Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1884-01-13
THE COST OF CONGRESS-.
The Funeral Expenses of Representa-.
tives-ApOllinaris Water, Matches,
Cuffs and Collars Among the Items-A
Very Expensive Luxury.

WASHINGTON, January 1l.-H anybody
thinks it doesn't cost much to run Con-
gress let him at once dismiss that idea. At
least he would be likely to do so should he
be permitted the opportunity OF reading the
expense accounts of one. The annual re-
port Of the clerk of the House, Mr.. Me-
Pherson, has just been put into print. 1t
shows some interesting facts about the.
cost OF great machine like the House
of Representatives, and some rather
unexpected ones. Who would have
supposed, for instance, that it costs
several thousand dollars year to wash
the towels that are used in the
bath and wash-rooms? Yet it does, ac-
cording to this report. Take the month
OF July, for instance. The clerk certified
that in July, 1882, he paid for washing
seven dozen towels for the House and its
employees alone over 10000 towels for the
month, or nearly 800 a day, during the
days in which there were sessions. The
cost OF this trifiing service was nearly
$500. the rate paid being fifty cents per
dozen. Adding to this the Senate list, it
il easy to see that the figures run well up
into the thousand in the year. Funerals,
too, are very expensive luxuries.
1t costs, as appears from the report OF
Clerk Mcpherson, over $4,000 to bury a
Congressman, about $1,000 in some cases.
Take for instance the funeral of Congress-
man Hawk, of Illinois. 1t so happened
that among the men chosen to attend his
remains home several were home and had
to be sent for. 1t cost $50 to get them
here, one item of this bill being SO as
railroad fare for J. A, Logan, though
it is distinctly remembered that it
was announced that Senator Logan was
with him at the moment of his death, and
was indeed the first one to discover that
he was dying. The next item of expense
in this funeral was zone dozen matches,
fifty cents" Then follow these items
Seven cases of Apollinaris water and two
cases Bethesda, $63 50, which very much
suggests 'wake" in a very mild sense,
especially when you add to it a suspicious
item of ''suEdry expenses not included in
the above, S53 q"
The casket which the gentlemanly I'M
dertaker mentioned i'll his bill as the very
finest, cost Sl25, and the plain box or case
which lnclosed it is charged up at SIS.
The silver plate, with name, was S1S, and
the cost of twenty-four silk sashes was
only $40. Ten dollars apiece for silk
sashes is very little when you feel real
sad, though why this same item should
come in for every funeral during the
entire Congress is just a little diff
cult to understand. In nearly every
one OF the eight or ten funerals
occurring during the existence of the
| last Congress, there is an expense account
of from 500 to $3.50 for "silk sashes," ;"
| making the total item for this item OF the
Congressional funerals from $1,000 to $1,000,
and causing the query what becomes Of
them every time. Then there is another
item OF some interest in kid gloves. In
this particular funeral il was rather small
the number of black kid gloves purchased
being only torty-two pairs, though how
even so many as this could have been
| needed is something of a question.
However, the list in this case is
so modest as compared with 9TH
ers, that it passes with little COM
ment. At the funeral of Congressman
Shackleford, which occurred few months
later, the number of kid gloves purchased
seems to have been lis pairs. Among
| the other curious items OF the Hawk fu-
| neral are 81 90 for satin ties, cuffs, collars,
studs, etc. Whether for the members
| who accompanied the remains or other
wise does not appear. Then there is
| another curious item of 81 for an ice-pick,
hatchet and towels. The cost of a prop
erly conducted funeral, including the
| sashes, gloves, meals, lunches, railroad
fare, Apollinaris, ice-picks and "miscel-
laneous,' seems to have been trihe over
$4,000, or say S25,0 for the members of
| last Congress who died during their term
OF office. This is, however, a great deal
cheaper than contests of elections, as a
single one Of these costs as much as all
| the funerals of the two years.
There are some other queer items OF ex-
pense. Take, for instance, the folding
room" where the members manufacture
| political capital by having tons OF their
| speeches sent out broadcast over the
| country. The cost Of paste alone, with
| which to have the wrappers sealed about
| these and other documents, was overSlOOO
| ayear. A dollar bucket was the good
| round price paid, and there were over
1000 buckets of it. In the stationery
room there was the usual queer collec-
| ton OF articles which the members
might draw and have charged as ''sta-
| tionery," the cost to come out of the an
nual allowance of Sl25 to each for station
| cry. Among these articles thus furnished
were lot of photograph albums, dozens
and dozens OF "reticules," several court
plaster cases, probably intended for use
after personal encounters on the floor OF
the House during heated debates, "a number
of belts, whether for prize-fghters OF
baseball-players is not noted, several
dozen pocket necessaries," fans, opera,
volumes OF Shakespeare, Science o,
| Politics, H'dlker's Political Economg
etc. Yet with all this tempt.
| ing array some of the members
scorned the stattonery-ropm. The Hon
| Abe Hewitt only drew SO worth of stuff
from it in the year, and the Hon. William
d. Kelley, better known perhaps as "Pig.
Iron Kelley only drew about the same
sum from the treasurer of this storehouse
On the other hand, Tranquiline Luna, the
delegate from New Mexico, TRANQUILITY
drew 1924 Is worth of his S125 allowance,
and several others ran pretty close to the
margin.
1t may be interesting to add that the
salaries of the members of Congress now
amount alone to over s., ,O00, 900 a wear,