I 

1584 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MAROH 8. 

By Mr. DENISON: The petition of the publishers of the Herald 

and News, West Randolph, Vermont, and of the Vermont Union, 

Lyndon, Vermont, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the same committee. 

By Mr. DURHAM: The petition of George Wright, for compensation for the use of his patented linch-pin by the United States Army 

Ordnance Department-to the Committee on Patents. 

Also, papers relating to the claim of G. W. Penn-to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. EVINS, of South Carolina : A paper relating to the establishment of a post route between Camden and Taxahaw, South Carolina, by way of Gum Swamp, Hough's Bridge, Buffalo, and Gardner's Store-to the Committee on tho Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

By Mr. FELTON: The petitions of the publishers of the Journal, 

Marietta, Georgia; of the Gazette, Summerville, Georgia; and of the 

Rome, (Georgia) Tribune, for the abolition of the duty on type-to 

the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. GIDDINGS: Papers relating to the claim of H. V. Philpotto the Committee of Claims. 

By Mr. GLOVER: The petition of the publishers of the Examiner, 

aud of the Republican, Macon, Missouri, and of E. M. Baxter, job 

printer, of the same place, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the 

Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. GUNTER: Papers relating to the land claim of the heirs of 

Jean Fran~ois Perry-to the Committee on Private Land Claims. 

By Mr. HARRISON: The petition of the publisuer of the Furniture 

Trade Journal,Chicago,Illinois, for the abolition of thedutyon typeto the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. LAPHAM: The petition of J. Milton Munson, George Carter, 

and 155 others, against a revision of the tariff on wool-to the same committee. 

By Mr. LINDSEY: The petition of R. H. Marble and other citizens 

of Harmony, Maine, for the equalization of soldiers' bounties-to the 

Committee on Military .Affairs. 

By :Mr. MAISH : A paper relating to the establishment of a postroute from Arendtsville to Graefenburgh, Pennsylvania-to the Uommittee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

By Mr. MANNING: The petition cf Emmet Y. Parham, of Michigan 

City, Mississippi, for compensation for supplies taken by the United 

States Army-to the Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. McKENZIE: The petition of the bar of Madisonville, Kentucky, that the sessions of the United States district court for the 

western portion of Kentucky be held at Hopkinsville, instead of 

Paducah, Kentucky-to the Committee on the Judiciary. • B:v Mr. MONROE: The petition of H. L. Treat and other citizens, 

oi Wadsworth, Ohio, against the reduction of the tariff-to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. MORGAN: The petitions of the publishers of the following-named newspapers in Missouri: the Lawrence Chieftain, Mount 

Vernon; theNeoshoTimes; theClintonAdvocate; the Granby Miner; 

and the Barton Coun*y Advocate, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the same committee. 

Also, the petitions of William Reed, S. D. Carpenter, and 50 other 

citizens of Jasper County, Missomi; of R. B. Montgomery and 90 

other citizens of Elkhorn Township, McDonald County, Missouri ; 

and of Moses Eagle, J. R. Shelley, and 50 other citizens of the same township, for the repeal of the resumption act, and for other legislation in the interest of the people on the question of :finance-to the 

Committee on Banking and Currency. 

By Mr. POWERS: The petition of Daniel Stewart and others, for 

legislation in reference to the sale of intoxicating liquors-to the 

Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. PRICE : The petition of the members of the bar of Washington County, Iowa, for a district and circuit court to be held at 

Davenport., Iowa-to the same committee. 

By Mr. PUGH: Concurrent resolutions of the Legislature of New 

Jersey, relating to the payment of maturing obligations of the United 

States-to the Committee on Banking and Currency. 

By Mr. REA: The petitions of the publishers of the Worth County 

(Missouri) Times, and of the Grant City (Missouri) Star, for the abolition of th~ duty on type-to the Comruittee of Ways and 1\leans. 

By Mr. RICE, of Ohio: The petition of the publisher of The Times, 

Van Wert, Ohio, of similar import--to the same committee. 

By Mr. SAMPSON: The petition of G. D. Woodin and 60 others, 

members of the bar of Keokuk County, Iowa, for the holding of circuit courts at the same places district courts are held, and establishing Davenport as an additional point of holding said courts-to the 

Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. SAYLER: Papers relating to the bHl to authorize William 

A. Dorner and others to construct a ship-canal at the head of Lake 

George, Florida-to the Committee on Railways and Canals. 

By Mr. VANCE : The petition of Isaac A. Sheppard & Co., for the 

passage of Honse uill No. 2022, relating to metal castings-to the 

Committee on Patents. 

By Mr. WIGGINTON: The petition of the board of supervisors of 

Los Angeles County, the board of commerce and the city council of 

the city of Los Angeles, Califoqtia, and 550 citizens, for an appropriation to complete the improvement of 'Vilmin~ton harbor, Los Angeles County, California-to the Committee on Commerce. 

Also, the p(\titions ·of the publishers of the Inyo (California) Independent, the San Jos6 (California) Herald, the Delta Visalia, Cali~ 

fornia, and of the Mariposa (California) Gazette, for the abolition of 

the duty on type-to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. WILLIAMS, of Ore_gon: The petition of citizens of Benton 

County, Oregon, for the eetablishment of a harbor of refuge at Cape Foul weather, Oregon-to the Committee on Commerce. 

Also, two petitions of citizens of Lane and Marion Counties, Oregon, that the time be extended for the completion of the Northern 

Pacific Railroad-to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad. 

By Mr. WILLIS. of New York: The petition of Mary C. Murray, 

for a pension-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. YOUNG: The petition of Mary A. Branch and W. W. R. 

Elliott, for compensation for stores taken by the U nitedStates Armyto the Committee on War Claims. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

FRIDAY, March 8, 1878. 

The House met at twelve o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. 

W. P. HARRISON. 

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. 

CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL. 

Mr. PATTERSON, of New York, by unanimous consent, submitted 

the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to: 

Whereas in pursuance of the act of Congress approved January 18, 11:178, the great 

seal of the United States has been affixed to the document entitled The Adminis- trators of the United States Government at the beginning of its Second Century; 

and 

Whereas the party who projecte<l and had charge of the formation of said docu- ment is desirous of depositing the same where it will not lose its identity and will 

be accessible to the ~eneral public: 

lle8olved, That a committee of thirteen, consisting of one from the thirteen original States respectively, be appointed to arrange the proceeding;s and ceremonies for 

the placing of the said centennial memorial in the Department of State. 

G. ALFRED HALL. 

Mr. DURHAM, by unanimous consent, reported back adversely from 

the Committee on Appropriations papers relating to the claim of G. 

Alfred Hall; which were laid on the table, and the accompanying 

report ordered to be printed. · 

EXPORTATION OF GUANO. 

Mr. COX, of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move by unanimous con- sent of the House to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H: R. No. 

1474) further to suspend the operation of section 5574 of the Revised 

Statutes of the United States, title 72, in relation to the guano islands, 

returned from the Senate with an amendment, and to move that the 

amendment be concurred in. The amendment reduces the time from 

ten to five years. · There was no objection, and the amendment of the Senate was read, as follows: 

In line 6 before the word "years" strike ont "ten" and insert "fiye;" so as to 

make the bill read : That section 5574, title 72, of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and 

the same is hereby, further suspended, as tbe.rein set forth, for the period of five 

years next from and after the passage of this act. 

The amendment was concurred in. 

Mr. COX, of New York, moved to reconsider the vote by which the 

amendment was concurred in; and also moved that the motion to 

reconsider IJe laid on the table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

[Mr. Cox, of New York, subsequently obtained leave to print re- marks on the bill, which will appear in the Appendix.] 

TARIFF. 

/ Mr. EVANS, of Pennsylvania. I ask by unanimous consent at this 

time to present a memorial to the Congress of the United States of 

America of the workingmen of the Schuylkill Valley, and to move that it be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means and printed 

in the RECORD. 

l'here was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly. 

The memorial is as follows : 

To the honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of .America in Congress assembled: 

The memorial of the workmen employed in the industrial establishments located 

in the Schuylkill Valley of Pennsylvania, without reference to politi?al creed or 

opinion, respectfnll.v present the appended resolutions as a. protest agamst tho passage of the tariff bill now before the Committee of Wa-rs all!l Means: 

Whereas the tariff bill in many of its pronsions will seriously affect the pro3- perity of tho trades and manufactures whereby we make a living for our families 

an1l ourselves; and 

Whereas the enactment of this revised tariff bill would utterly destroy the industries wo represent; and 

Whereas wo deem this a fitting time to give utterance to our ·dews concerning the unsettled condition of business. due to the tariff bill now offered; aocl we, ten thousand workmen, assembled in Pottstown March 2,1878, on behalf of ourselves 

and ten times ten thous:md fellow-workmen in this valley, unable to attend, do 

hereby llesol-ce. That when the stagnation which bas existed in every avenue of business 

anll trauo for the past few years seems to yielu to the first currents of returning a.cthity, which promise a better return for our labor, it is at this juncture of the 

hi,.bestimportance that all national legislation to regulate commerce should hEiin· 

spired bvnLl:l deliberation and wisejuugment. 
.I 

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f 

I 

( 

./ 

/ 

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1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 158& 

Ruolved, That very many Fections of this proposed bill bearin~ on the branches 

of industry lle:re represented are of a nature utterly antagonistic to our welfare, 

an•l snrely productive of continued business prostration. Resolved, That we believe it to be impolitic and unwise at this time to alter, 

amend, or in any way impair the efficiency of the existinJZ tariff laws. .And that 

many past years of prosperity is the best evidence of their wisdom in promoting 

the welfare of the people. 

Resolved, 'J~hat the unexampled development of onr resources wholly doe to the 

fostering care of a protective tariff is an unanswerable argument in favor of its 

continuance. 

Resolved, That every element of patriotism demands the advance~ent and pro· tection of home resources. .And that sentiment which concedes the right to crush our own industries in order that foreign interests may be advanced is a contradiction of the spirit of a republican government for a free, industrious, and intelligent 

people. H. W. HARTMAN, 

Ohainnan Committee on Resolutiom. 

AMANDA N. COOK. 

Mr. CUMMINGS, by uuanimou@ . consent, from the Committee of 

Claims, reported back a bill (H. R. No. 1241) for the relief of Amanda 

N. Cook, of Scott County: State of Iowa, and the same was referred 

to the Committee on Indian Affairs, not to be brought back by a mo- tion to reconsider. W. W. STRINGFIELD. 

Mr. VANCE, by unanimous consent, submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee of Accounts: 

.Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives be directed to pay to · W. W. Stringfield for services as messenger (on the one-thousand-dollar roll) from 

the 16th to the 31st December, inclusive, to come out of the contingent fond. the sum of $41.60. 

GRANT OF LANDS TO ALABAMA FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES. 

Mr. HEWITT, of Alabama, by unanimous <'.onsent, from .the Com .. mittee on Public Lands, reported back, as a substitute for House bill 

No. 1235, a bill (H. R. No. 3728) granting additional lands to the State 

of Alabama for the use of schools; which was read a first and second 

time, referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, 

and ordered to be printed. 

AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Mr. PEDDIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask by unanimous consent that the 

concurrent resolutions adopted by the State of New Jersey in refer- ence to such aid to American shipping as will secure to our people 

the great advantages and benefits which must necessarily follow the 

restoration of our commercial marine be printed in the REcoRD. 

They have already been referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly. 

The resolutions are as follows: 

Concurrent resolutions adopted by the senate and general assembly of New 

Jersey. · 

Whereas Governor George B. :McClellan, in his inaugural, declared that ''the 

people of New Jersey, in common with our fellow-citizens tbroogboot the land, 

have a deep intert'st. in the t·esloration of the commercial marine of the nation," 

and expressed a hope that all m< mbers of t.be Lrgislature would aJ!ree with him 

"in the eamest desrre that Con~ress may promptly do whatever is wit bin its power to accomplish that vital object. by removinJr such restrictions and i.n:Jpediments of 

any kind existinJr laws may offer;" and 

WheJ'6as the sentiments eXpressed by the ~vernor meet the opinions enter- tained by the members of the Legislature of New Jersey, who feel the necessity 

-of puttinJZ forth renewed eneJ1zy and earnestness in common wif.b the people of ail 

sections of our land for a united effort to ad':ance the p10sperity of our nation by developing our manufacturing, agricultural, and general trailing interests; and 

Whereas we believe that such development depends upon proper facilities to afford an outlet for our domestic commoditie8 to reach countries where a greater 

demand exists therefor; and 

W berea-a it is well known that certain foreign nations, more especially France and England, are now reaping great benefit-s by a wise and judicious fostering of 

thE'ir oceanic commerce: TberefOJ'6, 

Be it resolved, (the Benate concurring,) That the liberal commercial policy of the 

leading government,s of Europe should be adopted by the Government of the 

United States, and that snch a1d should bo rendered to American shipping as will secure to onr people the great advantages and benefits which must necessarily 

follow. 

Resolved, That we urge upon onr Senators and Representatives in Congress the 

great importance of the subject presented, and request that they nse their infiu. ence in fa.vor of all ~:»easnres that will inaugurate the policy herein set forth. 

Resolved, That the .governor be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing 

preamble and resolutions to each of onr Senators and Representatives in: Congress. 

BUREAU OF ENGRAVING A.l\"'1> PRINTING EXHIBIT. 

The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the Honse the 

following communication : 

[From Treasury Department.] 

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 7, 187il- To Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, Spealcer. 

Sm: The exhibit pre~red by the Burean of En,emving and Printing of the 

Treasury Department will be shipped for Paris on Saturday next. It consists of two larl!e frames, one of which contains the portraits of all the Presidents and 

many of the Cabinet officers as well as members of the Senate and House of Rt>.p. resentatives and military and naval officers. The other frame contalins specimens 

of the various denominations of the legal.tender currency and the United States 

bonds. The whole being intenlled to exhibit the perfection of art as applied to the preparation of the securities of the Government, it may be a matter of interest to members of Congress to have an opportunity of seeing this exhibit before shipment, and I will be glad to show it to any of them who may do me the honor to call at the bureau either to-monow or Satnrclay morning. Please extend this invitation in any way deemed by you most fit. 

Very respectfully yonl's, · EDW. McPHERSON, 

Oh.uf of !Jureau Engraving and Printing. 

CHICKASAW NATJON. 

Mr. GUNTE~, by unanim~ms conseut, from tb~ Committee on InVII-100 

dian Affairs, reported (as a. substitute for Honse bill No. 1235) a bill 

(H. R. No. 3729) to provide for the payment of arrears of interest to the 

Chickasaw Nation ; which was read a first and second time, and, with 

the accompanying report, ordered to be printed and recommitted. 

The SPEAKER. Not to be brought back by a motion to reconsider. 

WILLIAM BRINDLE. 

Mr. BRIGHT. I a-sk by unanimous consent, Mr. Speaker, t-o report 

back at this time, from the Committ~e of Claims, a bill (H. R. No. 

2132) to pay for clerical services and extraordinary expenses, under 

the seventh section of the act of August 18, 1856,in the Pawnee land 

district in Kansas. There is a snit pending against this party, and 

it is necessary this act should pass at once in order to give him his 

proper defense. 

Mr. EDEN. Let the bill be read. 

The bill was read. . The first section provides that, in accordance with the seventh sec- tion of the act of August 1~, 1856, and the settlement of the account 

of William Brindle, receiver of public moneys and disbursing agent 

in the Pawnee land district in Kansas, under and in accordance with 

said act and the report by the Secretary of the Interior to Congress on January 26,1861, as required by said act, the sum of $4,718 be, and 

the same is hereby, appropriated, which amount shall be placed to 

t.he credit of the said William Brindle, late receiver, &c., to bear date 

from January 26, 1861, being the date of settlement and report of said 

account under said act. 

The second section provides t;hat the suit now pending in the district court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsyl- ,vania, at May sessions, 1877, No. 4, brought by the United States 

against William Brindle, shaH not be withdrawn, discontinued, nor abandoned by the United States without the written request or con- sent in writing of the said William Brindle filed of record therein; 

and in the trial of said cause the sa.id court shall hear and determine 

all disputes and diflerences between the United States and the said 

William Brindle in reference to his various accounts as receiver and 

acting disbursing agent of public money in the Pawnee land district 

in Kansas, and also in relation to his accounts as special receiver of 

Indian trust-moneys received and expended under the Indian treaties 

of May 6 and May 30, 1854, as well under said Indian treaties as under the laws of the United States; and the said William BrinuJe, 

in t.he trial of said cause, shall be permitted and be entitled to make 

defense and cla.im set-off in his favor. in said court, if said court shall 

determine him to be entitled thereto, with the same effect as if said 

suit were commenced by an individual against the said William 

Brindle; and should the said court, in the said trial, determine that 

there is a balance due to tho said William Brindle upon said accounts, 

the court shall certify the amount so found to be due to him to the Secretary of th~ Treasury of the United States, for payment, out of any 

moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Mr. EDEN. Is there a report in this case f 

Mr. BRIGHT. There is. I ask that the report may be rea-d. 

The SPEAKER. The report will be read, after w.hich the Chair will 

ask for objections. 

The report of the Committee of Claims was read., as follows : 

That, from the evidence submitted to the committee, William Brindle, a citizeu 

of Pennsr lvania, was appointed by the Government of the United Stat~s receiver 

of public moneys and disbul'Ring agent in tho Pawnej'lland district in KanSlU! in 1R57, and performed the dotitJs of that office until1861. That Congress, on the 18th of August, 1856, in the seventh section of "An act making appropriations for certain civil expenses of the Government," enacted-

" That m the settlement of the accounts of registers ~nd receivers of the public land offices the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereb,v, authorized to allow, 

subject to the approval of Con _grass, such reasona.ble compensation for additional 

clerical services and extraordinary expenses incident to said offices as he shall 

tbinkjustand proper, and report to Congress all such cases of allowance, at each suc- ceeding Congress, with estimates of the sum or snms required to pay the samc."- Statu~ at Large, volume 11, pa~te 91 . That during the tenure of office by Mr. Brindle the public business was very 

great., and required the employment of clerical force and the incurring of extraor- dinary expenses, as contemplated b_y the act of 1856, and that such clerical force was employed and expenses inCtll'l'ed, and the same were reported to the Secretary of the Interior by :Mr. Brindle. 

That on the 26th of January, 1861, Mos~s Kelly, then .Acting Secretary of the 

Interior. reported to Congress the claim of :Mr. Bnndle for rent and clerk hire, and 

recommended an allowance as follows : 

Office rent, January 1, 1857, to September, 1860 . ... --·-· .. -·----........... $1, 145 Extra clerk hire of G. Wynkoop during poblic sales in 1859 ............. __ , 240 Spooial clerk hire of H. P . Petrican in 1857. a.c1 per vouchers 3 and 4 . _. _ .• _.. 200 

Clerk hire, I clerk. from October 1, 1857. to .April 30, 1860, two and one-half 

years, at $4 per day, during days of work or excluding Sundays, 782, at $-l 

per day ...... --·········· ...... ·-.. ·-···-···· .. ··-··-·-·····-·-·-· .. •·••• 3, 128 

Total. ..................... _.,_ .. ____ ... _ ..... -...... ·--··--·-·····-· 4, 713 

The .Actinp; Secretary of the Interior also reported that-

"Mr. Brindle claims clerk hire during the period of two and one-half years at tLe rate of $1,800 per annum as the amount be has actually paid, but, although be 

presents in the accompanying letters strong reasons in'favor of the amount as. claimer\ uy him, as the recommendations of the Department in similar case~ hen

tofore have not exceeded the rate of $4 per day, and the len~th of time is consider- ~t t!,l:.~e deemed it proper to base my recommendation for an appropriation at 

That the amount claimed by Mr. Brindle for allowance as the amount actually paid by him was $6.135, from which deduct the $4,713, ancl $1,422 would remain, 

being the amount of reduction of his claim by the Department. But after makinJZ the d ?duction of $1,422 and gtving credit for the amoont, 

$4,713, allowed by the Department, Mr. Bl'indle insists that on a settlement the 

Go"':ernment would owe him ~ ~mitted lJah~~ of fl,83§.p5, ~q Jl.o ftlftlfll ~ vanous vouchers to support his C~lffi.· 
1586 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MARcH 8, 

It does not appear that the amount report-ed to Congress for an appropriation was acted upon m any way. I tis most probable that tho attention of Con~ess was diverted from it by the more absorbing even~ of tho ch·il war. Nor does1t appear 

that the Secretary of the Interior reported the claim to any succeeding Congress for an appropriation, although often requested so to do by Mr. Brindle-that his ac- counts wit~-! the Department mi~ht be closed. 

The Secretary of the Interior failing to make any further application to Congress for an approprlation, Mr. llrlndle procured a bill to be introduced in the :Forty- fourth Congress for his reliof, which was referred to the Committee of Claims of that 

Congress, but for the want of time the bill was not acted on by the committee. 

In the month of May, 1877, the Government brought snit against Mr. Brindle as roooi ver of public moneys, &o., in the district court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania for the recovery of certain sums alleged to be in his hands as such receiver. 

Unde1· an apprehension that his defenses to such suit might beinadeq_uate without 

the action of Con:rress, he now asks Congress to allow him saitl sum of $4,713, heretofore reported for allowance, to be applied to his credit on the trial of said cause, ancl furthermore to permit him to plead, free of bar, any matter of set-off which he 

may justly have against the Government. 

