1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1405 

bonds issued by it and bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum, the amount which it is annually to loan to the enterprise in virtue of the obligation 

contracted by it. The said bonds, if issued, shall be payable in twenty years from 

the date of their issue. 

The enterprise assigns exclusively, for the purpose of repaying to the Govern- ment of Mexico the sums which that government shall have advanced to it in 

virtue of the provisions of this article, the sixth part of the excess that may at any time accrue in its net revenues from the operation of the ship-railway and 

of its telegraphs and docks over and above the sum of $3,750,000 in gold in one year. . ART. 28. Eads or the company may grant a reduction amounting to 25 per cent. of the rates authorized by article ll to the merchandise, passengers, and mer- chant vessels of the nation, or foreign nations whose governments shall lend it 

their aid either by means of money or guarantee. · This reduction shall last for a term of thirty years, and in all cases Mexican 

merchandise and passengers and the national marine shall enjoy the same franchises. The enterprise is also authorized tO grant the same reduction to the war marine of said nation or nations, but with the proviso that the transportation of vessels, troops, or munitions of war shall not be understood to have been 

consented ~ in any case, without the express permission of the Gove1·nment 

of Mexico omcially communicated to the enterprise. The government granting the aforesaid aid shall have the right to be repre- sented in the board of directors of the company, without any power save that 

of being present at the examination of the accounts for the purpose of receiving 

the share of the profits that belongs to them by two-ninths of the whole num- ber of its members, these representatives enjoying the same emoluments and 

prerogatives as the other directors. In case that Eads or the company should fail in any of the stipulations con- tained in the preceding article contracted with any foreign government, that 

government can only enforce its rights before the Mexican courts of the capital of the republic, in accordance with the laws of Mexico; but in no case can the 

government which brings suit acquire the ownership of the works or the rights 

emanating therefrom. ART. 29. When the advances made to the enterprise by the Government of 

Mexico and the other governments that aid it shall have been refunded, and 

the net earnings shall be sufficient to pay a sum equivalent to 10 per cent. in 

gold on the total indebtedness of the company, represented by the shares and 

bonds that it may have i'SSned, the directors appointed by the Government of 

Mexico and by the other governments lending the aforesaid aid shall prepare a schedule of reduced prices, provided the reduction of income that may result 

will permit the payment of the said 10 per cent.; and if this new schedule shall 

be approved by the Government of Mexico and the other governments it shall 

remain in force thereafter, although it may be afterwards increased whenever 

the net earnings of the enterprise shall prove to be insufficient for the payment 

of the aforesaid 10 per cent., one-half of the total earnings shall, in all cases, be 

considered as net profits. ART. 30. The transit duty mentioned in article 10 shall be collected in 1\Iexi- can silver dollars, in the form and on the terms that the government shall di- rect by agreement with the enterprise; and this fund shall be appropriated, so far as may be necessary, to the amortization either of the main share of capital 

that shall be found chargeable to the government as a part of the deficit referred to in article Zl, or of the interest on the bonds therein mentioned, without preju- dice to such other means of payment as may be provided for this purpose in the 

federal budget. ART. 31. 'l'be company may establish its board of directors in any city in the 

republic or in a foreign country, but, in the latter case, it shall be obliged to keep at this capital an attorney, instructed and paid, for the purpose of maintaining an understanding with the federal government and other authorities, 

in all matters relating to the execution of the present contract. . ART. 32. The company shall be Mexican, even though some or all of its shareholders be foreigners, and shall be subject exclusively to the jurisdictions of the 

tribunals of the republic in all matterS' of which the cause and action may take 

place within its territory. The company itself, as well as all foreigners and the successors taking part in t-he enterprise, whether as shareholders, employes, or in any character whatsoever, shall be considered as :Mexicans in all things relating to the company, nor can they even allege., with regard to title to property and 

other matters connected with the company, rights as foreigners, under any pre- text whatsoever. They shall have those rights and the means of making them 

valid which the laws of the republic confer on Mexicans, and consequently not subject to interference on the part of foreign diplomatic agents. ART. 83. The executive will be represented in the board of direct()rs of the company by two-thirds of the whole number of the directors of the company, those whom it shall appoint in compliance with this provision having the same emoluments and prerogatives as those of the company which the enterprise 

will pay. ART. 34. The enterprise shall communicate to the Goyernment of Mexico the text of any contracts that it may conclude with foreign governments. 

LUCY A. WASHBURN. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate the amendments 

of the House of Representatives to the bill (S. 2218) for the relief of 

Lucy A. Washburn, which were, in line 3, after the word "pensionroll,'' to insert the words ''subject to the limitations and proviSions of 

the pension laws;" and in lines 3 and 4 to strike out the words ''at the 

rate of $12 a month." 

The amendments were concurred in. 

RICHARD B. RIANS. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate the amendment 

of the H~use of Representatives to the bill (S. 2519) granting an increase 

of pension to Richard B. Rians, which was, in line 5, before the word 

"dollars," to strike out "fifty" and insert ''twenty-five." 

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I move that the Senate non-concur in that 

amendment, and ask for a conference on the disagreeing votes of the two 

Houses. 

The motion was agreed to. 

By unanimous consent, the President pro tempm·e was authorized to 

appoint the conferees on the part on the Senate; and Ml4t SAWYER, Mr. 

BLAIR, and Mr. WILSON of Iowa were appointed. 

HOUSE BILLS REFERRED. 

The following bills were severally read twice by their titles, and referred to ihe Committee on Pensions: 

A bill (II. R. 5345) for the relief of Mary' J. Gilbert; 

A bill (H. R. 6188) for the relief of John A. Fagg; 

A bill (H. R. 6732) for the relief of General SpeedS. Fry; 

A bill (H. R. 7971) granting a pension to :Mary w·ood; 

.A billlH. R. 8469) granting a pension to John Moran; 

.A bill H. R. 8486) granting a pension to Rebecca Morris; • 

A bill H. R.1002ll granting a pension to Mrs. Mary Lathrop; 

A bill (H. R.10473 granting a pension to William Reddick; and 

.A bill (H. R. 10795 granting a pension to Elenor C. Ransom. 

FLORIDA LAND GRANT. 

Mr. CALL. I ask the Senator from Massachusetts to allow me to move the reference of a joint resolution on the table to the Committee 

on Public Lands. 

Mr. HOAR. I yield for that purpose. 

Mr. CALL. I move that the joint resolution (S. R. 99) in relation 

to the land grant approved May 17, 1856, granting lands to the State 

of Florida for railroad purposes, be taken from the table and referred 

to the Committee on Public Land'3. 

The motion was agreed to. 

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DENTAL SCIENCE. 

Mr. CALL. I ask the Senator from M:assachusetta if he will not 

withdraw his motion to allow me to have a vote of the Senate on the 

bill (S. 2051) to incorporate the National Academy of Dental Scien<'.e. 

I will merely state that this is not an association of any kind involv-. ing money or property interests, but simply an association of scientists 

who desire to have an incorporation here in the District of Columbia 

for the purpose of convenient conference with scientists of the dental 

profession in all parts of the world, and for the purpose of receiving 

contributions for the encouragement of their art or profession. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida appeals 

to the Senator from Massachusetts to withdraw his motion to adjourn 

with a view to allow him to have a certain bill passed. 

Jtlr. HOAR. I think that after Senators have left their seats with 

the understanding that a motion to adjourn was pending and merely 

withdrawn for the sake of routine business I hardly ought to yield. I 

hope the Senator from Florida will defer action on that bill until Monday. 

Mr. CALL. Certainly, if the Senator desires. 

Mr. HOAR. I understand that it created a good deal of opposition 

the other day when it came up. 

1\fr. CALL.• I think not. I think but one member of the Senate 

raised objection to it. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts 

moves that the Senate adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at 3 o'clock and 3 minutes p. m.) 

the Senate adjourned until Monday, February 7, at 12 o'clock m. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

SATURDAY, February 5, 1887. 

The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Rev. Dr. BuLLOCK, 

of Washington, D. C. . The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

VETO MF.SSAGE-CUDBERT STONE. 

The SPEAKER laid before the House the following message from 

the President of the United States: 

To the House of Representatives: 

I hereby return, without approval, House bill 927, entitled "An act granting a peOBion to Cud bert Stone." 

'.rhe report of the committee of the House of Representatives to whom this 

bill was referred states that the claimant enlisted October 3, 1861, in Company H, 

Fourteenth Kentucky Volunteers, and was honorably discharged on the 31st 

day of January, 1865. · That he filed his claim for pension July 20, 188lt more than sixteen years thereafter, alleging that he contracted piles while in tne service, from exposure while 

in the line of duty, and that his claim was rejected in October, 1884, on the 

ground that the allegation of the claimant shows that his disability originated 

while undergoing the sentence of a court-martial, and therefore not in the line 

of duty. 

The report of the committee closes with the statement that "in view of the 

long and faithful service and high chara-cter of the claimant, and the well-established facts that claimant was a stout and able-bodied man, free from any and all disease when he enlisted, and that by reason of his faithful service to his 

country, and the great suffering and hardship through which be passed while 

in said service, his health was permanently destroyed, the committee earnestly 

recommend the passage of the bill." 

The records of the War Department show that the claimant enlisted October 

25, 1861, and that on the muster-in roll of his company, dated December 10,1861, 

he is reported as present; that on the roll dated December 31, 1861 be is re- ported as absent without leave; that on the roll for January and February, 

1862, he is reported as deserted; that be is not borne on subsequent rolls until 

that for November, 1864, when he is reported as gained from desertion. He was mustered out with his company January 31, 1865, and the records offered no evidence of disability; that in his claim for pension, filed in 1881, he alleges 

that he contracted piles in the winter of 1863. In a subsequent statement he alleges that this date is erroneous, and that his 

disability was cont.racted in October,l864, and that he believes it was the result 

of his having dia.r.rhea. for about twelve months prior to that date, contracted 

while he was being carried from place to place as a prisoner, be having been 

tried by a court-martial in May, 1862, for desertion, and sentenced to imprison- ment until the expiration of his term of enlistment. 

Thus it quite plainly appears that this claimant spent the most of his term of 

enlistment in desertion, or in imprisonment a.s a punishment of that offense. 

And thus is exhibited the "long and faithful service and the high character o"f 

the claimant" mentioned as entitJing him to consideration by the committee 

who repor~ed favorably upon this bill. 
. 

1406 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

I withhold my assent from this bill, because if the facts before me, derived 

from the Army records and the statements of the claimant, are true the allow- ance of this claim would, in my opinion, be a travesty upon our whole scheme 

of pensions and an insult to every decent veteran soldier. 

EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washington, February 4, 1887. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

On motion of Mr. TAULBEE, the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. 

VETO MESSAGE-ABRAHAM P. GRIGGS. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. liAMMOND in the chair) also laid 

before the House the following message from the President of the 

United States : 

To the House of lltl1»·esentatives: 

I herewith return, without approval, House bill 8834, entitled "An act granting a. pension to Abraham P. Griggs." 

The claimant mentioned in this bill enlisted in a New Jersey regiment August 14, 1861, and was discharged for disability November 17,1863. He entered hospital January 2,1863, and was transferred to general hospital at Newark, N. J., March 28, 1863, with ''debility." He was discharged from that hospital and from the s~rvice in November, 1863, as above-stated, and the following statement from his certificate of discharge, if 

trustworthy, sheds some light upon the kind of debility with which he was aftlicted: 

"This man has been in this hospital for the past eight months. We do not believe him sick, or that he ha-s been sick, but completely worthless. He is obese 

and a malingerer to such an extent that he is almost an imbecile-worthless- ness, obesity, and imbecility and laziness. He is totally unfit for the Invalid 

Corps or for any other military duty." I do not regard it all strange that this claimant, encouraged by the ease with 

which special act-s are passed, seeks relief through such means, after his appli· 

cation, filed in the Pension Bureau nearly twenty years after his discharge, had been rejected. Of the four comrades who make affidavit in support of his claim, two of them are recorded as deserters. IDs claim is predicated upon rheumatism. He alleJreS that after his discharge 

from his enlistment he was drafted and served b the Third New York Cavalry, 

but the .Adjutant-General reports that his name does not appear on the rolls of 

the company to which he says he was attached. 

The board of United States examining surgeons at Trenton, N. J., report, as the result of an examination as late as May '1:7, 1885, that they found •• no dis- ease of heart or lungs, no thickening or wasting of any of the joints of the 

body, no evidence of any rheumatic diathesis, no rupture or hemorrhoids, no disease of his spleen or kidney ; hands are hard and indicate an ability to work." 

I can not think that the official statements referred to, and which militate so strongly against the merits of the claimant, should be impeached or set aside 

by any of the other testimony which has been brought to my attention. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washington, Feb1'Ufl1'Y 4,1887. 

On motion of .Mr. TAULBEE the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. 

VETO MESSAGE-FRANKLIN SWEET. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House the following 

message from the President of the United States: 

To the House of Jl.epresentati,;es: 

I hereby return, without appro>al, House bill 7MO, entitled "An act to in· crease the pension of Franklin Sweet." 

This soldier was pensioned in 186.'l as sergeant, though before that time he had 

been acting as captain, and was in command of his company when he was wounded. He is entitled in equity, and, I think, upon the theory of an act very recently approved, in law, to be treated in regard to his pension as a captain; 

and the Pension Bureau has, within the last few days, ordered a. certificate for 

pension to issue to him as captain as of the date of his discharge. I fully approve this action of the T>ureau, and as this is much more favorable to a deserving soldier than his remedy under this bill, lam not willing that the 

action so lately and so justly taken in his behalf under the general law, should 

be superseded by the approval of this act. GROVER CLEVELAND. 

ExECUTIVE MANSION, February 4,1887. 

Mr. TAULBEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the message be laid on the 

table. 

Mr. MILLS. Let it be referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

Mr. SPRINGER. It should be referred. That is the proper course. ?tlr. TAULBEE. I do not think anybody will attempt to press the 

consideration of the bill in view ofthe facts stated by the President. 

Mr. SPRINGER. No; but the law requires it to be acted upon by 

a yea-and-nay vote in the House. 

Mr. MILLS. It would not be respectful to lay it on the table. 

Mr. TAULBEE. Then I ask its reference to the Committee on In-

• valid Pensions. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection the message will 

be printed and referred as indicated. 

There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 

VETO MESSAGE-JESSE CAMPBELL. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House the following 

message from the ~resident of the United States: 

To the House of llepresentativu: 

I return herewith, without approval, House bill 8150, entitled "An act grant- ing a. pension to Jesse Campbell." 'l'he claim for a. pension made by the beneficiary nam.ed in this bill to the Peni~~ ::Jlli~' ci~f~:t!:!/~r~S:~dbefu~P:b~!r':f~f~~~:l~it;~~~~::S~~;rtixi which a report has not yet been made. 

Inasmuch as the only ground for the rejection of his claim was the non-exist- ence of pef sionable disability from the cause he alleged, and in view of the fact 

that he now a.lleges a different disability, which the new evidence seems to sup. port, there is no doubt that justice will be done the claimant under the general 

law. 

This bill if P.assed, would only place the name of the beneficiary upon the 

pension-roll, 'subject to the restrictions and limitations of the pension laws." 

Whether any sum was allowed him or not would still depend upon the exist- ence of a disability; and if this is found upon the examination lately ordered, 

he will undoubtedly be put upon the pension-roll, under existing law, in accord- ance with his supplementary claim. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. ExECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washington, February 4,1887. 

On motion of Jtfr. TAULBEE, the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. 

VETO MESSAGE-ROBERT K. BENNETT. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House the following 

message from the President of the United States, which was read: 

To the House of Representa.ti'Ves: 

I hereby return, without approval, House bill 7698, entitled "An act grant· 

ing a pension to Robert K. Bennett.'' 

The beneficiary nam.ed in this bill enlisted in September, 1862, and it appears that very soon after that he was detailed to the cook-shop. This seems to be 

the only military service he rendered; and on February 7, 1863, five months 

after enlistment, he was received into the marine hospital at New Orleans for 

varicocele. He was discharged from the service February 22, 1863, and the cause of discharge is stated to be "yaricocele, to which he was subject four years before enlistment." 

Seventeen years thereafter, and in June, 1880, this claimant filed an application 

for pension in the Pension Bureau, alleging that about the lOth day of February, 

1863, in unloading a barrel it fell upon h.iJ:n, producing a hernia, shortly after 

which he was affected by piles. _ It will be seen that he fixes this injury as occurring three days after his ad· 

mission to the hospital, but he might well be honestly mistaken as to this date. 

If the injury, however, was such as he stated, it is difficult to see why no men· tion was made of it in the hospital records. He persisted at all times, as I understand the case, until the rejection of his 

claim in 1883, that his disability arose from hernia and piles. The reason of this 

rejection is stated to be that varicocele existed prior to enlistment and that 

there was no evidence of the existence of piles in the service or at discharge. From a medical examination made in December, 1882, it appears that there was "no evidence or symptoms of disability resulting from piles or hernia." 

Subsequent to the rejection of this claim some proof was filed tending to show 

that the disability was in the right leg, but it is of such a nature in the light of 

the claimant's own previous allegations that I think the Pension Bureau did 

entirely right in informing his attorney that the additional evidence did not change the status of the case. 

EXECUTIVE 1\iANSION, 

Washington, February 4, 1887. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

On motion of Mr. TAULBEE, the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. 

VETO MESSAGE-MRS. CA.THAlUNE SATTLER. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House the following 

message from the President of the lJnited States; which was read: 

To the House of Representatives: 

I hereby return, without approval, House bill numbered 6832, entitled "An a.ct granting a. pension to Mrs. Catharine Sattler." 

The beneficiary named in this bill claims a pension as the surviving widow 

of Julius Sattler, who enlisted in Company A, Seventh New York Volunteers, 

and was in the service from March 10, 1864, to March 22, 1865, when he was discharged because of the amputation of his left forearm in consequence of a wound 

received in the battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia, on the 14th day of August, 1864. He was pensioned in 1865, at the rate of $8 per month, which was afterwards in· 

creased to $15 per month, dating from June 6,1866. In October, 1867, he was employed as a watchman in the UnltedSta.tesbonded 

warehouse in the city of New York. and on the 31st day of that month here· 

ceived his mpnthly pay of 850. He disappeared on that day, and on the 13th day of November, 1867, his body was found in the North River, at the foot of West Thirteenth street, in the city of New York, without his hat, coat, watch, or money. 

These facts, with the further statement that he was a strong and healthy man at the time of his death, constitute the case on the part of the widow, who filed 

her application for a pension July 8, 1884, nearly seventeen years after her hus· 

band's death, alleging that she was married to the deceased in 1865, after the 

amputation of his arm. Her claim was rejected in November, 1884, upon the ground that the soldier's 

death was not due to his military service. , This rejection was clearly right, unless the Government is to be held as an in• surer against every fatal casualty incurred by those who have served in the 

.Army, without regard to the manner of its occurrence. 

EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washington, February 4, 1887. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

On motion of Mr. TAULBEE, the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. • 

VETO MESSAGE-JAMES R. BAYLOR. 

The SPEAKER pro tempm·e also laid before the House the following 

message; which was read: 

To the House of Representatives: 

I herewith return, without approval, House bill 6825, entitled "An act granting a pension to James R. Baylor." The claim of the beneficiary named in this 

bill is based upon an injury to his left ankle in 1862. A medical examination in 1877 showed no appearance of there ever having 

been a fracture of the left ankle, as alleged by the claimant, and it was deter· 

mined that there was no disability. A later examination in the same year was had with the same result. Still another medical examination was had in June, 

~ss:~=~~~prc~~~~~t~h~ !It!'i.~::itn!~i!cli!~l~~= e~~~~ ~~~ g~~~:ts: free and fair examination,_still does not absolutely exclu~e a very slight disa.. 

bility. 

Upon the report of this last examination the case has been reopened for further proof of disability since discharge, which if found will entitle the claimant 
I• 

\ 

.. 

1887. . CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-· HOUSE. 1407 

to a. pension under genemlla.ws. On the question to be determined be would 

have no advantage under a special act, ina.s.much a.s there .must be a ratable disability to entitle him to any payment in pursuance of its provisions. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washi'l!gtan, February 4, 1887. 

On motion of Mr. TAULBEE, the message was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be printed. 

Mr. UEED. Are these messages being referred to the committee 

that seems to be indicted by them? 

Mr. TAULBEE. The committee is not complaining. 

DEFICIENCY IN DEPARTI:IENT OF JUSTICE. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House a letter from 

the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting estimates from the Attorney-General of deficiencies in the appropriation for contingent expenses 

of that Department for the fiscal years 1885 and 1886; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. 

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also la.id before the House a letter from 

the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting an account of the expenditures of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for the fiscal year ended June 

30, 1886; which was referred to the Committee on Expenditures in the 

Treasury Department, and ordered to be printed. 

UNITE!> STATES MILITIA. FORCE. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House a letter from 

the Secretary of War, transmitting an abstract of the militia force of 

the United States; which was referred to the Committee on the Militia, 

and orde:ted to be printed. 

STURGEON BAY AND LAKE 1riiCHIGA.N SHIP-GANAL. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore also laid before the House a letter from 

the Secretary of War, transmitting a resolution of the board of managers 

of the Lake Carriers' Association of Buffalo, N. Y., favoring the acq uisition by the United States of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan 

Ship-canal; which was referred to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and ordered to be printed. 

REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. 

The SPEAKER pro tmnpore also laid before the House the annual re- port of the Commissioner of Patents; which was referred to the Committee on Patents, and ordered to be printed. 

DIRECT-TAX ACT OF l86L 

The SPEAKER pro te:mpr»·e also laid before the House the bill (S. 

995) to credit and pay to the several States and Territories and the 

District of Columbia all moneys collected under the direct-tax levied 

by the act of Congress approved August 5, 1861; which was read twice 

by its title. 

Mr. :MILLS. That bill properly goes to the Committe~ on Ways and 

Means. , Mr. HEARD. I ask its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

:hfr. MILLS. It belongs to the Committee on Ways and Means. It 

deals with taxation. · Mr. HEARD. I suggest that1 as I understand, a bill of the same import, or substantially the same, is now being considered by the Committee on the Judiciary. I therefore move that this bill be referred to that 

committee. 

Mr. MORRISON. Is not this a tax bill? 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is. 

Mr. MORRISON. I move, then, that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill will be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, unless on motion the House shall direct 

the reference to another committee. The question is on the motion of 

the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. HEARD], that the bill be referred 

tb the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Mr. MILLS. That bill properly belongs to the Committee on Ways 

and Means and should not be taken from it. 

The question being taken on .Mr. HEARD's motion, there were--ayes 

46, noes 49. · Mr. GROSVENOR. No quorum. 

The SPEAKER pro te:mpor·e. A quorum not havin~ voted, the Chair 

appoints as tellers the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. HEARD J and the 

gentleman from Illinois [Mr. MORRISON] . . Before the count by the tellers was completed, 

Mr. MORRISON said: I call for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

Mr. BURROWS. As I understand, the question is whether the bill 

shall be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary or the Committee 

on Ways and Means. 

The SPEAKER pro tempo1·e. The pending motion is to refer the bill 

to the Committee on the Judiciary; and on this the yeas and nays have 

been ordered. 

The question was taken; and there were-yeas 13-!, nays 93, not 

voting 91; as follows: 

YEAS-134. 

Adams, G. E. Allen, C. H. Baker, 

Barbour, 

Bayne, 

Belmont, 

Bound, 

Boutelle, 

Brady, 

Brown, C. E. Brown, ,V. W. Buchanan, 

Buck, 

Bunnell, 

Cabell, 

Campbell, .J. M. Cam pbell, .J. E. 

