1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 563 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. . 

Mr. CONGER. I withdraw my objection to :fixing a. day fo1· the con- sideration of the bill reported by the gentleman from Mississippi. 

Mr. PAGE. I renew it. 

Mr. SINGLETON. I ask the gentleman from Texas [Mr. MILLs] 

to withdraw his motion to adjourn, that I may ask to have the bill 

recommitted. 

Mr. MILLS. I withdraw the motion to adjourn. 

Mr. SAMPSON. I renew it. 

Mr. COX, of New York. I ask the ~entleman from Iowa not to 

insist at present on the motion. to a-djourn. I have a matter here 

which I am sure nobody .will object to. 

Mr. S.AliPSON. I insist on the motion. 

The question being taken on the motion to adjourn, the Speaker announced that in the. opinion of the Chair the "ayes" had it. 

Mr. C()X, of New York. I call for a division. 

The House divided; and there were-ayes 44, noes 31. 

Mr. COX, of New York. I call for tellers. 

Tellers were not ordered. . So the motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at live o'clock and 

thirty minutes p. m._) the House adjourned. 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

The followi.Dg petitions, &c., were presented at the Clerk's desk, 

under the rule, and .referred as stated: 

By Mr. ALDRICH: The petition of Charles R. Lang, president of 

the Buffalo branch of the Chicago Seamen's Benevolent Union, and 

other,. presidents and officers connected with seamen's benevolent asso- ci'ations, for the repeal of sections 829 and 4585of the Revised Statutes, 

relating to the hospital tax on seamen, &c.-to the Committee on Commerce. · By 1\Ir. BA.K..ER, of New York: The petition of women of Vermillion, New York, for legislation to make effective the anti-polygamy 

law of 1862-to the Committee on tho Judiciary. 

By Mr. BUNDY: Resolutions of the senate of New York, opposing 

the passage of the Axmy reorganization bill-to the Committee on Military .Affairs. · By Mr. CARLISLE: The petition of Dr. J. B. A. Risk and others, 

citizens of Kentucky, for the passage of a law to prohibit the adul-. teratlon of sweets-to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. COBB: The petition of ladies of Pleasantville, Indiana, and v icinity, for such legislation as~ make effective the anti-polygamy 

la.w of 1862-to the same comm1ttee. 

By Mr. COX, of New York: Papers relatino~r to the war claim of 

Sarah H. Milveney-to the Committee on War Claims. 

By•Mr. DffiRELL: P~pers relating to the war claim of John M. 

Kimbrough-to tho same committee. 

By 1\Ir. FORT: The petition of M.A. Newman and 65 others, of Collinst:!Illinois, for the prevention of the adulteration of sweets-to the 

Comntfttee of .Ways and Means. . By 1\Ir. HENDERSON: The petition of Lucy A. Robinson and 57 

other women, of Burns and Cambridge Townships Henry County, 

Illinois, for such legislation as will make e:ffecti ve the anti-polygamy 

law of 1862-to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Also, the petit,ion of Mrs. Thomas Nowers and 14 other women, of 

Atkinson, Illinois, of similar import-to the same commiitee. 

By .Mr. HEWI'IT, of New York: The petition of A. T. Stewart & 

Co., for the appointment of a committee to investigate appraisements 

of kid gloves at the port of New York-to the Committee of Ways 

and Means. 

By Mr. HOOKER: The petition of women ef Tbugaloo University, 

Hinds·Connty, Mississippi, for legislation to make effective the antipolygamy law of 1862-to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By M.r. KEIGHTLEY: The petition of Mary Worthington and 70 

others, of Buchanan, Michigan, of similar import-to the same com- mittee. , Also, the petition of Mrs. W. A. House and 180 others, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, of similar import-to the same committee. 

/ By Mr. KIDDER: The petition of J. C. Miller and others, for a. land 

office near Ka.mpeska, Dakota Territory-to the Committee on Public Lands. 

Also, the petition of E. Harris and others, of similar import-to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of F. L. Cameron and others, of similar importto the same committee. 

Also, the petition of Fred. J. Bowman and others, of similar importto the same committee. 

Also, the petition of John.H. Drake and others, of similar importto the same committee. . By Mr. LAPHAM: Resolutions of the ~enate of New York, opposing the passage of the Axmy reorganization bill-to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. MAISH: The petition of William J. Morton, for a pensionto the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

Byt.:\Ir. 1\IcGOW AN: The petition of D. W.}'eabody and 5 others, merchant~ of Hanover, Michigan, for legislation to prevent the adulteration of food-to the Committee on Commerce. 

By 1\Ir. PATTERSON, of Ne,~ York: Resolutions of the Legislature of New York, opposing the passage of the Army reorganization billto the Committee on Military .Affairs. 

Also, the petition of 43 ladies, of Findley's Lalle, New York, for 

legislation to make ~ffective the anti-polygamy law of 1862-to the' 

Committee on the Judiciary. 

By 1\Ir. PHELPS : The petition of Rev. Mrs. A. 0 . .Abbott and 45 

other ladies, members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of Nangatuck, Connecticut, of similar import-to the same committee. 

By Mr. POUND: The petition of 1\Irs. Isabella W. Phillips and 40 

other ladies, of Westfield, Wisconsin, of similar import-to the same committee. . · By Mr. PRICE: The petition of the Women's Christian Temperance 

Union, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and 80 others, for a commission of inquiry 

concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic-to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of the Women's Christian Temperance Union; of 

Lansing, Iowa, and40 others, of similar import-to the same committee. ·Also, the petition of the Woman's Temperance Union and 120 others, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, of similar import-to the same committee. 

By Mr. RICE, of Ohio:. The petition of John Honegger, ior a pension-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. STEELE: The petition of C. C. Wade, W. H. Watkins, and 

40 others, citizens of Montgomery County, North Carolina, for a reduction of the tax on spirits distilled from fruit, and a chan_ge in themode· of collecting internal revenue-to the Committee of Ways and: 

Means. 

By Mr. TUIL~Y: The petition of women of Green County, Pennsylvania, for such legislation as will makeeffectivetheanti-polygamy 

law of 1862-to the Committee on the Judie,iary. 

By Mr. WHITT HORNE: The petition oi JohnS. Cunningham, a. pay director United States Navy, to be reimbursed certain moneys 

withheld by a clerk in the Navy pay office and appropriated to his. own use-to the Committee on Naval Affairs. 

IN SENATE. 

l!ONDAY, Jan,Ua'ry 20, 1872. 

Prayer by the Chaplain, R-ev. BYRON S~DERLAND, D. D. 

The J onrnal of the proceedings of Friday last was read and approved. EXECUTIVE COl\brmnCATIOXS. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT laid before the Senate.a communication 

from the Secretary of War, transmitting a report of Major Godfrey 

Weitzel, of the Corps of Engineers, on the superintendence, management, and repair of the Louisville aml Portland Canal for the year 

ending· December :H, 1818; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 

He also laid before the Senate a communication from the Secretary 

of War, transmitting copies of reports from Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and Terry, setting forth the necessity for the construction of 

buildings for the military he~dquarters at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 

and recommending an appropriation of $125,000 for that purpose; 

which was referred to the Committee on 1\fi.l.itary Affairs, and ordered 

to be printed. . He also laid before the Senate a communication from the Secretary 

of War, transmitting a letter from the Chief of Engineers and a. letter 

from Captain William Ludlow, of the Corps of Engineers, submitting 

estimates of the amounts required for the protection from overflow of 

the sites,of fortifications on the Delaware ~iver, and also estimates 

of the cost of repairs at Sandy Hook, New Jersey; which wus referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, and orde:ed to be printed. 

PETITIONS A....'\"'1> JIEJIORIALS. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT presented the petition of :Mrs. I. L. Davenport and 2'2 other women, of Iowa, praying for the passage of an act making effective the anti-polygamy law of 1862; which \Vas re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Mr. CONKLING. I present a resolution of the Assembly of the 

State of New York, touching the so-called reorganization of.tkeAxmy 

bill, and I ask that it be read. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. It will be read. 

The resolution was read, a,nd ordered to .lje on the table, as follows: 

OB motion of .Mr. BrllUlaD, 

STATE OF NEW YORK, 

AssEMBLY CHAMBER, .Albany, Janua1·y 15,"\879. 

· Whereas the Armyreor~ation bill now before Congress, proposes to prohibit the fnrthermanufa{lture of ordnance and ordnance stores at Uruted States arsenals; to sell all the arsenals which thus become unnecessary, and hereafter to pm-elillse ordnance and ammunition from private manufactures only: Therefore, 

Resolved, Tba.t the Senators a.nd Representati>es of this State in Congress be re- quested to oppose the passage of said bill, or at least the portions relating to the 

Ordnance department., New York arsenals, and ordrumcesroree. 

By order of A embly. EDW. M. JOHNSON, Clerk. 

Mr. PLUMB presented the petition of D. J •. Holmes and 2,000 others, 

citizens of Kansas, praying for an amendment to the Constitution of 

the United States prohibiting the several States from disfranchising 

United States citizens on account of sex; which was referred to tho 

Committee on Privileges a.nd Elections. 

1\Ir. DORSEY. I pl'6Sent the memorial of C. C. Cox, chairman of 

the Capitol Hill and East Washington Improvement .Association, set- t~g forth the condition of. the streets· in the.eaatern portion of the 
564 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 

city, the insufficiency of the wawr supply, and presenting generally 

the way in which that portion of the city has been treated by the District government. It is a very important document, and I hope there 

will be no objection- to its being printed. 

The VICE-PRESIDEl\i'f. The Chair hears no objection, and it will 

be printed and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. 

Mr. SARGENT. I present the memorial of Reed and Dougherty, 

of San Francisco, citizens of the United States, setting forth that upon 

the conclusion of the treaty between the United States and Japan, in 

18.'>5, they invested large sums in San Francisco and Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, in the purchase of such articles as are needed by whal:- ers fishing in the Kodaic; that the fleets of whalers were to make 

such Japanese ports as were opened by that treaty their place of ren- dezvous ; that the memorialists loaded the schooner Caroline E. Foote 

with a valuable cargo, and they with their families sailed for Hakodadi to establish stations for supplying the whaling fleets; that the 

vessel arrived at Hakodadi, but the me~orialists were prevented from 

landing or trading and were peremptorily ord~red away, in violation 

of the treaty, to their great damage. Admiral John Rodgers, then in 

command of the United States naval force in those seas, protested, as did the memorialists, without any avail. Another vessel, the Grecian, was also purchased by them in San Francisco and fitted out to take 

similar supplies, but did not sail, they returning from their trip to 

Japan before this vessel was quite ready for sailing. They complain 

()f great injury-the figures are somewhat high in the memorial-by 

the loss of . cargoes· and by loss in the purchase and charler "of these 

vessels. They think they have a just Claim against the Empire of 

Japan, and they ask Congress to allow this out of the Japanese indemnity fund. 

The correspondence with reference to the matter between the Jap- .:mese authorities, Admiral Rodgers, and the memorialists, is on file 

in the State Department. It would appear, a.s Congress seems to be 

somewhat in the mood of returning the balance of this fund to Japan 

()n the (Y'round that the legitimate claims ef American citizens have · Leen aliowed from it, that this claim should be looked at in order that our citizens may be remunerated if it shall be found on examination 

of the facts that they were thus treated in violation of the treaty by 

the Japanese authorities. . I move that the memorial be referred to the ColD.lllittee on Foreign 

Relations. . The motion was agreed to. • Mr. SARGENT. I also present a petition of citizens of Philadelphia, Penn~·lvania, both men and women, praying for an amendment to 

the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting the several States 

from disfranohising·United States citizens on account of sex. The 

petition is headed.by John H. Campbell, attorney-at-law, 738 Sansom 

Mtreet, and by Mary Charmann, and it is signed by Illi\ny others. I move its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

The motion was agreed to. · Mi-. KERNAN presented the petition of the trustees of the Corcoran 

Gallery of Art, praying for compensation for the use by the Government of property belonging to the corporation; which was referred 

to the Committee on Appropriations. 

He also presented the memorial of D. B. St. John and others, citi- zens of New York, remonstrating a.gainst ·the passage of the bill (S. 

No. 1330) to quiet the titles of settlers on the Des Moines River lands 

in the State of Iowa, and for other purposes ; which was ordered to 

lie on the table. 

