The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-10-09

Origin Of the Phrase 'ssaIary SteaI.'
If an honest confession is good for
the soul Mr.. Garfield, of Ohio, ought
to experience an elevation Of spirit
which even the weight of Credit
Mobilier cannot quite collapse. Mr..
Garfield was Chairman of the Com
mittee of Appropriation of the last
House of Representatives, and was
one of fhe managers on the part of the
House of the Committee of Confer
ence to patch up the discordant amend
ments to the Legislative Appropria-
ton bill, in order to secure the pas
sage OF that disgFaceful ordinance of
what Mr.. William M. Evarts has Justly
styled "an expiring Congress agitated
with its own reputation" In this lat
ter capacity it was Mr.. Garfield's Office
to engineer the Conference Commit
tees report in the House, and sugar
coat its provisions in order to make
them go down. He read the report,
explained its contents, and then in
quired if any gentleman had questions
to ask or explanations to demand, en-
joining them to speak now or forever
after hold their peace. Thereupon
Mr.. Hibbard of New Hampshire, with
q perfect assumption of the manners
of an sngenn, demurely said 81 desire
to ask the gentleman chow much
pLuni.er viii be taken from the Treas
nry if this raising of salaries is adopt
ed 2" Mr.. Garfield rose to the bait at
once, and confessed the ssplundor"
with delicious naiVette ~ am glad, ;"
he said, "the gentleman has asked me
that question. The report presented
here, taking into account the changes
made with reference to the salaries of
members and officers of both houses
and other increases of salaries in this
bill will, according to the best esti-
mate / have been able to. make, in
Yolve an annual increase of expendi-
lures of about three-quarters of mil
lion dollars" s'How much for the
present Congress ?" asked Mr.. Hib-
bard. with still unruffied gravity
''For the present Congress it involves
an additional expenditure of about
one and a quarter millions. think
the House ought to know all the facts. ,
The House got themI GLOW much
plundeg are we taking by this bill ?"
asks Hibbard, and Garfield confesses,
lone and q quarter millions of dol
lars Surely, if the expression s'sal-
ary steal" needed to be Justified or ex
planned, all that would, be required
could be found in Mr.. Garfield's con-
fession on the floor of the House. Mr..
Dawes, too willy himself to have been
caught in such trap, saw the blunder
at once and cried out: "Did you hear
the form in which the gentleman from
New Hampshire put his question:
How much this 'plunder' would
amount top Garfield laughingly re-
Joined that he did not accept the gen.
tleman's statement as to that. "It is
not splunder,' unless gentlemen here
consider themselves not deserving of
the proposed pay" 1t is on page 2101
of the Globe for the third session of
the Forty-second Congress that this
confession of Mr.. Garfield's as to the
Committee of Conferences suggestion
of plundering the Treasury to the
tune of 81 ,250,000 is to be found. On
page 2l05, among the votes 20 accept
the report of the Committee-in other
words, to consummate the aGtsof plum
der-is to be found the name OF Gar
field y World.