The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 24, 1907, Page 7

The San Francisco Sunday 1 an mrticle m Appleton's Maga- ¥ Copyrighted, 1907, by - millfonaires \ @uct the American Gove The people of this nation are face to face with this question right increase of mill aires in public life will, if it con- hag has been main- decade, soon pl of national affafrs exclu- hands of the rich, accepted fact that of great fortumes can lic at cap- great nations of today. & that the ever swelling greatly rich who are into Americ public offices without improper conceding that they and would run the agreeing that every- could be said of any lso be said of the e last vastly the vernment of, and to be conducted selely class. The question stiil 1e American people verately to shut out from their Government that fine legisiative and exec- onstantly developing asses. For, excluding reason, ome plain prac- icing this result. little thought of and s is the simple one of the cost of living in Washing- was my rare.good fortume to be atmate of Semator Hoar at our ncheon in the Senate restau- Speaking of the extravagant ne to which living had been ralsed the nation’s capital, this great man to me one day: T came to Was! - gton ¥ had s her term it willk practieally all be gone. It has beex dked up, in addition to my Senatorial salafy, in the commen expense of Gally lving"™ ey Menace of Life in Washington And yet was well kmown that most learned as well as one of the eful of men in Amerfcan public d in extreme simplicity. He wife occupied two rooms in a el, whose prices are very ow those of the great Washing- hostelries. He seldom f ever gave er, seldom if ever “entertafhed” way, seldom if ever made cam- cont utions. It was “plain liv- and high thinking” with Senator n start to last. He rode to tol in the street cars, and once the extravagance of a fellow he paid single fares in- g tickets. Nevertheless, specimen of American whom the whole nation £ ked properly adored, found himself d age without the meney he ed before he went into public : ithout a cent of the salary that had been paid to him during his thirty years of invaluable public service. Another example: I was in the very thick of one of those desperate strug- gles in the Senate some three years ago, which was so flerce that the whole try from day to day watched the \test. Late ome evening & certain ritical situation developed, requiring active warfare on the floor the next day of one of the purest, most courageous and effective American Senaters—a man greatly beloved in his own State, com- manding the confidence of the Senate end the President; a man, in short, whose whole life in the service of his ntry makes his career omne upon jch the nation may well look with pride and admiration. 1 happened to be connected with that figh He had no telephone in his ouse, and so I took a common street », which cost me only 75 cents, to e me to the out of the way part of t city where this reaily great man lived. It was a Dbitterly cold night, h as we rarely see in Washington. the way we passed & carriage mag- nificent and yet elegant in its sumptu- ous but subdued richness. It was drawn by two splendid horses and two expensively attired men sat on the box. This imposing array was carrying & certain public man to some gorgeous entertainment. Yet the Senator whom 1 was going to see was worth, in his practical value to the American peo- ple, many men like the Midas In his opulent equipage. D tiving st the home of this nebls end devoted public sérvant, I Yound it in a part of the city where rests are cheapest. It Was very It was clear that most of his money had been spent on books. The sharp cold of the snapping winter night height- ened the absence of luxuries in this {deal American’s Washington home. In a moment he came in. The crisis of the nmext day and the advisability of Lis speaking at the beginning of the morrow’s debate were llld_ before him. There was not an instant's hesitation his Kfllw}!vrv. Very well, T vou and will be prepared. "t “owas the dicect selt-sacrifcing L] he Spartan, or :l:-:;“:r:elncanpu in our heroic periods. And yet I happened personsily to know thet he himself was carrying the bur- den of one of the great legislative tasks of the session: that for many nights he had been working until far the morning hours on the duties s ediately before him, and finally 1 the eritical moment in !Y‘I;n:::l-r: of wi e had charge was ;;an'éfncgu}; he assumed the additional Jabor which kept him in his library nesrly all that night in obedience to his sense of duty to the welfare of the he sald: “T agres with g -$106. from my. 0T the law. 1f-T complets an- Qall. American people, whose faithful sere vant he was and is. This grand old man has not been ta thefftheater or any other place of en- tertainment for the last two sessions. e seldom stiends the endless round of dinners which so distract the at- consume the time and. impair th of the people’s servants in Washington. In short, he Is giving his life and consecrating his large abilitieg to his country. Yet it was and is all’ that this admirable type of American statesman could do to make both ends meet . There is another Senator well known to the whoile country who Jives in two small rooms on,the top floor of an apartment hous$. These two little rooms cost him nearly a thousand dol- lars & vear unfurirished, so this Sen- ator must spend one-fifth of his salary eech year before he has a piace to lay his head. Tike Senator Hoar and the other notable example just given, this Senstor never gives dinners, never en- terteins, seldom goes to the theater and lives in a seif-denial that wouid not be believed