i just don't believe in that, and i can say that never, while i have been in the senate of the united states, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned, have i made a telephone call for them to an agency, or have i gone down to an agency on their behalf. and the records will show that, the records which are in the hands of the administratio
n.
well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, "well, what did you use the fund for, senator? why did you have to have it?" let me tell you in just a word how a senate office operates. first of all, a senator gets $15,000 a year in salary. he gets enough money to pay for one trip a year, a round trip, that is, for himself, and his family between his home and washington, d.c. and then he gets an allowance to handle the people that work in his office to handle his mail. and the allowance for my state of california, is enough to hire 13 people. and let me say, incidentally, that that allowance is not paid to the senator. it is paid directly to the individuals that the senator puts on his pay roll. but all of these people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the veteran's administration and get some information about his gi policy -