The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-30
IT SHOULD BE DONE.
DR.. stokes' scheme for Cutting Down
Expenses.

Expenses.
The Washington correspondent Of
the News and Courier says Represent
ative Stokes, of South Carolina, pro-
poses to immortalizs himself by ap.
pearing in political history as a public
officer willing to reducs his own sala-
,ry. Monday DR.. Stokes. who was for.
merly president of the Farmers Ali.
ance in his State, introduced a bill to
reduce the expenditures of the govern.
ment by cutting down the salaries OF
all public officials and pensioners 30
per cent. His cut begins at the Presi-
! dent of the United States and runs
| down the scale to the poorest paid
scrub woman in the departments. The
bill provides that after March 4. 1898,
the compensation of all Senator'S,
members of the House, officers and
|! employees and pensioners of the gov
eminent shall be readjusted to the
changed value of our money standard.
The President and United States
| Judges are exempt until their success.
ors shall be elected. The readjust.
ment of salaries shall be based upon a
comparative statement OF the average
prices in the first five years in
comparison with the last five
years in the preceding decennial
period. The disbursing officers OF
the various branches of the
service shall readjust their pay rolls
correspondingly, Sc that the pay of
each officer or employee OF the Gov
eminent shall bear to his pay in the
previous decennial period the same
proportion that the average. prices
for the respective periods compared
bear to each otner. Representative
Stokes says in support of his meas
ure: The bill emphasizes in q
practical Way the growing evils
of an approaching money standard.
From 1872 to 1895 the average
price of 223 commodities in common
use have decreased fully 80 13 per
cent. During the same period the
compensation of officers, employees
and pensioners of the Government
has steadily increased, either in salary
or perouisites, or both. From.1SSS to
1889 the average annual expenses of
the Government were 1858, GIG, 473 IS.
The average annual expenses from
1893 to 1896, inclusive, reached the
alarming figure Of 1888, 63S, 341.40, an
increase in less than a decade of un-
p~aralleled distress among the people
of nearly 80 per cent. OF course all
OF this was not salaries and pensions,
but the greater part was. I do not
think the servants and pensioners of
the people are any better than the
| people they serve. and there ought to
be some such method of maintaining
the equilibrium between salaries and
pensions on the one hand and prices
OF commodities on the other. The
bill also illustrates in a very practical
way the good Democratic doctrine
of keeping the Government out Of
debt and relieving the burdens OF the
people by cutting down expenses,
rather than by piling on taxes. Upon
a rough estimate such a readjustment
as proposed in the bill would save the
Government more than sixty million
dollars a year, without injustice to
anyone, and without detriment to the
public service. The legislative, execu-
tive and judicial departments of the
Government are responsible in large
measure of the conditions that brought
and p%erpeiuate falling prices, and
there is absolute justice in the propo-
| sitions that they should share with
the people at large in the consequence
es of their own action. Under present
conditions they actually profit by the
distress of the people.
A Goose Story.
The Spartan burg Herald, of Wed
nesday, says "Mr. J. L. Ochiltree, who
lives on Jennings street, in this city,
yesterday gave Mr.. George AvaGt a
most interesting goose story, which is
absolutely true. The facts OF the case
are that yesterday Mr.. Ochiltree's
people killed a large, fat goose, and in
preparing it for cooking, found in the
gizzard II small nails, about hall an
inch long. They must have been
there for some time, for they were
worn by the grit and pebbles in the
goose's gizzard. If these nails had
only been diamonds Or gold coins,
this story would have created much
of a sensat on as a recent New York
lSun story 10 which two German girls
found a large diamond in a ducks
craw. BY courtesy of Mr.. Avant The
Herald reporter had the opportunity of
seeing the pals and they certainly
evidence signs of having been we'll