Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-17
HNTTSE-

WASHINGTON, April 16.-Immediately
alter the reading Of the journal the House
went into committee of the whole ON the
Legislative, executive and judicial appropri-
alton bill, Mr.. Woodford, of New York. in
the chair.
Mr.. Parker, of Missouri, moved TO strike
out the item of S43, ,270 for newspapers and
stationery for members. After discussion
the amendment was rejected.
Mr.. Hale, Of New York, moved to make
| the Congressional printer an officer of the
United States instead of as now, am officer
of the Senate. After discussion, the amend
I meut was adopted.
The item of 5000 for the purchase of
books for the Congressional library, was
increased to $1,000.
Presidential PerquisItes.
Mr.. Holman Democrat) moved TO re
duce the items Of the Presidents salary from
$4,000 to $4,000. lie argued tllat the in
crease of salary LIST session, Including the
Presidents salary, was unconstitutional
and unauthorized; also the items of the
Presidents household.
Mr.. Hale, of Mo-. opposed the amend
ment, and stated that much of the presi
Dental mansion was occupied for nubIic
purposes; that the family was huddled into
smaller apartments than were occupied by
thousands of private families all over the
country. He declared none of the items
for the presidential household were per
sonal perquiSites.
Mr.. Butler, of Mass, spoke TO the same
question, because he said his attention had
been called TO the subject by his colleague
(Dawes) sometime ago in manner that
had struck the country. That statement
had been that the presidential office yielded
to the incumbent 100000 during the term.
He went on to analyze the appropriations
for the presidential household, and to show
that they were in no wise perquisites, but,
on the contrary, added to the Presidents
discomfort. There had been no great in
crease or decrease in these expenditures for
a great many years.
Maynard Comparing Grant TO George
Washington.
Mr.. Maynard asked Mr.. Butler whether
he had ever taken the trouble to make an |
estimate of the comparative cost of the |
Presidential Office now, and in Gen. Wash |
ington's time, without taking i'm account |
the difference in the value of money.
Mr.. Butler said he had, and the cost in |
WashingtOn's time was nearly d1uble that |
OF the present time, and that. TOO. in time |
when 80 cents a day was the wages of |
skilled wOrkmen who now receive 81 or s. |
a day. He had heard a good deal of the
early times, but he had IN his hand news
paper paragraph, from a jenkins of those
days, giving description of the appearance
of
Ihos. JEFFERSON and John Hancock at
a Baif
in Philadelphia. He read Il with arunning
comment, TO the great amusement of the
House.
Dir. Cox said he supposed the two gen
tlemen from Massachusetts (Butler and
Dawes had harmonized their differences
on account of some little local issue.
LLaughter.l lie had been surprised, there
lore, to lind this little divergence of views
between them. He was surprised that
friend Dawes had taken back so many wise
and good things which he had heretofore
said about economy. All that had been
said by Mr.. Butler about the popularity of
dress and about the luxury of the days of
Washington and jefferson and Hancock.
did not affect the frugality, the honesty, the
incorruptibility Of the men who served the
public on those small salaries. He him
self did not care how men dressed. He
did not care about sumptuary laws; did
not care If his friend from Massachusetts