He also presented a memorial of R. S. Burrows, of Albion, New 

York, remonstrating ag~st the passage of the bill (S. No. 1330) to 

quiet the titles of settlers on the Des :Moines River lands in the State 

of Iowa; which was ordered to lie on t.he table. 

He also presented the petition of William S. Carr, of New York, 

praying for the extension of letters-patent granted to him for improvement in water-closets; which wa.s referred to the Committee on PatenU:I. 

He also presented the petition of E. A.. Kent & Co., and others, mer- chants and ship-owners of New York, praying for the passage of the 

bill (H. R. No. 3547) to regulate interstate commerce and to prohibit 

unjust discriminations by common carriers ; which was referred to 

the Committee on Commerce. · Mr. KERNAN. I also present a preamble and resolution passed by 

the Assembly of New York on the 15th instant, requesting its Senators 

and Representatives to vote against the passage of the biU (S. No. 

1491) to reduce and reorganize the Army of the United States and to. make rules for its government and regulation. This is a. copy of the same paper that was presented by my colleague and read. I move that it lie upon the table. 

The motion waa agreed to. 

Mr. WITHERS presented the petition of John :B. Parsons, W. H. 

Miles, N. B. Conquest, and 60 others, citizens of Accomac County, 

Virginia, praying for an appropriation to deepen the channel between 

}'ranklin City and Chii!coteague Island, in the State of Virginia; which was referred to the CommitJ;ee on Commerce. 

He also presente<l the petition of Upshur B. Quinby, George T. 

Garrison, M. Oldham, John I. Blackstone, and 43 others, citizens of 

Accomac County, Virginia, praying for an appropriation to deepen 

the channel between ~nklin City and Chincoteague Island, in the 

State of Virginia; whioh was referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

He also presented the petition of W. P. Burwell, praying compensation for certain property confiscated by the collector of customs at 

- . . the port of Richmond in 1867; which was referred to the Committee on Claims. 

Mr. DENNIS presented the petition of De Witt C. Forkes, George 

W.Purnell,A..B.Barnes, W. E. ~ons, and 185 others, of Worcester 

County, Maryland, praying for an appropriation to improve the channel between Franklin City and Chincoteague Island, in the State of 

Virginia; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

He also presented the petition of I. T. Kenney, William Booth, 

Robert Hudson, and 41 others, citizens of Chincotearne Island, Virginia, praying for an appropriation to improve the channel between 

Franklin City and Chincoteague Island, in the State of Virginia; 

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

He also presented the petition of I. T. Kenney, R. B. Benson, John 

H. Lafland, and 105 others, praying for the establishment of a lighthouse on Killich Shoals, Chincoteague Island, iri the State of Virginia; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

Mr. W .ALLA.CE presented a memorial of manufacturers of the city 

of Erie, Pennsylvania, remonstrating against certain provisions of 

the bill (S. No. 300) to amend the statutes in relation to patents, and 

for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table. 

:Mr. PADDOCK presented the petition of S. M, Hazen, C. M. Murdock, and 100 others, citizens of Nebra-ska, praying for an extension 

of time for making payments for lands purchased under the act of 

August 15, 1876, authorizi.Qg a sale of a part of the Otoe lndi..1.n Reservation in Nebraska; which was referred to the Committee onPublic 

Lands. 

He also presented a petition of W. L. " Tilson and others, citizens 

of Nebraska, praying for the establishment of a mail-route in that 

State; which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offi<;es and PostRoads. 

Mr. MATTHEWS presented a supplementary paper to the petition 

of H. S. & H. D. Walbridge, praying for relief from unequal taxation 

in the District of Columbia; which was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. 

Mr. FERRY presented the memorial of Moses W. Field and 63 others, 

citizens of Detroit, Michigan, remonstrating against any change in 

the duties on imported sugars; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. 

Mr. GROVER presented a memorial of the Legislature of Oregon, 

in favor of the appointment of a commission to audit and allow the 

claims of citizensof OregonandldahoTerritoryforpropertydestroye<l 

by Indians in the Indian war of 1878, and for an appropriation for the 

payment of the expenses of such commission and for such of the claims as may be allowed by it ; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

Mr. HOAR presented additional papers in the case of the application 

of Edward Rice, praying for the passage of a law authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue to him duplicates of certain coupon 

bonds, known as consols of 1867, issued under the not of March 3, 

1865; which were referred to t~e Committee on Finance. 

THO.l\l"AS STRIDER. 

Mr. WITHERS. There is a bill on the Calendar on which an adverse report was made some time since from the Committee on Claims-the bill (H. R. No. 3734) for the relief of Thomas Strider. I 

present some additional evidence in that case; and move that the 

papers I now present be referred to the Committee on Claims, and 

that the original bill be recommitted to that committee. 

The motion was agreed to. 

POSITION OF TROOPS AT GETTYSBURGH. 

Mr. ROLLINS. I move that the letter of the Secretary of War of 

March !2, 1878, with accompanying documents now upon the table, found in Executive Document No. 42, Forty-fifth Congress, second 

session, be taken from the table and referred t-o the Committee on Military Affairs. 

The motion was agreed to. 

REPORTS OF CO:\DIITTEES. 

Mr. COCKRELL, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was re- ferred the petition of Samuel H. Chew, a citizen of Fayett-e County, Kentucky, praying compensation for property alleged to have been 

taken and appropriated by the United States military forces during 

the late war, submitted a report thereon, accompanied by a. bill (S. 

No. 1644) for the relief of Samuel H. Chew. 

The bill wa.s read twice by its title, and the report was ordered to 

be printed. - He also, from the same· committee, to whom wa.s referred the bill 

(S. No.1571) for the relief of William W. Ross, reported it with amendments, and soomitted a. report thereon; which was ordered to be 

printed. . He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the petition of W. F. Hovis, praying compensation for services as assistant a-ssessor of internal revenuo for the eighteenth divisioH. of the first collection district of Georgia, submitted an adverse report thereon; and 

moved that the praye1.; of the petitioner be not granted, and that the 

claim be not allowed. 

The report was agreed to, and ordered to be printed. 

Mr. COCKRELL also, from the same committee, to who.m was re- ferred the petition of Rev. H. ,V, Read, praying compensation for su- perintending the transportation of money belonging to the United 

States from Saint Louis to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the year 1863, 
1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 565 

submitted an adverse report thereon; and moved that the prayer of 

the petitioner be not granted, and that the claim be not allowed. 

The report was agreed to, and ordered to be printed. 

Mr. VOORHEES, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 1214) granting a pension to Amos Argle, re- ported it without amendment, and submitted a report thereon; which was ordered to be printed. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(S. No. 1210) granting a pension to Henry A. Armstrong, reported it 

with an amendment, and submitted a report thereon; which was 

ordered to be printed. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 837) granting a pension to William R. Browne, reported it 

without amendment, and submitted a report thereon; which was 

ordered to be printed. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 4378) granting a pension to Arthur W. Irving, submitted 

an"' adverse report thereon; which was order~d to be printed, and the 

bill was postponed indefinitely. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(S.No.ll66)grantingapension toMaryMitchell,submitted an adverse 

report thereon; which was ordered to be printed, and the bill was 

postponed indefinitely . . He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

QI. R. No. 4687) granting a. pension to Georgine Thomas, widow of 

General Charles Thomas, deceased, reported adversely thereon ; and 

the bill~ was postponed indefinitely. 

Mr.· HARRIS, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to 

whoiDt was referred the bill (S. No. 1342) c6lncerning street railroads 

in the District of Columbia, reported it without amendment. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(S. No. 1613) for the relief of the Louise Home, reported it without 

amendment. . MI-. WITHERS, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was re- ferred the petition of Maurice Samuelson, late of Company A, Twelfth 

Maine Volunteers, praying the passage of an :wt granting him back 

pay and extra-duty pay, asked to be discharged from its further con- sideration and that it be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs; 

which waa agreed to. . He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the petition of Maurice Samuelson praying to be allowed a pension, reported 

adversely thereon; and the committee was discharged from its further 

consideration. . · ]i[e also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 734) granting a pension to Syvert A. Anderson; 1·eported 

adversely thereon; and the bill was ·postponed indefinitely. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the petition of Caroline Croxton, widow of John T. Croxton, praying to be 

allowed a pension, submitted an adverse report thereon; which was ordered to be printed, and the committee were discharged from the 

further conside:nation of the petition. . He also, from tpe same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 468-2) granting a pension to Adaline P. Loy, widow of 

Joseph F. Loy, deceased, submitted an adverse report thereon; which was ordered to be printed, and the bill was postponed indefinitely. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 4971) granting a pension to Mary Frazee, reporte.i it without_amendment, and submitted a .report thereon; which was ordered 

to oe printed. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill 

(H. R. No. 3070) granting a pens1on to Mrs. Eliza Bayard Anderson, 

widow of General Robert Anderson, United States Army, reported it 

without amendment,· and submitted a report thereon; which was ordere(l to be printed. . Mr. BRUCE, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred 

the petition of Dr. :Mary E. Walker, praying to be allowed an increase 

of pension, reported a bill (S. No. 1645) granting a pension to Mary 

E. Walker; which was read twice by its title. · He also, from the sap1e committee, to whom was referred the petition of Mrs. Phrebe C. Doxsie, widow of Lieutenant James W. Doxsier 

late of Company G, Twenty-seventh Regiment Michigan Volunteers, pra..ying to be allowed a pension, reported a bill (S. No. 1646) 

granting a pension to Phrebe C. Doxsie ; which was rea.d. twice by its 

title. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill ~H. R. No. 3583) granting a pension to 'Yilliam Denene, reported it 

without amendment, and submitted a report thereon; which was onlered to be priu ted. 

Mr. EDMUNDS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 4200) relating to the National road in 

the State of Maryland, and to give consent 9f the United States to a certain act of the General Assembly of Maryland in relation to said 

road, reported it with an amendment. 

l\Ir. EDMUNDS. I beg leave to make a report for the Senator from 

Michigan [Mr. CHRISTIANCY] from the Judiciary Committee, hb being 

·unable. to be present at this moment on account of sickness. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The report will be rec~ived. 

Mr. EDMln'fl>S, (for Mx:· CHRISTIA...~CY,) from the Committee on the 

Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 410) to provide for 

challenges to jurors in trials for bigamy and polygamy in the Territory of Utah, and to amend section 4 of the a~t entitled "An act in 

relation to courts and judicial officers in the Territory of Utah," approved June 24, 1874, reported it with an amendment. 

BILLS INTRODUCED. 

Mr. HARRIS. By request and with no knowledge as to the merits 

of the measure I ask leave to introduce a bill. 

By unanimous consent, leave was granted to introduce a bill ( S. No. 

1647) to empower the commissioners of the District of Columbia to 

revise, ·correct, or ai:lnulapecial assessments upon the written application of any person whose real property in said District 008 been· assessed, providing for an appeal to the supreme court of the District 

of Columbia from the action of the commissioners in respect to such 

application by any person feeling aggrieved thereby, and for other 

purposes; which was read twice by its title, and referred io the Committee on the District of Columbia. · · Mr. PLUMB asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 1648) to provide for the survey and sale of 

certain public lands; which was read twice by its title, and referred 

to the Committee on Public Lands. 

He also asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 1649) to provide for the holding of terms of the 

district and circuit courts of the United States at Fort Scott, Kansas; 

which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

He also asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to intro-. duce a bill (S. No. 1650) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to 

ascertain and report to Congress the amount of money expended and 

indebtedness assumed by the State of Kansas in repelling invasions 

and suppressing Indian hostilities ; which was read twice by its title, 

and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. 

Mr. DORSEY asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave·to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 1651) making appropriations for the support 

of the government of the District of Colum"bia for the fiscal year 

ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes; which was read twice 

by its title. 

l!J.o. DORSEY. I move that the bill be referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia, for the purpose of revision only. 

The motion was agreed to. . Mr. DORSEY -(by request) asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 1652) to provide for the appointment of a commissioner for the District of Columbia; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on the District 

of Columbia. 

He also (by request)· asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, 

leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 1653) .to amend an act entitled "An 

act providing a permanent form of government for the District of 

Columbia," approved June 11, 1878; which was read twice by its 

title, and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. 