First. }'rom the fol'('goiug facts tho commit.tee are of the opinion that the said 

William Brindle is clearly entitled to a credit of e4,713, the amount allowed by the 

.Acting Secretary of the Interior, and that the credit should be allowed a.s of the 

l.!6th of January, 1861, the date of allowance. 

Second . .As to the amount claimed by Mr. Brindle, above f.be sum oU4, 713, arising in any· way out of the disch:n-ge of his duties as an officer of the Go'\"'ernment, 

the same ought to be submitted to the adjudication of the district court of the 

United States for the e:u!tern district of Pennsylvania, the forum elected by the 

Department of the United States. '.Cuirtl. The committee are of the opinion that Con~ess shnnld bave promptly made the appropriation to pay the allowance of e4,713 to Mr. Brindle, and in the 

default of Congress to make the appropriation in 1861 it was the duty of the Department to report tho same to Congress from time to time, until congressional action was obtained, before any suit should ha'\"'e been brought. The act of 18.'i6, under which the allowance was made, clearly shows that three 

parties were necessary in the settlement of the account of the receiver, namely: :First. The receiver himself, who was authorized to employneces aryclericalforce 

and incur the expense of rents. Second. The Secretary of the Interior, who wa~ 

to audit the account and re<;ommencl it to Congress for appropriation. Third . .And 

Congress, which was to make the appropriation. The receiver was in no tlefault, but the other parties charged with duties under 

the law were in default, and the comlnittee are of opinion that the receiver should 

be permitted to avail himself of all legal defenses, free from tho operation o!' any statute of limitations on the trial in said district court. They therefore recommend the passage of the bill, wit.h the following amendment, which is intended to obviate any ob curity in the defense to the suit, by adding after the words William Brindle, in line 22, "and said set-off shall not be 

barred by any statute of limitations." 

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consideration of 

the bill 7 

Mr. HARTZELL. I wish to ask the gentleman from Tennessee if this 

is a unanimous report of the Committee of Claims f 

Mr. BRIGHT. I will answer the gentleman that it is a unanimous 

report of the committ.ee, made after mature investigation. 

Mr. BREWER. How old is this claim f 

Mr. BRIGHT. It was matured between 1857 and 1860. 

Mr. BREWER. Ha-s there ever been any bill presented to Congress 

to allow it previous to the Forty-fourth Congress f 

Mr. BRIGHT. There was a bill pending in the last Congress, and I am not sure but there was one earlier than that. I will state to the 

gentleman that it was not the duty of the citizen to make application 

to Congress. Under the act of 1856 it was the duty of the Secretary 

of the Interior to have made the application for an appropriation. 

Instead of his discharging that duty there was a default, arid the 

Government has since sued the citizen, and this is simply indicated 

to enable him to avail himself of all defenses to the suit brought by 

the Government. 

Mr. BREWER. I understand the bill also makes an appropriation 

of a certain a.mount. 

Mr. BRIGHT. It does; but it has been awarded according to Jaw, 

simply extending it to his account, giving him a right to treat it as a matter of set-off. It has already been awarded. 

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman from Michigan object f 

Mr. BREWER. No, sir. 

'fhe SPEAKER. The bill is before the House for consideration and 

the question is first on the amendment. 

The amendment was read, as follows : 

In line 22 insert the words "and said setro:ff shall not be barred by any statute of limitation. ' 

The amendment was agreed to. 

The bill, ns amended, was ordered to be engrossed and read a. third 

time; and being engrosseu, it was accordingly read the third time, 

and passed. 

Mr. BRIGHT moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the 

table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

LONG BOND FOR INVESTMENT OF SAVINGS. 

Mr. WOOD. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's 

table, for reference to the Committee of Ways and Means, not to be brou~ht back on a. motion to reconsider, the bill (S. No.106) to authorize a long bond for the investment of savings. 

Mr. BUC:KN¥R. I object to that. I wish to say to the House that 

the Committee on Banking and Currency has had under consideration and has already authorized one of its memhers to report a bill on that subject which embraces the provisions of that bill. 

.Mr. WOOD. 1 think there need be no conflict between the Committee on Banking and Currency and the Ways and Means Committee. 

Tllis is a question relating to the i~pjpg of a long bond, which cer- tainly must belong t9 t~ ~ommj.tte~ ~hie}! js cpQ.r~~q ~~9lusively 

with that class of subjects. I never knew any oqj.ection made before 

to the reference to the Committee of Ways and Means of everything 

appertaining to the public debt. 

Mr. BUCKNER. I had supposed that the Committee of Ways and 

Means had about as much as it could do to launch the tariff bill, which 

it bas been considering. 

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to taking from the Speaker's 

table the bill indicated by the gentleman from New York, fo1· referencef 

Mr. BUCKNER. I do not object to the bill being taken from tlJe 

Speaker's table, but I ask that the sense of the House be testeu ou whether it shall go to oue committee or the other. 

Mr. WOOD. Does the gentleman object f 

'fhe SPEAKER. The gentleman from Missouri does not object to 

the bill being taken from the Speaker's table; and then, unless tlle 

gentleman from New York demands the previous question and is sus- tained in that demand, the gentleman from MiBSOuri would have the 

right to amend tho motion a.s to the reference. 

There being no objection, the bill was taken from the Speaker's 

table, and read a first and second time. 

Mr. WOOD. I move that the bill be referred to the Committee of 

Ways and Means. 

Mr. EDEN. I ask that the title of the bill be again reported. 

rhe title of the bill was again read. 

Mr. BUCKNER. I move to amend the motion of the gentleman 

from New York by sfiriking out "Committee of Ways and Means" 

and inserting (I Committee on Banking and Currency." · .Mr. SA. YLER. I wish to sav that nuder the rules of the House the 

question.of the issuing of bonds has always been determined by the 

Corumi tteo of Ways all(l Means. 

The SPEAKER. It is a matter for the House to determine to 

which committee the bill shall be referred. 

Mr. SAYLER. Certainly. 

Mr. WOOD. I demand the previous question on the original proposition and the amendment. 

Mr. EWING. I wish to say to the House that the Committee on Banking and Currency had referred to it w bat is known as the postal 

savings bill some six weeks ago. The committee has had more than a dozen meetings on the subject, has given it very careful consideration, and has authorized a member of the committee, the gentleman 

from Kansas, [Mr. PHILLIPS,] to report a bill to the House; and we are only waiting now to be called iu order to report it. It covers the 

ground sought to be covered by tt.is bill which- the gentleman from 

New York asks may be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

There was no objection to the reference of that class of bills to our committee, and I cannot understand that there can be any impropriety in our being allowed to complete the consideration of the subject. 

Mr. W A.DDELL. I desire to say a word in connection wi.th what 

has fallen from the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. EWING.] Tho gentle- man has alluded to the postal savings bill which was referred to the 

Committee on Banking and Currency. I understand this bill does 

not touch postal matters at all. A.nd I want to give notice to the 

.gentleman from Ohio that when his committee reports that bill I will move its reference to the Committee on the Post-Office and PostRoads, where it properly belongs and where there are now three bills on the same subject. 

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered. 

The SPEAKER. The first question is on the amendment of the 

gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BucKNER] to refer the bill to the Committee on Banking and Currency. 

The question being taken, there were-ayes 39, noes 125. 

Mr. HARTZELL. I ask for the yeas and nays. 

On the question of ordering the yeas and uays there were ayes 6, 

not a sufficient number. 

So the yeas and nays were not ordereu, and the amendment was not agreed to. 

The motion to refer the bill to the Committee of· Ways and Means was agreed to. · Mr. WOOD moved t-o recot::.sider the vote by which the bill was referred; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

Il\1PROVEMENT OF DES MOL.~ES RIVER. 

Mr. EWING. I ask unanimous consent to present and have read 

at the Clerk's desk the petition of several thousancl citizens of the 

Des Moines Valley in relat.ion to the grant of lands for the improvement of the Des Moines River. I also ask that it be print.ed iu the 

RECORD; it is very brief and its reading will take but a moment. 

There was no objection. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

To tM honorable Congreu of the United States : 

We, citizens of Humboldt, Webster, llamilton, nnu Boone Connt.ies, in tlJe State 

of Iowa, respectfnlly pray your honorable body to investigate and rep<'al a certain 

donation of so-called public lancls in Iowa., intended by Congress for tho improve- ment of Des Moines River in said State. But yonl' petitioners respcct.fully repre- sent said land.s were obtained by false and fraudulent representations in Con:;ress in the years of 1861 and 1862, and never have been or ever intended to be m1eu for 

the purpose of impro'l"ementof said river as intenrled by Conj!rcss . .And we further represent that in 186L and 181j2, when snilllands were fraudulently represented in Congress as public lands, we citizens bad then substantial 

improvements thereon, and now by virtne of said acts of Congress the otherwise 

solemn covenants of our Government to the citizen by letters-patent are being can-

.. 
1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1587 

eeled and annulled as so much wast~ paper; and we are now being driven from our homes l>:v United States marshaland posse, by what we m1IBt ca,ll the most unjust proceedings e;er yet appearing in these United States, and probably not equaled in 

atrocity by the monarchies of the Old World. 

And we further represent said lands, nine hundred and fifty-~ight thousand acres, including our le,~~:al1ights, to be an actual steal for individual pecuniary intere:'t, 

and was obtained by chicanery and frau~ and was 1_1ever expended o~e acre or.Its 

equivalent in any manner whatever on said works ohmprovement,andiSnowbemg appropriated to the personal benefit of a ring of conspirators who have robbed the 

Goven.ment of the same in addition to the crime of robbing your petitioners of 

their legal rights _guaranteed to us by the most liberal Government nnd~r th~ sun. .And your petitioners respectfully further represent that weare now bemg eJected 

from our homes in many cases without form of trial, and in the few so-called test cases corruptly treated in U~ited States circuit col;ll"t ~ Des Moi.nes there is sufficient proof, documentary eVIdence, to prove that m said court title-p&pe:s of. the 

citizens were corruptly interpolated, and falaely and fraudulently transcribed mto transctipt record, on appeal to Supreme Court of the United States, where the Gov- ernment patents were canooledandannolledand thegreatsealofthe United States 

broken by corruption most vile. For the repeat and resumption of said lands your 

petitioners will ever pray. . 

The petition waa referred to the Committee on Public Lands. 

BRIDGES ACROSS THE ARKANSAS RIVER. 

On motion of Mr. GAUSE, the bill (S. No. 511) authorizing the 

Arkansas River Transfer Railroad Company to construct bridges across the Arkansas River was taken from the Speaker's table, read a .first and second time, referred to the Committee on Commerce, and 

ordered to be printed, not to be brought back on a motion to recon- sider. 

ACCOMMODATIONS AT PROVING GROUND, BANDY HOOK. 

The SPEAKER laid before the Ho~ a letter from the Secretary 

of War, making a request for an appropriation of $12,500 for proper 

accommodation at proving groulld, Sandy Hook, New York; and the same was referred to the Committee of Appropriations. 

POST QUARTERMASTERS BEFORE MILITARY COliMITTEE. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the ·Se£lretary of War, reporting that the post quartermasters at Chicago and 

New York City will be ordered to appear before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives; and the same was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOUTHWEST PASS, MISSISSIPPI IUVER. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the Honse a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting a letter of the Chief of Engineers, relative 

to the necessity for continuing the appropriation for the improvement 

of the Southwest Pass, Mississippi River; and the.same was referred 

to the Committee on Commerce. 

TEXAS PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

Mr. BRIGHT. I ask unanimous consent to introduce a memorial of 

the Legislature of the State of Tennessee. I would state that I introduce it by request. It is a memorial from the Legislature of the State 

of Tennessee instructing its &nators and requesting its Representatives in relation to the Texaa Pacific Railroad. I ask that it be printed 

in the RECORD. 

Mr. CONGER. Why should it be printed in the REcoRD T Why 

should it not be printed in the usual way T 

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman object to the printing of this 

memorial in the RECORD f 

Mr. BRIGHT. I hope the gentleman will not object. 

Mr. CONGER. It seems a very long document. 

Mr. BRIGHT. Oh, no; it is not long; it is very short. 

Mr. CONGER. Well, I will not object. 

No further objection being made, the memorial was read and re- ferred to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and ordered to be 

printed in the RECORD. 

The memorial is as follows : 

Senate joint resolution. 

Whereas the thirtv-ninth General Assembly of the State of TenneSsee passed a resolution requesfuig our Senators and Representatives in Con~ to snpport such measures as would secure the aid of the Government in the construction of 

the Texas Pacific Railroad; and 

Whereas the bill now pendinJ1; before Congress only provides for branches to said Texas Pacific Railroad to New Orleans, VicksbnrJ1;h, Cairo, and Saint Louis. thus completely ignoring the local interests of Tennessee and the border States: 

Therefore, Be it resolved by tM General, .Assem.lJly of the State of Tennessee, Tllat our Sen- at~rs in Congress are instructed and our Representatives are requested to secnre Sl'lCh amendments to such bill as will provide a branch of said Te-xas Pacific Railroad from Shreveport to Memphis, Tennessee; and if they should fail to secure such 

amendments, then to withhold U!eir support altogether from said bill. 

Adopted February 17,1875. 

Approved February 19, 1875. 

THOMAS H. PAINE, 

Speake" of the Senate. 

LEWIS BOND, 

Speaw of the Hot£Se of Representative&. 

JAMES D. PORTER, 

Governor. 

I, C. N. Gibbs, secretary of state of the State of Tennessee, do certify that the 

foregoing is a copy of jomt resolution No. 40, adopted February 17, 1875, by the 

thit·ty-ninih General Assembly of Tennessee, and approved February 19, 1875, tlle 

originlll of which is now of record in my office. · ln testimony whereof I have hereunto snbscribed my officialsilrDJlture and, by order of the JtOv-ernor, affixed the great seal of the State of Tennessee, at the department in the city of Nashville, this 5th day of .March, A. D. 11:!78. 

[SEAL.) CHAS. N. GIBBS, ·• · 

1 

' • • - " ' ' Secretary of State. 

House joint resolution instructing our Senators and requesting our Representatives in Congress in regard to the Texas and Pacific Railroad, 

-Whereas completion of railroad constinction, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, over the southwestern portion of the United States, will greatly shorten distance and cheapen carriaae between the ports of the two oceans, and in 

its thorough exemption from snow b1ockades or other winter obstructions affilru a line of transportation at all times for the commercial, postal, and military demands of the n&tion, enabling prompt concentration of armies and their supplies 

whenever and '!herever required for the co~try'a ~afety o! def~nse, a1_1d directly promoting public economy and advantage m solvmg Indian difficulties on our frontier by carrying forward a se!f-~ustaining column of emigrants for de>elop- ment of vast resources of wealth m Its course; an1l 

Whereas there is now pending before the national Con~ a measure proposing 

aid to the Texas and Pacific Railway Company, in the form of guarantee IJy the 

United States of 5 per cent. annual coin interest, not the princip~. of forty-year . bonds, to be issued by said company to the extent of $35,000 per milo of construc- tion, under conditions assuring security to the Government and success to the en- terprise; and · Whereas the General Government has heretofore afforded the national credit to 

a like enterprise an<l often extended aid in large and valuable subsidies of th~ 

public domain fo~ similar improvements in other sections of the nation, and impa.t·· 

tialityin benefits is essential to good government: Therefore, 

ReSolved by the General .Assembly of the State \of Tennessee, That our Senators in 

Congress are Instructed and our Representatives requested to support with their· utmost ability the adoption of the above-indicat-ed measure, ~roposing j!Uarantee 

bv the General Government of the interest on bonds of the 'Iexas and Pacific and 

AtlantiQ and Pacific Railroad Companies. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to fn.rni3h each Sen~ tor and Representative with a copy of this resolutien attlle earliest practicable titne. 1 

Adopted February 6. 

LEWIS BOND, 

• f ~eakeroj the House of Repruentatl-cu • • 

Approved February 8, 1875. 

THOMAS H. PAINE, 

Speaker of the Senate. 

.!AMES D. PORTER, 

Governor. 

I, C. N. Gibbs, secretary of state of the State of Tennessee, dp certify that the 

foregoing is a copy of joint resolution No. 25, adopted February 6, 1875, by the 

thirty-ninth General: Assembly of T~nnessee, and approved February 8, 1875, the 

original of which is now of record in my office. . . In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my offiCial signature and, by 

order of the J!:Overnor, ·affixed the great seal of the State of Tennessee, at the De. 

partment in the city of NaE~hville, this 5th day of March, A. D. 1878. 

[sEAL.] . CHAS. N. GIBBS, 

Hecretary of State. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

Mr. BRIGHT. I ask nnanimons consent to dispense with the· morn-. ing hour so as to enable me to move that theHonsereaolveitself into 

Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar. 

Mr. CONGER. I object. 

TRANSPORTATION OF LIVE STOCK. 

Mr. CUMMINGS. I desire to make a request similar to that just 

made by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr.lJRIGHT,] and it is, t01 

have printed in the REcoRD a joint resolution of the Legislature of 

the State of Iowa, instructing its Senators and requesting its Representatives to vote against the bill for the limitation of the transportation of live stock, unless shipped in patent cars; and I also aak 

that be referred to the Committee on Agriculture. 

Mr. PA'l'TERSON, of New York. I object to the printing in the 

RECORD. 

?r!r. CUMMINGS. I hope the gentleman will not object, as a similar request has just been granted to the gentleman from Tennessee, 

and I only ask the same privilege. 

Mr. PA'l'TERSON, of New York. I withdraw my objection if that 

is the case. Mr. EVANS, of Indiana. I object. 

Snbsequ,entl.v·Mr. EvANs, of Ii:uliana, withdrew his objec~ion, and, the joint resolution was referred to the Committee on Agncultnre~ 

and ordered to be printed in the RECORD. • The joint resolution is as follows: -

Joint resolution instructing our Senators and Representatives in Congress to vote aJ!;Binst the bill for the limitation of transportation of live stock, unless shipped 

in patent cars. • 

Whereas there has been a bill introduced in CongresR virtually compelling shippers to use particular kinds of cars which, in our judgment, would greiltly obstruct 

shipments of live stock: Therefore, . Be it r68olved-by the General Aaae?Xbly of the State of Iowa, That our Senators m Congress be instructed and our Representatives requCl!ted to V?te against and W!e 

their influence to prevent the rassa~e of the bill now pending In Congress known as the bill for the limttation o the transportation of live stock unless shipped in 

patent cars. - . . Resolved, That the secretary of state be instructed to forward, as soo.n as _practt- cable, a copy of this resolution to each of our Senators and Representat1ves m Con·. 

grj~tify that the foregoing is a true and complete copy of the ori¢nal. 

JOSIAH T. YOUNG, 

Sccrefa'T7J of State. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

Mr. GOODE. I now call for the regular order of business. 

1'he SPEAKER. 1'he regular order being fJaUe4 for, the m'orning 

hour commences at twelve o'clock and fifty-flva IQinntes p.m., and 

the calll"est.s with the Committee on Invalid Pensions. ' 

CHANGE OJ!' REUERl!1N~S. 

Mr. RICE, of Ohio, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, re- ported back bills of the following titles, with a :recommendation that 

th~ c9ml!littc~ b~ diJcluwge<l frolll tlw fmthef consideration of ths 
1588 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MARcH 8, 

same, and that they be referred to the Committee on Revolutionary 

Pensions: 

A bill (H. R. No. 2293) 1.o authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 

place upon the pension-roll the names of DaYid Mitchell and Mary 

Fuller; 

A bill (H. R. No. 2455) granting a pension to Daniel Ashby; and - A bill (H. R. No. 3649) granting a pension to Alexander McClure. 

CATHARINE H. GALLAGHER. 

Mr. RICE, of Ohio, also, fron;t the sa~e committee, rel!orted ba.ck, 

with a favorable recommendatiOn, the btU (H. R. No. 2769) grantrng an increase of pension to Catharine H. Gallagher, widow of Captain 

John Gallauher late United States Navy; which was referred to the 

Committee ~f the Whole on the Private Calendar, and the accompanying report ordered to be printed. · 

ELLEN n: FOSTER. 

Mr. HEWITT, of Alabama, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, 

reported back, with !1' favorable recommendation, ~he bill (H.~· No. 

519) uranting a pens1on to Mrs. Ellen B. Foster, w1dow of Ed wm R. 

Fost:r, deceaseq, late first lieutenant Company G, Eighteenth Illinois 

Infantry Volunteers; which· was referred to the .Committee of the 

Wbole on the Private Calendar, and the accompanymg report ordered 

to be printed. 

WILLIAM H. DEERY. 

Mr. MACKEY, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, reported .back, with a favorable recommendation, the bill (H. R. No. 2741) 

granting a pension to William H. Deery, Company G, Second Pennsylvania Volunters, Mexican war; which was referred to the Committee 

of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and the accompanying report 

ordered to be printed. 

HA.'\I.ILTON RYNE. 

Mr. RIDDLE, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, reported 

back, with an amendment, the bill (H. R. No. 1~) to restore the name of Hamilton Ryne to the pension-roll; which was referred to 

the Committee of·the Whole on the Private Calendar, and the accom- panying report ordered to be printed. 

JOIL~ FREY. 

Mr. JOYCE, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, reported 

back, with a favorable recommendation, the bill (H. R. No. 532) ~;ranting a pension to John Frey; which was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and the accompanying 

report ordered to be printed. 

ADVERSE REPORTS. 

