Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-04-04
AN OLD-TIME SALARY STEAL.
A Political Reminiscence--Th he Sa Ia
Steal of 1S16--What the Country
ry Thought Of it them interesting
Auecdotes OF Calhoun and Clay,
etc, etc

ry Thought Of it them Interesting
Anecdotes OF Calhoun and Clay,
etc, etc
1t may be matter of consolation
to the members of Congress who
have taken million and q half Of
dollars out Of our burdened and ex-
hausted treasury, for services al
ready compensated to know that
their act was not without prece-
dent. In the year 1916 Congress
lassed bill called the compensa-
ton bill, which was very much like
the one that was lately passed. 1t
provided for paying each member
some fifteen hundred dollars year,
subject to deductions for absence,
except IN case Of sickness; and it
gave double pay to the Speaker and
the President Of the Senate, if there
should be no Vice-President. 1t
passed the House with the aflirma-
tive vote of Al democrats and 40
f"deralists against the negative vote
of so democrats and fifteen federal
lists. 1t passed the Senate -2l
democrats and IL fedcralists voting
aye, and democrats and 8 federal.
lists voting no.
But this fact will not be so con-
solatory when our members hear of
the manner in which the act was re-
ceived by the people. Let us say,
IN word, that it produced tremcn-
dous excitement. The legislatures
of the several states passed resolu-
lions condemning it; popular meet
ings were held to denouncc it: and
even grand juries indicted it as a
nuisance, or rather as offence contra
bonos mores. Niies's Register of
August 18th, 1916, said that "none
OF the old members will be elected
from Delaware; the compensation
Law is doing wonders. tits be-
lieved that the whole representation
from Connecticut and Vermont will
be changed The same feeling
pervaded the other states, and, in
deed, the public disapprobatiou was
so great that the same Congress at
Its next session, in January, 1917,
repealed the act, and after much
discussion, but human weakness so
far prevailed that the members
caused the repeal to take effect af-
ter the session should expire, thus
taking the extra compensation given
by the act. Before this act the per
diem had been six dollars; after the
repeal it was fixed at eight dollars;
The retroactive operation Of the act,
whereby the members who voted
for enlarged their own compensa-
ton was objected to in debate; but
it was nevertheless carried.
"But even granting it to be ex-
pedient to increase their pay for the
future, it was, in every possible
view, incorrect and unbecoming to
give the bill a retrospective opera
ton. When the members of this
Congress were elected, they we'll
knew they would be entitled to six
dollars a day, and no more. They
accepted their seats under this ex-
press condition. But if the bill
passed, each member would receive
fifteen hundred dollars for the year
ending on the 4th OF March, which
was already elapsed, and during
which they had been in session
three months. Thus, instead of
$3.50 month, or $3.50 for three
months, to which they were now en-
titled, and which many have already
drawn, the members would receive
$500 each, while the President
pro ten. of the Senate and the
Speaker Of the House of Represen
tatives, instead OF 81 $50, to which
they would be entitled as the law
now stood, would each receive 49,
900; the members per diem at the
rate of about ST. per day, exclusive
ly of the usual allowance for travel.
ing expenses; the President pro
tenn. OF the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives
per diem of rather upwards of s33,
likewise exclusive of the usual al
lowance of travelling expenses. The
President pro ten. and the Senate,
and the Speaker and House of Rep
resentative of the Fourteenth Con-
gre: S, would consequently receive
gratuity (for a gratuity, concealed
as it might e, it certainly was),
over and above their usual per diem,
at the close Of bloody and expen-
sive war, ont of the public Golfers,
to the amount of about $4,000 for
their services the three months last
past, during which they had literal
ly, and to the best of his recollect-
ion, done nothing else but make APP
preparations and lay taxes"
1t was only two hundred thousand
then; but it is million and half
now, when the condition of our fl
nances are quite as bad as they
could have been in 1916. Now rs
then we have had Il war; we are
fearfully in debt; and taxation OPP
presses and almost paralyses indus
try. But how the nation took it
then we may learn from the life of
no less distinguished statesman
than John G. Calhoun. HIS biog-
rapher says Uiie and Speeches, p.
23):
During the same session bill
was passed changing the per diem
pay OF members of Congress into an
annual pay of $500. 1t proved to
be exceedingly unpopular; so much
so that the greater part of the men,
bers who voted for it declined offer
ing for reelection, and those who
were again candidates, with few ex-
ceptions, were defeated at the polls.
Mr.. Calhoun voted for the bill,
though he took but little part or in
terest in its passage. When he re-
turned to his constituents he found,
for the first time, the tide Of popular
favor against him. SO strong was
the current that his two predeces-
sors, who had retired in his favor,
General Butler and Colonel Cal
houn, the latter a near relative,
were both violently opposed to him,
and the former came out as can
didate against him. They were
both men of great influence, the |