Mr. THURMAN asked, aml by unanimous consent obtained, leave 

to introduce a bill (S. No.1654) granting a pension to Oliver H. Perry; 

which was read twice by its title. and referred to the Committee on Pensions. · 

1\IJ.o. VOORHEES asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave 

to introduce a bill (S. No.1655)granting a. pension to Elmel' A .. Snow; 

which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Pensions. 

Mr. SPENCER asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave 

to introduce a bill (S. No. 1656) for the relief.of Rollin J. Reeves; 

which was read twice by tts title, and referred to the Committee on Claims. 

l\lr. GROVER asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 1657) to ascertain and report the losses of 

citizens of the State of Oregon and the Territories of Idaho and 

:Montana on .account of the destruction of property by hostile Indians 

in the year 1878; which waij read twice by its title, and referred to 

the Committee on Military Affairs. 

Mr. SAUNDERS asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leaye 

to introduce a bill (S. No. 1658) for the relief of John A. Horbachand 

others, sureties upon the official :bond of Edward B. Taylor, formerly 

Indian superintendent in the northern superintendency, aml for other 

purposes; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Claims. · · 

lir. BARNUM asked, and by unanimo~ consent obtained, leave to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 1659) to correct an Army officer's record; 

which was read twice by its title, and referred to t.he Committee on Military Affairs. 

Mr. HOAR asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No.1660) for the relief of Edward Rice; which.was 

read twice by its t,itle, aml referred to the Committee on Finance. . Mr. COCKRELL. I ask leave, without previous notice, to introduce a bill. I ask that it be read at length the :first time, and then 

that it lie on the table, as I may possibly want to make some remarks ~00~ . • 

By unanimous consent, leave was granted to introduce a bill (S. No. 

1661) to provide a uniform national currency, to retire the notes of 

the national banks and prohibit their incorporation and their issue 

of notes, ta utilize silver and silver coin and provide for the issue of 

coin and bullion certificates, to provide for the redemption or payment of the bonds of the United States, and the issue of bonds bear-
566 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. JANUARY 20, 

ino- a. lower rate of interest, and to provide for the expansion and co~traction of the paper currency to meet the business interests and 

wants of the people; which was read the first time at length, as 

follows: 

A bill to provide a uniform natiQD:tl currency, to retire the notes of the national 

banks and prohibit their incorpomtion and their issue of notes, to utilize silver and 

silver coin and ~rovide for the issue of coin and bullion certificates, to provide for the redom\)tion Ol' payment of the bonds of the United States and the issue 

of bonds beanng a lower rate of interest. and to provide for the e:xpanaion and eon traction of the paper currency to meet the business interests and wants of 

the people: Be it enacte<l, 4tc., That immediately upon the pas age of this act the Secretary 

of the Treasury shall cause to be prepared and issued Treasury notes of the United 

States, equal in amount to the aggregate outstanding circulation of Unit-ed States notes and national-bank notes, ana in form as follows, to wit: "The United States 

of America will pay to the bearer -- dollars, redeelllable in coin at the pleasure of the United States, and receivable in payment of all dues and demands to the 

United States," and containing such devices and superscriptions as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct; and said Treasury notes of the United St.ates sha~. in denominations and general similitude, conform as nearly as may be to the s:ud 

United States notes, ana shall be dated and signed by the Treasurer of the United 

States and countersi,ITiled"by the Register of the Treasury, or their signatures may 

be thereto engraved, and shall be received in ~ayment of all taxes, excises, customs duties debts. and demands due to the United States, and of all claims and demands 

against the United States, except such obligations as may be payable in coin by 

ex{lre.ss provision of existing laws. · SEC. 2. As soon as the Treasury notes of the United States herein .vrovided for can be prepared and issued, and as fast as they are ready for circulation, the Secretaryof the Treasury shall canso them to be forwarded to the assistant treasurers of the United States, in amounts proportioned to the receipts and disbursements of 

their several offices, with regulations and instructions to the follow~ effect. to-wit: 

First. That the said several assistant treasurers of the United ;::;w.tes. immediately upon the receipt of such Trea.sury notes, shall cease to pay out, in disbursing 

the public funds, upon any account whatever, the said United States and nationalbank notes, or any of them, then in their several offices or thereafter received. by 

them, and shall in the place of and in substitution for the said United States notes and national-bank notes, and each or either of them, pay out tho said Tren.sm-y notes herein authorized, and shall issue and deliver the said Treasurynotes in exchange 

for the said United States and national-bank notes, and each or either of them, upon 

the application of any person, until the whole amount ?f said Uni~d Sta~ notes and national-bank notes, antl each of them, shall be retired as herem -pronded. , Second. That said assistant treasurers, and each of them, shall at the end of 

each month and oftener, as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, transmit to the Treasurer of the United States at Washington, District of Columbia, all the 

said United States notes and national-bank notes, and each or either of them on hand orrecei>ed by them respectively up to such date, to be received by said Treas- urer in settlement with said several assistant treasurers for the said Treasury notes so forwarded to them respectively as herein provided. SEC. 3. '£he Treasurer of the United States shall, as rapidly as the said United 

St&tes notes are received by him, cause them to be assorted, nnmberod, counted, 

and totally destroyed, and shall, as rapidl_y as the said national-bank notes are re- cei>ed by him cause them to be carefully assorted, numbered, and counted, aml 

the notes of eacll national bank ascertained and as soon as the notes of any national 

ba.nk shall be ascert-ained, to tile amount of $5,000 or anymulti\)le thereof, the said 

national bank shall be dnly notified 'thereof, and required within sixty days there. 

after to redeem its said notes, which shall then be totally destroyed; and tho bonds 

of such national bank on deposit with said Treasurer of the United States to secure its circulation, corresponding to the amount of its said notes so ascertained, re- deemed, and destroyed, a bali be returned to sno_h, bank and st~ch ~ank s~ thereafter be releru;ed and discharged from any further tax on Its c~ulation to the amount of its said notes so redeemed and destroyed; aJlil each national bank shall 

have the riuht to redeem its said notes with the Treasury notes herein authorized, or with drafts or certificates of deposit issued by any one of said assistant tr_eas- urers or with coin or coin certificates issued by authority of law. 

.And ii any national !Jan k shall fail, neglect, or refuse, withfu sixty days after the date of sue\!. notice, to redeem its said notes, then the interest on its bonds depos- ited with the Treasurer to .secure its circulation and bearing the highest rate of interest, oorrespondino- to the amount of its said notes so ascertained as aforesaid, 

shall ceaae•from tho .. day of the date of such notice and be forfeited to tho United 

States and be canceled up to the day of the redemption of its aai.d not-es; and any 

national bank shall havelthe right to withdraw and receive from said Treasurer at any time all its bonds or any portion thereof, on payin~. to sa~d Treasurer, as hro:ein 

authorized, an amount corresponding to thea.moun_t of Its smd bonds so to be Withdrawn and received. 

SEc. 4. From and after the passage of this act no national ba,nk or. national 

banking association shall be formed, .incorpomted, or chartered or sha_ll1ssue any notes for circuL'\tion under any law of the United States, and all laws and J>arts of 

laws and all acts and parts of a<:ts now existing ~thorizin~_thc forml?g1 mcorpo- ra.ting or cbll-rtering of any national bank or nat1onal banlilng assoCiation or the 

issuing by any· such national bank or national banking association of notes for 

circulation are hereby repealed. SEC. 5. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby required and direct¥.d, from 

time to time as the said national-bank notes are redeemed as herein provided, to pay la.y ou4 and expend the said Treasury notes of the 1Jnite<l States, to the full 

and' equal amount of such national-bank notes so redeemed, in the purchase of 

silver bullion-bars-and coins of foreign governments and each ?r either of tb~m. 

upon the lowest and most advantageous terms, at a rate and pnce not exceedin~ 

81 in the face amount of said Treasury notes for each 41%- grains of sil>er, o:r standard weight and fineness, and as rapidly as such sil vet· bullion-bat:s-~d coins 

of foreign governments are so purchased, to cause the same to be corned mto the 

standard silver dollar now authorized by law, and as rapidly as such silver dol- lars are ooi:rwd to call in, redeem, and pay with said silver dollars, in tho manner herein auth~ed, the outstanding obli~tions or bonds of the Unit.ed States now redeemable at the pleasure of the Umted States, bearing 6 J>er cent. per annum interest . and when all the Said bonds now redeemable, b-earing 6 per cent. inter- est are ~o called in and redeemed, then to call in and redeem in liko manner the 

ont'atanding bonds now redeemable at the pleasure of the Unitetl States and l>~aring 5 per cent. interest and known as the "ten-forties of 1864" and the ''loal'i of 

1858." SI>C. 6. In order to enable the Secretary of tho Treasury to coin said sil \"Or dollars as rapidly as possible, he is hereby authorized and req~d to raus~ the facilities 

and capacities of the mints of the United States toIle Improvetl, mcreased, and 

enlarged; and whatever sum or sums of mo~ey ma-r l>e neces_sary for. such purposes zs hereby apl!ropriated out of any money lD the Treasury of tho Umt.ed States. SEc. 7. The' S6creta.ry of the Treasury is hereby n.uthorize<l and required tore- ceive deposits of gold coin and bullion and silver dollars with the Trea.'iurel" or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than $5, and to issue cer- tificates therefor in denominations of not less than $5 each, c.orresponding with the 

denominations of the Treasury notes of the United States herein autllorized, and 

of the form and similitude of the coin or bullion certificates issued under existing 

lai~e coin and bullion deposited for or representing the certificatM of deposit sh~ll be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand, an(\ any certificates so paid may be reissued from time t~ time upon a like depo:\it of gold ooin and 

bullion and silver dollars, and the fa{lt and date of such reissue 11hnll be stamped or impressed upon the face thereof; and fue said certificates' sl\all bo received at par in payment for all debts, excises, taxes, customs duties, and demands of every kind dna to the United Stab~s. and for any of the :i per cent. bonds of the United 

States herein authorized, and when so received the said certificates shall be from 

time to time reiss11ed as herein provided, or the coin in the Treasury representin,2 

them mav be used as other coin belonging to the United States. 

And whenever and as soon as the market value of 412! grains of silver bullion or foreign silver coins of the standard weight· and fineness of the United States shall 

be at par with the face value of the Treasury notes of the United States herein 

authorized, then the Secretary of the Treasury is hereb:y authorized and required to receive deposits of such silver bullion or foreign coms with the 'l.'reaSUI-er or any assistant treasurer of the Unite<\ States in sums of not less than $5 estimating 412~ ~rains of silver of standartl weight and fineness to the dollar, and to issue 

certificate therefor in denominations of not less than $5-a.t said estimate-each, correspondin ~ witb the denominations of the Treasury notes of the United States 

herein authorized ; and the said certificates shall be ol the form and similitude in all respects of the certificates herein authorized to be issued for gold coin and bull· 

ion and sil>er dollars, anti shall in like manner, in all respects, be reissu6(l aml 

received. .A.url the gold and silver bullion and foreign silver coins as he1-ein au- thorized to be depo ited and r~eived ma.y, in the discretion of the Secretary of tbe 

Treasury, be coined at the mints of tho United States into gold and sil>er coins of 

the standard value of the Unite<l States as authorized by law; and when so coined, 

such p;old and silver coins shall be held and used in the same manner and for t,he same purposes as the gold coin and silver dollars herein authorized to be deposited 

and l"'}Cei>ed may be held and used. • SEc 8. From and after the passage of this act no discrimination in favor of gold 

coin or against silver dollars, and no discrimination or preference between gold 

coin and silver dollars sllall be made or allowed by any disbursing officer of" the 

United States or his employe. And the Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasurer, 

all assistant treasurers, and all disbursin~ otlicers of tho United-States shall reserve to the United Stares and exercise for the uenclit of tho {lOOple thereof their rightful 

option to redeem or pay in golcl and silver coins, or e1ther, all the bonds and all 

interest, the Treasury notes, and all obligations of the United States redeemable or payable by law in coin; and shall exercise such option in disbursing such standard 

coins in such mauner as to maintain unimpaired their relative value and the double or bimetallic standard. 

f;j&c. 9. In order to provide for the redemption and payment of. the obligations or bonds of the United States now redeemable or payable and hereafter beComing redeemable or payable, and to reduce the rate of interest on the public debt, the Secretary of the Tnmsury is hereby authorized and required to ca"ISe to be prepared 

and to issue in a sum or sums not exceeding in the agp;regate the amount Q.f•said 

bonds now redeemable or payable and hereafter becoming redeemable or payable, and at such times as to provide for their redemption or payment as the,r. severally 

become redeemable or payable, coupon .and registered bonds of the Umted.States, 

and each or either of those classes, in such form as he ma.y prescribe, and of the 

denominations of $50, or some multiple thereof, rotleemal.lle at the pleasure of 

the United States a.t any time after, ten years from their dates respectively, and 

bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. per annnm, payabl~ quarter ¥early; and not; less than two hundred millions of said bonds shall '1e :~f the llenommation 

of ~. and not less than two hundred millions of said bonds "hall be of the denomination of $100; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall sell and dispose of said 

bonds, at not less than their par or face value, for golt.I coins or silver dollars now authorized by law, or for gold-coin certificates or silver-coin certificates, or gold or sil>er bullion certificates, authorized by law now existing or herein authorized. 

and shall apply the proceeds thereof to the redemption or payment of the pre eut outstanding bonds of the United States, at their par or face value, now redeemable or payable aml hereafter becoming redeemable or payable, and shall exchanf.O an.v bonds herein authorized for any present outstanding bonds ot ·tho United ~tates, 

par for par, upon the application of the holder or holders thereof. 

