Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-23
THE BACK PAY QUESTION.
Circular Letter from Hon. John M.
Bright.
TO the Citizens of the Fourth Congress.
sieRaI District, State of Tennessee.

TO tn Citizens of the Fourth Congress.
sisRRI District, State Of Tennessee.
q sense of duty TO you as well as 10 my
self induces me TO make q communication
to you, with respect to the recent Salary |
bill, which increased the pay Of the Presi- |
dent and Vice-President, cabinet officers, |
and clerks in their different departments, |
Judges Of the Supreme Court, Members of |
Congress, clerks Of the Senate and House |
of Representatives, and other employees of |
the government have nothing political |
TO conceal from You. You are entitled to |
an account ofmy stewardship, and it is my |
duty TO spread the record of it before you. |
In times of great popular ferment it was to |
be expected thai many errors, perversions, |
and misrepresentation should be dissent |
mated. Under such circumstances the pub- |
&c mind is infiamed and abused by being |
fed on distorted information which has |
been driveled out to it from hand TO hand, |
perhaps, to the fortieth degree. My own |
action has been the subject Of misrepresen-
ta:jons which, togalher with call from |
some of my constituents, must furnish my |
apology for this communication.
In An editorial of the New York Sun, |
commenting on the Salary bill, in its issue |
OF 27th of August, 1873, is the following |
statement: "In the final test cote in the |
House on the first Of March last, the follow |
ing members then or since CHOSEN TO the |
FortS-third Congress, recorded themselves |
thus'-snd amongst the Democrats placed |
under the head OF "absent or lodging" my |
nsme is recorded.
The following Is an extract from the Muir |
freesboro Ne1os Of Aug. Is, 1873:
"In complete list Of the Senators and Repre-
eentatives who voted for and against the back
salary fraud published in the New York Tribune,
we find that Hon. John NJ. Bright, the member
from this district, is reported to have voted one
time for it, twice against it, and was absent or
refused to vote five times"
In the Murfreesboro Monitor of Aug. %,
1873, find the following:
Editors Monitor: 1t is my understanding that
Hon. John NJ. Bright opposed and voted against
what is known as the salary bill, passed at the
last session of Congress. Upon what ground did
he base his opposition? II so, what does he in
tend TO do with it d? is the bill constitutional?
BY answering the above you viii much oblige, |
CONSTITUENT.
The statements in the Sun and Tribune |
assuming that the Ne1cS has correctly ex-
tracted from the Tribune-are grossly per- |
versive of the facts, l did not "dodge" the |
"fnal" vote, nor did L vote for tire salary |
bill which became the law; nor did l vote |
for any other bill to increase the pay of
members of Congress. was opposed to it
from the beginning to the ending-I voted
against the first bill and voted against the
last. In the intermediate stages of the
question my opposition TO it was so marked
by votes and declarations thai no one, after
investigation, who regards the truth of his
tory, could believe that l favored the pass
age of the bill, or had occasion TO "dodge"
the responsibility of vote after having
been so fully committed against it. II is
true that | did lot vote en- several occasions
when the bill was before the House, but
these failures to vote were when l was pair
ed off with another, or on parliamentary
questions not going to the merit-except in
the single instance did not vote on what
is known as the Sergeant amendment,
which was entirely different thing from the
Butler amendment which became the law.
Bu: will allude to these votes and omis-
sic, s to vote more specifically in the follow
ing legislative narrative to which l invite
you careful attention. The salary bill pre-
sents two aspects for your consideration.
One is legislative, and the other is personal
LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON THE BILL,
On the It'll Of February, 1873, Mr.. Butler,
of Massachusetts, from the House Judicial
~ Committee, reported the salary bill,
which was ordered to be printed and re-
committed to the same committee. -(GlObe
part I'd p. 1862 Congo
On the 10Th of the same month Mr.. But
Ter introduced a resolution direc ing the
committee on appropriations to include his
salary bill in the miscellaneous appTopria-
tiol bill for the consideration of the COM
mittee If the whole House, and moved a
suspension of the rules to put it on its PISS
sage. On call Of the ayes and noes l
voted against this resolution-the vote
standing yeas 81, nays 120, not voting SO.
-(GlOte part I'd, p. 1234.)
This vote was so decided against even the
consideration of the bill that l supposed it
vas the end Of it. But was mistaken. 1t
was destined to reappeAr with greater forcs
at another time.
On the Sd of December, 1872, she Exec
utive, Legislative and judiciary appropriation
bill was introduced into the House.
On the 18th of January, 1873, this bill
passed the House with provision increas-
ing the pay Of sundIy clerks and officers of
the House and OF Interior Departments of
the government. But it contained no pro-
utSiOn TO increase the pay of tho President
and members of Congress.
On the 10th of January, this bill was
transmitted TO the Senate and on the 10Th
of January, it passed the Senate with sun
dry amendmeniS-the Senate striking out
the increased pay Of the officers Of the House
and increasing the pay of different officers
of the Senate. [GlObe part I'd, PIP. 964-
967)
On the 3lst of January, the Senate re-
turned the bill TO the House as amended,
and the House ordered the amendments TO
be printed and referred to the committee on
appropriations. (Globe part I'd, p. 1929
On the Oath Of February, the committee
made their report to the House recommend
ing an increase of the pay of the clerks and
other officers of the House to make them
equal 10 compensation to the same grade of
officers in the Senate. (GlOJe part Sd, PIP.
l670-l67l.)
So far the House and Senate had been at
disagreement in relation 10 the compensa-
ton of the officers of the respective bodies.
The House resolved itself into the Com
mittee CT the Whole faS the purpose of con-
sidering ttereport of the committee-where-
upon Mr.. Butler of Massachusetts moved
to amend the ,mendment reported from the
Committee of the Whole, by substituting
the salary bill previously reported from the
Jud ciarY Committee and rejected by the
House.-(GlObe part 3. pp. 167l-2)
Mr. Butler's amendment WIS now carried
on division of the Committee of the Whole
by vote of 81 ayes and G6 rays. (GlObe
part 8, o. 1879 1t is my recollection that
was present and voted in the negative,
though cannot verify the vote by record as
the 'iyeas" and "Days? are never ordered in
the Committee of the Whole. The Legis-
Iadve, Executive, and Judiciary bill as
amended was now reported 70 the House
with a recommendation that it do pass.
The previous question was moved and Or
dered upon the Butler amendment TO The
Senate amendment, and the "yeas" and
"nays" being ordered, the vote stood yeas
90, nays III, not voting 30. did not vote
OF this time for the reason given al the time,