by the people of his own State. He haz no family whatever and there are no extraordinary drains on his pocket, yet I am credibly in- formed thht it costs him at least $2000 @ year more than his szlary to pay the absolutely necessary expenses of ex- istence and travel. And.l could give several other {llustrations as striking as this. For example, one of the old- est, most useful and most honored men in the Senate lives in a simple singie room in one of the cheapest hotels. It would be quite out of the ques- tion for any of these poor men to live at any of the great Washington hotels. Here are some of the prices of the best of the national capital's caravansaries: Willerd Hotel, one room without beard, $1.560 per day and upward; no reduc- tion made for remting by the month. The prices at the Arlington Hotel are substantially the same as at the Wil- lard for roéms. Medls are not quite s0 expensive. Raleigh Hotel, $3 per day end upward for one room without board. £ " And ming you, teo, prices are —r ——— i for the room itself, ‘s ut meals— and these the cheapest, least comfort- able dnd o Yy'o' sive than the rooms, because friends are censtantly “dropping in,” and the pub- lic man cannot be niggardly with his constituents visiting Washington. And this i& but the actual “bed and board” expense, the outlay at the lowest pos- sible estimate for merely keeping alive. None of these things is known to the American people. All~of them should be known by the erican people. They are causes which Sre working an infinitely important change in our Government. Idoubt whether any prac- tical situation exists more serfous than, this or fraught with more profound consequences to the American people. The Government Is passing into the hands of the rich; the poor man or man of moderate means is being crowded eut of the people’s service. You will say at once that such a scale of living is absurd, and I say so too; that it is flagrantly wrong. And it is to call the attentien of the na- tion to this concrete, immediate, grow- ing and critical evil that I am writing these words. Let mé repeat again that it is becoming every day more difficult for any but a rich man, and a very rich man at that, to live in comparative de- cency in Washington. ‘What is the reason for this alarm- ingly extravagant rate of living at the nation’s capital which is rapidly mak- ing it impossible for poor men to have any part in this Government? It is that a constantly Increasing number of vastly wealthy mem are entering public life and living at startling ex- pense. The simplicity of the old time living has wholly disappeared. 7This regime of almost Roman Juxury and splendor began with Secretary Whitner when he became a member of Preal- dent Cleveland’'s Cabinet. I remember very well the numerots accounts in the public press of the magnificence of his public enmtertainments; and numberless conversations with public men who were here in those days amply confirm what the newspapers then printed. This ridt of the' millions was in- ereased when Calvin S. Brice became a Senater from Ohfo and took the fa- mous Corcoran mansjon, facing La- fayette square, direCtly across from the White House. $ince then this high rate of Mving has been malntained and even elevated by the ever:swelling numbers of multi-millionaires in Sen- ate, Congress and Cabinet. It is sald that Viee Presidest Morton “kept up the pace” set by Whitney and Brice. And Vies President Hobart Mved mag- nificently and was sumptuous in his gflm‘ou- and eautiful hospitality. hirty thousand dollars a year is a very ordinary outlay for the mainte- nance of one of these establishments. Forty thousand déliars a year is by no means rare. Theré are some who spend as high as $60,000 annually. I was told by one individual that nis expenses are $75,000 every year; and in that h it thers is only husband and wife—no ch This -l-.”*.cou;-. an almost un- interrupted of sumptuous and elegant entertalnpments—dinners, recep- tions, dances, theater parties, and what not! Gredualipv—no! rapldly—the re sult of ail this hes been to causs -ex- tremely vum people not In public life, but dew, to “society,” to dbulld palatial winter homes in Washington and make the nition’s capital the scene of costly gayety. In the train of these devotees of pleasure a stream of fairly rich people has set in toward Wash- ington—people . who do not want to build homes, bttt who are quite willlng Chem Which, ol the DUbIIC AL depoNaR, SYEEIT Ao ot s o them 0! the public man dej everfwhere thro ing upon his salary, is absolutely proe 1" e e e hibitive. Think now, ip contrast, of the cost of life, lived at “Wormlpy's'—a small old- fashioned hotel concfucted by a colored man. His living éxgenses were not more than $25 a week—a{ any rate, he could have gotten alohg 4 that amount very well. Thaddeus Stevenf, the famous “Com- moner” from Penhsylvania and abso- lute dictator of tike House for several sessions, lived in b small frame house on B street Sotheast—a none too pleasant quarter of the city. Jolin A. Logan [lived at Mrs. Rhine's “boarding house.” Twelfth street, be- tween H and Nyw York avenue, table board being $18 a month for each per- son. Lot M. Morrfll, chafrmén of the House commitilee on riations, lived at a boarding house on Fourth street, betweeri D and £ stréets—an extremely unfashionable part of the city, with very modest charges. In 1860 Senitor Sumner lived at Mrs. day were luxuries then. The -uuf living from the humblest govern emplojfe 1o the greatest Senator was only & fraction of what the same ot nmnl of elther extrems absol 1y m pay out today for the s many hundreds per cent what it was a h‘n:frad years