New-York tribune., 1878-05-02
ripe for self-govemment, and the new Worlds
Fair is toe browning glory of French Repubi-
SPEAKER RAND4LL,S ECONOMY.

q 0llcy or retrencnment ana reloIm Wy io
ducing the salaries and cutting off the pat
ronage of his opponents, it is obviously un-
fair to remind him that he not long ago voted
to increase his own pay, and to make the ln-
creased rate cover past time and services al
ready rendered and paid for. Because, when
a statesman gives himself up to the great
work of reducing expenses on this plan, aha'
kindling with his theme, charges home upon
his opponents, with rigorous denunciatioh
of their wastefulness and extravaganza,
while pointing with pride to the record
and achievements of his own party IN the
direction Of reform, nothing could be more
unsettling and distracting to his mental pro-
cesses, nothing more jogging, so to speak, to
his concatenation, than such an unreasonable
alusion to dead issues. In the view OF all
| right minded men, the conduct of Mr.. Calkins,
of Indiana, on Tuesday, in quoting Mr..
Randalrs remarks on the " Back Pay Bill"
! after the latter had with great eloquence and
force charged the Republicans i'll Congress
! with opposing all measures of economy, was
exceedingly impolite. Mr.. Callins should have
remembered that the Congress in which Mr..
! Randall voted for the back pay was Republican,
and that Mr. Randall and other Democrats who
sustained that measure were not only free
from responsibility for that extravaganza, but
were actually bound by all Democratic
! traditions and prccedcnts to vote for it, In
order that the party might Use it as capital
! against their opponents in coming elections.
And he should have remembered that the
event justified the action of those Democrats;
for on the strength of the back pay bill, passed
/ by Democratic votes III a Republican Con-
gres5 the Democrats appealed to the country,
and were successful. This is n Democratic
Congress - al the difference i'll the world.
Mr.. Randall is now on another tack
entirely. Before, he was engaged IN
loading up Republican Congress; now
he Is making capital for Congress
Of bis own party. He has done a
| great work in retrenching the Offices and sal
aries of his opponents, and transferring mil
lions Of dollars of expenditure from the regu-
( lar appropriations for which his own party
are responsible, to the deficiency bills, when
they can be charged over to Republican ADJ
minstratIon. He is Il good man, an ecOnOm
Ical man, Mr.. Randall is; and 1t was unklnd
in Mr. Calkns to ask him If he voted for the
back pay bill and took the money in the
interests of economy.
But Mr. Randalrs resources were not un-
equal 10 the occasion. With great frankncss,
he replied that he voted for the increase be-
cause be thought 1t WAS proper thing to do,
and that he was entitled TO rs much as $500
Il year for his services as Congressman. In
other words, he voted to pay himself 81
500 a year because he believed he was
worth il, and he probably took the
back pay because he thought the Gov
crnmcnt owed him at least $1,000 for
services already rendered. In this estimate of
the value of Congressmcn's services lie agrees
with Mr. Atkins, of the Appropriations Com
mittec, who believes members Of Congress do
not receive so much as their talents would
command "in the business walks of life.'
And there's complaconcy and sef-satisfac-
ton in this view OF the matter that recall
the remark of the colored legislator
who, being approached upon the sub
iect of woman suffrage by strong-mindcd
one. with the remark, "Wcll, now that
81 the colorcd men have been given the ballot,
" suppose you're willing the women should
have itp replied with great prompt
ness, "Oh no. ma'am; can't let the wO-
"men vote they don't know enufr'
These gentlemen have a proper appreciation
of their own services. and there is something
very charming in the frankncss with which
they confess TO their own worth. Moreover
the ill-timcd alusiOn of Mr.. Calkins gave Mr..
Randall an opportunity to put on exhibition
a noble Difference to the popular will. When
asked why he voted in subsequent Con-
grcss to reduce the salaries to $4,000, he
said he had discovered that the people
condemned the increase, and as faith
ful public servant he had given up
his own opinion in that respect and
obeyed the instructions of the people.
There could hardly be higher testimony to the
dccorum which prevails in the House than
the fact that he was not asked if he returned
the back pay when he found that the people
disapprOved it, and that when he finished his
explanation not Il man in all that House whis-
tied.
Mr.. Williams, of Wisconsin, having in
quired why the Speaker did not now propose
to cut down the compensation of members,
was informed that whenever the gentleman
should make a proposition to that effect he
would find Mr.. Randall with him. 1t being the
duty of Mr.. Randalls Committee on ApprOpria-
tons to do this, and Mr.. Williams having virtu-
ally no sort of chance to get such proposition
before the House, it may occur to the reader
that Speaker Randall did not meet the ques-
ton as sqlarcly as he might But then it
must be borne in mind that this is Demo-
cratic Congress, and to expect Democrats to
reconcile their acts when in a minority with
what they do and say when they are in ma
iolity is simply absurd. 1t was very wrong
to remind Mr.. Randall of these offensive by
cones, or to Insinuate that he has been incon-
sistent As a matter of fact he has been per-
fectly consistent all the time. 1t was good
Democratic policy to load down the Republi-