SEc. 10. Herea.f~er the Secretary of the Treasury, in calling in, redeeming, and 

paying the bonds of the United States, shall give public notico, describing by class, 

dates, and number the particular bonds to be redeemed or pahl and sta tin~ the day 

of such intended redemption or payment. .And the interest on .the particutar bonds so described and to be redeemed or paid shall cease at the expiration of twenty days 

from tlte date of such notice. 

SEc. 11. From and clter the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for the 

Secretary of the Treasury to issue or dispose of any bond or bonds of the United 

States not authorized by this act or bearing a higher rate of intert~st than 3 per cant. perannum. • SEC. 12. In order to provide for the business interests of the people and to regu- late the proper expansion and contmction of the paper cuiTency of the Unit-ed 

States and to gi>e elasticity thereto. the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required to cause to be prepared and to issue, in addition to the amount of the Treasury notes of the United States hereinbefore authorized, other Treasury notes of the United States of the like fonn, character, conilitions, description, and 

denominations with those hereinbefore authorized, in such amounts~ from time to time, as may be needed, and to cause the same to be delivei'ed, by ana throuzh the Treasurer of the United States and each of the assistant treasnrers of the Uni~ 

States at their respective offices, to any person or persons applying therefor, upon 

the deposit with a.nd delivery to said Treasurer or any assistant treasurer ~y such 

pet'SOn or persons of an eg.ual amount of any bonds of the United Stateslbearing 

mterest, estimating principal and interest thereon accrued at such date. bd the ·said bonds so received in exchange for such Treasury notes shall be held or tr:Qlsmitted to and held by the Treasurer of the United States, and all in}erest a.OOruing thereon O.uring the time such bond or bonds are so held and in transit shall cease and be canceled. And the said bond or bonds,shall be returned and deliv- ered to such person or persons upon application and <leposit with and delivery to said Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of an equal amount of any Treasur.v no~ 

of the United States, and thereupon the interest on such bond or bonds shall~ 

to accrue and run. And such Treasury notes may in like mnnner be reissued and 

received from time to time. 

SEc. 13. The Secretary of the Treasury shall make to Congress on the first day of 

each regular session full and detailed reports of his opemtions and proceedings 

under tliis acl!, in connection witli his regular finance report. SEC. 14. All laws and parts of laws, and all acts and parts of acts, inconsistent or in conflict witb any of the pro>isions or requirements of this act are hereby repealed. 

The bill was read the second time by its title, and ordered to lie ou 

the table. 

Mr. KERNAN asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 

introduce a joint resolution (S. R. No. 49). ant~orizing t.he Presi~en t 

to appQint Surgeon J. Rufus Tryon a medicalmspector m tim Umted 

States Navy; which was read twice by its title. 

1\lr. KERNAN. I introduce the joint resolution by request, and I 

wish to say· that -while my impressions are strongly a.gains~ this k~nd 

of leaisl:l.tion, I think this is as meritorious as any of the simll3.1' clmms 

presgnted. I move the reference of the joint resolution to t};le Committee on Naval Affairs. · The motion was agreed to. 
1879 . . ~ CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SEN.._L\.TE. 567 

PAPERS WITHDRAWN ~"D REFERRED. 

On motion of ~- CONKLING, it was 

Ordered, That the petition of Henry· Mentz be taken from the files of the Senate 

and referred to the ~mmittee on Pensions. 

DEN. HOLLADAY. 

Mr. MITCHELL submitted the following resolution; which was re.ferred-to the Committee on Printing: 

Resolved, That 1,000 copies of Senate bill No. 1398 and accompanying report No. 513 be printed for the use of the two Houses of Congress, the number het·eto- fore printe<l being exhausted. . • . 

THIRTE:E;NTH, FOURTEE~"TH, AND FIFTEENTH Al\IE~TJ>ME~"'T . 

Mr. MORGAN. I submit the following resolutions, which I intend 

to offer as a substitute for tho resolution of the Sena,tor from Vermont, [M.r. EnMmms.) I ask that tbey be read, printed, and laid on the table. · The resolutions were read, as follows: 

1. Ruolved, as thil judgment of the Senate, That the thirteenth, fourt-eenth, and 

fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States arc a.s .valid and 

binding as any other part of the Constitution; that the people of the United States have a. common interest-in the enforcement of the whole Constitution in every State and in the Territories of the United States, and that it is alike the right ann duty of the United States, so far as the power ha.s beea delegated to them, to en· force said amendments and to protect every citizen in the exercise of all the rights 

thereby securoo. 2. Resolr:ecl, That the Go;yernment of the United States and the governments of 

the several States are d.istiilct, and each has citizens of its own, who owe it alle· giance and whose rl~tbts within its ,jurisdiction it must protect. That the Govern- ment of the United States is one ef dele~mted powers alone. Its authority is tle· 

fined and limited by the Constitution. All powers not granted to it by that instru· 

ment, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the ·people. And that no 1ight can be acquired under the Constitution, or secured through the laws of the United States, except such as the Government of 

the United States has the authority to ~nt or secure. 3. ·Jl&olved, That the Constitution of the United States has notoonferred the right 

of suffrap;e npon any one anti the United States have no >oters of their own crea- tion in the States; but tho fifteenth amendment of the Constitution has invested 

the citizens of the United States wit.h a new constitutional right, which is, exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. And it is within the jurisdiction of the 

Government of tho United States, which Congress may exert by appropriate legis- lation, to prevent the denial or abridgment by a State of the right of a citizen to vote when such denial or abridwnent is on account of the race, or color, or pre· vions condition of servitude of the voter. 4. R esolved, That when such right to vote is deniod or abpd~ed by the conduct of a person who is not so acting by the authority and in obedience to the laws of a State, the jurisdiction to punish such conduct is in the State government and is not in the Government of the United Stab~s. 

The resolutions were ordered to lie on the table, and be printed. 

ROBERT ERWL~. 

Mr. GORDON. I ask unanimous consent to reconsider the vote by 

which the bill (S. No: 1215) to amend an act entitled" An act for the 

the relief of Robert Erwin" was, indefinitely postponed, and recom- mit it1to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair he::u-s no objection, and the ~rder will be entered. · 

ADl\llSSIONS TO THE FLOOR. 

Mr. ANTHONY submitted the following resolution; which was re- ferred to tho Committee on Rules: 

Resol-oed That the sixtieth rule of the Senate be amended by inserting after the 

wortls "judges of the Sup_reme Court " the words "judges of the Court of Claims." 

THE CALENDAR • . 

Mr. ANTHONY. Mr. President, I almost despair of doing anything 

for our poor Calendar1 which is bending beneath the weight of favorable reports; but I will try ence more and in another form. I oii'er 

the following resolution, and ask for its present coH.Bideration : 

Resolved, Th.at at the conclusion of the morning business each day after this 

day theiSenate will proceed to the consideration of the Calendar, and contin'ile such 

(:ODsidera.tion until half past one o'clock;· and bills that are not objected to shall be taken np in their order, and each Senator shall be entitled to speak once, and 

for five minutes only, unless upon motion the Senate shall at any time otherwiseorder; and the objection may be interposed at any stage of the proceedings. 

The resolution was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to. 

~"DME~'T TO POST-ROUTE BILL. 

1\Ir. PLUMB submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 

him to the bill (H. R. No. 5218) to establish post-routes herein named; 

*hich was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads. 

1\IESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. GEORGE M. 

AvAMs, its Clerk, announced that the House had passed the following bil1s, in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate: 

A bill (H. R. No. 850) for the relief of Daniel W. Perkins, of East 

Saginaw, Michigan; ) 

A bill (H. R. No. 2160) for tho relief o.f the heirs of Samuel P. Todd, 

deceased, late a plll'8er in the United States Navy; . A bill (H. R. No. 5861) for the relief of the hei.rs and legal representatives .of Israel Dodge, deceased; and 

A bill (H. R. No. 4553) for reviVing and continuing the court of 

commissioners of Alabama claims, and for the distribution of the un- appropriated moneys of the Geneva award. 

The message also announced that the House had passed the following billB: 

A bill (S. No. 753) to confirm a certain private land claim in the 

Territory of New Mexico; and 

• 

A bill (S. No. 854) for the adjudication of title to L·mds claimed by Jose Apia and Pablo Apis, in the State of California. 

The message further announced . that the House had agre~d to the 

amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. No. 5501) malting appropriations for the payment of invalid and other pensions of the United 

States for the year ending J nne 30, 1880. 

REYISIOX OF THE PATE1\'T LAWS. 

The VICE-PRESIDE~7. The Senate will now proceed to the con- sideration of its unfinished business, being the bill (S. No. 300) t9 

amend the statutes in relation to patents, and for other purposes. The 

bill is before the Senate as in Oommittee of the Whole, and the pend- in~ question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. DAYIS] on which the yeas and nays haye been ordered. 

Mr. WADLEIGH. I withdraw the caU for the yeas and nays if it 

is in order for me to do so. The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair understands that the amendment has been voted on, no quorum appearing, and it is not in order 

to withdraw the call without unanimous consent. 

Mr. CONKLING. What is the amendment f 

The VICE-~RESIDENT. That of the Senator from lllinois, [Mr. 

DAVIS,) which will be reported for information. 

Mr. ·wADLEIGH. I trust unanimous consent will be given to 

withdraw the call. 

Mr. CONKLING. Let us hear the amendment first. 

The SECRETARY. It is proposed to add at the end of section 5 the 

following proviso: 

Provided, That it shall not be lawful to grant any reissue of any patent for any invention, except the invention which wa.s embraced in th~ original patent. 

1\Ir. CONKLING. The withdrawal of the call will leave the amendment adoptad f 

Mr. DAVIS, of Illinois. Yes. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. It will not. 

Mr. DAVIS, of Illinois. It was declared adopted, and then a call was made for the yeas a,nd nays, and there were 25 votes for the 

amendment and 11 against it. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. No quorum was developed upon that 

vote. 

Mr. CONKLING. So that a withdrawal of the call would leave 

the amendment, if the Chair will oo kind to state, in what condition f 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. Pending, as the Chair understands. He was not in the chair at the time. • Mr. CONKLING. Then there is n~ object in withdrawing the call, 

I suggest to tbe Senator. 

Mr. WAD LEIGH. If that is the case, of course I do not aak to 

withdraw the call. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Secretary will call.the roll upon the 

amendment of the Senator from illinois, [Mr. DAVIS.) 

The question being taken by yeas and nays resulted-yens 39, nays 

0 ; aa follows : 

Allison, Dennis, 

Armstl'Ong, Eaton, 

Book, Edmunds, 

Booth, Gordon, BrUce, Grover, Burnside, Harris, Cockrell, Hereford, 

Conkling, Hoar, 

Davis of lllinoi.s, Johnston, Davis of West Va., Kernan, 

YEA.S--39. 