Mr. JOYCE also, from the same committee, reported adversely the 

following bills; which were laid upon the table, and the accompanying reports ordered to be printed: 

A bill (H. U. No. 8'27) increasing the pension of Miles Barber; and, 

A bill (H. R. No. 1239) for the relief of Mrs. Elizabeth Binney Cadwallader Hare, widow of George H. Hare, late a lieutenant United 

States Navy. . Mr. JOYCE moved to reconsider the vote by which said bills were laid upon the table; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be 

laid on the table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

ELIZABETH REESE. 

Mr. WALSH, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, reported, as a substitute for House bill No. 9:-l, a bill (H. R. No. 3730) granting a pension to Elizabeth Reese, widow of John Reese, a deceased soldier; 

which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee 

o£ the Whole on the Private Calendar, and, with the accompanying 

report, ordered to be prin~ed. 

REBECCA T. SCOTT. 

Mr. WALSH also, from the same committee, reported a bill (H. R. 

No. 3731) granting a pension to Rebecca T. Scott, widow of Major 

John B. Scott, late United States Army; which was read a first and 

second time, referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private 

Calendar, and, with the accompanying report, ordered to be printed. 

EMPLOYES IN CLOAK-ROOMS OF THE HOUSE, ETC. 

Mr. McMAHON, from the Committee of Aecounts, reported back 

adversely the following resolution: 

Resolved, That there be paid out of thtl contingent fund" of tho House toW. H. 

Hall, Robert Coat.P.s, Wilson Grice, Henry Hall.~. Cook NickensiA. B. Thoma.s, 

James 0. Savoy, John H. Shaw, Charles Carter, and Andrew Ramlo ph the amounts respectively due them for servic&~ rendered as laborers in the Hall of the House 

from 15Ul October 1877, and during the pre8('nt session, at the rato of m ea.ch per annllftl~ deducting such sums as have been heretofore paicl the aforesaid persons for sucn servwos. 

Mr. McMAHON. I desire to make a statement in connection with 

the resolution which has just been read. The persons na.p1ed in it nre the individuals who are employed in the different cloak-rooms 

connected with the.Hall of the House of Representatives, a class of 

perSons who have uniformly been paid by resolution out of the con- tingent fund of the Honse, but whose names never have appeared 

npon nny roll of employes of the Honse, and have never been em- ployed by order of the House itself. During the month of December 

last the Committee of Accounts reported favorably a resolution to 

pay these individu~ls for the services which they had ~endered from 

October 15 np to that date (December 15) at the rate of $1 per day. orne of them were paid at that time for a period of time extending 

back to the 1st of April. The present resolution ignores this n.ction 

of the Committee of Accounts. We then paid the parties in j1tll up 

to December 15; and whatever claim they may have, if any, will 

only date from the beginning of the session after the holiday recess, 

unless they are entitled to pay for the holidays as well. 

The Coqmrittee of Accounts reported that resolution favorably in 

December, because up to that time the uniform custom had been to 

permit these men to perform services without having their names placed upon the roll, and to pay them out of the contingent fund of 

the Honee. This practice has been in violation of law. I call the 

attention of the House to section 3680 of the Revised Statutes, which 

reads as follows : · · 

No part of the appropriations which may be at any time made for the contingent 

expenses of either House of Congress sha.ll be applied ns extra allowanoo to any clerk, messenger, or attendant of the two Houses, or either of them, or as paymeut or compensation to any clerk, messenger, or other attendant of the two Hou8es, or either of them, unless such cleric, messenger, &r otMr attendant be so employed by a f'esolution of one of the HOU8es; or to imy other than the ordinary expenditures of 

the Senate and House ~f Representatives. . 

The Committee of Accounts is of opinion that while the contingent 

fund of the House is under the absolute control of the House, yet it 

is subject to that control only according to law; and that while the 

House may order the payment of a claim, it cannot order the payment of a claim out of that fund which bas been expressly forbidden 

by statute. The committee is of opinion that there are or may be 

two classes of officers or employes of the House; one class regularly 

providetl for by law, for whom we appropriate money; and another 

class1 whose duties extend only during a session or a portion of a scs- . sion, or may continue durin~ the existence of a Congress, who are , appointed by resolution of tue House, and must be paid out of the 

contingent fund. 

The Committee of Accounts do not recognize the right of any offi- cer of the House to employ any person except as the employment of 

such person is authorized by law; or, in the second place, a person 

whose employment is authorized by a resolution of the House. We 

believe that unless the employment of a person not on a regular roll 

is first authorized by resolution of the House be cannot be afterwa.nl 

paid out of the contingent fund of the Honse. And the object of 

section 3680 in preventing snob use of the contingent fund is manifest and praiseworthy. It waa intended to correct gross abuses which 

have continued in spite of it. 

I desire the House to understand that the Committee of Accounts 

in coming to this conclusion has not taken into consideration, in any 

way, the equity or inequity of the claim of the individuals named in 

this resolution. On the contrary we believe that they have rendered a service to t.he House; we believe that some persons are necessary 

in the places occupied by them. But we believe that these places 

coul(l be supplied from the regular roll of the House; that they should 

be supplied by some officer of the House from persons authorized by 

law to be employed, or they should be persons whose employment 

has been authorized by a resolution of the Honse before they were appointed. · In the judgment of the committee, and of the member now addressing the Chair, it is no answer to say that these persons have 

always been paid. A custom of this kind contrary to law is a custom 

that should be broken up, because the worst character of abuses are customary abuses. The Committee of Accounts therefore consider 

it its dut.y to bring to the attention of the Honse this among other 

abuses, for the purpose of having it rectified, of ha\ing nobody in 

the employment of the House clniming payment from the contingent 

fund unless that claim, no matter how good it may be in equity, is 

founded upon law. 

I nmlerstaud that many gentlemen claim that a subsequent reso- lution of the Honse to pay these parties is equivalent to a ratification of the previous employment by the Doorkeeper or other officer, 

and is therefore valid. This is not a correct interpretation of section 

36HO. The latter clause would be rendered senseless aud nugatory. 

It would amount to no restriction whatever. I understand that the 

Government may ratify by subsequent action. But such ratification can only take place by the concurrence of the two Houses aud the 

PresiJent; that is, by providing for payment in a regular appropriation bill. The law says that payment cannot be made out of the 

contingent fund; and no resolution of the House alone can chan~e 

the law. The law, or the House, are the only proper judges of the 

force necessary for the wants of the House; and it was to carry out 

this idea that section 3680 was enacted. 

Now the Committee of Accounts appeal to the House on this question. This is a move by us in the right direction. The Committee on Civil-Service Reform is also enl?~ged at presant in the work of 

reform in the organization of this House; aud I want to say here, 

from what little experience I have had, without laying the blame 

upon either political party, desiring simply to say that the abuses 

which now trouble us are inherited from previouR Congresses of a different political complexion-! want to say that the organization of 

this Honse, considering the small amount of forco engaged by it, is 

in as bad a shape comparatively, and has been for many years, as any other department of the Government. And while setti:.Jg ourselves 

up aa reformel's of abuses elsewhere (I speak now to the mnjority on this side) shall we not take notice of the law regulating ourselves f 
1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1589 

Shall we not come to the point of recognizing the law in regard to 

the payment of pages, messengers, and everybody else in our employment, and say that no man shall be paid out of the contingent fund 

unless he has a valid claim upon that fund f 

Gentlemen will understand that by preventing the payment of these 

parties out of the contingent fund we do not destroy their right to 

compensation. If they have an equitable claim against the Government they can very easily have their claims laid before the Committee on Appropriations and be paid in the regular way wit'hout violating the law by paying them on the resolution of the House alone. 

The two Houses, with the approbation of the President, can appropriate money to redeem these obligations that the House has incurred, 

though in some cases probably excessive and unnecessary. But if 

you permit yourselves to vote away your contingent fund by way of 

gratuity you perpetuate gross abuses and permit scandalous extravagance. 

Now I understand that the point may and will be made that in 

December last we brought in a resolution to pay these same partiesthe very persons named in this resolution-and to pay them out of 

the contingent fund, and for the same kind of service; also ~hat we brought in a resolution, without recommendation one way or the other, 

it is true, to pay the extra force that bad been employed by the Doorkeeper without authority of law. That is true. We brought in a resolution for the payment of these particular persons employed in 

the cloak-rooms, because ur, to that time they had had no notice that a long-established custom, Illegal, but acquiesced in, w·ould be broken 

up. They were rendering service under the impression that they 

would be paid as they had been in the past ; and we thought that 

the obligation t~ pay them was imperative upon the House until notice 

of the breakin~ np of that custom had been given. And, Mr. Speaker, 

in order to nottfy these parties and others, the Committee of Accounts, 

after they had been paid in December, adopted a resolution, which was put up in the difterent cloak-rooms and offices about this Honse, 

and was even published in the newspapers, so as to give public notice 

to everybody, what would be in future the action of the Committee of 

Accounts. On the 19th of December, 1877, the Committee of Accounts 

unanimously adopted the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the Doorkeeper be, and he is hereby, authorized and rlirected to 

furnish pages authorized by law with suitable badges indicating their employment, and to keep the floor of the Honse free of all other boys ; and heiR hereby instructed to prevent every person except those on the regular rolls authorized by 

law from performinj!; or pretending to perform service in any of the rooms, oilices, or halls connected with his department. 

This was communicated to· the Doorkeeper immediately, and he 

communicated it to all the employes with whom he had any connec- tion. It was a matter of public notoriety. The Committee of Accounts, while it claimed and claims no authority in law to control the 

cloak-rooms or any committee-rooms or halls of the House, or even to control the floor of the House, adopted this resolution in order to :warn the Doorkeeper and to give notice to those who were interested 

that if they wanted in future to be paid out of the contingent fund 

they must come to the House in the re~ular way and be first employed 

by resolution; that only under such Circumstances would their claim 

upon the contingent fund be recognized. 

Now what is to prevent these employes in the cloak-rooms from 

being on a regular roll f If we have not laborers sufficient without 

them let the roll be increased by law. If we have laborers sufficient 

without them, they should not be paid, or they shonl{l be employed 

in the regular way. But let us not now perpetnate a custom of paying men all the time contrary to law, and having this House at the 

end of every session flooded with resolutions to pay a batch of pages 

who have been running round the floor without being regularly em- ployed or needed ; to pay a lot of messengers and employes of different kinds, who really have no claim to payment and no equity in 

their favor, and yet who have been upon the floor, in the committeerooms, and in the cloak-rooms, performing service apparently for us, 

although probably t bey have in vain tried to secure appointment and 

have not been needed. They impose upon their members who appeal 

to the House. The House in its good nature passes resolution aftor 

resolution to pay such persons until after a while the contingent fund 

becomes a mere mole-hill compared with the mountain of claims that are voted against it ; and the end of a session of Congress is chiefly 

remarkable for the profuse extravagance with which t.he money of 

the people is given away. 

Now the Comrujttee of Accounts have taken a resolution (which I 

think they will be able to adhere to, despite the solicitations of mem- bers) that they will not "permit the contingent fund of this Hou~:~e at 

any time from now until the close of this session to be used by reso- lution for the payment of persons who have not been employed in some regular way, and the only regular way, in their opinion, is 

either by a resolution of the House in advance or a regular employment by an authorized officer; and if the Committee on Rules will 

require all rolls to be made out at the beginning instead of the end of 

each month we will not have much trouble in the future. 

As to the contingent fund my proposition of law under section 3680 

is that no man can be paid out of tho contingent funcl unless he is 

:first employed by the House by resolution ; and I state it plainly be- cause I desire the House to vote understandingly. The committee 

will regard the vote of the Honse as an instruction for its future 

action. 

The contingent fund of the House is the spending-money of the 

House. I do not recognize the right of the Doorkeeper, Clerk, or Sergeant-aL-Arms to create any claim upon that fund by employing a ma.n and then calling upon the House subsequently to ratify his 

action. But I do recognize the right of the House of Representatives 

to create a claim against every dollar of the contingent fund by em- ploying during the session or during the term of Congress as many 

employes, in addition to the statutory force, for the Sergeant-at-Arms or for the Clerk of the Honse or for the Doorkeeper as the House may see fit; not for the purpose of creating new offices that shall extend 

into the next Congress, but simply for the benefit of the particular 

Congress which is exercising its powers. 

Here, Mr. Speaker, I desire to call the attention of the House to 

another difficulty. I refer to it now as I see a prominent member of 

the Civil-Service Reform Committee [Mr. Cox, of Ohio] before me and one from whom I expect a great deal in that committee from his 

previous history and high character. I refer to a class of employes 

in this House who have been paid heretofore under what are called 

"the resolutions of a former Honse." I clo not recognize the power 

of any previous House to create by resolut.ion any office which will 

extend into a subsequent Congress. The rules of the last House are not obligatory upon this House except by express or implied adoption, and there is no such thing, iu my judgment, Mr. Speaker, as a standing order of any previous Congress having any validit.y in the 

Forty-fifth Congress unless it be adopted by the Forty-fifth Congress. 

The Committee of Accounts has acted on this view. In regard to 

the two assistant librarians, they refused to approve any account 

(agreeing with the Clerk in this) for these parties until a resolution was first introduced into the Honse and adopted, although these men had been acting as officers in previous Congresses under what was called " a resolution of a former House." This is a class of cases to 

which we desire to call the attention of the Honse and of the Committee on Civil-Service Reform in its proposed bill. I hope to see in a brief period of time a bill reported from that committee-and if 

that committee bad not ta.ken the matter in hand the Committee of 

Accounts would have done it-I hope to see, I say, a bill from that 

committee which will place the force of this House on its true bMis, so no messenger, page, or laborer may be employed, no clerical force 

of any kind, unless employed according to law and paid according to 

law. 

We arc fighting deficiencies from the different Departments of the 

Government and denouncing them for such occurrences. They onght 

not to occur. We ought not to allow them. We ought to put unr foot down. Even if we allow them in reference to the Departments 

in unforeseen cases, if they can exist, we ought not ourselves to follow 

the bad example of having deficiencies herA contrary to the law. I can understand how there may be valid claims which ought to be 

paid; but the payment of deficiencies or of illegal claims out of 

motives of hnmanity only opens the door to fraudulent claims and 

habitual abuses. 

Mr. Speaker, I have no more to say. At the close of the debate I 

will move to refer this whole matter to the Committee on Civil-Service Reform, and will regard the action of the Honse on my motion, if 

favorable, as an approval of my Yiews of the law. · Mr. CONGER. I wish to be heard before the gentleman calls the 

previous question. 

Mr. McMAHON. I will yield to the gentleman for a moment, for a question only. · 

Mr. CONGER. I wish to be heard for a few minutes before the previous question is demanded. · Mr. McMAHON. How much time have I consumed f I desire to 

yield first to my colleague on the Committee of Accounts. 

Mr. BLAIR. I understood the gentleman was to make his report 

with a statement of the facts, and that I was then to be allowed to 

put in a substitute on the part of the minority of the committee. The 

gentleman from Ohio, however, seems to be making a somewhat protracted speech on the subject. I think I should have the floor before 

the matter _is generally discussed. 

Mr. McMAHON. I \vill yield to my colleague on the committee. 

The SPEAKER. What disposition does the gentleman from Ohio 

propose to make of the hour, before he demands the previous question f 

.1\ir. McMAHON. I did not understand from the Chair how many minutes I had occupied. 

The SPEAKER. Fifteen. 

Mr. McMAHON. I will yield fifteen minutes to the gentleman from 

New Hampshire. 

Mr. BLAIR. I desire to send to the Clerk1s desk tq be read a substitute for the original resolution and the report of the majority of 

the committee. I ask the Clerk to read the minority report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

The undersigned, minority of tlte Committee of Accotmts, dissenting from the 

report of the majority and unable to a~ee with the original resolution, submits 

the following substitute for that resolution and for the report of the majority: Ruolved, That the sum of $1 per diem from the 16th of December, isn; to the 

28th of February, 1878, including both said days, be paid out of the c.on b1~ nr fnnrl 

of the Honse toW. H. Hall, Robert Coates, Wilso~ Grice, Henry Hall. J . Cook 

Nickens, A. B. Thom~t James 0. Savoy, John H. Shaw, Charles. Carter, and Andrew Randolph, being tne amoun' respectively due them for services rendered as labo:ers in the Hall and cloa.k·rooms of the House duriDg the period of the 1e ~:: nt Sesi!IOD. -

liENRY W- BLAIR. 
1590 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MARcH 8, 

Mr. BLAIR. Mr. Speaker, as was stated by the gentleman wl10last 

spoke, the original resolution propQsed payment for the negroes em- ployed in tlle cloak-rooms and upon the floor of the Hall of the House. 

These men l1avo been employed regularly by the House for many 

sessions. They ha•e never been placed upon any roll of employes. 

They have invariably been paid, from time immemorial almost., by 

resolution of tile Honse, and by resolution of the House passed long 

subsequently to the rendering of the services. They are in no just 

1:1ense, then, an extra. force, and this is in no just sense an extra allow- :mce. By tho common law and the custom of the Honse they are a part of its regular force and for many years have-been paid in this 

certain specific way to which I have made allusion. 

Now, sir, during the present session of Congress, in the month of 

December, we conformed to our old practice in previous Congresses by 

prussing a resolution ratifying their pre•ionsemployment and paying 

them for the service wllicll they had rendered. The ~entleman from 

Ohio says tllat thereupon a resolution was passed by the Committee 

of Accounts which Wail made public, and he had that resolution read. 

It will be observed, however, that that was a resolution directed particularly to the management of the pages upon the floor of the House, 

and I never understoo<l it bad any reference whatever to the. men who are employed in the cloak-rooms. I was never aware of its being 

made ppblic, and it was only provided that it should be brought to the a-ttention oi the Doork-eeper, and he should give notice to the pages. 

And I do not believe, I never heard from any one of these employes, 

that be understood that that notice, the notice to the pages, was in 

any sense a notice to these men who have been paid under resolution 

for so long a time. We paid them in December in accordance with 

the previous practice of the Honse. They have rendered precisely 

the same service since that time which they rendered before, and at 

that time we cut down their pay to $1 per diem whereas ·we had 

always hitherto paid them $2. And I think they had the right to 

expect that so long as they rendered the same service that they bad 

rendered previously, t.hey were certainly laboring under the implied 

promise of the House that they should receive compensation during 

tho remainder of the session at least at the rate of $l1)er day. 

Now, sir, what will be the eftect of the rejection of the original 

resolution, which is much broader in providing for a larger payment 

and a longer time t.han I am in favor of or than I think we ought to 

allow f What will be the effect if we reject the resolution and adopt 

the report of the majority of the Committee of Accounts 7 I on~ht 

to say that majority is a majority merely for the purpose of bringmg 

the subject before the House for discussion and in no other sense whatever. ·why, sir, as has been indicated by the gentleman from 

Ohio we simply send these ruen who clean the spittoons and black our boots and sweep up the bits of paper about the Ilall-we send 

tllem to the Appropriation Committee in the fu·st place to pass upon 

the question of fact whether they ought to be paid at all; and in 

the second place to run the gauntlet not only of the Committ-ee on Appropriations but also of the House, also of the S~nate, and of the 

Executive Mansion. ' 

I do not think we should send these laborers all through that protracted operation to get their pay at the rate of $1 a day. I have no sort of idea that if such a bill went to the President and he saw fit to 

veto it we could get a two-tllird vote to pass it over the veto. And 

for one, unleEs there is some imperative principle of law involved 

here, I am not wiJlin~ the House should be dependent upon the will 

of the Senate or the will of the Executive, whether it shall have these 

little menial services performed and whether, having been performed 

under the implied promise of the Honse, they shall be paid for. I am not wi11ing these men should be put to any such exertion or trouble 

to get their pay. 

Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. Will the gentleman allow me- Mr. BLAIR. I have but a momen~'s time, and cannot answer questions. 

I want to refer to one other point; I mean as ~he law. I recognize t he fact that if, during all these years, we have been paying out 

this money for this menial service contrary to law and our sworn obligation to maintain it, however late in the day we receive notice 

that we are viol:l.tin~ the law and committing perjury in paying for 

these services, I am, of course in favor of stopping it. But there is 

no lawyer here or anywhere eise who will say that, by force of law 

and as a universally admitted principle of law, the subsequent ratification by the employer is not equivalent to an express contract 

before the services were rendered. Inde-ed the section of the statutes 

which has been cited provides, as bas_ been stated, thatNo part of the appro"J)riations which may be at any time made for the contingent 

npenses of either House of Congress shall be applied as extra. allowance to any clerk, messenger, or attendant of the two Houses, or either of them, or as payment or compensation to any ,clerls:, messenger, or other attendant of the two Houses, or ('ilher of tbcm, unless such clerk, messenger, or other atrendant be so employed hy a r esolution of one of tho Houses; or to any other than the ordinary e:xpendi· tures of the Senate and Houae of Re_presentatives. 

Now, sir, if it be a principle of law which I suppose to be well settled, that we may by a subsequent resolution or a subsequent affirmation of our implied promise made to these men-because they have 

rendered these services right under our eyes-that we may by that 

snbsequent ratification place ourselves in the same position as by a previous resolution, there is certainly no legal quibble in it; certainly 

not. 

Mr. Speaker, I had a few more things which I wished to say, but 

my time is rapidly passing away and I will yield five minutes of my 

time to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. FosTER] who introduced the 

original resolution. 

Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I introduced the resolution because I 

knew and the Ilonse knew that these people who are proposed to be 

paid ' by the -resolution are employed by the Honse in some way or other; at least they do service here. The resolution which I offer, as I believe has been stated, is in precisely the same terms as such reso- lutions paying for the same class of employes as have been passed 

year by year for at least twenty years. 

