Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-12-25

would spend the half years that Congress
is not in.session in studying matters of
public policy, instead of running stores,
workshops, railroads and newspapers.
Jones will get his wish sometime, but
| it will be when the high-minded, intelli-
| gent people shall wake up to the kind of
men they send to Congress, and the kind
| of work they demand of them, and the
rules with which they circumscribe them.
Then shall the lion and lamb lay down
somewhere in the same neighborhood,
| and progression shall be championed by
some other Jones, and-and, the HERALD
correspondence conducted by some future
| knight of the quill.
Early in the week the House passed a
salary repeal bill, and oddly enough
| fixed their pay at $4,000, just as we
| said they would in our last. Now we
protest that we had nothing to do with
| it, nor in fact actually knew that they
were going to do it. We only exercised
| our Yankee prerogative of guessing, and
| the most we claim is to be able to guess
| right half the time. The bill reported
| by the committee fixed the pay of mem
bers at SIS, 500. Then followed speeches
| long and short, and all sorts of manpu-
| vers for glory among the dear, darling
| confding constituents at home. Such
abnegation, such humility Uriah Heep
would pale before it. The Uriahs of
the House reminded us of the Irishman
| who in a fit of delirium tremens i'm
| agined himself in hell, and when asked
| by an attendant what his name was re-
piled, "In the other world my name was
Patrick OGrady, but here it is whatever
we gintlemen divils please to call me"
Hurlbut of Illinois saw that small
| portion of the members had a good
| opinion of themselves and really thought
! their services worth $500. Others
were not quite so conceited, say about
| SIS, 900 worth. Another large class had
| it bad, seemed to feel terribly at the
| idea of being obliged to take anything
| for their humble" labors. so he, Hurl-
| but, offered an amendment providing
| for three classes of Congressman to be
paid respectively $1,000, $4,000 and
| $4,000 per annum, and each member
was required to elect the class to which
his conscience and the dear people should
| determine he properly belonged. That
seemed fair, and moreover would Oblige
| all, beside having a ring of unallOyed
| Justice about it, but nobody wanted
that. Judge Poland offered an amend
ment providing that members should re-
| turn their increase under the hated sal
| ary bill back to the Treasury. That
looked like virtuous restitution and Ben
| Butler wasn't to be out-dOne there so he
| offered an amendment providing that all
members of the present Congress who
had received back pay years ago when
! Congress had raised its pay should also
refund such back pay. These two were
adopted and the bill was then in sink
ing condition when Hurlbut's substitute,
fixing the salary at $4,000 with actual
expenses to and from each session was
| offered. Dawes the leader of the House,
economy and reform, reused up like a
lion and opposed the substitute and the
way it was being done, but it was no
use; Butler championed the other side
and Butler had most mighty ally in
the shape of $500 appealing to every
| members pocket. Butler won. In this
last tussle another was added to the list
of stark cold statesmen. Hale of New
| York, who had cried stop thief the
loudest of any except Cox and Law
renee, feeling one of his pet corns press
ed and patience departing stigmatiZed
| one Wilson of Indiana as a '.dirty Cur, >
Wilson retorted by reading from the
Globe one of the last acts of the last
/ Congress which passed about the same
/ hour that the salary bill did, only it
slipped through amid the rush uneX-
/ planned, which act authorized the en-
| ployment of one Mr. Hale, as counsel
for the government before the mixed
! commission at the modest rate of $10,-
/ 600, which the said Hale has drawn in
addition to his 81 500 as NJ. Q. at the
same time. s...#..-' .....r.. .f......
| MoRAI..-Not always safe to cry stop
thief. After Wilson, Eldridge and But
Ter closed his, Hale's; eyes. ~.
In the course of debate Butler paid
his usual compliments to the public
press which he styled q 'forty-mule-
i power-mud- maehine." That epithet was
/ good. The mule part of it is apt-docile
/ but independent-an as for the mud
machine its power is limited, and the
said B. ought to give thanks for the oc-
casional improvement of fresh coat.
/ The Senate spent much time III dely-
ing and working over the financial con
/ undrum. There. has been nothing to
+. show an expression of the Senate upon
/ IlDalCGS,E .StfG- sGSDdI6s .NulUHa IEHe6lcu
/ the opinions of certain ones Mr.. Ferry
still protests that specie payment will
naturally follow if the circulating paper
! be doubled, but his theory defies the
generally preeonceived ideas of nature.
/ Mr.. Morton thinks the time has not yet
come to try to redeem greenbacks in
coin. He reasons from stand point in
English history. Mr.. Howe regards
Il greenbacks as a promise for gold, and
4 every day they remsin unredeemable is
II to tolerate a dishonorable falsehood.
8 MIR. Sumner regards the adoption as
essentially war measure, which need
not be kept up after seven years
of peace; while Mr.. Sherlnan's attitude
is that of patient listener, willing to
be instructed, but evidently having a
heavy shot in the locker, as the saying
is. We hope for an attempt at solving
the problem after the holidays. The
task before the Committees on Finance
and WAYS and Means, and the Secretary
of the Treasury, is by no means an easy
one it is to bring the expenditures down
| and revenues up in a way to harmonic
with hard times. May they be equal TO
ii. .s.. ~.
Attorney-G General Williams says the
Vlrginius had no right to carry our flag.
This muddles things considerably, and
we are at a loss whether to call the late
! diplomatic victory ours. or SPANS. We
have been hasty, and oyerreached be
fore ascertaining all the facts of our
case, and the feeling here is enlbarrass-
ment amounting aznostto olsagrip. The
worst of all is Sickles wants to re-
/ sign. Why not let him.
Resurrectionists are making it lively
4 for us here. A party of three-one a
female, were arrested few days since
who have been shipping detunct Wash
ingtonians to nearly all points West at
the rate of $40 per head, or body rather.
What we now want is a law doing away
with these middle men and women, al
lowing people these hard times to con-
tract direct with these institutions, and
if one must be hacked up for the ben
eft of science, let them have the ben
eft of their own sale. K.