Omaha daily bee., 1880-06-15

salaries in every form and at every
stage. But, when the amendment
was tackled on in spite of him, he
voted for the whole bill, as chairman
OF the appropriations committee, be-
ing in charge Of it himself. In a
speech in the house December 9, 1873,
MIR. Wilson, of Indiana, said on this
subject:
is matters not how many years Of
faithful service had been devoted to
the country, nor how exalted a char
acter for integrity had been builded
up, this one act has been deemed an
objectionable crime. My distinguish
ed friend from Ohio (Mr. Garfeld),
who struggled against 1t until in q
conference report which he had resis-
ted to the last it was brought before
the house attached one of the most
important appropriation, and then as
all of US who are famil'a ar with the
facts mostconfdently believe land it is
but justice to him to say so here) vo-
ted for it in the conscientious dis.
charge of his duty to his country, has
Jared no better than any n else.
MIR. Garfield was mi of the first
members of congress to return the
back pay, and the most earnest advo-
cate of the bill repeating the increase.
Speaking in reply to Alexander
Stephens, who advocated still high.r
salaries, Mr.. Garfield said:
One cf the brightest and greatest
men | know in this nation, aman who,
perhaps, has done as much for its in
tellectual life as any other, told me not
many months ago that he had made it
the rule of his life to abandon any in.
tellectual pursuit the moment it be-
came commercially valuable; that
others would utilize what he had dis
covered; that his field of work was
above the line of commercial values,
and when he brought down the great
truths of science from the upper nights
to the level of commercial values, a
thousand hands would be ready to
take them and make them valuable in
the markets Of the world.
A voice-Tho was he2
Mr.. Gar6eld-It wal AgassIz. He
entered upon his great career, not for
the salary it gave him, for that wa
meagre compared with thu pay of those
in the lower walks of life; but he fol.
lowed tie promptings of his great ma
ture and worked for the love of truth
and FIR tho instruction of mankind,
Something CT this spirit has pervaded
the lives of great men who did so
much to build up and maintain our
republican institutions. And this
spirit il, in my judgment, higher and
worthier than that which the g-ntle.
man from Georgia (Mr. Stephens) has
described. To come Immediately to
the question before us, I join in no
examinations against thoss who used
the right to cote and act differently from
myself on this subject. But when the
public says to me, and to those associ.
ated with me, that we have, under
constitutional law, given ourselves
more pay than that public is willing
to grant us, it would be indelicate and
indecent in us on such a question to
resist the public opinion.
Intelligent readers may Judge
whether Mr. Garfield in this speech
exhibited the spirit Of a salary grab.
Der or a sordid politician. BE spoke
al he has acted all his life
through. BE has not been a money.
maker. He has not made money.
Spite of his great abilities as a law
yer and a literary man, he Is one Of
the poorest public men in the nation,
and at the same time one Of the most
industrious and temperate.