The Caucasian., 1905-05-07
REMEMBER THE RASCAlS
I:Ilit"riu, in the Department q Poll
tics and Economics" in Tom Nat
sons Magazine for May.

shall be equal. among members, the
government pays their travelling eNpen
se>. Otherwise the representative who
comes from the Pacific coast to the
capital paying his way, would eealizt
very much less on his salary than a rep
re>cntative from Maryland or Virginia
1.-The cost Of travel was greater i1
the oden days than now. and the free
pass had not then become one Of the
devils favorite inventions. Consequent
ly the lawmakers declared that the taN-
payers should pay 2oc per mile 70 meet
the expenses of the representative in 60
ing from his home to his post Of duty
'Inasmuch as every member Of con-
sreSs-occasional crank> excepted-now
rides on the free passes the mileage
has become considerable addition to the
salary.
"A member who live, west Of the
Mississippi will find his pay increased
a sixth. or fifth, according to the dis
tance from the Atlantic Seaboard: while
the delegate who comes from Hawaii
will pocket considerably more than $4,000
for the alleged cost Of getting to WASH
ingtcn %
so far SO good Everybody knows
that congressman do not pay their fare.
and everybody knows that mileage no
longer has any honest fol1n 1ation: but
we've get used to the grab, and we let
it 60. as incvit2hle viii? weary sigh
II hopeless disgust
But the congre>, which recently ad-
j"lirncd broke all previous records and
gave the country a rev. chapter in the
rec :rt Of brozen di~1:':.,r.
Previous TO the meeting Of the regu-
lar session there hid ben an extra ses-
*;.:n. THIS held on till >j,r regular ses-
sion began. There *@> no interval be-
tween the two. So FIR a. time was con-
cerned. the one ran into the other.
Hence, no member went home from the
extra session and came back to the reg
ilfa:r" Session.
'Ihere was absolutely y no recess at
all-not minute between the one ses-
sion and the other
Nov. behold the evil influence of a
bad example
THE president got the idea that while
there was no actual recess between the
two sessions of congress. there was a
constructive recess.
"The Mephistopheles who whispered
this baleful advice in the ear of Mr.
Roosevelt was a better friend to the
appointees who were to benefit by it
General Wood and Dr. Crum, for in
stance-than they were to the PRESIDENT
The members of congress were not slow
to reason the case to this effect:
IF there has been such a recess as to
give General Wood promotion in the
army. and to DR.. Crum fat office in
the revenue service, then it has been a
recess for all purposes.
IF the president can fill offices upon
a supposed recess, we can fill Our pocket
with mileage upon the same suppo-
sition.
Tie whole thing being imaginary.
that theory which puts Wood higher
upon the pay roll. and which puts ne
gro in the customhouse at Charleston,
will also imagine that we went home
during the supposed recess, and that we
have just returned from Georgia, Ala
'bama, Wisconsin, California and the
state of Washington. It's poor rule
that won't work both ways"
''The law clothes the president with
the power to make recess appointments
which rids him of the necessity of
consulting the senate In this instance,
he created recess in his mind, when
none existed, in fact, and the result was
good for Wood and Crum.
"The imaginary recess having been
created by the president, the members
of the lower house took an imaginary
trip home during the imaginary recess,
and then proposed that they be paid their
imaginary expenses, not in imaginary
money, but in hard cash.
'Therefore, sixty-odd Republicans
and forty odd Democrats, and two I'm
ion Labor men, voted to give them
selves 100000 of the peoples money to
pay for imaginary journeys made during
an imaginary recess
1T is doubtful if a more shameless
attempt to steal from the public treas
ury has ever been attebpted.
The senate killed the measure, not
because the senate itself is so pure and
honest-for it isn't-but because it could
safely rebuke the house-which it de-
spises-ani pose as watchdog of the
treasury. without loss to itself.
x
The people are entitled to know the