The whole question then came up, upon the
letter which he addressed to the Convention,
whether or not the departure from the contract,
in which the reporter assumed the Convention had
acquiesced, was such a departure, so acqui-
esced in, as to throw it upon the equitable and
liberal consideration of this body. This was
the question, and about it, he did not intend to
say one word. He saw, at the time he gave
notice of his dissent from the report of the com-
mittee, as an inevitable consequence, that the
printer would be coming forward with his claim
upon the treasury, and he did not hesitate to say
that there could not be a claim of higher grade
addressed to the equity of the Convention.
The printer, in making his contract, took for
his guide the contract of the reporter. He knew
that there was to be only one column for every
five column speech. That was a sketch of de-
bate. The printer accordingly made his calcu-
lation to print these sketches, and yet he found
himself, from day to day, printing five columns
instead of one. The sketches no longer existed.
They were in the contract, to be sure, but were
not in the experience of the body. The printer
found, then, that he had every day to put in type
five columns instead of one, which was the basis
of the contract. He knew perfectly well, there-
fore, that it would follow inevitably that there
would be another demand made upon them. He
was unwilling to vote for the two thousand dol-
lars additional appropriation, because he knew
that it would be followed, and in point of fact,
he would say it ought to be followed by a further
appropriation with regard to the printer. He de-
sired the Convention to bear in mind that if the
contract had been adhered to, if sketches of de-
bates had been given to the country, as by the
contract with the reporter they were to be given,
the money would have lasted until the first of
May. And now, after this extremely protracted
session, which day after day was adding to the
expenses of the State, he did think (he had no
idea, and no member who knew him would ac-
cuse him of false or improper economy,) that it
was their duty to stand by the contract, and not
to vote away this additional sum of two thousand
dollars, as additional pay for the unexpired ses-
sion. He had never known a claim for extra al-
lowance to be made, except on account of inevi-
table loss by the contractor. Did the reporter
say he had lost? Did he come here asking in-
demnity from their hands for loss in the execu-
tion of his contract? He could not have presented
any possible statement that would have shown to
any one that he had lost one single dollar by the
contract, if he had adhered to it. His friend
from Caroline had furnished a calculation, which
he had no doubt was correct, as the amount the
reporter received; and he (Mr. S.,) ventured to
say, that if the account was made up, they would
find that the reporter had received a large and
generous compensation for all the services ren-
dered by him. He had employed but one as-
sistant until lately, and according to the calcula-
tion of his friend, he must have received two
hundred dollars a week for the services rendered
by him. ' |
Whatever he (Mr. S.,) might think as to the
particular advantage to their constituents, arising
from the publication of these debates, he was not
here to depreciate the reporter's services, or the
skill which he had brought to the discharge of his
duties; but he did say, allotting to him all possible
skill and facility, that he held him to be well paid
when he received four thousand dollars.
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city, said that there
was a view of this subject which had been sug-
gested to him in private, by the distinguished
gentleman from Prince George's, [Mr. Sprigg,]
and it struck him with great force, it was this
that they had already made a second contract,
upon the faith of which the reporter had employ-
ed an additional corps, and therefore that a new
contract was already completed. What was the
original contract? it was that for the appropri-
ation of four thousand dollars, the reporter should
agree to report the debates of the Convention,
however long it might sit. This was a stipula-
tion which proved him to have been under a duresse,
as no reasonable man would have made it.
The other day the Convention, by a solemn
vote, released him from that clause of the con-
tract, and agreed that he should go on receiving
the same rate of compensation as the old con-
tract allowed him for the residue of the session,
voting for that purpose the additional sum of
two thousand dollars. After the Convention had
thus made a new contract, and had voted a sol-
emn appropriation of money upon the faith of
which the reporter had acted, and had obtained
additional assistance, or kept a corps which he
otherwise would have discharged—after all this,
if this did not constitute a contract, he must say
that he did not understand what did. They
made a contract by resolution and by appropri-
ation, and he regarded this as having every es-
sential of a contract. Did not the petition of the
reporter ask a further appropriation? They
made that appropriation, and was not this a con.
tract? Was not this a proposition made by one
part, which the other party had accepted, and
were not acts performed under it? He thought
that the views of the gentleman from Caroline,
[Mr. Thawley,] which had great force and great
integrity in them, should have been presented
to the Convention before, land not now, after the
mischief had been done. He [Mr. B.] thought,
however, it was a mistaken view to make these
nice calculations of forty dollars a day, as the
amount paid the reporter, and for these reasons
these reporters were different from the day
laborers. He would rather liken them to grass-
hoppers, who flourished in the summer season
and perished in the winter. Now, the winter
was the grasshopper's season to the reporters,
far in the summer they were usually out of em-
ployment. Consequently, they required a large
compensation, because they had to lay by a suffi-
cient amount to support them and their families
during the time they were out of employment.
If we measured them by their per diem, it would
appear that all these reporters received high pay,
because they had to live during the recess of
Congress upon what they laid up during the win- |
