Compensation Of Members Of Congress

:e, for reducing the pay of members of comp i was eniirely prospective in its operation, ducc v;i8 not to take effect nntil-the next seas ion. yeur' will account ior the favor it received. to p; ïembers. not expecting a re-elettion, found tion, could evince their zeal lor ictrenchinent and men m, without any personal sacrifice, by voting Safeit down the pay of their successors in oflice. ncts n the propricty of thisreduction, people hondiffer in opinión. In order.to arrive at n hns ' conclusión, we must proceed on some geneirinciples. Let it be reinembered, tliat the ibers are part out of the public iréasúry - j. no funds ought to be taken fioni it except gaj efray the lieccssary expenses of the zens it- and taking funds iher.ee for any other and. jose is a robbery of the people who ' ( them. Wh.n the people employ ager.ts to bet isact their ousiness, they shouid give thgm '] li compenstition as will support thcin and ma, r families rcspeciably and honorubly. To set . they ave erititled. and to no more. The ,],ai '.pensation ought not to be so large that it wilh ges sought for nièrely asa mearía ol acciimuFating ont il til ; nor ought a pubüc servnnt to be so s;ai itnped in Lis allowanee, as 10 be tuider the of perpetual embarrassment because he g meet lus necessary expenses. The ,j, on of the members of the State Ltgislatures su generally from one and a halHo threc dollars s . ay. None cóntend that the latter sum is dol uflicient remuncration. We are not aware ol f reasons why the compensation of a member Congress ought greatly to exceed that of a Pnl mberofthe State Lcgisliiturc. Under this view of the case. it appears to us en il five dollars per day would be n sum - nt to meet all nccessary de;iands made upon u;i : resources of a memher of Congress. Can a rui moer claim any t .ing heyond this? Will he 'J ? that eight dollars would be tnuch more nient. than live. and that it mght all be spent tir. jfitably? Undou'jtedly it niight; butwlnlehe iü jnds eight dollars in one day, it takes eighi sO rd day's work of his constituents to earn the m he daily expends. It is robbery to coñipel em to laborious toil to procure hiin the nieans iuxury. ol In addition to the daily allowanee of the memrs. some oí itíe expenses are deírayed by Cpnrss. The most ampie provisión s made eveiy e, ssion for supplies of Btaiwnary ot every kind. ,1 cluding even a sufficient allowanee of pen Cl lives; and a year or two since in ad'ütion tu f.s the House paid the sum oí $315 for , g pens for the nicmbe. s. n The travelling expenses of the members are ' rovided for by law at the ratc of eight dollars w ir every twenty miles travel, in going to and ai irning from Washington. This allowanee w:is " itablished many years sincc, and however well i ropoiüoncd it might have been in those times ot , ow and tcdious travdlling, it is now altogether c is?roportionate to the expenses of the members. . r the .ime consumed on their journies. The N. g r. Courier saj's the average expens. s of a p eman who travels in the best R'yle by packet H oats or by steam conveyanoe does not usually ' xceed five dollars per hundred n:ilee; whereas Congress allows its members Jyrty dollars for i ravelling thal distance. Meinbers not ( uently travel by railroads and steamboats from wo to three hundied miles in twenty-four hours. v nd receive therefor from the public treatury I ighty or one hundred and twenty dollars. When ■ essions of Congress are short, the milèage ol ., hose members who live at a distance ofttn exeeds the amount of their daily allowanee. Look , t the case practically among us Suppose a ( neniber of Congress to be elecled from Marshnll. , ie can go through to Detroit on the raihoad, 110 niles, in a day, with the utmost easc; and for lis day's ride he receives at Washingion 'our dollars. This surtí we pay him; and it is oo much. The laboring men of Michigan have j ust reason of-complaint that they shouid be , lelled to pay so much out of their hard earnings j 'or so 8mall an ümount of service. Accordmg f 0 the principie we have laid down, a large porion ot this mileage is sheer robbery ol the lucing clssess. It is expending the public treaure unnecessanly, where no benefit is received n return. Another method by whiuh exorbitant amounts ' ire drawn from the pubhc treasuiy, is by meaos ' )f the long estüblished custoiii oí pnyinji to the jreaiding ofricers of the two Houses of Cyngress 1 doublé conipensaiiun. The President ol the áenate and vh Speaker of the House receive for I :heir services each sïxtim dolíais per dny. We ,re informed that it is customary to bestow [e wages on presiding otficfis m all legisl.itive Dodies; but we know of no good reason tor it. - It ra'her savoio to us of aristocracy - oí a distinction of rank, without a conesponding : tion in ment or services. Enough oi the mosi talented members could be tound to fill those situations. if the piy were nol incieased; and thereis no evidence ihat their abiiity or diligence is at at all uugmemed by their doublé compeusation. Our conclusión is, that a reform in all these particulars might be eflected with advantage to ihe public, without crampingor embarrassing the public servants. An abolition o' the doublé allowanee of the Speaker of ihe House and of the President ol the Senate- a reduction of more than one halfin the travelling allowanee of t:,e members, and a diminutton of their wages from eight to five dollars per day, would be a practical j ot soon behold. Do you ask whyl JLL all the leading puliticiana of both parties ti)e q erested in keeping up the oíd customs.- A present membëra of Cngress will not re S!)lej ] he euiolumenis o office whilc the peoplc f $ 1 nhing about it; and those who are ' " step inio their places, both whigsanddem - ■ , are inierested in having the perquisite.ce as large as possible. These control ibi and it snysnothing, or perhnpa is ready i jT at all propositions for reform in this respcc __ 3 unsafe for the people 10 depend on politior office-holdera to origínate reforms. - have an interest directly antagonist to thai sPee i laboring peoplc. The latter carn money. "J he former consume il, and il is for their . ut ; to consume as mucli as they can lay hands gent They people must origínate their own ]s]j of rctrenchinent. They must ask the 3, who pays all these expenses? Who pays indi A. C's from 40 to 100 dollars per day for the Hing? Were the farmers and laboring men 'e is State to bc assembled to decide on the )cnsntion of members, they could not bc yj d to continue all the present rates, even by a ova s persuasión. And yet they will continue sllji ay those ralee, probably for ariother anc by mere sufferance, without grumbling, doe úy because their interests are intrusted to the a?-keeping of men who live chiefly on the prodof other mens' lubor. . . at i