The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-05-23
Law.Making Mt s25 a Day.

Our Columbia correspondent tells US
that q matter that is, at present, occupy
ing the minds of the Senator's and repre-
sentatives, to q great extent, Is the pay of
the members; and that it is highly prob
able that the pay of the Senate and the
members of the Wallace House will be
fixed ut $500 for the last session and $500
for the special session. At this rate the
office of Legislator will pay better than
any other occupation, and the members
are worth their weight in greenbacks.
The Wallace House, last winter, was in
session from November % to December
%, making twenty-four days. A salary
Of $500 is equal to S25 a day. If the pres
length will be thirty days, and a salary
Of $500 will be equal to $6.65 q day. This
Is handsome pay, even when the charac-
ter Of the work is considered.
Ono hundred and fifty-six Thousand
dollars In six per cent. bonds, Mt par,
produce only S25 2 day, when the inter-
est is regularly paid. Each member who
gets 5000 for twenty-four days work is
receiving as much as if his brain, muscle
and sinew were worth $156, 900, and he
had ronted himself out at six per cent. in
terest. Comparatively few men in South
Carolina make $1,000 q year, and it would
take most Of us seventy-eight years to ac-
cumulate Sl56,000 even if we could live,
the whole time, On such interest as could
be obtained on the gradually accumulat-
ing surn, and had no bad debts. The
members of the Wallace House who draw
the $500 will he in the same position as il
they had been saving, in that way, for
seventy years and more and were draw
ing their interest regularly. 1t is true
that at the end Of the twenty-four days
the pay stops, and the imaginary $l56, 600
has disappeared; but it disappears no
more completely than the money Of inno-
cent bondholders would vanish if the
General Assembly we're prevailed upon to
repudiate the State debt.
The law fixes the salary o fthe members
of the Legislature at 5000 a session. We
know that. But is there any reason why
the law should not DO changed? Are
there not a host of substantial reasons
why it ought to be changed? And if it
cannot be changed, need the members
draw the money? Congress passed O
back-pay law, commonly known rs the
Salary Grab. A large number of men,
bers declined to take it others who had
talk en- it thought better of it and returned
it. Not many who did take, and keep it,
were reelected. We do not call the pro-
posed $500. for twenty-four days work, a
Salary Grab but how can the members
Of the General Assembly face their con
s%tituents, Woodworking farmers and 9TH
ers, if they pocket SIS a day for the last
session?
The proposed pay for the extra session
is not unreasonable, although even that
is high considering tho impoverished
condition of the people. Five dollars a
day ought to be enough, for either ses-
sion. This would give each member
$40 for the two sessions together, instead
Of $500, Us Is talked off. The saving to
the State, If the whole number of MEM
bers Zone hundred and ifty-seven) were
put on the same footing, wouldbe the
difference between SIPS, 900 and S49,390, or
$S3,2l0. There Is, also, the very awkward
point that the pay which the members Of
the Mackey House are to be allowed to
draw is the lower sum of $500, and that
the 5000 for last session is to be given OK
clusively to the Senators and to the
Democrats and handful of Republicans
who composed the Wallace House last
winter. Again, the Republicans in the
Senate were as contumacious as the
Mackey House. Why should those Sen
ators get $500 each and their allies in the
House get nothing?
We hope that the members Of the Gen.
eral assembly will remember the homely
adage that what is sauce for the goose is
sauce for the gander. Retrenchment
should begin in the legislative halls. and
if the Senator and Representatives will
put themselves in the place Of their con-
s%tituents, they will find ways and means
Of coming down to five or six dollars a
day.-Neus and Courier.