superintendent of the
folding room and six pastors and folders,
l doorkeeper of the rotunda l postmast-
er, fireman and pages-32 in all.
The Republican Senate of 1863 was
organized In strict compliance with thi.
law. the Republican members presenting
a resolution for the election of candidates
for the places allowed named, no more
and no less But, before their election
took place, the Democratic members, to
chow their conviction that this was pro.
viding more offices than the Senate really
needed. put forward Mr.. Burnett and
Mr. M'Candless to offer an amendment to
the resolution, for the election of a
sn,alier Number of officers, to wit by
leaving out one of the assistant messen
gers, the postmaster, and oil the pasters
and folders For this amendment all the
!lemocratic Senators voted. the vote
standing Is to Is e." aHs 1.ar
The Democratic Senators, when in the
thus placed themselves on the
record as believing that this was all the
Senate needed. in the way of officers
that the act of 1868 was, in fact, too lib
eral. -a r"f 81 Bio -s9 .di .f -st
In 1871 the Democrats had accident
ally, a majority in the Senate. Did
they carry out. then, their programme of
1869? Let us see. I#. ..f
They put themselves on record, then.
as thinking that the Senate needed no
pastors and folders, and that body could
get along with less officers than the law
allowed. But the moment they came in
to power, they proceeded to elect not
only all the officers authorized by the
law of 1868, but more than the legal
although that act positively pro-
hibits the election of any greater number
of officers by either branch As for in
stance a.
The law in 1868 allows tro assistant
clerks; the Democratic Senate had three;
the law allows only .for transcribiug
clerks they had FIRE; the law author.
ICES t,ro assistant doorkeepers they had
hree: the law provides for sir pastors
and folders; they had eight; they had
also three fireman, where the law allows
but one And one wa,chman. one jailer,
Dne laborel and one assistant librarian,
for none of which was there any pro
vision of law, to say nothing of n,ne
pages. where they could legally employ
but fee.
We thus find Is Democratic Senators
voting in, 1869 that the Senate needed
10 pastors and folders, aud II Democratic
Senators in 1871 voting to employ and
pay nine Including the superintendent
IF these useless officers. The came Is
Senators declared in 1869 that the law of
1868 was too liberal. and allowed more
officers than the Senate needed; whilst
The II Senators voted the number alto.
,erber too small, and proceeded 20 mul.
,iply new officers without stint. The
difference is, the Is were in the minority;
he Ia were in the majority. 1t is
very retrenching and economical party
when it is out Of power, but a very ex.
oensive one when it gets in. 'F.'a .'
The law of 1868 authorizes the Senate
% elect Or employ 80 officers, including
,very subordinate; the Democratic SEN
lte Of 1871 elected or employed 49 off
,ers-l7 more than the law allowed, and
rs more than the Senate really needed,
themselves being judges, as is evidenced
~ their vote for Burnett resolution in
1869. ... ...-. ....... H ...
But this is not all. The act of 1868
liked the compensation of all the officers.
md enacted that under no circumstances
should they be permitted to draw more
pay or receive any extra allowance
This wholesome provision of law was
otally disregarded by these Democratic
'etrenchers. The pay of nearly all the
'ficers is fixed by that law at 5000 each;
'ut the 49 officers employed by the
Democratic Senate have already been
paid S47.9O4 5o-or an average of near
y thousand dollars each.
Look people Of Pennsylvania. at these
igures. The pay of the officers of the
Senate of 1870 was 26,466
IS, and the total cost of the session was
s92. 900 35. The pay of the officers of
he Democratic Senate of 1871 was S47,-
'o4 50, nearly double that Of the preui0xs
'ess'on. and the total expenses of the
session thus far paid are sl4o 757 IS.
As there are probably over $4,000 of
claims under this head vet uDpaid. it is