CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



IT, 



en paid, under the law of March last, 



." 



r. Logan : " That is dodging the question 

 M 1 . rtainly do not desire to discuss this 

 tion at length. I expect I have n-c. -iv.-d 



y portion of the odinra of this law of March 

 t. I do not say that we have not made a 

 mistuke in tin- eyes of the people ; but, because 

 tin- country does not believe in the amount of 

 s ilary we provided, that is no reason why rea- 

 SMii:iblo men should demand of ns to do that 

 which we have no power as a Congress to do; 

 IK >r do they. 



" I am willing to yield to the demands of the 

 people as readily as any other man in this cham- 

 ber, when reasonable. I may not satisfy my 

 constituents, but am willing to yield in my offi- 

 cial capacity to their demands or their requests. 

 But to go further than that, and beyond reason 

 and law and the dictates of common-sense, to 

 satisfy the unreasonable demands of. Senators 

 who are playing a role for themselves, we are 

 not called upon to do it. No demand has been 

 made to go beyond our constitutional power 

 by the people. Sir, the demand made by the 

 people on the Congress is this the repeal of 

 the law of March 8, 1873. 



What effect does the amendment have $ It 

 has the effect to charge every member of Con- 

 gress for the next year to come with what he 

 has already received in excess of the rate of 

 $5,000 a year to debit him with so much, and 

 only allow him to draw enough hereafter to 

 bring him down to $5,000. I suppose I should 

 not get any thing for the next three months 

 under this, because my conscience has not pre- 

 vented me from drawing my salary under the 

 l.uv. I guess I shall have to stay here without 

 any money. The conscience of my friend from 

 Indiana probably being a little more sensitive, 

 he may not have drawn his amount, and hence 

 he will be permitted to receive some pay. 

 There is the distinction this amendment makes 

 between Senators between the consciences of 

 Senators. 



"Bat it goes further. Here are our cabinet 

 ministers, here are our heads of bureaus, here 

 are all the men who are incorporated in the in- 

 creased salary bill, and you provide that the 

 members of Congress who are now here having 

 seats shall return their pay, but everybody else 

 may keep his. Is that honest? Is that what 

 the people want? Is that what they demand ? 

 Do they mean that we shall perpetrate a fraud 

 upon them ; that we shall by clipping our own 

 wings impose upon them and hide the increase 

 of salary as it affects other officers ? They de- 

 mand no such thing. 



44 Xow, I do not claim that I am so versed 

 in the law as my friend from Indiana; but 

 what little law I do know suggests to me at 

 least that we have no power to do that which 

 he asks by his amendment. I am aware that, 

 when we decide questions here, sometimes our 

 legal knowledge is overriden by outside press- 

 ure; sometimes our views are changed very 



much by the popular verdict, though the law 

 is just as plain as it can be written, and we are 

 willing t violate it merely to nay before the 

 country that we rushed to the rescue. I do 

 not believe in such legislation." 



Mr. Thunnan, of Ohio, said : " I wish to nay 

 a word upon the legal question suggested by 

 my friend from Illinois, because I think if he 

 comes to understand it perfectly ho will find 

 there is not the difficulty in this amendment of 

 the Senator from Indiana that he supposes to 

 exist. If the amendment be adopted, it cre- 

 ates no inequality whatsoever in the payment 

 of members. They will all be paid precisely 

 the same sum. Nor is it any violation of 

 vested right. The amendment proposes that 

 the excess over $5,000 provided by the act of 

 March last, when received by members, shall 

 be taken into account in settling with them 

 in the future until the expiration of the year ; 

 the whole effect of which, if carried out, 

 would be that each member of the Forty-third 

 Congress would receive for the year the sum 

 of $5,000. 



" But the objection that this is in violation of 

 vested rights of members, or will produce any 

 inequality between them, I submit to my 

 friend from Illinois is not well taken. It does 

 not destroy the equality between the members 

 at all, nor does it destroy vested rights. Let 

 us see how that is. In regard to the compen- 

 sation of Senators and Representatives the 

 Constitution provides : 



The Senators and Representatives shall receive a 

 compensation for their services, to be ascertained by 

 law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United 

 States. 



" There is no provision as to when it shall 

 be paid, or how it shall be paid, except that it 

 shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United 

 States. But, when we come to the compensa- 

 tion of the President, the Constitution reads : 



The President shall, at stated times, receive for 

 his services a compensation, etc. 



" Arid the same provision in regard to the 

 judges of the courts : 



The judges both of the Supreme and inferior 

 courts s hall hold their offices during good behavior, 

 and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a 

 competibution which shall not be diminished during 

 their continuance in office. 



"The first difference, then, between mem- 

 bers of Congress, whether Senators or Repre- 

 sentatives, and the President and the judges, is 

 that the Constitution is obligatory in respect to 

 the President and the judges, that their com- 

 pensation shall be paid at stated times ; where- 

 as there is no such provision in regard to that 

 of Senators and Representatives. 



" There is then another material difference 

 between the two, and that is, that the salary 

 of the President and the salaries of the judges 

 cannot be diminished during, in the case of the 

 President, the period for which he shall have 

 been elected, and as to the judges, during the 

 term they shall hold office ; whereas the com- 



