Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-05-24
From the N. Y. Herald. ~
THE HONEST PAST.


The ONO plan Of shutting the stable-dOOr
after the steed Is stolen Is historically very
suggestive, and our readers will not complain
the OdOr of the salary matter being still
fresh and StrOng-if we recall its b:ief story
first as to the President, and then as to OOn-
gTess. AS To the former there Is very little OF
record. Lucky is it for General GRANT that
for some reason not stated, the original or
PINKNEY dTaught of the Constitution was in
this respect altered, IL not amended In the
clause restricting the power OF Congress over
the l'residentS salary the phrase originally
used was, during his continuance in Office
obviously very different from "lurine the
period for which he shall have been elect.
cd" 1t is at least fair construction of
the original language to extend it to the
oihslal incumbency as whole. 1t would
nave meant that so long. as President g con-
tlnued in Office" whether by reelection or
otherwise, his salary should remain untOIIched
Legislation of the I'd of March would have
been in operation on the Executive of the 4th
No President could sign q bill affecting his
own pay, no matter when passed.
AS to Congress- the question of pay, or as
IN the Convention 1t was, in homely phrase,
called wages" attracted no very great at
tentlOn' The main point of difference was
whether members of Congress should be
paid by the States OF out OF the Federal
treasury. The moment that was settled il
became almost matter OF necessity-takinO
the amount should be left to Congress itself.
Inc ldea OF that happening which has hap
pened was salmost secuted. GOuVERNEUR NOR
RIS SAID, with emphasis, on the 14th August,
1901, " There is no reason whatever to fear
members OF Congress will ever OVerDay
themselves !" and ROGER SHERMAN, in a
sort Governor BucKINGBA1I's and MIR. FER
RY 5 predecessor, added " am much more
afraid that Congress will make their own
wages too low rather than too high" Mr..
MADISON seems to have been too confident of
the Iuturo, for we find him using this Ian
guagO, portion of which we put in italics.
incline to think he said, "that mem
DerS OF Congress are too much interested
TO DC allowed TO ascertain their own cOm-
pcnSation. IL 9cOu5d be indecent to 9yts thsSr
| hdHFs into the 2Nt6tic 7 Hyss for the pinypS Of
| 'JlSt9'ty heIr 0toH pockets. After the clause
was adopted ia its present form the subject
was again mOOted by the press and in the
htate conventions. In tho MAssACHUsE sETTs
convention Mr.. THEODORE SEDGwIcK, ante
ce0eht OF General BUTLER, said "Can any
| . man who has the least respect for the good
1 opinion of his fellOW-cOuntrymen no home
10 MS constituents after having robbed them
by voting himself an cxorbltant salary -
Inc question, alas, Is answered in our day.
Again was 1t in VIRGINIA that misgiVins was
4 expressed. In EDMUND RANDoLpH's eeIe-
brated letter OF October 1877, he iisistedi on
an amendment Hcapacitating Congress from
liking their own salaries In the Richmond
Convention PATRICK HENRY vigorously Op-
posed II. 1.-The pay OF the members of Con
greSs Is by the Constitution to DO fixed by
/ = themselves, without limitation or restraint.
They may, therefore. indulge themselves 10
the fullest extent They may make their
compensation us high as they please sup
" pose, II they DO gOOd men, their own deli
cacy VIII lead them to be satisfied with
| moderate salaries. But there iS no security
" for this should they be otherwise inclined. 8
Again did MIR. MADISON come to the rescue
ana o again we emphasize some of his words.
Ihere IS no Instance" said he, "Of this
power Delng abused. In America Legislative
bodies have reduced their wa ;es rather thar
augmented them. This is q power. too
Whlch cannot b6' abused without rousino
universal attention aud Indignation. i9hoaio
congress @Hitts &c yes disprOD0rtionaL 10 thel,
Sd'c|ccS or fepHJRdRt to the sense of me rom
"ns't" .ty, theg mould be and they ,roiid d,ssrT
| = % % 1"Scersttty erecrdted" it was. we not
Ia CONCLUSION, out of this collision of Opinion
thaI spIaHg what Is loosely called the AIADI
son aine -ldment, requiring the internositior
of Congressional election before theTe comIi
be an Increase of wages" Speaking of Il
and OF It's failure, one of our esteemed con
tempofaIles, Journal in DO sense partisan
says truly
j ut Is reasonable to suppose that tue leeisla
lures neglected to latify the amendment
because It did not appear practical and neces
sary. But the world has grown Older TIL,
men VINO nave gone away with their pIUnde
may Keep 1t : but the next thing is to nfocur
the repeal OF the salary aGt-and as .ysDo.l
0G9"t 10 dpply to the President also, g01oss com
1ttttg ht the affair has been too much overlook
. c3-and Then an amendment prohibiting Con
Eressmen from openly stealing must be in sert
ed an llIe Constitution as solemn nlOnumen
TO The political degeneracy of the tinIes,'