Cannon, 

Carleton, 

Caswell, Conger, 

Cooper, 

Cox, W.R. Culberson, 

Cutcheon, 

Daniel, Dargan, Davenport, Davis, Dibble, 

Dorsey, Dunham, 

Ely, 

Evans, 

Everhart, 

Farquhar, 

Felton, 

Findlay, 

Funston, 

Gallinger, 

Geddes, 

Gilfillan, 

Goff, 

Grosvenor, Grout, 

Hale, 

Hall, Harmer, 

Hatch, 

Hayden, 

Haynes, 

Heard, 

Hemphill, 

Henderson, D. B. Henderson, T • .J. Hepburn, 

Hermann, 

Hiestand, 

Hires, 

Holmes, 

Hopkins, 

Houk, 

Howard, James, , .Johnston, J. T. Ketcham, 

Laffoon, 

La Follette, 

Lawler, 

Lehlbach, 

Libbey, 

Lindsley, 

Little, 

Long, 

Louttit, 

Lovering, 

Markham, 

McComas, 

. McKenna, 

McKinley, 

MiUard, 

Milliken , Moffatt, 

Morrill, 

Morrow, 

Nelson, 

Norwood, 

Osborne, 

Owen, 

Parker, 

Payne, 

Perkins, 

Perry, 

P e te rs, Pettibone, 

Phelps, 

Plumb, 

Price, Ranne)·, 

Robertson, Rome is, 

Ro'!ell, 

. NAYS-93 . 

Allel.l, J. 1\I. Dunn, 

Anderson, C. M. Eden, Anderson, J. A. Eldredge, Barksdale, Ermentrout, Barnes, Fisher, 

Blanchard, Forney, Bliss, Frederick, 

Blount, Gay, 

Boyle, Gibson, C. H. Bragg, Glass, 

Breckinridge, C. R. Green, Breckinridge, WCP· Halsell, 

Burnes, Hammond, 

Burrows, Harris, 

Clardy, Henderson, J. S. 

Clements, Herbert, 

Cobb, Hill, 

Cowles, Hitt, 

Crain, Holman, 

Crisp, Irion, Croxton, ~ .Johnston, T. D. Da vidson, A. C. Jones, J.lJ. Da·ddson, R. H. M. Kle itier, Dougherty, · La ndes, 

Lanham, 

Lore, 

Lowry, 

Lyman, 

:Matson, 

McCre.'Uy, 

:McRae, 

Miller, 

Mitchell, 

1\forgan, 

Morrison, 

Murphy, 

Neal, 

Neece, 

Oa tes, O'Ferrall, R ichardson, 

Riggs, Sadler, 

Saye r>" , Scott, 

Seney, Skinner, Sowden , 

NOT VOTING-::1. 

Adams, .J . .J. Curtin , Le Fev re, Aiken, D a wson, Mahoney, Atkinson, Di ngley, :Martin, 

Bacon, D ockery, 1\Iaybury, 

Ballen tinE', Rlls berry, McAdoo, 

Barry, Fleeger, McMillin, 

Bennett, Foran, 1\f erriman, 

Bingham, Ford, 1\Iills, Bla nd, Fuller, :Muller, 

Browne, T. M. Gibson, Eustace Negley, Brumm, Glove r, O!Donnell, 

Burleigh, Guenther, O'Hara , Butterworth, Hanback, O'Neill, Charles 

Bynum, Henley, O'Neill, .J . .J. Caldwell, Hiscock, Outhwaite, 

Campbell, Felix Hudd, P ayson, Campbell, T. J. Hutton, Peel 

Candler, Jackson, Pidcock, 

Catchings, .Johnson, F. A. Pindar, 

Collins, Jones, J. T. Randall, 

Compton, Kelley, Reaga n, Comstock, King, Reed, . Cox, S. S. L aird, Reese, 

Rusk, 

Ryan, 

Sawyer, 

Scranton, 

Sessions, 

Seymour, 

Spooner, 

Stephenson, Stewart, .J. W. 

Stone, E.F. Stone, W. J., Mo • Strait, 

Struble, 

Taulbee, Taylor, I. H. Taylor, Za.ch. 

Thomas, J. R. Tillman, 

Trigg, Va.n Schaick, 

Wade, 

Wadsworth, 

Wait, 

'Varner, William 

Wea>er,A.J. 

Weber, 

West, 

White, Milo 

Whiting, 

Wilkins, 

Wilson, 

Woodburn. 

Springer, 

Stewart. Charles 

Stone, W . .J., Ky. 

Storm, 

Swope, 

Taylor, .J. 1\L 

Throckmorton, 

Turner, 

Van Eaton, 

Viele, 

Wallace, 

Ward,T.B. 

Warner, A. J. 

Weaver, J. B. Yvellborn, 

Wheele.r, Willis, 

Winans, 

Wise, 

Wolford. 

'Vorthington. · 

Rice, Rockwell, 

Rogers, 

Shaw, 

Singleton, 

Sma.lls, 

Snyder, 

Spriggs, 

Stahlnecker, 

Steele, 

St. 1\lartin, 

Swinburne, 

Symes, T a rsney, Taylor, E. B. 

Thomas, 0. B. Thompson, 

Townshend, 

Tucker, 

Wakefield, 

Ward,J.H. 

White, A. C. 

The following-named members were announced as paired until further 

notice: 

Mr. OWEN with Mr. BYNUM. • Mr. Cox, of New York, with :hlr. BROWNE, of Indiana. 

Mr. CANDLER with .1\Ir. ATKINSON. 

1\Ir. FORAN with Mr. FLEEGER. 

Mr. PIDCOCK with Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. BALLENTINE with M:r. JOHNSON, of New York. 

Mr. MAHONEY with 1\Ir. WAKEFIELD. 

Mr. REAGAN with 1\Ir. HISCOCK. 

1\lr. BLAND with 1\fr. DAVENPORT. 

Mr. ROGERS with Mr. O'DONNELL. 

The following-named members were announced as paired until Mon• 

day next: 

Mr. FELIX CAMPBELL with Mr. BINGHAM. 

Mr. GLOVER with Mr. O'NEILl,, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. TOWNSKEND with Mr. BRU.I\11\L 

The following-named members were announced as paired for this day: 

Mr. WARD, of Illinois, with Mr. PAYSON. 
1408 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

Mr. MAYDURY with Mr. THOMPSON. 

Mr. BENNETT with Mr. BURLEIGH. 

Mr. DoCKERY with Mr. WADE. 

Mr. MARTIN with 1t1r. DINGLEY. 

Mr. ADAMS, of New York, with Mr. HA...~BACK. 

Mr. ELLSBERRY with Mr. SWINBURNE. 

Mr. HuTTON with Mr. THmus, of Wisconsin. 

l!{r. McMILLIN with Mr. STEELE. 

Mr. COLLINS with Mr. FuLLER. 

Mr. TuCKER with Mr. EZRA B. TAYLOR. 

1t1r. MILLS with Mr. KELLEY. 

The following-named members were announced ns paired on this 

vote: 

Mr. COMSTOCK with Mr. REED. 

Mr. CALDWELL with Mr. LAIRD. 

lli. SIIA W with Mr. ROCKWELL. 

Mr. GIBSON, of West Virginia, with Mr. BUTTERWORTH. Mr. BuTTERWORTH, if present, would vote "ay." 

The result of the vote was then announced as above recorded. 

UNITED STATES COURTS AT TEXARKANA, ARK. 

The SPEAKER pro ternpore laid before the House the bill (H. R. 

9116) to provide for holding terms of the United States courts at Texarkana, Ark., and for other purposes, with the amendment of the Senate 

thereto. 

Mr. McRAE. I move that the Honse non-concur in the Senate 

amendment, and agree to the conference asked. 

The motion was agreed to. 

J,EA YE OF ABSEYCE. . By unanimous consent, leave of absence wns granted as follows: 

To Mr. LEHLBACH, for three days. 

To Mr. HUTTON, indefinitely, on account of sickness. 

To Mr. MAYBURY, for to-day, on account of important business. 

To Mr. NEGLEY, for two days, on account of important business. 

To Mr. BENNETT, for one day, on account of sickness. 

To ~Ir. BYNUM, until next Friday, on account of important business. 

To Mr. ELLSBERRY, indefinitely, on account of sickness. 

To Mr. ATKINSON, for one week, on account of important business. 

To Mr. MARTIN, until Tuesday next. 

RIGHT OF WAY THROUGH INDIAN TERRITORY. 

Mr. THROCKMORTON. l!Ir. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to 

take up and consider at this time the bill (H. R. 2407) to grant the 

Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company a right of way through 

the Indian Territory, and tor other purposes. I have been unable to 

attend the sessions of the Honse very regularly on account of sickness, 

and I would regard it as a great favor if the House would allow me to 

have this bill taken up and considered now. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill will be read subject to objection. 

The Clerk proceeded to read the bill. 

Mr. BUCHANAN (before tbereadingwascompleted). Mr. Speaker, 

I shall most certainly object to the passage of that bill this morning; 

but before I object I would suggest to the gentleman from Texas that 

the bill be printed in the RECORD in order that members may have au opportunity to see it. I must object to the passage of the bill this 

morning, though I do not know that I shall object hereafter. 

Mr. WELLBORN. This bill conforms to other such bills that have 

been passed by the House. 

Mr. BUCHANAN. I know that; but many of those bills never would have been passed if they bad been considered on the merits. 

I suggest that by 1.manimous consent the bill be printed in the 

RECORD and that the gentleman ca11 it up at soffie time hereafter. · The SPEAKER pro tempore. If objection is made to the present 

consideration of the bill it is not before the House. 

Several members called for the regular order. 

Mr. THROCKMORTON. In accordance with the suggestion of the 

gentleman from New Jersey, I ask that the bill be printed in the REcORD, so that it may be called up on Monday morning. 

Mr. BUCHANAN. Not on Monday morning. 

The SPEAKER p1·o tempore. Is there objection to printing the bill 

in the RECORD?. The Chair bears none, and it is so ordered. 

The bill is as follows: 

A bill (H. R. 6393) to authorize the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company to construct and operate a railway through the Indian Territory, and for 

other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and H01J,Se of Representatives of the United States of 

America in Congress assembled, That the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway 

Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of the State of 

Texas, be, and the same is hereby, invested and empowered with the right of 

locating, constructing, owning, equipping, operating, usin~, and maintaining a railway and telegraph and telephone line through the Indian Territory, begin- ning at a point to be selected by said railway company on Red River, between 

the mouth of Big Beaver Creek and the mouth of the North Fork of Red River, and running thence by the most practicable route through the Indian Territory to a point on the southern boundary of Kansas, with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks turnouts, branches, sidings, and extensions as said 

company ma.y deem it to their interest to construct along and upon the right of 

way and depot grounds herein provided for, 

SEc. 2. That said corporation is authorized to take and use for all purposes of a railwar, and for no other purpose, a right of way 100 feet in width through said lnd1an Territory, and to take and use a strip of land 200 feet in width, with a length of 3,000 feet, in addition to right of way, for stations, for every 10 miles 

of road, with the right t~ use such additional ground where there are heavy cuts or tills as may be necest~ary for the construction and maintenance of the 

road-bed, not exceeding 100 feet in width on each side of said right of way, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Pr01)ided, That no more than said addition of land shall be taken for any one station: P.rovid.edfurther, 

That no part of the lands herein authorized to be taken shall be leased or sold 

by the company,and they shall not be used except in such manner and for such 

purposes only as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient opera- tion of said railroad, telegraph, and telephone lines; and when any portion 

thereof sha.ll cease to be so used, such portion shall revert to the nation or t.ribe 

of Indians from which the same shall have been taken. 

SEC. 3. That before said rail way shall be constructed through any lands held 

by individual occupants according to the laws, customs, and usages of any of 

the Indian nations or tribes through which it may be constructed, full compensation sha ll be made to such occupants for all property to be taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway. In case of failure to make 

amicable settlement with any occupant, such compensation shall be determined 

by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed one (who 

shall act as chairman) by the President, one by the chief of the nation to which 

said occupant belongs, and one by said railroad company, who, before entering 

upon the duties of their appointment, shall take and subscribe, before a district 

judge, clerk of a district court, or United States commissioner, an oath that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their appointment, which 

oath, duly certified, shall be returned with their award to and tiled with the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the completion thereof; and a ma- jority of said referees shall be competent to act in case of the absence of a mem- ber, after due notice. And upon the failure of either party to make such ap- pointment within thirty days after the appointment made by the President 

the vacancy shall be filled by the district judge of the court held at Wichita, 

Kans., or the district court for the northern district of Texas, upon the applica- tion of the other party. The chairman of said board shall o.ppomt the time and 

place for all heartngs, within the nation to which such occupant belongs. Each 

of said referees shall receive for his services the sum of $4 per day for each day 

they are engaged in the trial of any case submitted to them under this act, with 

mileage at 5 cents per mile. Witnesses shall receive the usual fees allowed by the courts of said nations. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall 

be made a part of the award, and be paid by such railroad company. In case the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to make the 

award. Either party being dissatisfied with the finding of the referees shall 

have the right, within ninety days after the mo.king of the award and notice of 

the same, to appeal by original petition to the district court held at. Wichita, 

Kans., or the district court for the northern district of Texas, which court shall 

have jurisdiction to hear and determine the subject-matter of said petition, ac- cording to the laws of the State in which the same shall be heard pro video for determining the damage when property is taken for railroad purposes, If upon 

the hearing of said appeal the judgment of the court shall be for a larger sum than the award of the referees, the costs of said appeal shall be adjudged against the railroad company. If the judgment of the court shall be for the same sum as the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the appel- lant. If the judgment of the court shall be for a smaller sum than the award of 

the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the party claiming damages. When proceedings have been commenced in court, the railway company shall pay double the amount of the award into court to abide the judgment 

thereof, and then have the right to enter upon the r.roperty sought to be con- demned and proceed with the construction of the railroad. · SEC. 4. That said railroad company shall not charge the inhabitants of said 

Territory o. greater rate of freight than the rate authorized by the laws of the 

State of Texas for services or transportation of the same kind: Pt·ovided, That 

passenger rates on said railway shall not exceed 3 cents per mile·. Congress 

hereby reserves the right to regulate the charges for freight and passengers on said railway, and messages on said telegraph and telephone lines, until a State 

go'\"ernment or governments shall exist in said Territory within the limits of 

which said railway,or a part thereof, shall be located; and then such Stategc}v- ernment or governments shall be authorized to fix and regul.a.te the cost of tran~portation of persons and freights within their respective limits by said 

railway; but Congress expressly reserves the right to fix and regulate at all 

times the cost of such transportation by said railway or said company when· ever such transportation shall extend from one State into another, or shall ex- tend into more than one State: Provided, howevll"r, That the rate of such trans- portation of passengers, local or interstate, shall not exceed the rate above ex- pressed: And provided further, That said railway company shall carry the mail at such prices as Congress may by law provide; and until such rate is fix ed by law the Postmaster-General may fix the rate of compensation. . SEc. 5. That said railway company shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, 

for the benefit of the particular nations or tribes through whose lands said 

line may be located, the sum of $50, in addition to compensation provided for in 

this act for property taken and damages done to individual occupants by the 

construction of the rail way, for each mile of mil way that it may construct in said 

Territory, said payments to be made in installments of $500 as each ten miles of 

road is graded: P rovidediaThat if the general council of either of the nations or tribes through whose nds said railway may be located shall, within four 

months after the tiling of maps of definite location as set forth in section six of 

this act, dissent from the allowances provided for in this section, and shall cer- tify the same to the Secretary of the Interior, then all compensation to be paid to such dissenting nation or tribe under the provisions of this act shall be de· 

termined as provided in section t.hree for the determination of the compensa- tion to be paid to the individual occupant of lands, with the right of appeal to the courts upon the same terms, conditions, and requirements as therein pro- vided: Pro1Jided further, That the amount awarded or adjudged to be paid by said railway company for said dis enting nation or tribe shall be in lieu of the 

compensation that said nation or tribe would be entitled to receive under the 

foregoing provision. Said company shall also pay, so long as said Territory is owned and occupied by the Indians, to the Secretary of the Interior, the sum 'of 

815 per annum for each mile of railway it shall construct in the said Territory. The money paid to the Secretary of the Interior under the provisions of this act shall be apportioned by him, in accordance with the laws and treaties now in force among the different nations and tribes, aooording to the number of 

miles of railway that may be constructed by said railway company through 

their lands: Provided, That Congress shall have the right, so long as said lands are occupied and possessed by said nations and tribes, to impose such addi· 

tiona! taxes upon said railroad as it may deem just and proper for their benefit; 

and any Territory or State hereafter formed through which said railway shall 

have been established may exercise the like power as to such part of said rail· 

way as may lie with itt its limits. Said railway company shall have the right; to survey and locate its railway immediately after the passage of this act. SEC. 6. That said company shall cause maps showing the route of its located 

line through said Territory to be filed in the office of the Secret.a.ry of the In• terior, and also to be filed in the office of the principal chief of each of the nations or tribes through whose lands said railway may be located; and after the filing of said maps no claim for a subsequent settlement and improvement upon the 

right of way shown by said maps shall be valid as against said company: Pro-
1887. -CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1409. 

1lided, That when a. map showing any portion of said railway company's located line is filed as herein provided for, said company shall commence grading said locatea line within six months thereafter, or such location shall be void; and 83id location shall be a.pproved by the Secretary of the Interior in sections of 25 miles before construction of any such section shall be begun. SEc. 7. That the officers, servants, and employes of said company necessary to the construction and management of said road shall be allowed to reside, while so engaged, upon such right of way, but subject to the provisions of the Indian intercourse laws, and such rules and regulations as maybe established by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with said intercourse laws. SEc. 8. That the United States circuit and district courts for the northern dis- trict of Texas and the western district of Arkansas. and such other courts as may be authorized by Congress, shall have, without reference to the amount in con- troversy, concurrent jurisdiction over all controversies arising between said Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company and the nations and tribes through whose territory said railway shall be constructed. Said courts shall have like Jurisdiction1 without reference to the a.mobnt in controversy, over all contro- versies arismg between the inhabita.ntsofsa.id nationsortribesandsa.idrailwa.y company; and the civil jurisdiction of said courts is hereby extended within the limits of said Indian Territory, without distinction as to citizenship of the par- tie~, so far as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. SEc. 9. That said railway company shall build at least 50 miles of its railway in said Territory within three years after the passage of this act, or the rights herein granted shall be forfeited as to that portion not built; that said railroad company shall construct and maintain continually all road and highway cross- ings and necessary bridges over said railwa.ywhereversa.idroa.dsa.ndhighways do now or may hereafter cross said railway's right of way, or may be by the proper authorities laid out across the same. SEc. 10. That the said Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company shall accept this right of way upon the express condition, binding upon itself, its suc- cessors and assigns, that they will neither aid, advise, nor assist in any effort looking towards the changing or extinguishing the present tenure of the Indians in their land, and will not attempt to secure from the Indian nations any further grant of land, or its occupancy, than is hereinbefore provided: Provided, That any violation of the condition mentioned in this section shall operate as a. for- feiture of all the rights and privileges of said railway company under this act. SEC. 11. That all mortgages executed by said railway company conveying any portion of its railroad, with its franchises, that may be constructed in said Indian Territory, shall be recorded in the Department of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be evidence and notice of their execution, and shall convey all rights and !)roperty of said company as therein expressed. SEC. 12. Tlmt Congress may at any time amend, add to, alter, or repeal this act; and the right of way herein and hereby granted shall not be assigned or trans- ferred in any form whatever prior to the construction and completion of the road, except mortgages or other liens that may be given or secured thereon to aid in the construction thereof. 

WAR CLAIMS. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I now call up the special order, being the bill 

(H. R. 10666) for the allowance of certain claims reported by the ac- counting officers of the United States Treasury Department. I ask 

unanimous consent that the Committee of the Whole House on the state 

of the Union be discharged from the further consideration of the bill, 

and that it be considered in the House. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair that re- quest is unnecessary, the bill having been taken out of the Committee 

of the Whole by the action of the House making it a special order. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the 

reading of the claims recited in the bill. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Tennessee asks 

unanimous consent to dispense with the reading of the various claims 

recited in this bill. Is there objection? The Chair hears none. M:r. WARNER, of Ohio. Is it proposed to dispense entirely with the 

reading of the bill? 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair stated to the House the re- quest to dispense with the reading of the claims recit.ed in the bill; 

tliere was no objection. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. RICHARDSON] has the floor. 

Mr. EDEN. I desire to ask the gentleman before he proceeds whether 

this bill embraces any claims except those which have been favorably 

acted on by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, this bill includes simply claims 

which have been allowed by the accounting officers of the Treasury 

Department. These claims are first examined in the locality where 

the property was taken, by special agents appointed for that purpose 

by the Quartermaster-General. They are then examined by the Quartermaster-General in person. Afterward they are further examined by 

the Third Auditor, and again by the Second Comptroller. So that 

before being reported here, these claims receive several examinations 

by the different accounting officers. There is not in the bill a single 

claim to which that remark does not apply. These are all claims for 

quartermaster stores, and have been·properly examined and audited by 

the proper officers of the Treasury Department. 

Mr. SPRINGER. What is the aggregate amount appropriated by 

the bill? 

Mr. MILLS. I desire to ask when these claims were filed, whether · they were all filed before the expiration of the time limited by law? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I will endeavor to answer all these questions 

satisfactorily. .. 

Of these claims 3 are from the District of Columbia, 1 from the 

State of lllinois, 7 from the State of Pennsylvania, 15 from Indiana, 

56 from the State of Maryland, 36 from West Virginia, 115 from Missouri, 64 from Ohio, 129 from Kentucky, and a small number from 

Tennessee. 

Mr. WARNER, of Ohio. The gentleman does not state the number 

of claims from Tennessee. I see there are 567. 

¥r. EDEN. What is the amount of the cHum coming from Illinois? 

XVTII--89 

Mr. RICHARDSON. The amount of these claims in the aggregat6 

is $181,732.57. For a numberofyearsitwas usual to paythese claim( 

after they were audited in the Treasury Department without bringing 

them before Congress. Such, I understand, was the practice until 

1875. Since that time they have been transmitted annually at the 

beginning of each session of Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury 

to the Speaker of the House, who lays them before Congress; and a~ 

appropriation has always been made for these claims after their exami .. 

nation by the Committee on War Claims of the House and the Com· 

mittee on Claims of the Senate. 

Mr. MILLS. Can the gentleman inform us how many more of these 

claims are now pending in the Department for examination? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I can not; but I can say to the gentleman that 

according to my information they are being red0;ced very rapidly. 

Mr. GEDDES. They have been reduced to about thirty-five hundred. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. The gentleman from Texas [1\Ir. MILLS].asked 

me awhile ago when these claims were filed. They were all filed very 

early after the war, and many of them have been pending in the Department for twenty years. No interest is allowed in any case upon 

any of these claims. 

Mr. EDEN. I observe that there has been inserted in the bill by way 

of amendment this language, after the clause authorizing and requiring 

the Secretary of the Treasury to make payment: 

Upon the requisition of the Secretary of War, without fuxther audit, allowance or restatement of the claims by the accounting officers. 

I would like to know why that amendment has been put in. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. The amendment to which the gentleman from 

Illinois [Mr. EDEN] calls my attention was inserted upon the recommendation of the Comptroller himself. He drew the amendment and 

requested the committee to insert it, so that after the appropriation 

shall have been made by Congress in pursuance of the recommendations 

of the_ accounting officers of tile Treasury Department, it will not be 

necessary that the claims be reaudited and re-examined in the Department, which would be merely a repetition of the work it has already 

done. 

