The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-12-31
COSTS CONGRESsNEN $4,000
A YEAR TO LIVE
BY Julian |. Pierce


day for 313 working days in a year.
Or $500 year.
1t costs a congressman $4792 a day
to live 'modestly" at home, fairly
modestly' in Washington and oper-
ate a machine in the government law
factory.
This is the declaration made by a
member of the Sixty-fourth congress.
His residence is Danylle Illinois
His name is Joseph Gurley Cannon
A large portion of the working peo-
pie of the United States are employ
ed in "basic" manufacturing indus
tries and in coal mining.
Government experts have investi-
gated the wages received by the av.
erage workers family in these basic
industries. The figures are vouched
for by the government.
WORKERS WAGE, $500 TO $3.50
According to these government sta
tistics the wages paid TO the adults
in the industries mentioned run from
$1.66 to $3.50 a day for 313 working
days in a year. Or from $500 to $3.50
a year.
A man known as congressman,
therefore, is paid $21.66 more a day
for his services than is a man known
as a worker in the basic industries.
A man known as a congressman,
Furthermore, if he lives fairly mod
estly" in the vicinity of the govern
ment law factory at Washington, must
pay $47.92 for his living
The living of a man known as
worker in the basic industries is lin
tied by his wages-$1 Sc to $3.50 a
day
This is a cost-of-living difference
of $45.62 a day in favor of the con-
gressman who buys a Fairly modest"
living
Consequently Representative Can
non is an interesting subject for the
wage-earning student of industrial re-
lations.
Cannon is interesting in another
way. GAS happy as happy can be" is
a phrase that adequately describes
his feelings.
IN CONGRESS SO YEARS
He has been "out of a job" for two
long years Now that his compulsory
leave of absence without pay is over,
his face beams with the Cannon smile
that will not come off.
This is the third time that Cannon
has been out of job in 43 years, an
average of once every fourteen years,
Consequently, employment bureaus
do not arouse much interest with him.
Cannon was elected to congress the
first time in 1872. He has been in
the House ever since with the eXcep-
tion of four years.
He was defeated in 1890, but car
ried the election in 80. Defeated
again in 1912, he won the ballot-box
battle in 1914, and went back to his
old job in the government law-factory
at the opening of the sixty-fourth
congress.
According to Cannon, there are two
undesirable places for a man with
no income but a congressman's sal
airy and allowances. Washington is
one place. Congress is another.
Cannon should know. He has
bought a living in Washington for a
long time. And he keeps the stubs
of his check book
Cannon worked in the national law
factory for thirty years as "just a
plain representative of the people"
Moreover, he qualified as chief engi-
neer for eight years, welding the CAV
el from the Speakers rostrum.
CONGRESSMAN'S COST OF LIVING
Cannon tabulates a representatives
cost of living under three heads. The
representative is under an obligation;
l. To buy a living for his family;
2. To buy an education for his
children;
8. To Secure" a cinch every two
years on his job in the law factory.
The working man employed by the
government in Washington buys a
living for his family, buys an educa-
tion for his children, and secures a
cinch on his job in other kinds of
government-owned factories on any
where from $500 to $1,000 a year
The workingman in the basic in
dustries buys the same necessities for
his family on $500 to $3.50 year,
Congressman, however, are differ
ent.