t NITED 



161 



hour; mi unorganized nml unrecognized force, 

 appriM-iati'd only because of its noise or the 

 it iniL'lit (1<>. 1 was elected under the 

 uiition, liold my ollico, receive my in- 

 ^tnii-tion.-, jtiiil learn my duty, from tlie peo- 

 ple my constituents through that instru- 

 ment. It is the uprme law to me. They ex- 

 iie my constituents expect mo to bow 

 in :i!>solute submission to its requirements, and 

 1 will obey them in that or resign. I was 

 never was chosen because I was the 

 weakest and most submissive of my people, but 

 rather because I was believed to bo able to 

 withstand a storm. I have stood hero on this 

 iloor in opposition to the public, the general 

 opinion of this House, of the country, resist- 

 ing some of the most popular measures of the 

 time, assaults, as I believed then and still be- 

 lieve, upon the Constitution, when there were 

 only twenty-five or thirty to stand with me 

 and share with mo the taunts and jeers of tho 

 overwhelming majority, some of whom the 

 gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawes), 

 for one admit now that they were wrongs 

 so flagrant they will not do for precedents. 

 The storm of public opinion does not blow 

 now as it blew then. I remember when it was 

 claimed that public opinion demanded the im- 

 peachment of your President, and some were 

 foolhardy enough to insist that it ought to bo 

 done because the people demanded it, whether 

 he was guilty or not ; and there is not a states- 

 man throughout this broad land who does not 

 now know, if that popular clamor had been 

 obeyed, it would have shivered your Constitu- 

 tion and Government to atoms. 



" Public opinion ! what sacrifices has it 

 not demanded ? What crimes has it not com- 

 mitted? Inexorable, unrelenting, and unrea- 

 soning, it hung upon the cross the Saviour of 

 man, and has more than once since demanded 

 the crucifixion of the innocents. Once moved, 

 what reason, what argument, what considera- 

 tion of justice or humanity ever satiated its 

 thirst for blood ? 



" It is needless to multiply or suggest in- 

 stances ; thousands rush to the recollection of 

 us all both ancient and modern where hu- 

 manity, duty, and true statesmanship required, 

 demanded the representative should resist, and 

 not pander to, public opinion. ' The voice of 

 the people is the voice of God,' is as absurd 

 as it is irreverent and profane. 



" But, whether right or wrong, this ques- 

 tion of the salaries of members, as provided for 

 under the old law and the law of 3d of March, 

 1873, has never to my knowledge or belief 

 been even fairly stated in a half-dozen news- 

 papers in the United States. Why is it that 

 it has never been candidly discussed ? Why is 

 it that it has received only denunciation ? 

 Why have the facts been suppressed or out- 

 rageously misrepresented ? It was because 

 truth and fairness would not subserve the pur- 

 pose." 

 Mr. Hale, of New York, said : " Mr. Speaker, 



VOL. XIV. 11 A 



t!ii- debate seems to have taken a somewhat 

 remarkable turn. Tho provbions of that law- 

 wore condemned by popular damor, if gentle- 

 men choose to call it HO; but it was a popular 

 clamor based on sufficient grounds, and corn- 

 mending itself, in my judgment, to the mind 

 of every upright man in this House or out of 

 it. The complaint made against the statute 

 increasing the pay of members of this House 

 was, as I understand, first and last, in regard 

 to the amount, as being excessive. I believe 

 that tho sentiment of tho better class of the 

 community was that the amount fixed by that 

 lull was larger than it ought to be, irrespective 

 of every other consideration; and I for one 

 especially believe that it was larger than it 

 ought to be in proportion to the other official 

 salaries paid by the people of this country in 

 the administration of their State and national 

 Governments. But that, as I have said, was 

 the least of the considerations weighing with 

 the people in this matter. The second, and a 

 greater consideration, was that the members 

 of the Forty-second Congress constituted them- 

 selves the judges in their own case, increasing 

 at the end of their term their pay for the en- 

 tire term, and that to an amount which the 

 people believed excessive. The third propo- 

 sition on which this popular condemnation 

 rested, and, in my judgment, the weightiest 

 of all, relates to the manner in which the act 

 was done. It was not done by square, manly, 

 honest legislation. This House in the Forty- 

 second Congress repeatedly by large majorities 

 voted down the proposition for an increase of 

 their pay when presented as a bold and naked 

 proposition, and then by trick and subterfuge 

 and evasion ingrafted the increase upon a bill 

 on which they could have some excuse for 

 saying, ' We vote ourselves increased pay pure- 

 ly as a matter of necessity, because we must 

 do it or defeat the appropriations for the sup- 

 port of the Government.' Each and every 

 one of these objections I claim to be well 

 founded, ranking in weight according to the 

 order in which I have stated them. 



" And, therefore, sir, I am unqualifiedly in 

 favor of the repeal of that bill so far as the 

 salaries of members of both Houses of Congress 

 are concerned, and the return directly to the 

 did compensation, salary, and mileage." 



The Speaker: "The question now is upon 

 tho amendment of the gentleman from Iowa " 

 (Mr. Kaason). 



The question was taken as follows : 



YKAS Messrs. Albright, Archer, Arthur, Ashe, 

 Atkins, Banning. Burrere, Barry, Bans, Beck, Berry, 

 ]',owi-n, Briirlit, Brown, Buckner, Bundy. Burchard, 

 Burleigh, Burrows, Benjamin F. Butler, Cannon, Ca- 

 son, Amos Clark, Jr., John B. Clark, Jr., Clements, 

 I'hmi-r, Sti'i'lu-n A. Cobb, Coburn, Confer, Cook, 

 Corwin, Cotton, Cox, Crittonden, Crocker, Crutch- 

 field, Curtis, Dnnfonl, Dawes, De Witt, Dobbins, 

 Donnan. Dunnell ii-n, Fort, Foster, Frye, 



Oarfiuld, Gooch, Gunkel. Eugene Hale, Hamilton, 

 John T. Harris, Hatcher, Hathorn. Havens, John B. 

 Hawloy, Gerry W. Haxeltou, John W. llazleton, 

 Hendee, Hereford, E. Rockwood Hoar, George F. 



