Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-02-27
FHE,RJITLAND HERALD.
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY IS, 1918
~Gooa OLD Times.v


thought of afty thousand dollars year
for the Presidency, and ten thousand
for cabinet officer and eight thousand
for membership of Congress ?" 1t con-
cludes with the aotse reflection that sit
may be old-fashioned to think of those
days. but it is good fashion and, withal,
1t will do US no harm to recur to them,
on this twenty-second day of February,
1873" We allude to this matter, not
for the purpose of discussing the ques-
ton whether the salary of the President
should be raised or not, but simply to
illustrate the senseleSs manner in which
grave questions of policy and expediency
are disposed of by portion of the pub
lie press, and enter our dissent to the
popular twaddle about the degeneracy
OF the age. The answer to the salary
question would seem to be complete, SO
far, certainly, as the illustration is con-
cerned by stating the simple fact, and it
Is fact beyond dispute, contradiction
or doubt. that the salary of Washington,
bis cabinet officers and the member of
Congress of his day was much in excess,
proportionately, to those mentioned in
the extract above. Money and salaries
are not measured, and cannot be consid-
cred, simply as 50 many dollars and
cents, when two distant periods of time
are contrasted. The question is entirely
relative one, and is governed solely by
its purchasing capacity. If twenty-five
thousand dollars, eighty years ago,
would purchase more comforts, laxuries,
necesssries and style, if you please, than
fifty thousand dollars viii Row, then
Gen. Washington, with that salary, re-
ceived larger and better pay than Gen.
Grant would now with double that sum.
And so with the other salaries But for
those "good old times, which they sigh
for, when, In the history of the world,
did they occur? The Chronicle is, pro-
fessedly, religious newspaper, and be-
heves, we presume, in the overruling
providence of God. Docs it, or any one
who believes In God and in the divine
mission Of Christ, believe, or for a mo-
ment think, that God would permit the
world to go on, increasing in wickedness
and becoming, day by day or year by
year, more and more corrupt and given
up to the dominion of sin The very
religion they profess is abhorrent, in its
every teaching, to the idea. But when
were those good old days? Can any
time be found, since the creation of the
world, when there was so general an adj
vancement in the arts and sciences as
now? Surely the developments of rail-
roads, canals, steamboats, and telegraphs
have not tended to the degeneracy of the
age. Have they not, on the contrary,
had direct and constantly increasing
agency in the dissemination of morals,
religion and education These, com
bined with the power of the printing
press and labor saving machinery, have,
most certainly, spread and are constantly
extending the area of civilization. So
far as actual and experimental knowledge
Is concerned, so far as education and the
actual application of the arts and sci
ences TO the economies of every day life
may be considered, no one will question
that, instead of degenerating, we are far
IN advance of any former period of the
worlds history. Was the ''good old
time" in the days of Noah, when God
on account of the wickedness of the in
habitants of the earth, sent the flood to
destroy all except Noah and his family,
or was il II the days when the nations
encompassed and destroyed Jerusalem
and led away the Children of Israel,
Gods chosen people, into captivity? 1t
may possibly have been when the Jews
cruciied the Savior of Mankind, or in
the days when they prosecuted, stoned
and killed His disciples and followers.
To come down later, can it be fixed in
the days of Henry, Mary or "Good
Queen Bess, with their prosecutions and
burnings at the stake, or in the days
when our fathers came to America to
obtain freedom to worship God, when
and how they wished Perhaps twas in
this country, that our fathers enjoyed
those blessed days, to hang witches, sell
the Indians into slavery, scourge and
drive into the wilderness those who diff
fered from them in religious faith, and
only those who belonged to particular
church could hold Office, civil or mill
tary. We greatly fear, that it would be
an exceedingly difficult task to fix these
sighed-for days. Was there any instances
of patriotism, privation, suffering and
devotion to country. during the revolu-
tionary war, that was not equalled or
surpassed during the war for the sup
preston of the rebellion +? Was Aaron
Burr, when he was Vice-President of the
United States, better man, morally,
than Is Schuyler Colfax, even if the worst
that Is charged against him shall prove
true2 Take the manners, morals and
religion, If you wish, of our Senators
and Representatives In the days of Wash
iDgton and, with their fashionable habits
of drinking, gambling and duelling,
would they not suffer in comparison
with their successors of to-day? Bene-
dict Arnold was one of the most trusted
of the friends of Washington, yet he
was bribed and endeavored to betray hiJ
country. Aaron Burr's course is famil-
lar to all. These are only instances, re-
membered because they were especially
prominent. Senators and Representa-
lives obtained and held their seats
through questionable means. The news
paper press Of all years, since the estab-
lishment of the government, contain the
same stories and charges of fraud and
corruption as does the press of to-day.
No, the world is not constantly degener-
ating. The ''old times" whenever that
may have been, were no better than the
present. Whether in morals or religion.
In arts and sciences, or in education and
the general advancement and dissemina-
ton of knowledge, the world becomes