Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-10-05

official reporters of debates ..... 25,OCO
Expenses of Congressional library.... $4,000
Expenses of botanic garden.......... 1880
Expenses of capitol police. ....... $4,000
Expenses for both houses. ............St .O.61s
This does not include $4,000 appro-
priated by the two houses jointly for
the salary OF the Public Printer and
his clerks and the miscellaneous ex.
penses of the Public Printers Office,
nor does it include the enormous ex-
pense of printing the public documents,
the Congressional Record, and all man
ner of public printing ordered by Com
gress. There are thousands of people
employed in the printing office of
whom it is impossible to get any rec
ord. They are employed on piece
what will be needed to pay them.
There is not a department. of the
government that does not include in
its estimates a smaller or greater
amount for the printing of it's own de-
partment, and that brings up the cost
of the printing bureau TO figures which
it would be impossible to follow out.
Great Expense for Clerks.
The grossest iten in the Senate and
House bin of expense are the charges
for clerk hire. 1t long ago iecame q
byword that there often We're moro
employers chairs than there were Sem
ators. 1t is true. When Senators feel
that they can afford to appoint their
sons, their brothers, their brothers-in-
law and amy other male members of
their family to act as their secretary
and draw the pitiful $40 q month,
they ought not to be ashamed of
their presence on the floor, and
perhaps they are no.. There are
Senator'S and many of them who
have not only placed their sons on the
p%ay-rolls. but who have installed wives
and daughter, as their private secre-
taries and stenographers, thus keeping
the mount allowed for clerk hire all
ors who have thus provided for their
dependents are those best known to
the country as leaders. There is no
way of getting at the anne Of the
people who draw those salaries, but it
is an open secret that fully one-half
the Senators have their sons or some
member OF their family on the pay
roll. Perhaps nobody should blame
the Senator'S of either party for thus
aiding in the support of their depend
ents, for they have an illlstrious exam
pie N the Vice President of the United
States, whose first Official act after
taking oath was to appoint his son his
private secretary.
While the House of Representatives
is in a general way more costly than
uted to its create. membership, but
the House is learning fast. For years
it has been trying to have q corps Of
clerks, one for each member, like those
appointed by the Senate. 1t Is only
within the past year that the Senate
would con ent to this, but finally
through means of a deal it was accom-
plished. 1t is the costliest innovation
that the House has made in It's ex-
penses in many years. 1t involves, in
fact. so much money that every method
of Disgusting the real expenditure is
employed. There are 36J members of
the House, OF whom about 100, not be-
ing chairmen o. committees. are en-
the new rule each member. not chair
man, is entitled to 500 per month dur
ing the session for clerk hire. Care
was taken in the wording Of the reso-
luton that the members shall not up.
point q clerk to draw that salary, but
that he should draw that sum him
self ard use it as he sees fit in hiring
clerical help. This serves q double
purpose. First it keeps a lot Of names
off the payroll, where it is not desir.
able to have them. and again, il Con,
gresham does not want to employ 9
clerk, not needing one, he can draw
the money and put it in his own peck
ct, and 1t is an open secret that man,
of them do it. Nothing since the ia
nous back-pay scandal years ago ha,
y grated 90 unpleasantly upon, tho Con