The next amendment, which appears in the eighth and ninth lines 

of the bill, simply directs payment to be made to the legal representatives 'Of the <Jlaimant in the event that the claimant has died since the 

allowance of the claim by the accounting officers. The other amendments are purely clerical. The last one, embraced in section 2 of 

the bill, is simply to correct an error in the provision made in the bill. 

passed at the last session, to pay the claim of George K. Shearman, of 

the State of Indiana. In that bill the appropriation read: 

To George K. Shearman, of Harrison County, Indiana, three hundred and fifty-three and five cents, 

leaving out, as will be seen, the word " dollars " altogether. This 

amendment simply adds the word '' dollars '' to that appropriation. 

Those are the only amendments the committee have proposed. 

Mr. BLOUNT. I wish to ask the gentleman from Tennessee, with 

reference to the first amendment to which he has alluded, whether or not in the event it should appear after the passage of this bill that 

there was any fraud in connection with the auditing or allowance of 

any of the claims reported in the bill, it would then be possible to sus- pend their payment until further investigation could be had? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I imagine that if there was any fraud in connection with any of the claims the Third Auditor would not recom- mend the payment if his attention was called to it. 

But I will state to the gentleman from Georgia that it would be simply a repetition if they were to go back to the same clerks, to the same _ officers who audited them in the first instance, and have the work gone 

over again. 

Mr. GEDDES. The universal practice is, in cases of fraud, not to 

pay. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Of course, if fraud is discovered they will not 

be paid. 

Mr. BLOUNT. Why is it they should go back after being allowed? 

Is it not a fact that these claims are first audited, passed upon in the 

Department, and after that work is done the claims are referred to Con· 

gress for appropriation? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is the case. Mr. BLOUNT. Then I do not see any occasion for that provision. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. -I am informed by the Comptroller who drew 

the amendment that it has been the universal custom to reaudit all 

claims a.fttir they have been passed upon by Congress. 

Mr. BLOUNT. And this amendment is simply to avoid that practice in reference to these claims? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is all. 

Mr. WILSON. Will the gentleman permit me to ask him a question? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Certainly. 

Mr. WILSON. The gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Speaker, has 

explained the various offices through which the claims have to pass before they are transmitted to Congress; but as I understand his statement, the allowance o~ one of these claims, after all, depends entirely 
1410 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

upon the report made by the specinJ. agent of the Quartermaster's Department who may have been selected to take testimony in regard to 

the claim. 

Mr. GEDDES. Not at all. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. No, I do not want to be understood that way; 

because the special agent of the Quartermaster's Department who is 

sent to the locality where a claim originated frequently makes a favorable report upon that claim which is not allowed in full, and some- times not at all, by the Quartermaster-General. I know of one instance 

in which the agent allowed the claim, that is to say reported upon it 

favorably, and the Department cut down th~ allowance of the agent; 

and in some cases they have rejected the allowance. 

Mr. WILSON. But the allowance of such claim, after all, depends 

upon the report of the special agent sent out by the Quartermaster's 

Departmenttothe locaJityin which it arose. Now, !would liketoask a further question: Whether the committee in considering these claims 

has ever given attention to the character of the agents sent out by that 

Department? And the reason I ask is that I think it will be the ex- perience of every member here who represents districts of country from 

which these claims come that many claims of that class have been allowed against the Government, where, if the test of loyalty was applied, 

iihey would not be entitled to relief, upon a report of an agent of the 

Quartermaster'sDepartment; while, on the other hand, there area large 

number of claims recognized in the locality from which they arise as of 

the highest merit that have been turned down that never would have 

been turned down except upon the report of the special agent. 

:Mr. WARNER, of Ohio. They ought to go ip.to the courts for relief. 

.Ur. RICHARDSON. Of course the committee could not vouch for 

the honesty and integrity of the special agents. They must depend 

upon thejudgment of the Department. There were formerly twentyfive of them, but the number has been reduced until now but ten are 

employed in the field, and, as the Quartermaster-General states to me, 

and I have no doubt it is true, these ten are selected from the list of 

agents who have made the best record in the Department. 

Mr. SOWDEN. I would like to ask the gentleman from Tennessee a question, with his permission. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Certainly. 

Mr. SOWDEN. If, as the gentleman stat.es, it is only a question of 

the appropriation of moneys to pay these claims, why is not this matter referred at once to the proper Committee on Appropriations? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I can not answer why the House ·has taken 

this course in referring the claims as it bas done. But it has been the 

universal practice t..o refer them to the Committee on War Claims, for 

the reason, I presume, that they are war claims. 

Mr. GEDDES. Will the gentleman from Tennessee allow me to 

make a statement on that point? 

M:r. RICHARDSON. I yield with pleasure to the gentleman from 

Ohio. 

M:r. GEDDES. In the investigation of this class of claims before 

the Committee on War Claims I am free to say that there has existed some diversity of judgment as to the duty devolving upon the committee, some members of the committee feeling that all we had to do was to take four or .five or six hundred claims as they appeared before 

the committee in bulk, report them to the Honse, and turn them over for appropriation. That has never been my individual judgment. My 

construction of that act and the law under which we operate has been 

that a duty devolved upon the Committee on War Claims to investigate, reconsider, and pass upon the merits of these claims, and if, as stated by the gentleman from Virginia, we discovered that the proof was insuflicient on the question of loyalty the committee would feel at 

liberty to exclude that claim. 

Mr: BLOUNT. May I ask, the gentleman a question in this connec- tion? 

. lli. GEDDES. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BLOUNT. I wish to know if under the law the action of the 

Auditor and the Comptroller making an investigation of these claims is 

not conclusive, even upon the Secretary? 

Mr. GEDDES. That is precisely what I am endeavoring to state as being the judgment of some members of the committee. I have never concurred in that opinion myself, and do not believe that even the Committee on War Claims is concluded by these accounting officers . . Mr. BLOUNT. M:y object was not to question the opinion of my 

friend, for which I have great respect, but to ascertain whether or not 

that is the law, or if it is not true that the Secretary himself can not 

set aside the conclusions of the Auditor and Comptroller with reference 

to such claims. 

Mr. GEDDES. I do not believe that is the la.w; and we have not 

accepted that as the law in our committee. 

Now, as a matter of practice, in order that members of the House 

may understand that these cases come here fully and fairly considered, 

and that they are not dumped in upon you here and your judgments asked without full consideration in committee, let me say that these 

claims are first presented to the Quartermaster-General. He sends his 

agents into the field, who thoroughly investigate them in the locality in 

which they occur and report for or against a claim. .But the Quartermaster-General is not in any way bound by his report, as is shown in 

the cases before us, which we have gone through again and again. He 

then passes upon them. If his opinion is adverse to a claim that is the 

end of it. If his judgment is in favor of a claim it goes to the Third 

Auditor. He passesupon it. It then goe<Jto the Second Comptroller. 

He passes upon it. If it passes through all their hands and receives 

the favorable judgment of each and all, then under this law it comes to 

the War Claims Committee. 

Ordinarily it may be urged with great force that having received the 

concurrent judgment of all these men, the committee ought tA;> be satisfied with their work and report a bill and dump it in upon the House. 

But I have said no; we will open these bags; we will take out all these 

case':!, and with the clerical forre given us we will go over them. We 

have done so. 

As a matter of practice in the Forty-eighth Congress, when I had the 

pleasure of being associated with the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 

ROWELL], who was on the subcommittee, we traveled over these cases and we found~as the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. WILSON] 

has stated his fears on that subject-we found, I think, seven in num- ber whose claims, comparatively speaking, having reference to the class 

embodied in this bill, aggregated eight or ten thousand dollars-we 

found in that number of cases we thought proof wholly insufficient on the question ofloyalty. My own judgment was that the proof as it was presented clearly established disloyalty, and we excluded them. Our 

report was approved, and the committee reported to the House the bill 

with those claims out. They are still out. We traveled over these cases presented in this bill in the same manner and with the same care. 1t1r. LONG. All of them or only a part? 

M:r. GEDDES. I may say aJl of them in this sense: There would 

be a great many cases involving small a.mounts-$10 or $50. We 

would not spend much time on a$10 case, but when it came to an $800 or a $1,000 claim we would take time in going over it in order to get 

at the way in which the investigation had been conducted by the ac· counting officers of the Department. 

Now, this is the situation in regard to this bill. I found one case which on my own individual judgment if I had been the accounting 

officer, or as a member of the Committee on War Claims, I would have 

laid it aside. I did not see sufficient proof before me in that case o1 

the loyalty of the party, but I was willing to pass that one claim. I 

found this action caused great impronment in the bill presented in 

the Forty-eighth Congress. I think the action of the committee in the 

preceding Congress in excluding those eight or ten thousand dollar 

claims bad a good effect on the investigation oftheaccountingofficers; 

and these claims come to us purified by that action of the committee. 

Mr. SOWDEN. Whatwastheamountofthe claim aboutwhich the 

committee had some doubt as to the loyalty of the claimant? 

Mr. GEDDES. I think it amounted to about $1,000. Itmayhave 

been only $800. • 

Mr. SOWDEN. Does the gentleman remember the name of tho 

case? 

M:r. GEDDES. I do not, but if we should now take that single case out of this class and try to investigate it here we would find doubtless 

diversity of judgment, great difference of opinion, whether the proof i.s 

sufficient as to the question of loyalty. Therefore I am not disposed 

to resist further to any extent the paBSage of this bill, and I hope il; 

will pass without amendment. 

.Ur. FELTON. As I understand, the committee has examined tl::e 

claims and believes they ought to be paid? 

M~r. GEDDES. Yes, sir . . We think they ought to be. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee [M.~ 

ZACH. TAYLOR]. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. I desire to offer an amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro temp01·e. Does the gentleman from Tennesst.e 

[Mr. RICHARDSON] yield for that purpose? 

:M:r. RICHARDSON. I do not agree to the amendment, but I ha, e yielded that it might be read. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. No more amendments than those not~ 

pending can be entertained under the rule except by unanimous co-.. sent. Is there objection to the gentleman from Tennessee [M:r. ZAC:V. 

TAYLOR] offering his amendment? 

Mr. EDEN. I object. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Will the gentleman from Tennessee [1\l.r. RICHARDSON] yield to me for a moment? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. 

1t1r. SPRINGER. I desire at the proper time to offer the following 

amendment to the first section of this bill-to insert after the words 

"accounting officers," in the tentJrline, these words: 

The warrants to be delivered to the payees thereof in person or through the 

mail. 

The object of this amendment is to requirethe warrants to be delivered to the persons entitled to them or sent to them through the mail. 

I want to give an instance that occurred two years ago in reference to one of the provisions in the bill similar to this. .A. constituent of mine wa.s allowed $1,200 in a similar bill. The warrant for that a.monnt was delivered to his attorney in this city. That attorney declined to _ deliver the warrant to the person entitled to the payment unless he would 
1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1411 

give him the sum of $500. After I had written to the Treasury Department and insisted that the claimant was entitled to the warrant, 

one of the officers in that Department informed me it was the practice 

q,f the Department to deliver the warrant to the attorney, and they declined to deliver it to the person entitled to it; and the attorney went 

West and extorted $500 out of the $1,200 appropriated to my constituent by the bill. I think that is an imposition which Congress should 

prevent for the future; and with the view of preventing such impositions I shall ask to have these words inserted in the bill. 

:M:r. GOFF. - Was there any contract by which the amount of the fee was determined? 

Jtlr. SPRINGER. There was no contract. This attorney extorted 

$500outofthe $1,200before hewoulddeliverthewarrant, and the Department declined to interfere. On my request to give the warrant to 

the claimant the Department declined to do it, and gave it to the attorney. 

lli. RICHARDSON. I yield five minutes to- the gentleman from 

Tennessee [Mr. HoUK]. 

Mr. HOUK. I wish toask mycolleague [Mr. RICHARDSON] if it is 

in order to accept the amendment suggested by the gentleman from 

Illinois [l\Ir. SPRINGER]. It is eminently right. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I send it to the Clerk's desk. 

The SPEAKER pro ternpore. Amendments are not now in order, except by unanimous consent. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I ask unanimous consent to offer it now, that it 

may be considered as pending. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection ? 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I agree that it may be considered as pending 

when the previous question is ordered. 

Jtlr. ZACH. TAYLOR. I object unless I am permitted to offer my 

amendment. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I am willing the gentleman from Tennesse~ 

[Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR] should offer his amendment on the same terms 

as the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. SPRINGER] offers his. 

Mr. EDEN. I object to the amendment being considered as pending until I shall hear it read. 

Mr. HOUK. While I have the floor I wish to make two or three re- marks in reply to questions which have come from various sources in 

regard to the method of the investigation of these claims and in refer- ence to the character of these special agents. I know those who have 

been on daty iq my State, and know them to be men of character and, 

capacity. The only objection either I or my constituents have ever found to them is that they all come from the North, and we fearsometimes they are preju~iced even against Union men living in the South. 

But there are a dozen gentlemen on this floor who know the agents 

who have investigated the claims from Tennessee. I will name 111r. 

Peter Malindy, once marshal, occupying a high position in that State. 

I name also another gentleman from Iowa, Captain Putnam. Another, 

who I undertake to sayis one of the best men and of the largestcapacity in public life almost anywhere, is Hon. G. J. Saunders, from Iowa, 

whom half-a-dozen gentlemen here well know. So with others. The 

method of investigation, instead of always taking everything for granted 

in favor of the claimant, has been to resolve every doubt in favor of the 

Government. That has ooen their habit. And gentlemen on this floor 

who know these men will guarantee their character and reputation. 

I think when a claim has run the gauntlet of their investigation, the 

Quartermaster's investigation, the investigation of the Third Auditor 

and Comptroller,-and has afterward gone through the War Claims Committee, having at its head my distinguished friend from Ohio [lli. 

GEDDES], who is the greatest stickler for loyalty when a claim comes 

up that .I ever saw-when a claim has run this gauntlet I think it 

ought to be allowed by this Congress. I agree with the suggestion of the 

gentleman from Georgia [Mr. BLOUNT], as I understand it, that under 

the law as a matter of fact the duty of the War Claims Committee is 

simply to prepare an appropriation bill for these claims. Still, we have to accept that which they have resolved to do in reversing this 

law and assuming to decide on the question of the claims themselves; 

and. as we have been told by the chairman, some of them have been 

thrown out. After the claims have passed all this investigation I hope 

the bill will pass. -

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the amendment 

proposed by thegentlemanfromlliinois [Mr. SPRINGER], Iwanttosay 

this: If I understand its effect it would be to send the check or draft 

directly to the claimant. Now, innearlyeverycase, as I am informed, 

the claimant has employed an attorney who has done the work, or has 

done a great deal of work, in priparing and pressing the claim, and, as I underst.and, the pratice of the Department is this: while the warrant 

is delivered to the attorney, yet in every solitary case it is made payable to the claimant and never to the attorney, so that the attorney can not collect the money without the consent of the claimant. This being so, I see no necessity for the amendment proposed. 

Mr. SPRINGER. In the case to which I have referred' the attorney info'rmed the claimant that he had the warrant and that he intended to hold on to it until the payee indorsed it; and that attorney 

actually compelled the claimant to indorse it or else to go without his 

money. 

:Mr. ROWELL. Why did you not arrest him for extortion? 

Mr. SPRINGER. Because I was not in the detective business. 

Mr. ROWELL. AB I understand you, this attorney went to Illinois 

and made that statement. 

Mr. SPRINGER. He did. 

Mr. ROWELL. And therefore made himselfliable to arrest and im· 

prisonment in that State. 

Mr. SPRINGER. He went there, and he got the money, too. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. Jtlr. Speaker, I desire to propose an amend· 

ment to the amendment and let it be pending. I propose to add these 

words: ''Except in cases where specific contracts have been made with 

attorneys." 

The SPEAKER p1·o tempo-re. The Chair has already stated that there are several amendments pending. - Jtir. RICHARDSON. I want to make this additional suggestion: 

There are a number of cases reported from the Court of Claims for 

quartermaster's stores. These cases have been referred to the Committee on War Claims, and the committee has reported them favorably 

to the House, and they are now on the Calendar. Our committee did 

not feel willing to put upon this bill any claim other than those that 

had been allowed by the accounting officers of the Treasury, and therefore no other kind of claim is in this bill; but the gentleman from 

Tennessee [Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR] desires to offer an amendment putting those other claims upon the bill, and if the House sees fit to adopt 

such an amendment I have no objection. · I therefore yield to the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR] to offer his amendment, 

simply to test the sense of the House upon that question. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Then does the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 

Z.AcH. TAYLOR] withdraw his objection to my amendment? 

l!Ir. ZACH. TAYLOR. Yes, sir. 

Mr. McCOMAS. I rise to a parliamentary inquiry. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it. 

1\fr. McCOMAS. At what stage of this proceedfug can I, of my right, 

offer an amendment? 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are several amendmentB pending which must first be disposed of. Under the rule only two amendments can be pending at a time. The committee has reported quite a number of amendments which must be disposed. of, after which other 

amendments well be taken in their order. The question is upon tho 

first amendment proposed by the committee. Is there a desire that all 

the amendments of the committee be voted upon separately? 

J,Ir. RICHARDSON. I ask unanimous cousent that the committee 

amendments be voted upon together. 

There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 

The amendments reported from the committee were adopted. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Now, Mr. Speaker, I propose to amend the :first 

section of the bill by the amendment which I have sent uy. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

After the word" officers," in line 9,insert "the warrants to be delivered to the 

payee thereof in person or through tlie mails." 

To which it is proposed by the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. RICHARDSON] 

to add the following: "Except in cases where specific contracts ha-ve been made with attOJ~neys." 

Mr. SPRINGER. I object to theamendment proposedbythechair- man of the committee [Mr. RICHARDSON], because the difficulty now 

is that the attorneys compel the claimants to make contracts to allow 

the attorneys to draw the money, and such an amendment would annul 

the provision which I propose to insert. 

Jtlr. TAULBEE. I suggest, as a matter of compromise, that the 

amendment be modified so as to allow the accounting officers of the 

Treasury to pay the attorneys a reasonable fee not to exceed 10 per 

cent. 

lli. SPRINGER. I have no objection to allowing them 10 per cent., 

but I am satisfied that the accounting officers of the Department would 

protect the attorneys sufficiently in any case. The amendment I have 

offered is in exact accordance, I think, with the ruling ofthe Department at this time, to which ruling the attorneys are objecting, and I 

want to give that ruling the sanction of law. I think the dealings between the claimant and the attorney can be settled very well by them· 

selves, and certainly it is not the business of Congress to settle disputes 

between them. Let us give the claimant his money and then let him 

settle with his attorney himself. 

Mr. JOHNSTON, of Indiana. Suppose the man makes a contract 

for a percentage to be paid to the attorney, and agrees that the attorney shall draw the moneyJ is it the duty of Congress to step in and 

make a new contract? · lli. SPRINGER. Suppose that contract calls for 50 per cent.? 

Mr. TAULBEE. They usually do call for 40 per cent. 

1\Ir. SPRINGER. Well, suppose the contract calLs for 50 per cent., 

does my friend [lli. JoHNSTON, of Indiana] suppose that Congress 

should stand by and let these poor claimants (for they are nearly all 

poor) be compelled to pay out half their claim simply ber.ause an exacting claim agent has obtained such a contract from them ? . Mr. JOHNSTON, of Indiana. Is the claimant obliged to employ 

the attorney ? 

Mr. SPRINGER. Oh, my friend could continue that line of ~gu 
1412 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

inent a long time, but I think it is a mere matter of justice to protect 

these poor claimants. 

Mr. LONG. There is no reason why you should insure the attorney. 

Mr. SPRINGER. No. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. My objection to the amendment of the gentleman from illinois, as be puts it, is really made in the interest of the 

claimant himself. Many of these claimants are insolvent, and most of 

them are poor. Now, if the warrant goes into the hands of the claimants, the attorneys will, of course, seek to get their fees, and the result 

may be endless litigation; whereas I think we protect both parties 

when we allow the attorney to take the warrant, but have it made 

payable directly to the claimant. In that way both parties have a chance to get justice done them, and I really think we had better leave 

it as it is now under the practice of the Department. 

Mr. TAULBEE. If the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. RICH.A.RDSON] will allow me a moment. I am unable to see the difference between the attorneys' fee in this class of cases, and the attorneys' fee in 

pension cases. Now, there is a law by which the Pension Bureau can adjust the attorney's fee to an amount not to exceed $25 in any one pension case, and that amount only when the contract is for so much, 

and I think it would be right and fair, as between these claimants and 

their attorneys, that the drafts should be severed. Where there is a contract between the claimant and the attorney, and that contract 

calls for 10 per cent. to be paid to the attorney, I would allow the ac- counting officers of the Treasury to issue a draft to the attorney for his 

fee-of course not to exceed a reasonable amount, and in no case to 

exceed 10 per cent. of the amount allowed the claimant. 

I think that would be fair and proper and right. It would be a great 

hardship for· the attorneys who prosecute these claims to completion 

to ·be driven to the necessity of going all over the country to collect the 

fees which they have earned from claimants who in many cases may 

be insolvent. If the attorneys were required to do that they would 

frequently be unab e to obtain compensation for their services. 

On the other hand I believe that if some such amendnlent as that 

offered by the gentleman from lllinois [Mr. SPRINGER] be not adopted, 

the greatest hardship may be experienced by claimants. I have in my 

possession a letter from a claim~.out in my part of the country who says 

that the claim agent in Washington retained his check until he was compelled to indorse it to the agent, who paid him only 60 per cent. of 

the amount allowed by the Government. I think such a thing as that 

is a perfect outrage. I have talked to the accounting officers of the 

Treasury and to the Second Comptroller, who tells me that he has no power whatever to prevent ·the attorney from collecting the amount 

stipulated by contra-ct, even 40 per cent. if he chooses to exact tha.t 

much. I hope the amendment of the gentleman from lllinois will be 

adopted in some shape; but I would like to see a provision inserted allowing the Department to pay the attorney a reasonable compensation. I believe that would be fair to the attorney. 

Mr. LONG. What right has the Government to distribute the money 

which it says belongs to a claimant? 

Mr. TAULBEE. The same right which it exercises in cases of invalid pensions. · Mr. LONG. When the Government has declared that a certain 

amount of money belongs to the claimant what right has it to step in 

and say ''so much of this shall go to the claimant and so much to the 

attorney ? '' 

Mr. TAULBEE. I believe that the Government in its administrative capacity has the same right to compel a man who seeks redress at 

its hands to be just as a court of equity has. 

Mr. SPRINGER. One word in reference to the justice of the claim 

presented on behalf of these attorneys. These cases are adjudicated 

by the accounting officers of the Department, not in a court. The Government of the United States prosecutes all these cases at its own ex- pense. The agents of the Government go into the different localities 

and bunt up the proof. In no case do these attorneys render any substantial service to the claimant. Residing here in Washington, they 

simply go to the Treasury Department, get the warrant, and hold on to it until the claimant is compelled to send them so much money before they will relinquish the warrant. 

Mr. TAULBEE. That is measurably true. 

Mr. SPRINGER. The experience of every member who hears me has shown it to be true. 

I now ask a vote on my amendment; I do not accept the amendment 

to the amendment, but it can be voted on separately. 

Mr. WOLFORD. 1.1r. Speaker, beforethevoteistakenon this question, I wish to say only a few words in relation to what seems to me to be one of the most important principles connected with our Govern.: 

ment. The long practice of Congress-a reprehensible practice in my 

judgment-has been to treat the American freeman, whether a soldier 

or a claimant, not as a freeman but as a ward. It has been assumed 

that Congress must step in and protect the man who is able to protect 

himself. Why should it be assumed thatthe American freeman is not 

able to protect himself in making his contract with a lawyer or a claim 

agent? I have no word to say in favor oflawyers or claim agents; but 

I speak ·in behalf of the manhood of the America-n soldier, and the 

American citizen, and in behalf of the 1·ights of the freemeh who gov- ern Congress, who govern the President, who govern every officer in 

this nation. We profess to believe in the doctrine that the people are the rulers, and that the officers of Government are their servants. But 

what do we say in practice? Having been for ages in the habit of treating the Indians as wards, and not as freemen, we have gradually ex- tended that idea till weare disposed to treat every American citizen in 

the same way. 

