National Republican., 1873-06-27
BACK PAY DEFENDED.
lcontfnued Non, Fhst puos.)

lcontinued yrop, First Pag,)
and music teachers priests and printers, taIlors
In the celebrated slaushter-house cases which
siruction Of the fourteenth Amendment 10 the
Of 5000 before had done anything, save 10
rrlte w receipt for the money. And IL Is from
argue causes IN the supreme Court that am
enabled 70 pay my bills and remain In the SEN
ase: ,d me services which render on commit.
the Committee on Privileges and Election. are
o. the same Kind as those rendered By q lawyer.
lney lnyolye the examination Of legal questions,
me drafting OF reports and opinions IN matters
involving millions Of dollars and requiring great
study and labor; and II mnst be quite apparent
.onn 70 any fsIr,lnlnded man that lawyer who can
argument OF single important case, ought, by
deyotlnK the same energy and labor 70 the buaI-
ness OF the people for months. 10 be able 70 earn
II you are satisfied that your presen, deesa.
Ton do not OIL the bill OF public Service DO not
attend 20 your interests and acqult themselves
reputably, then you ought TO dismiss them, and
send those who can and will; but the men who
can aud will, can and will earn 81 800 q year.
IL Ihe Consultation provides that members Of
Congress shall receive q compensation for their
service. TO be ascertaned by law, TO be paid out
oi the Treasury OF the United States When the
INST Congress assembled, one Of the absolute
dutlea imposed upon them was TO fix their own
compensation. The Constitution declared that
meuipers should receive ompensatlon,r n
also declared that such compensation should
compensation until the law was passed. and
Congress- alone could pass the law; and whether
they passed such law on the flrst or last day OF
their session could make no difference. They
might have nxed upon sum, on the first day Of
the session, estimated 10 be sn1lclent compensa-
tlon, and thereafter have Increased OF dlmIn-
walt unit, near the eose u pGei Is nsS C9So SsS
nH the compensation once for ali. When the
second Congress convened, they were as COM
Ts. Congress % we're % 70 AZ SOsna'qq lhelrs me
settled principle that no legislative body can
blndits successors, and that any Congress NAV
gress; and whether this Be done on he arst O or
last day OF their term must be wholly Inmate
rial; and the same thing nay be said Of every
Songreas from the nrst TO the last II the Forty
session, passed law liking the oompensation Of
Congressman AZ $500, It would not have been
osleetea .hst u was voting back pay, and yet the
Each Congressman would have received the
same and the Government would have maid n
m L is, therefore. practically immaterial whether
the session. u you were TO employ an agent 70
take charge OF your business abroad with The
distinct agreement that he might take from your
funds whatever he thought he was entitled to
for his services, and that u he was not aatlsned
with the sum at nrst nxed by him he might
alter OF change y any time during his term OF
him thief n he should do what you had agreed
he might do. And yet this is precisely the case
under consideration. The law which nres this
amendment at any time. Thia is consIitae
tional certainty.
BY the act OF August 10, 1850, the compensa-
tlon o. !. Songressmen M was Increased from ts per
day 70 1900 per year, and was applied 70 that
ConRreas-that Ia, dating back 20 March 4 fs6a
nearly sixteen months. In both these cases the
increase % 81 pay was somewhat criticised by the
press; butin neither case, 80 far as am aware,
was any objection made because the pay was ap-
piled TO the Congress which voted II. Il is too
clear 70 require elaboration that there Ia no ar.
ference In principle between voting back pay
LOT sixteen or eighteen or twenty-f0ur months.