~~nrr!!: Matthews, Maxey, 

Mitchell, 

Morgan, 

Morrill, Paddock, 

Patterson, Plumb, 

N.AYS-0. 

.A.BSENT-37. 

Anthony, Coke, Ingalls, 

Bailey, Conover, Jones of Florida, Ba.rnnm, Dawes, Jones of Nevada, 

Bayard, Dorsey, Kellogg, Blaine, Eustis, KirkWOOd, 

Butler, Ferry, Lamar, 

Cameron of P a ., Garland, :McDonald, Cameron of Wis., Hamlin, McPherson, 

Chaffee, Hill Merriman, Chri.stiancy, Ho~e, Oglesby, 

Ransom, Sargent, Saunders, 

Spencer, Voorhees, Wadleigh, Wallace, 

Windom, W ithers. 

RaDdolph, Rollins, Saulsbury, Sharon, Teller, Thurman, Whyte. 

So the amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. WADLEIGH. I move to ameud section 7. The changes proposed are merely verbal and to correct a mistake in the bill as re- ported. After the word "person," in the second line of the seventh 

section, I move to insert the words "as sole inventor;" to insert after 

the word "persons," in the third line, the words "as joint inventors t' 

to insert after the word "inYention," in the fourth line, the word 

"not;" and to strike out after the word" by," in the fonrt4 line, the . words "one or more of them" and insert "all of said persons jointly;'' so as to.read: 

Whenever a patent has been issued to one person as sole inventor for an inven- tion actuallv Iriade by him jointly with an9tber or others, or a patent has been 

issued to several persons as joint inventors for an .in>ention not mado _by all of 

said persons jointly, and such error has arisen through inadvertence, acctdent, or mistake, the Commissioner, upon the application and oath of the true inTentor or in- ventors, nnd with the written consent of all the owners of said patent entered of 

record, may correct the mistAke. 

The amendment W38 agreed to . 

./ 
568 CONGRESSIONAL R~OORD-SENATE. JANUARY 20, 

Mr. WADLEIGH. I move to add at the end of section 15 the following: 

The Co11missioner of Patents shall, with the approval of the ~ecretary of the _ Interior, prescribe the qualifications of agents and att()rneys practicing before the : office, and shall admit ro practice only sucn as vossess the qualifications pre cl'ibed. 

~. CONKLING. Mr. President, I should like to know what "the 

qualifications" possessed by attorneys and intended by that amendment are. l\Ir. WAD LEIGH. The qualifications will be such as are prescribed, 

and I presume when prescribed they will be reasonable. The evil 

which this is intended to remove is this : there now being no patent 

bar admission to which can be obtained on application, any person 

who can procure a letter of attorney fl'Om any inventor has a right 

to go to the office and handle the papers and look over the files and 

practice before the Patent Office. This admits of course per!1ons of all 

characters and persons of no responsibility, and the office incurs the 

danger of having its files tampered with. 

Experience has shown the necea&ity of some provision of this kind 

for the purpose of requiring certain qualifications and a certain degree 

of responsibility on the part of those who have such powers granted 

to them from the fact that they are able to secure lettep of attorney 

lrom patentees. I hope there will be no opposition to the amendment. 

Mr. CONKLING. Is it designed if some counsMor or attorney of a court comes here from a distance to see about a matter relating to a patent, that before he can approach the Patent Office he must go 

and be admitted as a practitioner f 

.Mr. WAD LEIGH. Not at all, Mr. President. · No counselor in such a case as that would bo refused leave to practice. It is only to exclude 

from entering the Patent Office, examining the files, and tampering 

with the files, any shyster or any man who may be able to procure from an inventor a letter of attorney. I care nothing about the amendment personally. 

1\Ir. CONKLING. We shall all agree, of course, with the object the 

Senator has in view ; and my purpose in calling attention to this is 

only to invite scrutiny to see whether it does accomplish that object. 

The Commissioner of Patents shall, with the approval of the Secretary of the 

Interior, prescribe the qualifications of agents and attorneys practicing before the 

Gffice, and shall admit to prootice only such as possess the qualifications pres ribed. 

Of course, on the face of it, if it be applied onlr to those living in 

Washington, it is very harmless; but theCommisswner is to find who 

it is that possesses these qualifications. Of course I assume that every man upon 'whom this operates must present some proof, must come furnished or must furnish himself with some sort of proof. · Here comes a man a considerable distance from home. He has other busi- ness in Washington, and some neighbor of his char~es him with an errand about his patent. If this means, aa I think 1t does, that be- . fore he can do that business he must be admitted regularly to prac- . tice in the Patent Office, would have to go through whatever forms are prescribed, having certificates of character or papers, whatever 

they may be, upon which business is to .be done, I should think it 

might become inconvenient. 

I sympathize with the Senator in the object he points out; but why 

make it a regular matter of admission 7 If he were to say that the 

Commissioner of Patents or the Secretary of the Interior or both were in some way to be satisfied of the standing of this man, of the authenticity of the papers that he brings, that be was to be scrutinized in eome way, that might be .very well; but this seems to require and 

contemplate a formal admission to practice. That is very easy for 

those who make it a business, in whose case it is worth while to be 

admitted, particularly those residing here; but if a man comes cas- ually to Washington to appear before the office, it seems to me this is 

hedging it about with requirements that might possibly operate as a hardship upon him. I do not mean to oppose the amendment, but 

simply to call the attention of the chairman to what I have suggested. 

.Mr. W .AD LE-IGH; It certainly was not the intention of the com- mittee, or the framer of the amendment, I suppose, to require what 

my friend the Senator from New York seems to fear; but I will admit 

that in the case of all courts there should be some qualifications for 

t hose w bo are to practice before them ; and if there is a necessity for 

that in the case of any court or any tribunal, there is in the Patent 

Office. In fac~ I think there is a greater necessity for a provision of 

this kind in the Patent Office than there is in any court in this conn- try, because those who are attorneys practicing before the Patent 

Office have an opportunity to do harm-which no attorney would be 

likely to have practicing before any court of law. I suppose the rules 

must be so reasonable that in the case to which my friend from New 

York has referred the fa~t that a person appeared here who was an attorney in good standing in the courts of any of -the States of the 

United States would be sufficient, and he could prove that at any time 

in Washington. · l\Ir. EDMUNDS. This subject of prescribing a kind of arrangement that should make a bar and establish certain securities for the 

public interests in practicing before the Departments is not a new one. The abuses of existino- arrangements have been undoubtedly considerable, not merely in the Patent Office but before other Departments, and for several years past at nearly every Congress there 

has been p_resented some bill or proposition to regulate the qualifications and conditions of persons and under which claims, &c., should 

be prosecuted in the Treasury Department. And ret when we have oome to t urn our attention to it , as one committee of which I am a 

member has sometimes been obliged to do, we have found the subject 

surrounded by so many difficulties, as to where :vou -shall draw the 

Iine, as to who may go to the Treasury Department to prosecute a claim or to the War Department or wherever it may be, or who may 

go to the Patent Office to prosecute a claim, that we- have not been 

able to produce any regulation of law that is satisfactory even to 

ourselves. There is at this moment pending before the Committee on the Judiciary a bill to regulate the rights of attorneys practicing before tB.e Patent Office, it being asserted to us-I do not say it is t.rue, 

but that is the allegation-that under a former Commissioner of Patents there was-a certain kind of favoritism in the nature of a ring, 

if one may trSe such a term as that in the Senate of the United States, 

t·hat led to very unpleasant results in respect to the rights of persons 

whose claims and matters were being prosecuted there; and yet there are difficulties in making any provision at all. 

Now, the question is whether it is wise in this bill to put the absolute power into the hands of the Commissio:m.er of Patents and the 

Secretary of the Interior to determine the qualifications of the agents 

and attorneys in patent matters. That involves the right (because 

"qualifications" would cover that in my opinion) of declaring that 

everybody who appears in the Patent Office for any inventor or a~ainst 

any inventor, for any ,patent or against any patent, should res1de in 

the city of 'Vashington, and to have been previously admitted on the 

payment of a fee or whatever it may be to carry on affairs in that tribunal. 

I am unwilling at this present moment, and without more time to 

consider it, to repose in the Commissioner of Patents, the Secretary 

ef the Interior approving or disapproving, the power of denying to 

any citizen of the United States the right ta go there with the papers 

of some poor inventor, or with the papers of some interference claimant or objector and to file those papers and put in his protest. There are evils that exist; but the question is whether in flying from the 

evils that do exist we do not fly into the possibilities of establishing 

under some Commissioner of Patents who may come hereafter-! 

should have entire confidence in the present Secretary of the Interior 

and the present Commissioner of Patents-but under somebody who 

may succeed them, of laying down a series of qualifications and rules 

about this business that would be highly objectionable. · I have no doubt of the power of the Secretary of the Interior and 

the Commissioner of Patents now to take any necessary steps to 

guard against either the tampering with papers which naturally never ought to be out of the sight and possession of the officers of the 

Patent Office, or tampering with clerks who ha.ve charge of papers. 

The Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Patent-s have 

exercised those powers. Whether they have exercised them wisely 

in some ca.aes that have been brought to my attention, is another 

question; but they have exercised them, because it is amere reguln.-

tion of "the administration of" their duties to guard the performanc-e 

of what the law has imposed upon them. 

I app~al, therefore, to my honorable friend from New Hampshire to 

withdraw this amendment and not to press it; let the law stand as it does, and under it I believe that for all the purposes of protection 

the Secretary has sufficient present power; but to give him the absolute power as the statute now does in respect to the courts to make 

rules and· regulations for the admission of attorneys, I should be a little afraid to do just now. Mr. W .AD LEIGH. ~~. President, I desire to say that this amendment was proposed to me by General· Paine, the present Commissioner 

of Patents, in whose integrity and high ability I have all confidence. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. So have I. I hope the Senator does not misunderstand me about that. 

Mr. WADLEIGH. He regards it as being of great importance to 

prevent tho evils which have grown np in the office and which have 

proved very serious. A.s for myself I have no particular interest in 

the amendment and no personal desire about it; but my friend, the 

Senator from Vermont, if he has had any experience of the business 

before the Patent Office, must have heard complaints of the character of those to which I have alluded. 

I shall not ask for a yea-and-pay vote upon the a.mendment, but I 

should like to have the question submitted to the Senate. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from New Hampshire. The amendment was rejected. 

Mr. WINDOM. If the committee have no further amendment I 

wish to offer an additional section. 

Mr. BOOTH. The Senator from New Hampshire gave notice ot 

another amendment. 

Mr. WAD LEIGH. There is an amendment which purports to have 

been offered by the Senator from Kansa.s, [Mr. INGALLS,] but which 

I offered. It has not yet been acted on. The VICE-PRESIDENT. It will be read. 

The- SECRETARY. The amendment is in section 19, to strikeout from 

and including the words "but nothing," in line 14, all the remainder 

of said section, and insert in lieu thereof " but this section shall not 

apply to any patent which has heretofore expired by operation of 

existing law." 

The amendment was agreed to. :Mr. WITHERS. I submitted an amendment sl)me time ago to the eighteenth section. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. It will be read. 

• 
1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 569 

The SECRETARY. In section IS, after line 15, it is proposed to in- ser,t:· · 

Ana provided fv:rther, That in all .eases where patents have been passed and 

allowed since July 8, !870, but have been and are still withheld under the provisions of section 4885 of the Revised Statutes, because of non-payment of the final 

fee within the time prescribed, the Commissioner of Patents, upon payment of 

such final fee within six months after the passa~e of this act, shall issue the said 

patents, as if the final fee had been paid within tne time heretofore prescribed by law, which ]?&tents so issued shall bear date of the time of the actuat issue of the same: P·rotrided1 That no person shall be held responsible in damages for having, previous to the lBsuing of such patents, used or manufactured any article or thirig 

for which any patent may issue under this act. 

Mr. WITHERS. I offered the amendment by request, but I have 

see.q a communication from the Commissioner stating that very great 

disturbance would be created by the adoption of such an amendment, 

from the fact that there were a very large number of patents which 

would be affected by i~ amounting to several thonsand in number. 