We undertake to say to the soldier who defended the country, who 

helped to save the life of the. nation, "You had seru:e enough to fight~ 

you had sense enough to do everything necessary to maintain the independence-of the country; but now that the war is over, you have lost 

your manhood, you have lost your capacity to take care of yourself; you 

sink into insignificance before a powerful usurpation which undertakes 

to treat _you as a ward.'' I oppose any such idea. The man who furnishes the material for your army, who constitutes the defense of the 

country in time of war, has certainly sense enough to make a contract 

for himself. The time will come when the Government of the United 

States will be ashamed of this departure from, principle, of this insult 

to the manhood of the citizen, by saying, ''We will treat the citizen and 

the soldier as our ward, not as capable of takjng care of himself." 

Why should you undertake to say to a man perfectly capable of making his own contracts that he shall not employ a lawyer or au agent 

except on certain terms? The Government has been slow, very slow, 

in making provision to pay for the necessaries furnished to the Army 

during the war; and now when it comes to make payment it proposes 

to say to the claimants, " You shall not do as you please in regard to 

theemploymentofalawyertourgeyourclaim; you have not the power 

to make a proper contract in that regard." 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I hope now we shall have a vote upon the 

amendments. 

The question recurred on the amendment to the amendment of Mr. 

RICHARDSON, and being put, it was rejected. 

The question then recurred on the amendment of 1\Ir. SPRINGER. 

Mr. WILSON, ofWest Virginia. Is thattlebatable? 

Mr. SPRINGER. Has not the previous question been ordered? 

:Mr. TAULBEE. No, the previous question has not been ordered, ann I will yield to the gentleman from West Virginia. 

Mr. WILSON, ofWestVirginia. Mr. Speaker, Ithinkperhapsiought 

to add to what I said at a previous stage of the discussion of this matter a word in reference to the agencies through which the original information on which these claims are allowed or disallowed is obtained by the Government, especially in view of some remarks that have since been made. 

I care not how careful the accounting may be or how many officers these 

claims pass through, the allowance or disallowance of these claims is 

after all determined by the report made by the agents sent out bv the 

Quartermaster-General's Department. .. 

As the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GEDDES] has said, the committee 

has reversed the action of some of these agents where claims have been 

allowed, but he has not given a single instance, nor have I ever heard 

of a single instance, where the Department or the committee has re- versed the report of those agents where a claim has been disallowed. 

Ifthere is any function which requires afairmind and judicial temper it is the function of one sent out to inquire first into the merit of 

these claims. The great mass of claims disallowed by the report of the 

agents of the Department have never been reconsidered, and the claimants have no recourse. Now, Mr. Speaker, I know nothing about agents of the Departments 

oflate years. I refer particularly to those sent out just aft.er the war, 

full of political prejudice, full of sectional prejudice, and at wqpae hands 

many honest an(! meritorious claimants lost all means of redress against 

the Government. 

I wish simply to add I heard last summer in passing through a re- mote section of my district that an agent of the Quartermaster-General's Department, traveling in that country no doubt at the expense 

of the Government, settled down at a pleasant summer house and sent across the mountain to a poor claimant who had :filed a claim for a horse to come across the mountain and bring his witnesses before this 

agent for examination. That was a mockery of justice, for the claimant was as able to travel to Washington as across the mountain. 

In these cases no fair and open trial, but often secret inquisition, was had as to the loyalty of claimants, and parties have been reported 

against without their knowing why they were reported against, or upon 

whose testimony, by men who had the instinct and methods of detectives, not of honest searchers after facts. They were reported against 

without opportunity for trial, which every claimant against the Government ought to have. 

Mr. SPRINGER. !demand the previous question on my amendment. 

The previous question was ordered, and under the operation thereof 

Mr. SPRINGER's amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. TAULBEE. I now yield tothe gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 

ZACH. TAYLOR]. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. I move the following amendment. 
1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. "1413 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Insert after line 2234 the following: "And also for stores and supplies taken by t.lte Army for its use allowed by the Court of Olaims under the Bowman act:" 

1\fary A. Blackwell, of Shelby County, Tennessee................................ $940 00 

Urias Buskirk, of Logan County, West Virginia................................... 672 00 

John M. Campbell, of Gibson County, Tennessee .............................. 1, 046 50 

Anna M. Cogswell, of Garland County, Arkansas................................ 3, 884 00 

Henry Bazsinskey, administrator of Abraham Ba.zsiuskey, deceased, 

of Warren County, 1tlissis.c;;ippi ........................................................... . Corporation of the Roman Catholic Clergymen of Maryland .............. . W. H. Cook, sr., of Saint Mary's Parish, Louisiana. ........................... .. Elizabeth P. Dyer, of Fayette County, Tennessee ............................... . Newitt Harris, of Fayette County, Tennessee ..................................... . David H. Hildebrand, of Shelby County, Tennessee . .......................... . 

23,648 00 4,035 50 

2,085 00 ~00 

600 ()() 

1,078 00 

Horace P. Hobson, a.du;linistrator John 0. Graves, deceased, of Fayln~tf:n~o~t)IJ;~~s~!d~i~i;;i~~t;~··y~h~··p: ·H;;gh~~:··d~~;,;~~d;··~; 3

'

231 00 

Shelby County, Tennessee .......................... : .. :.................................. 1,436 00 

James P. Jenkins, administrator Thomas C. Jenkins, deceased, of 

Hardeman County, Tennessee.................. .................................. ...... 1,275 00 

Sarah M~Ferrin, administratrix Robert Waters, deceased, of Shelby County, Tennessee......... ............................. ........ ............................... 1, 752 00 

John R. McKennie, administrator David McKennie, deceased, of 

Hardeman County, Tennessee. ......................................................... 1,142 00 

Sarah E. Mendenhall, of Shelby County, Tennessee............................ 583 73 

John A. Oursler's administrator of Fayette County, Tennessee......... 2,439 10 Thomas F. Perkins, administrator Eliza. 1\I. Dawson, deceased, of 

?tiarshall County, 1\lississippi............................................................. 19,237 68 

John B. Reid, of Fayette County, Tennesse........................................ 1,000 00 

R.obert Smith, of Madison County, Tennes.'!ee.......................... .......... 510 00 

S. H. Brodna.x, executor of George T. Taylor, deceased, of Tipton County, Tennessee ............................................................................. 1,4.35 00 

James Tucker, of Fayette County, TennAssee....................................... 500 00 

Robert H. Walton, of Hardeman County, Tennesse.............................. 360 00 

Americus V. Warr, administrator of Nichola-s H. Isbell, deceased, of 

Fayette County, Tennessee ................................................................. 13,475 15 

John R. ·watkins, administrator of Matilda. W. Anderson, deceased, of 

Haywood County, Tennessee .............................................................. 2,530 00 

Simon Witkowski, of West Carroll Parish, Louisiana ........................... 7,roo 00 

Mrs. Ann Moreau, of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana ................................ 5,595 00 

John R. McDowell, administrator of John McDowell, deceased, of 

Fayette Oounty, Tennessee ............................................................... , 15,570 00 

John Longue, administrator of Delos A. Horal, of Shelby County, Ten- nessee................................................................................................... 885 00 

Mr. BRAGG. I make the point of order against that amendmentThe SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCREARY). The gentleman will 

state his point of order. 

Mr. BRAGG. My point of order is this: that the amendment, in the 

:first place, is not germane to the bill; and the reason upon which I 

base it is that this is a bill reported to pay the cla\Jn_s allowed by the 

accounting officers of the Treasury under what is known as the 4th of 

July act. Certain specific claims that are authorized by that act to be 

audited by certain specific officers are embodied in this bill. This 

amendment is a proposition to incorporate in the bill another class of cases that are not within the provisions of that act, and are not reported 

by the accounting officers of the Treasury. 

Second, another point of order. These are cases reported from the 

Court of Claims and referred to the Committee on War Claims for their 

consideration, to be reported back by bill to this House, and are still :hi 

that committee under consideration. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I wish to add to the point of order suggested by 

the gentleman from Wisconsin that the claims covered by this amendment have not yet been considered in Committee of the Whole; and 

they are of course subject to that point of order. For, waiving the 

point of order as to the original bill, the bringing of that bill before 

the House for consideration would not waive the point as to the other 

matter brought in and offered as an addition to the bill. 

And further, there is no authority of law for this appropriation, while 

there is for the appropriation covered by the pending bill. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. Mr. Speaker, the point of order of the gentleman from Indiana I will state does not apply here. It was by special 

agreement provided that the amendment should be offered as though 

it had been considered in Committee of the Whole. 

The other point made by the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. BRAGG] 

is that these cases are not germane to the pending bill. What are the 

fuc~? • The claims in the bill are for stores and supplies used by the military 

authorities. Those cases covered by the amendment are also for stores 

and supplies used for the same purpose. The point that they have been 

referred to the Court of Claims and reported back makes no difference 

whatever. That would have been pertinent under the rules of the last 

House, but can not be entertained as an objection to the amendment 

under the present rules. You can add to a bill pending other bills pending on the Calendar, provided that the subjects are germaue to each other 

and of a kindred nature. 

Mr. JOHNSTON, of Indiana. Will the gentleman permit a question? 

:Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. Yes, sir. 

Mr. JOHNSTON, of Indiana. If it is not a fact that this amount 

is covered by separate bills now pending in this House? 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. That is true; but to speak of reaching separate bills on the Calendar, when it is known to be impossible, and 

that it can not be done, is a denial of justice to the claimantB. 

Besides, that rule, as far as it prevented.the introduction of pending 

bills by way of an amendment~ is no longer in force. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Upon the point of order I wish to be heard for a moment, merely to call -the attention of the House to the fact that the..c:;e cases have been reported to the House under the Bowman act. That 

act does not enter a judgment or find any sum due to the claimants, 

but simply certifies the facts to Congress. We do not know what character of claims are certified or what the certification is or what recom- mendation is made with reference to them for the reason that they come to the House under an entirely different rule. 

This bill relates to the payment of claims audited under the ad of 

July 4, 1864, claims which have been allowed by the accounting officers 

of the Treasury Department. This amendment presents a new class 

of claims of which we know nothing, claims which the Court of Claims 

have reported npon, and, so far as we a1·e presumed to know, may have 

reported against them. This bill relates to those certified as due by 

the accounting officers of the Treasury. The Bowman act gives no authority to the Court of Claims except to report the facts. 

lr!r. ROWELL. And :findings of fact. 

Mr. SPRINGER. And findings of fact; and if we examine the findings it may appear that the court held that they ought not to pass at 

all. They have no place here, and ought not to be permitted to come into this bill. 

Mr. ZA.CH. TAYLOR. I would like to know whether I have the 

:floor or the gentleman from illinois? 

Mr. SPRINGER. I was speaking to the point Qf order. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. You were discussing the merits of the bilL 

Mr. SPRINGER. No; bnt simply referring to the point of order, 

and to show that these claims should not go into the pending bill. 

Mr. McCOMAS. If the gentleman _ from Illinois has concluded I 

wish to be permitted to say a word upon the point of order. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. I will yield to the gentleman, retainingthe 

:floor in my own right. 

Mr. McCOMAS. Theonlyobjectionthathas beenrea.llymadetothe 

proposition being in order is that it is not germane to the pending bill. 

It relates to the same subject-matter. This is a bill to pay certain per- sons money for property taken and used by the Government of the United 

States, and the amendment is to pay certain additional parties additional sums for other property taken and used by the Government. It 

has been done heretofore. I desire to refer to the case of Julia Nutt, a casependingin the Senatein the last Congress, where a claim of a similar character, being a finding of the Southern Claims Commission for 

$80,000, was, upon the motion of a Senator, incorporated into this bill, 

at the end of the bill, and the only thing done thereafter was what I now propose to do, and what I presume the gentleman from Tennessee 

who offered the amendment will do, that is, to amend the title of the 

bill covering the scope of this amendment. 

There is no essential or proper difference in this case, which is simply 

providing to pay a number of people for property taken and used by 

the Government; and the amendment proposed is to pay certain other 

people for certain other property taken and used by the Government. 

The only difference is-and it is not a material difference-that the ac- counting officers of the;Treasury report the claims embodied in the bill, 

while those covered by the amendment come with a higher sanction, 

under an act of this Congress sending these claims to the Court of Claims, 

and there six or seven judges, after a trial of the matter of fact, where 

the Government is represented by able counsel, examine the claims and 

have referred the facts to the Committee on War Claims, which now report them to the House and ask that they be paid. 

It comes, therefore, with a sanction from the same committee. As 

the gentlman in charge of this bill has said, as I understood him, the 

preference of the committee was that the House should decide whether or not these claims should be added. They are war claims of the same character, having exactly the same incidents-throughout except as re- gards the names of the persons and the amounts, and the amendment 

is therefore germane. 

It is not an objection that these claims have been reported by the 

Committee on War Claims as entitled to be paid. That is no objection 

under the existing rules of this House. It commends them in fact to 

the favor of members of th~ House, and under the rule the point of 

order can not be made now that the substance of a pending bill shall 

not be offered as an _amendment as in this case, where the amendment 

is germane in every respect. 

Mr. BRAGG. I desire to say a word or two in reply to the gentle- man from Maryland [Mr. McCoMAs]. First, as regards his precedent 

from the Senate of the United States, there was nopointoforder made 

in that case; and if there had been a point of order made in the Senate 

of the United States its action upon it is no precedent for a ruling here 

in the consideration of bills under our rules. 

The gentleman from Maryland omits to consider the question of order, 

it seems to me, as it ought to present itself to his mind. This bill is 

reported under a law not to pay war claims, but under a law to pay 

claims that have been specifically audited by officers named in the act. 

Therefore it is a bill for a specific purpose, for the payment of claims 

audited by specific auditing officers, and no others. 

The fact that the claims there asked to be paid a1·e for supplies and 

these also are for supplies is not pertinent, because the claims for supplies that you seek to add to this bill have never been authorized by 
', 

1414 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

anybody authorized by law to audit them. The Court of Claims is 

not included in the 4th of July act, and the Court of Claims has no authority to audit. But under the act which gave jurisdiction to the 

Court of Claims the special authority for consideration-was reserved to 

this House when the court reported the facts after they are found, and 

its report comes back simply as an affidavit, or stronger than an affidavit, a certificate of the court, and the claim then stands upon the 

Calendar precisely as all other claims stand, to be determined upon the 

weight of evidence in support of the claim. Now if these claims have a right to go on this bill because they are for supplies, then every bill re- ported from the Committee on War Claims has to be added to the bill, 

for they are all for supplies; they are for wood, for bacon, for the use of farms, for damage done by tramping down strawberry-beds by troops 

marching over them. And this bill, instead of being a bill as its title 

defines, strictly within the act, a bill for the payment of claims audited 

by officers of the Treasury under a certain act of Congress, would be a general bill for taking from the Calendar of the House every claims 

bill reported by the Committee on War Claims to the House. 

The SPEAKER p1·o tempore (Mr. McCREARY). The Chair is prepared to rule on the point of order. As the Chair understands it, this 

bill is for a specific purpose. It is for the allowance of certain claims 

reported by the accounting officers of the United States Treasury Department under the act of July 4, 1864. The gentleman from Ten- nessee [Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR] seeks by his amendment to attaeh to the 

bill claims which have not been reported by the accounting officers of 

the United States Treasury Department under the act of the 4th of 

July, 1864. The Chair, therefore, sustains the point of order made 

by the gentleman from Wisconsin. 

Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. I offer the amendment which I send to 

the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

.Add to the bill the following: "The Secretary of the Treasury shall in all cases where a. contract is shown to exist between the claimant and the attorney issue to the attorney a. warrant for 

the amount of his fee, and to the claimant a. warrant fo-r the remainder of the amount of the claim." 

1\Ir.-HOLMAN. I suggest to the gentleman from Kentucky that he 

add to his amendment, after the word "fee," the words H not exceeding, howe-ver, 10 per cent. of the amount allowed." 

Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. I am willing the gentleman from Indi- ana. should offer that as an amendment, but I am satisfied yon can not 

adopt it without giving to the claimants more trouble in the way of 

litigation than they have had. 

Already they have beenkeptontofthis moneytwenty years. Now, 

the Congress of the United States proposes to pass a bill by which they can get the pittances allowed them by the accounting officers. Now, 

if you put on an amendment saying these attorneys who made a con- tract for one-third of the amount shall only have 10 per cent. of the 

amount, you at once get the attorney and the claimant into trouble 

again. 

- I believe that the adoption of the amendment I have offered-indeed 

I know it from my own experience with these claimants-will enhance 

and advance the interests of the claimants. Only yesterday I received 

from a citizen of the district that I have the honor to represent a power of 

attorney granted to an attorney here to sjgn his name to the warrant 

by which he could draw the money which was allowed that man under a bill passed in the last session of .Congress. He believed the one-third, 

the amount be had contracted to pay the attorney, was too much; 

but the attorney had the contract in his hand, and he said, "you will 

never get any of the money until I get the power of attorney to collect 

this money." 

You can not put on this the amendment req niring that they shall have 

only 10 per cent. without violating contraets already made in writing 

between the a ttorneys and the claimants, and this amendment which 

I offer is the best solution of the whole question. 

1\lr. LONG. Why should we want to enforce the attorneys' contracts 

at all? 

l\1r. STONE, of Kentucky. It seems to me that under the present 

rnling, by which the warrants are put into the bands ofthe attorney, he 

is able to enforce his demands against the claimant by keeping him. out 

of his money, sometimes for months a-nd months, until the demands of 

the attorney are met. 

1\Ir. LONG. We have just adopted an amendment covering that 

point. 

1\Ir. STONE, of Kentucky. I am aware of the amendment that has 

been adopted, saying that the Secretary of the Treasury shall allow the 

attorney a reasonable fee. 

1\Ir. LONG. No; that the warrant shall be sent directly to the 

claimant. . 

Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. Then if you send it directly to the claimant, you do the attorney injustice, because he has a right to some fee 

for his services in these cases. Mr. HOLI\IA.N. Let him look to his client. 

:M:r. STONE, of Kentucky. My amendment will give the attorney 

his fee, and will give the claimant his money, and the whole matter 

will be adjusted within a short time after the bill is passed; but unless 

you adopt such an amendment you will get these claimants into 

trouble through some proceeding which will be originated by the attorneys by which the claimants will be kept out of their money indefinitely. If yon want to benefit these people, you will adopt some measure by which a. warrant will go directly from the Treasury to the 

claimant without any so.rt of incumbrance upon it. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I now move the previous question upon the 

engrossment and third reading of the bill. 

Mr. McCOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I asked leave awhile ago to proffer 

my amendment, and I have been trying ever since to get an opportunity to do so. Mr. RICHARDSON. I will yield in order that the amendment 

may be read. 

1\Ir. 1IcCOM.AS. I propose this amendment: 

In line 16, after the words ''eighty six,,, insert "or reported to Congress under- the Bowman act by the Comt o! Claims, and favorably reported to the House 

by the Committee on War Claims,, 

Mr. BRAGG. I make the same point of order against that that I 

made against the other. 

Mr. SPRINGER. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. RICHARDSON] has not yielded for the amendment of the gentleman from Maryland. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair understood the gentleman 

from Tennessee to yield. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I yielded to have the amendment read. 

Mr. McCOMAS. I certainly thought I had a distinct understanding 

with the Chair for some time past that I was to have an opportunity to. 

offer an amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. It will make no practical difference, 

because if the amendment were received the Chair would sustain the 

point of order. 

Mr. McCOMAS. I did not hear the announcement of the Chair. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair said it would make no practical difference, because the Chair would rule the amendment out on tbe 

point of order made by the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. BRAGG]. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I now demand the previous question. 

The previous question was ordered. 

Mr. McCOMAS. I rise to a parliamentary inquiry. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it. 

Mr. McCOMAS. With all dne deference to the Chair, I understood 

the Chair to say that I could send my amendment to the desk in order 

that it might be read, but now when I am about to send it to the desk 

I nnde:rsta.nd the Chair to rule that it is to be ruled out on a point ol 

order. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair made no ruling. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. RICII.AB.DSON] has stated that he did not 

yield to the gentleman from Maryland to offer his amendment, but 

merely to have it read. Before that statement, however, the gentleman 

from Wisconsin [Mr. BR.AGG] had raised the point of order, supposing 

the amendment to be pending; and the Chair simply remarked, by way 

of cutting off the controversy, that practically it would make no difference, and the Chair understood the gentleman from Maryland to accede 

tothat. . 

Mr. licCOMAS. I did not; and now I desire to ask a further question: When does my right arise to offer the amendment? 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. It will not arise now at all, because 

the previous question has been ordered. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I have no desire, Mr. Speaker, to cut off the 

amendment if it is in order, but I understand the Chair to hold that 

it is not in order. [Cries of "Regular order!"] 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is upon the amendment 

which the Clerk will now report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

The Secretary of the Treasury shall, in all cases where a. contract is shown to exist between the claimant and the attorney, issue to the attorney a warrant for the amount of his fee, and to the claimant a warrant for the remainder of 

the amount claimed_ 

1\Ir. SPRll~GER. And a small remainder, too. [Cries of "Vote!" 

"Vote!!'] 

The question being taken on agreeing to the amendment, there were- ayes 60, noes 64. 

Mr. STONE, ofKentucky. No quorum. 

Tellers were ordered; and lir. RICHARDSON and lli. STONE, of 

Kentucky, were appointed. 

Before the count by tellers wna concludedMr. STONE, of Kentucky, said: Mr. Speaker, it seems that the interests of the claimants are not to be considered in this matter. I 

withdraw the point that there is no quorum. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The point being withdrawn, the 

amendment is rejected. The question is now on ordering the bill to 

be engrossed and read a third time. 

Mr. McCOMAS. I wish to move to recommit the bill. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. That motion is not yet in order. 

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it wa.s accordingly read the third time. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is now on the passage of 

the bill. 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I demand the previous question. 
~87. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1415 

Mr. McCO:U.A.S. I move to recommit t.he bill with instructions to 

amend it so as to include the claims reported to Congress under the 

"Bowman act" by the Court of Claims and favorably reported by the 

Committee on War Claims to the House. 

Mr. BRAGG. I make a point of order on that motion. 

Mr. M:cGOl\fAS. I believe I have the floor. 

Mr. ZACH. TAYLOR. I wish to offer an amendment. 

Mr. BRAGG. I make the point of order that this motion to recom- mit is not debatable. 

Mr. McCOMAS. 1\!y motion is debatable.-

Mr. BRAGG. I have made a point of order. 

Mr. Mc001\1AS. I desire to be heard on the point of order, because 

I apprehend that the Chair, by reason of my not distinctly getting his 

attention during the confusion awhile ago, thought that the amendment had been witbd.rawn. I submit that I am entitled to be heard 

back favorably the joint resolution (H. Res. 224) to provide..for therecovery of internal-revenue taxes and penalties erroneously assessed and 

paid in certain cases; which was referred to the Committee of ~be Whole 

Honse on the state of the Union, and, with the accompanying report, 

ordered to be printed. · 

DESTRUCTION OF OYSTERS. 

