Mr. FESSENDEN. I have long been of opinion that the salaries of the district judges ought to be increased. I have been of that opinion from my own observation in NewEng land and from what I have heard from others. When I was a student at law in the city of Port land, where I reside, the judge of the U.S. for the district Maine received a salary of $1,000 a year. That was the salary then fixed by law. He went on so for several years. After some years his salary was increased to $1, 800. He was a gentleman of a great deal of learning and a great deal of humor. I remember that the year when his salary was thus increased somebody was saying that Congress had done nothing that was worthy of note, and he remarked that it was the best Congress he had known anything about for a great many years, because they had passed one admirable law, and that was the one increasing his salary. Afterward, when I was a mem: ber of Congress, I found that the salaries of judges in different places were being increased, and I moved an addition of $200 to the sal ary of the judge of the district of Maine and it was placed at $2,000, and that I believe was then done throughout NewEngland. He was a man of admirable habits, of the highest character, and the highest learning. His admiralty decisions are a text book throughout the Union and are well known in Europe. Judge Story said of him that he was the best admiralty law yer in the world. He held the office until last year, when he resigned it. He had been talk;ing of resigning for several years. I remarked that he was a man of simple habits, an econom ical man; and he had not a large family only 2 or 3 children. But he held the office for several years after he wished to resign; he was 82 and quite deaf, though he retained his intellect remarkably well, and he told me that he felt it to be his duty to the country to resign, and the only reason why he did not was that he did not know how he should live after he did resign, for he had not been able to save enough income to pay the expenses of his family. A sense of duty to. the in his advanced age at last compelled him to resign. I thought of.; the office myself when he resigned, but nobody, seemed to recommend me for it; nobody in the State seemed to think I was the man for that place. I thought that, with what I had, I could get on with $2,000 salary; but as nobody spoke of me or thought of appointing me to the place I said nothing about it, and a gentleman was appointed whose income from his profession was certainly not less than $10,000 a year, who had the highest rank in the profession, but who thought he would like to retire from the care of a large practice. He has held the office something less than a year, and he sent me word the other day by a friend who was writing to me that if I was ready to take his office I was welcome to it at any time, for he could not live on it, and anybody might have it from him. It is true the salaries ought to be raised. I thought, however, when this amendment was read that the salaries proposed were put too high. I should not have struck so high a fig: uree as the ComJudiciary have; but I would not undertake to interpose myo in many cases against theirs. It may be, as has been intimated, that instead of being too high they are not high enough in some cases. It does strike me that a man who is fit to be a judge of the district court of the U.S and to do all the business that is done in that court, who must devote all his time to it, who cannot do anything else, is not overpaid, as things are now in this country, if he gets $4,000 a year. Perhaps my imPressions with regard to the pay are derived from the habit of my own State and other States in my locality. My friendfrom Vermont was for many years the able and excellent chief justice of that State, but I Presume his salary was not over $1,500 a year. I do not see the Senators from RhdIsland in their seats, but I believe the chief justice of that State gets about ten or 1200 dollars, and I think they pay their Governor about 600 dollars.