The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-04-17
The Back-Pay Stcal-guIlty and Iuno
cent

F It is Of the last importance that the
/ people should know the names of the
| COngressmeu who voted themselves
/ pay for services never performed. We
have already given the vote at two
stages Of the measure. We propose
now to stste briefly the history of the
measure, 70 analyZe ali the votes ta-
I ken upon it diTectly,tO point out those
Z who are consistently and unmistaka-
/ bly, guilty of supporting it, and those
I who continually and unequivOcally
[ opposed it, and to leave the remain
I der, whose record is not clearly pro-
nOuneed on eith5r side, to explain
their course to their constituents as
! best they can. We shall cOnfine our
selves to the House of Representa-
tives, emitting the Senate, because, in
the first place, no vote was taken in
the Senate which cOnelusively reveal
ed the position Of Senators on the
merits Of the case; and secondly, be-
cause the House OF Representative is
I directly responsible to the people, and
can be sooner and more effectually
called to account. We also omit the
| final vote on the report of the Confer
ence Com mittee, because that report
embraced several other subjects, and
the vote on it could not be regarded as
necessarily and conclusively q test
vote.
The history of the salary steal is as
| follows: On the 10th of February, q
motion was made to suspend the rules
for the purpose Of having included in
the General Appropriation bill a pro-
. vvfafnrr fnaWaa.Tr,rr
among them those of the members of
Congress-Ihe increase in their case to
apply to the 42d Congress. This pro-
vision included the naked question of
increase and back pay. The motion
to suspend the rules was lost. 1t re-
eeived 81 votes, and 12O votes were
cast against it. This was the first
vote on the question.
On the 2Sth Of February, 1.-THE Lgeis-
latiye Appropriation bill being before
the House, a motion was made TO
amend one of its clauses by inserting
a provision for increase Of salaries.
This also included members of Con-
gresS, and embraced the back pay. 1t
was lost, receiving only 90 votes, to
100 against. This was the second
vote.
General Butler gave notice of mo-
tiOn to reconsider the vote Just taken.
He had voted against it, that course,
being necessary, we believe, to give
him the parliamentary right to move
a reconsideration. In analyzing the
second vote we shall, therefore, count
him in the affirmative, as he was no.
| tOriOusly in favor OF the proposition.
On the first of March the motion to
reconsider came up, and it was moved
to lay 1t on the table. This would
have killed the measure. It failed, re
ceiving 66 yeas and 105 nays, and 90
not voting. This was the third
vote.
The question then REQUIRED on re-
considering the vote, by which the
amendment had been killed. The
vote was reeonsidered, there being
| 104 yeas, 70 nays, and 81 not voting.
This was the fourth vote.
The proposition was then changed
by rising vote, the increase for the
members OF Congress being reduced
from $500 a year to $4,000. The
back-pay feature was retained. This
was the fifth vote.
Now it is plain that any member
VINO VOJeu IOr Jne increase anu the
back pay on all these votes, must be
held guilty. 1t must also be plain to
any one cOnversant with the proceed
| ings Of Congress and capable Of deter
mining the significance of the several
votes, that any member who support
ed the measure on the last three votes,
and did not vote against it on the
second vote, must also be held guilty.
Such a member would be in the posi-
| ton of helping to revive the measure
after it had been defeated, and of vot-
| ing for it as revived, without, at any
time, voting squarely against it. On
| the other hand, it is plain that MEM
bers who voted continually against
the measure must be held innocent.
Those who voted against it on the last
three votes, without having voted for
on the second, must also be held inno-
cent. With these explanations which
are as concise as it ispOssible to make
them, we append list which we be-
liOvo TO bO nnado up in perfectly just
manner. The Democrats and Liberal
/ RaDubIioaus ara in italics.