The daily gazette., 1876-02-11
CUTTING DOWN TEE SALARIES.
Speeches or IHessrs. Springer
Nnd Gore iM FdcOr Of
Retrenchnent


RetrenchMent
Consular ana Diplomatic Appropr!a-
ttOns.
From the Congressional Reporter.
The House then, at 1 80, went into
Committee of the Whole, Mr.. Hoskins
of New York, in the chair, on the
Consular and Diplomatic Appropria-
ton Bill, and was addressed by Mr..
Springer qll.) in defense1ef the eco
nomic features of the bill. He called at
tention to the unusual fact that the
popular branch of Congress was so
constituted as to be in opposition to
the general administration and the
Senate. There was some reason for
that state of things. II was not the
result Of accident or chance. The peo-
pie in the elections of 1874 had do
liberate object in view. What was it2
They had deliberately made up their
minds that there must be retrench-
ment, economy and reform in the
Government. They had trusted long
to the party in power for it, and had
been disappointed, and so they had
gone deliberately to work and sent a
majority to the House which would
respect and carry out the wishes of
the people. AS an instance of the
changes of the personnel Of the House
he spoke Of the amiable demeanor of
the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Thompson) as being in striking con.
trast with the braggadoeio of his pre-
ldecessor (Butler) He was not sur
5prlsed that certain gentlemen on his
own side of the House had expressed
opposition to the bill; but one might
suppose from the speeches of the two
gentlemen from New York yesterday,
| Hewitt and Wood that this was a
bill to prohibit commerce with foreign
nations. There never had been q
lgreater mistake, Consuls were the re-
suit, not the cause of commerce. As
to the contrast drawn between the
style of living of the English and Amer
lean Ministers at Paris, he character
lied it as a contrast between an efete
aristocracy and and growing demo-
cracy, and said that this country was
not the less respected abroad from the
fact that they went to court in the
ordinary apparel of gentlemen. In
reply to Mr.. Garfield's ecomium on
the State Department last week, he
i(Mr. Sprlpger) undertook to prove
that that department was no exception
to the extravaganza and peculations
of the other departments of the Gov
sernment. In that connection he read
the items showing the amount of con-
tingent expenses charged by the for
eign ministers last year, in which Mr..
Washburne figures at $3.50, MIR
Gushing at $8, 900 and Mr.. Schenck at
1915, 700, the latter sum including $9,-
i91 in gold for kilograms for one quar-
ter, and $4S7 to Adam Badeau as bear
er of dispatches to Madrid. He also
1exposed an allowance of $40, ,407 to Mr.
Bo' e. while Minister to Turkey, for
presents made to Turkish officials. 1t
used to be thought, he said, that pres
ents, like kisses, were reciprocal. He
did not know whether or not it was so
in this instance. But il seemed that
the Turkish officials had never once
said turkey" 10 Mr.. Boxer. Laugh
ter. Passing on to criticism on the
State papers, he ridiculed particularly
the dispatches of Mr. J. Meredith Read,
Resident Minister to Greece, IN one of
which Mr.. Read described, in grand
Eloquent phrases, ball given at Athens
at which he had the honor of leading a
c3ntre danSe with the Queen, and from
which he returned at five o'clock,
singing, as he [Springerl supposed,
that song which must have been
Greek in the ears of the Athenians:
eve wont go home till morning, till
daylight does appear"
| What, he said, must have been the de-
lightful sensations in the State Depart
ment when this despatch was received
from Mr.. Read. Some of the officials
there should have sent him despatch.
l"On with the dance, let JOY be uncon-
pleasure meet to chase the glowing
hours with flying feet" QIaughter.) }
He then pictured Mr.. Read when hear
ing of the abolition of his Office, and
supposed him addressing the Queen as
. maid of Athens, ere we part, give, oh
give me back my heart" loud laugh
teri And then, as ]. Meredith was EN-.
barked on some stately ship in the Gulf
of the Pirseus, and saw the Queen stand
. ing on the shore, he would doubtless go
; on with the song, MAID of Athens, l
am gone think OF me, sweet, when
alone though fly to Istomboul-( (mean.
; ing, he supposed, Philadelphia)-Athens
= holds my heart and soul. Hear me vow
5 before / 60, Zoe rnou sas dgapo.' loud
laughter He would like one of the
New York members to pronounce the
last line in the Greek style. laugh
: ter.)
Mr.. Seelye, (Mass.) suggested to Mr..
Springer the Latin maxim, "Omne igno-
tmm pro n,agntfco.'
Mr.. Springer-Thank you, sir; thank
, you. (Laughter.) Passing on to the
. question of the South American and
: Haytian missions, he read an extract
from the Chicago Tribune, charging the
Minister to Hayti with turning his resi-
dence into an asylum for rebels, and with
issuing, for pay, naturalization certifi-
Gates, and stating that the Minister to
Peru had so little to do that he had set
up pawnbroker' shop in Lima. He
then criticised the extravagant system
of despatch agency in London, and
J also read from the report of Mr.: Kelm.
travelling consular inspector, drawing
| , d;sgrooof, aictura of A Ampricau con.