In many cases parties nave secured patents which have lapsed by 

failure of the payment of the last fee, and the inventions have gone 

into the manti4cture of articles under other patents, and if this 

amendment were adopted the Commissioner thinks their business· would be ruined. I therefore move this additional amendment, to come in after the word "act,'' at the end of the last proviso, to protect them against that injury, as follows: · 

Nor shan any person now engaged in the use and manufacture of any such article er thing be debarred from continuing such nse or manufacture by any patents that 

may be issued as aforesaid. . 

This will protect them not only against any damages for having 

previous to the issuing of the patent manufa-ctured any article or thing for which the patent may be issued, but will also not prohibit 

their co~tinuing the nse and manufacture of such article. I think it 

will meet the objection urged by the Commissioner. 

Mr. WAD LEIGH. Mr. President, it would not by any means re· move the objection. The parties who· applied for patents and to whom 

they would have been granted upon the payment o~ the remainder 

of the fee allowed the two years to elapse before paymg the ~ee, and 

thereby abandoned their patents. Their inventions have gone into 

nse, perhaps1 in other patents; and no proviso like that of my friend 

from Virgima can, it seems to me, remove the evils that would arise 

from the revival of so large a number of patents which have expired. 

I think the Commissioner says the number of patents which have 

expired and would be revived substantially by this is more than 

seventeen thousand. In many cases certain parts of the claims in · these applications have gone into other patents, and it would occasion an immense amount of confusion and trouble to pass a provision of 

this kind, which I think is wholly unheard of and unprecedented, and 

the evils of which would be vastly greater than any benefits that could be derived from it. · Mr. WITHERS. I admit that my understanding of the communication from the Commissioner does not coincid~ fullJ with that of my 

friend from New Hampshire. It does not, as I understand, affect 

seventeen thousand cases in which patents may be issued; 'but he 

simply states that about that number of cases have lapsed tmder the 

provisions of the general law by the failure of the payment of the 

final fee. As to the number which have been subsequently patented 

the Commissioner is silent, and I assume therefore that his communi- cation on that subject does not materially affect the question, althou~h 

it is certainly possible and indeed probable that many cases exist m which the patents have subsequently lapsed by failure of the payment of the final fee. 

The only object I had in presenting it waa to secure some protectiem, if it were possible to do so, for those cases in which ~~opplicants 

for patents have been deprived of the protection of the law and the 

benefit of a patent by reason of their inability, their poverty not ren- dering it practicable for them to pay this final fee; and to give them an opportunity in meritorions oases to procure this benefit I introduced the amendment, and it does seem to me that with the modification I have just offered no persons interested will be prejudiced by 

the issuance of the patent. 

Mr; HOAR. Is there an amendment to this printed amendment T 

Mr. WITHERS. The amendment is printed. · Mr. HOAR. Is there an amendment besides what is in print 'I 

Mr. WITHERS. Yes, sir. I offer an additional amendment to come in at the conclnsion of the sixteenth line, simply providing that per- ons now engaged in the use and manufacture of any such article 

shall not be debarred from oontipuing such manufacture and use. ~lr. HOAR. The amendment offered by the Senator from Virginia, is not confined to the class of oases which be undertakes to provide 

for. His argument is that he desires to relieve persons who have been unable to pay the fee from poverty. His amendment revives the right of all persons who made a claim since 1870, who did not pay the fee, whether they did not pay it from poverty or because t,hey thought the 

patent worthless or for any other reason, so that it would enable speculators in patents to find applications which had been abandoned 

for any good canse by the owner, revive them, pay the fee on them, 

and bring them forward as an instrument in litigation. It seems to me that the Senator would hardly desire to accomplish that result; 

but his amendment as he now offers it is liable to that difficulty. 

Mr. WITHERS. The Senator is perfectly right in supposing that such is not my purpose; but I submit. that it is not a violent presumption to assume that where applications have failed to be consummated 

for want of the final fee, where the patents had merit in them, this 

could only have arisen from inability to meet the payment · that if an invention were merltorions, if there were anything in it llkely tomake it valuable, nothin~ but an actual inability to pay the final fee 

in order to secure to the mventor the right to a patent would haveprevented such payment; and in all cases, therefore, in which payment has not been made where the patents a):'e meritorious, I havethought it not illogical to assume that it was for want of means. Mr. WAD LEIGH. The Senator is well awj)>re of the difficulty of 

securing the passage of an extension bill on this floor. That difficulty 

arises in every case when an individual has a meritorious claim, and 

yet almost always those extensions are applied for before the expiration of the patent; and parties have given notice before engaging in 

any business based on a patent of the hostility they make to extensions. Now, it is proposed by a little amendment to this bill to revi v& 

in fact more than seventeen thousand patents. . Mr. WITHERS. No; these are cases where patents have never issued. . Mr. W .A.DLEI~H. Well, to revive them. They have been abandoned. _ They have been abandoned by the inventors. 

Mr. WITHERS. They httve lapsed by reason of the provision of 

the law. 

Mr. WAD LEIGH. The inventors had two years to pay the final 

fee, and they have not paid it. They have abandoned. their inventions. Now. if there are any individual cases, and possibly there may 

be some individual cases, in which it is desirable that the patents· should be revived, they can secu~e an act of Congress, upon the ex- amination of the subject-matter, which will authorize such revival ;: 

but it seems to me that the passage of this amendment will give thewidest and most boundless ranae to speculators in patents and will invol~e the public in unbounded litigation and.expense. I regard it. as being in the highest degree dangerous, and I am surprised that my 

friend the Senator from Virginia, who can hardly ever vote for theextension of a single patent, is willing to urge here an amendment 

which may revive several thousand patents, the effect of which hecannot possibly know and we cannot judge. 

.A. measure of this kind is pressed by somebody who is interested. 

What is that interest J It is for the interest of men who speculate in 

patents, men who seek to revive old patents, men who obtain reissues· fraudulently, that an amendment of this kind should pass. r know 

my friend, the Senator from Virginia, too well to suppose that he has: 

any such object, and I have no doubt that he presents it as he says 

by the request of parties in whom he has confidence, but I am satisfied that the result, if the amendment passes, will be in the highest 

degree disastrous. 

Mr. WITHERS. My friend seems to confound the reissue of a patent with the granting of a patent. It is true that I have as a general principle opposed the extension of patents, t4e reissue of patents, . particularly in certain directions in which my constituents have a deep interest. But this is not the case of a reissue of a. patent; it is 

not the case of an extension of a patent; but it is simply_ a question 

whether the originator of an invention shall be entitled to secure the 

issue of a patent for that to which, so far as this amendment is con- cerned, no patent ha.s ever issued. It is possible that a subsequ~nt 

patent may have been issued coverin~ part of the same thing, but it 

does not follow from the amendment I offer that it sha.ll operate as a reis~a · · · 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question. is on the amendment or the Senator from Virginia. 

The amendment was rejected. 

:Mr. WINDOM. I now offer my amendment, to insert as an additional section the following: 

SEC. -. In any suit brought in any cour t now hanng jurisdiction in patent ca~es· for au allegefl infrin~ement of any patented article, deYice, process, invention, or discovery, where it snall appear th.at the defendant purchased the same from the 

manufacturer thereof, or from ~ person or firm ~ngaged in the open sale or practi- cal application thereof, or that he manufootured or applied the same for and to his 

own use, and not for sale nor for making a product for sale, if the plaintiff shall reco>er a judgment for merely nominal dama~es, the court shall adjudge that he 

pay all the costs of the suit ; am1 if the plaintiff shall not recover the sum of $50 

or over, the court shall adjudge him to pay his own costs, unless it shall also appear that tho defendant, at the time of such purchase, manufacture, or practical application, had know ledge or actual notice of the existence of such patent, and that such 

ptuchase, manufacture, or practica1 application was an infringement of the right~ 

of the plaintiif. 

The question being put, it was declared that the ayes appeared to 

prevail; whereupon a division was called for. 

Mr. 'V ADLEIGH. ~lr. President, it is evident from the fact that so few Senators vote upon an amendment which affects the integrity 

and the existence of the patent system that they are giving no attention to this bill. 

The amendment of t he Senator from ~linhesota provides that cer- tain consequences shall follow in all cases where it cannot be shown 

by the plaintiff that the infringer or the user of a patent who bas ~o 

right to use it purchases it on a-ctual notice or with knowledge not 

only of the existence of the patent, but also with the knowledge that 

his purchase of the same and the sale of the same to him or his mannfacture of the same was an infrin aement of the rights of the plaintiff. 

Now, Mr. President, it will be ~solutely impossible to show that in 

any considerable num boc of cases. It cannot be shown thap _the party who buys a patented article knew of the existence of the patent, of. 

its validity~ and of t he fact that the sale to him or the manufacture 
, 

57Q c ·eNGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. JANUARY 20, 

by him was an infringement of the plaintiff's rights. Consequently 

that part of the amendment of my friend, the Senator from Minnesota, 

becomes utterly nugatory. It has no eftect at all, because what it 

l'eqnires to be proved can hardly ever, if ~ver, be proved n.t all. . Then that would leave the law so tha.t if any person illegally used a patented invention he would be obliged t{) pay no costs unless the 

damages recovered against him in the suit were more than $50, or the 

decree against him was more tlian $50, and he could rec<_>ver of the 

plaiJdiff costs in his own favor where the plaintiff recovered nominal 

damages only. 

Mr. President, in a great many cases the owner of a patent is 

obliged to bring a snit not for the. purpose of recovering damages, but for the purpose of protecting his rights, for the purpose of settling in some tribunal the validity of his patent, or the question of 

infringement. In such cases he brin~s suit for that purpose, whether 

he is likely to obtain any considerable damages or not; and in many cases where-such was his object, he would obtain only nominal damages. 

Now., this ainendmentiof my friend from Minnesota would absolutely 

prevent, prootically at least, the bringing of anr suit simply to settle ·the question of the validity of a patent, or the infringement, where 

the damages were not consider~ble. 

Then again, in all cases where no more than $50 is recovered the 

plaintiff is to be compelled to pay his own costs. What patent-ri~hts 

would that atl'ect T What would be the effect upon the commun1ty T 

That would affect at least ninety-nine out of every hundred, perhaps 

nine hundred and ninety-nine ont of every thousand patents. In the 

first place, for instance, here is the telephone; it is an invention ex- tremely useful ; it is going generally into use. For the use of one of 

these machines the inventor charges only $5 a year. Under this bill 

his reco~ery of damages is limited to the four years preceding the 

brimging of the snit. Consequently the damages fixed by himself 

would be only $20. This a~endmen t of my friend, the Senator from 

Minnesota, gives anybody in the United States whose knowledge of 

the validity of that patent (and that involves a good many circumstances) cannot be proved, the right to buy or manufacture thosemaoehines and use them. That would undoubtedly destroy the value of 

t hat patent; it would be good for nothing. Who would pay anyt hing for a patent-right burdened with such a restriction as that T 

Then, too, this amendment would apply to improvements in agrioeultura.l implements. It would in fact apply to all patented articles 

which go into general use. For instance a man has a plow; he has 

invented an improvement in the plow. He cannot hope to obtain 

from any user of that implement more than $50 damages for four years' use. It applies to nearly all the improvements that have immensely 

.enhanced the capacity of manufacturing machinery. Those improvements are individually very small. They are almost all of them made 

:by workmen in the mills. No workman for most of those improvements could hope to obtain $50 damages for their use for four years. 

What would be the result of this amendment' That all invention 

would cease from want of encouragement with reference to such improvements the use of which 'Would not be likely in four years to give 

the inventor $50 damagesagainsttheinfringer. Myfriendfroml\Iin-

:uesota does not want any such result as that to follow. He does not 

want the result to follow that improvements in manufactured ma- -chinery will cease, that all improvements ii1. articles going into general use will cease ; and yet nothing can be clearer than the fact that if 

.all encouragement is withdrawn by such an amendment as this from 

the invention of such impro>ements they will cease. Now, I regard this amendment as being hostile to the bill itself. I 

regard it as being hostile to the patent system, ·and if the bill were amended as proposed by the Senator from Minnesota, I should be 

-compelled to oppose, instead of advocating it. 

The committee started out with the idea of improving, and not 

<destroying, the patent system. They regard it as being of great 

<valne to the country. They regard its destruction as highly injuTious to the best interests of this people ; and there can be no surer mode of destroying it than by the passage of a law which discourages 

.and makes cease all improvements in machinery, all improvements 

in articles for general use ·where the inventor cannot hope to get more than $50 for four years' use of them by an infriBger, whiph .covers, in my judgment, ninety-nine out of every one hundred pat- -ent rights, if not nine hundred and ninety-nine aut of every thousand. 