I do not want to embarrass the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. McMAHON) in his attempts at reform, but iiI am correctly informed about 

this matter the difficulty lies right here; there are persons upon tlle 

rolls probably who are paid for doing precisely the work that these 

colored people are doing who do nothing but draw their pay. 

Now it is very well to say that we are going to reform this matter 

a.n<l put it in a legal shape, but what are these people going to do for 

bread while ·we are referring this matter to the Civil Service Reform 

Committee! They are doing the work, they have earned the money, 

and I say it is not.bing more than manly for the House to ~ay them1 and then go on With the reform ·and get the whole system 10 a legal 

shape for the future. But I insist that while these people were em- ployed and earned their money it is nothing more than manly that we should pay them what they earned. 

Mr. BLAIR. I have only one further suggestion to make, and it is 

that this clruss of employes have been paid in this way for at least 

twenty years past; I thin It the statute passed as long ago as 1842. 

The point to which I wish to call attention is this: we were notified 

yesterday by the Committee on Civil Service Reform that they were considering this whole subject and proposed to report a symmet.rical 

bill that shall provide for all the necessary service of the House. That 

bill will be soon introduced and acted upon. If that be so, this is 

probably the last payment of this kind that we shall ever be called 

upon to make, but unless we pass this resolution these men must be 

deprived oftheirpayof 1 per diem from December last-until-I do not 

know bow long-until the appropriation bills shall have been passed, si~ed by the President, and beco.me laws, and I do not know then wnen they would receive their pay. There would be a delay cer- tainly of six or eight months at the least. 

Mr. McMAHON. I now yield five minutes to the gentleman from 

Michigan, [Mr. CONGER.) 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. DLAIR] 

has still two minutes remaining. 

:Mr. BLAIR. If there are two minutes left I yield them to the gentleman from Michigan. I have said all I desired to say. 

Mr. CONGER. This is a resolution to pay men who have been em- ployed with the knowledge of every member of the Honse, and for 

the personal accommodation of every member of the House, from the · time they were last paid until now, without any direct notice to them 

not to {lerform the work supposed by all of us to be necessary in their 

places m the cloak-room and on the flOQr of the Honse for the comfort 

and convenience of the members of the House. 

Now I need not repeat what ha-s already been said, that for a long 

time-I think for some thirty-seven years-this class of employes have 

been paid by resolutions introduced after a portion of the services bad 

been performed, frequently at the close of the session. They have 

been paid continuously in this way and never in any other manner whatever. • I think myself there should be provisions of law or rules of this 

House which should prescribe the number of all its employes, their 

duties, and their pay, beforehand. That is very well, but it ha-s not 

been the custom of the House up to this time in regard to these em- ployes. Whether the cust,om be right or wrong it has not been the 

custom in regard to any other employes of this House, and every Congress but this bas made appropriation to pay the expenses of fmployes who had not been appointed in conformity to the law wllich 

the gentleman read or in conformity to a resolution of the House. 

Now, this Congress has appropriated· several thousand dollars in one appropriation to pay employes who are thought to be necessary 

to the business of the Honse, but who by some means had been em- ployed without a proper resolution. I do not know that gentlemen on either side of the House, when laborers or otller persons bad been 

employed and had rendered services to the Government, snpposing 

thev were properly employed, have ever hesitated for one moment to pay~ them. It would be a. novelty to me, and in fact I should like 

to see a member of this House stand up in.his place when to his own personal knowledge these laborers and employes bad been permitted 

to perform service of which be himself has been a recipient for weeks 

and months-who would stand up and refuse to pay the poor pittance 

that the laborer by his daily services bad earned for the support of 

himself and his family. In my judgment it could be characterized as a species of meanness which would destroy the reputation of a private citizen, and might even possibly tarnish th~ reputation of a member of Congress. · Now, sir, I do not agree in the construction of the law given-by the 

gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. McMAHON.] This House and previous 

Houses have always assumed that if they sanctioned the employment 

of a laborer, although the duty may h.ave beon commenced before the 

adoption of a resolution by the House, the adoption of that resolution 
1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1591 

would bring it within the rulo. It certainly ought to do so in this case. But I will not dwell upon that point. ldesiresimplytocall the 

attention of my fellow-members on this floor to this proposition: these 

boys who have been employed in the cloak-room are either needed ·therE) or are not. Admit.that their services have not been needed in 

the cloak· rooms; admit that they have been unnecessary in the cleaning of this Hall, in the performance of their duties from time to time 

here. Let us make that declaration by a resolution; let us tell these men in somA more public way than by a notice given by a committee 

of this House, which seemingly applies only to the pages; let us tell 

them now and let them go. _ If the notice whlch has been read by the gentleman from Ohio 

[Mr. McMAHON] applies to these men in the cloak-rooms and on the 

lioor of t.he House, then the Doorkeeper and the Speaker and all the 

officers of this Honse have been utterly derelict in.their duty, in permitting these men on the floor or in the rooms adjacent to the Hall of 

the Honse at all. If that was the law they had no business there, and 

neither the Speaker nor the Doorkeeper had any right to permit them 

to come upon this. floor or to go into the rooms adjoining this Hall; 

they had no place here at all. · The gentleman says that even the rules of this House are binding 

only by sufferance. If the gentleman will examine the rules he will 

find that they are bindinl? upon each House successively, unless altered or changed; not remainmg in force by sufferance merely, but they 

continue to be the rules of the House unless the sncceeding House 

shall change them. And even if that were not so, these rules were readopted at the commencement of the present Congress. 

But I do not wish to put this matter upon any plea of the naked 

construction of the rules or of the law. These boys have performed 

their duty, an arduous duty, requiring their presence here from early 

in the morning until late at night, for the pittance of $1 per day. 

Now, whatever may be done in the future, I submit that it wonld be more manly in us all to pay them now what they.have earned, and 

if we do not need their services any longer give them notice to leave 

their employment. That is about all I have to say on this resolution. 

Mr. McMAHON. I now yield five minutes to the gentleman from 

Maryland, [Mr. ROBERTS,] chairman of the Committee of Accounts. · Mr. ROBERTS. I desire only that the House shall thoroughly 

understand this subject, in order that members may not be misled in 

regard to it. I want the Honse to understand that while I uo 'not 

antagonize the position taken by my friend from Ohio, [Mr. McMA- HO~ ] and my colleague on the Committee of Accounts, nevertheless 

I do not entirely assent to all hls propositions. - The Honse has long adhered to a practice that has been approved 

not only by this Congress but by many preceding Congresses, which 

has been acted upon by the Clerk and sanct.ioned by the Treasury Department, the accounting officers of the Treasury having regarded the 

construction placed upon the law by the gentleman from New Hamp- ~?hire [Mr. BLAIR] as the proper construction. 

This subject has been considered by the Committee of Accounts from 

time to time and has been one of serious trouble to them. My friend 

from Ohio has taken the position which he has advocated here to-day, 

but I myself have very much inclined to the position of the gentle- man from New Hampshfre, [Mr. BLAIR.l If the report now made by 

the committee shall be favorably considered by the House it will be ~ reversal of the practice of this Honse and of previons Congresses. 

If the House desires now to say that we shall not undertake to appropriate from the contingent fund one single cent in payment of 

services rendered by any employ6 of this House, unless sanctioned by a resolution previously adopted by the House, it is for the House to 

say so. I have no motive whatever in detaining the House now but 

simply to place members fully in possession of all the facts in con- nection with this matter, so that they can act intelligently in regard 

to it. 

I confess freely and candidly that if the construction advocated 

by the gentleman from Ohio shall be adopt.ed in the Honse it will 

relieve the Committee of Accounts of a great deal of trouble Resolutions have been referred to us from time to time to pay persons out 

of the contingent fund of the House, and those resolutions have 

proved the greatest source of trouble that the committee has had to 

deal with. And if the view of the gentleman from Ohio shall be 

adopted by the House our labors will be very greatly decreased. 

I will, however, confess frankly and candidly that I am more favorably inclined to the resolution of the gentleman from New Hampshire, lMr. BLAIR,] for the reason that these boys have been discllarging this duty from time to time believing that they would be 

paid ; and I think they deserve to be paid. As this matter is being 

considered by the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, I trust 

that committee will provide some method by which these employes can be placed upon some roll, so that we may know who are our employes and who are not. 

It is true that the resolution rea-d by the gentleman from Ohio, 

giving notice to the doorkeepers and to the employes that after a certain day they should not be paid out of the contingent fund of the 

House, was adopted after full consideration by the committee. In 

that I differ from my friend from New Hampshire. lt was adopted 

in order that those who were not on the roll might not thereafter 

expect any pay except by resolution of the House. 

Mr. BLAIR. Exactly. And I wonM ask the gentleman if any no- tice has been given to any man employed here during this Congress 

that the Honse would be so lost to all sense of justice and self-respect as not to pass a resolution to pay them' 

Mr. ROBERTS. I am very confident, indeed, that no · such notice ha~ been served upon anybody; and I hope sincerely the House will 

not take such action. 

Mr. BLAIR. I trust that we shall not take such action to-day. 

Mr. ROBERTS. I do not wish to adopt that course at all; and I 

hope the gentleman does not draw any such inference. But as this 

matter is now under consideration, I shall be glad to have the House 

act intelligently in regard to it, and stop the large numbers of reso- lutions providing for the payment of claims that ought never to have 

been considered proper even as the foundation of a resolution. It is 

in that view that I desire ·to have the House consider this matternot in the sense of a lecture to members, but .simply as expressing 

the desire of the committee that members shall exercise due diligence 

and care in presenting resolutions for the consideration of the com- mittee, and ~specially those contemplating the drawing of money 

from the contingent fund. Why, sir, at this very time, a8 the gentleman from New Hampshire knows, there must be thirty or forty 

resolutions pending in the Committee of Accounts, and which have 

been there for months, proposing payment to parties who consider 

themselves entitled to pay and who regard the Committ.eeof Accounts as derelict in their duty in not reporting favorably upon the propositions. They look upon the committee as the source of their troublo, 

not the fact that they have not been employed in accordance with 

law. 

Mr. BLAIR. I would like to ask the gentleman a question. In 

regard to all these resolutions is it not generally the fact that they are referred to our committee to ascertain whether the services have 

been rendered, whether they have been valuable, and whether there 

has been an implied promise by the Honse to pay for them' Is not 

the Coinmittee of Accounts constituted for the very purpose of investigating such questions of fact and deciding them f Has any other tribu~al been provided by the Honse which can do this' kitchen-work 

for the Honse T 

Mr. ROBERTS. Well, sir, I am very frank to say that while the 

practice is liable to great objection, I do not exactly see how the 

House can avoid paying from time to time employes who aro not regularly employed under any resolution previously adopted. If it were possible to adopt any rule which could be rigidly adhered to, requiring that before any person entered upon the discharge of his duties 

here his employment should receive the sanction of the House, it 

would certain1y be very desirable. But there will arise from time to 

time just such cases as I have stated where parties must of necessHy 

be paid from the contingent fund without having been previously 

employed. I suppose that the miscell::meons item of $25,000 in· our general appropriation bill was designed expressly to meet such purposes as this. . [Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. BLAIR. I wish to ask the chairman of the committee whether 

from his experience on the committee, he does not consider it utterly 

impossible for the House by resolution to anticipate all the indispensably necessary service which emergencies may require- from time to 

time to be rendered. If it is necessary to wait for a session of Congress before parties can be employed (and frequently there may arise 

during the recess occasions rendering services of this kind indispensably necessary) if we adopt the rigid :rule suggested by the gentle- man from Ohio, [Mr. McMAHO~,J that an express resolution must in 

every case precede the rendei'ing of service, will not the House often 

be serionsly em harassed f 

Mr. McMAHQN. I now yield to the gentleman from ·lllinois, [Mr. 

IIARRISON.) _ -

Mr. HARRISON. The Committee on Reform in the Civil Service now has this matter under consideration in connection with the investigation of the-charges against the Doorkeeper, Mr. Polk. We have 

found that all over this building there are men now doing work or have been doing work in expectation of being paid by resolution- men who have been dismissed by the Doorkeeper, who have been told 

that be cannot pay them, and who yet hang on here with the expectation of being paid by some resolution to be hurriedly passed in the 

last days of the session. 

During the elosing days of the extra seSBion the parties named in 

this resolution were paid. To-day they are not satisfied whether they 

have been paid n p to the 15th of December or w bather they were paid 

simply for the work done during the summer months. They were told, they said, that the payment was in fnll; but they believed that 

they were entitled to more. The very fact that resolutions are passed 

in this way, paying men for services that have never been authorized, 

shows the danger of thus tampering with the contingent fund. • The Committee- on Reform in the Civil Service propose in a few 

days to make a report which will cover this question. Whether we shall report by bill or resolution, we have not yet determined ; but we will endeavor to put the matter before the House in such a way that 

when we pay men it shall be considered a finality, and they wilt be 

satisfied. Some of these men in the cloak-rooms say that they are en- titled to$60 a month. This resolution proposes to pay them $1 a day. 

Some of them think themselves entitled to $60 a month from the 4th 

of last March. The resolution adopted in December paid them at the 

rate of $1 a day. They think they were entitled to$2 a day, and that 

they have still a claim upon this House. Now pass this resolution t.o 
1592 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 

pay them a dollar a day, and at the end of the session a resolution will 

be.offered during the burly-burly of adjournment to pay them what some one will claim they were entitled to. Now this resolution does 

not say this is just what is due them. They claim that more is due. 

The whole system is wrong, and is the source of wrong to the Government. 

My own impression is that every man who has been employed here 

ought to be paid, and ought to be paid fairly; and I believe that the 

Committee on Reform in the Civil Service will present a resolution 

providing for their payment. But I would suggest to the gentleman 

from New Hampshire, [Mr. BLAIR,] a member of the Committee of 

.Accounts, that he wait until our committee shall report, and then the 

House will be enabled to act intelligently. 

Mr. BLAIR. The gentleman will allow me to say in justice to 

myself that I ~id not influence this rep?rt. I a~ not here pressing 

action upon this matter at the present t1me. It Is, however, due to 

these employes to say that while in former CongrMSes, before the 

democratij had the majority here, they were generally paid at the end 

of the session, yet in~ the Forty-fourth Congress, they received one- half in the middle of the first session and the rest at the close. This 

resolution is introduced in conformity with the precedent then set. 

Mr. HARRISON. The ~entleman is somewhat mistaken as to the 

status of these persons. Two of them have always lleen until lately on the roll. On the roll as laborers, at $60 per month. 

The two barbers have been on the roll. They have not only been 

paid at the re~ular price but they have been collecting pay from mem- bers for their work done as barbers ; and done during the session. I 

think there is no great suffering in asking them to wait. They have 

already wait.ed for long months and they will suffer nothing, I am sure, by waiting a few days longer. When the House acts it should 

act so that it may precisely know what it is doing. 

Mr. TOWNSEND, of New York. What have the barbers in the past 

been receiving! 

Mr. HARRISON. Sixty dollars a month from the Government, 

with an average, as testified before us, of $1 a day to each of the four 

barbers for doing sh~ving and hair-dressing for the members. There are two barbers in each cloak-room and they testify that they collect 

from mem hers an average of at least $1 a day each. Then there are three assistants in each cloak-room. They with the barbers clean 

this Hall. Their labors are conRtant, but by this resolution they are cut down to $1 a day, when they have been getting $60 per month. 

Let the matter rest a few days and I believe the Committee on Reform 

in the Civil Service will be able to satisfy them and the House. 

Mr. DUNNELL. Has not the morning hour expired! 

The SPEAKER. It bas. 

Mr. BLAIR. .Are they not only asking what common laborers are receiving throughout the country f 

Mr. HARRISON. That may be. 

MI. BLAIR. The barbers deserve something for the extra work 

they do. · Mr. }'ORT. I desire to state that these persons do not get pay as barbers, as they are paid by the members themselves for shaving and 

hair-dressing; but it is proposed to give them pay aa barbers for the 

work they are doing in the Hall and cloak-rooms of the House. 

Mr. DUNNELL. I demand the regular order of business. 

Mr. McMAHON. "We will finish it up in five or ten minutes and I 

hope the gentleman will withdraw his demand. 

The SPEAKER. The morning hour has expired. 

Mr. DUNNELL. I withdraw my demand for the regular order. 

Mr. MclliAHON. Then I yield for five minutes to the gentleman 

from Ohio. . · Mr. COX, of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I think a very few words will 

make the House willing to postpone at least the decision of this question until the report which the chairman of ihe Committee on Civil 

Service Reform speaks of baa been made. I feel that the resolution now offered would not do justice. It is a resolution to pay men 1 a da.y who feel in their hearts they have a perfect right to 2 per day. 

We mean to know what the facts are before we decide, and it does 

not seem to be just to give these men 1 a day when we are giving 

other employes of the House w bo do not do one-half as much,or indeed 

one-tenth part as much service, ~2 a day all the time. · The facts .are .about these : on our regular roll are a certain num- ber of laborers, and these laborers are paid at the regular rate of $60 a month. Now it is a simple literal truth that so many of these men borne on the rolls a.s laborers are too genteel to wa.sh spittoons and 

sweep the floor that the habit has grown up of taking men who are house-servants and willing to do house-servants' work and let them 

by mere con-sent .and silence go 'On and do the work during the session 

and pay tlreln by resolution while your gentlemen are on the roll 

doing absolutely nothing, many of them. I affirm upon sworn testimony, which will be before th1s Bouse in a short time, that this is 

the literal fact; and therefore, before you determine whether you are going to pay these men one or tw{) dollars a day yon need to know 

what the men are d.oing here to whom you are paying $60 a month. 

Let ns to-day, then, pospone the report which the chairman of the 

Committee of Accounts has mad"C -and in a short time we will have a report from the Committee ·on Civil Service Reform. I pled~e my own word, Mr. Speaker, that when that report comes in it will be 

satisfactory to every reasonable gentleman on this floor. 

-. 

We are not doing what is just in pa~sing this resolution. Take 

for example the case of a number of these men. They have be.en 

appointed and they believe regularly. They believe they have just as good a commission as any other men who have been on yourrollti. 

l\Iany of them never knew their situation was different, and yet men of this kind have fo~nd to their astonishment the House was not paying them what they thou'ght the law fixed a.s their pav, but that in some manner or other something was being doled out· to them as a partial charity instead of wages which they believed they were as lawfully entitled to as weare to our salaries ond~r the law. We need 

to know bow these facts stand. It is too long a story to tell iu five 

minutes. We have been taking testimony for a number of days bearing on it. It will be before the House in a short while and then justice can be done. 

Mr. TOWNSEND, of New York. Is there any objection to paying 

these poor men who have done this work 1 a day at this time and 

then if it shall be found they are entitled to more, .paying them the 

balance 7 

Mr. COX, of Ohio. This is the case. These men themselves have 

testified they have not usually been paid until the close of the ses- sion. ·There is no hardship, therefore, in asking them to wait. 

Mr. BLAIR. Is not my statement correct that formerly having 

higher pay they were paid at the end of the session, but that the 

democratic Congress paid one-half in the midddle of the session and 

the other half at the close of it f 

Mr. COX, of Ohio. No sucb testimony has been before onrcommittee, but that is matter of small moment. We are trying to get the 

matter in such shape that justice will be done. . Mr. McMAHON. Has not the time of t.he gentleman from Ohio 

expired T I yielded to him only for five minutes. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman's time has expired. There are five minutes remaining. 

Mr. McMAHON. We have no feeling against the claim ofthesemen. 

On the contrary, I want to have it determined by the H.ouse exactly 

what they are entitled to, instead of their being paid in a slipshod manner liable to every sort of objection. There is no haste about 

this matter, and the committee in reporting adversely on this resolution did so for the purpose of bringing it before the House. My notion was that the proper way was to send it to the Committee on Appropriations or to the Committee on Civil Service Reform. I move, therefore, that it be referred to the Committee on Civil Service Reform. 

Mr. BLAIR. Before that motion is put I wish to say a word. 

Mr. McMAHON. I decline to yield. I wish to make this statement to the House : that if the House votes to refer this matter to the 

Ci vii Service Reform Committee I, for one, will regard the Committee 

of Accounts as instructed according to the viE)w of the law, section 

3680 of the Revised Statutes, which I expressed, that this is not payable out of the contingent fund. I demand the previous question. 

Mr. BLAIR. The gentleman says he asks the House by disposing 

of this question in this summary and unnecessary manner to place a construction upon the rule which may embarrass the Honse for all 

time. He says he will consider the House as instructing the Committee of Accounts not to allow pay for any service. 

M.r. McUAHON. I want to comply with tho law. I do not yield 

for further debate. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Ohio demands the pYevious 

question on hU! motion. . The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered. 

The ~WEAKER. The main question bas been ordered, which is on referring tho original proposition and the substitute to the Committee on Civil Service Reform. 

Mr. CONGER. I rise to demand that the regular order of business 

shall proceed, if there is any. 

The SPEAKER. This is the regular order. 

Mr. CONGER. When the Chair said that the previous question wa.s demanded, I supposed that was all. I did not understand that 

that brought before the House a motion to refer this to the Committee on Civil Service Reform. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair was not to blame for that. · Mr. CONGER. I submit that the Chair did not state the proposition of the gentleman from Ohio. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair stated that the previous question was demanded on the motion of the gentlema.n from Ohio, which the gentleman from Ohio had stated in the presence of the House. 

