The Topeka state journal., 1914-02-14

return to Mr.. Bailey, the correspon-
dent again was told that 1t was up
to the sergeant-at-arms. So the news
paper man was forced to do his own
mileage figuring. which, without
knowledge of the routes figured on by
the mileage committee, is, of course,
unsatisfactory.
The same secrecy surrounds the tel
egraph account. Upon this there Is
no Limit. A member OF congress may
send and charge to the United States
almost any message he chooses to con-
strue as public business. Aside from
the fact that it is next to impossible
to define where private political busi-
privilege frequently is abused by
members sending purely personal tel
egrams, carefully disguised to bring
them within the extremely shadowy
definition.
Same in Both Houses.
When the telegraph companies turn
In their bills, the accounts are audited
by the sergeant-at-arms, who is sup
posed to throw out any messages
which he does not believe to be public.
The sergeant is elected by the
house majority, a creature of the
membership of the house. He decides
whether the accounts of his superiors
shall be approved. Virtually the same
practice prevails in the senate.
The account is finally approved and
paid by the committee on accounts of
the house. Congressman Lloyd of
Missouri. chairman of this committee.
himself recognizes the abuse, and has
introduced a resolution restricting
each member to a telegraph account
of $40 year. This was introduced
last December and nothing further
heard of it. OF course, Mr.. Lloyd re-
fuses to give any details of this public
business. He will not say how much
rQconfIV
made a compilation. however. from
which 1t was found that between
March 4 and June 80. last. house
members sent 1902 kilograms as
public business, at a cost of $6,4S1.34.
Sixteen members, among them Mr..
Lloyd, Minority Leader Mann, Con-
gresham Serene Payne and Majority
Leader Underwood, sent no kilograms.
except, in the cases of Payne and I'm
derwood. kilograms that concerned
the appearance Of witnesses before the
ways and means committee during the
tariff hearings One hundred and
forty nine members spent less than IS
of government money for telegrams:
144 spent more than IS and less than
$3.50; Sc spent more than $3.50 and
less than $40; 20 spent more than $40
and less than 800; ten members
egrams in less than four months. and
one members bill for that period
amounted to $212.SS. Mr.. Lloyd re-
fused positively to divulge further in
formation.
On this basis, the average yearly
expenditure for kilograms per house
member Is $44.76. The senate figures
are not avilable. But 1t is understood
that in the senate there is no limit of
expense for this character Of graft.
Rakeoff ON Clerk Hire.
Members of the house. as a rule.
make no pretense Of paying out for
purpose. The money Is paid on vouch-
ers from the clerk of the house who
sends in. along with the salary check
each month. a check for $125. made
payable to the member. The average
members does not expend one-half of
this amount for clerk hire, and most
Of those who spend the full amount.
or more, do SO because their private
political affairs require the extra help.
The clerks so employed are not on
the payroll of the house, and have no
official rating. Repeated attempts have
been made to have the clerks employ
ed by the members placed on the house
payroll and paid directly, but such at
tempts are no more popular than eff
forts to reduce the mileage allowance.
These perqufsiteS do not include the
house and senate patronage. In the
house this amounts to between 81, 100
and $1,000 per member, distributed
among something less than 300 jobs.
AS some of these jobs pay as high as
$1,000 and others down to $1,000 a
year, each member cannot have an en-
tire job as his patronage. Therefore,
he takes his S1.100 of government mon
ey to be paid out to an employee, and
If he doesn't put his own candidate in,
he trades with another member.
Needless to say, while many of the
political appointees under this system
are efficient, still more are paid COM
paratively large salaries for work or
dinarily performed by boys.
In the matter of patronage, however
the Democrats have instituted several
real reforms, and while the system re-
mains in full strength, it's operations
have been restricted somewhat by the
abolishment Of number of useless jobs
created under the Republican regime
Nothing except the extension of the
civil service to capitol jobs can affect
the system itself, and this, at present
appears as distant as the millennium.
L. WILLIAM THAVIS.
AAsA nnAnn. - mann