The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-10-30
From the N. Y. Tribune.l
The Market Price of Honesty.

The strongest argument which the sup
porters of the increase of salaries can
find is that the better you pay public
servant the less he is likely to steal
This argument, we think, has no founda-
ton in fact, and even if it were true in
principle it would have no bearing upon
the question of the action of Congress in
raising its own pay. No one can regard
that man as honest who steals to make
himself So The Congressman who says,
either directly or by implication, am so
constituted that if my salary is not raised
shall steal, is not very likely to refrain
from stealing when the addition has
been voted. No sharper ever yet stopped
swindling because he had been success
full in it. To say that we must have hon
est Congressman even if we have to
double their salaries every year, is as in
nocent as to say, with the late Artemus
Ward, "a man ought to keep out of debt
even if he has to borrow money to do it. "
If man is dishonest he will not be
more inclined to keep his hands from
picking and stealing, on a salary of ten
thousand dollars than on one of five
If man is honest, he is no more likely
to steal on small salary than on large
one. To deny this shows little knowl
edge of human or political nature. 1t
is the men in responsible positions, men
who handle large sums and receive large
salaries, who generally make the default
ers and embezzlers, and not the poor
clerks whose pay barely keeps soul and
body together The officer who drives a
fast trotter is far more likely to buy an
other with money not his, than is the
employe who goes on foot to and from
the Office and does his chiefs work for a
mere subsistence. Raising the Salaries
oF h,o Of
not do anything to raise their moral
standing. The strong probability lies
precisely the other way. We all know
the struggle which takes place in almost
every district in the United States when
ever the seat of a member of Congress
becomes vacant. In a large majority Of
cases the salary is the point at which
most of the aspirants aim. They are
generally lawyers with more leisure than
briefs, to whom $1,000 year is more
than they could reasonably hope ever to
earn in their profession. In the larger
cities and in some of the country dis
tricts we will find prominent and wealthy
citizens competing, to whom the salary is
a matter of no consequence. But in such
cases it is not unusual that the success
full candidate buys out his most danger
Gus competitors with sums often equal to
a years salary. Now, every dollar added
to the pay of members of Congress in
creases the swarm of aspirants. The
number of men who would rather vote
themselves money than work for it is
very large, and that class of men regard
the life of Congressman as nothing
more than this. They often have con-
siderable powers Of intrigue and combi-
nation, and their natural talents are
sharpened by their hunger and their av-
arce Every increase of salaries brings
more of that sort of men into public life.
They are sustained and encouraged in
their fight for nomination and election
by the thought that 81 800 is a good safe
income to have anyhow, and when they
get into Congress there may be other
chances. If the salary were SIS, 900 they
would work twice as hard to be nomi-
mated, and steal twice as much if elected.
1t is the idle talk of ignorance to say
as Butler and Carpenter do. that small
salaries are aristocratic in their tendency
1t is impossible to show where any first
rate man has ever been kept out of Con-
gress by the insufficiency of the salary
The experience of the world shows how
false and foolish is the cry that if high
salaries are not paid, the Government
will fall into the hands of the rich The
leaders in the Spanish Cortes are almost
without exception poor men. Figueras,
Pi y Margall. CASTELAR,. are all dependent
on their professional labor for their
bread. Hall the members of the Austri-
an Reichsrath are of the same kind.
The French radical circumscriptions rare
ly elect rich man. 1t is not too much
to say that no man whom the nation re-
ally requires ever did or ever will refuse
to sit in Congress for $4,000 year-and
then consent to go for 81, 500. The truth
is, that the former sum is enough for a
decent and modest living in Washington
1t is more than is paid to the Assistant
Secretaries of the Departments, or to the
Army and Navy officers in charge of
Bureaus. Yet these gentlemen do twice
the work of congressman, sustain res
pectable position in society, and dispense
cordial and unpretending hospitality to
their friends. Half the men who pock-
eted the back pay this year have regular
ly saved half their salaries since they be-
gan to sacrifice their private interests to
the public service"
A great many words pass between ones
nose and chin, but we have never known
them to fight.