The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1922-04-14
"Everybody's Doing It."

shall, at stated times, receive COM
pensation for his services, which
shall neither be increased nor dimin-
ished during the period for which he
has been elected, and he shall not
receive within that period any other
emolument from the United States.
Up to to 1872 the Presidents salary
was $4,000, when it was increased
to $4,000. Not many years ago it
was increased to SIS, 200. But the
Congress, seeking in some manner,
no doubt, to curry the favor of the
President, instituted many years ago
a systematic method of increasing
the compensation of the Executive OF
the United States without violating
the letter of the Constitution, and
thfS was in setting apart different
branches and departments Of White
House maintenance and providing
fund for each said department, this
fund to be subject to the Presidents
draft and disposal, with the excep-
| ton of railroad transportation,
which fund is paid only as it is re-
quired. Now, the various depart
ments of the White House, together
with the Presidents salary of $751;
900, aggregate a total of near half
million dollars. But no President
has been so honest as to decline a
cent of it.
Members of Congress, on the other
hand, undertook to give themselves
more pay by various and divers meth
DDS, doing it in a way to escape con-
stitutional provisions. One is mile
age of twenty cents mile for every
mile of railroad transportation to and
from Washington City to their re-
speGtive abodes. Another is in sta
tionery accounts. There is sta
tionery store in the Capitol, where
the members get their stationery al
lowances, and it is always of the best
quality and in abundance. This
privilege has been made the subject |
of general criticism, charges being |
made that playing cards and whiskey |
have been furnished thru this de-
partment, on the free list, to men,
BERG. Anyway it has been very ex-
pensive. Still another is the frank
ing privilege, by which one Congress
man is said to have saved $500 in
his campaign for Governor. The lit
erature he mailed at one time would
have cost that amount Of money if
payment had been forced as it should
have been. Still another is committee
assignments, some of special com
mittees having no work at all some
times for years. Then the clerks
salary goes to the Congressman. and
with these things he manages to get
almost double his salary. And yet
when Congressman Fuller, New
York, and Blanton, Texas, attack
these practices, they are prosecuted
by the other members. Blanton is
dubbed liar, traitor and whatnot.
The Tennessee General Assembly
has for years been seeking some
method of overriding the provisions
of the State Constitution, which pro-
vide as compensation for services a
per diem of four dollars for IS days,
or $500 per session. This was first
done by recessing and organizing a
junketing committee from both ends
of the Capitol, with extra pay. That
did not suffice, however, and for a
number of years the stationery &C
count has been increased. All fail
ing to satisfy the representatives, the
last Legislature created a lump sum
bonus of $500 for each member And
everyone knows what a general
storm of criticism this has created
all over the State
Now, for the first time we have
an example of this at home. Here
tofOre the men who manned the cor
poratiOn affairs of Union City held
strictly to,the letter of the law. The
charter makes special provisions as
compensation for the services of
Mayor and Aldermen. The Mayor
is allowed a salary of $25 a month.
He is of course, not required to de-
vote the business hours exclusively to
the duties of mayor, as is done in
some other municipalities, where the
salary is larger But at a special
meeting last Wednesday night, the
Mayor was allowed an. addition to
his salary of $50 month, making in
all SIS month. The $50 was desig-
mated as ex-officio services. Since
the meeting there has been consider
able comment pro and con, and if ,
the criticisms have a general appli-
cation, all these legislative and mu-
nicipal bodies have exceeded the pro-
visions of the various constituted .
and are not strictly pro-
teoted from searching criticism. AS ,