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Retrenchment

Retrenchment image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
April
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

I have not noiiccd, as fully as ilie ject deserves, the erfort now making by '■ Congresa to effect a reduction of the expenses of the government. I believe ihere is among the members a very sin cere ilesire iu effect a retrenchment on the part of many,nnd a pretty general convictioñ tlml retrenchment is absolutely necea-! Isary frutn the evident impossibility of 1 ing a revenue corresponding to the present scule of expense. At tlie same time, í confesa 1 have not seen the evidencc oí" any inielligent and ccinprehensiveplan by which ihe requisite ecouomj can be iniroduccd. A conimiuec of the house of rep-! resentalives, of which Mr. Suuimers, of Virginia, reponed a pariial reduction of the expenses of the House the leading features of which have been adopted, thej effectoi' which tvül be a small reduction. of tho uuinher of persons cmployed ubout the business of the House. The unount of slutionery nllowed to each roember isliaiiled to 25 lor ihe long, and $'0 for ihe short sessiou, hut no limilation is pui u)on the coti!unipiion by commitiees und cleiks. The supply herelofore furnished lor tho reportera of the ilouse is also cut off. It is doubied by many, wheiher even ihis will effect a stuppage of the enonnous! waste ihat bus been ulíuwcd to gmw up' in that (leparlmctit. The followiug slale menl was prcsi.nid during the dtbule, by Mf-. Mooie, of LiOuisiana. The account for the í5ili Congrets exhihiib. 3,079 reams envelope paper 12,003 ü5 3,G10 do quarli pust du 21,Uö'J2ö 2,318 do iooi:=c;ip do 0,051 25 112 do note do 1,550 50 Stx thousancJ onc luindrud reams exclusive of euvelpe paper. 483 gross sieel [cn $4,359 30 83,700 quilla 3,053 12 10t dz penknives, 2,602 00 Tbie gives to each nicmber of that congress 24 reama üf paper, 23 doz. sieel pens, 30 doz. quills, and 5 penknives j or 40 sheets of paper, one s:eel pen, and two quilla per d;iy, and a new peuknleevery two mótiths. Mr. Coaidman of Conntjciicul, presetued the followmg slute-i nent. "'i'ie contingent expenses of the Höusaj of RepreseHintives fur the year Ib23 a-l mounted to 37.848; they cyntinued to increase, until the ycar 1838 theyamounto the enonnous suin of $343,2ol, and in the year 1840, the last vear foi' which we have complete returns, they aiuounted: tolOO,2lO. Estiiuhting the number of munbers at 242, thoee auins give an nveragc as follows: For 1823, $156 for each member. For 1838, 1438 do For 1840, 823 do 1 now appeal to the gentleman from N. York, wether the fac'.s do not cali upon this ïlousö lo investígate this enonnous extra vnga nee 1 Is there not enuugh in these facts alune Id justify the course puraued by the Cinmiuce of Retrenchment and by this Houae? Is il nol their bounden dut) ? 1 do not say that the members of this House have for their own benefit plundered'the public i reasure; but I do 8ay thiit ihese expenditures ure extravagant und enormuus- itninenseiy bcyond the necessities of the House."No person can look at these statements and tiot say tliat it is lime ihere 6bou!d bu anovertuni, but it is exiremely doubtful; whether the same set of officers under whose management this extravagant cxpenditure has grown up, have eiiber ihe integrity, the hrmness. or the abiliiy to effect a reform. Another refonnthat hfis been undertaken in goud earnést, connsts in the reduclion of the vast suma which have of late ycars been left at the discretiouary dispos I of the officers of the goyernmeut under the general designation of appriations for contingent expenses. Every branch of the public service, ultnost, has is contingent fund. During the debute, Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, made a statement of the comparativo amount of tho contingent expenses appropriaied for the years 1823 and SÏS27, aml those proposcd in ihis bill for 1842, commeniing upon several of the item?, and shovving u vnst increase of their amounl during that period, and ihnt ihe sirgregate of the approprialions for contingent expenses in 1828 wtis 3S4,015; that it had iherèaééd in 1827 to$529 305, and in 1842 to $1,116,308, which was nbonl linee times tho amount of these same expenses in 1823. The eonstiunion of United States declares thut "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriationsmiide by law." But t is evident that such apnropriations as these are a mere evasión of the constitution. - II will requiro but a slight additional stretch of the rule, to pass a yearly bill of. thiee lines, appropriating all the rever.uesof the year to ihe expenses of the gpyeïhrnent,