:Mr. CONGER. The Chair did not state, however, that the gentle- man from Ohio moved to commit this resolution. 

The SPEAKER. It was not necessary the Chair should. 

Mr. CONGER. Then how should the House know what was the 

proposition! 

The SPEAKER. The House should have heard, and probably did 

hear, the gentleman from Ohio state what was his motion. 

Mr. CONGER. There never bas been a case where a proposition like this has not been stated by the Chair. 

Mr. McMAHON. I call for the regular order. 

The SPEAKER. The question is on the motion of the gentleman from Ohio, to refer the report and substitute to the Committee on Civil-Service Reform. 

The question being taken, there were-ayes 106, noes 43. 

So the motion was agreed to. 
1878. ·coNGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. ·1593 

Mr. McMAHON moved to reconsider the vote just taken; and also 

moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. · Tile latter motion was agreed to4 

ENROLLED BILL SIGNED, 

Mr. RAINEY, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that 

tbe committee had examined and found truly enrolled a bill of the 

following title; when the Speaker signed the same: An act (H. R. No. 1947) grantin~ a pension to Dwight A. Barrett, 

late private Company E, Forty-sixth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. 

NATIONAL IRON-MOLDERS' IDI'ION. 

Mr. CAMPBELL. Having been absent when the Committee ()n 

Education and Labor was called this morning, I ask unanimous con- sent at this time to make a report from that committee. 

There was no objection. 

:Mr. CAMPBELL, by unanimous consent, from the Committee on Education and Labor, reported back, with au amendment, the bill (H. 

R. No. 292) to incorporate the National Iron-Molders' Union; and the same was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and, with the accompanying report, ordered to be printed. 

SAMUEL GROVE. 

Mr. CANNON, of illinois, by unanimous consent, from the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, reported back, with an adverse 

recommendation, the bill (H. R. No.17t:!l) for the relief of Samuel 

Grove, postmaster at Mexico, Missouri; and the same was laid on the table, and the accompanying report ordered to be printed. 

PETER TARGARONA. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina. As I expect to be absent from the 

Hoose for some time I ask unanimous consent t.o make some reports 

from the Committee of Claims for commitment to the Committee of 

the Whole. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, by unanimous consent, from the 

Committee of Claims, reported a bill (H. R. No. 3732) for the relief of 

Peter Targarona; which was read a first and second time, referred to 

the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and ordered 

to be printed. 

RANSON HARMON. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, reported a bill (H. R. No. 3733) for the relief of 

Hanson Harmon; which was read a first and second time, referred to 

the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and, with the 

accompanying report, ordered to be printed. 

THOMAS STRIDER. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the l!!ame committee, reported a. bill (H. R. No. 3734) for the relief of 

Thomas Strider, of Winchester, Virginia; which was read a first and 

second time, referred to the Committ-ee of the Whole on the Private 

Calendar, and ordered to be printed. 

COMMERCIAL BANK OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, reported back, with a favorable recommendation, the bill (H. R. No. 3186) for the relief of the Commercial Bank · of Knoxville, 'tennessee; which was referred to the Committee of the 

'Vhole on the Private Calendar, and the accompanying report ordered 

to be printed. 

REFUND TO GEORGIA. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, reported (as a substitute for Honse bill No. 811) 

a bill (H. R. No. 3735) to refund to the State of Georgia certain money 

expended by said State for tho common defense in 1777; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee of tl1e Whole on the state of the Union, and the accompanying report ordered to 

be printed. 

JACOB AND ELIZABETH SENER. . 

Mr. D.A. VIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, 1·eported a bill (H. R. No. 3736) for the relief of 

Jacob and Elizabeth. Sener; which was read a first and second time, 

referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and, 

with the accompanying report, ordered to be printed. 

. V. H. M1COR1\1ICK. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, reported as a substitute for House bill No. 1793 

a bi11 (H. R. No. 3737) for the relief of V. H. McCormick; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee of the Whole 

!)n the Private Calendar, and, with the accompanying report, ordered 

to be printed. -

B. L. JAMES. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, also, by unanimous consent, from 

the same committee, reported a bill (H. R. No. 3738) for the relief of 

B. S. James ; which was read a first and second time, referred to the 

Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and, with the 

accompanying report1 ordered to be printed. 

GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPmCAL SURVEYS. 

Mr. ATKINS, by unanimous consent, submitted the following reso- lution ; which was read, considered, and agreed to : 

Re8o~ved, Tbat the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby. requested at as early a day as fracticable to report to this Honse a. list of all public geological and geo- grapbica surveys conducted by or under tbe authority of the War Department, 

dnnng the past ten years. together with a statement of tbe areas of territory so surveyed, the years in which each district or area was surveyed, the cost incUITed 

by direct appropriations by Con~ess, what aid and supplies, and the value thereof, 

have boon furnished by the Ordnance, Commissary, and Quartermaster's Depart· 

menta, outside of said appropriations, and from what funds transportation and office rents have boon paid, together with a list of the pnblicatioM :made and in progress as a result of snob surveys. Also whether satd surveys havo dnplicat~tl other 

public surveys made by au.thority of Congress, the cost of such duplications, if any 

have occurred, and the rea.son wli.y they were made. 

Mr. ATKINS also, by unanimous consent, submitted the following 

resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to: Re~olved, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, requested at as early a day as possible to report to this Honse a list of all geological and geographical surveys conducted under or by authority of his Department during tlio past ten years, to:?;ether with the statement of the areas of territory so surveyed, the 

year in which each district or art'a was surveyed, the cost incurred by direct 8})· 

propriations by Congress, what aid and supplies, and the ;alue thereof, have been 

furnished bytheOrdD.ance, Commissary, and Quartermaster's Departments, outside 

of said appropliations, and from what funds transportation and office rents have 

been paid, together with a list of publications made and in pro_gress a-s t,he result 

of such surveys. Also whether said surveys have duplicated other public geological and geographical surveys made by authority of Congress, the cost of ench do. 

plications, if any have occurred, and tho reasons why they have been made. 

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS. 

On motion of Mr. CASWELL, by unanimous consent, leave was granted for the withdrawal of papers in the case of Johanna W. 

Turner, submitted with an application for a pension, no adverse re- port having been made. · LF..A VE OF ABSENCE. 

· Mr. LOCKWOOD, by unanimous consent, was granted leave of absence for one week, on acct>ont of sickness. 

T. AND J, W. GAFF & CO. 

Mr. BURCHARD, from the Committee of Ways and Means, reported 

back the bill (H. R.No. 2818) for the relief ofT. andJ. W. Gaff & Co., 

of the city of Aurora, Indiana, and moved that the same be recom- mitted to the committee and ordered to be printed. 

The motion was agreed to. 

ORDER OF BUSDrnSS. 

Mr. BRIGHT. I move that the Honse resolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the Private Ca1end~r. 

Mr. WAD DELL. And, peudint; that motion, I move that all general debate on the unfinished bosmess be limited to fift-een minutes. 

It is the joint resolution to pay an,te bellum mail contractors. 

Mr. CONGER. I object. 

Mr. WADDELL. Does it require unanimous consent f 

The SPEAKER. It does not. 

Mr. WADDELL. How much time does the gentleman from Michigan want! 

The SPEAKER. The bill has once been considered and it is within 

the power of the committee to limit debate on it. 

Mr. CONGER. Some sections have not been considered and this is a proposition to restrict debate upon them. 

Mr. WAD DELL. There is but one eection; it is to pay ante bellu11~ 

mail contractors in the South, and it has already been debated two 

days. -

Mr. CONGER. Several gentlemen on this side desire to express 

their views upon it. 

The SPEAKER. How much time does the gentleman from Michigan desire! 

Mr. CONGER. One hour, divided between both sides of the Hon~. 

Mr. WADDELL. I accept that. 

The SPEAKER. Then the gentleman from North Carolina moves that when the House resolves itself into Committee of the Whole on 

the Private Calendar, all general debato upon the unfinished business 

be limited to one hour, to be divided between both sides of the 

Hoose. 

Mr. WADDELL. Yes, sir. 

The question was taken on Mr. WAD DELL'S motion, and it was agreed to. 

Mr. MILLS. Is that all the debate that is to be allowed t 

The SPEAKER. It does not interfere with the five-minute rnle. 

ADJOUR~MENT OVER • 

Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. Can I not submit a motion at this · time that when the House adjourns to-day it be to meet on Monday 

next! [Cries of "Oh, no!"] 

The SPEAKER. The Chair will entertain the motion. 

lli. CUMMINGS. Is it debatable! 

The SPEAKER. It is not. 

Mr. WOOD. The Hoose ought to remain in session to attend to 

public but~ineAs. 

Mr. SOUTHARD. I understand that the Committee on Appropri- ations are ready to proceed to-morrow with its business. 

Mr. DURHAM. They are. Mr:LUTTRELL. Would it be in order to move an amendment to 

the motion of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. WmTEf] 

The SPEAKER. It would not. 
1594 .. -CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MARCH 8, 

Mr. LUTTRELL. I would like to make a motion that the House 

p:1eet to-morrow for debate only. [Cries of "Oh, no!"] 

Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. I have no objection to that. 

The question was taken on Mr. WHITE'S niotion; and on a division there were-ayes 32, noes not counted. 

So the motion was not agreed to. 

Tho question waa then taken on Mr. BRIGHT's motion; and it was agreed to. 

The House accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, (Mr. PRICE in the chair.) 

The CHAIRMAN. The House is in Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and resumes the consideration of the unfinished 

business, being t,he joint resolution of the House (H. R. No. 20) to .apply the annual appropriation by the act of Congress approved 

March 3, 1877, to pay certain southern mail contractors; and by 

order of the House all general dellate on the joint resolution is limited to one hotir. 

Mr. WADDELL. It is not necessary for me to take up much of 

the time of the committee in explaining this joint resolution, for it has 

already been twice under consideration in Committee of the Whole. 

I will simply remind those gentlemen who may have forgottonitthat 

it is a joint resolution to carry into effect an appropriation made on the 3d of March, 1876, of · 75,000 to pay mail contractors for carrying the mails previous to the war. Tho Secretary has put a constrnc- 'tion upon that appropriation which, in my judgment and in the judgment of many members, will amount to a total defeat of the appropriation. He has held that he would not pay aily claim until all have _ ueen presented and audited, and then if there is not sufficient of the 

appropriation to pay all the claims he would pay them p1·o rata. The 

amount of the appropriation is 375,000; the amount of claims already 

presented is about. '345,000; so that there is appropriated $307

000 more than will be necessary to pay the claims already audited. 

Mr. CLYMER. I would inquire of the gentleman whether this bill 

is in the precise terms of the act passed lly a former Con~ress making 

the appropriation. Does it not extend the time up to which the con- tractors ma.y be paid 7 That is my understanding of it. 

Mr. REA.GAN. With the permission of the gentleman from North 

Carolina, [Mr. WADDELL,] I will state that the construction given lly 

the Treasury Department is that the claims arising up to the com- mencement of the war may be paid; that, however, was not men- tioned in the law making the appropriation. This llill provides that 

they shall be paid uptothetimewhen the United States Government 

.r.easetl to carry the mails and the confederate government took charge 

of the service. . :Mr. CLYMER. The difficulty in my mind is this: I do not think it 

js wise to vary the terms of the original act. While I might be perfectly willing to pay these persons np to the time when their respective States seceded, I am not willing to fix the arbitrary time named 

in this bill, the 30th of May. 

Mr. w· AD DELL. The 31st of May. 

Mr. CLYMER. The 31st of May7 up to which time they shall be 

paid. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I am advised that the gentleman from Maine 

[:Mr. FRYE] has an amen<;lment which I a.m willing to accept, fixing 

the time for payment when the States respectively seceded from the 

Union. 

Mr. CLYMER. That is right. 

Mr. REA.GAN. This bill proposes to pay these persons up to the time 

when the United States Government ceased to carry these mails and 

the confederate government took charge of the service; it would seem to be just. . .Mr. MILLS. In addition to what my colleague [Mr. REAGAN] has 

said, I desire to say that the Post-Office Department has required all 

:f.he postmasters in the seceding States to settle their accounts up to 

that time. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I now yield to the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. 

FRYE.] 

Mr. CONGER. I made some effort in the House to obtain time for 

debate upon this bill in Colll1Illttee of th~ Whole, and J claim the 

right to at least thirty minutes of the hour which was allowed by the 

House. 

, The CHAffiMAN. The Chair will endeavor to give the gentleman 

all the time he is entitled to. 

Mr. FRYE. I am not so critical as many other members on the 

floor of the House are about the payment of the just debt of the Gov- ~rnment. I think I have already shown by my vote on the floor of 

this House that the word" rebel" does not fi·ighten me into convulsions. If the Government of the United States owes a just deht to a man who afterwards went into the rebellion I am in favor of the 

Government discharging its just obligations to that man. This joint resolution, however, provides that payment shall be made 

to these contractors for service~ rendered up to May 31, 1861. Now, 

the appropriation bill which provided for the payment of any of these ~}aims appropriated the sum of 375,000 to pay the amounts doe to 

mail con tractors, &c., for services rendered before the said States, re- spectively, f:ngaged in war against the United States. The construction put upon that act of Congress by the Solicitor-General is that a State engaged in war against the United States when in convention 

it passed its ordinance of secession. 

Now, under the original bill which made tho appropriation, and 

which tho Committee on the Post-Offi~e and Post-Roads now proposes 

sha.ll be used for the payment of these claims, there is no authority 

whatever to pay one dollar for services rendered in any State after it 

went into secession by its ordinance of sece sion. I am in favor of 

the United States payipg every_ dollar that it owed up to that time. 

I find upon examination that the States went into secession as follows: Alabama, January 11, 1861; Arkansaa, May 6, 18ol; Florida, 

January 10, 11::!61; Georgia, January 19, 1861; Louisiana, January 29, 

1861; Mississippi, January 9, 1861; North Ca.roli.Qa, May 20, 1861; 

South Carolina, December 20, 1860; Texas, February 1, 1861; Tennessee, June 8, 18til7 and Virginia, April17; 1861. 

Mr. MILLS. The gentleman is in error in regard to Texas; that 

State seceded March 2, 1861. 

Mr. FRYE. Its convention passed the ordinance of secession l!"'ebruary 1, 1861. I find that at least two-thirds of all the States passed 

their ordinances of secession in the month of Jan nary, and one in the 

preceding month of December. Now, under the original bill making 

the appropriation there is no authority whatsoever to pay any mail 

contractor: living in the State of Sooth Carolina prior to December 

30, 1860, and in Alabama later than January 11, 1861; no authority 

to pay a mail contractor in Florida subsequently to January 10, 1831; 

and so on. So that authority is asked here beyond and outside of the authority 

which was given in the appropriation bill of the last Con~ess. And, 

sir, it is entirely clear that these claims may not be lim1ted to mail 

contractors, postmasters, revenue officers, Treasury agents. A large 

number of officers residing in those States undoubtedly had their pay 

stopped when those States Sl'<ceded and perhaps did not settle their 

accounts. They have as much right to their pay as mail contractors to 

theirs, and in this Congress or in some subsequent Congress a bill will 

be presented for their payment; and if we extend these payments from 

say January 30, which would be pretty nearly au average, up to .May 

31, we are voting out of the Treasury of the United States beyond 

peradventure a million dollars as payment for services rendered by men after they were in enemy's country, after our courta bad ceased 

to have power to enfoFce contracts in that country, after we were un- able to send onr Government agents int-o those States to look after the 

contractors, after the time when, so far as the civil business of the 

Government was concerned. we were utterly and entirely powerless 

there. 

I do not agree with the doctrine of the gentleman from Indiana, 

[Mr. HANNA.] I admire his liberality. He comes from a State which 

has always kept here a '' watcll-dogupon the Treasury," never barki11g, 

I will admit, at an Indiana claimant, bot barking at every other. I am astonished to find the gentleman, coming as he d~ from Indiana, 

advocating this gift of the Government of the United States going 

away beyond the original appropriation bill which provided th:\t we should pay these men for theirservicesonlyup to thetimewhen their 

States went into the war-going two mont.hs and a half beyond that 

time and giving to that ext.ent a gratuity to these men whose States were in rellellion so that we could not penetrate there with our agents or any officers of the United States Government. For the reason that 

I desire to pay only the just debts of the Government of the United 

States, I offer the following amendment: 

In line 15, after the words "cp to," strike out the words "May31, 1861, wllen discontinuance was ordered by the Postmaster-General," and insert the words "the 

time said States re~pectivelypassed their ordinances of secession." 

:Mr. WADDELL. I accept that amendment. 

Mr. REAGAN. I suggest that the gentleman from Maine [Mr. 

FRYE] modify his amendment so as to say "from the time of the adoption of the ordinances of secession.77 Those ordinances in some cases were passed in convention before they were finally adopted by the 

State. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I desire to say to my friend from Maine 

that in Virginia the convention on the 16th of April, 1t!61, passed an ordinance, subject to ratification or rejection by the people, which was submitted to the people and voted upon on the 23d of May following, when it was ratified. Consequently in Virginia the act of 

secession ca.n only date from the 23d of .May, the time of its mtifica.-

tion by the people. 

Mr. FRYE. No, .Mr. Chairman, if these people met in convention 

through delegates elected by t.heru and that convention solemnly 

passed an ordinance of secession, I hold that from the hour when an ordinance of secession was passed by the delegates of the people representing their views there is no obligation whatever upon the United 

States Government to pay a singlo dollar. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I will further correct the gentleman. 

The act of the Virginia Legislature calling a convention proviucd 

that the action of the convention should be submitted to tho people 

for rat.ification or rejection. 

Mr. FRYE. I understand that the gentleman from North Carolina 

[Mr. WADDELL] accepts my amendm~nt. 

1\lr. MILLS. He cannot accept it. 

1\Ir. FRYE. Then I offer it. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I yield to the gentleman from Toxas, [Mr. MILLS.] 

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chairman, I desire to say that the genUemau 

from Maine is somewhat mistaken in some of his statements of facts, 

and certainly so as to the timo when the State of Texas secedetl. I was there and a part of that hil'ltory. A convention assembled in Texas 

and submitted a proposition to the people of the State whether they 

would secede or not. The people voted on that proposition on the 

22d of Fe'bruary, and on tho 2tl. day of Mareh, the anni~ereary o~ 
1878. .CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1595 

their declaration of independence from Mexico, the ordinance of se- cession was announced dissolving the relations so far as they could 

do so between themselves and the Government of the United States. 

But, Mr. Chairman, this is not a question of legal quibble; it is 

simply a question about adherence to the contract which the Government of the United States made with some of its citizens. While the 

people of Texas and other Southern States claimed that they had a right to dissolve the relations between themselves and the United 

States, the Government of the United States claimed that they bad no such right; that the ordinances of secession were absolute nullities; and as such it treated them. Hence, notwit.hstandingthose or- dinances, the United States Government still continued its mail serv- ice in the Southern States, not recognizing the insurrectionary con- dition until the commencement of the month of June, when these 

contracts expir<>d. Now the Government of the United States through 

the Post-Office Department-! speak from knowledge of the facts so far as my own district is concerned-has since the war required every 

postmaster to settle his accounts up to the 31st of May, 1861. The 

Department issued st.amps1 blanks, and stationery up to that time to 

these postmasters; and it nas required all of them to come fonyard 

and repay to the Government all these advances made up to that time. 

I know that in the case of the postmaster at Houston, one of the 

largest post-offices in my l:ltate, they required him to pay. They had 

paid him to the 1st of March, and had advanced over 700 between 

March and May, and he paid every dollar of it. He then asked them 

to pay him his salary, and the Post-Office Department replied: "We· will do so, as it is a good claim, whenevertbe Congress of the United 

States makes the appropriation." The Government of the United 

States has settled with the postmasters up to the 31st of May in the 

Southern States. lfbat is the day it fixed as tho cessation of the postol 

relations with the Southern States. It is simply a contract with 

subordinates; it is not a question of law, because the sword has decided that the ordinances of secession were nnllities. That is a tribunal from which there is no appeal, and it will not do to say because 

the States undertook to secede this Government will go back now and fix that point as the one from which it will cease to pay these 

contractors. 

Mr. FRYE. I wish to ask the gentleman one question, because it 

is important. 

Mr. MILLS. Certainly. · Mr. FRYE. I want to know what the gentleman says to the point 

I make that the original law limited all payments to the time the 

States reApectively went into the war, while this bill, which is only an instruction to distribute moneys raised under the original law, goes 

beyond the time they went into the war up to the 31st day of May. 1 want t.o know what the reply to that is. 

Mr. ~fiLLS. The reply I make is, this body has t.be power to make 

laws, and if it made the wrong law two or three years ago it should 

correct it now. We are not concluded by the action of Congress one or two years ago. 

Mr. FRYE. One moment. The law made was the appropriation 

of the very money which now you propose to distribute and it was a sum raised to pay all mail contractors up to the time that the war actually commenced. Now you propose to take'that money to pay it 

for further services. 

The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman from Texas bas ex- pired. 

Mr. FRYE. I hope the gentleman from Texas will he allowed a minute more of time. 

Mr. MILLS. I will make answer frankly, and that is that the ol!iginallaw fixed the wrong date; there is no question about that. The 

Post-Office Department of the United States Government fixed the 

31st day of May when 'its postal control over the Southern States 

ended. The original bill fixed the wrong time and this bill merely 

proposes to correct it. That is all there is of it. 