There is another questi8n which I wish Senators to consider. Take, 

.for instance, the telephone itself. This Government has promised the 

inventor of that wpnderful invention that he shall have the exclusive 

.right to it for seventeen years. He has disclosed it to the public; he 

;has paid to the Government all that they bad asked 1 r his letterspatent: they have taken his money. It is the duty ot the Government tO farnish him and every other patentee to who r. they have 

grant-ed letters-patent :an adequate remedy against infringeiQ.ent. 

Now, Mr. President, this gives no a~eqnate remedy; it takes away 

the remedy which the law gives him; it takes away, in my judgment,. his constitutional rights, ri~hts which he is entitled to under 

the Constitution and laws. It ism effect a violation of the contract 

which the Government has made with him that upon the disclosure 

<Of his invention and the payment of a certain sum of money he shall 

have the exclusive right to it for seventeen years, and that the Gov- ·ernment will furnish to him an adequate remedy for the protection 

<Of his right. . I am aware that my friend the .Senator from Minnesota has certain 

-

local grievances of his constituents to remedy. I think this is not 

the way t~remedy them. Those grieyances are temporary, and will soon pass away ; but if for the purpose of ,alleviating the hardships 

of his constituents, hardships which can exist bnt for a short time, 

and hardships which perhaps could not have arisen under this law as we propose to amend it, be shall destroy the patent system1or ntl'ect 

its vitality, he will have done to the country vastly more harm than 

he will have <lone to his constituents good . . Mr. 'VINDOM. Mr. President, the Senator from New Hampshire seems to have had his fears very much increased since the discussion 

which occurred on this proposition in December. He then thought it 

would cripple the patent" laws, but I think he had not then come to 

the conclusion to desert his own bill if this little amendment should 

be adopted. A proposition much more radical than this was then submitted by myself, a vote was taken indica tin f1' that a very large ma- jority of the Senate was in favor of. it, but su~equently upon a flJI'-

ther discus ion of the question and the sugg-estion being made bv 

several Senators which seemed to have a good deal of force in it that 

possibly that provision might be unconstitutional, I ~ithdrew it and 

gave notice of the amendment now proposed. The proposition which 

the Senate then voted for was that in cases of the kind mentioned in 

this amendment no damages whatever should be recovered. This sec- tion only seeks to prevent the little harassing and vexatious suits which are brought by the thousand all over the country under the sanction 

of existing laws. 

The Se:aator from New Hampshire says that I am moYed ~by a local 

grievance. It is true that in the State I have the honor in part to 

represent there is a grievance, and a very great one, growing out of 

the present patent system; but it is by no means a local one. It ex- tends into many other States beside my own. It is not that case alone 

that I complain of; nor would that alone move me to urge aa strongly as I shall the amendment now proposed. It is not that in a single case the patent laws have been used to·vex and harass the people, 

but it is because the laws themselves as they now stand seem to have 

been framed for the express purpose of encouraging such proceedi~s, 

a.nd to have become the ready instruments of any set of-to use tne 

language of my friend from New Hampshire-shysters who choose to 

employ them to plunder the public. ' 

Now, .fl.:lr. President, I do not think itwonld cripple the patent system as the Senator from New Hampshire suggests. The patentee bas 

his remedy, if this amendment shall pass, against the maker and the 

vender of the patented articles, and he has also his remedy against 

the purchaser and user wherever that purchaser or user ha.s notice 

that the patent has been iBfringed. It seems to me that this is a sufficient remedy. 

But, Mr. President, even if some little inconvenience may be suffered by the patentee if thi& amendment becomes a law, it does not 

weigh in the seal~ against the great wrongs which are perpetrated 

under the law and will be hereafter perpetrated if some such an amendment as this be -not passed. · If you can so change the jurisdiction in patent cases as to give it to the smaller eourts of the States, as in other cases for small amounts, I will consent to it. I am entirely 

willing that the patentee (if a law can be framed to give him that ·authority) shall go to a justice of the peace and sne for his one, or five. or ten dollar infringements, because then the defendant and the pat 

entee have an equal chance. Perhaps that cannot be done. If ~o, 

can see no way to protect the public but by some such provision as that contained in the pending amendment. 

The Senator from New Hampshire makes an earnest appeal in b6-

half of meritorious patentees. I agree witk him as to their merit; 

but I say that it does not follow because the country has received 

benefits from inventions, therefore laws shall not be changed which are capable of such perversion and which are being made the instruments of such outrageous abuses as exist to-day under our patenli 

system. I agree that the owner of a patent is as much entitled to his 

property in it as the owner of anything else, but he is entitled to no higher consideration than the owner of any other kind .of property. 

It is not the patent-ee who will suffer if this amendment shall p~s, if 

anybody suffers. It is not the patentee who brings these suits; but 

it is usually a combination of agents and lawyers who find slumbering in your Patent Office some forgotten and worthless patent which, 

under the advantage given them by your present system, they can use as a means of robbing the people-it is they that bring the snit 

under some arrangements by which the profits are divided . Now, sir, while I resp~ct the genius and the talent of the inventor 

and will protect him as far aa I can, I submit that it does not require 

any more talent or genius to buy or steal a patent than it does to 

buy or steal a horse, and therefore to the purchaser I would accord no more 1>owers than I would to the man who owns any other kind 

of property by purchase. Possibly there may be some. slight inconvenience growing out of this amendment to..some of the patentees, 

but the inconveniences as I stated a moment ago do not weigh at 

all as against the great benefits that the people would receive by the 

protection which it would afford. 

The Senator from New Hampshire has told uS' very eloquently that 

everybody has been represented, that his committee have considered 

this bill for a year or more-l do not kn9w how long. Mr. President, 

I have no doubt that that committee have given it that earnest and 

faithful consideration which they give to aiT measures ; but I want to 

suggest to my honorable frie~d from New Hampshire that while the 
1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 571 

interests of the patentees and the interests of the large users of pat- ·ents, railroad corporations and others, have b.een represen~d before 

'his committee, and have been heard, the people ~hemselves, the great mass of the users of patents, have not been heard before that com- mittee at all. I have read most of the arguments that were made 

11pon this subject, and I have not found that anybody yet has repre-

-sented the interest of the great ~ass of the people whom I.seek to 

protect by this amendment. I think that ~hey n~ed pr?tectwn, ~nd 

I appeal to the Senator from New Hampshire to md me m,protecting 

them. . Mr. W .AD LEIGH. Mr. President, the comnnttee have fully con- sidered the hardships which my friend from Minn~sota talks about;.. 

.and the majority of the committee at least, and I nnght say the whole 

of them were in favor of any practical remedy that could be ado pte~. 

The co~mittee think that the bill before .the Sena:te, as amen~ed, ill 

two respects at least, suggests a.l'emedy for the difficulty whiCh .the 

.Senator from Minnesota complams of. In the first pl~ce, there 1s a provision limitin(J' patent suits to four years. That will compel the 

patentee to bring his suit within a time when the evi~ence ~an be 

procured by those who opp?se his !?a tent and be!ore t~e illVentwn has 

in most cases intertwined Itself with large buarness mterests. 

In the second place the bill, aa amended, provides that the court 

.may limit the costs df the plaintiff, may give costs ev:en to the defeated party and an allowance by the way <?f counsel fee~. 

Now if what my friend the Senator from Mmnesota saysiB ~~e, that 

the suits of which he complains are the result of a blacklna1lmg con- ,gpiracy, then there is no question whatever that the court w.ill ap~ly 

that remedy; there is no question whatever that the coo~ will de~Ide 

that the plaintiffs shall not recover any costs. The bill ~ut~onzes 

them to do so, and they will be bound to do s~ unde.r this btll. It ·seems to me that that of itself would be a sotfiment dlScoumgement 

to suits of that kind. . . . 'Mr. President, I hope that no amendment will be pu~ upon th~ bip. 

which is hostile to the bill and calculated to destroy It. The b1ll1s 

intended to remove tbe evils of the patent system while preservillg 

the system itself. As I said, it seel!ls to me th.at the iD:evitable effect 

of this amendment, if adopted, will b~ to diScourage and prevent 

invention in all ai·ticles in general use, ill all cotton and woolen ma- .chinery in all shoe machinery, in all agricultural implements, and 

that if ~dopted this nation will remain stationary so far as snch machinery is concerned. . . . . I do not think my friend, the Senator from Mmnesota, mtends to 

.affect any such object; I believe that he would .b.e opposed to any 

provision that would do it; but yet, when he practically takes away 

from every owner of a patent right the right of bringing a suit where 

he cannot recover over 50 for four years' infringement of his patent, •be discourages and prevents all improvement in the machinery and ·implements used in carrying on a large porti9n of the manufactures 

and the a~ricultural business of this country. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. HoAR in the chair.) The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Minnesota, "[Mr. 'VINi>Ol\I.·] 

Mr. AL.LISON and .Mr. 'VINDOM called for the yeas and nays, and 

-thev were ordered. · The Secretarv proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. BECK, (when his name was ~alle~.) On this amendment I am paired with the Senator frc)m Califorma, [Mr. SARGENT,] who was -compelled to leave the Senate a few moments ago. If he were present, 

he would vote "nay" and I should vote "yea." 

Mr. EDMUNDS (when his name was called.) The Senator from 

Michigan [Mr. cn'msTIANCY] is unfortunately, I am S?rry.to sa:y, detained from the Senate by illness. He asked me to patr w1th hrm on this bill I not feeling myself able to vote for" it as it stands thou~h 

there ar~ many ~ood features in it I think. I do not know how ne would vote on this amendment. 

Mr. WAD LEIGH. He is against this amendment. 

1fr. EDMUNDS. With that statement from the chairman of the 

.committee I vote" nay." . Mr. WINDOM. He was for it the other day. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. I think under the circumstances I shall have leave ·to withdraw my vote on the amendment. 

Mr. WINDOM. I think he was for it when I spoke to him on the 

subject. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The vote of the Senator from Vermont will be withdrawn. 

The roll-call having been ooncluded, the result was announced-;-

yeas 14, nays 27 ; as follows: 

YEAS-14. 

Allison, Harris, .McMi.lla.n, Saunders, Cockrell, Hill, Mattb.e,,.s, Windom. Davis of Dlinois, Howe, Maxey, Davis of W.Va., Johnston, Paddock, 

NAYS-27. 

Anthony, Dawes, .Jones of Florida, R.'\nsom. 

Armstrong, Dennis, Kellogg, &llin8, Barnum, Eaton, Kernan, Voorhees, :Booth, Gordon, Lamar, . Wndleigh, Bu.rnside, Grover, 

=~· Butler, Hereford, ;it17:rs. Conkling, Hoar, · Patt.erson, 

Bailey, 

Ba7.ard, Beck, 

Blaine, Bruce, 

Cameron of Pa., Cameron of Wis., Chaffee, 

Christiancy, 

Coke, Conover, Dorsey, 

Edmunds, Eusti , Ferry, Garland, Hamlin, Ingalls, 

ABSENT-35. 

Jones of Nevada., 

Kirkwood, 

McCreery, 

McDonald, .McPherson, 

Merrimon, Mitchell, 

O~leaby, 

P1umu, 

So the amendment was rejected. 

The bill was reported t• the Senate as amended. 

Randolph, =t

Shaio~· · Spencer, Teller, 

Thurman, Wallace. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Shall the bill be read the third time! 

Mr. WThTDOM. I move that the bill be temporarily laid aside for 

the purpose of taking up t.he Navy appropriation bill. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota moves that the bill be la.id aside for the purpose of taking up an appropriation bill. . Mr. WADLEIGH. I hone that motion will not prevail. It will take 

bnt a few moments to paSs the bill. 

Mr. WINDOM. It will take·longer than you think. 

Mr. 'V .AD LEIGH. I do not think there will be further amendments. 

Mr. WINDOM. I know of one or two others that will be offered . Mr. WAD LEIGH. I am aware of none. I trust after the consideration which this bill has had the Senate will not now lay it aside 

at the very moment when it seeDIB about to pass. If there are amendments, let them be brought forward. 

