The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-23
WANT MORE MONEY
BUT CONGREssMEN ARE AFRAID
 TO VOTE IT.
Think Their Salaries Should be Inereas-
 ed But Fear the Wrath of the People Should Expendi- tmres Re Increased.

Washington, Jan. Especial )-- There is decided feeling among Con- gressmen that their salaries ought to be increased. A Western member at the beginning of the session introduced bill fixing the pay at $7.500 instead of S5,000, but the passage of the meas ure will depend upon the amount of nerve the statesmen can bring to bear upon themselves. The average Con- -gressman is poor in purse, and will tell you privately thatIsomething ought to be done. These men cannot live .coIn- fortably on the amount they receive. At the time the salary was fixed 1t cost. comparatively little for a statesman to maintain himself here. The old fashioned taverns charged small rates for board and lodging.
 Senators and Representatives who preferred to keep house in the good old days of the long ago could rent a commodious house for a mere bagatelle In comparison with what the modern residences command Supplies were then ridiculously cheap. The wagons came in from Maryland and Virginia loaded down with the choicest of sup plies that could be purchased at prices which would now sound strange to the vendors. Before the Civil War we had no such thing as the egg trust the butter combine or the meat trust. Cold storage had never been heard of Ev- erything people bought for their tables was of the incest and freshest sort. The stuff was not put away and frozen un- til the taste was destroyed.
 Tn the ante-beilum period chicken brought just so much. The fowl was not put on the scales and sold by the pound. Eggs never got away up around the 40 and 50 cent notches even In the coldest winter months. Game was plentiful and was within the reach of people who had a fairly comfortable incomes. Meats and vegetables andt fruits were not manipulated by the combines as Is the case today, and the wages of servants had not scared so high. either. The modern conditions are such that poor man in Congress has anything but pleasant experi- ence.
 If the House were to pass the bill referred to there would be little or no hesitancy on the part of the Senate. Years ago the Senators commenced tor provide themselves with secretaries, clerks, luxuriant rooms, messengers Tn attendance, mineral waters with which to quench their thirst and a number of other things that great many or the members of the popular branch or Congress denounced as foolish, unwar- ranted extraVagance at the expense or the dear people," Year after year the House refused to include in appro- priation bills the money to pay for these secretaries. The Senate insisted and always managed to make the other branch aceede to its demands. Event uaIIy. however, the statesmen at the south end of the big building began to come to their senses and actually voted themselves clerks. There was mighty howl on the part of number of the Representatives who would not vote for the scheme.
 They predicted that the voters would rise up in their wrath and retire to the shades, of private life nearly every man who voted for the proposition. Somehow the voters did not pay any attention to the new order of things. It was the best thing the Representa- tives ever did for themselves. Since they have had clerks the House is more of a deliberative body Members no longer sit at their desks while debates arc going on and scratch away at their correspondence as the poor ones were compelled to do several years ago. For $10O per month-the amount they are permitted to expend for this service they are able to employ bright and efii" clent young men or women who relieve them of the drudgery and are gIao enough to secure the positions.
 Within the next two or three years, as ia well known, both the Senate and uouse,,will have a magnificent new office building. The structures will cost SsOOO, 600 or more. each. No other qovernmerH has any such structures Twenty years ago the bare mention or such a thing would have thrown the late Congressmani Holman of Indiana into fits He would Have harped on 1t for a whole session and fought the o,osition as long as he was able to stand in his tracks. And he would have | had plenty of company on both sides of the House
 Sneaker Cannon Is primarily respon- alhiA for Ina House oface building. It