Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-03


his name will be always and most gratefully
connected But this set of questions is SO varied
so big and so unknown, that shall return to it,
Ike the American voter to the ballot box,
early and often" HENRY NORMAN.
PAY CONGRESSMAN DRAW.
Some Who Leave Cash Balances and
Others Who Can't Afford 1t.
SPEAKER REED. Ex-sPEAKEn CARLISLE AND OTHERS
CREDITED WITH ovERDRAFTs OF wAaEs-No
MORE SUCH TO BE PERMIrTED-How IT is DONE
ON THE SENATE SIDE.
check bearing the signature of Congress-
man of national reputation, drawn on the office
of the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Repre-
sentatives, was dishonored by that functionary
one day last week. The reason for this WAS SO
STAR reporter was informed. that the check,
if cashed. would have overdrawn the states
mans balance by ~ cents. That will give a
notion of the strictness of business methods
nowadays in this disbursing agency, which,
under the system hitherto in operation, was a
sort Of money-lending and understanding con-
Germ.
Fresh information, obtained from the office
OF the sergeant-at-arms, shows that at the time
OF Sllcotts recent elopement with congressional
funds nine Representatives had overdrawn
their pay. At the head of the list is no less a
parsonage than Thomas B. Reed. the present
speaker OF the House. 1t must be said. how
ever, that the 81 ,934 put down against him as
an overdraft Is only apparently such. You see,
whereas an ordinary member receives only
$4,000 salary, the speaker gets $4,000, and when
Mr. Reed was elected to the chair December
last he became on that day entitled to the extra
$4,000 rate from the preceding March 4, when
the previous Speakers term ended and his own
altk IL, =
knew it. Thus, on December 2, Mr. Reed
found himself suddenly entitled to about 81. 200
back pay. of which he promptly drew, for
Christmas money, 81, 1874, and this amount WAS
put down for some technical reason as an
overdraft.
At the time Of the defalcation ex-Speaker ].
G. Carlisle and w. S. Forman of Illinois had
each obtained months pay in advance. l..
q. Houk OF Tennessee had got 1885. 80 in ad-
vance, and H. p. Cheatham of North Carolina
200. Likewise G. L. Adams of Illinois was
80 in arrears. o. s. Clifford of South Dakota
owed IS, while w. H. F. Lee of Virginia and
J. s. Corthran Of South Carolina were each 81 in
debt. There is no objection to mentioning these
facts. for the sake Of illustration, because they
are published in public document just issued.
UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM.
The last three overdrafts in this list were
evidently accidental; the others were secured
by notes of hand. But the money-lending bust
ness proper Of the sergeant-at-arms under the
old system was something apart from this and
was carried on upon an extensive scale. II
wanted money he went to the
dIsbursing official and said so. The sergeant-at-
arms would go to a bank and borrow the sum
required at a low rate of interest, lending it
subsequently to the Congressman at the mod
crate charge of or per cent interest for the
two or three months the cash was wanted for
Turned over in this way money might be made
to yield anywhere from Is to % per cent year.
1t was no unusual thing for the sergeant-at-
arms to lend responsible Represen tative
$4,000 in lump or the equivalent of two
years salary in advance, at annual rate of
10 per cent. The debt was secured in each
such case by life-insurance policy for twice
the sum borrowed. If the member lived, the
money was repaid; il he died, the lende.
doubled his investment and was partially con-
soled for the bereavement Loss could only
occur when member resigned This happened
twice during the administration of the late
sergeant-at-arms; once he lost 5000 and the
other time $500. An unpaid note of his own
for 81, 100 is now lying in the big safe of his
former Office hopefully awaiting redemption.
ONLY BY THE MONTH now
But no longor is it possible for a newly
elected member to come to Washington and
by dicket with the sergeant-at-arms. obtain
his entire pay for one Congress in advance. He
can only draw it now at the unsatisfactory slow
draw or get in advance, and if he wants TO Dor
row he has to try what his personal credit is
worth at an ordinary bank. This must neces-
sarily be often embarrassing, inasmuch as
nine-tenths of the Representatives rarely have
Il penny ahead and always keep their pay
drawn bang up" The remaining few have
balances running usually, against which they
check as with any other bank account; the Of
flee of the sergeant-atarms is bank and is
fitted up just like one. Each year 1850, 900
passes through it.
SOME WHO KEEP BALANCES.
Among those who always have considerable
money balances in the hands of the sergeant
alarms are Gambler of Massachusetts. Blount
of Georgia. Walker of Massachusetts,, Geissen-
bainer of New Jersey, Darlington of pennsyl-
vanla and C!unie of California. As rule.
however, the biggest cash deposit of all is kept
by Hit of Illinois. When Silcott ran away
Hit had balance in his hands of S5O33. At
the same time and through the same defaIca-
ton X. q. Mills of Texas lost 81, 529 that was on
deposit Catchings of Mississippi was out
S2,O4l. Smith of Arizona. S4,652; Taylor
OF Illinois 1884; Boutel!e CT Maine, Sl.503;
Clark of Wisconsin, 80. 33i; Herman of Ore
gon, 80. 400 Carey of Wyoming, Sl.9ll: Rowell
of Illinois, 1889; Buckalew OF Pennsylvania.
Sl,667; Belden of New York, $1,5S6, Connell of
Nebraska, 1884; Oates of Alabama. Sl.254.
and Laws of Nebraska, S1,05S. These were the
largest balances, and of course the amounts
nave DeeH relunueu by the passage OF the Dill
making good the sum stolen by the cashier.
There was good deal of talk for a while by
gentlemen who had opposed the bill to the
effect that they would dccliue such unjust"
reimbursement; but, somehow, they are pretty
nearly all struggling into the sergeant alarms
Office to get their little shares and it does not
seem likely that more than three or four at the
most will abstain altogether from the cash.
The really poor men IN Congress are to be
found mostly on the democratic side. South
ern members are, as rule, anything but well
off. At the close of the war hardly one of
them had cent and in that section there has
not been time for the building OF fortunes since
then. The leaders of their party-Carlisle
Breckenridge of Kentucky. and Wilson of West
Virginia-are not in position financially to
keep balances OF any size with the sergeant-at-
arms However, the same may be SAID of Bur-
rows of Michigan and Henderson of Iowa,
leaders on the republican side of the House.
on THE SENATE SIDE
As for the Senate, its financial affairs are
managed not by the sergeant-at-arms of the
Senate at all, but by the Senate's secretary.
Gen. McCook, who disburses salaries and paws
all expenses, including bills for castor oil. car
tickets, hair tonic, sponges, powder puffs,
lemons by the box, Apollinaris by the gross of
bottles and sugar by the hundredweight for
senatorial consumption. Senator Stanford of
California draws his salary of $1,000
in more eccentric way than does
any other Congressman He makes
latter receives the Senator's $4l6 monthly
from Gen. McCook. There are eleven
other milionaires in the Senate who
could afford to be as liberal, but they
don't choose to be SO in that way. Among those
who always have considerable balance in Gen.