The CHAIRl\-lAN. The gentleman's time has expired. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I yield now to the gentleman from Texas. 

Mr. REAGAN. Let me reply, Mr. Chairman, for a moment to the 

question propounded by the gentleman from Maine. The Government of the United States by its own solemn act determined the 

time for itself. ·It is fair in construing that law that we should take as the basis of its construction the public, solemn act of t.he Government fixing the period when that service ceased. These contractors 

continued to perform Eervices under the Government up to the ::11st 

of May, 1861. All the postmasters in the Southern States continued 

in the performance of their duties up to that time. Up to that date 

postal communication was free and uninterrupted between Washingtoo Cif.y and all the Northern States and all the Southern States. 

Mr. YOUNG. Let me ask a question for information. I 'Yish to 

know whether at the time the Government abandoned postal control 

of the ~outhern States, t.hey required the postmasters to account for 

receipts up to the 31st day of May T 

Mr. REAGAN. I will state to the gentleman from Tennessee that 

they did. They were required by the confederate authorities to settle 

their accounts with the Government of the United States up to the 

31st day of May, to make return of all postage-stamps in their hands, 

and to pay over all money they had received up to that date to the 

Government of the United States. The Government of the United 

States, from those who did not then settle with it, have since the close 

of the war, continued to collect the balance due up to the 31st day of 

)day, 18tH. 

Mr. YOUNG. Although that was after the ordinance of secession T 

Mr. REAGAN. Yes, sir. This suspension of service was as to all 

southern States, beginning with South Carolina, which passed an ordinance of secession December, 1860, and going down to the last one. 

Mr. YOUNG. Were the postmasters in those States which bad 

seceded required to settle their accounts with the Government of 

the United States up to the 31st day of May, 1861 f 

Mr. REAGAN. They were required by the confederate authorities 

to account to the authorities of the United States for all moneys they 

bad received up to the 31st day of May and to return all stamps on band. It is a fact that the Government .not only fixed the period 

when it ceased to perform service, but it proceeded to recognize the 

rightfulness of its act by collecting all debts and liabililies from 

those engaged in the service np to that time. That was the period 

to which these accounts ought to be adjusted. It is the one which 

the Government of the United States fixed for the termination of the 

service and the continuation of these contracts. 

It was said t bat war existed with the acts of sec·ession. I will take 

time to say this in relation to that point. Very strict rules are not 

always applicable to a people in a changing and revolutionary con- dition. 'l'be whole of history shows the impracticability of this. 

War did result bot it was n6t an act by one body at one time. It was the result of the culmination of many acts in which the people of those 

States on the one side and the Government and the people of the other 

States on the other determined and fixed that by their own pnblio 

acts. And it does seem to me that authority should be given to adjust 

those accounts. 

Mr. YOUNG. I desire to ask the gentleman a question. Did the 

mail contractors continue to perform the service for the Government 

after the secession of those States! 

Mr. REAGAN. Yes, sir; they did so up to the 31st of May, 1861, 

under that contract. 

Mr. YOUNG. I ask the gentleman these questions merely to inform 

myself. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I offer as an amendment to the amendment of the gentleman from Maine what I send to the desk. 

Mr. WADDELL. I submit that this is not the proper time for 

offering an amendment. We have not yet got through with the general debate. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. Then I will present · it at the proper 

time. . Mr. WADDELL. I yield now to the gentleman from :Michigan, 

[Mr. CONGER.] 

.Mr. CONGER. Mr. Chairman, in discussing this matter the other 

day I asserted that the postmasters of the South, prior to the 31st of 

May, 1861, prior to the time when the Government ordered a discontinuance of mail service in the Sooth, went over to the southern con- federacy with the property belonging to the United States; with 

their unset tied balances, with their mail-bags, their postage-stamps, 

their locks, their keys, their violated contracts, and their forfeitures, 

and delivered them bodily to t.he postmaster-general, so called, of the 

southern confederacy. I used this language. 

They carried off with them their violated contracts, they carried off mail. bags, they carried off mails. 

Now, sir, I was met then by the gentleman from Texas [Mr. REAGAN] with this statement which I desire to read again in the pres- ence of the Honse : 

We put it out of the power of these postmastersReferring to the postmasters of the United States who went over to the confederacy: 

Wo put it out of the power of these postmasters and others engaged in the pos. tal service to cheat the Unitell States by the isdue of proclamations, fixing their 

responsibility both for money in their hands and for postaj!e-etamps which they 

held. We never used the postage-stamps of the United States or a dollar of tl1e 

money in the post~ffi.ces before the 1st day of June, 1861, I state again, in the 

hearing of the gentleman from Micbi_gan, so that he may know that I bad a reason in desiring to do this work, for I and others in all the j!truggles of that time looke<l 

forward to a ~ossible day when reconciliation and adjustment mi?:ht occur. We 

fixed the liabliity both of the postmasters of the confederate government anll the 

rights of the contractors under the confederate j!overnment, and only held the post- masters responsible to it after that government took charge of the postal service. 

Now, sir, I read the following: 

[Document 223.] 

Circuhr No. 4. THE CO~FEDERATE POST-OFFICK. 

CO:)."FEDEilATE STATES OF AMERICA, POST·0FFICE DEPARTIIE~"1', 

· MontgomertJ, May 20, 1861. 

Sm: You are hereby instructed, as tho postal service of the Go..-ernment of tl1e 

Unitoo States within the Confederate States will be suspendeu under tho authority 

of the Confederate States~>n and after the 1st day of June next, to retain" in yottr possession subject h) the further orclcrs of this department for the benefit of tbe 

Confederate States all mail-bags, locks, and keys, mar king an<l other stamps, blanks 

for quarterly returns of postmasters, and all other property longin~ to or con- nected with tho postal service, and to return forthwith to the chief of tne appoint- ment bureau of tb.is department a full inventory of the same. You will also report to the chief of the finance burean of this department on the lst day of J o.ne proximo, 

your journal or ledger account with the United States for the service of t he PostOffice Department up to and including the 31st day of the present month of May, in 

accordance with the general regulations embraced in chapter 24, of ti.Je edition of Laws a.nrl Regulations of the Post-Office Department, issued May 15, 1P.5!1, page 106, exhibiting the final balance in your possession. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

.JOHN l!· P..E.A.GAN, 1 ost11'148ter-Gcneral. 

Mr. JONES, of Ohio. What is the date of that T 
1596 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE .. MARCH 8, 

Mr. CONGER. May 20, 1861, eleven days before the time referred 

to by the gentleman from Texas. A circular directing every postmaster of the United States in the Confederate States, in the contemplation of action on the part of this Government relinquishing mail 

service there, to keep in their possession all mail-bags, mail locks and 

keys, postage-stamps--

Mr. REAGAN. Not postage-stamps. 

Mr. CONGER. No, sir; not postage-stamps, but all other property. 

Postage-stamps were too minute a kind of property to be itemized; 

but all other property in their possession they were directed to re .. tain, subject to the further orders of the confederate government; 

marking and other st&IDps, mail-bags, locks and keys, blanks for 

quarterly returns, furniture, everything. 

Now, sir, I leave it to the gentleman who made the assertion which 

I have read! and denied the proposition which I have made, to bring 

forward any other proclamation or any other action which restored 

to the Government of the United States this stolen property, as I 

charged in my remarks the other day. 

Mr. REAGAN. Will the gentleman allow me one word f 

Mr. CONGER. Not now, as I have but a mome~t. 

Mr. REAGAN. But the gentleman should not do me injustice. 

Mr. CONGER. I do not wish to do the gentleman an injustice. 

Mr. REAGAN. You have already done me an injustice, and ought 

to allow me to say that I distinctly asserted that the postmasters were required to return to the United States Government the stamps, and to 

pay over the money belonging to the Department, which wa~ in their 

hands. 

Mr. CONGER. That was. not done in this proclamation. 

Mr. REAGAN. It was in another proclamation, which I do not have 

here. 

.Mr. CONGER. This proclamation requires that all property be 

kept in the possession of these men for the uenefit of the confederate 

post-office department until otherwise ordered. If there baa been 

any other order it would perhaps be well to present it. That was the position I took. 

It is notorious to the country that long before the time when our Government discontinued the mail service in the South all these 

southern postmasters did carry on their service foT the confederate 

government, and I now tell the House that, by order of the confederate P.ostmaster-general, they did retain in their possession and tum over to the accredited authorities of the Confederate States all the 

property, all their contracts, and other propert.y of every name and 

nature, for the service of the Confederate States. Sir, I find the passage in relation to this subject in Pollard's History of the War. 

Mr. YOUNG. That is not good authority. 

Mr. CONGER. I quote from page 66 of volume 1: 

The P.residents of the southern railroads consent~d not onll to reduce their rates for mail service and conveyance for troops and munitions o war, but voluntarily proffered to take their compensation in bonds of the confederacy. 

Not only the local postmasters carried over their property, but the 

presidents of railways having these great contmcts with the Government of the United States not only turned them over to the confederacy, but agreed to take the balance of their pay in confederate 

bonds. 

Mr. BLOUNT. At what date was that f 

Mr. CONGER. The middle of May, 1861. 

Now, sir, I had many other disputed points in the last day's discussion to which I wish to call attention, but upon some of them my colleague from Michigan [Mr. WILLITS] has prepared himself with the 

law and statements, and can answer better than I am able to do. I 

therefore yield to him the balance of my thirty minutes. 

Mr. WILLITS. Mr. Chairman, this joint resolution comes before 

this House on the claim that it does not change the law of March 

3, 1877. An examination of said law makes apparent two obvious 

changes. That law is as follows: 

. That the sum of $375,000, or so much thereof aa may be necessary, be appropriated to pay the amount doe to mail contractors for mail service performed in the States 

of Alabama, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana., Mississippi, Missouri, Nort-h Carolina., SOuth Carolina., Texas, Tennessee, Virgini~ and West Virginia, in the years 1859, 1860, 1861, and before aaid, States, respectively, engaged in war against the United States, and the provisions of Rection 3480 of Revised statutes of the Unitoo States shall not be applicable to the payments therein authorized: 

Provided, That any BttCh claim.& which have been paid b'rJ the OO'Tifcderate States gov· ernme-nt &hall not be again paid. 

It will be observed that this joint resolution drops after the words 

"eighteen hundred and sixty-one" the words "and before said StatetJ, 

t·espectively, engaged in tear against the United States," and substitutes as the date up to which payment shall be made May 31, 1861; and further 

omits the entire proviso. 

When this subject was before the Committee of the Whole some days since, the attention of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. REAGAN] was called to these differences, which he admitted, but stated in substance that the changes were unimportant. That no injustice may be done to this gentleman, I submit the following e.xtracts from his 

statement then made. 

The gentleman from Indinna. [Mr. HANNA] aBks me if the bill now before the 

Comnnttce of the Whole is the same as the one that wali passe<l at the last session 

of Congress. As I remPmber it, it iH the same with one exception, to which I may as wdl refer. That bill contained a. clauseprovidingthat these claims should be 

paid except in cases where they had been paid by the confederate government. I 

do not rem em bcr the exact 1angua~e, but that is the purport of the exception. In 

tho preparation of this joint resolution those words were omitted because I knew 

thcra was no nece8lfity for them. 

Again: 

The postmaster-~eral of the confederacy was authorized by law to assume by 

proclamation the direction of the postal service in the Confederate States aml to continue in service postmasters and mail contractors, where they desired t{) r~:~maiu 

in service, until, in the case of postmasters, their successors hall been appointed, and 

in the case of the contractors until new contracts were made. 

At the same time by proclamation these postmasters a.nd contractors were directed to settle their account.a with the Government of the United States up to theIst day of June, 1861, and to pay over to the United States the money in their po Hesl-lion 

and to return to the United States the postage-stamps of which tbe.v wer po&rosseu 

up to the date when the confederate government took charge of the serVlce. 

Again: 

~ow, upon the point that the confederate government baa not paid these claims 

I will sta!-0 ~at the confede~te govornraent only undertook to pay .for the service 

from the tune tt to~k charge of tt, on the l~t day of Juno, 1~1, ami it had nothing whatenr to do mtb the payment for servwe&rendered pret.'tou& to that date. It will 

be seen1.therefore. that the official action on both sides fixed definitely the time at which rue obli~ation of the Federal Government to pay for these services ended 

and the obligation of the confederate government to pay for them began. 

Again: 

I stated that under that same proclamation the postmasters of the confederacy were all required to settle up their accounts with the Federal Government to the 

1st day of June, 1861, and pay over the 'T1W11.e!J due to the Government and rotnrn aU postage-stamps doe to the GQvernment. And it is a. matter of history that up to that hme the mail service was still in operation between Washington City and 

the Southern States. 

How fully these settlements were made I do not know. Thert> was time to make 

them, and many were made. The confederate eovernment never received or collected one dollar due from the receipts of the Post-Office Department or postarrp. 

stamps, and they mt~er paid a dollar to a contractor tohich had become due before the 

1st day of June, 1861; but they required all postmasters to turn over the entire amount of money rt.ceived b'rJ tl~.em up to that date, and the contractor who claimeli 

that 'lnO'TI.e1J was due for post~l service up to that date, over to the United Sta.te!t 

GQvernment. They also required all postmasters to turn over an the postage-stamplol 

in their possession. I have already stated this before the 1louse, and in view of 

the proclamation i88ued by the confederate government at that time, and in the 

faco of such a statement from me, I say that no man who respects himself will 

dispute what I have said on that subject on this floor and charge that we have stolen 

that tnoney and had stolen the postage-stamps. 

Again: 

Mr. CONGER. Will the ~entleman stat~ why this bill was not prepared with a guard that no money shall be paid that was paid for by the confedot'llte govem. ment1 

Mr. REAGA"N. The ~r.entlema.n m.isnnderstands the resolution. That clause was contained in the bill of last year, and nJw it is left out at my suggestion under the statement that there was no use for it. 

Mr. WILLITS. Waa that the only clause left out 7 After the words "eighteen 

hundred and sixts -one " are not the words omitted " and before these States respec- tively engaged in the warf" 

Mr. REAGAN. There is a chan~re in that. 

Mr. WILLITS. Does not the bill now before us ext-end the obligations of tho Gov- ernment 1 South Carolina engaged in war in April, and yet vou wo1lld pay all tho 

mail contractors in that State up to the 29th day of May. 'will not that enlarge the amount of claims1 

Mr. :REAGAN. I will answer that qu~tion. The gentleman is ri~ht in stating 

that at the close of last session it was provided that they should be paid up to the commencement of the war. Mr. WILLITS. Up to the time when each State enga~ed in the war 7 

Mr. REA.GA.~. This bill fixes the date at which the United States Government, 

according to the proclamation of the Postmaster-Gtmeral, terminated the service 

and the time at w hioh the confcderat~ go~ernment took np the service. 

Mr. WILLITS. The question I desire to aak the gentleman is this, whether this 

resolution does not in effect appropriate more money than the law passed on the 

3d of March, 1877 Y 

Mr. REAGAN. My answer to that is this: If yon take the mean date when the 

several State governments passed their ord!rul.nces of secession, I do not know 

whether there would be an increa.se. 

From these extracts it is manifest that the House was led to believe that this resolution was substantially the same as tl.Je act of 

March 3, 1877, except that it required the Secretary of the Treasury 

to" begin at once to pay in foll" these contractors, whom he has so far refused to pay, for t.he reasons stated in the ssme debate by the 

gentleman from North Carolina, [Mr. WADDELL,] the chairman of 

t.he Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, who reported this 

resolution, as follows: 

The Secretary of the Treasury says he will not pay these until all tho claims 

comfl in, and then if the appropriation is insufficient he will pay them pro rata. That amounts to a positive prohibition of the payment of anything at all, for the 

simplo reason that at lea..<!t 20 per cent. of these claims will never be presented. There are many claims for sums of $2!)aull f50 for one.horse mail-routes where the 

mail carrier was killed in the war, and his familv may now bo dead or scattere<l ; and such claims will never be presented at the Poet-Office Department. Therefore, the rnling of the Secretary that he will not pay untill\ll the claims como in amounts to an absolute denialefjustice to all the other claimants, to wh01n nothing will be paid. 

Therefore as the matter stood at that time this Honse had no information on the subject except that the only purpose was to utilize an appropriation already made, but which the Secretary of the Treasury bad by an arbitrary construction refused to pay. 

Subsequent investigation bas led me to believe that the modifications of the resolution are very important and that they open the 

doors of the Treasury t.o a large amount of claims not contemplated 

in the act of March 3, Usi7, and I shall beg the indulgence of the House 

in submitting a list of records and documents more than ordinarily voluminous, but which seem necessary to give a complete elucidation 

of that fact. 

And .first as to whether the change of the date to May 31, 1861, up 

to which payments are required to be made enlarges t.be scope of the 

act, and as a necessary consequence in effect appropriates more money than the act changed, it is only necessary to determine when said 

States respectively engaged in war with the United States. The following is the 
1878. ·coNGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1597 

DATE OF SECESSION ORDINANCES: 

Alabama, January 11,1861; Arkansas, May 6, 1861; Florida, Jn.nuRry 10, 1861; Georgin., January 18, 1801; Louisiana, January 26,1861; 

Mississippi, January 9, 18Cl; North Carolina, May 20, 18tH; South 

Carolina, December 20, 1860; Tennessee, May 6, 1861; Texas, February 1, 18Gl; Virginia, April17, 1861. If thQ date of these ordinances 

is the t-ime said States "engaged in war" then this resolution in effect 

pays or authorizes payment for at least three months more than the 

act of March 31 1877. The average is more than three months. 

The total of the contracts in the seven confederate States for the 

eleven months ending March 31, 1861, was $3,241,181. From this it 

is easv to determine what the gross amount for the last three months 

would be, and after deducting the amount actually paid, the net 

amount would appear. This amount I have not calculated and have 

investigated only far enough to learn that a very large proportion of 

the amount claimed lies within this period between the dates of secessiCln ordinance and the 31st of May, 1861. But a very small amount, 

if any, of the $43,512.21 claimed by ~he mail contractors of South Carolina would be payable under the act of March 3, 1877. . 

If there is any question as to whether the passing of an ordinance 

of secession is au!' engaging in war" I beg leave to refer to the following statement of overt acts by the States respectively except Tennessee, which acts certainly are acts of war: 

OVERT ACTS. 

South Carolina occupied the forts shortly after.December 26, 1800; 

fired on Star of the West January 9, 1861. Georgia voted 1,000,000 

to arm the State November 13, 1860; occupied arsenal and fort shortly 

after January 2, 1861. Alabama occupied the forts January 4, 1861. 

Florida occupied the forts January 1:3, 1861. ~lississippi forces attacked Fort McRae shortly after January 13, 1861. Louisiana occupied forts January 11, 1861. Texas occupied the forts and General 

Twiggs surrendered the posts prior to February23, 1861. North Carolina occnpied forts January 2, 1861. Virginia. took Harper's Ferry 

Aprill9, 1861; Norfolk, April lti to 22, 1861. Arkansas armed April 

2:3, 1861; occupied Fo.rt Smith April 24, 1861. -

By this statement it will be seen the average date of war, or the 

"mean date," as the gentleman from Texas [Mr. REAGAN] calls it, 

will not be far from three months prior to the date fixed in this reso- lution, and as nearly all of the deficiency claimed lies between the 

time the States "engaged in war" and the 31st day of May, 1861, this 

resolution is practically an appropriation for money not authorized 

hy the act of March 3, lb77; it "utilizes" nearly the whole of the 

$375,000, which could not be done under this act at all, even without 

the arbitrary construction of the Secretary of the Treasury. So much 

as to the first modifications made by the resolutions. 

Now let us inquire a little into the second modification, which was 

the omission of the proviso of the act of March 3, 1877. 

When that was called to the attention of the gent.leman from Texas, 

[Mr. REAGAN;,] who is the mover and expounder· of this resolution, 

he admitted, as stated before, that he had eliminated from this resolution that proviso, but stated that Qf his own information it was of 

no use, an<l he went on further and over and over again to say that 

the Confederate States had never paid one dollar of these contractors' claims, not one dollar. 

Now, I am prepared, as I believe, to impeach the accuracy of the 

gentleman'tl statements, and to prove that they are not true, from statements which be himself has made in another capacit.y. 

Mr. REAGAN. I shaH be glad to hear them. 

Mr. WILLITS. I would state, moreover, that the gentleman told 

us that in the proclamation that he issued he ordered those pootmasters to return all stamps and money. I have his proclamation 

here which he himself gave in his report of the post-office department of tho Confederate States, November 27, 1861. 

Let us see what was set forth in that very proclamation which the 

gentleman has spoken about. The proclamation is as follows: 

Whereas by the provisions of an act approved March 15, 1861, and amended by tbe first section of an act approved May 9, 1861, the postmaster-general "is authorized, on and after a day to be named b;y him for that purpose, to take the entire 

charge and direction of the postal sernoe in the Confederate States," and all con- vevance of mails within their limits, from and after such day, except by authority o{the postmaster-general, is thereby prohibited. Now therefore, I, John H. Reagan, postmaster-l!eneral of the Confedl'ra.te States 

of America, do issue this my proclamation, notifying all postmasters, contractors, and special and route agents, in the service of the Post-Office De{lartment, and 

engaged in the tran.smiss10n and delivery of the mails, or otherwise many manner connected with the service, within the limits of the Confederate States of America, 

that on and after the 1st day of June next, I shall assume the entire control and 

direction of the ~stal semce therein ; and I hereby direct all postmasters, route auE\nt~ and speCial a~ents, within these States, and now acting under tho authority a~d direction of the Postmaster-General of the United States, t{) continue in the 

discharge of their respective duties, under the authority vested in me by the con- l!ress of the Confederate States, in strict conformity with such existing laws and 

re!!lllations as are not inconsistent with the laws and constitution of the Confed- m·ate States of America, and such further instmctions as may hereafter be issued 

by my direction. 

