Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-04-09
INCREASE OF SALARIES.
Letter from Hon. ]. A. Garfield.

J Letter from Hon. ]. A. Garfield,
WASHINGTON, d. c., March %, Is7;
T To the Editor oflhe Gin. Times and cAroniel
DEAR SIR.-In a recent editoris
you deny the correctness of the state
, ment in the the Cleveland Leade
that opposed the increase of sals
ries up to the time of its adoption b
the Senate, and only ceased then fo
fear of losing the Appropriation Bill
and you conclude the article bv de
clariDg 1--WE stand ready TO proy
from the record that the salary stes
would have failed in the House. saw
for his (Mr. Gar6eld's) actual assist
ance.n
will not assume that You desir
to do me injustice, but your state
ment is wholly Incorrect, and can
not be "proved from the record. ~
On the contrary the record show
that 1 voted against the ButIel
amendment at every stage of its pro
grtss through the House, and that
also opposed it in the Conference
Committee.
| AC AkhI dkdAAnol NL4C amendment
was waged and lost before the bill
went to conference. The test vote
was not on the conference report,
but on the several motions previously
made on the amendment ITSELF in
the House and Senate. In the House
thirteen votes were taken with di-
rect reference to the amendment, and
on six of these the ayes and payes
were recorded. These votes show
that, in one form or another, I3l diff
ferent members voted in the interest
of the amendment, and that only fif-
ty voted against 1t every time. 1 was
one Of the fifty.
On the 10th of February 81 mem
bers voted to incorporate into the
Miscellaneous Appropriation Bill the
Butler bill, which then fixed the sal
ary of Congressmen at $1,000, and
made the increase apply to the For
ty-second. Before the measure went
to the Senote so other members had
in some form or another recorded
their votes in favor of tine increase.
On the oath of February the salary
clause was adopted, in committee Of
the whole, by . majority, on a rising
vote, and by Is majority on the vote
by tellers.
On the 2sth Of February It was de-
feated In the House on an aye and no
vote, and a motion was entered to
reconsider. On the following day,
March 1st, q motion was made to Law
on the table the motion to reconsider.
The adoption of this motion would
have rendered the passage OF tbs sal
ary clause impossible, and every
member knew it. But ON the vote
by ayes and noes there were 80 ma
iority against the motion. The mo-
ton to reconsider was then adopted
by 25 majority. This motion was
made for the ayowed purpose of ::se-
curing the adoption of the salary
; and it was thereupon
adopted on an aye and no vote. III
twice spoke against the amendment,
and voted against it at every stage
ill it went TO the Senate.
In the Senate the amendment was
by still more decided ma
orities. A motion TO strike ont all /
he salary amendment except that
to the President was Rejected |
20 ayes, 38 noes. A motion to st hike
'ut the increased salary of members |
If Congress was reiected-24 ayes and
'6 noes. An amendment proyiding
hat an increase Of Congressional sal.
Iries should not take effect until the
md of the next Congress was rejected
division. Several Sena-
ors insisted that Sc, 500 without mile
ige was no real increase, and de-
handed that the amount should be
increased by the Conference Com
nittee. To prevent this, a motion
vas made TO concur with the whole
mendment as it came from the
1ouse. The motion was defeated
yes 2, nays 50. Thus sustained, the
III was sent to conference commit
ee.
do not shirk any just measure of !
esponsibility for the vote 1 gave in
lvor of the conference report. l had
one all 1 could both in the House
nd the conference to keep the sala-
? amendment from being made a
art of the bill. Failing in that, /
elped to put the bill in the best :
1ape could and then voted for it !
} a whole.
When the conference report was :
to the House / explained !
s provisions and on the subject of :
ongressional salaries made the fol- =
wing statement, as recorded in the I
roeeedings of the House, March Sd +
The Senate conferees were unani-
lous in favor Of fixing the salary at 2
800, and cutting off all allowances
rcept Individual travelling expen.
5 Of member from his home to
'ashington and back again once
ssion, and cutting OFF all other al =
wances of every kind. That prop c
ltion was agreed to by a majority :,
the conference on the part of the y
ouse. / was opposed to the increase II
conference, as / have been op- =
'sed to 1t in the discussion and in e
y votes here but my associate con- " y
rees were in favor of the Senate y
aendment, and was compelled to ~
OOse between signing the report =
ID running the risk of bringing on - y
extra session Of Congress. l have ~
med the report, and present it as u
is, and ask the House to act on it u
accordan ce with their best judg- "
ant." e.
[ will only add the final vote on a.
e conference report came far short y
the real strength of the ~
ary movement in the House, and "
was perfectly apparent that the ~
ends of that measure had q reserve ~ ~
ce which had been used on former n
tes, but did not appear on this fl q.
vote. " "