Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-14


Johnson. "A coward can sit down and
laugh. and that Is all he can do"
Il challenge the gentleman from Ken
lucky. said Mr.. Madden, paying no at
tention to the invitation to fight. ITO
point to anything ! have ever done not In
the interest of the public service. l make
no apologies to the gentleman from hen
lucky for anything I have said In tn
past, anything l have said today or any
| thing / may say in the future.
Mr.. Johnson withdrew his point of
order against the allowance to the eleva-
through as reported from the appropria-
tons committee.
Pay of Assessors Messengers.
Representative Cooper Of Wisconsin
took exception to the item in the para
graph appropriating for the assessors
| office, which provides for the employ
ment of messengers at $50 a month
and less.
TT is ridiculous" he said, "for the
government to pay $50 or $50 a month
| and expect a man to live as white
man or q black man should.
/ He added that 1t was apparent the
| democrats were out to make rec
ord" and thought 1t absurd for them
| to make the claim that they were
standing by the people,"
Il Mr. Burleson responded that the gov
eminent would pay as much for any
service as that service was worth. but
would not provide any compensation
in excess of that reasonable figure. He
agreed with Mr.. Cooper that $50
month was rather low compensation.
but insisted that If other employers
could get the work done for that price
he would oppose paying any more.
Mr. Cooper expressed the opinion that
this line of reasoning was putting the
4 government in the position of creating
II cut throat competition and Fronting
thereby.
II want to defend the government"
cried Representative Sims OF Tennes-
see, who for a number of years prior
to the last Congress. was an active
i member Of the committee on the Dis
trict Of Columbia
Government an Orphan.
The government seems to be a
neglected child. It Is an orphan in
this debate. The government has abb
solutely no interest in the salary of
this messenger. Whom does he serve?
He is under the assessor. The Dis
trict gets the benefit OF all taxes col
llected in the District. This is the proof
Of this illogical, unreasonable. unjust.
half-and-half provision. This Is ex-
actly what 1t Is. The government must
the service is wholly confined to city
purposes and city benefits.
1.-The government is not an employer.
II is the millionaires who have left home
to keep from paying taxes on intangible
personal property located here in the city
of Washington to save themselves from
such taxes on property made In the
states. They have to run away from
their states to get to this haven OF the
i tax dodger They are the gentlemen who
do not want to pay messengers this
compensation unless the people Of the
country pay one-haf.
I'VE sit here and allow this outrage to
be perpetrated year after year. | could
not help thinking yesterday when the
gentleman from Kentucky. Mr.. Johnson.
made an unanswerable legal argument on
this line. that if you made man a
Christmas present of 500 for twenty
years, he declares that that is a vested
right and you must keep on giving him
that $1OO every year because he has
learned to live in expectation Of it.
IF we have been paying half of the
interest on the bonded Indebtedness. it
is purely a Christmas gift, and those mil
lonaires who have left cities all over
the country and located here in order
to keep from paying taxes on their bonds
and bank stocks and on all kinds of
i personal property except tangible prop
erty, are the men who have been robbing
the employees Of the District as the gen
i tleman from Wisconsin says. Rise up
and help do justice both ways. Do jus
tice against the tax-dodger and do JUS
tice in favor Of the victim of the tax
dodger."
Salary Increases Topic.
Chairman Fitzgerald, of the appro-
priations committee referred to the
fact that the press of the District had
I criticised the committee for refusing to
recommend increases of salaries for EN-
ployes of the local government. He de-
clared that in 1907 Congress by special
legislation, had increased the salaries of
policemen and firemen and school teach
ers and nut them on an adequate scale
OF compensation.
More than that" he said, the Dis
trict bill for the last five years has been
generous in increasing the salaries of
District employees and in creating new
places. In 1908 131 new offices were Gre
ated at cost of s94.O19 and 80 salaries
were increased at cost OF $14,470. In
1909 a3 new offices were created at a
cost of $4,000, and 6s salaries were In
creased at . cost of $S.919. In 1910 129
new offices were created at cost of
$11O.7s9, and 45 salaries were increased
at a cost of 1862 In 1911 81 new offices
were created. at a cost Of $56, 240 and lO7
salaries were increased at cost Of 49,
525. In 1912. the current year, 80 new
offices were created at a cost OF $58,774,
and 46 salaries were increased at a cost
Of S,675 Altogether 513 new Offices have
been created during the last five years
/ al a cost Oh $6S<,SS<, ana 900 salaries In.
creased at . cost Of $46.311.'
| One Reduction Provided For
Are any decreases provided for in this
bill?'' inquired Representative Lobeck OF
Nebraska, q member of the District COM
mittee.
YES" replied Mr.. Fitzgerald. The sal
ary Of the keeper OF the pound Is re-
duced from 81 500 to 81 200. and there Is
a satisfactory reason for that. Four
times the Commissioners of the District
recommended that this salary be reduced.
Then the poundmaster died, a new one
was appointed and the Commissioners
did not recommend a reduction this year.
We thought, however. in view of their
repeated recommendations that the COM
pensation of the poundmaster be re-
duced. that we might safely do il In
this bill. Most of the employees Of the
} District government are well Iaid Some
of them possibly are not adequately COM
pensated. The thing 10 do now is to
| eliminate extravagances. Then there will
be time enough to talk about a general
| adjustment OF pay"
Representative Berger of Wisconsin
insisted on offering an amendment pro-
posiag to increase the salaries of the
messengers who had been the subject