Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-03-12

, hut there must be some mistake abou
t. for | do not remember that | gav'
any vote last winter upon any consri
tutional question"
mo, Colonel, there's no mistake
Though ] live b. re Ia the b,ckwood
md sel,iom 60 from home, / take the
papers from Washington and read very
rarefully all the proceedings of Con
yress. My papers say that last win
er you voted for bill to appropriate
$4,000 to some sufferers by FIRE in
Georgetown Is that true?"
Certainly it is, and | thought tina,
was the last vote for which any body in
The world would have found faul,
with
well. Colonel. where do you find
| 10 the Constitution any authority to
give away the public money in char
ity ?"
Here was another sockdolpger; for
when / began to think about it. Icould
not remember a thing in the Constitu-
tion that authorized it found that l
must take another tack, so l said:
"@ ell, my friend, l may as we'll
own up. You have got me there.
But certainly nobody will complain
that great and rich country like ours
should give the Insignificant sum of
$4,000 to relieve its suffering women
and children. particularly with q full
and overaowing Treasury, and am
sure, if you had been there, you would
have done just as did"
''It is not the amount, Colonel, that
| am complaining OF; it is the princi-
pie. In the first place. the Govern
ment ought to have in the Treasury no
more than enough for it's legitimate
purposes. But that has nothing to do
with the question The power of COL
lecting and disbursing money at pleas
ure is the most dangerous power that
can be entrusted to man, particularly
under our system of collecting revenue
by tariff which reaches every man iD
the country, no matter how poor he
may be, and the poorer he is the more
he paws in proportion to his means
What is worse it presses upon him
without his knowing where the
weight comes, for there is not man
ia the United States who can ever
guess what he pays to the Government
So you see that while you are contrib
utlng to relieve one you are drawing it
from thousands who are even worse
off than he. If you had the right to
give any thing the amount was simply
matter of discretion with you. and
you had as much right to give $40 000,-
900 as $50 600 If you have the right
to give to one you have the right to
give to all. and as the Constitution
neither defnes charity nor stipulates
the amount, you are at liberty to give
to any and everything which you may
believe, or profess to be'ieve, is char
ity, and to anv amount you may think
proper. You will very easily perceive
what wide door this would open for
fraud and corruption and favoritism. on
the one hand, and for robbing the peO-
pie on the other No. Colonel, Con-
gress has no right to give charity. In
dividuals may give as much oftheir own
money as they please, but they have
no right to touch dollar of the public
money for that purpose If twice as
many houses had been burned in this
county as in Georgetown neither you
or any other member of Congress
would have thought Of sppropriating q
dollar for our relief There are about
24O members of Congress. fthey had
shown their sy mpatLy for the sufferers
by contributing each one weeks pay it
would have made over $l3 600 There
are plenty of wealthy men in and around
Washington who could have given
$4,000 without depriving themselves
of even a luxury OF life The Congress
men chose to keep their own money,
which if reports be true, some of them
spent not very creditably; and the peo-
PIE about Washington, no doubt, ap-
plauded you for relieving them from
the necessity of giving by giving what
was not yours to give. The people
have delegated to Congress. by the
Constitution. G the power to do certain
things. To do these it is authorized
to collect and pay money, and for moth
ing else Everything beyond is usur-
patton and a violation OF the Constitu-
ton"
| have given you. continued Crock
EFT, an imperfect account Of what he
said Long before he was through l
was convinced that bad done wrong
He wound up by saying:
$50 you see. Colonel. you have vio-
lated the Constitution in what con-
slider vital point. 1t is precedent
fraught with danger to the country,
for when Congress once begins to
stretch its power beyond the limits of
the Constitution there is nc limit to it
and no security for the people. l have
no doubt you acted honestly, but that
does not make it any better, except as
far as you were personally concerned,
and you see that | cannot vote for
you"
tell you | felt streaked. l saw if l
should have opposition and this man
shouldgo to talking he would set others
to talking, and in that district | was q
gone. fawn-skin. could not answer
him. and the fact is was so fully con-
vinced that be was right l did not
want to- But must satisfy him, and
said To him:
We'll. my friend you hit the nail on
the head when you said | had not
sense enough to understand the Con-
stitution. intended to be guided by
it, and thought had studied it fully
have heard many speeches in Con.
gress about the powers OF Congress, bu,
what you have said here at your plow
has got more hard sound sense in it than
ali the fine speeches ever heard. If
had ever taken the view of it that yo1
have | would have put my head into
the fire before would have given thai
vote, and if you will forgive me and