ago, seventy-five years ag ars ago. Yet at ‘Thas 1i¥ing in Webster’s time and even down hefoj"‘ th? lfirm:‘in th cf:: of.l:v‘tlc to the period Sumner and Conkling. thyoughout the whole nation, th& in- Senator ConklNing, concededly one of crkase of the cost of livingl in, the greatest wen in American’public nepublic's capital has been vx A\ greater than ané enormously out of proportion with the greatly increased cost of living elsewhere throughout the country. But notwithstanding this, the salaries of Congressmen and Senators remaln precisely what they were forty years ago. Most State treasurers and State auditors get much ‘more, and hundreds of county officers get many times more than the salary of a United States Senator. And still the latter must live amid the most expensive surroundings and pay for food and a roof of some kind upon the highest scale existing in this wholé continental republic. Nor is this evil confined to Washing- ton or to mere llving. It extends to alf kinds of charitles. It Is unbelievably strange that the most considerate and kindly of men and women interested in charity expect as large a contribu- tion from a poor man in public life as from the Croesus in public life; and the latter always sets the flgure. Of course he sets a large figure. Your wealthy public man wishes to appear generous to all charitable and religlous appeals; and, indeed, to be perféctly truthful, most of them are sincerely generous— ft i not altogether and exclusively a matter of calculation with them. - So it is the most natural thing in the ‘world—and the right thing—for charit- d religious workers and for all in the commeon good, raising thousands for these to call upon and as possible out of the mil- man. Then, of course, of public man in that Stats, or poor, must give on a scale meastured by the contribution of the r blie man. 1;:1: “vll‘otp:n!an is uated upon. ative means 1 publié men,~but ex- vely upon their relative offictal po- ns. Someh or other less {s ex- ‘ot a State official or treasurer h ‘& governor, although the for- mer out h several times as much office as the latter; and the amounts are expected of Senators, may be worth many mil- the other with practically resources. » T i t HALL NONE BUT MILLIONNAIR THE_GOVERNMENT By ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE ~United States Senator from Indiana t that the lifting of the scale ot prices In Washington is directly traceable to the extremely wealthy men who are crowding into public life and the perfectly natural desire of their families to live on a scale justi- fied by their means. This desire is by no means reprehensible. But the result of it is & very serious matter to all of us. This result {s that the time is com- ing, if indeed it has not already ar- rived, when that great body of gov- erning abllity which is to be found among the plain people will be as com- pletely excluded from any part of the conduct of the peeple’s Government as if there was a law forbidding them to hold any office within the gift of the nation. Yet the fact is so well known that it is trite, that now, as during all the past in this and every other coun- try, men endowed with' natural gifts of statesmanship aré, as a rule, unsuc- cessful in accumulating wealth. Even if thess natural legislators and admin- istrators were ‘:‘lfln ‘t:m;:a;s ulbuln- ness men, it wo! take their exclusive attention for the best of their lives to amass a modern fortune honestly. And yet the golden years of these men’s lives ought to be given to the service of the natfon. No man has any right to spend his best energies and highest abilities on his own af- fairs and then ‘“round out his career” by giving the driblets and fag ends of his strength to his try. And so it is quite clear that the Daniel Web- sters and Henry Clays and Abraham, Lincolns who are developing this very minute among the young men who have sprung from the soil must live lives of uncertain success in private ef- fort Instead of their absolutely priceless talents consecrating their peculiar public gifts to making and administering. for the Mh from w! they come and whom nature has so0 signally fitted them to serve, Even Charles Sumner, who was a man of considerable wealth for the time in which he llved, could not exist in Washington today except under con- ditiens which would humiliate his spirit or the spirit of any other manly N\ man, unless he gave & largs portion of the time and ability wihiel ought to be given exclusively to the esuntry to the making of extra money, which even the humblest Jiving would cost him over and above his Sematorial salary. Men such as the three examples with Which this paper opened, living cheaply as they do, spend much more than their salaries, and must earn this ad- ditional amount by lecturing, by read- ing or by a fragmentary practics of the law. Senator Hoar wrote many magasine articles, but so conscientfous was he that he would wometimes spend hglf of the price he received fof an article in buying books and dsedreling out original information te verify the statements he made. T kmow oné pub- lic man who makes his extra monéy by writing articles, and this labor to be done after long hours of publ work are over ahd when the more fof« among the masses of entering the service of the Re- people public and remaining there. If the present tendemey soes on it will net be a of a century until this Government of, by and for the people will be conducted exclusively by enor- mously wealthy men. It will mot do very much good to raise salarfes of Senators and Con- gressmen. Such a Dbill was offered a few years ago and nearly every mil- lionaire voted against it. Those men