American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-02-07

The Presidents Grab.
During the terms of seventeen Presi-
dents who preceded the present occupant
of the White House no proposition, and
indeed no serious suggestion, was ever
made to change the compensation of that
office as it was fixed by the fathers The
country passed through many transitions,
trials, wars, and financial commissions
during thar period of eighty years, and
the pay of Congress, the Supreme Court,
the Cabinet, nearly the whole civil list,
together with the army and navy, was
frequently raised without touching that
of the President.
The arguments and reasons assigned
for increasing the salaries of other Off
GERS certainly applied with far more force
to the Executive when some of these
changes were made than they do now.
In 1866 when a Republican Congress in
creased their own pay from $1,000 to
$1,000, and set the pernicious example of
the back grab, which recently returned
to plague the inventors, gold was $50, and
the prices OF all commodities and neces-
sarles OF life were cOrrespondingly high.
That was the pretext for an act which
nearly doubled the Congressional pay.
The war had just closed, and although
taxation was crushing down every indus
trial interest the people submitted to this
additional burden, unpatriotic as it was,
because there WAS a certa n degree of force
in the then existing facts to extenuate it.
But the reason which made the change
good Tor Congress applied relatively with
equal vigor to the President then, or else
all the theories which are set I'D now are
false and absurd.
1t may be naturally asked, why was it
that while all these changes were going
on, from the foundation of the Govern
ment down to the Sd of March, 1873, it
never entered into the minds of the
statesmen who illustrated the best days of
the Republic, or of the forty-one preced-
ing congresses, to raise the compensation
of the President? Why did that compen-
satlon alone remain stationary?
The plain answer is that all parties, I'M
til the advent of Grantism, accepted the
pay originally fixed by law as suffi-
Client and permanent And it proved to
be abundant by the experience of every
President. including Andrew Johnson. the
immediate predecessor of General Grant
.Phe Intention was that the Chief Magis-
! trafe should live becOm;ngly, but not ex-
trayagantly; and in order that he might
be beyond the caprice or partisanship of
Congress, the Constitution declared, after
the subject had been exclusively dis
cussed In the convention in all its phases
that "the President shall, at stated times,
receive for his services a com pensation,
which shall neither be increased nor dim
inished during the period for which he
shall have been elected" That clause
made him Independent on the one hand
ef Congress, and on the other it excluded
him from exercising undue influence for
his own benefit by seeking an increase of
compensation. This provision of the
supreme law and these uninterrupted prec-
edents were never called in question un-
til corrupt combination was formed, by
which Constitution, usage and decency
were overridden in the salary-stealing act
The records of Congress establish that
the movement to double the Presidents
salary was the cornerstone of the dis
graceful legislation which has excited
and still excites such just and general re-
sentiment throughout the county, And
it is equally well proven by the most pro-
nounced and accredited Republicans that
the President himself was the real author
of that scheme, and did more to promote
its passage than all other influences by
official appeals and personal persuasion
A subservient Congress was not con-
tent with obeying this dictation, but went
on and voted at the same time extras and
emoluments to the amount of $1,000, by
which the Presidents expenditures at the
White House are reduced to the minimum
of providing for his family. In fact, the
whole outlay is confined to the actual
maintenance of small private house
hold, and a few state dinners, as they are
called, while Congress is in session. The
public receptions do not cost him a cent.
The house, lights, fuel, flowers, servants,
and music are all regular charges upon
the Treasury, and the only hospitality
ever offered is a cold and awkward shake
of the hand.
Greenhouse, stables, kitchen garden,
and other costly luxuries are supplied in
addition, to say nothing of $4,000 year
for contingencies" and REPAIRS" and
furniture" which have become such an
annual tax that the money granted under
these heads since General Grant came
into office would rebuild the Executive
mansion upon a much larger scale than
now exists. More than this, the stock
provisions of the White House are fur
nished from the Quartermaster's Depart
ment at cost
When Congress, under the fear of pop
ular Indignation, recently repealed
a part of the infamous act of
last March, it stopped short of justice and
of the public demand. The poor
pretense of constitutional impeachment for
not repeating the Presidents double
pay is little less then an insult to
the intelligence of the people. The
law itself is plainly a violation of the
spirit if not the very letter of the Consti-
tuition, independent of the fact that it dis
tlnctly authorizes two conflicting salaries,
and therefore does not fix certain com.
pensation.
Cntil every vestige of this iniquity is
exflngulshed and the pay of the President
Is put oacK where 1t was, the demand for