Mr. 'VINDO~L The naval appropriation bill has been laid aside 

for the last six weeks waiting for this and other mea,sures. I move that it be taken up, this being laid aside for that purpose. 

The PRESIDING Ol!.,.FICER. The Chair should have stated the 

question first on concu~ence in the Senate in the amendments of the 

Committee of tbe Whole. Pending that .• the Senator from Minnesota 

[Mr. WINDOM] moves t]mt the bill be laid aside and 'the naval appropriation bill taken up. · Mr. 'V ADLEIGH. I inquire if that motion of ·the Senator from 

Minnesota is in order at the present til;ne! 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to lay the bill aside 

temporarily is not in order, but a motion to postpone is . 1\fr. WINDOM. I move to postpone this and all prior orders and 

take up the naval appropriation bill. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. If the Senator fromNew.Hampshire 

insists on the regular strictness of the motion, the motion now made 

is the correct one. The Senator from Minnesota moves that this bill 

be laid a8ide for the purpose indicated. 

The question being put, it was declared that the noes appeared to 

prevail. 

Mr. WINDOM. I call for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were not ordered. · The PRESIDING OFFIC,ER. The motion is not agreed to. The 

question is on concurrence in the Senate with the amendments made as in Committee of the Whole. · . Mr. EDMUNDS. Let the first amendment be reported. 

Mr. WINDOM. I ask a separate vote on each of the amendments. 

'{he PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is entitled to a. separate. vote on each amendment. The Secretary will report the first 

amendment. . The SECRETARY. The first amendment made as in Committee of 

the.Whole was, in section 1, line 13, aftl!r the words" before 1t," to 

insert the ~ollowing : 

Provided, how~ver, That if in- any suit instituted in any one circuit court of the 

United States, the validity of a patent shall be determined upon final hearing, any other circuit court may recognize said decision, and, in U.s diScretion, grant injuna- t.ions based thereon, to continue pending an appeal to the Supreme Court in the 

first suit. And if the validity of any such patent has been decreed against in a suit instituted in any one circuit court, any other circuit court may in its discretion, grant a stay of proceedin~s in any other ~nit brough.t nn~er said p~tent pend. ing an appeal to the Supr~me I.Jourt of the Uruted States m s:ud first swt. 

:Mr. EDMUNDS. May I ask the chairman of the committee if it is 

possible that that langua.ge on the subject of injunctions in one circuit on the authority of the hearing in another, leaving it to the discretion of the judge in the circuit where the injunction is asked for, 

is to be understood as allowing it in a case where in the circuit where 

the first suit was instituted no such injunction or decision has been 

had f We are now dealili~ by statute with the usual course of judicial proceedings, and if,it IS possible th:tt this provision can bear tho 

construction that you are now by this language authorizing a judge 

to grant an irtjunction under a particular Met of circumstances, then 

you are doing something that is extremely dangerous. If any such 

implication as that can be drawn out of that language, I respectfully submit that it ought to be guarded against. 

M.I·. WADLEIGH. The amendment whicb. has just bee~ rea.d is the 

amendment of the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. DA vrs,~] and~ hope he 

will give to the Senator from Vermont the explanatiOn wh10h he desires. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on concurring in the 

amendment which has been read. · The amendment was concurred in. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Secretary will report the next 

amendment. 

The SECRETARY. Section 2, line 4, after tl::.e word " pronounced," 

• 
• 

572 CONGRESSIONAL REOORD--HOUSE. JANUARY 20, 

.insert the words "as well as in all such suits hereafter instituted;" so as to rea.d: 

In all suits for the infringement of a patent, in which, at the date of the passage of this aet, no final verdict has been rendered or no decree for an account or assess- ment of damages has been pronounced, as well as in all such suits hereafter instituted, the measure of the plaintiff's recovery shall be the same, both in law and i,n 

equity. 

Mr. WINDOM. I ask for the yeas and nays on that. I want to say 

in reference to this bill that I do not desire to postpone it for any 

factious opposition to it. I believe that the bill ru> it stands is wrong 

and ought not to pass. Therefore I want the opportunity to prepare an amendment which I tkink will be agreed to. I cannot do it now. I know that the bill is not in the interest of the great public that 

ought to be protected, and I want the opportunity to prepare an amendment. It was for that reru>on, among others, that I moved to 

lay the bill ru:~ide. I shall make no opposition to it if we can have 

the opportunity to prepare those amendments that are needed, but I am satisfied that the Senate can do something to prevent the grievous 

wrongs which are now perpetrated under the patent system. I am satisfied the Senate would do it if the opportunity were presented. I am satisfied that on the point I havil suggested the committee have 

made no provision whatever that tends to do that thing, and I hope 

that the committee may consider it and prepare it. I supposed that . the amendment which I offered was agreed to on all sides. In fact, 

when I offered a more radical amendment in December it was opposed 

by certain gentlemen, the representatives, I suppose, of the i~terests 

that h36e been consulted in preparing the bill, and it was understood 

that if that were withdrawn and another proposition made it would 

not encounter that opposition. But I find that the opposition to this comes from the same interest, the patentee's int-erest, or the interest 

of the assignees of patents, the purchasers and speculators in patents; 

and it seems to be a great deal more intense than was the opposition 

to a much more radical proposition in December. I want to see if it 

is not possible tb make some amendment that will at the same time 

that it conserves the interest of the patentees and of the purchailer 

of patents, conserve the interest of the· public also; and I ask that 

this bill be laid aside in order that I can do that. 

Mr. HOWE. Allow me to inquire of the Senator from Minnesota 

if the purpose is to offer again the amendment which he offered in 

Decemberf 

l\Ir. WINDO:~L I want to suggest another amendment. The Senate is very thin, scarcely a q no rum present, and the other amendment, 

which went to the same ground and was more radical, carried by a very large majority before. I desire to present another amendment, hopin~ that it may meet the approval of the Senate. · Mr. WAD LEIGH. Mr. Eresident, the Senator from Minnesota seems · to intimate that this bill is in the interest solely of patentees, and not 

in the interest of the public. That opinion of his, I think, is not 

shareu by any-considerable portion of those who have read the bill 

and know anything about the present la~. It is an attempt, and an honest attempt, on the part of the committee to remove, so far as can practically be done, the evils which press upon the public in connec- tion with the patent system. But, as I sai~ in the first place, they do 

not propose and have not proposed to abolish the patent system or to 

destroy it. They regard it as being of too much benefit to the cQuntry for that. 

Now my friend, the Senator from Minnesota, says that there is nothing in this bill that helps his friends in his own State. He says that 

there is a blackmailing cdnspiracy there by which snits are prosecuted. Now, there is in this bill a provision which allow.s the courts 

in just such a case as that to impose terJDs, by way of counsel fees 

and costs, upon the successful party. It seems to me that that is sufficient for the prot-ection of his constituents. 

Mr. President, if this bill is delayed, of course it cannot pass the 

House at. this session. In order to pass the House, it should at once pass the Senate. The delay which my friend the Senator from Minnesota. asks will defeat the bill, and defeat the measures which have 

been taken. for the purpose of removing many of the evils which exist 

in connection with the patent system. 

::\Ir. WINDOM. Allow me to say that I do not desire to delay the 

bill longer than until to-morrow for the purpose, in good faith, of preparing an amendment and submitting it to see if we cannot accom- plish something in the direction I have suggested; I have not prepared 

any other amendment, for the reason that I had supposed there would 

be no opposition to the one which has just been voted down; but, if 

the bill can go over until to-morrow, I will make no further opposition to it if the amendment shall be voted down, or if we cannot agree 

upon one that will accomplish the object. The Senator says it will 

defeat the bill. One day more can hardly accomplish that result. ·It 

is now nearly half past two o'clock, and it is but a very short postponement that I ask. . Mr. WAD LEIGH. It seems that the appropriation bills are already 

pressing for consideration. Now, let us pa.ss this bill, and I pledge 

myself if my friend the Senator from Minnesota will draw up any remedy that is practicable to relieve his constituents from the e...-ils 

under which th~y are suffering, the committee shall act upon it at 

@nce. I am sure they will do so, and it will be returned to the Senate 

and passed here and go to the other Honse, because there will be no 

makes a very reasonable request of the Senator from New Hampshire 

in charge of this bill. As I understand the Senator from Minnesota,. he only asks that the bill be laid a.side to-day informally, and in the· mean time an appropriation bill can go on, and the bill be taken up 

to-morrow morning again. If I understand it, that is the propositio:n. 

the Senator from Minnesota. 

llr. WINDOM. The appropriation bill is ready now, and can b~ 

proceeded with at .any moment. 

Mr. ALLISON. You propose to take up this bill to-morrow again t 

Mr. WINDOM. I shall not resist taking it up to-morrow . Mn ALLISON. I think by unanimous consent we ought-to agree, to that ~nd go on with the naval appropriation bill now. It is the· only appropriation bill ready. 

Mr. BECK. I rise to renew the motion made a short time ago by 

the Senator from Minnesota, to set aside the present and all priororders and take up the narval appropriation bill, and I desire. while I am up to state the reason why I do so. The motion has been voted 

down once. I have watched thia bill as closely as I could. Of course-- ! am not informed Mcurately about all its provisions; and while l 

hold that the bill as a whole is an improvement on the present system of patent laws, y~t I am equally sure that the only real, substantial benefit that the people of this country will derive from the pas-· sage of this bill will come from the insertion of such an amendment as that offered by the Senator from Minnesota. If the Senate is not , going to allow him time until to-morrow to prepare an amendment 

that will give substantial relief to the people against sby_sters, to use, the expression used both by him and by the Senator from New Hampshire, then I will assume of course, that the great mass of the Senate· do not intend even to altow a proposition to be heard whereby relief can be had to the most oppressed claSs of people. I want to test the- sense of the Senate upon it once more by making the motion that I 

have submitted, so that the Senator from :Minnesota can present tothe Senate an amendoment which will give substantial relief to the 

people who most need it.· I know that the present patent laws ar~ 

of such a character that the real inventor ruely gets any benefit 

from them. His patent passes int-o th~ hands of great combinations, 

and they have their agents all over the country, and they are in every 

form seeking to oppress the people, and the United States courts ar~ 

open to them for the smallest possible amounts, while they are closedr to all others unless they have $500 m:v-olved; and unless they can becontrolled by some such amendment as that offered by tho Senator 

from Minnesota. yc;m may change your patent laws as much as you 

please and the great combinations that get hold of patents and get 

them through in every form will have substantially the same power 

after the bill paBSes that they have now. It is because I believe that 

the Senator from Minnesota is in earnest, and so far as I have seen any 

amendment his is the only reali-eamest purpose to get relief against 

the oppressions of the patent a.ws, that I. do hope the vote will be 

reconsidered and he will have time at least to. prepare a new amendment. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Chair understand the Senator from Kentucky to submit a motion~ 

Mr. BECK. I do, to set aside the present and all prior orders and 

proceed to the consideration of the naval appropriation bill. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky moves that the present and all prior orders be laid aside for the purpose he 

has named. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, I wish in this condition of affairs 

to do what will accomplish the purpose of the Senator from Kentucky and the purpose of the Senator from Minnesota, and for reasons that have been explained to Senators in the pt:oper place I move that 

the Senate now proceed to the consideration of executive business. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont moves that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. 

The motion was agreed to. · 

WABASH A..~ ~II CA..."\AL LA...~DS. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT laid before the Senate a letter from the 

Attorney-General, communicating information in response to a resellution of the Senate of March 19, 187~, as to whether the lands, 

rights, &e., granted by the United States to the State of Indiana, 

under the act of May 26, 18'24, in relation to a canal to connect the 

rivers Wabash and Miami, have reverted to the United States; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be 

printed. EXECUTIVE SESSIOY. 

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business. 

After one hour and twenty-nine minutes pent in executive session 

the doors were reopened, and (at three o'clock and fifty-seven minutes 

p.m.) the Senate adjourned. 

HOUSE · OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

~IONDAY, Janttary 20, 1879. 

opposition to it. 

Mr. ALLISON. 

The House met at twelve o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev .. ,v. P. IlARru:SOY, D. D. 

It seems to me that the Senator from Minnesota The Journal of Se.tnrday last was read and approved. 

.