The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-07-26

From the True Citizen.
Official Salaries.

ohlSAhA SALARIES.
An opinion has of late years largely pre-
vailed that in order to secure first rate cap
acity and integrity in office very large sal |
aries must be paid. When the large increase /
of public expenditure and accumuIating
taxation has led reflective people-who are !
universally IN favor of far pay-to suggest
that these high salaries did not prevent the |
stealing, and ii was absolutely essential 10
reduce expenses, the remedy officially
sought has been too often applied in the
wrong qnai ter. Salaries already small
have been graded down, or days wages,
hardly up TO the living point, have been
pared away, while the larger sums paid in
salary or perquisites to higher officials
have been left to run on. 1t can hardly be
regarded mere sarcasm which we hear
when objectors talk, as they sometimes do,
of 'the scrubbing women being cut down,
and the sailors i'll the navy refused interest
on their pittance Of pay, which is kept
back" while Congressman look out for the
round amounts that are to come to them
i is not long since that a Congress, whose
members had deliberately accepted their
positions with full knowledge of the
stipulated compensation, actually voted
themselves double salary, retrospective az
we'll as prospective, and most of them drew
it. True, when they heard the cry of pop
ular Indignation many of them dropped
their plumber, or as it is more politely ex-
pressed covered it into the Treasury"
yet many still retain the money. The
usual apology for this outrage was that
many Of the body were eminent in their
professions and could not be expected to
serve the country at less price than could
be obtained in their ordinary business
But it occurred to many who watched the
work Of that Congress. and of other Con-
crosses of the period, that if the private
fortunes of large portion of the members
would be better served by their staying at
| home, SO would also the economy and
| efficiency of the public service; and most
still maintain that it were better to select
|
earning and spending capacity Of our citi-
zens to consider the present figure of five
! thousand dollars per year fair pay for the
service rendered, and sufficient, with due
regard to American usages, to live on in
! comfort and responsibility. To be sure we
might have to tolerate such inferior intel
lects as Washington and Hamilton, .jefter-
son and the Adamses, Webster and Cal
! hnun, Franklin and Lincoln; but the Wit
ality of our institutions is very great, and
! we should probably find some escape from
their hlunders AS easily as we do from
those of the eminent statesmen whom the
nation has had the fortune to secure rs
| their successors.
There are some people, ordinarily deem
ed to possess common sense in Other
matters, who claim that "a fair days
payment for a fair days work" secures
more faithful service than any figure above
or below that standard. They claim that
in almost, if not quite, all the instances
where salaries have been raised either by
inferior grade of services has been obtain
ed for the larger amount of pay. They
claim that where salaries are kept at the
market rate-that is 10 say, at the price
which similar services obtain in other cir
cles-those only apply who desire a chance
to work and TO obtain fair pay for the same
, that the inflated salaries, like those of late
paid to some grades of Government en-.
ploqes concentrate and engross the atten
ton of class whose main ambition is tC
draw their pay, careless whether it ha
been earned or not-a -class who compare
with old-:ashioned office holders as bum
mers do with regular soldiers.
But such views cannot prevail as long n
= our present school Of partisan politician
hold control When the ukase went fort
: tha, "to the victors belong the spoils," tb
e knell of American purity in politics wa
: tolled. and, from that hour to this nationa
G. interests have been held in allegiance t
s personal emolument, and reference TO ou
: national honor is greeted abroad with
: smile OF contempt. Under snch a system
t our legislative halls, which once rang wit
Il the eloquence of true patriotism and tn
b wisdom of studious and conscientiou
:. Statesmen, must continue transformed to
o moral Jungle sporting ground. the priC
l. of admission to which is too often sue
r. abandonment of moral convictions as not
n obstruct the movements of the wire puller
:, who regulate a national puppet show fC
" the amusement or scorn of all civilization