The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-08-08

a stated salary OF $1,000 year. This is
what was termed "the salary grab Moth
ing could have been more unjust and unwar-
ranted by the Constitution The past ser
vices had been paid for at a compensation
fixed by law, and if Congress could add
$1,000 a year for the services of the passed
two years it could do the same thing for the
passed twenty years.
The amount of this salary grab of So 900 /
to each of 366 members of Congress comes to |
the sum of 1,S3O, 900 |
Addition TO the Presidents salary, $4,000 |
Addition TO the Judges of the SUI
preme Court ls,50o |
Addition to the Cabinet officers 14,OOo
Making the increase of these sala-
ries S1,SS1, 800
| Besides all this proportional increase was
| made in the salaries of the numerous clerks
and assistant clerks, Sergeant-a Arms, Door
keepers Assistant Doorkcepcrs, and the nu-
merous other officers and agents of the two
Houses of Congress, ,aggregating about sGO, 900
year. So that the increase of the expenses
alone created in 1871 and 1873, including
| the salaries of the Circuit Judges and the
clerks, etc, aggregated at least 1000, 600.
The compensation of the Senators and Rep
rcsentatives i'll Congress was for many years
IS per day and mileage. In 1857 it was made
$4,000 n year and mileage. In 1866 Re
publican majority in Congress and Rcpub-
ican President increased the compensation
of Senators and Representatives to $4,000
| Il ...,l.. AL I N.
saton was raised by Republican Congress
and President to 81, 500 year, with the re
troactive operation above mentioned for the
two preceding years of the Forty second Con-
gress. In 1874 the compensation of members
ot Congress was restored to $4,000 year
each, as it had been fixed in the law of 1866.
For many years the annual compensation
of the Judges OF the Supreme Court of the
United States was "a, 500 and the Chief JUS
,ice $1,000. This covered the time of Chief
Justice Marshall and Chief Justice Taney
In 1867 this compensation was increased to
$4,000 year each for the Judges and :6, 500
for the Chief Justice. In 1871 the compensa-
tion of the Judges was made SIS, 600 a year
each and the Chief Justice SIS, 800. At the
same time nine Circuit Judges We're created,
with salaries at 500 each, aggregating
s54, 600 year. And the Judges of
the Supreme Court Were relieved from the
necessity of circuit duty, with the under
standing that they We're to devote all their
r time to clearing OIL the docket in the Supreme
II Court, which was three years behind. And
when the salary grab law" was enacted by
: n Republican Congress and President the
= salaries of the Judges of the Supreme Court
5 were raised TO $4,000 a year each, and that
u of the Chief Justice to $40, 800; and vet the
+. Judges give no more of their time to clearing
+ oil their docket or doing the business of that
d Court than when their salaries were "a, 800 a
" year, as above, and the docket of that court
is about as much behind now as before the
salaries were raised at all. The increase
of the salaries of the Judges of the
y, Supreme Court has enabled them to live
he in greater affluence and luxury, to partci
't pate more largely in the excessive dining and
wining of Washington, (Which has not Gle; red
~ their intelleos for legal investigation,) and
N to make pleasure trips to Europe, and Il
=, spend their summers in luxuriating at the
~ public watering places This is simple trutl
unvarnished,
1t The salary Of the President was increased
to $50 900 year without the slightest re
n duction in the expenses of the Executiv,
Ia Mansion. When the salary of the Prcsiden
:. was fixed at $2j, 900 year the expenses o
y the Executive Mansion We're comparativel,
small, but they have gradually grown unit
N they now exceed s75, 900 year. besides th
o. Presidents salary, and one year OF Genera
u. Grants administration the expenses of th
:. Executive Mansion We're estimated to excce,
III $40, 900, as the public records will show
~ With the enormous expenses of the Executv
IN Mansion kept up for the use Of the President
n that officer would be- the most highly compen
rs sated officer in the country, if his salary wer'
only $4,000 year. The salary was mad
~, $50, 700 u year Just tho day before Genera
e., Grants second term commenced, and he la,
L the benefit of it, and thus, by aiding himscl
~. in the enactment, lac put 500, 900 into hi
/ own pocket as his salary merely during hi
:, last term. This is Republican economy
y, The expenses of the Presidents House a
H.. 375, 600 year and his salary OF $50, 600 max
4, the Presidential office cost the country Sl25,
., 600 year under Republican rule. This
20, together with the large donations and subsi
a dies which are being constantly made TO la
=. President and his family by the men of larg
y. wealth seekingto to control political power am
- appointments to Office, is sufficient TO pampe
= a spirit of imperialism in the Chief Magi3
40 tracy of the United States. How dileren
T., this from the elevated example OF Washing
II, J ington lie declined absolutely to receiy
Il, any salary, simply requiring the payment {
:; his necessary expenses, Of which lac had
40 daily account kept His idea was that th
L.. Presidency should never be sought for irol
r,l motives of cupidity. Such was the elevate
purity OF his bearing and patriotic devotio
to the country that he could not have az
cepted Of any salary without sense of sci
no. degradation. How wofully have our publ
ent men degenerated from Washington stand
~, ard
the such also were the views Of DR.. Franklin
In the Constitutional Convention he propose
We as substitute for the provision az TO IL
i'll compensation Of the President that his ne
IS. essary expenses should be betrayed, but thi
an lac should receive no salary, stipend, fee,
he reward whatsoever for his services. III
=" was Washington plan, which he inculeat'
he by his own example. Dr. Franklin, in su
IN, porting his proposition, argued that ambitiC
ier and cupdity-" the love of power and II
Z" love Of money were the rocks upC