And the said postma.sters, route agents, and speci&l agents are ttlso required to forward to thi:J department, without delay, thoU" names, with the names of the 

offices of which they are postmasters, (¢ving the State and conn ty,) robe directed to the .. chid of appointment bureau, post-office department, Montgomery, Alab&roa," 

in order that nGw commissions may be issued under the authority of this government; and all postmast~rs are hereby rB;Q.uired ro render to the Post-Oftice Depart 

ment, at Washington, District of Columlna, their final accounts and their vouchers 

for postal receipts and expenditures, up ro the 31st day of this month, taking care to forward, with said accounts, aU po6tage-stamps and stamped envelope• remaining on hand belon!!ing to the Post-Otlice Department of the United States in order that 

they may receive the pro:per credits therefor in tho adjustment of. their accounts; 

and they are further Teqmre~ to retain in their possestMn, ~meet the orders of .tM 

Postmaster-GffieraZ of the United States, for the payment of mail service within the 

Confederate States. all revenue which shaU have accmedfrom the postal service prim to tlte said 1st day of June next. All contractors, maU-messengers, and s:peoial COD· 

tractors for conveving the mails within the Confederate States, under eJUsting con- tracts with the Government of thft United States, are hereby authorized ro continue ro perform such service under my tlirection from and after the day last above 

named, sn bject ro such modifications and changes as may be found necessary onrler 

the powers vested in the postmaster-general by the terms of said contracts and the 

provisions of the second section of an act approved May 9, 1861, conformable thereto. 

And the said contractors, special contractors, and mail messengers are required ro forward without delay the number of their route or rout~s, the nature of the 

service thereon, the schedules of aniva.ls and departures, the names of the offices 

supplied, and the amount of annual compensation for present service, rogether with 

their address, directed to the "chief of the contract bureau, post-office department, Montgomery, Alabama." . Until a postal treaty shall be made with the Government of the United States for 

the exchange of ma.ili between that Government and the government of this con- federacy postmasters will not be authorized to collect "United States postage on mail matter sent to or received from those States; and until supplies of postagestamps and stamped envelopes are procured for the prepayment of postage within 

the Confederate States" all postages must be paid in money, under the provisions of the first section of an act approved March 1, 1861. 

Given under my hand and the seal of the post-office department of the Confed- erate States of America, at Montgomery, .Ala.bama, the 13th day of May, in the 

year 1861. 

[SEAL.) JOHN H. REAGAN, 

Postmaster-General. 

He did not order them to pay over the money to the Post-Office 

Department at Washington at all. The order was that they should 

retain the money in their hands. Further than this, when the State 

of Tennessee was admitted into the confederacy he issued another 

proclamation in which he uses the same words as to the retaining the 

money in their possession. 

· The gentleman further says that the Confederate States never undertook to pay these claims; never assumed to pay them; never paid 

a dollar of them. I propose to impeach that from the record. I read 

an act of the Confederate States congress, approved August 30, 1861, 

which is as follows: 

The Congress of the Oonfederate States of .America do enact, That it shall be the duty of the postmaster-general to collect all moneys doe from the several postJ;nasters within the Confederate States and which they bad not paid over at the time the 

Confederate States took the charge of the postal service, and the several postmasters are hereby required to account to the general post-office of this govarnment nnd~r 

the same rules, regulations, and penalties th!lt were prescribed by the law under 

which said moneys were received. 

SEc. 2. The moneys so received shall be kept separate and distinct from tho other 

funds of the post-office department, and shall constitute a fund for the pro rata payment of claims for postal service which accrued before the postmaster-general tOOk charge of the postal service in the States respectively comprising this confed· 

eracy, as may hereafter be provided. SEc. 3. It shall be the duty of the postmaster-general to make proclamation that all persons who are citizens of the Confederate States of America, and who 

may have rendered postal service in any of the States of this confederacy onder contracts or appointments made by the United States ~vernment before the Confederare States ~overnment took charge of such service, shall present their claims 

to his department, verified and established according to snob rnles aa he 11hall pre- scribe, by a time therein to be set forth, not less than six months, and requiring the claimant to state, under oath, how much has been and the date of such pay- ments on accoontof the contract or appoint.ment .under which said claim ocourred1 and what fnml or provision has been set apart or made for the further payment or the whole or any portion of the balance of such claim by t'le Government of the 

Unite<l States or of any of the States; and they shall also state, on oath, whether 

they performed folly the service according to their contracts or appointments during the time for which. they claim pay, and, if not, w?at partialserv1oe they did 

perform, and what deductions have been made from the1rpay,so fur as they know, (ID account of any failure or partial failure to perform such service; and the Postmaster-General sh.ill, as soon as he shall have collected such moneys from said 

postmasters aucl ascertained the amount of claims ag&inst the Post-Office Depart- ment and tht'l amount received respectively by the claimants as aforesaid anll the 

prorisions, if any, for future payme.nt, make l;' r~por~ of the same, so tbat futuro 

action may be taken thereon as respects the distribution. 

SEc. 4. All claims for postal serVIce required to be presented by this bill shall be 

barred as againat this fund unless presented within six months after the proclama- tion of the postmaster-general shall have been made. 

Approved August 30, 1861. · 

That refers to t.his very money which he in his proclamation before 

had ordered them to retain. The gentleman also says that the confederate government never undertook to pay these mail contractors. 

I c:~ll his attention to section 3 of this very act. 

I will state to the gentleman that by this act these mail contraet.ors 

were to be paid out of the fund which had been coUected from the 

postmasters. But on the 23d of January, 1863, the Confederate States 

passed an act ordering this money so collected from the-se postmasters to be paid, not to the old contractors, but to the contractors with the 

Confederate States government after the 1st of June, 1861. This is the 

act: 

The CfYlt{Jress of the Confederate States of .America do enact, That the time limited 

in said acta for presenting claims for postal service be extended to the l11t day of 

July, 1862. . . SEc. 2. Be it further enacted, That the postmaster-general be, :mel he 1s hereby, authorized ro collect, either by draft or collection orders, all balances remaining in 

the hands of postmasters within the ConfeJerate States ancl which the:y had not paid over at the time the Confederate States took charge of the postal serVIce. And 

the postmaster-genera.! i. s hereby authorized to pay over the amounts so collected to 

any person having claims for postal service rendere_d since t?e 1st clay of J_une, 1861 : Pro'Viiled That an accurate account shall be kept m the office of thu aodit{)r of the 

treasury 'for the post-ofijcc department of all sums colleoted unner this act, which accounts shall show the amount of money collected, the person from whom collected, 

and tho person ro whom paid. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That whatever sum the postmaster-general may collect and pay over. under this act, for postal serrico remlored since the l11t da,v of 

June 18lil shall be reimbursed out of any mont1y in the trca~nry to the orecht of 

tho PoSt-office department; and tho sum so reimbursed A hall be held as a separate and distinct fond, subject to distribution onder the act to which this is an amend- ment. 

Approved January 23, 1862. 

'fhe gentleman may say that they diJ. not assume to pay any money 
1598 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.;HOUSE.- MABon 8, 

except what they had collected from the postmasters. But on the 

27th of September, 1862, they passed an act in which they assumed to 

pay every dollar of these claims, and the only limitation which they 

made was that "the provisions of this act shall only e~te_nd ~ loyal 

citizens of the Confederate States," that was the only linutation: 

An act to provide for the payment of sums ascertained to be doe for postal serv- ices to citizens of the Confederate States by the postmaster-general. 

The Oongress of the OonfeMra.te States of America do enact, That the postmaster· 

general of the Confederate States do proceed to pay to the several perSODs, or their 

bwfnlly authorized agents_or _representativ;es, the sums respectively_ found doe and 

owinO' to them for postal serVIce rendered many of the States of this confederacy, unde~ contracts or appointments made by the United States Govemmen~ before 

the Confederate States government took charO'e of such service, as the SaJd sums ba,·e been audited and ascertained by him ·un<fer the provisions of an act entitled •' An act to collect for distribution the moneys remaining in the several post-offices 

of the <.;onfederate States at the time the postal service was taken in charge by said 

government " approved the 30th August, 1861; but the sums authorized by this act to be pa.ld are only the balances found due after all JJroper deductions shali have 

been made on accoont of previous paymenta made by the United States, or any of 

the States, or of available provisions made in whole or in part for such paymen~ by said Government) or of any of the States, and after makin~ all proper deductions 

for failures or partial failures to perform the service accortlrng to their se>eral con- tract.s or appointments dnrin1! the time for which they claim pay: Provided, 'Iba.t 

the provisions of the act shall only extend to loyal citizens of the Confederate 

States. 

.Approved September 27, 1862. 

The time was further extended twelve months for proving these 

claims by act of May 1, 18413. . . I a.lso call attention to the report of the gentleman on th1s very 

subject, made February 2, 1862, in which he requests that congress 

shall make some provision for this purpose : 

Oompen$atlon to contractors for postal s~rvicu. 

The condition of those contractors for carrying the mails under t.he Government 

of the United States, who continued to carry them in the several States of this 

confederacy after they seceded from the Government of the United St-at-es, and before this Government took charge of the postal service on the 1s.t of .Tune last, re- quires consideration by congress. ~nt few of the con~ractor~ m all these States 

received any payme~ta from the U~nted States for thetr sel'Vlces a!ter the sece~­

sion of their respective States. Th1s government has made no proVIsion for thell' 

payment except to direct the collection of balances iu the hands of postmasters on the Jst of .Tune last due to the United States and hold the sum so collected for pro rata payment to these contractors after ascertaining the runount due them for such 

serdce. The auditor is unable as yet to report to me the amount of the outstandinr. bala.nces in the hands of postmasters, or the amount of indebtedness to con- ~ctors; and I am unable to come to a cor-rect conclusion as to what success may 

attend his efforts to collect these balances. But at the best which can be expected 

the amount to b" collected from postmasters will pay but a small part of the amount doe to this clast! of contractors These contractors are entitled to great credit for having continued to perform 

this service without any certain assurance as to when and bow they were to be 

paid. If they had determined to abandon the service on the secession of their sev- eral States, (and there was no power to compel them to continue it-,) the result to our country and cause most have been deplorable, while the difficulty of putting the service in operation under our new government would have been greatly augmented; and though the Government of the United States received a part of the 

revenueR arising from postages in these States aft.er it bad ceased to make pa.:y- ments to contractors, and only gave them notice of the discontinuance of thell' contracts under that Government from and after the 31st of May last, this does not weaken their claim on us for coinpen!r.ltion, as their services were chiefly beneficial to our people. It is to be remembered, too, that they continued, in most instances, to perform this service under this government for a considerable length 

of time after it assumed the control of the service before the department could 

command the information necesaaryto enable it to make payment.s to them for the current service. The whole subject is respectfully submitted for the colltlideration of congress. 

I also call the attention of the gentleman to the following extract 

from his report of November Zl, 1001, on page 11: 

During the period which intervened between the secession of the several States 

and the assumption by the Confederate States g;overnment of its poatal affa'rs, the 

entire service became demoralized and partially broken up, as contractors found no certai.n provision made for the payment of their services during that periotl ; and there was, t~ a great extent, an absence of a sense of respom~ibility in tho performance of the duties of both contraetors and postmast-ers, as they did not ruog- nize tM authority of the United States Government, and the confederate government had no control of the service prior to the 1st of .T nne. 

Now, after this act was passed it became essential to know how 

much these claims amounted to; and so the auditor of the post-office 

department of the Confederate States, who had been authorized to 

audit these claims, on the 1st day of October, 1862, makes hisi-eport, of which I have a. copy here. It is signed by Bolling Baker; the 

gentleman will probably recollect him very well. This is his report: 

Statement of the number of cont·ractors and others in each Stare who have 

filed their claims, tvith the anwunt claim,ed, for postal services 1·endered 

p1'ior to June 1, .A. D. 1861. 

States. 

. ' l ~ • 

Louisiana ................................. .............. . Alabama . ............................................... . .Arkansas ............................. : ...... _ ........... . 

M~~i~: ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~;~ ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ ~: • 

No. of con- .Amounts. tractors. 

62 ~2. 2'20 22 108 83,001 9a 65 29,451 22 

127 105,034 86 33 jl3, 567 54 

100 67,515 El'J 170 44,624 22 South Carolina .......................................... I• 98 52,258 95 

Ttlllnessee ............................................... . 87 33, 018 98 

~1:~::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::. 96 191,319 09 · 189 50,531 29 

1--------- Total .. - ......................................... .. 1,133 773, 444 17 

OcTotiER 1, 1S62. 

BOLLING B~R, Audita~. 

FmsT .AUDITOR's OYFlCR, October 1, 1862. 

Sm: I have tho honor to submit to youa.tabnlar statement showing the amounts claimed by contractors and others for pos~ service prior to thelst of June, 1861, 

amounting, in the eleven States, to the sum of $773,444.17. 

These accounts have all been verified in the manner prescribed by the act of Congress 30th of .August, 1861, and in accordance with the form presoribed by yon un- der that act. It is proper to mPn-tion in this connection by the a~t of 30th of Au~st, lt3lll, the 

funds which should be ascertained to be in the hands of postmasters at tho time 

postal service was assumed by the Confederate States government were requir~l 

to be collected and kept separate and distinct from the other funds of the post-ofliw 

department, and to be paid out pro rata for postal services rendered prior to 1st of 

.Tune, 1861. 

The method prescribed by the act of .Angust 30, 1861, was found to be impracticable in the then condition of the country, and a subsequent act was pa sed on the 

23tl of January, 1862, authorizing· the Department to cullect· such-balances in the 

usual way, by order or drafts, and to pay the SaJDe over to olaims for postal service 

since the 1st of .Tune, 1861. 

Inaccordancewith the above-named ~t. !have proceeded to ascertain the amounts remaining in the hands of postmasters prior to June 1, 1861, and find that the sums reported by them amount to within a fraction of $80,000, but this amount is >ar-ied 

from day t~ day by additional returns from the postmasters, showing mistakes and errors in their first returns. For instance, where a draft is sent from this office upon a. postmaster~ the amount of which is based upon an acknowledged balance in his hands, the m·aft is frequently returned with the explanation that the balance so acknowledged has been 

included in a payment to a contract~r subsequent t~ the 1st of .Tune, 1861. This 

requires a correspondence with the contractor for explanation, and in most ca es 

results in a lengthy correspondence with both the postmaster and contractor, by which the settlement of both classes of accounts is ddayed for indefinite periotl11. 

Such being the state of facta in regard to the amount remaining in the h1tntls of 

postmasters, I thought it would simplif~ the action of congress if I only reportetl 

the exact amount of olaims filed up to this date, stating in round numbers that tho sum of ~.ooo has been ~knowledged to be doe by postmasters, subject, however, to be diminished from canses above stated. . I will state further, in connection with the claims of contractors, that it is probable that many contractors in tho Southwest have not as yet filed theiL· claims, owing to the difficulty of communicating with the department, and owing in many in- stances to the contractors being in the army. 

Allowing, however, for the contractors and others whose accounts have not been 

filed or have been filed without .Proper verification, I am of the opinion that 00,000 

will be sufficient to pay all ~ intended to be pNrided for by the acts of con- grEISS. . 

I have the honor to be, very respeotfully, your ohedient servant. BOLLING B.A.KER, Attditor. 

Hon . .To~ H. REAGAN, 

Postmaster-General. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. What services of contractors are there 

reft\rred to f 

Mr. WILLITS. The contractors who performed services prior to 

May 31, 1861; the very ones which the joint resolution now nuder 

consideration provides for. Those claims were audited; the auditor 

made an estimate of the amount; the confederate congress passed a 

law assuming t.o pay every dollar of those claims; and it was estimated that dOO,OOO would be required for the purpose. Therefore 

they mnst natnrally make some appropriation to pay them. And on the 13th day of October, 1862, they nmke this appropriation: 

Post-office department: . - To pay deficit in the post-office department under the provisions of an act to provide fot· the payment of sums ascertained to be due for postal service to citizenR of the Confederate States by the postmaster-general, approved September ,'l7, 

1862, fSOO,OOO. 

The money is thus provided to pay these very claims which they 

had assumed. 

Mr. VANCE. Does my friend know whether these accounts were paid or not T . Mr. WILLITS. I am coming to that very point now. That is just 

where I propose to impeach the statement of the gentleman from 

Texas. That is a very sensible question; have they been paid f 

This subject was entirely new to me. I did not know of the matter 

I am about to detail until yesterday. I then took it into my llead 

that I would go to the building where the confederate archives were deposited and see what I could find there. I had found that the Confederate States had assumed to pay these claims, notwithstanding 

the statement which the gentleman from Texas has made. I thought 

I would learn. whether they had been paid or not. I went there and 

found that the confederate records of the post-office department, which 

had been captured as part of the trophies of the war, comprised only a portion of the records, mutilated, partial records; only enough t() 

fill a small trunk, about half- the siz·e of a lady's modern Saratog~ 

trunk. But in that small trunk I found one package containing ei~hteen of these claims which bud been paid. I have a list of these clatms, 

the vonchel'S accompanying them, and a copy of the material portion~ 

of the papers. They even went so far in paying those claims as to 

say that, if the United States Government should ever pay them anything or any confederate State should ever pay them anything, then 

these claimants should pay back to the confederate government what 

they had received . . The gentleman's own regulations, which were got 

up under his own instructions, had tbat provision in them. And 

every one of these vouchers so signed had in it an agreement that 

if anything should be paid to them by the United States Govern 

ment, they should pay every dollar of it back to the Confederate 

States. I herewith submit a portion of said copies: 

~ List of e;laims found among the archives. 

Date. Name of contractor. State. 

September 14, 1863 Lawrence Green .............. Virgini.'\ "'"' .. .. September 5, 1863.. D. D. Allen .................... North Cnrolina .. !:ieptember 8, 1863.. ~ .r. H.- Twisdnle ................ North Carolina .. 

Amount. 

f40J ~ 

104 1~ 

3t! .ao 
i878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE~ 1599 

List of claims found among the archives.-Continued. 

Date. 

October 17, 1863 ... . April30, 1864 ..... . June15, 1863 ..... . April18, 18fi3 .... .. April 30, 10itJ .•••. . 

November 10, 1863 

July 16, 1863 .... .. April 14, 1863 ..... . January 19, 1864 .. . April 20 186.'L ... . 

J anuar,y 31, 1863 ... . March ao, 1863 ••••. 

Name of Mntractor. 

T. fl. Snow ................... . S. L. Johnson ................. . Jacob Graves ................. . Johu H. Washburn ........... . O.Moore ............... ~-----· 

Wile~oorefield ............. . 

t~ M.~~d--.:::::::::::: James H Taylor ............. . T. J. 8hell ................... . De Berry, McLeod & Ambrose. E.P.Moody . .................. . William Bevis .. .. . ......... .. James L. Burrough! ......... . B. M. Watkins ............ · ... . 

State. 

North Carolina .. Missis11ippi .••.•. Mississippi. •••. . Virginia ....... . Virginia ....... . Virginia ....... . Virginia ...... . Florida ....... . Virginia ....... . Georgia ....... . South Carolina .. South Carolina .. Georgia .. ..... S~?ut~ 9arolina .. Vuguua ........ 

Amount. 

17 05 

356 70 

1, 034 05 

22 50 

211 07 33 73 

318 75 

151 62 14 27 

1:-18 29 

1, 727 49 

166 66 

56 00 

135 90 

15 20 

The last three items are without date and the voucher part missing. 

Mr. Burroughs says that the State of Sout.h Carolina assumed the 

dobts due the mail contractors, but repealed the act after the con- federate congress assumed payment of the contractors ; hence he l!ad 

not got his pay. An examination of the laws of South Carolma 

shows that $50,000 was appropriated by South Carolina for that purpose with a condition that it should be used if necessary; but I was unable in the short time I had to give to it to find that it or any portion of it was used. · Statement of account. Confederate States, Dr. 

For postal services rentlered prior. to June. I, Ie61, on route-, in -- ~~te, 

as per tabular statement and affidavit herewith filed, payable out of appropn.ahon to pay deficit in the post-office department under tho provi'3ions of an act to pro· vi do for the paymQnt of sums ascertained to be due for po.'3talservice to citizens of 

the Confederate States by the postmaster-general. App1oved September 27, 1862. 

[Hero follows statement.] 

Adjusted and stated by W. T. Fitellett, pay clerk. 

To tl~.e Postmaster-General: 

AUDITOR'S OFFICE, PosT-OFFICE DEPARTMIDi'T, 

March 30, 1863. 

I hereby certify that there is payable to --the amount due on the above 

account, agreeably to contrac~~ooks and other vouchers filed in this office and 

herewith as fur as may be exhibited. 

:BOLLING BAKER. 

First Auditor. 

Voucher agreement. 

AUDITOR's OFFICE, PosT-OFFICE DEPARTMJO.'T. 

