50-50 Proposition

At the first session of the U.S. Congress, in 1789, the members of the House and Senate set their own pay at $6 for each day they were present. Since then, from time to time, Congressmen have nudged the figure upward. Last week the 84th Congress, armed with the recommendations of a citizens' commission, gave itself a raise of 50%, from $15,000 to $22,500 a year.

Two Bulls & a Bank Roll. While the final vote was overwhelming (223-113 in the House, a shouted voice vote in the Senate), the Congressmen acted only after hearing some caustic words about their own worth. The sharpest comments came from North Dakota's sharp old (76) Republican Representative Usher L. (for Loyd) Burdick, a lawyer, rancher, collector of rare books and a Congressman for 16 years.' In the first place, said Burdick, some of his colleagues were not being honest when they called their present salary $12,500 a year, and failed to mention their $2,500-a-year special expense account. "Why do you not tell the truth about it?" asked Burdick. "I have often said in lawsuits, when a defendant wanted me to defend him, 'For God's sake, boy, tell me the truth, because if there is any lying going on in this case, I want to do it myself.'

"One Congressman said he lost $400 . . . every month he was here. That does not surprise me any. You can lose more than that if you plan it. I tried it a couple of months, and it has taken all of my salary and the proceeds of two of the best Black Angus bulls you ever saw. But I have noticed something funny about these Congressmen who lose $400 a month. When their term has expired, they come right back to lose $400 a month more . . . You say you are going to get better men if you raise the salary . . . But if you agree to that doctrine and vote for more, you agree that you should not be here . . . Why, the best men in the United States never saw this Congress, and they never will, because you cannot get many good men to run. That is the reason I am here."

Five Trips & a Kitty. The Congress refused to go the way Usher pointed, but it did heed the signal of another old hand. In the final stages, the bill still contained a provision for a tax-free special-expense account of $1,250 and an allowance for five extra round trips home every year. Just as the Senate was about to rush the bill through, Kentucky's Democratic Senator Alben Barkley rose to make his first speech since he returned to the Senate this year. In five minutes, Barkley made his point clear: These "petty, extraneous" provisions were so special that they would be resented by the folks back home. Having high respect for the Veep's political sagacity, the Senate hurriedly wiped out the provisions for the $1,250 account and five trips home.

By week's end the congressional-judicial pay raises, including increases for such officials as the Vice President (from $40,000 to $45,000), Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (from $25,000 to $35,000) and federal district judges (from $15,000 to $22,500), were on the payroll. Total cost to the U.S. Treasury: $6,000,000 a year. After he signed the bill, President Eisenhower said that the raises were justified to attract, hold and adequately compensate good men under present U.S. standards of living. In a reference to tax levels, he cracked wryly: "We will get half of it back; don't forget that."

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