_Mr. CLARDY, from the Committee on Commerce, reported back favorably the bil1 (H. R. 10436) directing the prosecution of inquiries by 

the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries in respect to the destruction of 

oysters in the natural oyster-beds lying within the waters and jurisdiction of the United States by star-fish, &c., and making an appropriation for such purpose; which was referred to the Committee of the 

Whole House on the state of the Union, and, with,the accompanying 

report, ordered to be printed. - upon the point of order made against my proposition. .Mr. SPRINGER. But the gentleman from Wisconsin has made the PRIVATE LIGHTS AND BUOYS. 

point of order that the question is not debatable. Mr. CLARDY, from the Committee on Commerce, also reported back 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I demanded the previous question. favorably the bill (H. R. 995) prohibiting the establishment of private 

Mr. SPRINGER. Pending thatdemand, debate is notinorderupon lighb:! and private buoys, and for other purposes; which was refecred 

the point of order. . to the House Calendar, and, with the accompanying report, ordered to 

:Mr. McCOMAS. I desire to be beard on the point of order raised be printed. 

upon my motion to recommit. If the gentleman from illinois [M:r. 

SPRINGER] would allow me half a minute for everytwo hours that he consumes I think the Chair would understand my point. · Mr. SPRINGER. I will yield the gentleman all the time I have. 

Mr. REED (to Mr. McCoMAS}. All right. He yields you all his 

time. That is unlimited. Now go on. [Laughter.] 

1\Ir. McCOMAS. My proposition is that it is in order to move to re- commit this bill, so as to include in it other claims which un-der existing law are required to be referred to us from Congress to Congress until 

acted upon. A number of those claims are now on the Calendar, having been certified by the Court of Claims and approved by the Committee on War Claims. They are germane to this bill, standing in the same 

class with these claims. Hence my motion to recommit, so that these 

other claims which have thus been reported may be included in the 

bill. They have been pendingjusta8long; they involve the same subject-matter; they are germane to this bill; they are entitled 19 equal 

justice with other claims which haven(). greater priority and are not 

presented to the House with so thorough a commendation. I ask that 

this bill be recommitted with instru.ctions to amend it so as to include 

those claims which have come to this House from the Court of Claims 

and have been reported by the Committee on War Claims. I submit 

that my motion to reconsider is in order. I ask the ruling of the Chair. 

Mr. BRAGG. I will now state my point of order, after the gentle- man from Maryland [1\Ir. McCoMAS] has argued it. [Laughter.] If 

the amendment proposed tG be added to this bill by way of recommitment would be out of order if offered as an amendment in the House, 

ADVERSE REPORT. 

Mr. CLARDY, from the Committee on Commerce, also reported back 

adversely the bill (H. R. 1144) prohibiting the establishment of private 

lights and b:uoys, and authorizing the temporary establishment of 

lights and buoys, and for other purposes; which was laid upon the 

table, and the accompanying report ordered to be printed. 

J. A. PALMER, LATE INDEX CLERK HOUSE OF BEPRESENTATIVES. 

1tfr. TRIGG, from the Committee on Claims, reported a bill (H. R. · 11039) to reimbmse .John A. Palmer, late index clerk of the House of 

Representatives; which was read a first and second time, referred to the 

Committee of the Whole Honse on the Private Calendar, and, with the 

accompanying report, ordered to be printed. 

DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR APPBOPRIATION BILL. 

Mr~ :BELM:ONT. I move that the House now resolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union for the purpose of considering general appropriation bills. 

The motion was agreed to. The Hoose accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the UniDn, Mr. BLOUNT in the chair. . The CHAIRMAN. The House is now in Committee of the Whole 

for the purpose of considering general appropriation bills. The Clerk 

will report the title of the first bill in order. 

The Clerk .read as follows: 

the motion. to recommit with instructions to incorporate such an amend- A bill (H. R. 10396) making appropriations for the diplomatic and consular 

ment in the bill is not in order. service ofthe Governmentfor the fiscal year ending June 30,1888, and for other 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair thinks the point of order , purposes. 

well taken. Mr. BELMONT. I move to dispense with the first reading of the 

Mr. RICHARDSON. I dermmd the previous question on the passage · bill for information. 

oi the bill. There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly. 

The previous question was ordered; there being-ayes 93, noes 5; Mr. BELMONT. Mr. Chairman, in presenting this bill to the House 

and under the operation thereof the bill was passed. the Committee on Foreign Affairs ha-s considered it to be its duty to 

Mr. RICHARDSON moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill incorporate certain changes in the consular service deemed absolutely was passed; and also moved that the motion tG reconsider be laid on necessary, but the committee would nothavemadetheserecommenda4 

the table. tions had it not believed them to be in accordance with the rules of the 

The latter motion was agreed to. House. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I call for the regular order. -The SPEAKER pro tempore. The r~noular ,order iB the call of committees for reports. 

Ur. BELMONT. In view of the lateness of the hour, I ask unanimous consent that gentlemen who have reports to make from committees may band them to the Clerk without formal presentation in the 

House, my oNect being to call up as soon as possible the diplomatic 

and consular appropriation bill. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York asks 

unanimous consent to dispense with the formal call of committees for 

xeports and to allow gentlemen having reports to hand them to the 

Clerk. Is there objection? The Chair hears none; and it is so ordered. 

The following reports were submitted under the foregoing order: 

PUNISllliR.~T OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 

Mr. COLLINS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, reported back 

favorably the bill (H. R. 10139) for the prevention of and punishrilent 

of cruelty to animals; which was referred to the House Calendar, and, 

with the aecompanying report, ordered to be printed. : -

They are very simple, consisting mainly in transferring certain con4 

suls from one grade to another, and thereby increasing their salaries in 

accordance with earnest recommendations of the State Department, also 

by transferring from the feed list of consuls to the salaried list certain 

other consuls regarded and recommended by the Department and the 

President as an important reform to be effected. 

The Honse, of course, is informed already as to the provision of law 

·by which consuls who receive a salary of $1,000 and tho~ consuls or other officers who receive fees amounting to $1,000 or less are all en- titled to engage in trade. This practice certainly is not beneficial to 

the service. Secretaries of State one after another have recommended 

to Congress the .abolition of the trading class of consuls. 

The Committee on Foreign Affairs has accomplished thls result by 

omitting to appropriate for the seventh or trading class and transferring such consuls to other classes. It will hardly be necessary for me a.t 

this time to discuss the point of order which maybe raisedagainstsucha. 

proceeding. But I will say now that in my judgment the change proposed is undoubtedly within the rule of the House, because the trans- fer can be made without any change of existing law, there being no 

law firing the number of consuls of each class. 

The only distinctly organizing law unrepealed we know of iq that of 

1856, which made an approximate classification of our consular service. 

The classification, however, was more thoroughly carried out in 1874 RECOVERY OF IYTERNAL-REVENUE .TAXES. on an appropriation bill. Each class was therein designated by the 

Ur. COLLINS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, also reported amount of salary received, but no limit as to the nnmberof consulates 
1416 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 

in any class was .fixed. Therefore, if we increase the number in any 

one class by a transfer we do not change existing law. 

Last year the diplomatic and consular appropriation bill appropriated: 

For salaries of diplomatic officers and contingent. and miscellaneous 

expenses of foreign intercourse.......................................................... $>95, 245 

For salaries, contingent and miscellaneous expenses of consular serv- ice (not. including compensation, rent, and contingent expenses of 

officers paid by fees). ······~ ... ............................................................... 760, 820 

1,356,065 

This year the bill appropriatesFor salaries of diplomatic officers and contingent and miscellaneous . expenses of foreign intercourse........................................................... $645, 74.5 

For salaries and contingent and miscellaneous expenses of consular .service (including appropriations for fixed salaries, office-rent, and 

contingent expenses of officers now paid by fees) ............................. 1, 035,700 

1.681,44.5 

r.rhe apparent increase of this bill over last year amounts to about 

$325,000. Now, if the House will examine the bill it will at once see that while we increase the salaries of consuls to the extent of $125,000, 

we turn into the Treasury an amount of fees equaling, if not exceeding, that sum. The transfer of the seventy fee-consuls by this bill to 

places on the salaried list carries along with it an appropriation of 

$125,000 for their salaries. Bythereportofthe Fifth Auditorthere is 

returned to the Treasury $153,000 in fees by these officeiS, of which 

they retain as compensation at least $120, 000. So that the House, in 

adopting this principle, will not actually increase the amount taken out 

of the Treasury, but will simply establish a new and better system of 

Treasury book-keeping. 

Moreover, it can not be doubted that this transfer will carry with it a direct increase of revenue to the Treasury in the shape of a closer collection of duties. The State Department has placed this advantage, 

upon the lowest possible estimate, at $150,000; one estimate laid before 

the committee putting it considerably higher. 

I will illustrate by stating one case: A merchant in Russia had en- deavored to obtain from the salaried consul at Odessa an undervaluation of an invoice ofwool, and the salaried consul refused to certify the 

invoice. But a neighboring feed consular officer did certify the invoice, 

and there was a loss to the Treasury of $20,000 on that one shipment. 

The House will perceive, by this illustration alone, how great is the 

advantage to the Treasury of putting these officials upon salaries. You 

thereby remove the temptation which undoubtedly exists to-day to 

favor certa.in merchants in the matter of invoices, and which, as I have 

said, is estimated to cost the Treasury at least $150,000 a year. 

I think I can say here on behalf of the committee that it has been 

actuated throughout by a spirit of economy, while at the same time it 

has had no hesitation in recommending to the House the absolutely 

necessary increases which have been recommended not only by Secretary Bayard but by numerous other Secretaries of State. 

There are changes in the bill with reference to the diplomatic serv- ice. There is an increase in the salary of our minister to China. This 

has more than once before been brought prominently to the attention 

of Congress. Our relations with China are most important in their 

nature, certainly quite as much so as our relations with Russia or 

Germany. 

Some gentleman may feel it incumbent upon him to raise the point 

of order against this proposition to increase the salary of the minister 

to China, but he will find it difficult, it seems to me, to discover what 

is existing law upon this question. Theonlylawwhichhasattempted 

to fix the salaries of diplomatic officials, under a systematic organization, 

was the law of 1856. If we go back to that law we will discover that 

the minister to Berlin wa.s paid a salary of $12,000, and not $17,500, as now; so that, if the point of order lies against the increase of the salary of the minister to China, it would lie equally against the recom- mendation which we have repeated here in regard to the mission to 

Berlin, and so also as to Russia. 

Bnt the fact is, Mr. Chairman, that upon an examination ofthis bill 

the House will perceive that it can be easily disposed of within a legislative day, and although it is rather later in the day than I had hoped 

to bring it before the House, yet, unless I :find more disposition to debate the bill than there appears to be at present, I will ask that the 

committee rise for the purpose <>flimiting the discussion. 

Mr . .McCREARY. I am a. member of the Committee on Foreign ~ffairs, and desire to submit some remarks to this House. I am not 

in favor of the increase of salaries recommended by the bill, and hope 

that debate will not be limited at this time. 

This is a very important bill. It has some sweeping increases in it. 

It doubles the salary of a number of consuls and increases the salaries of some of our foreign ministers. It proposes an increase of the ·salaries of a number of consuls from $3,000 to $4,000. 

The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from New York yield the 

1loor? 

Mr. BELMONT. I was somewhat surprised by the gentleman from 

Kentucky, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I did 

not yield. Of course, if he dMires to oppose the bill I shall see that 

full time be given to him. 

Mr. McCREARY. I do not desire-if the gentleman will allow me to correct him-I do not desire to oppose a diplomatic and consular a~ 

propriation bill. But I shall oppose the sweeping increase of salaries 

of this bill. 

Mr. BAYNE. I desire to inquire whether or not all points of order 

have been reserved? 

Mr. BELMONT. They have been. 

I regret very much, Mr. Chairman, that my colleague on the committee should consider tnese changes to be, as he terms them, sweeping, 

and that he should seek to convey the impression that the salaries of some of the consuls had been doubled, if by that he means that the com- pensation has been doubled. But the House will certainly sustain the 

committee when it perceives that the compensation has not been 

doubled. Where a consul has hitherto received a thousand-dollar 

salary and has engaged in trade and has obt~ined by virtue of that 

privilege compensation of which this Government can obtain no knowledge-when he is put upon a salary of $2,000, as in this bill, and is 

thereby prohibited by a standing provision of law from engaging in 

trade, I admit that his salary is doubled, but the amount of compensation he receives by virtue of his position is not doubled. 

On the contrary I have no doubt it has been the experience of many 

members upon the :floor, as it has been my own, that the changes proposed in this bill have resulted in correspondence showing that the con- suls are not satisfied, for they feel themselves somewhat cut down in 

many instances; and itis true that the committee has not followed out a very natural impulse, which would have been to compensate these 

officials completely for whatever may be taken away from them by 

transferring them from one class to another. 

Mr. MILLIKEN. Will the gentleman permit ine to ask him a question? Do these consuls receive the compensation of which you speak 

by engaging in a legitimate business or by taking fees? 

Mr. BELMONT. Both. There is a class of consuls, called the seventh 

class, who receive $1,000salary. Receiving only that amount, they are therefore enabled, under the law, to engage in trade. What pecuniary 

advantage they may obtain in this way need not be illegitimate; and as to the amount, it can not be well estimated. But the practice is 

detrimental to the interests of the Government, and there is no differ- ence of opinion as to that fact. 

Mr. MILLIKEN. That is just the question I was about to ask; 

whether it was detrimental to the interests of the Government. 

Mr. BELMONT. It is; and as to the feed consuls, those receiving fees 

up to the amount of$1,00Uarealsoauthorized to engage in trade. The 

last appropriation act provided that all feed consuls receiving over 

$1,000 should be estimated for by the Department upon the salaried list. 

That has been done. The result is before the House. The salaries 

provided are so adjusted as to as nearly as possible compensate the feed 

consuls by salaries in amount corresponding to the fees which they have 

hitherto been enabled to retain. 

Mr. MILLIKEN. Will the gentleman permit me a question? 

Mr. BELMONT. Yes, sir. 

Mr. MILLIKEN. I would like to ask the gentleman from New 

York if there are not some consuls who receive almost no fees at all 

and take the position for the advantage it gives them in the way of 

trade; and if the salaries of those consuls are raised so that they sha.ll 

not take fees any longer ? 

Mr. BELMONT. Those consuls are placed on the ' salaried list for 

the purpose named by the gentleman; that is to say, .in order to prevent them from engaging in trade. 

Mr.· MILLIKEN. That is done in this bill? 

Mr. BELMONT. It is done in this bill. And in answer to my colleague, I would only have to repeat what I have already stated to the 

House, that where we appropriate $125,000 in salaries there is returned 

to the Treasury $120,000, besides the indirect advantage of placing men in a position where they will not be tempted to undervalue mer.. 

chandise; because the man upon fees, if he happens to be one of a groun 

of consuls, for instance, all but himself receiving salaries, the man r6 · ceiving the fees will certainly obtain the cust<>m of merchants who desire to undervalue. 

I do not mean to cast any discredit upon our consular service, because 

that service is entitled to the respect of the House. Bnt we are compelled to take notice of facts within the knowledge of the Department 

of State and communicated to us upon this subject. 

As to the increase in the diplomatic service of which my c<>lleague 

<>n the committee spoke, I will say that as to salaries there are but two 

propositions for an increase; one being the increase of the salary for 

our minister to China, and the other for the increase of the salary to 

our minister to the Argentine Republic; and the last named is only a restoration of the salarv established in 1856. 

Of course if the House chooses to strike out that proposition on a point 

of order it has the power to do so, though I think some argument may 

bemade to resist it. But as to the changes in the consular service, I do 

not think that any gentleman can successfully show that these transfera 

are properly subject to a point of order 
' 

:f887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1417 

Mr. RYAN. Will the gentleman allow me a question? 

Mr. BELMONT. Yes, sir. 

Mr. RYAN. I see you have taken from the fifth class and restored 

to the fourth:clas3 Crefeld, Leipsic, and Nuremberg. Why did you not 

also restore from the fifth to the fourth class Sonneberg? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. I suggest that those matters will come up when the bill is being considered by paragraphs. 

Mr. RYAN. I simply wanted to ask why the same was not done by 

Sonneberg as was done in reference to the other places I have named. 

Mr. BELMONT. I will say, in answer to the gentleman from Kansas, 

he will remember that in this reorganization we have taken a very 

large number of consuls; we have examined each case carefully, separately, and no recommendation has been made in the bill not con- tained in the estimates which must be in the hands of the gentleman 

himself. And to take up these questions at this stage of the bill it seems to me would be impracticable, because there are many other cases of a similar nature to those which the gentleman now mentions; and there are even amendments which I myself desire to propose. I would, 

therefore, prefer that any gentleman having such questions to propound to the committee should reserve them until we reach the respective classes in the reading of tha bill. 

I will say now that I know of several gentlemen who, actuated by 

the communications they have received from certain of these officials, 

desire to offer amendments. It seems to me more in order that we should consider these matters of detail when they are reached. If the 

Honse desires to enter into a general discussion on the bill, such a diseussion should have a limit, and I therefore renew my motion that the 

committee rise for the purpose of limiting debate. . Mr. REED. How can we limit debate until we know what the na- ture of it is? 

The question being taken on the motion that the committee rise, 

Ulere were-ayes 31. 

Before the negavite vote wa-s takenYr. BELMONT said: I think in view of the disposition shown by 

the House it may be as well to let the debate run on during the rest 

of this day. 

The CHAffiMAN [Mr. BLOUNT]. Does the gentleman withdraw 

his motion? 

Mr. BELMONT. I do. I reserve the remainder of my time. 

Mr. McCREARY. Mr. Chairman, "public office is a public trust," 

and I believe that every member of this House should, after a fair and 

candid examination of every question, follow his own convictions. I 

regret that I have not been ablE' to agree with a majority of the distinguished gentlemen upon the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a.s regards 

this bill, but, following my convictions, I am compelled to dissent from 

them in so far a.s they increase salaries and expenses. 

The total amount appropriated for the diplomatic and consular service for the last year wa.s $1,356,065. The total amount appropriated 

by this bill is $1,681,445, a net increase of $325,380. If the same rate 

of increase of salaries and of expenditures. was applied to the twelve 

other general appropriation bills which must be passed this session, 

there would be an increase of not less than $60,000,000 in the appropriations this year. I submit in this connection a table showing the 

amounts appropriated by the consular and diplomatic appropriation 

acts for the fiscal years 1877 to 1887 inclusive: 

1871, Democratic Honse ................................................................... $1,188,797 50 

II lftt! lll!~l::~~::::~IJil!~lf~ii!~l~!lliiif-!flili~i~~~~~!iiii II· II 

The bill under consideration seeks to appropriate the largest amount e~er appropriated to pay the expenses proper for one year of our diplomatic and consular service. 

Among the pledges made by the Democratic party two years ago was the pledge to restore economy and reduce expenditures. That party 

has been in powel' now for nearly two years, and we can point with 

pride to the fact that last year expenditures were decreased $17,000,000, 

Mr. REED. Where? 

Mr. McCREARY. I do not desire to be interrupted. 

Mr. REED. I only wanted to know where thoseseventeenmillions came in. 

Mr. McCREARY. We can point to the fact that last year our in- crease in the revenues was $12,000,000 and that we paid nearly $100,-

000,000 on the public debt. But, sir, to-day we are confronted with an appropriation bill increasing the expenditures for our diplomatic 

and consular service one-fourth more than they were last year, and that 

in the face of the good record made by this House as regards the other 

appropriation bills passed at this session. Compared with general appropriations made last year, the sundry civil bill decreases expenditures 

three and a half millions, the Indian appropriation bill decreases ex- penditures half a million, the agricultural appropriations bill decreases 

expenditures about $90,000, and the pension bill, the Army bill, and 

the Military Academy bill are about the same in amount as they were last year. 

Mr. Chairman, this is not the proper time to increase the salaries of 

those who hold positions in our diplomatic and consular service. I 

have great respect for the gentlemen who are now serving this country as foreign ministers and consuls, and I will try to do them justice. 

From the days when Benjamin Franklin was a foreign minister many 

of our ministers abroad have performed distinguished service for our country, and I wish to say here and now that many of our consuls are good men. The necessity for rigid economy was never greater in the 

history of our country than now. Business in many places is depressed, 

enterprise is stagnant, thousands of laboring men are out of employment, and the products of agriculture are not yielding renumerative 

prices. Hard times are oppressing the people and pitiless poverty is 

pinching the poor. 

In strange contrast with the times that surround us are the provisions of this bilL What does this bill do? I listened to my friend from 

New York [Mr. BELMONT] with interest, but he did not state all that 

is in this bill. The bill shows that the proposed increase for the diplomatic service for the next fiscal year is $50,500. I will show that if; 

goes further than to simply increase the salaries of two ministers, as has 

been alleged in this debate. 

It increases the salary of the minister to China $5,500; it increases 

the salary of the minister to the Argentine Republic $2,500; it furnishes 

secretaries of legation (they have never had them before) to the Argentine Republic, Belgium, Corea, the Netherlands, the Roumanian, Servian, and Greek mission, the Swedish and Norwegian mission, Switzerland and Venezuela-the increased expenditure amounting to $12,000; 

it increases the salary of the interpreter at the Turkish legation $500; 

it increases the salary of the interpreter at Siam $300; it furnishes a clerk to the London legation at $1,200; it allows $25,000 for the erec- tion of a legation building in Japan; it allows $3,000 for repairs to the 

legation in Siam, and it increases the amount allowed a.s the reward 

for foreign vessels rescuing American seamen $500; making a total in- crease for the diplomatic service of $50,500. 

The bill also shows that the salaries of the seven consul-generals are each increased one-fourth, although these consul-generals are now receiving $4,000 and $3,000 per annum. It also doubles the salaries of twenty-three consuls, and increases the 

salaries of thirty-seven consuls from $2,000 per annum to from $2,500 

to $3,000 per annum. I will not weary the House by reading from the list of consuls whose 

salaries have been increased, but to support my statements I submit as part of my remarks the following table : 

Consular se1•vice-increase. 

Places. 

------------------------------- CO,~SULS-GENERAL. 

Ka.ilagawa .................................................... . Panama. ........................................................ . Ecuador ........................................................ . Halifax ......................................................... .. Mexico .......................................................... . St. Petersburg ............................................... . ?tlatamoros .................................................... . 

CONSULS. 

Buenos Ayres ............................................... . Ant,verp ....................................................... . Ningpo .......................................................... . Havre ............................................... : ........... . Bradford ...................................................... .. Manchester ................................................... . Pernambuco ................................................. . Apia .............................................................. . Bremen ....................................................... . Chemnitz ..................................................... . Birmingham ................................................. . CapeTown ................................................... . Nottingham .................................................. . Symrna ................................. ....................... . 1\:lontevideo ........................................... ....... . Ai:x la Chapelle ........................................... .. 

¥!1~~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : Nuremberg ................................................... . Cardiff ........... .............................................. . Hamilton ...................................................... . Leeds ........................................................... . N ewcastle-on-Tyne ...................................... . Tamative ..................................................... . Paso del Norte ............................................. . Amsterdam .................................................. . Rotterdam ................................................... . Odessa .......................................................... . Maracaibo ................................................... .. Gaboon ........................... ............................ .. Mozambique ........................... , ................... . St. Paul de Loan do ...................................... . Ghent ........................................................... . 

I ~r:::.t 

$4,000 

4,000 

3,000 

3,500 

2,500 

3,000 

2,000 

2,500 

2,500 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,500 

2,000 

2,500 

1,500 

2,5()() 

2,500 

2,000 

1,500 

2,000 

2, 000 2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

1,500 

2,000 

1,500 

1,500 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

Proposed 

salary. 

$5,000 

5,000 

4,000 

4,000 

4.,000 

4,000 

3,000 

3,500 

3,500 

3,500 

3,500 

3,500 

3,500 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

3,000 

2,500 

2,500 

2, 500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

Increase. 

$1,000 

1,000 

1,000 500 1,500 

1,000 

1,000 

1.000 

1,000 500 

500 

500 

500 1,000 

1,000 

500 1, 000 

500 1,500 500 

500 1,000 

1,000 

500 

500 

500 

500 

500 

500 1,000 

500 1,000 

1,000 

500 

500 

500 1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

l,OQI 

r 
1418 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

Consular service-increase-Con tinned. 

