Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1896 — Secretary of State's Salary. [ARTICLE]

Secretary of State's Salary.

In June, 1752, Mr. Livingston (our first Secretary’ of State, known then as Secretary’ of Foreigfi Affairs.) resigned to accept the office of Chancellor of the State of New York. We do not wonder that .with a salary of only $4,000 he should have Said be was compelled to draw upon his private fortune t,o support the office. That has been the fate of all, or •practically all, of bis successors; for, while the salary of the office has been for many years just twice that received by Mr. Livingston, SS,OOO, the expenditures necessary to maintain the social position which custom has assigned to the office are greatly more than the salary. A Secretary of State, who maintains an establishment and entertains the foreign Ministers and the general public-with,the generous hospitality now expected of him, will owe much gratitude to his major-domo, if at the end of a four years’ term he lias not contributed from his private fortune to the.support of his office a sum greater than the salary he has received. This ip an evil, for it may happen that the man best fitted for the office may refuse It—or leave it as Livingston did—rather than sacrifice a small private fortune to social demands. Dinners were, In Livingston's time, as now, diplomatic agencies, as well As imperative social events.—Eadies’ Ijome Journal.