Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-02-11

For the Freeman.
Mr.. Stephens on the Salary Bill.

Mr.. Stephens on the Salary Bill.
When A. H. Stephens made his pro-
,,hetic speech in the Georgia Convention
AGAINST secession, we gave him great
credit for political foresight as states
man. and marveled how he could after
ward unite himself with the Confederacy.
Rut in a subsequent speech at Savannah.
after uniting his fortunes with the rebel
lion. he bases the right of government on
the equality Of the races, and makes sla-
very the cornerstone of the confederacy.
But this stone has since been re ected and
ground to powder. and Mr. Stephens now
stands upon the floor of Congress as the
representative ola government based upon
the equal rights of all men without regard
# TO race or color.
In his late speech on the grab bill, he
admonishes the press to be trutt-telling,
which is all very well, and should be
needed. He tells us there never was n
statesman that was not demagogue, but
he makes a distinction between the genu-
inc and sham demagogue. The real
demugogue reasons and consults the peo-
pie. He feels the popular pulse; under
stands it, and if feverish, administers the
remedy. The sham falls in with the
fancy of the patients" In taking the
diagnosis of the patients" the skill OF
our political doctors is to be tested by their
ability to determine whether the patients
are really sick or not.
If Mr.. Stephens has really felt the popu-
lar pulse on this salary question, it is clear
to our mind from the remedies he proposes
to cure the fever of the patients, that he
does not understand it." He proposes
to raise the salaries of representatives from
five to ten thousand dollars; senators fifteen
thousand; chief justice of the supreme
court fifty thousand; associate justices
twenty-five thousand; president one hun
dred thousand, and doubling the pay of
foreign ministers. etc.
Now if this does not succeed in giving
us mental calibre, men of the highest
order Of intellect in Congress, who are
now kept at home for want of "compen-
sltion. then all Congress has to do to
cure this - feverish fancy of the patients, "
and secure the transcendent abilities of
the repl demagogue, is to double up the
pav of its members agreeable to that
3" wise provision - of the constitution,
which enables Congress to fix the pay of
its own members without consulting the
wishes of the people. How long the . pa
teuts, these hewers of wood and draw
ers of water, could live under this " wise
provision of the constitution, we are not
informed. But we see no reason, if supe.
rior races may govern inferior ones with
ont regard to their rights, why the supe-
rior class of 4 race may not govern the in
ferior class upon the same principle. No
doubt Mr. Stephens will bow with the
same reverence to such an order of Provi-
dence rs he did in his - cornerstone .
speech. not presuming to inquire why
God has made . one star to differ from
another in glory
Mr.. Stephens assumes that our lawyers
and merchants realize an income of from
t,n to fifteen thousand year, and to caI
the climax, he tells us there is scarcely
profession or occupation where brains
and skilled labor will not return an equal
amount.
Is it possible that our Congressman know
50 little of the real status of the American
people? The statement, as applied tt
lawyers and merchants throughout the
rural districts of the nation, will apply
only rs exceptions to the general rule, anC
when applied to our farmers and mechan
les, it is simply ridiculous. If this is ;
specimen of Congressional calibre we art
to purchase by paying extravagant sala
ries, it is high time the people were look
inc after it. One of our representative,
in Congress good many years ago, mad,
the remark that, &" Calhoun lacked com
mon sense"
Mr.. Stephens tell us - the real Statesman
lelds the people," and it seems to us thl
in orier to lead the common people right
h must have good common sense to know
the common wants of the people. |
seems to us our Congressman do not lacl
SO much in intelligence, as they do il
moral ability and disposition, to do what i
rl1tt and just. Common sense an
common honesty would have killed tn
salary bill in its incipent stages; yea
more; it never would have conceived ii
d" What says Senator Carpenter, "wha
do our fuzzy constituents know abor
the true policy of civil service reform
or living III IN attic on crackers an,
cheese?" G8nIy! deal gently with u
Senttors our charity has already covere
multitude of sins. The people are wal
in5 patiently to see the last vestige of tn
salary bill wipel out; and the popula
pulse Will never be quieJei until it is done
Never was there a more mistaken idle
than that we can secure the right kind
taen, in Congress by paying extravagal
sa laries. We have too much of the al
qusltlve bump there already; the a
mighty dollar is now altogether too col
sp cuoIs. We once heard an emine1
l'Wyer' an ex-member of Congress, ex
8 press the opinion that if the " members c
congress We're all turned out, and on
common farmers were placed at the hell
OF the government, we should not suffer s
lluch from their ignorance and blunder
as we now do from the intrigues and CO.
ruptlon OF members of Congress" W
submit II recent developments do not max
such an opinion quite plausible.
MI stephens lays much stress upon til
aoillty OF the statesman to comprehend til
science of government. This is high]
proper. Onr school bo,,e 81, -.