Places. Present 

salary. 

Proposed 

salary. Increase. 

CO..:'SULS-conlinued. 

Bahia .............. ........................................... . Rio Grande do Sul ....................................... . Pam .............................................................. . Ta.lcahuano . ................... _ ............................. . Levuk& ......................................................... . Algiers .......................................................... . 

Nantes .......................................... ···············- Nice ................................................... ........... . Stettin ........................................................... . Bombay .............................. .......................... .. Gaspe Basin .................................................. . Quebec .......................................................... . Sierra Leone ................................................ . Turk's Lsl&nd ............................................... . Windsor ...................................................... . Cape Haytien ..................... : ....................... . Ruata.n and Truxillo .................................... . Venice ......................................................... . Guayamas ..................................................... . Nuevo Laredo ............................................. .. Piedras Negras ............................................ . Zanzibar ..................................................... .. Batavia ....................................................... .. Santiago ...................................................... . Tahiti ........................................................... . Cadiz ..................................................... " ..... . Christiania .................................................. .. 

Total. ................................................... . 

$1,500 

1,000 

1,500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,('.00 

1,500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,0CO 

1,500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1.000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,500 

1,000 

118,000 

f2, 000 2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,CO:> 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,0JO 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 - 2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

174,000 

$500 

1,000 

500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

500 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1.000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1.000 500 

1,000 

56,000 

The bill increases the salaries of about one-half of the salaried consuls now in office, and it creates seventy new salaried consuls. At these 

places consuls who have heretofore been paid by the fees collected by 

them will, if this bill be passed a..c; reported, be paid out of the Treas- ury of the United States. I submit in this connection the following 

table: 

Increased salaries of regular consuls ........................................................ $56,000 

New salaried consuls .................................... ............................................. 125,000 

Contingent expenses for new salaried consuls.......................................... 50,000 Increase for clerks at consulates............................................................... 16,080 Increase interpreters and marshals at consulates...................................... 5.000 

Consular inspectors.................................................................................... 18,000 

Publication o1 consular reports, increase ...... ... ... ... .... ... .. . .. . ............ ........... 5,000 

Total. .............................................................................................. 275,080 

I ask members of the House to recollect that I have already shown 

that the salaries of the diplomatic service and amounts for legation 

buildings have been increased $50,500. If, then, the salaries of the 

cop.sular service are increased $275,080, it makes an aggregate increase 

in round numbers of $325,000. 

Mr. HITT. The gentleman does not mean that the whole of the 

$275,000 is for the increase of tne consular salaries. Of course he un- derstands that it includes the purchase of buildings. 

:Mr. McCREARY. The purchase of buildings is included, as the 

gentleman suggests. If the gentleman so desires I will read the items 

to which I re1er. Mr. IDTT. Oh, no. I knew the gentleman wished to be correct in 

his statement, and I was fearful an erroneous impression might be 

created. 

Mr. McCREARY. :Mr. Chairman, I have not had time to examine 

carefully each proposed increase of salary; I have examined, however, 

seventeenofthose, and tothoseiwish nowtorefer. Hereareseventeen 

cases where it is proposed to increase the salaries of consuls. I have 

here a table, taken from the Fifth Auditor's report, showing the present 

salary, the proposed s.."l.lary, the amount of increase, and the fees collected last year. This table shows that at Buenos Ayres the present 

salary of our consul is $2,500. It is proposed by the committee to in- crease it to $3,500-an increase of $1,000. Yet the whole amount of 

fees collected there last year amounted to only $1,863. 50. At Cape Town, 

Africa, the present sa.]ary of our consul is $1,500. It is proposed in 

this bill to doublt:l that salary, making it $3,900. Yet there was collected there last year by our consul in fees only the pitiful sum of $325. 

At Cardiff the present salary is $2,000. It is proposed to increase it to 

the extent of $500. The amount of fees collected there last year was only$288. 

At Odessa-and I am glad now to come to Odessa-the present salary 

is $2, 000. It is proposed by the bill under consideration to increase it to 

$2,500. The whole amount of fees collected there last year, according 

to the report of the Fifth Auditor, was only $185. As I understood 

the remarks ofthe distinguished gentleman from New York [Mr. BELMONT] he &'lid that a large amount ofmoney was to be saved at Odessa 

by the change he proposes in this bill. 

l'tlr. BELMONT. Will the gentleman permit me a moment? 

Mr. McCREARY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BELMONT. I think it would be a mistake to suppose that the 

smallness of the fees at any consulate is an indication that the office is· 

not important. There are important consular positions where the fees are very small. 

Mr. McCREARY. I do not yield for a speech. I yield for a question. 

Mr. BELl\IONT, Then if the gentleman from Kentucky will permit me I will ask him this question: Does he know that the case which 

I mentioned of Odessa, where I spoke of the saving to the Treasury, was a. case where a consul rfceived fees, possibly small in amount, but 

because he received fees he undertook to undervalue a shipment to the 

extent of $20,000, his neighboring American consuls who received salaries having refused to make that undervaluation? I say that by putting a consul in the neighborhood of this consul at Rnstchuk, upon a salary, you remove the temptatiol} to undervaluation. 

:Mr. CURTIN. The cure for that is to get an honest man in the 

office. 

Mr. McCREARY. It appears that this consul at Odessa was receiving part of the fees collected, and according to the statement of my 

friend, acted badly if not dishonestly. That man, if he acted badly or dishonestly as a. feed consul, would do the same if he were a salaried 

consul, o:r would be a little more liable to misbehave in that way. 

Therefore the remedy is to put in a new consul--

1\I:r. BELMONT. That has been done. 

Mr. McCREARY. And a Democrat, if there is not one there now. Mr. Chairman, I wish also to refer, in this connection, to the pro- posed increase of the salary of the consul at Gaboon. The present salary 

is $1,000. It is proposed to double that salary, making it 2,000. Yet 

the whole. amount of fees collected at Gaboon last year was $7.50. At 

Levuka the present salary is $1,000. It is proposed to double the salary. Yet the whole amount of fees collected at Levuka last year was $2.50. AtTalcahuanp, in Chili, thepresentsalaryis $1,000. The com- mittee proposes to double the salary. Yet the whole amount of fees 

collected there last year, according to the report of the Fifth Auditor, was $29.50. 

At Bombay last year the salary was $1,000. It is proposed here to 

double it, and pay 2, 000; and yet the whole amount collected at Bom- bay last year was $390. At Gaspe Basin, under the present compen- sation, the salary of the consul is fixed at $1,000, and it is proposed to 

double it here, while the amount last year collected was $57. At Sierra ' 

Leone the present salary of the consul is $1,000, proposed salary is 

$2,000, and the fees collected by our consul last year was $97.50. 

Mr. REED. Let me ask the gentleman a question? 

Mr. McCREARY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. REED. At whose recommendation were these changes made? 

Mr. McCREARY. The majority of the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported this bill. 

Mr. REED. Did they have any recommendation from the Secretary 

of State; or if not, from whom? 

1\!r. McCREARY. They had some estimates furnished by the Secretary of State. 

Mr. SINGLETON. In almost every case. 

1\I.r. REED. .A.re these changes made in conformity to the esti-:-

mates? 

l\Ir. McCREARY. I think some of them are; I do not know about 

all of them. I know the committee did not comply entirely with the 

recommendations of the Secretary of State. Mr. REED. I think if you will give us the benefit of the Secretary's 

recommendations wherever you know them, it would be a. favor to the 

House. 

1\Ir. McCREARY. There is a Book of Estimntes to which I would 

most respectfully refer the gentleman from Maine. 

Mr. REED. I .should like to have them in connection with your 

remarks. 

Mr. BELMO:N"T. Will the gentleman permit me to ask him a question? 

Mr. McCREARY. Certainly. Mr. BELMONT. Does not my colleague on the committee know 

that all of these recommendations were made at the State Departmentnot only by the present State Department, but by previous State Departments? .And does he not also know that the purpose of increasing 

the saln.ry of these consuls, say for instance, at Gaboon, where the sum was formally $1,000, was not to make up any difference to the consul 

in the fees of which he is deprived if this bill becomes a law-for he 

receives a very small amotmt of fees-but, coming within the $1,000 

class, he thereby is enabled to engage in trade? .A.nd does not my 

friend know further, that the reason of the increase is to withdraw 

him from the $1,000 class, otherwise known as the " trading class?" 

1tfr. McCREARY. 1\Ir. Chairman, I how that there are many go_od 

and well-equipped men who are seeking these places at the present salary, who are willing to take them as they are now paid; and therefore 

I see no necessity for a change. 

1\fr. Chairman, I shall not weary this House by reading this list any 

further. I have a number of other places to which I had intended to 

refer, where the consuls are :receiving but $1,000 per annum, and 

where it is proposed by this bill to double the salaries, although they 

are collecting in fees less than $500 per annum, or I may say from $500 
1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1419 

down to 2.50 per annum. I present a table to support my statements as regards proposed salaries and fees collected: 

~ 

.S_t-~: ;::~0 

,.. 

;::. "d~;a -;; ~o:;.:; ~ Place. c5 Ill .!l.;i-< Ill "d i 0~ ~ i;; Q) . 

Q :...ct ~ 

Ill 

Q) 

Q) & k rn!~g. 0 0 ~.-ilo4~ ~ k 

. ~ .a lo4 ---------------1------------

Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic ......•...•..•.•. $2,500 63,500 

Pernambuco, Brazil ......................................... 2, 000 3, 000 Apia., Friendly Islands.................................... 2, 000 3, 000 Cape Town, Africa ...... ......... ............................. I. 500 3, 000 Cardiff, Great Britain ... .......... ........ ................ 2, 000 2, 500 Ta.mative, Madagascar................................... 2,000 2,500 

Odessa, Russia ............ ;................................... 2,000 2,500 

Gaboon, Africa................................................ 1, 000 2, 000 Levuka, Fiji..................................................... 1, 000 2, 000 'I'alcahuana, Chili ..................... ....................... 1, 000 2, 000 Bombay, India................................................ 1.000 2,000 

Gaspe Basin, Canada....................................... 1, 000 2, 000 Sierra Leone, Africa.......................................... 1. 000 2, 000 Santiago, Cape Verde Islands........................ 1,000 2,000 

Nantes, France................................................ 1,000 2,000 

Venice, Italy................................................... 1,000 2,000 

Algiers, France................................................ 1, 000 2, 000 

$1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,500 

500 

500 

500 1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

1.000 

1,000 

$1.,863 50 97350 

209 :.l5 

325 00 288 00 26 00 185 00 750 

2 50 29 50 390 00 57 00 9750 

248 00 566 50 570 50 467 75 

Total ......... ..................... .......... ............... 2!, 000 40, 000 16, 000 6, 307 00 

The table shows that we are paying our consuls at the seventeen 

places named $24,000 per annum, and yet it is now proposed to increase 

their compensation to $40,000, although the whole amount of money 

collected for the Government by them in only $6,307. If the bill 

passes and becomes a law they will receive six times as much in salaries as they now collect. 

Mr. Chairman, I understood the distinguished gentleman from New 

York to say that the substitution of salaried consuls for officials heretofore paid by fees would put into the Treasury $150,000 more than is 

put in under the present system. I hold in my hand a. carefully prepared table, showing the proposed salaries of these new consuls, and 

the amounts they collected in the wayoffeesduringthelast:fi.Scalyear. 

I shall not weary the Honse by reading it all over, but submit it as a part of my remarks, and it will be printed in the RECORD. 

It shows that fifty-one salaried consuls are proposed in this bill 

in lieu of officials now compensated by fees. It shows also that nineteen salaried consulates are proposed at places where there are now simply consular agents, making in all seventy, and adding up the proposed salaries and all the fees collected, we find that the proposed salaries for the seventy new consuls amount to $125,000. The fees collected last year by these consuls amounted to $140,841. Therefore the 

fees collected last year only exceed the proposed salaries about $15,000, 

and if we leave out of this calculation the fees collected at St. Galle, 

$7,910, an<t Anna berg, $7,952, there is substantially no difference between the proposed salaries and the fees collected. 

Salaried consul.s proposed in. lieu of certain ones now compensated by fees. 

Places. 

Santos .................................................................................. .. Barranquilla ......................................................................... . Anna.berg .................................... ......................................... . Dusseldorf ........................... ................................................. .. Mayence ................................................................................ . Brunswick ............................................................................ . Dunfermline ......................................................................... .. Hull ...................................................................................... . Barracoa. ............................................................................... .. Cardenas .............................................................................. .. St. Galle .............................................................................. .. Rheims .................................... " ............................................ .. St. Etienne ........................................................................... .. Kehl .. .................................................................................... . Belize ..................................................................................... . Chatham .............................................................................. .. Port Stanley and St. Thomas ............................................... . Sberbrooke ........................................................................... .. Trinidad .............................................................................. .. Cura9oa ................................................................................. . Horgen .................................................................................. . Rosario ................................................................................. .. Cognac .................................................................................. . Limoges ................................................................................. . Roubaix: ................................................................................ . Rouen ................................................................................... . 

~~ll~~ili~:::·::::.:::::·::::.::::::·:.::·.::·.:·:.:::::::·:.::::·::.:·.::·.:::::·:::::::.:·:.:·:.:·::: Coaticook .............................................................................. . Collingwood .......................................................................... . Guelph .................................................................................. . 

$2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,550 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

2,000 

1,500 

1,500 

1,500 

1.500 

1,500 

1,500 

1,500 

1.500 

1,500 

1.500 

$2,048 66 2,963 50 7,952 50 1,8Z7 50 4,4ll 50 5,037 50 3,051 50 1,273 25 

1.094 50 1,441 00 7, 710 00 2,645 00 2,639 50 2,104 ()() 584 25 2,892 50 3,032 00 4,395 00 1,n798 

1,219 05 2, 951 ()() 592 00 

1,887 50 1,027 50 1,422 50 1,490 00 1,812 50 1,508 00 66100 

742 50 2.857 75 

Salaried consuls proposed, &c.-Continued. 

Places. 

