CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



to the proper accounting officer : and the salary or 



isutiou of all officers and employes of "tlio 

 ~ DTernmout. subject to the exception* named in 

 1 of tli is act, shall hcreattor be the samo 

 "ley were prior to the passage of the act named 



1 suction. 



8. That tho Secretary of tho Treasury is re- 

 quired to ruver into tho Treasury all sums tliat may 

 remain undrawn, or which have been received aa in- 



1 compensation under the provisions of said 

 uct, approved March 3, 1878, and which hall hove 

 or may come into hia possession by tho return there- 

 of. 



Mr. Hale, of Maine, said : " Members will seo 

 t hat \vry little scope was left to tho committee. 

 Tlio l>ill itself in some particulars does not suit 

 mo ; in some regards it will not suit others. 

 < >n that point I may speak for members of the 

 committee. But what the committee did was 

 t<i follow out the spirit of the instructions, and 

 that \vasto lump the whole mileage, and then 

 distribute it as salary among the members. 

 Tlio matter was confined to the Forty-first 

 Congress, in making the reckoning, by the 

 terms of tho instructions moved by the gentle- 

 man from Indiana (Mr. Orth), and adopted by 

 the House. The committee, not trusting to 

 any thing less than an official report, obtained 

 from the Kegister of the Treasury a complete 

 and accurate list, which I hold in my hand, of 

 the mileage paid to every member of the For- 

 ty-first Congress, and also to every Senator, 

 which I also hold in my hand, upon another 

 sheet. The list is in detail, showing what each 

 member and each Senator received. That, of 

 course, was not needed ; but the office wished 

 to make their reply to my request exhaustive. 

 The committee took simply the aggregate of 

 the mileage to the members of the Forty-first 

 Congress, which amounted to $209,542.40, paid 

 to two hundred and sixty-five members in all. 

 The mileage to the Senate was $71,382.40, 

 paid to seventy-two Senators. The aggregate 

 of the two amounts was $280,924.80. We of 

 course have divided that amount by the aggre- 

 gate number of Senators, Representatives, and 

 Delegates, making as the average for the whole 

 Congress $833.60 for two years, or for one 

 year $416.80. To that the committee, acting 

 under instructions, added $125 for stationery 

 allowance, making an average of allowance for 

 mileage and stationery, the franking privilege 

 being excluded by the terms of the instruc- 

 tions, of $541.80. Under the instructions to 

 report a bill as near this as practicable, the 

 committee took the responsibility of fixing an 

 even sum, and they took the nearest hundred 

 dollars, being $5,500, cutting oft' $4 1.80, which 

 I presume no gentleman will object to. The 

 bill is therefore reported under the instruc- 

 tions, fixing the salary at the rate of $5,500 

 hereafter for members of Congress, and is made 

 in terms as distinct as the committee could 

 make them, to be in lieu of all allowances 

 whatever, except and there the language of 

 tin- instructions is followed actual individual 

 necessary expenses of Senators, Members, and 

 Delegates, in coming from their residences to 



the national capital and returning to them, to 

 bo duly certilu-il to tho an-. Minting officers. 

 Tho bill is amended, also, according to the in- 

 structions, so as to embrace all official*, with 

 the exceptions referred to in tho instructions, 

 to wit, tho justices of the Supreme Court and 

 the President of tho United States during Lis 

 present term of office. After fixing the sala- 

 ries of members of Congress, all other salaries, 

 in accordance with instructions, are put back 

 at tlio rate that they were under the law pre- 

 vious to the passage of the act of March 8, 

 1872, all that part of it which is commonly 

 known as the salary bill. 



" Now, the committee in doing this Lava 

 endeavored to follow strictly tho instructions 

 of the House, and have presented this bill iu 

 accordance with those instructions." 



Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, said: "I ofior the fol- 

 lowing amendment to come in at the close of 

 the,second section of the bill : 



Provided, That Senators, Representatives, and 

 Delegates, in tho Forty-third Congress who shall 

 have received their compensation since the 4th of 

 March, 1673, in accordance with the provisions of 

 the act hereby repealed, shall hereafter be paid only 

 such equal monthly installments as shall in the ag- 

 gregate make their compensation severally from the 

 4th of March, 1873, to the close of the present Con- 

 gress equal to the amount of salary herein provided. 



" I suppose, Mr. Speaker, that that amend- 

 ment explains itself. I offer it in order that 

 the entire compensation of members of Con- 

 gress for this Forty-third Congress shall only 

 amount to the figure provided for in this bill." 



Mr. Eldredge, of Wisconsin, said: "Mr. 

 Speaker, I have no idea of making a speech at 

 this time, but I desire to say a few words, 

 mostly personal to myself. I am one of those 

 who have been subjected to most malicious and 

 malignant assaults on account of voting for tho 

 salary bill of the last Congress. It is, I be- 

 lieve, the first and only vote of mine since I 

 have been a member of this House that has 

 been challenged or criticised by my constitu- 

 ents, though I have never ' dodged ' a vote, 

 and never been absent from the House except 

 from unavoidable necessity. 



" I have voted and spoken on most or all the 

 great questions that have come before Con- 

 gress growing out of the war, being forced too 

 many times to vote under the operation of the 

 previous question without opportunity for dis- 

 cussion or reflection. For the first time I am 

 charged with sinister motives in casting my 

 vote. Though, up to this time, I have said 

 nothing in vindication of it, I have by no 

 means ignored the fact or been indifferent to 

 tho epithets that have been nttered against me 

 in common with others, or the unjust charges 

 made. I voted for the bill. I will not deny 

 it or shrink from the responsibility of the vote. 

 I voted for it, believing in my soul that it was 

 right, and that it was for the best interest of 

 the country that it should be passed. / be- 

 lifte to now. Neither the clamor of the press, 

 the so-called voice of the people, nor the ar- 



