The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-07-15
Thursday, July Is, 1897.
That Funeral Committee.

latuTe tI'tUueu Tue lulltla III Va viz
late DR.. McCook Of Fulton county.
They rode on the railroad to Mer-
cersburg aud from there they rode
in hacks to McCounelsburg. Their
bill of expenses was S67l. This
makes an average of SS4 each. Is
there any voter in Snyder county
who would like to have such lob
of attending funerals, s,-SSl for
about two days and pay your own
expenses? How many workmen IN
Snyder county are able to earn SSi
IN ~hOle year! Representative
Smith Of Bedford, member of this
committee, said they were at no ex-
expense except hack hire ana Mr..
Smith wanted nothing. We have
no record of any one else on the
committee making such remark
and so wo presume they took all
they could get.
Wereprint below an extract OF
the House proceedings in the Phila.
Press of June Goth. From this it
appears that only five members at
tended the funeral making an aver
age cost of Sl2O piece.
When the item in the general ap-
preparation bill of S671 drawn in ia
yor of Representative Long, chair.
man of the committee on the part OF
the House to represent the House
at the funeral of the p. McCauley
Cook, of Fulton county, was repre-
sented. Representative Ely called
upon Chairman Long, OF the commit
tee, for statement as to how SO
much money could be expended in a
trip to Fulton County. Representa-
tive Long tried to explain, by say
ing that the funeral expenses had
been paid by the committee but
finally wound up by saying
II don't care what you do with
this bill. | left it to the Sergeant at
Arms to prepare Il bill that he
thought was right. All want is to
see the legitimate and just expenses
paid"
This tacit declaration that there
We're some items that were legltl-
mate aud Just raised a general
laugh throughout the House.
Cost Ofa Funeral Trip.
Representative Spatz followed in
a spe eech that still further convulsed
the members, half of whom were in
the aisles, Mr.. Spatz said that the
bill had been made up by the Ser
geant- at Arms After the funeral
the committee met in the corner Of
a gallery of Grace Church, and the
question was How much will we
charge for this funeral" MIR. Spatz
said that he had loaned the Serge
ant-at-Arms ten dollars, but that
had been paid back to him and he
was satisfied.
1--WE had ride of twenty miles in
a driving snowstorm,' said Mr.:
Spatz. And, gentlemen, we did
actually have carriage hire. We
had no kilograms or telephone mes
sages to pay for, want to say that
do not want any mileage. l want
nothing, and if anything is charged
to me in that bill | want it wiped
out. I got my ten dollars back from
the Sergant-at-Arms and | am salts
fed"
81 want to know" asked Repre-
sentative Sterr, of Philadelphia,
who was in a very indignant frame
of mind, IF the gentleman, Mr..
Spatz, did not propose to the Ser
geant at Arms to charge up mileage
for two members of the committee
who could not attend the funeral,
and then divide the sum with the
Sergeant at-Arms?"
Mr. Spatz replied by saying that
when he had come to the Legisla-
ture he was very green. He was
told that it was customary to charge
mileage aud all sorts OF expenses.
When the matter of mileage was
proposed under the circumstances
he told the Serg ant-at.arm to 60
ahead if it was all right. Now, that
he had seen the evil of his ways, he
wanted nothing that was not right
and proper.
Full discussion on the bill reveal
ed the fact that the expenses for the
five members of the committee on
the trip down in Fulton County, a
distance of so miles, or more, had
been about Sl20 apiece. Represer-
tative Lytle, in an attack upon the
L;ll fonpJ foult with tho charpa that
had been made. He said that about
the only person who did not charge
for his expenses in attending the
funeral was the man that had been
buried. II he could earn money at
that rate, as the committee had
done, he would be willing to lay
aside his toga and go into the bus
mess of attending funerals as a
steady job.