Compensation to Public Officers.
Mr. Parker then renewed his motion, and the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill respecting compensations, Mr. Muhlenberg in the chair; when
Mr. Parker moved to strike out the first clause. He thought it necessary to make some additional allowance to the President, but he would do it in a different way from that proposed. When the present President came into office, he said, he had a quantity of furniture presented him, which might now be nearly worn out, and be of little value. It might be proper, therefore, to purchase new furniture for the gentleman just elected. It would be also during the period of the present Presidency that Government would remove to the Federal City, which would be attended with a good deal of expense to the President. He should wish, therefore, that a provision should be made for defraying that expense, and also for the purchasing of new furniture, but he should be opposed to the making of any addition to the salary at present.
Mr. Hartley spoke in favor of retaining the clause.
Mr. R. Sprigg said he should vote against the proposed advance of salary, and could not consent to any other mode of augmenting the present compensation allowed to the President. He could by no means agree to the plan proposed by the gentleman from Virginia; for, if they were to renew the furniture of the President every four or eight years, it would be found a pretty expensive business. That gentleman had also mentioned the removal of the Government, as taking place during the next Presidency; but, he said, the new election would happen about the time of removing the Government, and provision for paying that expense might be made at that time. He thought the salaries were already sufficiently high, and that it would be with difficulty that money was found to pay the present expenses of Government.
Mr. Williams was of opinion, on the score of economy, that it would be better to advance the compensation of the President in the way proposed by the present bill, and let him purchase his own furniture, than to purchase new furniture, which, perhaps, when the Government was removed, would not be suitable for his house in the Federal City. Mr. W. said he was one of the committee on the subject of compensation, and they endeavored to ascertain whether the twenty-five thousand dollars allowed to the President were an adequate compensation. It was generally believed it was not. They ought, he said, to enable their First Magistrate to live in a style becoming his situation. All their Executive officers should receive such salaries as would enable them to see company agreeably to their rank, otherwise the respectability attached to those offices would suffer greatly in the public opinion. He hoped, therefore, the section would not be struck out.
Mr. Buck said, as the motion now made was to try the principle, it would be well to go into an examination of the subject. He said he had never been a champion for raising salaries, or a stickler for lowering them; but, as the subject was brought before them, he should cheerfully declare his sentiments upon it. He conceived the true question to be, whether it was right and just that they should augment the salaries of the officers of Government and the members of the Legislature, or whether the present compensations were just and adequate to the sacrifices which they made in undertaking the business of Government. Because he did not believe, with some other gentlemen, that they were to estimate the compensations of their officers in proportion as money was scarce or plentiful in the Treasury, nor did he believe there was a real distress in Government for want of money; but their difficulties arose from a difference of opinion in that House on the mode of raising money. He believed there were persons who thought Government squandered away the public money; that its officers divided the loaves and fishes amongst them; and that the only way in which this profusion of expense could be checked was by pursuing a system of direct taxation, which would make the people feel the amount which they contributed to the support of Government. He should not undertake to examine this principle, nor deny that such facts might exist. It would be enough to look at existing circumstances in our country, and see how far they would apply. Our Government, he said, rested on public sentiment for support, and must always be regulated by it. He was willing, he said, to go all lengths with gentlemen in adopting a system of taxation calculated to raise a permanent revenue. Nor was he apprehensive for the result, when dictated by reason and justice.
Contemptible must be that state of Government, said Mr. B., where its public officers are starved for want of a proper spirit in the people to support them. Is America, said he, arrived at this melancholy state? If she were, God forbid she should ever experience another revolution! Is this all our boasted acquisition, in return for the struggle we have made for our country? No; he denied the fact. America was not reduced to that state which will not allow her to pay the expenses of her Government, nor is she unwilling to pay them; neither is public sentiment so debased as not to approve of any measure which shall be taken to secure a handsome maintenance for our officers. There was no occasion for hypocrisy in the business; he was willing to state the whole truth plainly to his constituents. He should not think of telling them they were giving too high salaries for their officers, when he knew, that, owing to their insufficiency, they were diminishing their own private fortunes. Nor did he wish to intrench on his own property in serving the public; he believed there was no occasion for this. He should, therefore, speak plainly to them.
Mr. B. said, he would inquire whether the present salaries were a reasonable and just compensation for the services performed? In respect to the President of the United States, it was said that he had already a large salary. He knew that twenty-five thousand dollars had a great sound in the ears of many, but he trusted the people of the United States not only possessed just views of Government, but that they also possessed virtue to support the just measures of Government, and would not consent that their Executive officers should be placed on such a footing as to be looked down by officers from foreign countries who moved in a lower sphere. Therefore, when they looked into the reason of the thing, and found their present salaries were unequal to their support, not in the style of splendor observed in foreign courts, but according to the manner of living in Philadelphia, would they not be willing to increase them? He believed they would.
The present President, he said, was a man of fortune, and never took from the Government more than would support his table, either during the war or during his Presidency. And what, he asked, did these expenses amount to? To the whole sum allowed him by law. But were they always to expect to have a President who would give his services to his country? Or had the President set a bad example, by living in a style of extravagance and splendor? He believed this was not the opinion of Americans, or that of foreign countries. If, then, the present President had lived upon his own fortune, and the whole of his compensation had gone to defray the expenses of his table, if this compensation was not advanced, how were future Presidents to come forward, to support the same style? They could not do it without infringing on their own fortunes. And do the citizens of the United States, he asked, wish their First Magistrate to be placed in this situation? He could not think so. He believed they meant to make ample provision for his support; and if the present provision was found inadequate, they would condemn their Representatives; they would say they did not support the dignity of their country, if they neglected to advance it.