The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-26
CABINET MEMBERS, PAY.
salaries Inadequate to Paying the Expenses Imperatively Demanded.

Saaries Inadequate to Paying the
 Expenses Imperatively Demanded. Washington Star,
 The position of Cabinet officers must he 2 snap In Washington" remarked a vis- ttor to a resident official friend. q wouId like to have the office 'tendered' to me The alaCr1ty With which l would accent the portfolio would be astonishing
 But there might be reasons why you would not accept" replied the official. as you say, and I, being a poor man Eould. Tor one man in the capital. de- cnne the honor, no matter how much I might secretly desire the ofice
 There is not a member of A Cabinet with possibly an exception here and there, who gets out of the game for less than SlO,0O0 year, and no one under $I0 OO or eI-OOo. To properly maintain the po- sltion Of Cabinet officer. to live upon the salary paid, would entail the practice of economy which would be quite unusual, A member of the house can live. and many practically do, upon his mileage, but not member of the Cabinet upon his salary. I have known of many mem bers of different Cabinets who have spent from $39OO0 to $150,000 a year. In the Sen ate and House combined there are scores ot t, men "ho nave practically no incomes other than their salary of 5000 a year. These men work forwhat may be prop- erly termed their wages.
 Cabinet officers do not work for their glAaIles' Ihey mereIy accept what the Congress decided to be adeduate compen- sation; the salary of the office did not enter into their calculations in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred when their port folio was rendered them.
 Where Cabinet officer is a wealthy man, as most of them are, they work for a variety of reasons. Some have wives who have social ambitions and tastes which cannot be gratified in their former environment. Others work for the per- AOnal nleAR1TaSr f1rfV nd Aa honors the position bestows, the last be- ing more or less passed down to their posterity. Others give up S1O00OO a year income. toll like messengers over their pesks by day and eat official dinners by plight for reasons past finding out Some believe, usually erroneously, however and occasionally correctly, that service in the Cabinet may prove of future use to them sn Presidential conventions or in Senato- Eaal elections. Dozens of members of the Cabinet have become sick of their task and have resigned before the end of the first two years.
 '-The pay Is incommensurate with the responsibilities and the work A Cabinet officer once said to me: My salary pays my house rent and gas bills. My work is performed solely for love; 1t is uncom- laborer is worthy of his hire, l am going back home and gather up the stray strings to my scattering income, and home he went shortly afterward-
 'ssl. 10 lu6 IeH1lu1ue me1nDefS or a Cabinet officers family the rule is reversed. They set about $,0Oo,0O0 year each out of 1t in the qualification of their personal am biuons and the fun they have.
 You often hear men say: would 80 Into the Cabinet for $S,0O0 a year These men cant get in. Ninety-hve per cent of the Cabinet officers of tao United States, who are not nIlti-millionaires serve their country at a sacrifice, and the latter do too to a certain extent"
 sfI should hink that vouId properly increase the pay of Cabinet of- Beers"
 My friend, you do not understand Washington life. For over century there has been a deadly social feud be- tween the members of the Senate and the members of the Cabinet. Up to the time of the passage of the Presidential succession to the Presidency in the event of death, the Senators had the best of it. but today the wives of the Cabinet mem bers carry the trophy flag. There is no immediate prospect of the passage o1 the bill you suggest.