The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-08-21
A Word of Warming to our Congressman

must appear to the participants in that shah
by measure, is likely to make trouble for us
next winter unless the men who put the bill
through Congress and have taken the back
pay with no intention of returning it. are
closely watched by the people. Some of
these members will vote for repeal and thus
try to save their skirts. From such not much
danger ahead need be expected. The fright
they have got will keep them well in place for
a while, though we question whether their
votes, few in number as they must needs be,
will have that decisive weight in repeating
the offensive measure that they did in pass
ing it. Everybody has OF course noticed that
large proportion of the old members who
are also members of the 43d Congress have
taken the back-pay and mean to keep it. This
applies to both the Senate and the House, in
the most marked manner to the former body.
1t cannot be doubted that the senators and
representatives who have taken this course
realize the sentiment of their constituencies,
excepting a. the South, where plumber is the
test of smartness and where politicians in
public speeches seek to prove the prosperity
Of the States which suffer them,b by Boosting of
IRE of the people over that is called the "sala-
ry grab has been expressed in terms not ca
silly misunderstood. And no excuses have
been taken-whether made in defiance or
ap 1logy-they have hardly rippled the deep
onward current of the public wrath. Mr..
Blair OF Missouri only made people laugh by
telling his constituents how snug he had to
WASHINGTON of fn +Iov,
his five thousand dollars, how his daughters
had to do their own washing and ironing, and
how meagre had been their millinery supply
for the last two years, while Mr.. Matt Car
penter, good lawyer and rising and here
tofore valuable Senator, has not been able to
break the force of bis fall by his absurd plea
that Congressman, by force of the written
constitution, are obliged to take what money
they want to pay their bills, nor by his state
ment Of personal and family expenditures,
though made in rather more dignified man
Der than Mr.. Blairs recital of domestic fru-
galities. Gen. Butler has seen fit to write
seven long newspaper columns full of explana-
ton and justification of his position: but we
have yet to find anybody except Mr.. Hoar
who has read more than the abstract of his |
points that appear in most of the daily pa
pers. Time enough, too, has passed to show
that the record is not to be forgotten nor the
offence condoned. Every State Convention
that meets, scores one more denunciation and
when Congress assemblies in December the |
prospect is that the feeling will be intensified |
rather than slackened.
Gen. Butler and Mr. Sam'l Randall, the |
one Republican and the other Democrat.
have each too much wit to waste their |
strength in defending further the principle of |
the salary increase and the bacb-pay. They |
must shift the issue and the more exciting the
one substituted the better for them. Our in
ternal politics afford little ground to
work upon just now and the performance
most likely to be tried by these gentlemen
will be the attempt to involve us in dispute |
with some foreign power with prospective war |
looming ahead. However ill this might set on |
the stomachs of the people if avowed at once,
the salary men well know that if the nation
al spirit can once be aroused and the natural |
bent OF the American people to acquire more
territory can be stimulated to the point of
war, the country will be substantial unit in |
faver OF prosecuting that war vigorously, and |
that the interest and events of the conflict will
soon sweep out of mind matters OF older con-
Germ. And the opportunity is not bad one
for reckless politicians who will go any length
to retrieve their fallen fortunes.
Spain and Mexico both lie open to us, and
there is difficulty enough with either power
to be skilfuIy worked up into national
grievance. The rowing and irresponsible
bands that have kept the islands of Cuba dis
turbed for the last ten years by robbery and |
murder, have managed to keep their heads |
Just enough above water to attract attention |
by their loud shouting and cursing in Liber-
TVS name, and through their confederates in
this country have Kept control of the telegraph
ic dispatches which never tire of hpraldlng
important advantages secured by the s'strug-
Cling patriots" thus keeping sort of smoul-
dering sympathy working in the breasts of |
many men, which unfortunately is in no de-
gree counteracted by the course of the Span
ish Governments course apparently based |
on no desire for friendly relations and an en-
tire ignorance of the Importance that Cuban
affairs may at any moment assume in our pol
itics. The question of recognition OF
state of belligerency on the Island has never
been finally settled and can be crowded on to
Congress at any day Even the messages of the |
President, prudent and conservative as he
commonly is in matters of foreign concern,
have from time to time grown more tolerant
in tone towards the 'patriots," as the insur-
gent squads claim to be called
The Mexican border affords still better
ground for quarrel. The whole territory |
for scores of miles on either side of the Rio |
Grande has been harrassed and plundered for |
years by robbers, whose haunts are partly on |
our own side and partly on the Mexican, and |
from which they sally foith, like SCOTS bor- |
derers who
'Sought the beeves that made their broth
In England and in SEQ tland BOTH
There has probably been no month for ten
years when the mildest sort of scouting would
not have found theft, plumber and murder
amply sufficient to call for diplomatic cores
pon9ence'' between the two nations, and pre-
senting live grievance enough for either side
so inclined to blow into fame of war. The
country is,a good deal of it, worse than worth
viduals, quarrel most readily about trespasses
over dividing lines.
Some things OF late occurrence go to show
that the Secretary of War would not be ayerse
TO mliitary expedition to be sent out for the
purpose OF course of''quieting disturbance and
protecting our own citizens,'' but easily to he
turned into an invading advance ppard Gan
Sherman. we are glad to see, lately exnressad
at West Point in his usual vigorous manner
the very decided opinion that we want no
more land of Mexico, but that on the contra
ry we can afford to pay her something hand
some to take back some of the miserable. God
forsaken acres that our last war with her
brought into orr possession. But it will not
be hard for the agitators in Congress, with the
head of the Department which has our from
tiers and our army in charge, in sympathy
with them, to get blood enough shed to exas-