The Portland daily press., 1873-12-19
The Salary Bill.

The exhibition afforded the country by the
House of Representatives on Wednesday
night, we must frankly say, is not one which
Is calculated to inspire confidence in the good
sense and discretion of that body. The re-
duction of the salary from $500 to $4,000 is
about as much as the country can expect of
men who have the matter entirely in their
own hands, particularly when it is remember
ed that in the Southern States there is no
popular sentiment against the measure and
that members of both parties-the heightened
Confederate and the not over scrupulous
Unionist-go bodily, hand-in-hand, for the
largest possible sum that they can get from
any source. It must be remembered, too,
that large portion of the members who fol-
lowed the lead of Butler on that evening like
mob despoiling city, have already expend-
ed the increased pay they have received, SO
that to restore the salary to the old figure of
5000 year extending back to March 4th,
would leave large number of them little
better than beggars, and if possible more easy
victims of the lobbyists than before. 1t is
probable, too, that large number Of men
Inc III. OdIuciu, NOUcu tuC DuticI-ouTl-
but bill fully satisfied that it would be hope
less to secure the passage of a more patriotic
measure.
But while the measure passed the other
night will not meet the approval of the coun-
try, by which we mean the intelligent and
educated North, the method by which it was
accomplished and the disgusting behavior of
those who followed and applauded Gen. But
Ter, will receive, as they merit, the severe
reprobation of all honorable men. If, on
previous occasions, Gen. Butler has acted the
clustering bully and low trckster, Wednes-
day night he richly won the title of being
the most obscene, coarse and brutal rufian
that ever outraged public assembly with his
presence. For years the thick and-thin sup
porter Of the worst class of slavery propagan-
dists, to-day he has all of their brutal instincts,
all of their savagery added to anature naturally
devoid of honor or honesty, and incapable of
noble sentiment or aspiration. He never ap-
peared to advantage but once in his life, and
tnat wse w,.~.. l., -;,e-, j H. -nc--,r of Five
Points by his superiority as a BLACKBOARD.
The greatest danger of the Republican party
to-day is in the prominence that this political
adventurer assumes in its counsels. His
voice is always for the doubtful policy, and
the more doubtful and the more pernicious,
the louder and more strenuous is his advoca-
cy. A failure as soldier, disgrace in the
place where we have right to look for states
manship, he has been only conspicuous in
that peculiar practice of the law where vii
lalns combine to defeat. the ends of justice.
1t is an honor to the press of the country
that it is so conducted as to call down upon
it his brutal and obscene invective. General
Butler knows that the newspapers of the
country do not care penny about the free
exchange; and he might as well understand
that the Independent Republican press of the
country has given utterance to the merest
traction of indignation that, all through the
country, the mass of the Republican party
who were devoted to its principles while he
was leader under jeff Davis, express in re-
gard to his action on the salary and other
measures.
In conspicuous contrast to him in that dis
orderly scene, stand Eugene Hale and Henry
L. Dawes. They CALAMITY stemmed the Butler
onslaught and demanded that the House rep
resent the country and care for its own dig
nifty. The appeal was in vain, but the peo-
pie will remember the Dawes, Hales, Haw-
leys and Tremaines. All honor to them.
It's to be hoped that the Senate will quick
ly adopt the House bill so that there may be
an end for the present to this disgraceful
matter.