Should the members of Congress be paid a salary, or should the office be
regarded as exclusively one of honor? These questions were discussed at
length in the Constitutional Convention. Some of the delegates favored
the English custom, by which members of Parliament receive no salary. It
was finally concluded to adopt the provisions as given, in order that
men of ability, though poor, might become members of the National
Legislature.


By a law of 1789 the compensation of senators and representatives
was fixed at six dollars per day and thirty cents for every mile
traveled, by the most direct route, in going to and returning from
the seat of government. Prior to 1873 this amount was changed
several times by act of Congress. The compensation then agreed upon
and until 1907 was $5000 per year, with mileage of twenty cents,
and $125 per annum for stationery. The speaker received $8000 a
year and mileage. The president _pro tempore_ received the same
amount while acting as president of the Senate.

To many people $5000 seemed a large salary, but the great expense
of living in Washington renders the salary quite inadequate.
Members have been known to pay more than their salaries for
house-rent alone. Accordingly, in 1907, the salary of senators and
representatives was increased to $7500 and that of the speaker and
president _pro tempore_ of the Senate to $12,000.


To Hold Other Offices. Disqualification.--Section 6, Clause 2. _No
senator or representative shall, during the time for which he is