The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1873-05-08
A Letter from Hon. John Il.
Wilson.

I have not deemed il proper in a.
single instance to reply to newspaper
attack from any quarter however
scurrilous it might be. But having
lately ceased to be a servant, l now
claim to be one Of tho sovereign peo'
pie possessing rights in common with
others Hence few words in self de-
fense may not be Inappropriate. Your
attacks upon me in every number Of
your paper for the last six weeks, to
say nothingOf former years, have been
so marked, and 30 grossly personal
that doubt If any one has failed to
see that some pent up and private
grief has long been ranking in your
heart, awaiting some pretext to bnlch
forth in torrent Of slimy abuse, and
you seem determined TO persist in ma
ligning me in each successive issue,
forgetting the adage that "those who
live in glass houses ought not to throw
stones" The passage of the late law
increasing salaries affords subject for
Just criticism by the press and tho peo'
pie. But when journalist fails to
criticise in chaste and general terms,
and resorts TO the vocabulary Of the
6sh market for terms to apply to a
single individual, he only gives evi>
dsnce of deep depravity and q desire
to make an ass Of himself, In the
Standard of last week you commence
an article as follows. 1--WE have been
reluctantly forced to the conclusion
that the late member of Congress from
this district has received and appropri>
ated his share Of the peoples money,
which was stolen from the public
treasury" This sentence embraces
the question involved and will be res
piled to. The remainder Of the article
as well as some preceding ones SAVIOR
SO strongly of falsehOod and billings
gate, not to say blackguardism, that
l can not allow myself to reply at
length, as never handy words with
fish women" If you really desired
to know whether or not I had received
any pay beyond that allowed by the
act Of 1865, why did you not address
me note Of inquiry, as you have often
done on matters relating to business or
politics, and you would have been
promptly advised. But your objects
and aims, were altogether in another
direction, as shall presently show. In
order that you may have distinct tar
get for your pop-gun exercises in fu-
ture,I will state that 1 did not take
stolen money from the Treasury, as
you allege, but ! did take a, 4,496 allow.
ed me by law as hack pay and in this
| acted precisely as my predecessors
in seven different Congresses had done
before me, none Of whom so far as
; know, were ever accused of stealing,
that epithet having been reserved
seemingly, for the use Of the Editor
Of the Standard, And just here, it
may be well to inquire whether the
late act increasing salaries is an in-
fraction of the organic law of the
land, or departure in it's retroactive
feature. from the uniform practice
since the foundation Of the Governs
ment The Constitution declares that
Senators and Representatives shall
receive a compensation to be ascer-
tanned by law, and paid out of the
Treasury Of the United States,' and
in pursuance Of this clause the several
acts increasing salaries have been apA
proved. Without going back further
than 1918 it will be found that in Jan.
uary Of that year, an act was approved
providing that the pay of members
should be $500 per day and $500 for
overy twenty miles Of travel to and
from the Capital which was forty cents
per mile both ways; thus giving mem
be-s from the South and West q de-
, cided advantage, and if the law exist
ed now, the mileage alone of members
: from the Pacific States would be large,
, ly more than their present salaries,
$500. This law not only increased
salaries but like all others on the same
subject, was retroactive, running back
to March 4, 1917. In 1856 an act was
approved increasing salaries to $1,000
per annum, leaving the mileage clause
as before. This act applied to the
Congress which passed it. On July
2s, 1866, an act was approved inc-eas.
ing salaries to $4,000 per annum to be
computed from the first day Of the
then existing Congress- which was
March 4, 1865, nearly 4 year and a
half back, and twenty cents per mile
Tor travel, being one-haIf Of the for.
mer rate, but. excepting from this re
drction Of mileage, the accounts which
had already accrued. Hence it will be
seen that members of the 39th Con.
gress by virtue of this act received in
addition to $1,000. per annum mileage
for the first session at the rate of forty
cent? ner mile MAKING an oooraoata