Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-04-02
For the Freeman.
Stocks in Congress.

| ioIm mas transparency anu pTOSpeCtfUety
60 riz " in the market. We had supposed
that civil service reform was to be worked
out by the rule of reduction, descending in
stead of ascending; but such appears not tc
be the apprehension of members of Congress,
Senator Carpenter regards the raising of the
salaries of public officers, "as.the true means
of Civil Service Reform and to the ques
tion," DID the Senator come here with the
view OF voting to increase his salary He
replies, eyes - Brave, if not darin9i But
he says his constituents are in for It; be
has always advocated this doctrine on the
stump 1.-The people of Wisconsin do
not wish their sena tors to live in a garrett, on
crackers and cheese Is this the poor strip
ling boy we knew in Vermont thirty years
ago, who, we doubt not, then would have
been glad to have lived ON the crumbs that
fall from five thousand dollar table? 1t is
said that prosperity is greater trisl of hui
man virtue than adversely. We fear the
transition of the honorable Senator from his
former low estate to his present lofty height,
has made him a little giddy. Let him step
down from his justly proud eminence (if hon
orably obtained) on to a level with his con-
stituents, and study that domestic economy
which the great body of them are obliged to
practice then The people will have more con-
fdence in him as political economist Let
him do this, and We venture he may indulge
in '' roast baef" with his crackers and cheese,
and not live in garnet either.
1t is barely possible that tue retort OF the
Eastern man upon the Western, might apply
to the Senator. man of the West said
to one of the East, 1--WE waste enough out
West to support your people East" "Yes, -
was the reply ; I'VE could live on what you
,oaste, and live better than you do, too. :"
From the conflicting testimony of members
of Congress, how are the people to make up
their minds upon the propriety or impro-
p riety of increasing salaries? Ore member
tells US that President Grant has spent
$25 900 yearly, more than his salary; tby
the way, where did the poor tanner get his
one hundred thousand dollars to spend) =?
while another informs us that President Lin
coin during his term saved $50, 900, when
gold was at go per cent. Glory to the
yenerated name of Lincoln He didn't for
get from his lofty position that he once split
rails for living. Mr.. Scott, Of Pennsylva-
mia, said. 1" that the demand for raising sala-
ries, resulted from aiming at an extravagant
style of living" and Mr.. Frelinghuysen, of
New Jersey. endorses Mr.. Scott. 1t seems TO
US this testimony should weigh heavily, in
Ter says, " the whole effect of keeping down
salaries is, to throw legislation into the
hands of rich men and capitalists How s
this, General? Wouldn't q higher standard
OF politica. morality among our statesmen
be better safe guard against the corrupting
influences of capitalists and corporations,
than extravagant salaries General, to the
right, about We liked you at New Orleans,
but We don't like you here. General Banks
Liberal Republican, too liberal, altogether)
said 81 that every man who served the peo-
pie was entitled not to a mean or degraded
support, but to a respectable support" and
he did not hesitate TO say, " that a member
could not support his family in Washington
on SIS goo year" Here We have the testi-
mony and verdict of Cor gress, and the case
is now remanded to the tribunal OF the peO-
pie General Banks is quite too indefinite
in his statement. We don't know what he
means by mean, degraded, or respectable
support.
A millionaire might regard a scale of liy
ing as degrading to him, while the poor man
would regard it as highly respectable. How
shall we graduate this scale Of expense, so
that members of Congress can live respec,a-
BILE lives at Washington? And here, be-
lieve, will be justified in saying that, if
the responsibility of members of Congress
could be measured by their salaries, the peo
pie would be willing to raise them to any
extent. Will it be presuming too much
upon the wisdom of Congress, to suppose
that the people-men who have reared and
educated families by honest labor and indus
try, may not haze tolerably correct, at
least proxmate, knowledge of what it costs
to live at Washington Is Washington an
exception to all the rest of the world for ex-
pensile living? If SO, why is it? Give us
the items, General Banks. Leave out, if
you please, the holidays of Congress; the
coach-and-six; the diplomatic dinners, and
all the splendilerous displays and dissipa-
lions of fashionable life and folly; no mat
ter about the texture or color of Mrs. Presi-
dent Grants dress, or Nellie's; or whether
the Senators wives were dressed in red, white
or blue, at the levee, with long trails. The
g dear people who gain their bread IN the
for misspent time, and all the ct cetera of ex-
travagant follies which members of Congress
may be disposed to indulge in. Members of
Congress paid to and from the Capital four
times what it costs to go and come, with
perquisites of $3.50 yearly, for stationery
and newspapers, and other liberal gratuitous
appropriations, with a yearly salary of
1000 for little more than one quarter of
the time spent in the service of the govern
ment out of their other employments, which
most of them have, and take time to attend
to, cannot exc out a g respectable support y
at Washington. Take the item .of station
cry. Does anybody believe it costs the aver
age Congressman $25? We don't. Oh,
no +, the demand for increased salaries does
not spring from tempered wishes and just
DESIRES" but from the pusillanimity and veni-
nality Of the times. Our young Americas are
intoxicated with luxury. 1t is not enough
that the servant be as his master. He asks