Morrisburgh...... ...... ...... ............... ................... ....................... $1., 500 31,086 50 Newcastle, Australia.............................................................. 1,500 457 50 Port Hope............................................................................... 1, 500 1,869 50 Port Rowan............................................................................ 1, 500 1, 573 50 Sorel........................................................................................ 1, 500 786 50 St.Christopher........................................................................ 1,500 1,039 00 St.Haycint.he.......................................................................... 1,500 1.630 50 

~~~e~r~r:~~:::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::~.~::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~:~ 2,:g gg Wallaceburg................................ ............................................ 1,500 1,272 50 Woodstock ......................................................................... ~.. 1, 500 1 356 50 Castelma.re............................................................................. 1,500 1:690 00 Catania ............................................................. ............ ......... I. 500 1,531 85 1\Ierida........................................... ........................................ 1,500 1,127 50 l'!Ioscow.... ...... .. .. . .. .. .. .. ......... .... .. .... ... .. .. .... .. .. ... .... .. ............ .... I. 500 703 50 1\Ia.yaguez ...... .... .. ............... ............ ...... ............... .................. }.., 500 146 00 San .Juan de los Remedios . ..................... .............................. 1, 500 436 50 Gothenberg............................................................................ 1,500 1.307 00 

Stockholm ............................................... :............................ I. 500 1, 241 50 Carthagena............................................................................. , ___ 1, 500 , ___ 1, 495 _ 25 

Totals............................................................................ 92, 500 101,H7 54 

Salaried consulates proposed at places where there are now consular agents. 

Places. Salary for Proposed 1886. salary. 

Reichenberg.................................................. &1, 000 00 S2,500 

Charleroi....................................................... 1, 000 00 2,000 

Furth............................................................. 1, 000 00 2,000 

Glauchau.......... ........................... .................. 1, 000 00 2,000 

Brockville. .............................. ............ ........... 250 00 2,000 

London, Ontario............................................ 102 33 Stratford........................................................ 1, 000 00 Brunn............................................................ 240 00 

Gera... .................. ............ ... ...... .. ................... 1, 000 00 

2,000 

2,000 

1,500 

1,500 

Farnham....................................................... 48 50 Huddersfield.................................................. 1,000 00 Kidderminster............................................... 645 00 1,500 

1,500 

1,500 

Leicester................................ .. . .................... 602 50 1,500 

Paris, Canada................................................ 308 50 1,500 Point Levi..................................................... 656 00 St. Helen's.................................................... 1, 000 00 1,500 

1,500 Swansea........................................................ 62 50 1,500 .Jerez de la. Frontera...... ............................... 382 50 1,i00 Chau:x:~e-Fonds............................................ 187 50 1,500 

Fees col- lected in 1886. 

84,123 00 2,237 50 3,767 50 3,010 00 55250 

],554 50 3,078 50 1,240 00 2,171 50 1,048 50 4,920 50 1,645 00 1,602 00 1,308 50 1,656 00 2,155 00 1,052 50 1.382 50 1,187 50 

1------1-----~-------- Totals...... ...... ...... ......... ...... ...... ........ ... 11,475 33 32,500 39,693 50 

I believe whenever yon say to those men who are now being paid by 

fees that they are to receive fixed annual salaries they will become 

careless about the fees. That is the history of all such officers. When- ever you say to them you shall draw a salary twice as high as you re- ceived before, there is danger that they will then become careless and 

indifferent as regards the amount collected by fees, and the amount re· 

ceived from the seventy consu}s will not probably equal what it was at the end of the last fiscal year. We have been going on for inany 

years under the present system. There is no pressing demand for the 

substitution of salaried consuls for feed consuls, and I do not believe the change will add to tho wisdom or efficiency of our eonsular 

service. · Mr. BELMONT. Will my friend allow me a question? 

1\ir. McCREARY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BELMONT. Does the gentleman suppose when he says that by 

putting feed consuls upon the salaried list no benefit will accrue to the · service? Does he suppose that his experience upon that is better than 

that of every Secretary of State since Monroe? And does he imagine 

that the House will retrograde in this matter because from year to year 

consuls ha.-e been transferred from the feed to the salaried list? .And 

what the committee now proposes to do is to take a longer step in ad· vance. That is all. It is nothing new. 1\Ir. 1\fcCREA.RY. I do not propose to put my knowledge against 

the views of the various Secretaries of State to whom my friend from 

New York refers. But I am willing to stand with all the members of 

Congress since Monroe's time who have universally refused to do it, 

Mr. LONG. Can you show what connection there is between the 

salary of the consul and the amount of fees he collects? 

Ur. McCREARY. As a general rule if there is much business done 

there will be good fees. If there is no business of any consequence 

done the fees will be insignificant, amounting as they do in one case 

cited to $2.50 per annum. 

1\fr. Chairman, I am compelled to dissent to one statement made in 

the report filed by a majority of the committee, and I only refer to it 

because I fear that some of my colleagues might be misled by it. Near 
1420 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE; FEBRUARY 5, 

the close of the report is this statement in reference to the change 

from the fee system to the salaried system: 

Estimated ga.in to Treasury from increased collections, $150,000. 

I do not believe any member of this House or of the committee can show that the gain to the Treasury, if this , bill becomes a law, will 

amount to $150,000. 

I have carefully made an estimate, and if you leave out St. Galle 

and Annaberg the fees amount to about the same as the salaries. I do 

not see how there can be a gain to the Treasury from increased collections amounting to $150,000 as stated in the report. 

Mr. BELMONT. As the gentleman from Kentucky has called for 

explanations and challenges any member of the committee to give 

them, it seems to me only proper that at this time an answer should be 

made. I think my friend is mistaken as to the meaning of that phrase. 

He clearly is. The Department bas made this estimate most carefully, 

not as to the amount of fees returned or anything of the kind; it is 

simply an estimated gain to the Treasury by reason of honest invoices. 

That is what it means. Mr. McCREARY. The majority report says: 

Estimated gain to Treasury, '150,000. 

· When the gentleman comes to occupy the 1·est of his time I will be 

glad if he will show this House in what particulars the gain of $150,-

000 is made. It would be just as easy to say $300,000. 

Mr. BELMONT. Will not my friend be kind enough to read what 

is said there'! It does not.say--

Mr. McCREARY. I have read it in fullEstimated gain to the Treasury from increased collectionsMr. BELUONT . . "Increased collections;" that is to say--

Mr. McCREARY. When the gentleman from New York comes to 

occupy the rest of his time I want him to show how there will be an increase of collections amounting to $150,000, and give the particular 

cases. Mr. BELMONT. If the gentleman will permit me to do so now, I 

will. 

Mr. McCREARY. If the gentleman can give me the particular cases I will hear him now. Mr. BELMONT. The question only proves--

Mr. McCREARY. I do not want any general answer. I want the 

places where the increase will occur. Mr. BELMONT. The question of my friend only proves, I am sorry to say, that he does not understand what this means. Mr. McCREARY. Mr. Chairman, I decline to be interrupted any 

further. I shall not go to thedistinguished gentleman from New York 

for information after the speech he made to-day in regard to the pending bill; for I think my friend does not understand it himself. 

Mr. BELMONT. I am very sorry--

Mr. McCREARY. I decline to be interrupted any further. 

Mr. BELMONT. Very well. 

Mr. McCREARY. Mr. Chairman, commerce does not depend on consuls. Our diplomatic and consular system amounts to but little in 

regard to improving our commerce-only a bubble in the great move- ment of commerce. What we need in order to make commerce and 

revive shipping in this country is a fair revenue law. Taxes should 

be removed from the articles used in the construction of our ships, so as to make it to the interest of our people not to invest alone in untaxed 

bonds, but to invest also in ocean sailing vessels, which ought to be built as cheap in this country as in any other country in the world. 

The gentleman from New York [~1r. BELMONT], in the course of his 

remarks, said that the increase of the salaries of consuls was made be- cause of a section in the diplomatic and consular bill passed last ses- sion. I will read that section, because that is an important point. In 

the last diplomatic and consular bill, passed at the :first session of the 

Forty-ninth Congress, is the following language: 

And in the estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, there shall be es- . timated for speciftca.lly, under classified consulates, all consulates and commer- cial agencies where the fees collected or compensation allowed for the fiscal 

year ending June 30,1886, exceeds $1,000. 

That clause only refers to the estimates for the fiscal year ending June 

30, 1888, but it does not require the substitution of salaried consuls for 

officers heretofore paid by fees. For the benefit of my friend from New 

York, who I fear has never seen it, I will read him the law which now regulates the pay of our consuls in the United States, and then he 

will see that the bill under consideration contains new legislation. 1 

Here is the law under which we pay our consuls and which regulates our consular service so f~r as payment is concerned. I read from the 

supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States, page 401. 

And the salaries provided in this act for the officers within named respectively shall be in full of the annual salaries thereof from and after the 1st dav of 

July,l879,and all laws and parts of laws in confiict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 

Mr. HOLMAN. Is that the act of 1879? 

Mr. McCREARY. Yes, the act approved January 27,1879. That is 

the law to-day, and any attempt to change that law in this appropriation bill is in violation of the rules of this House. 

Mr. Chairman, I see no necessity for the incl'ease of salaries as provided in this bill. I see no necessity for the change that is sought to 

be made so as to substitute salaried consuls for officiaJB heretofore paid 

by fees. Where does the demand come trom? I hear of no demand 

coming from thosewhotake an interest in the improvement of our diplomatic and consular service beyond our committee and the Secretary 

of State. Is it necessary to increase the salaries and make the change 

in order to :find men who will take diplomatic and consular positions? 

Su, if I am correct.ly informed, not less than ten-probably from ten to 

fifty-patriots are to-day anxious to take eooh of these places as con- suls aud consuls-general. 

There is probably no member on this floor who can not furnish an intelligent., patriotic, well-equipped gentleman to take any one of these 

places at the present salary. I hear members on all sides respond that 

they have constituents who are anxious to accept the pla-ces at the present salaries. [Laughter.] · - But will any evil consequence follow from not passing the bill as it is 

reported by the committee? Will any of these consuls who have 

been feasting and fattening, many of them for years, in good offices 

resign? That would be a great calamity, 1\fr. Chairman-to them, it 

not to the country. But I do not believe they will resign. If they 

do, however, there will spring up in every part of this great Republic_ good and worthy men ready to take the places at the salaries now paid. 

Mr. BOUTELLE. Or at a liberal discount. 

Mr. McCREARY. But, Mr. Chairman, while I am on this subject 

I may as well read something about the class of gentlemen who have 

in days gone by represented us so well in the consular service. There was a time only a few years ago when the House of Representatives 

and the Senate passed a bill which authorized the appointment of two 

consular inspectors to make the grand circuit and visit all our consuls 

in Asia, Egypt, South America, and in other countries. 

Many gentlemen present are probably well acquainted with one ot 

the gentlemen appointed for that purpose, and will recognize the name of Mr. De B. Randolph Keim. He was appointed by President Grant 

under an act of Congress t-o visit the consulates, and he made a report, 

which I hold in my hand. I may remark in passing that the bill also 

authorized the appointment of another inspector, and an able and distinguished gentleman of this city, known, !believe, as Dr. Newman, was appointed, and he, too, made the grand march around among our consulates and came back, but, so far as the world knows, he has never yet 

made a report to tell the country what he discovered. 

Mr. CALDWELL. But he got there all the same. Mr. McCREARY. He certainly had the enjoyment of a trip aronnd 

the world. 

Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hand, as I have said, the only report 

that was made by these visitors, and that was made by Mr. Keirn. I 

will not weary the House by reading the whole report, but will read 

simply the concluding remarks of the distinguished gentleman, Mr. 

Keirn, after he had traveled 43,000 miles, and bad drawn his salary, 

amounting to over $5,000. · · Mr. ALLEN, of Mississippi. How many pages are there of the 

report? 

Mr. McCREARY. Four hundred and forty-one. 

Mr. McCREARY. The concluding passage of the report is as follows: 

I ha.ve endeavored to point out concisely some of the irregularities and a. buses 

which have ma.de the consular service of the United States so notorious through· out the world. It will ha.ve been seen that there was not a single consulate at which a complete set of record-books from the beginning, a.s required by regu- lations, was to be found. 

The officers, as a. rule, at the time of my visit had been obliged to open their 

books a.new. or had ha.d it done by a subordinate. .Almost every consulate had some defects in its history, owing to the incompetency, low habits, and vulgarity of some of it officers during the endless round of evils incident to official 

rotation. 

Abuses had been committed in the collection of fees; in the exercise of judicial powers; in the adjustment of the business affairs of American citizens; in 

the settlement, where permitted, of the estates of intestate American citizens 

dying abroad; in selling the American fiag; in "running out •· ships; in discharging seamen; in affording relief or medical attendance to destitute or sick 

American seamen; in establishing American settlements a.broa.d; in issuing illegal passports; in countenancing shipping-masters; in taxing Chinese emigrants. Indeed, the most important feature of my investigfl.tion was the ingenuity displayed by consular officers since the act of 1856, particularly in defrauding the Go~ernment and grasping gains from various outside sources besides. If all could be told of the consular service of the United States. a.s illustrated in 

the conduct of its officials, the excess of bad over good would be so great that ' 

the most cold and indifferent citizen would blush for the name of his country. , 

1\Ir. SINGLETON. If such be the state of things, does not the gen· 

tleman think it is time we should endeavor to remedy it? 

Mr. McCREARY. I do. 

Mr. SINGLETON. That is just what we are trying to do. 

Mr. McCREARY. But I do not think the proper remedy is to in- crease the salaries of the men who have been acting in that way. 

:M:r. SINGLETON. Yon say thap they have acted badly; that they 

have been driven to resort to all sorts of means to make a living--

1\'Ir. McCREARY. But I do not wish to increase their salaries. 

Mr. SINGLETON. We need to get honest men for the offices, and 

then pay them properly for their services. 

Mr. McCREARY. So I think. 

Mr. SPRINGER. What is the date of the report to which the gen- tleman referred ? 

Mr. McCREARY. The date is 1872. 

Mr. Chairman, I do not wish to say anythin~ improper about ou1 
1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1421 

foreign ministers and consuls. As I said before, among them are a 

great many good men-intelligent, accomplished, able men, who are a 

benefit to our country, and who are discharging their duties faithfully 

and properly, and whose accounts come up to the Fifth Auditor in 

proper shape. But it is well known that among our consuls are some 

men who are more ornamental than useful. I believe it was a very 

appreciative poet who said on one occasionThe violet loves a. sunny bank. . The cowslip loves the leas, A minister loves a glittering rank, 

And a consul loves his ease. 

Several MEMBERS. His fees ! [Laughter.] 

Mr. McCREARY. Some points have been referred to by my distinguished friend from New York, to which I desire now to allude specifically. This bill proposes certain specific things which I wish to discuss. 

In the first place it increases the salary of our minister to China $5,500. 

There is to-day no greater necessity for the increase of the salary of the 

minister to China than for the increase of the salary of the minister to 

Mexico. To-day there are but five hundred or six hundred American 

citizens in all the Chinese empire. In Mexico there are thousands of 

American citizens, and we have much "trade and business with the citizens of our neighboring republic. Why, then, should we increase the 

salary of the minister to China aud not increase the salary of the minister 

to Mexico? I do not believe there is any necessity for increasing the 

salary of our minister to China, and I am opposed to it. As this country 1

has progressed our ministers to the Argentine Republic, to Belgium, to 

the Nether lands, and to other places named in the bill have gotten 

along very well without secretaries of legation. They have clerks, and 

that is enough. Yet this bill allows for secretaries of legation at the 

places named-an increase of $12,000. 

Besides, the bill allows $25,000 for the erection of a legation building 

in Japan. Shall we now commence to erect gorgeous legation buildings 

in all foreign countries to which our ministers are sent? If we are to 

do this, if that is the wisdom of this country, if that is the way to get 

a wise and efficient diplomatic service, and this House says it shall be 

done, then, though I oppose it, I would bow my head and submit. 

Whenever Y.OU appropriate $25,000 to erect legation buildings at Japan, 

you open the door to the erection oflegation buildings in every country to 

which we send a minister. I see no reason why to-day we should commence the erection of a building in Japan to be used as a legation 

building. We have not in all this world a legation building except, I 

believe, a common kind of a house at Siam which was given to us; and 

if I had been here at the time I should have opposed the acceptance of 

that gift. 

This great country, with its mil~ous of population and millions of 

wealth and millions of surplus in the Treasury, should not be dependent upon the bounty of the Emperor of Japan or the King of Siam for 

a little ground or a small house as headquarters for our ministers. And 

now they come to ask us to accept ground from Japan and to appropriate $25,000 to erect a building on that ground. I am opposed to the 

appropriation of money for the erection of legation buildings abroad 1or 

the entertainment of our ministers. 

Mr. HOPKINS. · Will the gentleman give us the reasons for his opposition? 

Mr. McCREARY. For a hundred years distinguished ministers, 

from Benjamin Franklin to the present, have represented us abroad 

with ability and credit. It has not been necessary, in carrying out our 

republican simplicity, to ape the customs of eftete aristocracy of any 

country. . Mr. HOPKINS. Is that the only reason the gentleman can give? 

M:r. McCREARY. I think that is sufficient. 

Mr. HOPKINS. Then you would have had President Cleveland 

inaugurated with the same simplicity that attended the inauguration 

of Jefferson, and would have him receive the same salary.? 

Several MEMBERS. Yes. 

Mr. McCREARY. If Mr. Cleveland had been inaugurated with' the 

same simplicity as was Mr. Jefferson, I should have made no objection. 

Mr. HOPKINS. You are dodging the question. 

Mr. McCREARY. After the Democratic party had been out of 

power for twenty-five years and elected a Democratic President, I can 

see no reason w by they should not come here and rejoice that they had 

driven the Republican party out of power and put a Democratic President in the White House. 

Mr. Chairman, I wish to refer to another item in this bill. The 

item with regard to consular inspectors. I have already adverted to 

Mr. Keirn and Dr. Newman, who were appointed consular inspectors, one of whom made a report and the other did not. 

This bill proposes to appropriate $18,000 to pay two other consular 

inspectors. It authorizes them to make a tour around the earth to visit 

all our consuls. 

Mr. Chairman, I have read with interest Humboldt's Cosmos. In 

my reading I followed General Grant in his tour around the world with 

great delight. Last summer I listened to an evangelist and missionary 

with pleasure as he detailed how he had preached and praised the Lord 

allover the globe. But theseconsularin..o;pectors will have t-o visit more places than were visited by eithQr of the gentlemen to whom I have 

referred. · They will have to leave this country and journey toward the 

rising sun. They will, perhaps, have to visit the sunny scenes of Italy. and the lowlands of Scotland. They will probably pass over the vine· 

clad valleys of the Rhine. They will visit the republics of Central and 

South America, whose representative men we are so anxious to have 

come and meet us in this beautiful Capital city. [Applause.] They 

will visit hundreds of consuls and listen to the music of many languages. They will hobnob with sovereigns, and perhaps be hum· 

bugged by tradesmen. They will, doubtless, ride with titled noblemen, dine with dignified dames, and dance with Persian princesses. 

[Great laughter.] 

They will go, Mr. Chairman, in the discharge of their duty from the 

ice-clad altitudes of Chimborazo down to the equatorial line, and from 

the heights of the Andes, near where the yawning chasms of the Cordilleras sparkle with gems and jewels, all round to the smiling vales 

found in other parts of this world. But at 1ast they will return, realizing, no doubt, as we all realize, that beyond all lands they have visited this great Republic is the grandest and the dearest. [Applause.] 

And, Mr. Chairman, they are to get for that journey all over the globe 

$4,000 per annum and expenses paid. [Laughter.] Now, in the light 

of what has happened in the past, in the light of what is contained in 

Mr. Keirn's report, and what we knowaboutMr. Newman's grand tour 

round the world, where is the necessity for appointing two such inspectors ~t $4,000 a year as recommended by a majority of the committee? 

I for one, Mr. Chairman, think the time has come when, instead of 

increasing appropriations, as this bill does, we should turn our attention tomoreimportantmatters. · We should, in my judgment, give our 

attention to complying fnlly and completely with the pledges we made 

to the people. We should restore economy. We should see that expenses are reduced. We should look to the rebuilding of an adequate 

and efficient navy. / We should foster and encourage labor. We should 

especially provide for the restoration of our commerce to what it ought 

to be. And in that view we should begin the long-deferred reform of 

our tariff legislation. 

Those are the questions, Mr .. Chairman, we should turn our atten-

·tion to now, instead of increasing salaries of our diplomatic and consular officers. [Applause,] 

1\ir. COX, of North Carolina. 1\Ir. Chairman, I have listened with 

interest to my esteemed friend from Kentucky [Mr. McCREARY], and 

when discussing a subject with which he is thoroughly informed it 

would gratify me to follow him. I dislike to differ with him on this 

bill, but he will pardon me for seeking the most reliable information 

on so important a matter. When gentlemen were engaged during the 

past year in canvassing among their constituents they can not claim 

to be as familiar with our diplomatic and consular service as the able 

and distinguished Secretary who worthily fills the Department of 

State, and his corps of assistants, some of whom have devoted the 

greater part of their lives to this service. I therefore repeat I prefer to 

look to the State Department for information on the matters now.before the committee rather than to the gentleman from Kentucky. I 

appreciate the force of his eloquence on a constituency not familiar 

with the duties and .responsibilities of our foreign service, and even fear 

its effects upon this House were we not to be controled by facts rather 

than appeals to prejudice. 

But we are called on to treat of great and important public questions-a branch of the service that relieves the toiling masses of this 

country·from direct taxation, and through importand other duties fills 

the redundant coffers of an overflowing Treasury. Our diplomatic representatives reside at foreign courts; strictly watch over our relations 

with other governments, and protect and guard the rights of American 

citizens who may visit those countries for traffic or pleasure. They are 

the means of often averting foreign wars as well as givingtoournation 

valuable information which could not otherwise be secured. 

The consular corps of the United States is divided bylaw into different classes. There are consuls who invariably receive salaries, and 

others wbo.are paid by fees. Then there are consular agents whoreceive salaries, while others without exception are compensated by fees, 

w bile the vice-constils receive no fixed salaries, and receive no com pensation except in the absence of the chief. 

The committee has made no recommendation in regard to the diplomatic service other than as to the minister to China and to the Argentine Republic. The increase of salaries recommended in these instances, 

in my opinion, must upon a brief examination be made manifest to all. 

Some thirty years ago England and France -were bombarding the 

ports of China for the purposes of conquest and to secure commercial 

intercourse. Up to this time these people had closed their ports and 

held comparatively little intercourse with the outside world. 

Since that time no nation has made greater progress in arts and arms and commerce than these people. Her imports in 1884 amounted 

in round numbers to about $75,000,000. Her imports of cotton goods 

alone were about $22,000,000, not including $1,800,000 for raw cotton, 

besides $4,000,000 tor woolen goods. Her exports were chiefly tea, silk, 

&c. I regret to find that her commerce with this country was not as 

great as our resources entitled us to expect. Still, it is improving. 

China has a population ranging from four hundred to four hundred 

and :fifty million, while her territory embraces about one-ninth of the 
1422 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. f FEBUUARY 5, 

habitable globe. The expense of getting to that country and the cost 

of living when once there are to be taken into consideration in fixing 

salaries. 

A consular officer who for many years lived in China says, substantially, the Chinese are a people punctillious in all that relates to official 

etiquette and prone to judge of a people by the tone of her representatives. Foreigners have not been .slow to appreciate these Oriental 

characteristics, and by organizing their services on a lavish scale have 

se-eured fm themselves p1·otection and development for which we ask 

in vain. 

The Chinese soldier, who was once content to confront his enemy 

with the beating of gongs and the parade of elephants, under the discipline of the finest European officers, has been transformed into a dangerous adversary, as the French learned to their cost in the Tonq uin war. This nation, quick to appreciate and apply the missiles of destruction of her more enlightened neighbor, has now the most approved 

small-arms, with the largest guns frowning from her forts, while her war vessels have not been neglected. 

The immigration of large numbers of Chinese to this country, with our efforts to exclude them by force and by treaty, as well as the treatment of our missionaries and traders in that country, have presented some of the most delicate and difficult political questions in our diplomatic intercourse. In on:r treaties with that nation we have been met 

with a generous and liberal spirit ... We have been prompted by no 

spirit of aggrandizement, and hence they have felt confident of our disposition to deal fairly by them. It is ~isted that it is not unreason- able on the part of this committee to recommend that we should send 

to China a first-class minister as we do to four of the leading powers 

upon the continent of Europe. 

In regard to the recommendation to increase the salary of the minister to the Argentine Republic my opinion is not so decided. She is one of the sister republics of South America, who, being near our doors, 

it behooves us to cultivate the most intimate relations with, as well as 

with all South American republics, and also with Brazil. Her imports amounted in 1884, in round numbers, to $94,000,000, and consisted of foods and drinks, textiles and clothing, wearing apparel, and 

furniture. Her imports from the United States amounted to only 

$7,500,000. Indeed, when we see the limited amount of commerce car- ried on between this country and our South American neighbors we are forcibly impressed by the advantage to be derived from closer social, 

political, and commercial relations. 

The annual trade of the whole South .American states amounts to 

abont$1,500,000,000 per annum, from which the United States imports 

about $85,000,000 and exports not one-third of the amount in return. 

It is not singular, therefore, that there should be depression at home 

when orn manufaetures are accumulating without a market and our grain and food products are confined virtually at home. I therefore do 

not consider that the committee has been extravagant in recommending 

an increase of the salary of the minister to the Argentine Republic, which 

is annually becoming more and more commercially allied to the United 

States than any other of her neighboring sisters. 

One of the most important aUxiliaries to our foreign commerce is our consular service. .As is state-d in Executive Document No. 121, Fortyeighth Congress, first session, "other countries commenced, as we did, 

by appointing merchants as consuls, generally leaving the nomination 

for the position to the most prominent merchants where the office was 

to be established.'' This system has to a large extent been abandoned 

by all countries, and entirely by many. Paid consuls have been ap~ 

pointed in their places, who are selected by the governments which appoint them. They should be appointed not only when our country has 

already established its trade, but a wise and statesmanlike policy would 

dictate that when there is a prospect of opening our trade they should 

be .sent forward to compete with others by attempting to secure it for 

their country. 

The gentleman has read from a report made to this Government by 

inspectors appointed under the administration of General Grant, in 

which one of the inspectors reports the service to be in a most demoralized and deplorable condition, and yet he resists the appointment ot 

inspectors provided for by this bill. If our consuls are to be free from 

such supervision, what is the remedy for the evils he would have us believe exist? 

!1fr. "McCREARY. Will the gentleman allow me to interrupt him? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. With pleasure. 

Mr. McCREARY. My remedy is to turn out bad men and put in 

good men. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Who shall judge whether they are good or bad men? 

Mr. McCREARY. I am not willing to leave it to you. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. No, I would not be willing to assume the responsibility myself. 

Mr. 1\IcCREARY. It is a rule of law that no man should be a judge in a case in which he is interested. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. The gentleman from Kentucky has 

said he would apply the remedy by turning out bad men and putting 

good men in office. That is the evil that makes calamity of such long 

life. Who can say whether a man is a good or bad man when appointed? Shall it be the politician that recommends the appointment, or accommodating neighbors and friends who indorse for him? Experience would teach me to say, the character of the indorsement is 

not an invariable test of merit. There are motives underneath which 

need not always be bad. 

But if only good men were appointed what is the disadvantage of having them inspected? Temptation might induce even such to occa- sionally step aside. "Deliver us from temptation" is one of the most 

wholesome as well as comprehensive invocations that can be offered up. 

Every branch of the Government at home has its inspector, and experi- ence has shown the necessity for and the wisdom for such appointments. 

It is true that these d n ties are presumed to be performed by the consulsgeneral. But they are often unsatisfactory and ineffective, while the 

inspectors would be accountable directly to the Secretary of State. Our 

consuls are distributed all over the civilized world. Whil~ exposed to 

temptations they are without the restraints which the eyes of neighbors at home impose upon those among us. How long could a. man go astray in this country without the detective eye of a newspaper reporter finding it out? Why, then, should 

my distinguished friend while arraigning our consular service for inefficiency and neglect withhold from the Department the most effective 

means of detecting and correcting abuses? While I have great respect 

for the opinion of the gentleman from Kentucky, he will pardon me 