" the doctrine now contended for. that q men,
oer o. Congress u under contract not TO In
crease MS pay beyond the amount nKed by law
a. the time he was elected, he sound, and N Il
oe true, as now contended, that any member
VINO taxes back pay is thief, then every man
Congress, and Afterwards received such back
pay, Is also a thief 'Frhou shalt not steal d a
continuing command; and whatever amounts to
stealng now has been stealing ever since the
Government was established. Is any man quite
bold enough 10 denounce the men who In our
past history have done this thing as thieves
VIII any candid man brand them as Teceivera OF
stolen money! II 50, there IL one consolation
for the members OF the last Congress-although
We are thieves, we are only thieves a. all our
But before we pass this hGsty jud gment lei Us
see, for moment, who were the men
VINO, IN 1850 AND 1880, RECEIVED BkCE PACK
which was authorized by that act. Inc senators
from New Hampshire were John p. Hale and
James Bell; Massachusetts,, Charles Sumner and
Henry Henry wilson; Wilson; Vermont, solomon Foot and
William II. Seward; Delaware, James A. Bayard
and John N. Clayton; Kentucky, John D. Thomp-
son 90, and John J.. Cri.tenden; Tennessee, John ..
and George K. Pugh; Illinois, stephen A. Doug
las and lyman TIumbull; Maine, Hannibal Ham
IN and wllliam Pit Fessenden; Michigan, Lewis
Cass and Charles X. Stewart; Texas, Thomas J.
Rusk and Samuel Houston; wlsconain, Henry
Dodge and Charles Durkee.
In 1850 the members OF the Senate who re-
oeiyed the back pay voted by the act OF that year
include the following names: Illinois, Lyman
Trumbull and Rlchaid Yates; Indiana, Henry \.
Lane and q. A. Hendricks; Kentucky, Garrett
rill and William Pitt Fessenden; MARYLAND, Rev
erdy johnson and ]. A. J. Creswel; Massachu-
setts, Charies sumner and Henry Wilson; New
hampshire, Daniel Clark and A. II. Cragin; New
Jersey, willlam Wright and John II. Stockton;
New norf, Ira Harris and X. ID. Morgan; Ohio,
y. Y. Wade and John sherman; Oregon, J. W.
,snI MssntR and Seorge y. % %wlllams; Rhode Island,
mont, George y. kdmunds and Luke p. Poland;
Michigan, Zachariah Chandler and jacob NJ.
hsr,a5 howsSdi MINT Mlnnes%Sta, %, Aexander Ramsey and
and q. o. Howe. Is there any man here this
evening quite willing TO brand these men As
thieves or the receivers OF stolen money! In
consisted Of q. g. Washourn, I. Q. Sloan, Phi
etus Sawyer and Walter ID. McIndoe. MF.Wash-
burn voted for the bill; Philetus sawyer against
y; sloan and Mcindoe dld not vote All four
received the back pay voted by the bill. IL there
any man here tonight willlngto brand Governor
WashbuTn as q theft willing TO declare that
sloan, kclndoe and Sawyer were the receivers
OF stolen money! II the names above mentioned
are not cherished and hallOwed In American
history, upon what names rest the halo Of Amer
WHY n IT THAT MEN
who voted for and received back pay In 1850 and
In 1880 now refuse TO do the same thlngf I
answer that the credit mobilier inyestlgAtion Of
last winter so diseased the public mind and pro-
duced such morbid public morality, that things
which are perfectly right, are regarded as
storm even In defence Of principle Henry VII.
son and Gen. Farnsworth and others who voted
Tor back pay In former years, and received IL
from the Treasury, are now claiming popular ar
probation for not doing precisely what they had
done before. lfitis q larceny, OF a lesser wrong,
10 receive hack pay for services In the Forty.
second Congress-, which these men admit by re-
iusing u, then it was larcony, or q lesser wrong
Washington left the impreaa OF his character
upon his own and succeeding generations. JET
ferson, Madison, Hamilton and Other gave an
impulse to public thought, and nxed standard
be great and happy people. Bat Il was left for
Oakes Ames 10 lift the standard OF public virtue
clean out OF mortal reach and clean out OF hu-
man sight. Things which, yiewed In the light
standard Of Christian morality, are as harmless
As the cooings OF dove, are larcenles, mortal
sins, IN the light OF 1873, and estimated by the
standard Of alarm and fright created by 0akes
Earthquakes sometimes come and storms some.
times rage, but the earth will not always rock,
nor the rains always fall; and we mar hope that
me present sore, ndgety, slckly morality will