Mr. THAWLEY expressed a desire to hear the
contract read.
Mr. BOWIE hoped that this would not be done.
The Convention had already heard it read a doz-
en times.
Mr. THAWLEY. I think the gentleman from
Prince George seems very liberal but he ( Mr. T. )
would much prefer to see gentlemen liberal at
their individual expense in a matter of this char-
acter; and, especially so, with the evidence of
the contract for this work before them, and which
contract he considered was most liberal and con-
clusively. This, in his opinion, would be much
better than to be liberal at the expense of the
State. He would confess that this liberality,
would not go a great way with him, although he
was willing that the reporter and printers should
be justly and adequately paid for every particle
of labor performed by them.
Mr. BOWIE. That is what we are doing now,
but it is proposed to reconsider it.
Mr. THAWLEY. How much per day does the
gentleman from Prince George suppose the re-
porter gets.
Mr. Bowie. We give him five dollars a
column.
Mr. THAWLEY. I would like the gentleman
from Prince George (Mr. Bowie,) to inform me
how much the pay the reporter receives per day?
Mr. BOWIE. I do not know.
Mr. THAWLEY. The gentleman from Prince
George, (Mr. Bowie,) chairman of the report
we are now acting on, appears to be very con-
versant with what was paid at other places. Is
the gentleman aware that that the reporter will
get more than forty dollars per day, from the
day he commenced reporting to the middle of
May?
Mr. BOWIE. I do not know how much he
gets per day,
Mr, THAWLEY. I presume the gentleman has
never made any calculation.
Mr. BOWIE. But the reporter has three assis-
tants, and expects another to day, which will
make five.
Mr. THAWLEY said, if he was not mistaken,
there had been but two here to do the work until
very lately. If he had not been misinformed,
one of them was engaged for twenty-five dollars
a week,* he thought he made a fair calculation
when he said the reporter would get forty dollars
a day, from the day he commenced reporting
until the day he would leave the Convention;
and if he was not satisfied with that amount, he
thought he ought to be. He said he had made a
calculation; from the 13th day of January, (the
day the reporter was engaged,) to the present
time, and he found upon a correct calculation
made, if he was capable of making one, that it
*This statement is wholly unfounded. The
gentleman referred to was paid the full compen-
sation per column from the beginning to the end
of his engagement. The remarks of Mr. T. are
published as written by himself—his own report
having been substituted for that furnished by me.
OFFICIAL REPORTER.
63 |
would amount to forty dollars a day up to the
13th day of May. That amount he thought, when
paid to the reporters, paid them very handsomely;
and all that he had to say was, that if gentlemen
thought the reporters were worth more than that
amount, they ought to pay it themselves, and not
want the State to do it. He thought the contract
was to prepare "sketches of the debates," and.
those who had made lengthy speeches, and had
them reported in full, were justly entitled, and
honorably bound to pay for them themselves,
and not make the State do it.
Those gentlemen who thought the services of
the reporters were worth more than forty dollars
a day, would of course vote against this motion
to reconsider, but for his part, he thought they
were not worth more, and therefore he made the
motion to reconsider, and should vote for it,
Mr. STEWART, of Baltimore city, said, that
when the majority of the Committee on Report-
ing and Printing submitted their report the other
day, he contented himself by merely having his
dissent from that report entered on the journal.
He should not have said one word now on this
subject, except from some of the remarks which
fell from the gentleman from Prince George's,
(Mr. Bowie,) who slated that no one supposed
that the reporting, according to the plan recom-
mended by the Convention, would possibly have
cost less than eight thousand dollars, and it might,
(he added,) have cost more than that. Now, it
would be seen, by looking at page 181 of the
journal, January 3, 1851, that the committee
distinctly reported to the Convention, as their
opinion, that the whole cost of the reporting and
printing would not exceed the sum of eight thou-
sand dollars. This was the report of the com-
mittee which had this matter in charge, and to
which was confided the making of this contract.
The expenditure was classed under the head of
four thousand for reporting, and four thousand
for printing. He stated, in connection with that
report, that he, for one of the committee, did not
believe that in point of fact so much would be
expended in the accomplishment of these two
objects. The Convention would perceive, upon
reference to page 198 of the journal, that on the
motion of his friend from Worcester, the amount
was limited to four thousand dollars, and with
this limited authority for the committee to exer-
cise, they made the contract with the reporter,
which, in its terms, the reporter was very spe-
cial about, and in which he had far more expe-
rience than any member of the committee; so far
as reporting was concerned. He took the con-
tract for sketches of debates, employing this
technical term, of which he was familiar, for
the whole session, for four thousand dollars. He,
( Mr. S.,) would say here in his place, that if the
sketches of debates inserted in the contract, as a
technical expression, at the instance of the re-
porter, had been adhered to, by the first of May
he would not have exhausted the four thousand
dollars—there would have been a surplus. The
whole expenditure would not have been requir-
ed, provided, the reporter had kept to the sketch-
es of debates, about which he insisted with ex-
traordinary urgency. |
