Evening star., 1923-03-18
Fifty Years Ago in
The Star.

When the Forty-second Congress
| had adjourned. fifty years ago. II
was discovered that
1he Mileage one of the appropria
Adjustment tion bills contained
HuJ u''iAeA'' what was regarded
as q. salary grab by which the
compensation. of members was IN
| creased in some cases by a shifting
| Of the mileage allowances. The star
| OF March II, 1873, thus sets forth
| the facts in regard TO the matter
| "A great deal if denuncialion has
been expended upon members OF
Congress on account of the extra pay
business. and all those who voted
| for ii have been stigmatized in un-
measured terms. 1t is not denied
that among. those in the affirmative
| on this proposition will be found IN"
names Of some OF the best mer bers
| OF either house-men whom no one
viii accuse of mercenarN motives
! 1t is but just. therefore to those
/ gentlemen that some facts in cor
nection with the compensation OF
members of Congress should he made
! who voted 10 adopt the conference
| report took the view that il was .
measure, not to increase salaries. but
TO equalize them. Under the system
OF mileage the grossest inequality in
! the compensation OF members ot
| Congress has always prevailed. Just.
before the war the father of the
| present Senator Bayard of Delaware.
who received about S2e0 mileage, sat
by Duke Gwinn of California, who
got $4,000. To make the matte,
more unequal and unjust tho fact
was that, although receiving this
| immense amount on account OF
travel, Mr., Gwinn did not actually
! go TO California for years. After tho
war, when Reverdy Johnson was
senator from Maryland. he received
Sl2S mileage for a Congress. while
Messrs. Nye and Stewart CT Nevada
| received about $4,000 apiece.
"A few years ago SO much com
| plant was made about this unjust
discrimination between members that
! a modification of the mileage rates
! was established, but il has still work
ed very unequally. II appears that for
| the Congress just expired the mileage
paid to senator's from the states
! named was as follows; California.
st.02S60; Oregon, s6,492.So; Nevada.
| s2,53i: Arkansas. $2,40o: Minnesota
| $2,47525: Kansas, s23521O: Nebraska.
s2.1472O; Mississippi. $2.1sO. While
this was the case. senator's from close
| to the capital received but a hundred
or two hundred dollars This in
equality, of course. has existed in the
! House of Representatives. 1t will
I thus be seen that not a few senator's
and representatives. have all along
been receiving a compensation ap-
| proXtmating very closely to $500
per annum. and in few cases even
| exceeding that sum. The law as IL
now stands by the conference report
aboliShes mileage and all other allow
ances and puts every member of Com
| gress on exactly the same footing
IhlS whole mileage business has been
a grand humbug for years past. for
members of Congress. whether living
m
have always been literally provided
! with passes and have consequently
been under mere nominal expense
! for travel
Newspaper illustration was just be-
ginning. fifty years ago. the daily
press being in only
Daily Picture the rarest cases ac-
cented with wood
newspaper. cut pictures. Wash
lington. however. was given the bene
fit of a new process. as the following
editorial note in The Star of March
III, 1873, indicates:
"The new daily pictorial newspaper,
the Graphic, has many excellencies,
but hardly comes up to the expecta-
ton in the speciality announced-thHt
is, OF poTiTdylnS accurately ana Iui-
ly all leading events within twenty
four hours after their occurrance,' by
a peculiar application of photography
TO lithography Up to this TING the
pictures, though spirited, have no4
been on this instantaneous character
and really the best have been the
caricature cartoons. However. as the
paper is only a week old. it is hardly
fair to make up a judgment upon its
merits, especially as the process BY
which the photograph is Stransferred q
to the photographic stone is a new
lone and probably requires a little
u time for successful development"