St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-10
DRAWING DOUBLE SALARIES,


The attempts of some Republican
newspapers to make political capital
out of the fact that Gen. SickleS is VIC
lating the federal law fixing the COM
penSation of public officials looks very
much like straining at gnat and
swallowing a camel. Gen. Sickles is
retired major general of the army, and
Is drawing pay as such. He is also a
member of congress from New York
city. and draws $1,000 year in salary,
besides mileage and other perquisIteS,
for his services in the house of repre-
sentatives. This. it is claimed, is in
violation of the law which provides
that no person can hold two offices in
the service of the government at the
same time.
Opinions differ as to whether an Off
Ger on the retired list OF the army is an
officer within the meaning of the law or
not. 1t is true that he draws pay from
the government, but this pay is in the
nature of a pension for past services.
lie is also subject to call TO active serv-
ice i'll cases of emergency; but such
emergencies are not likely to arise, and,
il the necessity should come, nine
tenthS Of the retired officers of the army
would be found incapable of perform
ing efficient service because of their adj
vanced years and physical infirmities.
Retirement of an officer is not discharge,
although the effects of retirement and
discharge are practically the same, as
both remove the officer from active
duty. A retirement is simply a sus-
pension from active duty on reduced
pay; discharge is the absolute sever
ance of relations with the army withoat
pay. The retired officer. however, is
simply an officer de jure, not an officer
de factO, and is in no sense debarred
from engaging in other occupations,
mechanical, commercial or professional.
Indeed, TO compel him to abstain from
all employment would be to infiict hard
ship upon him, for his retired pay is
frequently insufficient to support him in
comfort during his declining years. 1t
is not the intent of the law to cause
such hardship.
The question of Gen. Sickles' right to
seat in congress while holding rank
and drawing pay on the retired list of
the army has been decided in his favor
by a Republican administration, and
this ought to settle the matter. But the
partisan newspapers are continually
harping on the facts as an evidence of
his disregard of the law. Perhaps they
would do well to make an inspection of
the ranks of their own party for paral-
lei cases. If they did so, they would
find that Senator Henderson, multi
| millionaire. is in receipt of large pen
sion for his army services; that he drew
as back pension more than $4,000 in a
lump. and, although occupying seat in
the senate. is today on the list of the
totally disabled" He, as we'll as Gen.
Sickles, is drawing double pay from the
government; and if the one-legged vet
eran from New York is not entitled to
his pension while acting as congress-
man, neither is the able-bodied senator
from Nebraska entitled to hold a seat
in the senate and to draw pension at
| the same time.
The truth is that the law relating to
the holding OF two Offices of trust and
emolument under the United States
and drawing compensation on two diff
fereht accounts does not apply to the
cases of either Congressman Sickies or
Senator Mandersno- They are both