Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-08-09
BOOTHMAN,S IDEA
OF REDUCING THE SURPLUS II
THE TREASURY,
Wants a Clerk TO Attend to His Con-
2 gressional Business!
A Pitiable Scheme to Impose Still
H' Higher Taxes on the People.
ivan wertTimes.)

Inc CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF January
18th, 1888, Vol. 10, No. 81, page sos and
following shows that upon a question
In the House of Representatives reIat-
| ing TO Clerks, there was an amend
ment offered, as follows: t.
Mr.. Perkins. ~ offer the amend-
ment which 1 send to the desk"
The Clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That each committee of
this House shall have as many clerks
as there are members upon the COM
mittee, one to be selected by each of
such members: Provided, That no
committee shall have more clerks than
IL has members: And provided further,
That the clerk selected by the chair
man of such committee shall be the
chief clerk of the same: And provided
further, That except as to the chief
lclerks, all clerks provided for herein
shall be paid at the rate of $75 per
month during the time Congress is in
session, from the House contingent
fund: And provided, That when a
member of this House Is member of
more than one committee such mem
ber shall have the right to name but
one clerk" 'i" ron
Thereupon Mr.. Boothman, our dis
tinguished representative, who is so
anxious to save money to the people of
this district overburdened with taxa
ton, spoke as follows:
Mr.. Boothman. "Mr. Speaker, had
| the pleasure Of supporting this meas
ure in the committee, although was
in the minority. stand here to-day
in the presence of this House to assume
the full responsibility of my action
there, and to answer to my constitu-
ents for that assumption. r
l think the central question here pre-
sented Is: Is this right in principle? If
1t is right in principle it ought to pre-
vail. If it Is not right, it ought to be
voted down. ..e..r ~ ~
Now, it was urged upon the floor of
this House q few days ago, when this
question was presented here In SINH
lar shape, that it was proposition in
the nature of salary grab. / am here,
sir, to dispute that In toto. 1t has no
more sembiance to q salary grab than
an old hat and atattered coat, stretched
cornield, resembles a man. Not bit
of it. scr IL f1.h e,.ai .,s.2 sal. -33s
i Let us see ifthis is to, add anything,
to the emOluments of Representative
upon the floor of this House. We find
the duties of Representative defined
In the Constitution and in the laws of
this commonwealth; and for the dis
charge of those duties, the duties oi
legislating upon those subjects, Repre-
sentatives are elected with the emolu-
ments which go with those duties and
none others. i % }t#s4
| Now there has grown up by process
of accretion, to the duties defined by
law attaching to the Office of Repre-
sentative, a great amount of detail that
In nowise comes in as part of the
legitimate duties of his Office. They
are duties which have grown up for the
accommodation of the people of his
district. Because these people are at
their homes and the Representative is
here, and it is so easy to call upon him
to get information for them, or to do
those things they desire to have done
here, he has got into the habit of doing
them as part of his duties. Now, the
people demand them as right, not
perhaps strict legal right, but because
the Representative is here and accom-
modating and has been in the habit of
doing so. This condition Of affairs has
SO grown until the duties not incum-
bent upon a Representative are greater
than the duties that he is compelled to
perform and that are incumbent upon
him by law. 1t is in my opinion false
economy that would keep him writing
letters, running to the departments,
and attending to such business, while
the greater public measures upon which
he Is called to act as q Representative
can receive no consideration at his
hands, because he can not possibly find
the time for that purpose. 1 say such
a system Is a saving ut the spiggot and
robblng at the bung. If it were other
on great appropriation bills they would
not be put off until the very close of
the session for the reason that no MEM
Der has time to consider them before.
| Now, the American people are not 30
stingy and so penuriOus, $50 cheese-para
ing In their economy. as to say they
will send men here and spend millions
of dollars for legislation and refuse
members of Congress the assistance of a
clerk at $75 month, whichwill enable
them to act maturely upon the meas
ures that come before them in connec-
ton with their public duties here. ''''
lam In favor of the amendment be-
cause 1t Is right In principle"
| And the record shows further: 81
The Clerk again read the amend
ment proposed by Mr.. Perkins. as
/ The question was taken: and there
were yeas "a, nays 1888, not voting H.,
Among the yeas were Boothman,
Romeis, Mckinley and other Republi-
cans, but the proposition was defeated
by Democrats In the interest Of econo-
my and with due regard to the rights Of
the people. We have given the record
as made by Mr.. Boothman. We ask
he,voters of the 9th district to consider
it carefully. The worst thing about
the resolution was as stated by Mr..
Tillman, that 1t is an indirect method
of increasing our salary, These clerks
would relieve us OF drudgery In frank
ing numerous worthless documents
and distributing seeds ofa questionable
value which we laboriously do in a
demagogical spirit and In rivalry to the
seed stores of the country.u 1t would
take out of the public treasury S15O, 900
annually, for the sole purpose Of allow
ing members o help to enrich them
selves at the expense of the tax payers,
and secure their reelection.
We know that persons all over the
District have received from Boothmapi
letters begging them to give him sonle-