Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-07-15
Cost OF u Congressional Funeral.


al OF Hon. ID. G. Haskell, who died |
in Washington early in 1884, while |
representing the Second Kansas Dis
trict in Congress, has just been made /
public. And as it shows a reckless /
ness in the expenditure of public
funds almost, if not quite, without a
parallel, we shall make no apology
tor devotIng little space to its anal |
ysis. First, embalming the body, |
cost Of casket, hearse and incidental
expenses in placing the corpse aboard
the car at Washington, .s662; the
cost of the car through to Lawrence,
Kan, $29. making S691.40. This
does not seem SO unreasonably ex-
travagant, considering that the de-
ceased was a distinguished and hon.
ored citizen. But now advert: The
rental of the palace car for the use of
the committee of eighteen escorting
the remains, was 1925; eighteen
tickets for the round trip cost ST.
265.40, making $l,590.40 besides
S202,06 paid Wormly for lunches for
the trip and services, which added to
other meals, costing Sl97, foot up the
neat little sum of S1,9S946. We
call this pretty high living for plain
citizens at funeral. We wonder if
the committee had no wine or liquors
Of any kind! Heretofore, on sad
Journeys of this character, committees
included the drink bills. Have the
times so changed that honorable"
men, high servants of the people,
find it necessary tc forego the men
ton of the most important and indis-
pensible item on their bill of fare and
place liquor under the glittering gen.
eralities of a fictitious heading, lest
their pious protestations against
drunkenness Among those occupying
positions of honor and trust be
brought into question? All! read be,
tween the lines, as it were. What
means the ''lunch bill of S202.0G
above alluded to- Or this: cash
paid E. r. Smith S3O?" Why did
they not put it John Smith," so that
the reader could at once have com.
pretended their meaning? Their
again, what means this entry: ''Ex
pense account from Indianapolis tt
J Washington S43.37?" Likewise this
Expenses James n. Burnes, mem
, Der of escort, travel, &c, $40? On,
: would think that Mr.. Burnes' wants
could have been supplied out of th'
| ample provision mentioned in the ex
l pense account to which allusion ha
been made.
+! Can Mr.. Burnes face the people o
Missouri and explain the cost of tina
D trip-not the funeral, that had bu
t little to do with it-can he justify th
0 extravaganza of that trip to a peopl
0 whose suffrage he Graves as an aspi
rant for the United States Senate
e Does it become Mr.. Burnes or an
0 other American citizen, reared in tn
f common walks of life to make th
= funeral of fellow Congressman th
occasion to go junketing and gol
mandizing, flying over his own Stat
O in palace car, ''gloved" and veal
: ing an So SASH at public -expens'
like prince to the manor born2
" Was Mr.. Burns master of ceremt
e MES tha. he should have put in an e,
,. ira bill for '.SI5?" II so, he woul
J. do the people of Missouri a favor b
u explaining why an escort of eightee
J. persons in a special "palace car wf
sent with the remains of the lamente
o. Haskell instead of two or three on
regular passenger train. Such s
IF called ''funeral' is travesty upC
the solemn rights due the honor'
r dead and a palpable disgrace alike
Democracy and the ennobling Sit
10 plicity of American citizenship.
ne The whole cost of the funeral W
H. S3, 45,0S.-Clarksville Sentinel.