Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-03-08
cabin somewhere in the Sierra Nevada
PAY OF LEGISLATORS.


PAY OF LEGISLATORS.
What 1t Is Worth to Manage the TIA
chinery of a State.
When one looks over the pay-tables of tn,
different Legislatures, he is tempted t.
wonder why the wide discrepancies tina
exist have not already been made the cause
for the formation of grand "Nationa
Trades Union of Legislators" which vii
insist on uniform prices for all classes O.
work, with regulation as to how mucl
shall constitute days labor, allowance fol
overtime and double Ipay for Sunday anG
night-work, says the National Tribans.
For example, California thinks her Legs
lators earn IS day, with 10 cents mile fol
! travelling expenses, and s25 thrown in for e
bonus. This is the highest price per day
! paid by any State for this kind Of service
/ but then California is a high-priced State il
every way, including just now her rea
estate around Los Angeles. She has 12(
! Senators and Representative, and she pro
vides that they must do 90 days work each
year.
| At the other extreme stands Rhode Island
which has 10S Senators and Representa-
tives, whom she pays less than diggers and
shovelers on a railroad grade. Their sti.
pend is but 81 day, and s cents mile
age. AS the State is only 4715 miles long
by 40 broad, there is no chance to get in
any "gouge" on this item, by taking a
roundabout course to the capital. In fact,
the Legislator may be said to be as directly
under the eye of his watchful constituents
from the moment he lleaves home until he
takes his seat at Newport or Providence as
a boy is when his mother sends him to the
spring. There is no Eslit to the length OF
the session, doubtless because the Rhode
Islanders are reasonably sure that a man is
not going to hang around the State House
at 81 day any longer than he can help,
when he can get twice as much for workin 9
in c0tton-nill.
Alabama has 1873 Legislators, whom she
pays 81 day for so days, and 10 cents mile
age. is unnecessary to state that they
put In every one Of the so days allowed, and
likewise every mile between their homes
and Montgomery.
Arkansas pays her 124 Legislators sc q
day for 60 days, and every one of them puts
II for the entire 1850 at the close of each
session. Colorado has small Legislature
only 20 Senators and 80 Representatives,
whom she pays 81 day, and Is cents mile
days
Connecticut rclmburses her Solons in the
same moderate scale as Rhode Island, al
lowing them $500 year and mileage. As
she pays them by the year she does not care
how long they sit, and makes no limit to the
sessions Like the rest of the New England
States she has big Legislatures a Sena-
tors and 249 Representatives. Little Della
ware has Q Senators and 20 Representatives,
whom she pays 50 day and lets them sit
as long as they please
Florida has 10S Legislators, whom she lets
sit 60 days at Sc a day, with 10 cents mile
for travelling expenses. Georgia, which lies
alongside of her, thinks she can get good
enough Lawmakers for 81 a day, and only
allows them 40-days' job at that
Illinois permits her Legislators to sit as
long as they want to at 50 day, with 10
cents mileage, aul q BONUS of $50 In
diana seems to think she must have superb
or talent at Indianapolis than is assembled
at Springfield, and pays her men So day,
bat only allows them to sit 80 days. They
get twice as much mileage as the Illinois
ians, though it should cost no more to travel
in one State than the other.
Iowa has $50 Legislators, and they must
DO all the law-rnaking they 90 for $3.50
year, without mileage. Kansas thinks she
can get good enough men for all practical
purposes for So day and Is cents mileage.
Kentucky pays l3S Legislators So day for
60 days, and allows them Is cents mile.
LOuisiana'S 134 Legislators sit 60 days at II
q day, with mileage Maryland's % Sena-
tors and 81 representatives get So day for
90 days, and mileage at the rate OF Is cents.
Massachusetts, pays her General Court
800 a year, and allows them 20 cents a mile
to raise them above the temptation of free
passes. She has 10 Senators and 240 Repre-
seRtatives. Michigan gets very good laws
made for 50 Z daY, with 10 cents mileage.
Minnesota pays So day and IL cents mile
age. She has 80 Legislators, and the ses-
sicns are 60 days long. Mississippi hires
100 lawmakers at 500 q year. Missouri
gives job 20 days long TO Ia men at IS
day, and 10 cents mileage, with bonus of
$50. Nebraska cuts the session down to 10
days, and then only pays her assembled
wisdom there are 1873 heads in it, 80
day, with 10 cents mile for railroad tickets
and lunches. Nevada has only GO men, and
they can legislate enough in 90 days for
her &c, 600 people. They get 81 a day While
ct work, and 80 cents mile going and CON-
ing. New Hampshire has the largest Leg
islature, containing 3+o members, and pays
them So day. New Jersey has 81 and pays
them $500 year. New York pays 81 SEN
ators and Us Assemblymen $500 year,
and 10 cents q mile.
North Carolina gathers 10 brainy "Tar
Heels at Raleigh for 90 days on the induce
ment of "a a day and 10 cents mile. Ohio /,
thinks that $500 year, with u cents mile |
age, Is fair recompsase for the IA men who 4
gather at Columbus to wrestle with the /.
question and regulate State Ia /.
stitutions. Oregon is ruled by 80 men, who
get So day and 10 cents mileage. Peansyl- !
vania pays her 25l the same as New York !
S 800 year. but cuts their mileage down !
to cents. South Carolina has l59, whom /
she pays IS days, with ten cents mile fox /
riding over her rlclzety, earthguake-shaken !
roads. Tennessee has 132, whom she paws !
a day for IS days, and IS cents mileage |
Vermont pays IS q day TO go men for 80 |
days, and they must travel at their own ex-
pense Virginia pays 40 men $40 a year
for 90 days work, and 10 cents mileage.
West Virginia gets along with i5-day ses- /
sions, for which she pays 81 men 81 day
and 10 cents mileage. Wisconsin's Legisla-
ture has 1913 members, who get $500 q year,
with 10 cents mileage.
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