when I d~lare I have far more confidence in the recommendations of 

the distinguished Secretary of State on matters of international polity 

than I have for those of any one Representative on this floor. 

Ur. McCREARY. Will the gentleman permit an interruption? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Certainly. 

Mr. McCREARY. Have you any confidence in the action of Congress for many years which refused to change the system or increase 

the salaries? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. In reply to the gentleman's question 

I answer that these recommendations have. not been made for a great 

number of years. It is well known to memb.ers that this side of the 

House was not in political accord with the State Department for quite 

a long time, with the exception of the Forty-seventh Congress. If it 

had been I have no doubt some of these reforms would have been 

adopted. From the Forty-fourth Congress up to the beginning of this 

Congress a rule of the House forbid the increase of salaries, and yet. we know changes were made in various instances. 

Mr. McCREARY. Why did your committee fail to make the changes 

last year? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. We did bring in a bill covering the 

points, but were unab1e to get it considered. 

Mr. McCREARY. The committee reported a diplomatic and con- sular billla.'lt year, but they did not make these increases of salarie..CJ or adopt the changes which are recommended here in this present bill. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina-. They made substantial changes and 

reported a separate bill which they were unable to get considered. Let 

me call thegentleman's attention to a recommendation on this subject 

made by Secretary of State Frelinghuysen, which may be found in Executive Document No. 121, Forty-eighth Congress, first session. In 

speaking of the salary as opposed to the fee system, on page 7, he says: 

In the opinion of the Department the present system of compensation by fees, either official or unofficial, should be abolished. Whatever money comes into 

the consul's hands should be turned into the Treasury of the United States, and 

he should depend for his supportentirelyupon the salary allowed by Congress. A consular officer of high grade and much experience in Germany and Rus-. sia., in alluding to this branch of the subject, says : •• I think that all consuls should receive a liberal provision, and should be forbidden to increase their income by notarial work or perquisites of any kind. Every fee collected by a. consul should be credited to the Government." A consul of some twenty yeaTS' experience in Europe recommends a liberal 

but exactly defined salary and the entire abolition of unofficial feea; every fee 

to be official and returned to the Treasury. 

The old system of requiring the officers ofthecriminal courts in the 

States to be dependent upon the fees collected from the criminal has 

been generally abandoned as being unjust and oppressive, unjust to 

the officers and oppressive to the litigant, and the same policy will be 

abandoned when the United States district attorneys and marshals bill can be reached in this House. I welcome this proposition as a. measure calculated to ameliorate our consular system in the interest of commercial interchange, and the establishment of those relations that 

should exist between this Government and her commercial sisters. I can not, therefore, appreciate a. policy which would pay its officers a salary at home and make them depend upon fees when serving abroad. 

The gentleman from Kentucky has had a great deal to say about the 

luxury and style in which the representatives of this country abroad 

indulge. The gentleman does not mean that seriously, and does not 

expect that it will influence any member who may hear him. That 

may do from the hustings when it is insisted that a member of Congress subsists magnificently and luxuriously upon his 5,000 pE':r annum; that he rolls in fine carriages and dresses in fine linen, whereas 

many were seeking to eke out their salaries a few days ago by the em- ployment of a clerk at the e:Jq>ense of the Government ! No ! Tell it not 

in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of .Askalon, that this debate has 

produced no better argument in opposition to the measure proposed by 

the committee than the one here employed. 
l887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-.HOUSE. 1423 

For really and in truth, there is no Department of the Government 

whose officers have fewer advocates on this floor than our poorly-paid 

consular service. There are exceptions, it is true, but they are such as only prove the rule. The reason is plain. One appointed to go abroad can no longer manipulate primaries and promote the interest8 of his 

friends. Out of sight, out of mind, is an old and true adage. A letter 

from across the water has not near the magnetism of the touch of the 

elbow. 

It is not my purpose, 1\fr. Chairman, to follow the gentleman in the 

discussion of the details of this bill. That will be more appropriate 

when we consider it by sections under the five-minute rule. ·It may 

be sufficient to say, generally, that the value of a consul to his government is not to be estimated by the fees he may collect at his office. 

At one port a large number of goods maybe shipped in small packages, on each of which he collects a fee, while at another goodsoftwenty 

times the value may be shipped in bulk, on which but few fees are collected. Not only this, in some of the countries consuls are invested 

with judicial power, through extraterritorialjurisdiction, and are really 

clothed with power to try men for capital felonies. Suppose here, at such a place, his fees were but small? Would you regulate his salary 

in proportion to the amount. received? Would you esteem the life and 

liberty of a citizen of so little value? Most assuredly not. 

Now my friend goes on and speaks of our building a house in Japan. 

He thinks that is a great departure from our usual policy. Why, sir, 

it is merely a matter of dollars and cents which my friend is so much 

concerned about; and as he wants to see the expenses reduced, let us see what is said by t.he Secretary of State in regard to it. The Secretary says: 

The offer by .Ja pan to the United States of a. commodious plat of ground for 

building a. legation thereon has been repeatedly brought to the attention of 

Congress. The scarcity of h abitable dwellings or premises for a. legation in 

.Japan subjects our Gover nment to the necessity ofrentingfrom but one owner, npon such terms as he may dictat e. 

Now my friend would allow one man to dictate what we should pay. 

Rent has been paid for the past ten years at the rate of $3, 400 per annum. Ax- gum entation seems, therefore, unnecessary to prove that the true interests of economy, as w ell as dignity and convenience, would be subserved by granting the appropriation asked for. 

Four per cent. on $25,000 would be $1,000, whereas we now pay a yearly t·ent of $3,400. That is the gentleman's economy. 

1\fr. McCREARY. Will the gentleman from North Carolina allow me to interrupt him? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Yes, sir. 

Mr. McCREARY. IfwebuildlegationqnartersinJapan, whyshould we not erect legation quarters in France, England, Russia, Spain, and 

everywhere else? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. I am surprised that my friend asks 

that question, which is one so easy to be answered. It is because we can rent in these countries buildings suitable for legation purposes at a moderate rate. 

Mr. McCREARY. What is the rent in England? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Notvery much. 

l\1r. McCREARY. I think it is fully as large as it is in Japan. 

1\Ir. COX, of North Carolina. There is no necessity for it in those 

countries. France and England and Russia have accepted similar 

plats of ground from Japan and erected buildings thereon, and the 

gentleman from Kentucky, familiar as he is with our diplomatic serv- ice, knows that the condition of things in Oriental countries is totally 

different from what it is in the countries mentioned. In Japan they 

have a distinct class of dwellings, different from what we are accustomed 

to, and their grouping differs from ours, and the same is true as to some other Eastern countries. 

I\fr. SPRINGE~. If the gentleman from North Carolina will permit me I will say also that in those countries of the East portions of 

territory are set apart for residences of foreign legations, and they are compelled to build their own houses or have no place to live in at all. 

Mr. COX, of Nlorth Carolina. That is quite true. Now in regard 

to China, the gentleman finds a greattroublethere. I do notseeany. 

I think the recommendation is a very proper one. We must keep abreast with the progress of the times. We must 

look at what is going on in_other countries and not stand here and be 

content to declare we represent the greatest nation under the sun, but 

do nothing to advance its interests. We need enterprise and intelligence to regulate and systematize our foreign policy, as well as our Government at home. No man appreciates the advantages we enjoy more than myself, but I do not want these advantages to be lost by narrow- ness and neglect. 

The gentleman talks about the Democratic party keeping pledges. 

We must cut down salaries and reduce expenses. What else did we . promise to do? We said: 

Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. A surplus taxation of more than 

$100,000,000 .has yearly been ~ollec~ed from !"' suffering people. We denounce 

the Repu~hcan party for havmg failed to reheve the people from crushing war ta.xes wh1ch have paralyzed business, crippled industry, and deprived labor of 

employment and of just reward. 

Mr. REED. That declaration sounds a little funny now. Mr. COX, of North Carolina. It sounds very funny after the speech 

of my friend. It sounds funny to the other side. But the fun will be on our side when the people understand who are responsible for the 

delay in carrying out this needed reform. . · 1\fr. REED. Will they understand it when yon pass this bill? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. This bill will not affect that. We 

have other bills before the House which, if you will give us your assistance, will do it. 

I say, then, 1\Ir. Chairman, when we look abroad and see the exports 

of this country reaclrin.g nearly $800,000,000 and the imports over $700, • 

000,000, and see the industries in this country crippled and fettered by a narrow, contracted policy, it becomes incumbent upon us to seek new markets and new fields for this great country. In order to do so, we ought to have capable and .first-class representatives to aid in this work. 

We should remember, furthermore, that while we are finding fault 

here with the appropriations recommended for the diplomatic service, 

the responsibility devolves upon us, and I am satisfied that our friends 

upon the other side are willing that we shall make such provision, 

within reasonable bounds, as proper for that service. I certainly want 

nothing more; the committee have recommended nothing more. This 

bill has received their careful and painful examination and consideration. We desire to rise equal to the necessities of the service without 

resorting to any appeals to people on the outside for economy sake. 

Gentlemen of intelligence understand the difference between economy 

and frugality and parsimony. We have tried not to be parsimonious nor particularly frugal, but we do desire to be economical in its appropriate sense in the administration ofthe affairs of this Department. 

The appropriations are such as the necessities of the service demand. 

It is very easy to excite prejudice against our foreign service. The 

gentleman from Kentucky [1\fr. McCREARY] says he can find plenty 

of men willing to fill these places. No doubt of that. No place can be 

named that you can not find plenty of men who will undertake to fill 

it. But that is not the question. We desire to apply the old J effersonian test of capacity and honesty, and in order to secure the services 

of such men yon must allow them a compensation which will enable 

them to live. 

When I want information on the subject of our foreign relations I 

seek it at the fountain. I go to the State Department. 

Mr. McCREARY. Did the gentleman follow the recommendations 

of the State Department in the preparation of the bill now under con- sideration? 

1\Ir. COX, of North Carolina. I followed them as fur as the light 

before me permitted, but not blindly. 

Mr. McCREARY. Is it not a fact that a good many recommendations made by the State Department were not indorsed by the com- mittee and were left out of the bill? 

1\fr. COX, of North Carolina. Unquestionably; and that is the case with every appropriation bill. But I do not say that the bill is any 

better on that account. Our hesitation sustains my position, that the 

committee have been careful in examining the recommendations that 

have been made, and probably they would have gone further but for 

the difficulties that arise under our rules. Mr. Chairman, I do not believe in a narrow, paring system in regard to the compensation of our public officers. I think they ought to be allowed to live, and I know 

that the American people do not desire that inadequate salaries shall 

be paid to faithful public servants. The recommendations here made were really less than the State Department thought necessary. The 

Department recommended about $1,600,000, and we have, in round 

numbers, about $1,300,000. · 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I do not know that it is necessary for me to 

protractthisdebate; butidothinkthat after theStateDepartmenthas 

carefully considered all these matters and submitted them to the Com· 

mittee on Foreign Affairs, and after that committee has given them 

their careful consideration, they are entitled to the respectful consideration of this Honse and am confident they will receive it. 

1\fr. LONG. Will the gentleman from North Carolina permit a suggestion? 

1\Ir. COX, of North Carolina. Yes, sir. 

Mr. LONG. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr.MCCREARY] insisted very much upon the fact that there was a proposition to pay 

$2,000 to consuls in some places where the fees were very small. I · 

wish the gentleman from North Carolina would enlarge somewhat upon a question which must have occurred to the committee-the question 

of the relation between the importance of the consulship and the 

amount of the fees. I take it there are many places where there are practically no fees, yet where it is exceedingly important to have competent, intelligent, honest officials, so that the amount of fees is not 

always a fair test of the importance of the office. 

Mr. COX. of North Carolina. The gentleman from :Massachusetts 

[Mr. LONG] probably did not hear what I said on that subject. I 

spoke of it, and I remarked that in some places the consuls were invested with the power to try men for their lives; and the fees are no 

test at all. 

J)fr. SPRINGER. I will ask the gentleman whether it is not true 

that in the law as it now stands, and in this bill also, the consuls at 

points in the East where we are compelled to give them judicial powers are now receiving salaries ranging from $3,500 to $5,000 a year? That 

·. 
.CONGRESSIONAL . RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 5, 

being so, the argument that it is necessary now to increase the salary of 

any consul because he has j ndicial powers does not apply here. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. I merely nsed that by way of illustration of the importance of a consul who might collect but few fees. 

There are other responsible duties which the consuls may have to perform in places where the fees are no adequate test of the importance of 

the consulate. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I agree with the gentleman from Massachusetts 

(Mr. LONG] that the amount of the fees is not always a correct test. 

In many cases it is, but it certainly fails as a test at those points in the 

Eastern countries where, from the necessities of the case, our consuls are invested with judicial powers. 

There the fees would be no measure what~ver of the consular duties or of the responsibility or importance of the office. 

Mr. BELMONT. Nor would they be where the consul has diplomatic duties, which is the case, not only in eastern countries, but elsewhere-in Ecuador, for instance. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. I will illustrate by St. Helena. The 

consul must travel 8, 000 miles at a cost of $300 for himself alone. It 

is a most disagreeable place to live at. Yet the fees are few; but he 

must look after the interest of our seamen engaged in whale fishing. 

Furthermore, Mr. Chairman, the policy of this bill is to Americanize our consular service. That is a very important matter. The effect 

of doing away with the system of compensation by fees and putting 

these officers upon salaries will enable ns to put Americans in places now filled by foreign merchants who often have no interest in common with our people and country, and therefore are not proper representatives of it. 

There is another thing to which I wish to call the attention of the 

committee. Where one officer is drawing a salary as consul and another 

adjacent officer·is charging fees, it is sometimes the case that the man 

who has goods to ship will pass by the consul who is receiving a salary 

and have his goods inspected by the man who is receiving fees, be~nse 

the latter gives better terms. Theinvoices are not alwa.yshonest, and 

the trader does not expect them to be. That is the reason he prefers 

the services of this officer who is paid by fees. 

Our service should be uniform. AU our consuls, so far as practicable, ought to be put on salaries. 

In regard to the number of officers to be affected by the change, we propose to put on the salaried list forty consuls whose fees exceed the 

proposed salaries I believe. 

Mr. McCREARY. Fifty-one. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Those are the gentleman's figures, but 

they do not accord with my recollection. I believe there are forty con- sulates where the fees now amount to a larger sum than a salary would; 

and there are thirty others where the pay would not come up to the 

same standard. 

Mr. McCREARY. Will the gentleman allow me to correct him? I 

have examined this matter with a good deal of care. There are seventy 

of these offices in all-- · 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Seventy in aU. 

Mr. McCREARY. There are :fifty-one salaried consuls proposed in 

lien of certain officers now compensated by fees, and there are nineteen 

salaried consuls proposed at places where now there are salaried agents. 

Ur. COX, of North Carolina. There is a difference between the gentleman's figures and mine. My recollection accords with the statement I have made. 

But, sir, it is conceded that for a person engaged in trade to be made 

a consul of the United States is worth ordinarily at least $1, 000. Such an appointment gives a foreign merchant a great advantage over his 

l"ival at the same placeMr. LONG. Who may be an American. 

:Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Who may be an American; and the 

merchant occupying the consulate position may delay the inspecting or invoicing of his rival's goods or may not make a true inspection or 

invoice, to his great disadvantage. There are many other reasons in 

favor of this provision of the bill. 

Mr. JAMES. There is great difficulty on that score. Mr. COX, of North Carolina. It is one of the greatest sources of 

difficulty to the Treasury Department. 

:Mr. JAMES. And also to the merchants. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Yes. and to the merchants. 

In one case which has been referred to by my friendfromNewYork, 

the chairman of the committee, there was a false certification involving I believe about $20,000. And such things may often occur. From whom does this recommendation come? From theCommittee 

on Foreign Affairs alone? No; from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

aided and assisted by those who are familiar with our foreign service. 

-Are we to go into our districts throughout the country and ask the 

people what shall be done with the foreignservicewhen they havesent liB here to act intelligently for them, or shall we make beautiful speeches 

upon the ''reforms'' we have accomplished by cutting down appropriations recommended by on!.' committees, a.nd tell them how we have decorated our foreign service with all the flaring insignias. the only effect of 

which would be to mislead? 

Mr. SPRINGER. The gentleman willallowmetoaskwhether there 

is any provision in the bill requiring our consuls to cover into the 

Treasury all fees received· by them, whether official fees, so called, or extrarofficial fees? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. There is no such provision in regard 

to unofficial fees. 

:Mr. SPRINGER. We now require the official fees to be returned; 

why was not a provision inserted requiring the return also of the unofficial fees? 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. That is a difficulty we have been trying to overcome. Mr. BELMONT. By reason of the fact of being placed on the salaried list, the consuls who are now paid by fees would return their fees 

to the Treasury. The law would so provide. 

:Mr. SPRINGER. But certain fees, nob regarded as official fees, are incident to the office; for instance, fees for the acknowledgment of deeds 

or the taking of depositions. Those fees the consul usually pockets, declining to account for them to the United States. I think if these offi- cers are placed on salaries it wouia be proper to require them to turn 

over to the Treasury of the United States all fees, from whatever source 

received. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. I think sp myself; I agree with my 

friend on that point. But this question of unofficial fees has been a very troublesome one. The question has presented itself to the com- mittee in this way: The unofficial fees are for the acknowledgment of 

deeds and papers to be used in the courts of law--

Mr. SPRINGER. And the taking of depositions. 

Mr. COX, of North Carolina. Yes, and the taking of depositions. 

Now, if the consul is allowed to charge for such service he attends to 

those duties. They are not compulsory duties at all. Probably the 

refusal of the consul to attend to them would put suitors to great inconvenience. They might prefer to pay those unofficial fees rather 

than not have the service performed. I would myself prefer that lees 

of every character, if we can reach them, should be turned into the Treasury. I agree with myfriendfromlllinois that a. public officer, whether 

at home or abroad, should rely upon his salary alone as compensation 

for his services. · That is the reason I object to the present system 

under which men engaged in trade get the offices and nse them as much 

for their private benefit as for the advantage of the public. 

Mr. Chairman, how much time have I? 

The CHAIRMAN. Thirty-four minutes. 

1\Ir. COX, of North Carolina. Reserving the residue of my time, I 

will not further occupy the attention of the Committee of the Whole. 

Mr. CANNON obtained the floor but yielded to 

Mr. BELMONT, who moved that the committee rise. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The committee accordingly rose; and Mr.IIAMM:OND having taken the 

chair as Speaker pro te?npore, Mr. BLOUNT reported that the Committee 

of the Whole House on the state ofthe Union had, according to order, 

had under consideration the bill (H. R. 10396) making appropriations 

for the diplomatic and consular service of the Government for the fiscal 

year ending June 30, 1888, and for other purposes, and had come tono 

resolution thereon. RETURN OF A BILL. 

Mr. MORRILL, by unanimous consent, submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to: 

The Clerk read as follows : 

.Resolved, That the Senate be requested to return t.o the llouse the biU {S. 

2479) granting a pension to Mrs. Ada line P. Loy. 

MRS. JuLIA A. SLUDER. 

On motion of Mr. JOHNSTON, of North Carolina, by unanimous 

consent, the Committee of the Whole House on the Private Calendar was discharged from the further consideration of the bill (H. R. 10178) 

for the relief of Mrs. Julia A. Sluder, e~ecutrix of E. Sluder, deceased. 

The bill was read, as follows: 

Be it enacted, &:c., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, 

authorized and directed to pay to Mrs. Julia A. Sluder. executrix of E. Sluder, 

deceased, Sl30 out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

The report (by Mr. SHAW) was read, as follows: 

A transcript from the books of and proceedings of the Treasury Dep1ntment 

shows that there is due and owing from the United States to a. certain F. M. Whiten for guarding United States prisoners confined in the jail of Buncombe 

County, in the western district of North Carolina, $130. It also further appears that Whiten assigced this claim toW. T. S. Deaver, who assigned ittQ E. Sluder 

(since deceased) for value. But said assignments not being in the prescribed form (Rev. Stat., sec. 3477), the Secretary of the Treasury very properly refused to recognize them; and tlie present whereabouts of the said Whiten not being 

known it is-impossible to have them corrected. 

The money was appropriated for the payment of this claim by the deficiency 

act of August 4, 1886. . . . The committee recommend that the bill do pass w1th the followmg amend- · 

ments, namely: "Strike out after the word 'dollars,' in lines 6 and 7, and add the words 'now 

standing tQ the credit of F, M. Whiten on the books of the Treasury Depart- ment:' Pr<Wided, That the said Julia. .A. Sluder shall first execute a. bond with 

good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, t<> 

indemnify the United States against all loss, cost., or damages in the premises.'" 

The amendment of the committee was agreed to, and the bill as 
I• 

1887. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. L425 

ap:1ended was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being 

engrossed, it was aecordingly read the third time, and passed. 

And then, on motion of Mr. EDEN (at 4 o'clock and 55 minutes p. m. ), the Honse adjourned. 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

The following petitions and papers were laid on the Clerk's desk, 

under the rnle, and referred as follows: 

By Mr. J. A. ANDERSON: Petition of 200 citizens of Wa.shingt.on 

County, Kansas, in favor of House bill1096-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. BOUND: Resolntil)n of the senat-e and house of representatives of· Pennsylvania, in favor of the passage of the Miller bill for 

suppressing diseases among cattle-to the Committee on Agriculture. 

Also, resolution of the same, in favor of the agricultural experimentstation bill-to the same committe". 

By Mr. BUNNELL: Petition of Letter Carriers' National Association, favoring the passage of Senate bill 2076-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

Also, petition of 128 enlisted men of the Signal Corps, in favor of 

tran~ferring the Signal Corps to the new department as contemplated 

by House bill 5190-to the Committee on J.\'Iilitary Affairs. 

By Mr. COWLES: Petition of citizens of Surry County, North Carolina., asking repeal of ~ternal-revenue taxes-to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

By Mr. DOCKERY: Petition of meQlbersof the Missouri Legislature, 

asking the passage of the Miller bill-to the Committee on Agriculture. · By Mr. ERMENTROUT: Memorial of Albert Molheimer and others, 

committee, asking the pensioning of ex-prisoners of war-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. . Also; memorial of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, for the passage of 

the Miller bill-to the Committee on Agriculture. 

Also, memorial of the same, for the passage of the experiment-station 

bill-to the same committee. 

By Mr. GOFF: Petition of Andrew D. Coplin, of Harrison County, 

West Virginia, and of Martha A. Bender, executrix of Jacob Coplin, 

deceased, for reference of his war claim to the Court of Claims-to the 

Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. HARMER: Resolutions of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 

in favor of the passage of the Miller pleuro-pneumonia bill-to the 

Committee on Agriculture. 

Also, resolutions of the same, in favor of the experiment-station billto the <>arne committee. · By Mr. HEARD: Petition of the Missouri Legislature, in favor of 

the Miller bill or some similar measure to prevent the spread of diseases 

among cattle-to the same committee. 

By Mr. HIESTAND: Memorial of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 

in favor of the Miller pleuro-pneumonia bill-to the same com- mittee.· Also, memodal of the same, in favor of the agricultural experimentstation bill-to the same committee. 

By Mr. HITT: Reply of the Secretary of State to committee touching the claim of George H. Owen, consul of Messina-tQ the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

By Mr. KETCHAM: Petition of Edward Crummey and 40 others, 

citizens of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in favor of an international court of 

arbitration-to the same committee. 

By Mr. NELSON: Resolution of the State Horticultural Society of 

Minnesota, in favor of the Hatch experiment-station bill-to the Committee on Agriculture. 

By Mr. PARKER: Petition asking for a pension to John Shampine, 

of Brashear Falls, Saint Lawrence County, New York-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

Also, remonstrance of the Hamilton-Rowan Club of New York city, 

against the pending extradition treaty with the British Governmentto the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

By Mr. PAYNE: Resolution o~ Maj. H. Stacy Post, Grand Army of 

the Republic, of Oswego, N.Y., in favor of the Edmunds-Tucker billto the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. PERKINS: Resolutionsof' Parsons Post, No. 64, and CherQkee Post, No. 56, Grand Army of the Republic of Kansas, asking for 

the passage of the Edmunds-'l'ncker bill-to the same committee. 

By Mr. RIGGS: Petition of Elizabeth Haggard, widow of Roberb E. 

Haggard, late Company F, Sixty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. STRAIT: Resolutions touching the Hatch experiment-station bill, and asking for its passage-to the Committee on Agricnlturc. 

By Mr. I. H. TAYLOR: Petition ofM. G. Overbaugh and 75 others, 

praying for the :passage of the bill (8.1636) reducing postage on seeds, 

&c.:,_to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

By Mr. WILLIAM _W ~RNER: Petition of members of the General 

XVIII-90 

1 -

Assembly of Missouri, asking for the passage of the Miller bill, or some law on the same subject-to the Committee on Agriculture. 

By Mr. WILSON: Petition of F. Nemegyei and 101 others, proprietors and employes of Irondale Furnace and Mines,. Taylor County, 

West Virginia, for repeal of internal-revenue taxes-to the Committee. 

on Ways and Means. · 

The following petitions, praying for the enactment of a bill provicling temporary aid for common schools, to be disbursed on the basis of 

illiteracy, were severally referred to the Committee on Education: 

By Mr. J. A. ANDERSON: Of 56 citizens of Jamestown, Kans. 

By Mr. BACON: Of 101 citizens of Cornwall and of ·95 citizens of 

Spring Valley, N. Y. 

By Mr. BLANCHARD: Of 65 citizens of Gibbsland, La. 

By Mr. BURROWS: Of citizens of Berrien County, Michigan. 

By Mr. FREDERICK: Of 93 citizens of Iowa City, Iowa. 

By Mr. FORD: Of72 citizens of Goshen, Ind. 

By Mr. LOWRY: Of 95 citizens of Kendallville, Ind. 

By Mr. ROCKWELL: Of 174 citizens of Adams, Mass. 

By Mr. SPOONER: Of 37 citizens of Kingston, R. I. 

By Mr. SPRINGER: Of-165 citizens of Jacksonville, ill. 

SENATE. 

:1\IoNDAY, Feb·ruary 7, 1887. 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. J. G. BUTLER, D. D. 

The Journal ·of the proceedings of Saturday last was read and approved. · CREDENTIALS. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore presented the credentials of FRANCIS 

B. STOCKBRIDGE, chosen by the Legislature of Michigan a Sen a tor from 

that State for the term beginning March 4, 1887; which were read. 

Mr. HOAR. Those credentials are somewhat unusual in their character, and as it is almost impossible from listening to them to see whether 

they comply with the usual custom, I move that they be referred to the 

Committee on Privileges and Elections. 

The motion was agreed to. 

ABSTRACT OF l\IILITIA FORCE. 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tempore laid before the Senate a communication from the Secretary of War, transmitting, in compliance with sec- tion 232 of the Revised Statutes, an abstract of the militia force of the 

United States; which, with the accompanying papers, was referred to 

the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 

PEI'ITIONS AND MEMORIALS. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore presented a Communication from the 

secretary of ~:~tate of the State of Kansas,' transmitting a concurrent reso- lution of the Legislature of Kansas; which was referred to the Committee on Territories, and ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: 

I. 

STATE OF KANSAS, SECRETARY'S OFFICE, 

Tope1;a, February 3, 1887. 

DEAR Sm: I have the honor to herewith transmit a copy of house concurrent resolut.ion No. 20, signed by the officers of both houses. I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, 

Washington, D. C. 

E. B. ALLEN, Secrel{I,I"'!J of Stat1. 

(House Concurrent Resolution No. 20.) 

House concurrent resolution No. 20, relating to the organization of the Terri· 

tory of Oklahoma. 

Resolved by the house of t•epresentatives of !he Sta.te of Kansas (the senate concurring there-in), That our Senators in Congress be, and they are hereby, instructed and our Representatives are requested to use their best efforts to secure the passage of the bill now pending in Congress, and providing for the organization of the 

Territory of Oklahoma. 

Resolved further, That correct copies of this resolution be enrolled, signed by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house, and sent to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, to the President of the United 

States, the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the 

President of the United States Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, and that they are requested to lay the same before their respective 

bodies. 

I hereby certify that the above resolutfon originated in the house J'anu11.ry 21, 

1887, and passed that body January 22,1887. · 

A. W. SMITH, Speaker of House. 

H. L. MILLARD, Chief Clerk of House. 

Concurred in by the senate, February 1, 1887. 

A. P. RIDDLE, p,.esident of Senate. CLIFFORD C. BAKER, 

.Secretary of Senate. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore presented a communication from the 

secretary of state of Colorado, transmitting a memorial of the General 

Assembly of <;Olorado; ~hich was referred to the Committee on Agri-