The record-union., 1894-02-17
ONE MILLION A YEAR
Enormous Expenses Of the United
States Senate.
Expenditures for Employees and ''Con-
tingents'' Show Utter Absence of
Anything Like Business Methods
The Figures May Well Excite
Amazement.

running expenses are over Sl,0U0,OU0
yearly, sum greater than was required
TO support all the departments of the
Government the first two years of its
existence. That large part Of this sum
Is squandered in large salaries to super
huous and other employees, and in paying
prices for everything, useful and useless,
that it buys, is obvious to anyone who
viii read the annual reports OF the Secre-
tary of that body. The appropriations
for the Senate are recapitulated by the
Pittsburg Dispatch as follows: For COM
pensation and mileage of Senators. $780,
600; for clerical and other employees,
$4lS, 200; for contingent expenses" $780,
600; so that while it takes less than half
a million dollars to pay Senators. it re-
quires more than half million in addi-
ton to make them serviceaDle to the
country. 1t is under the head OF contin-
gent expenses that one can most often
"smel a mouse" This fund in numerous
instances resembl charity, in that it
s'covereth multitude of sins" Out of 1t
funerals, ''junkets,' and odds and ends OF
various kinds and amounts are paid.
Occasionally, when there is a great
pressure for place, an appropriation for
furniture or material is diverted to the
payment of employees, and walking
paint-potS, carpets and desks are not
strange sights about the Capitol. Again
men are put on the rolls as folders of
documents" who are either employed in
some other capacity or not at all, and yet
certify monthly to having folded so many
thousand speeches as will entitle them to
draw S75 or 500, pretty fair wages for
wrapping up books and speeches. a late
report reveals the names OF several cor
thn lie, fold
result of a pulp on the then Sergeant
alarms, whose vuInerabidty made him
Il prey to those sandbaggers. This fund
is used also to pay tor three BARRIERS.
whose occupation as such is nowhere dis
closed, and thus euphemistically dis
guised the tonSorlal artist is compelled to
share the modesty OF statesmen.
IT COSTS TO BURY A MEMBER.
Judging by the expense, Senate funer-
ais must be very sad or very gay. No
administrator or executor would have
= the face to apply to a court for funeral
expenses the amount extracted from the
treasury when a Senator dies. Few citi-
zens would have any estate left, or, in
deed, could afford to die at the rate it
costs to deposit Congressman i'll a
cavity" The taxpayer must yield up
thousands of dollars 10 participate in this
''last scene OF all" On the death of a
Senator or Representative, joint COM
mittee of twelve to eighteen members is
appointed to take charge of the funeral
and escort the remains home. Carte
blanche is given the committee, and they
proceed to till it in. A special train or
section is chartered and stocked with
''commisSary supplies" and the commit
tee, with its numerous attendants, and
its more numerous retinue of relatives
and friends" together with the bereaved
family, set out to the place of burial.
Such a cortege is the mingling of the
grave and gay. The funeral over, mem
bers often embrace the opportunity to
run home and look after their fences, !"
leaving their chartered cars to return
half empty, while they add to the eX-
pense by charging up single trip ticket
to the contingent fund.
For some reason everything is dearer
10 Uncle Sam than to a private lndlvId-
ual, which applies strictly in the case of
funerals. Not only that, but every con-
ceivable item, large or petty, is put upon
the Government. A dead citizen can be
shaved for 50; to go over dead Senator s
face costs $40. Eighty to 500 is charged
for embalming. For coffin and fixtures
the undertaken gets from 500 to $500,
with extra for services. A Washington
undertaken has a bill for S45 for ''proies-
sional services" in attending body to
place of burial, while the local under
Iak6r. DOL TO D6 u6S III d Dll1 VI
S55 for similar 'indehnite'' services.
..Sashes and gloves" figure prominently,
and where eighteen pairs OF gloves go
around it requires thirty-two SaSheS, in
dieating evidently "miSfit' in the lat
ter. The black kids, of course, are worth
keeping as mementoes, but what be-
comes of the hundreds of sashes bought
at S6 apiece is mystery. digging and
walling uD grave,n $40. is an item in the
funeral bill of a Senator reputed very
wealthy. Toll-gate charges OF 81 6O occur
in the same bill. Sometimes the car or
engine of the train is draped in black to
make an impressive entrance into the
dead mans State, which seems to avoid
all expense of the occasion.
CoMMIssARY SUPPLIES AT A FUNERAL.
committee. of which the deceased
Senator was a member, desiring to en-
pbasiZe their grief, had a set of resolu-
lions engrossed an innovation in eX-
pense to the extent of Sl5. one hundred
dollars for flowers used in the Senate al
the funeral OF a Kansas man IS an affect
ing item, when one stops to consider thai
the greenhouse OF an employe furnished
them. 4 Senator was buried IN Mary
land, and the committee in charge man
ared to consume $50 5S worth OF com
rajssarv supplies The hotel-keepel
where the dead Senator lived in Wash
ington had the effrontery TO charge the
Senate SIS 50 for "uSe of covering TOR two
parlors and hallway" He might have
improved the opportunity and re1ur-
nished his house, as there seems to be nc
disposition to "klck' at any funeral Dill
The costliest funeral of recent years was
that of a California Senator, which
amounted to Sc, ,524. To cap OF its ex'
trayagance the Senate votes years sal
ary TO the heirs of the deceased members
no matter how great fortune they may
have lett, and so inveterate has THIS ques-
ton grown that Zach" Chambers rela'
tives had to protest vigorously agalns
being the recipients OF this publc charity
before their wishes were respected, tht
Senate not desiring to set up such pre-
cedent.
When committee goes of on junket
though nominally to make an lnvest1ga
ton, no detailed account OF expenditures
rendered Such committees travel III
summer, New York being fayorite rem
devious. The clerk and messenger OF tht
committee always appear punctuaIly
when a quorum OF the committee arrives
or If it fails to arrive, the grand ROUNDS O.
the watering places are in order on sign
preteXts. Chicago is tavorite starting
point for committees engaged IN Western
investigation" When a Senator or en-
ploye travels alone, an account is usually
rendered, and many Of the items are III
structive as illustrating how much mar
will spend when the money Is not com
ing out of his pocket. They all travel il
parlor cars, hire sections i'll sleepers. ca
every meal call and tip the waiter anC
porter One Senator admits 25-cent tip
though his dinners cost him only IS cents
They never walk when they can ride in
carriage, and their baggage is heavy. Ii
fact, on an employees bill every charg
that man can think of connected Will
travel appears. Even the appearance o
irving to travel as one would on his Owl
account seems vigorously avoided; ye
there is suspicion that many do trave
cheaply and pocket the difference.