The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-04-14
Philadelphia 7 mas.
Tom Ochiltrce's Salary.

prov allCu ONCI INC ldW, inc Ou1IS
and the uniform practice of the
government, and lac is now to be
paid his salary as a Congressman,
Notwithstanding the fact that he
more than paid himself an entire
years salary in advance as an en-
bczzler or detaulter while acting as
u revenue officer some years ago.
Tom is what Artemus Ward would
call ian amoosin' cuss" i'll states
manslnp. lie is i free and easy,
go-as-you-please, peripatetlc pollti-
clan who believes in office as the
divine right OF the faithful, and has
a tervent contempt for all account
ability in public affairs, beyond
obedience to the party. In the
halcyon days of Grant he very nat
urally became q revenue officer,
and he found it much more conve-
nicnt to withhold about ST, 500 of
public money than to pay it over
to the government. the govern
ment obtained "a Judgment against
the gUldeh-haired and iree-landed
revenue officer Tor the sum /; but
Tom did Int bother about it; the
government didn't bother about II,
ami it's probable that Tom sure
ties were OF the class that doesn't
bother about government ludg-
mentS in the civil courts.
But i'll the lullness OF time tho
go!dcn-ripped orator and statesman
OF Texas turns up rs y Congress
m%an-elect, and when the Ain Of
March came around, Tom longed
Tor the monthly stipend OF $4I7
that Is due and pays bic to Con
gresomcn. Then the old govern
ment Judgment stared Tom in the
face and brought him to bay. 1he
law expressly says that 10 money
shall be P&ld to any person tor hls
compensation who is in arrears TO
the UOited States; the Supreme
Court have affirmed the law ; the
Court of Claims have affirmed the
law ; the accounting officers OF the
government have uniformly enforc-
ed it; but Tom doesn t care torlaw,
orcOdrts Or governinentprccedent
and he presented himself at tie
Treasury counter armed with lib
u%ndispulcd certificate us ii iaw-ma-
ker and demanded lis SILL. Nith
MIN were two Territorial Delegates
who, like Tom, are short in their
accounts DIS Territorial government
officials, and they have made com
mon cause with him but they have
no votes in Congress, and Tom has
got away with the swag over law,
courts and immemorlaI custom,
while the poor devils who are only
brevet congressman have been
compelled to sett e.
Judge Lawrence, First Comp
troller of the Treasury, is the new
legal lIgnt who now for the first
time bursts upon the country and
upsets the plain provisions Of the
law, the emphatic decisions of the
Supreme Court, the unbroken
practice of thegovcrument and tie
common honesty that requires q
public officer to deal with the gov
eminent in the SAM spirit of JUS
tiIe that is enforced and enforcible
between man and man. And upon
what prcteXt does he rest his deci-
SION tIat reverses every authority
he is bound to obey lie finds in
the Constitution that Congressman
"shall seceive a compensation for
their services to be a|scertained by
law and paid out OF the Treasury
OF u e Unit d States" and he in
Slsts that Tom must DC paid or he
may he hihdcred from serving as a
lawmakcr, while &c turns the non
voting Territorial Delegates out in
the cold because the Constitution
fails to mention them. Did not
Congress know OF the Constitution
when ii enacted the law that stops
the salary Of dvfaulting officers (
Did not the Supreme court know
OF the Constitution when il decided
that the law must be enforced Z
DID not the Court of Claims know
oil the Constitution when it eniorc-
cd the statute ana is not Comp
troiIer Lawrence bound 20 obey the
law rs interpreted by tie supreme
(oart! No ouiy does Comptroller
Lawrence defy the law ana reverse
thu Supreme Court, but he gives
the llunsiest protest for lis udg
men,. The Constitution clearly
comempiates that Io.r Ochiitreo
sla!l be pald rs a Congressman.
butu doesu t intcAd that he shall
embclzle his salary hr-t AS a royu-
ME officer and then collect it see
md tu.