Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-08-21
,. II. Waldo on Congressional Paw

mas written of the positions as assum.
ed by Hon. Matt. Carpenter in his
GAINESVILLE speech, on the credit
mooiller, aud back-pay question.
The article is written in good tenn
per, and abounds in good logic. We
quote the following in relation to
the argument that congressman need
large salaries in order to maintain
their self respect, and also in relation
tothe back salary voted:
LARGE SALARIES,
L protest that it is not true that
1T is necessary for q representative
to live with such sIavish respect for
tor the habits and customs of others
| protest against the Suggestion tnsG
there is necessity for this lavish ex-
penditure, to entitle one to the char
acter of agcntleman. There is hard
Iy one quality that adds to a man
more OF the dignity and grace of q
gentleman, than the fixed habit of
keeping within in ones own means,
however narrow. The rich man is a
fool who docs not respect the poor
man the more because he has the
courage TO do that. Does the sena-
tor have in mind the simple lives and
thrifty habits Of Ben. Franklin, of
Thos. Jefferson, of the elder and
younger Adams, of Roger Sherman,
of Rufus King and their compeers2-
or in later days, of honest John d.
Wis, of John G. Calhoun, of Willie p.
Mangum. of John j. Crittenden, of
Silas Wright, of VIM. l.. Marcy, of
Jacob Collamer, of VIM. Pitt Fessen.
den, of VIM, IL. Seward and of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and host of other
men, who have won honor and per.
petuity and renown for their count
ryP Does he mean that those men
have failed to command that respect
and influence that comes from s'liv-
ing like gentlemen" because they
did not start off by taking rooms
and meals at Wizards, at $500 per
month, and end with the necessity
of voting themselves increased sala-
ries and back-pay, to enable them to
balance their bank accounts ? l
know very we'll the Senator does
not intend to encourage these false
notions-and if be does so in fact, it
is from the hurry of speech-but he
Is man whose most careless word
may mislead admiring youths.
THE BACK PAY.
No one doubts that Congress had
the Constitutional power to increase
their salaries and make the increase
reach backward as they did. The
question is not whether they had the
power, but whether it was proper,
decent and becoming thing to do in
the circumstances. The Senator
seems to think that because good
men have, heretofore in some cir
eumstances, fixed their own salaries
for partly expired term, therefore,
it is proper to do the same thing at
any time and in any circumstances.
The fact is that the property and
even the decency of almost every act
of our lives depends greatly upon the
time and circumstances in which it
is done. If the ship is on fire in the
night, and the peril imminent, you
may seize matron or maiden, disrob.
ed and asleep, and bear her, in your
arms, out from her room, over the
bulwarks into the life boat, and your
act shall not only bear no shadow of
indeliacy, but shall be hailed as hero.
ic, and shall bring to you honor and
gratitude; whereas. fyou but touch
her with the tip of your finger or
look upon her face, in certain differ
ent circumstances, it might mark
you as unworthy the society OF q
pure woman. So with all our acts.
When the first Congress sat under
the Constitution, they fixed the sala-
RIGS of the then sitting members from
the necessity Of the case. There
was no law, and no one else who
could make law such as the con-
stitution required, to enable the
poor mempers to retain their seats.
Mr.. Madison, indeed. declared that
"to leave Congressman to regulate
their own wages was an indecent
thing, and might in time, prove
dangerous one." But it was so left,
and that first Congress had no
choice. Therefore, it WAS decent
and proper for them to do as they
did. They fixed the pay at six dol
lars per day, which, with the aver
age length of the sessions then, would
amount to less than one thousand
dollars per year. When, in 1856, q
period of great initiation had come,
and again in 1866, the extraordna.
ry prices that followed the war, rem
dered the price of living so much
greater than when the existing sala-
ries were fixed, that the country was
conscious that every man of moder-
ate means in Congress was being i'm
poverished daily by continuing at
his post of duty, the people winked
at the improperly of the increase of
pay to sitting members. 1t was inn
proper, but we do not despise man
who steals bread when his children
are hungry. But the last case was
different. The people and the indus.
tries of the country were already
unavoidably heavily burdened with
debts and taxation. The cost of liv-
ing had not increased but had very
largely diminished since 1866, when
the salaries were raised to five
thousand dollars. The existing sal.
airy CSC, 0OO) was ample for the COM
Portable maintenance of the members
with his family. | will not dwell on
the gross innuendo contained in abe
words-"Members of Congress will
have families in Washington. IL is
bitter that they should have their
own" The existing salaries were
such as to place Congressman in o
more independent position, as to the
matter of income, than the great