who veted for it were flercely lam- Tey have pooned. But even if t bill had de- come a law the increase | would have been comparativel. T and any increase which is it all possi- ble fould sccomplish very lttle. In- deed, it is doubtful whether it would not be unwise to increase salarles to a point where the men whose enly in- come 1s their salary could live on squal terms with their more fortunate col- leagues, for no man ought to come ta either House or Senats for financial re- ward. The truth is that our national affairs have become so impertant, num- erous and complex that they can be properly handled only by men ha especial aptitude and training for th: Such men ought to be carefully sele: ¢4 and then, when tried, kept con- stantly in public life ustil their age renders them unfit for further publia service, for public Iife has become a pro- fession in the best sense. So far-reach- ing. profound and numerous . are problems constantly arising that best thought and most careful and con- tinuous study by our statesmen are in- dispensable to thelr golution. The na- tion’s legislator can no longer attend to his own affatrs during the Congres- sional vacation if he gives Intelligent sttention to the business of the Reput He; for thess periods when Congress is not I session are the only opportun- ftles he has for study and investiga- tion. This latter cannot be done dur ing the sessions of Congress—then is the time for action. It is quite plain, them, is it not, that, if the nation is to be well served, tha peopls must chaose for public office men naturally gffted In statesmanship, and then keep them in service prac- ticing the profession of public lite? But the poor man cannot do this, even if the people want him, unless the Juxury of living in the nation’s capital is reduced. The rich can, of course, be- cause expense is nothing to them. And & President, Senate and House com- posed of rich men might run things ad- mirably—I rather think they would. But it would be government by an oli- garchy of wealth, to the exclusion of poor men. Very well! We do not want that sort of thing In America. There s no use shutting our eyes to theésé conditions. Tha alternative is as unchangeable as fate; either the im- mensely rich must bé kept out of pubd- Ho office or else the Republic must be deptived of the labors of those natural statesmen, not tavored by financlal for- funé (such as the great men of our Afe today developing, as always developed and al- ways will deveiop.. from among the fommon people. Either our Govern- ment, 88 & practical matter, must bo- come a government of rich men or eclse rich men must bé kept out of govern- ment by the votes of the people, ex- cept always where their qualities of statesmanship are notable. Yes, and there is another alternative worse than the exclusive conduct of ‘the Geovern- ment by rich men, and that is the par- ticipation in the conduct of the Gov- ernment by poor men whose poverty, joined to the impossible prices of 1iv- ing in Washington, tempts them to get money in improper ways. Discussing the whole_subject, one these wealthy public men, of most ad- mirable qualities for the great offco Be holds, sald: “After all, there are places in Washington whers & man can Uve on his salagy.” The snswer to this, of course, was that while this might be true, ha would have to liva in such quarters and on such feed and generally in such discomifort as (o make life hard for himself and positively unendurable for nhis family. Again, no man can do his best worlc who is i} a perpetual state of spology end bumiliation. Still. agaim, his con- stituents would be ashamed of such a eoundition of lving If they Kmew about it Also such s pubiie man is at an un- apeakable disadvantage compared with the rich man with whom §» works: the ofie can entertain all visiters to Wash- ington, the other egnnot. The eme can entertain his colleagues, the can- sot. The one can sccept the lity of his associates becguse he in turn can offer hogpitality; the other cannot accept this hospitality and retain his self-respect, because he cannot by any possible means return it. This matter of entertaining is in {tself an absurdly influential factor in Washington life— influential with the Senator's or Con- gressman’s constituents who visit- ing Washington and even more Influe ential in legislation. Thus the millionalfe in national pub- lic lifs has an tnealculable -d\'lnt-.!a t 198, 16 reckon the ded social inter- shaping of na- and the énactment of mh.mu When public men thelr wives meéet at the homs of public mas, #it about his bril- llant and mingle afterward in #nd intimate conversation a %‘.‘ 18 established which has fts Here In America, just as the has produced the same re- and in every other ive on his salary attend functions. Any gowns which he it buy for his wife and dtughters would look shabby and #rptesque compared with the elegant of thelr more fortunate h & man may be far abler and mape Industrious than his rich col- league, and yet;all these natural abill- tiés are neutrafized by the purely arti- flelal Influence of social entertainment ian which the rich man indulges. In eomparison the poor public man and his family must live in an attitude of perpetual apology. And why should this be? Decidedly the rich man who is not pre-eminent in statesmanship must go. Peétdedly also the demagogue must go. Decidedly something more than mfl- Hons and a pyrchased public reputation on the one hand and flaming appeals to passion amd class hatred om the other hand, mmust be required of would- be public men if the Government of, by and for tkejpeopls i3 not to be run exclusively by Croesus and Jack Cads,