The Jasper weekly courier., 1874-02-06
The President the Greatest Grabber.

The greatest and wickedcst of all the
salary gr;ibbers j. the President, who not
only gave his official signature 10 the act.
but actually "lobbied" for it, passage.
The act transferred from the public Treas
ury 10 his private pocket the sum of $780,
600. The refusal Of Congress TO repeal
the salary-grab with respect TO the great
est OF all the salary grabbers is equivalent
To declaration not only that the compcn-
sation OF Mr.. Grant shall be So. .OO0a year
I'm addition To lawful prerequisites"
amounting TO $4,000 more. according 10
Mr.. Dawes according To others. TO S75.-
GOO morc) but that future head servants of
the republic shall enjoy the like kingly
compensation. There are not a few Re-
publcans with monarchical notions both i'm
and out of Congress. who pretend 10 say
that this royal compensation To citizen
President is not any too great. In argu-
ing this proposition they assert, as ii il
were fact. that the citizen who j. called
10 the Presidential office. ifhe j. paid only
>Jo,OOO year, must spend all that he re-
ceives in maintaining the proper dignity
Of the st0i0n. such is very far from be-
ing the fact. The first President of the
United States receivedno compensation at
all yet history does not teach Us that the
Presidential station, during Washington's
incumbency, was lower than il has been
during Grants incumbency.
But il will be- said that the conditions in
w ashlngton's time and in Grants time
were very different. Very well the con-
ditions in Grants time and in Johnson's
and Lincoln's and Buchanan's and Pierce's
and Fillmore's time were not so very diff
ferent. Mr.. johnson occupied the Presi-
dental office for nearly -four years. receiv-
ing compensation of $4,000 year, out
of which he saved $1,000 during the
term. Whether the dignity Of the station
was best maintained by johnson or Grant
may, perhaps, admit of difference of
opinion.
Mr.. Lincoln occupied the Presidential
office for over four years at compensation
of $4,000 year. out of which he saved
$1,000 "A year. BY comparison with the
way in which the dignity OF the station is
maintained by Mr.. Grant. it will hardly be
commended that Mr.. Lincolndid notproper-
ly maintain the dignity of the station.
Mr.. Buchanan occupied the Presidential
office for four years, at $4,000 a ear.
Mr.. Buchanan was a citizen of large wealth;
whether he laid by any portion of his sala-
ry as President is not known, but reason
able presumption would be that he did.
The dignity of the station certainly did not
suffer az his hands he never appeared az a
lobbyist for an increase of his pay.
Mr.. Pierce occupied the Presidential
office for four years at $4,000 year. and
saved something over $1,000 year. Mr.
Fillmore did the same. 30 did Mr.. Polk.
Who will dare to say that the dignity of
the Presidential station wa, a lower grade
OF dignity under Polk. Fillmore, Pierce,
Buchanan. or Lincoln. than il l. under Mr.
L llysses GrantE
Ii during the first four years of his
incumbency. Mr. Grant did not properly
maintain the dignity of the Presidential
station, IL was not owing 10 any insufii-
cheney i'm the amount Of his official compen-
sation. which i'm the aggregate amounted
to nearly or quite 100000 a wear.
And if. out of the salary Of $4,000 Mr..
Grant did not lay up anything. the fault
was in him. and not in the amount of his
pay. Mr.. Grant has never been noted as
"A person who practices economy or knows
much about economy. In every business
that he ever engaged I'm he turned out
failure. except soldering and i'm that also
he turned out failure until circumstances
external to himself turned the scale Of
popular eclat i'm his favor. He is not. as
President. worth $4,000 year To the
country. nor the half nor the quarter of
that sum. In truth. his services as
President would be dear at any price.
The salary. even at S2J.OO0aycar. Is great
cr than the country should pay To him or
to any man IN that station or any other.
We realize no possible need of public SER
wants drawing kingly revenues from the
peoples pockets and surrounding them
selves with the airs and the extravaganza
of royalty. Why the compensation OF
the first executive officer should be any
greater than the compensation of any 9th
er public servant Of equal grade probably
no good reason founded in the theory Of
popular representative government can be
given. III good reason Tor il cannot be
given. then evidently the Presidential sal
airy should be- cut down not only from
SJ0,0OO year to S2j coo. but from that
sum TO am equality of the pay of Chief
Justice. a iunctionary of equal rank. and
I'm truth OF higher dignity than the first
icago Times.
\ CORRESPONDENT writing TO the Inter-
Ocean from Highland. Clayton county,
Iowa. gives the particulars Of an interest
ng wedding which occurred near there
recently. When the guests had all as>cn-