1866-04 Special Committee on Salaries, Letter from Coolidge to Trustees, 2021.004.073

To the Trustees of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn.

Gentlemen,

The objections which I have to the report of the Com^ee on Salaries proposed last month, so far as it relates to myself, are as follows: --

1^st It requires what amounts to the whole time of an experienced man to perform properly the varied and exhaustive duties of Secretary.

2^d I have been Secretary Eleven years, and have done much to systematize the affairs of the Corporation. There was, when I began, vast indefinitelys and but little method in my department. Notwithstanding this, much remains to be done for the better regulation of matters connected with the office. With all the method I have been able to attain to, I am consistently pressed for time, and have so little occasion for idleness, that much work has to [lie?] over.

3^d The Corporation paid last year a salary of ^$800 and an Extra Compensation of ^$200, making ^$1000. This was all it cost the Corporation for me. The ^$165.43 paid for rent & taxes, as will be perceived, was not for my benefit. That was a contract, which gave the Trustees a room large enough to meet in,

and for the general business of the Corporation, by paying one half of the rent & taxes, while even less than one half of the room would have been ample for my purposes, and more than most lawyers occupy.

The fees for deeds &c. come out of proprietors. Now by the proposition, the fees are to be taken from me and to enure to the Corporation. What is the result? Deduct from the ^$1200 salary proposed the ^$450 [odd?], which is slated to be received by me in fees & for services rendered proprietors, and it costs the Corporation but ^$750 for my salary, by which the cost of the Secretary to the Corporation is reduced by ^$250, and he is Expected^{to perform}the same labor for ^$250 less than before.

4^th The Committee stated in connection with the report that the cost of living is not diminished, which is true. It then results, that while the labor of my office is constantly increasing as the Cemetery grows larger and older, it is proposed to cut down the salary.

5^th The fees for making and recording deeds and other instruments have heretofore been required by the Trustees of proprietors, as a means in part of paying the Secretary, and have been considered only as commensurate with the labor demanded of him. If it is now proposed, as "preferable to the former system" to make these fees enure to the Corporation,

^{should this be done} without giving the Secretary an equivalent in salary?

6^th My long connection with the office has prevented me from engaging much in the business of my profession, my income from which is consequently small. My whole income from my labor is barely sufficient to Enable me to live with economy.

7^th The Experience & Services of a lawyer are constantly in requisition to perform with proper skill the duties of Secretary. These cannot fairly be estimated upon the basis of an ordinary clerk.

I cannot think that the Trustees would be willing, could they know they amount of time, labor & skill which I am compelled to bring to this work, (if they are satisfied with my services in other respects) to deprive me of that proper stimulus to fidelity and watchfulness -- a sufficient compensation. The Charter requires them to Expend the money at their disposal to the preservation, improvement, embellishment and enlargement of the Cemetery. I feel confident that the Secretary is instrumental in inducing the Expenditure by individual proprietors in such preservation, improvement & embellishment, and not at the Expense of the Corporation, many times the whole amount of his salary.

I have given eleven of the best years

of my life to your Service: and although still in my strength, I ought to Endeavor to save something for the time when I cannot labor, upon which duty I have not yet been able to begin.

Very Resp.y

A.J. Coolidge