New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-30
WHIT CAN BE DONE About ITi

Several of The political conventions which
have denounced the Back Pay bill have
coupIed with their censurc demand that the
act increasing salaries be repealed at the next
session of Congress. There is not much
chance of that. The average Congressman Is
not the kind of person to take twenty-five
hundred dollars year out of his own pocket
and put it into the public treasury. Even IL a
restitution bill could be forced through the
Senate, there is a particular reason why IL
would be certain to fail in the House. A
clause struggled into the Appropriation bill IN
the closing moments of the XLlld Congress
authorized Representatives to draw their pay
monthly from the 4th of March to the begin
ming of the next sessi0n-to draw SoZo
month on the certificate of the Clerk OF the
House before they had presented their creden-
tails or been sworn in, or, in point OF fact,
really become members of Congress at all. III
any honorable gentleman should change his
mind before Congress meets and conclude not
to serve, or should die, or be sent to jail for
horse stealing, he would still have been paid
1926 month for doing nothing ever since the
4th of March; and if Gen. Butler should be-
come Governor of Massachusetts, next January,
and in consequence retire from Congress after
one months service, he would have been paid
for his abors during that time the handsome
sum of SG,250. Now, if salaries were to
be restored in December to the old standard,
it would be found that every member of the
House had already expended his whole allow
ance for the year, and something over. In
stead of drawing money from the Sergeant
farms to keep himself like a gentleman, and
support his wives, and shed charity upon the
unjust, he would be in debt to the Treasury.
Under these circumstances it is idle to hope
that he would vote for q repeal OF the
Salary bill. We must make up our minds to
Day the increased rates Tor the future, and be-
fore long there will probably be movement
to equaiize salaries by raising the pay of
bureau officers and other Government employees.
AS for the back pay, that is gratuity
which though indecent is perfectly legal, and
The grant cannot be repealed. The money has
passed out of the control of the National
Legislature, and is the lawful property of the
Congressman TO whom it has been allotted.
Congress can no more take it back again than
it can seize any other portion OF citizens
personal estate. 1t is even asserted that those
who have returned it to the Treasury are at
liberty to claim it again, and the Treasurer
has no right to hold it against their wishes.
We dare say a good many of the vlr-
tuous but tardy members who turned the
plumber over to Gen. Spinner under
stress of public indignation, console them
selves with the prospect of quietly getting 1t
all back again when the storm has blown over.
Now here, it seems to us, Congress can be
forced to interfere. If there is any doubt as
to the Treasurer's authority to hold this money
in the absence of positive enactment, let Con-
gress put it out of his reach by special APP
preparation, or turn it over as an unexpended
balance That is about the most practical
remedy the people can now insist upon; and
meanwhile the Grabbers should be treated as
they were at WiIkesbarre.