The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-10
UNCLE JoE's WAGES.
What is the Speaker to do With His
 Odd Seventeen Dollars Month?

w ldL IS the Speakef- 70 QO WlIn Ills
 Odd Seventeen Dollars a Month?
 If Uncle Sam were a private employer and could hear what his men in the House of Representatives are saying about their inadequate compensation he would expect to see them out on a strike before long. The trouble here is that nei her union wants to take the responsibility of ordering one.
 T should like to congratulate the member of congress quoted in your col umns Wednesday as having hotel bill less than his salary remarked a New York representative to the Transcript correspondent this morning. q pay at the hotel for my family" continued the New Yorker, "six hundred dollars a month under contract. I draw from the government four hundred and seyen- teen dollars. You see where the profit comes in. Nobody wants to make cleo tion to congress financial prize, but many of us do think the saary should be sufficient to support man in Wash ington in accordance with his station. No senator or representative should be expected to go to an alley boarding house."
 The story is told of MT. Cannon's pur- pose to go to a better. hotel on his cleo ton to the speakership than he had for merly lived in. He accordingly was conducted by the clerk of one of the more fashionable establishments to such a small suite of rooms as his actu- al needs required. How much is itg' asked the speaker.
 We would let you have it for four hundred dollacs a month";
 AS the speaker hesitated, lingering his cigar in a nervous way, the solici- tous clerk feelingly inquired: That is not too much, is 1t, Mir Speaker?"
 on, no; not at all" responded MT. Cannon gravely. T was merely pug zling my brain to think what could do with my other seventeen dollars
 Representative Ball of Texas resigned his seat a few days ago, assigning as his reason that he could not afford to stay in congress longer John R. Thay- CT, of Worcester, expects to decline a renomination for the same reason. While this is a subject about which members say little publicly, they can name of each congress a considerable number of useful men who drop out for no other reason than that they do not feel Justified in staying, in view of the financial obligations they owe to their families. The late Charles 4. Russell, of Connecticut, who served with distinc- tion for many years. left his family so bereft of resources that his friends in the district and elsewhere combined In raising modest testimonial This ex- perience Is by no means unusual.
 It has come'to be recognized that only those who have substantial private income can afford to come to congress. As an Illinois member explained to a group of congressman who were dis cussing this topic: Each representa- tive with us is assessed one thousand dollars by the campaign committee. He will personally give away another thousand during the campaign, even if he has no contest for the nomination. This reduces the salary to four thou sand dollars. I made an offer yester- day of twelve hundred dollars cash for the use of a small house in Washington for the congressional season, but found that fifteen hundred dollars was the least for which 1t could be had. This shows something of the rapidity with which the congressional salary vanish- es.'-Boston Transcript.