Whereas the Confederate St-ates government has this day paid the ~dersigned 

contractor on route No.- the sum of-- dollars for postal serv1ce rendered 

plior to 1st of June, 1861, on said route: · . Now in consideration thereof, if it !Would appear at any time that any portion of said sorviee bas been paid for, or that any provision for payment_ th~::reof has 

been made by the United States or any of the Confederate States, then I hereby 

agree to pay to the Uonfedorate States whatever sum has been so paid or provided for. 

[Signed by claimant.] 

There were eighteen of these claims so paid ; that waa all I found; 

but it showed to me at once that they had not only actually assnm~ 

to pay these claims, but that they had actually paid some of them. 

Of course, not having the whole of the records, I could not tell how 

many of these claims had been paid. It occurred to me to look for 

the official reports of the gentleman from Texas as postmn.ster-general of the Confederate States. 1 inquired for them in the Congressional Library, but they could not be found there. I discovered that 

they were rare documents. Mr. Spofford told me that possibly they 

might be found among the ~rchives, and upon inquiry I was a~le to 

find six or seven of the offiCial reports of the gentleman. I desue to 

read a little from these reports. I have already given you some ex- tracts from them, but what I now read is in reference to these very 

claims. 

It will be recollected that on the 13th of October, 1862, the con- federate government had appropiated $800,000. The gentleman, as postmaster-general, charges himself with $800,000; and at the time of 

his report made in Jan nary 12, 1863, he states that he has to the credit of 

that fund $6531387.97. He charges himself with this balance, and it is 

the same money, for he says it was. I will remark by the way that i~ 

the difficulty about the gentleman's loyalty could be got over and he 

could be made Postmaster-General of the United States, we could be 

certain of having at all times a large balance in the Treasury; for 

these reports show that he had always a magnificent balance. At 

this very time he had in the Treasury a balance of 2,027,636. Of 

this he says $653,387 .(]"/is to the credit of the appropriation of $800,000 

to pay contractors for services rendered prior to the 1st of June, 1861, 'under an act to provide for the payment of sums ascertained to be 

dne for postal services, &c. It thus appears that at that time $146,000 

of this money had been paid on these contracts. On the 7th of December, 1863, the gentleman made another report. In this he charges 

himself with $800,000 and then credits himself in these words: 

Less the sums paid on account of service~ rendered prior to June lst, 1861, under 

cont1·acts and appointments made by the United States, $50-2,0I7.19. 

This statement iB confirmed by the statement of the Auditor, who 

says: 

Of this sum tso2,-ill7.19 was paid for postal services rendered in the States of the 

confederacy under contracts or appointments made by the United States Govern- ment before the Confederate States took charge of such service. (See act appro>ed September 27, 1862, chapter 15.) 

· Mr. AIKEN. I want to ask the gentleman from Michigan whether 

he is sure that any of these claims which he says were paid by tho 

confederate government are incluiled in the list of claims for the payment of which the Congress of the United States has appropriated 

375,000. 

Mr. WILLITS. I do not know. I am simply showing the affirmative fact that claims tp this amount were paid by the confederate 

government. 

The gentleman from Texas further reported to his congress, November 7, 1864, as follows: 

Of this sum (which sum was the total expenditure for the period mentioned in 

his report) 162,527.03 was paid for postal service performed i~ the Confederate 

StAtes before this department took charge of. the postal serv1~e, and under the 

authority of " an act to provide for the payment of sums ascerta.med to be due for 

postal service to citizens of the Confederate States by the postmaster-general," approved September 27, 1862. His auditor also corrobornteR the said payment iu 

exueUy the words of the report of the payment of the 6,)02,017.19 paid before that. 

Thus the gentleman from Texas has, by his own reports as postmaster-general of the Confederate States, shown that the confederacy 

actually paid on these very contracts the sum of $564,544.22. The 

other reports made by the gentleman, if he ever made any more, are not among the archives, or were not discovered by me. Whether a!ly more was actually paid of course I cannot say. Pe1•haps further m.J 

vestigation will dem<?nstrate full payment .. Th~ roport, May 2, 18G4, 

does not give details, so that for the· ntervenmg time between December 7, 186:3, and May 2, 1864, we .hav~ no repo~t of what was_paid on these claim~; but we are authorized m assnmmg that a considerable 

portion of the balance of these claims was paid. As we have no report 

after November 7, 1864, and as that report does not purport to give 

explanations later than the :first quarter of 1864, we have the right 

to assume that in the intervening ten months tpe balance of .the 

claims was paid and that the 800,000 so appropnated W31:1 apphed, so far as necess~ry, in the liquidation of the-se claims. 

I have but a few words further t.o add. It is proved beyond question that the confederate government did undertake to pay these 

claims, did appropriate $800,000 for tb~t purpose, and that they ~~re 

audited and largely if not entirely paid by or under the superv:s10n 

of the gentleman from Texas himself. It is clear that the str~iug 

out of the proviso to the aet of March 3, 1137,7, would very matertally- change the terms and scope of it. I have no comments ~o make on how it came to be stricken out. I make no charges. I 1mpn~n no man's motives, much less those of the gentleman from Texas; I s1mply 

state the facts as I find them, and leave thus thew hole subject to the 

considerate judgment of this House and the country. . . _ :Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. I move that the comnuttee nse for 

.'the purpose of extending the time for debate. 

The motion was not agreed to ; there being-ayes 71, noes 91. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from 

Texas, [Mr. REAGAN.] 

:Mr. REAGAN. Mr. Chairman, since the close of the war I have 

not had access to or seen the papers to which the gentleman from 

Michigan refers, nor my proclamations nor the statutes. As to the_ statement which I made in relation to postmasters paying over the 

money due from them to the United States, if the gentleman had 

brought here my first report he would have found it to confirm what 

I have already stated to the House. Hereafter if I can get access to_ archives I shall take occasion to make that point clear. It may be 

that I have been mistaken to this extent, that the policy which was adopted of requiring absolute payment to be mad~ to. the Unite.d 

States may have been qualified by subsequent leglSlatwn when It 

was no longer possible for the a-ccounts to be settled in that way. 

It may have been that the postmasters were then called upon to 

make up their accounts, and tha~ the Department may have b~en 

required to take and bold the unpatd money for the payments of claims 

of contractors under the United States Government. From the-statutes from which the gentleman appears to have r~ad, I take it that" 

this must have been so; but I am free to say that It had passed out 

of my mind. The great fact remains that it was our purpose to separate the payment of the claims due to the United States from claims 

due to the confederacy, which my finlt r~port states with the reason for it. It has been a great many years smce that report was. ma~e ;_ and I have not seen it since the war; nor have I seen the legtslatwn- connected with the subject. What the gentleman has read makes it 

proper, I concede, that this joint resolution should be so framed, as_ the original bill might properly have_been, so as to exclude payment 

where it was made under the authority of the confederate government. 

[Here the hammer fell.] . Mr. WADDELL. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. 

BLOUNT] for eight minutes. ·Mr. ·BLOUNT. I have listened with great interest to the re~arks 

of the gentleman from Michigan, [Mr. WILLITS.l He ha-s furmsb~d

to the Honse a great deal of information which f confe~ deserves tts 

consideration. I am gratified, and every gentlem~ n m _the Ron~ 

ought to be gratified, that we now come to the dtscu~ston ot _fhts 

question not in the bitterness of the late struggle, but m a spm_t of 

fair dealing. The speech just deli \'ered by the gentleman from Mwhigan has createtl an impression in my, mind that a number of -these· _ 
1600 CONGRESSIONAL· REGORD-HOUSE. M.A.RdH S, 

parties-individuals and railroad companies-who carried the mails of 

the United States in States which afterward seceded have been paid. 

That fact has not been hitherto known perhaps to the Department, or the gentlemen advocating that measure in either this House or the 

other House. Sir, as a Representative from the South I feel it my 

bounden duty to say for my section, to say as an honorable Representativo upon this floor, that I will not cast my vote to pay any gentleman for carrying the mails in the South who has heretofore been 

paid by the confederate government; nor any railroad company ; and 

therefore I think it due a provision should be placed in this bill 

guarding the United States Government a~ainst any imposition of 

fraud in that regard. I say, sir, it is wron~ m morals, and I hope the 

gentleman having this bill in charge, and 1ts friends on tJ:lis and the 

other side of this House1 will see to it that the Government is amply 

protected. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. Will my friend allow me a moment f 

Mr. BLOUNT. Yes, sir. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. The last words of the original bill provide that no payment shall be made to any mail contractor in the 

South who has been already paid by the Confederate States. The bill 

contemplates this very state of things, that some have been paid in 

the Southern States, and therefore the law does not apply to them. 

Furthermore--

Mr. BLOUNT. I cannot yield further. Having had something to 

do with the bill, which was made a part of the sundry civil appropriation bill during the last Congress, I know that was in it. I am . not discussing what is· in this or in any other bill, bnt I do say before 

this House shall be called to vote upon it t.here shall be ample gn ar- antees agairult improper payments to persons whether individuals or railroad corporations. For one I am not willing to vote for it unless 

proper guarantees are in it. I have seen a liberal spirit manifested 

by gentlemen on the other side of the House. They have gone as far 

in this direction, many of them, as we could ask, to wit, they have 

assumed ~his was a debt of the Federal Government to these persons 

and t.hat the Government was bound to these payments. That is all we can ask, and if these gentlemen themselves at that very period 

bad abandoned it and were acting in co-operation with the confederate government in carrying the confederate mails, I say it does not 

lie in our mouths to insist on the contracts under such circumstances. 

Thus, without reference to this bill, but on the general subject, I 

make these remarks. 

Now, as to the time. But how much time have I left f 

The CHAIRMAN. Three minutes and a half. 

Mr. COX, of Ohio. I ask the gentleman to yield to me for one minute. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I hope my friend from Georgia will yield to the 

gentleman from Ohio. 

Mr. BLOUNT. I yield to the gentleman for one minute. 

Mr. COX, of Ohio. I desire simply to say one thing which I feel 

is due to my own feelings as well as, I know, of a very large number 

of gentlemen on this side of the House, and I think all of them, and 

that is whatever may be the result of the very interesting investigation into the facts which took place in a most exciting time no one I think on this side will hesitate to accord to thu gentleman from 

Texas [Mr. REAGAN] entire candor in his purpose, for he has won our respect in that way by his conduct on this floor many times. 

[Applause.] 

Mr. BLOUNT. Now, as to the time fixed in this bill. It seems to me the true rule in regard to how the Government will settle with 

the contractors in reference to carrying mails is that if they were car- ried and it was understood by the Government and the parties, then the 

Government is bound by that understanding, and therefore we ought 

to fix in this bill no absolute date, because an absolute date would 

not apply fairly to persons in different portions of the Southern States. 

It would be an arbitrary rule, and I think should be a matter of investigation in each by the Department. 

Mr •. WAD DELL. I expressed my willingness to accept the amendment of the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. FRYE,] but it is doubtful 

whether I have a parliamentary right to do that. 

Mr. CONGER. Let me suggest to the gentleman, in view of what 

is admitted to be new light on this subject, to ask the committee to 

rise and recommit this bill to the Committee on the Post-Office and 

Post-Roads to prepare a bill in accordance with the views of gentle- men . . Mr.REAGAN. Iwill,Mr.Chairman, ifnootheronedoesit, because 

that clause regarding payment should not be made by the Government was stricken ont at my suggestion, move to restore it. 

Mr. WADDELL. I do not think there is much difference of opinion between the two sidP.s of the House, and if that is put back and 

the time indicated by the gentleman from Maine up to which these 

claims shall be paid in the respective States shall be put in, there 

will be no difficulty in passing the bill. 

Mr. REED. I ask the chairman of the committee a single question. 

Af3 far as I can judge from the somewhat hasty reading which the 

gentleman from Michigan [Mr. WILLITS] was obliged to give to the 

documents he presented in the I{ouse, there ha.a been more proved 

already in the Treasury than remaiued unpaid according to the ar- chives of the confederacy, and that is a state of affairs which this 

Honse ought to take notice of. It seems we came very nearly being 

beguiled into a situation which we all would have been aahamed of 

when we discovered it, and some seem to be ashamed of it now. AD(l 

I think under those circumstances a good healthy thing to do would 

be .to repeal the section passed by the last Congress. 

Mr. WADDELL. I am very willing to take the sense of the com- mittee, and therefore I ask for a vote upon the amendment of the 

gentleman from Maine. 

Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. Will the gentleman allow me a mo- ment f I object to the form of the amendment offered by the gentle- man from Maine. Nowhere in our statutes do I find any recognition 

of the secession of a State. There is no place in all our legisl:l.tion 

where I have discovered any such recognition. Now this amendment, 

incautiously offered, may be obnoxious to that construction and I 

suggest the insertion of the word "alleged" before the word "secession." 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I desire to offer an amendment to the 

amendment of the gentleman from Maine. 

The CHAIRMAN. 'l'he question will first be on the amendment 

reported by the committee to perfect the text of the bill. The Clerk 

will,first read the clause as it stands in the joint resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Provided, That no payment shall be made for servicea rendered after Yay 31, 

1861, when discontinuance wns ordered by the Postmaster-General. 

The- CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will now read the clause as it will be 

if amended as proposed by the Committee on the Post-Office and Po~StRoads. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Provided, That payment shall be made for services rendered up to May 31, 1861, 

when discontinuance was ordered by the Postmaster-General, and not thereafter. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I expressed only my individual willingness, for 

I had no authority from the committee to do so, to accept the amendment of tha gentleman from Ma-ine as a. substitute for . that proviso. 

But I wish to test the view of the Committee of the Whole, as thm·e seems to be a difference of opinion, and I therefore ask for a vote. 

The question being taken on agreeing to the amendment of the com- mittee, there were-ayes 46, noes 9-~. •. Mr. ELAM. I call for tellers. 

On the question of ordering tellers there were ayes 19 ; less than 

one-fi-fth of a quorum. 

So tellers were not ordered, and the amendment of the committee was not agreed to. 

The CHAIRMAN. The question will next be on the amendment of 

the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. FRYE,] which the Clerk will read. 

Mr. TUCKER. I move that the committee rise, and I will state my rea.sons for making that motion. [Cries of "Regular order!"] Before 

the Chairman proceeded to take the vote on the amendment of the gentleman from Maine, I stated I desired to state my reasons for movin(J' 

t bat the committee rise. [Cries of" Ret?ular order!"] Gentlemen shall 

have the regular order at the proper tune. I move to strike out the 

last word in the amendment. 

The CHAIRMAN. The amendment of the gentleman from Maine 

hnB not yet been read. It will now be read by the Clerk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

In line 15 after the words "up to" strike out the words "May 31, 1861, when 

discontinuance was ordered by the Postmaster-Gene1-al," nnd insert the words 

"tho time said States respectively passed thtlir ordina.nces of secession." 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I ask for the reading of the amendment 

proposed by myself to the amendment of the gentleman from Maine. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thatwouldnot beinorder, thegentleman from 

Virginia [Mr. TUCKER] having moved tostrikeoutpart of this amendment. 

Mr. TUCKER. I trust I will have the ear of the gentlemen on the 

other side of this Hall. I have not often trespassed on the time of the 

House and I desire to state the reasons for the motion I am going to 

make at the close of my remarks. The stnte~ent which has been made 

by the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. WILLITSl is from the archives 

of tho confederate government, which were taken by the conqueror 

thirteen years ago.and have been concealed-! attribute no unworthy 

motive in the concealment-from the eyes of the confederates during 

the whole of that period. 

Mr. CONGER. Not changed. 

llr. TUCKER. No one said they had been changed; and the gentleman who suggests it does not impute to me a motive I hope which 

would have suggested itself to his mind. I make no such imputation. 

But I say thes~ are facts that are brought tD the attention of this side 

of the House to-day for the first time, after the clear statement of my 

friend from 'fexas [Mr. REAG.L.~] two weeks a~o when this bill was under consideration. The gentleman from M1ehigan has not read 

fully, because he had not the time, the documents which he prov.oses 

to print in his remarks which are to be published. I am not wtlling 

that the vote should be taken on this bill until it has been recom- mitted to the committee to examine into those facts1 upon a full ex- amination of which I believe there will be a clear vmdication of the 

honor of the confederate ~orovernment and of every man who stands 

upon this side of the Hall who ever participated in its operations. I 

want that vindication to be made upon a clear statement of these 

facts. And I am not willing that a vote should be taken upon this 

bill now, when there will not have been an opportunity for us on this 

side to look into the facts which have been developed here to-day 

and to see what is the real state of the law and the legislation on that 

subject. 
1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECOltD-HOUSE. 1601 

I think I see a~d I think I know what is the explanation of the 

whole thing. I have looked cursorily at t-he statutes to which the 

gentleman referred, and I think I have the key to the whole mystery~ 

but I prefer that the bill should be recommitted and that we should 

look into these fants calmly and dispassionately. I suppose the gentlemen on the other side who think they have found a mare's nest of 

dishonor in the history of the confedera{ly will be willing to allow 

us, their fellow-citizens, an opportunity to vindicate our honor. I now withdraw my amendment and move that the committee rise 

with a view to the recommitment of the joint resolution. 

The question was taken; and on a division there were-ayes 108, 

noes 85. 

So the motion wae agreed to. 

The committee accordingly rose, and the Speaker having· resumed 

the chair, Mr. PBICE reported that the Committee of the Whole on the 

Private Calendar had had onder· consideration the joint resolution 

(No. 20) to apply the amount appropriated by the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877, to pay certain southern mail-contractors, and 

h3(1 come to no resolution thereon. 

Mr. W .AD DELL. After the expression of opinion we have just had 

from the Committee of the Whole, I move that the joint resolution 

be recommitted to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

Mr. CONGER. I make the point of order that the joint resolution 

is not before the Honse. 

The SPEAKER. The joint resolution is not before the Honse, but 

the gentleman from North Carolina moves to discharge the Committee 

of the Whole from the further consideration thereot 

Mr. WAD DELL. I move, then, that the committee be discharged 

from the further consideration of the joint resolution, and that it be 

r~committed to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, and 

call the previous quest.ion. While up I want to say this--

Mr. CONGER. I object to the gentleman saying anything. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I only want to explain my motion. 

Mr. CONGER. I object to any explanation after the previous question has been demanded. • Mr. WAD DELL. I will not persist in spt>aking as the gentleman 

:i'rom Michigan usually does in spite of the Chair. I only desired to 

say that the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads had no knowledge of the developments which have been made here and 

therefore desire the bill recommitted to them in order that they may rna ke a proper examination and report a proper measure. Mr. CONGER. I must insist that debate is not in order pending a demand for the previous question. 

Mr. TOWNSEND, of New York. It is entirely ma~nanimons to 

move the previous question and then insist upon debatmg. 

Mr. CONGER. That rule is for the express purpose of bringing a bill before the House for action. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks that the rule runs to this fact, 

that the Committee of the Whole did not act upon all the amendments pending as provided for in the rule read. The gentleman from 

Michigan raises the point of order that the motion of the gentleman 

from North Carolina under a demand for the regular order was not 

in order, and the Chair thinks ·that it was not in order pending sucb 

demand for the regular order. 

Mr. WADDELL. I have no motion whatever t-o make in regard to 

the joint resolution. 

Mr. BURCHARD. It is in Committee of the Whole. 

'l'he SPEAKER. The gentleman from Michigan [.Mr. CoNGER]' 

calls for the regular order. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I move that the House now a<ljourn. 

Mr. V .ANCE. · Will not this bill be in Committee of the Whole when we again go into Committee of the Whole' 

The SPEAKER. It remains in the Committee of the Whole as un- finished business. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia.. I will not insist upon the motion to adjourn unless it is agreeable to the friends of the joint resolution, for 

I make it iu order to save the measure. If it ehonld be recommitted 

to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads I fear it may not 

again be reported during this ses8ion; but if it is left in Committee 

of the Whole it can be amended to meet the views of the committee 

and of the Honse. 

SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE. 

The SPEAKER. Pending the motion to adjourn, the Chair will 

state that he will not be able to be present to-morrow; and heap· 

points Mr. BLACKBURN, of Kentucky, to act as Speaker pro- t-empore' 

during the session of to-morrow. 

ADJOURNMENT U~IL MONDA. Y. 

Mr. CALKINS. I move that when the House adjourns to day it be 

to meet on Monday next. 

The question was taken; and upon a division there were-ayes 109, 

noes 89. 

Before the result of the vote was annou.nced, 

Mr. STEELE called for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered, there being 45 in the affirmative; more than one-fifth of the last v••te. 

The question was taken; and there were-yeas 9;>, nays 125, not 

voting 7~; as follows: 

' YE.A.S-95. 

Mr. WAD DELL. I insist on my motion. Ballou, 

Mr. CONGER. I raise the point of order that the gentleman can- · ~ks, 

not make the motion at this time. B:!b~ 

Davidson, 

Dee1ing, 

Denison, 

Dunnell, Dwight, 

EamtJs, 

Eickhoff, 

Ellis, 

.T oyce, Smith, William E. 

Knott, Stenger, Lapllam, Stewart, 

The SPEAKER. Under what ruleT . Bell, 

Mr. CONGER. The bill is not t.efore the House. Benedict., 

The SPEAKER. But this is a motion to get it before the Honse. ~!c~ll, ' 

Mr. CONGER. It is not the order of business before the Honse, Bliss ' ~nd I call for the regular order. . Breni.ano, 

The SPEAKER. The Chair recognized the ~entleman from North Browne, 

Carolina [~. W AJ?DELL] seemingly witho~It dispute! and the gentle- ~~~~d, 

man made h1s mottqn and moved the prevwus qneshon. caldwell, .T~o hn w. 

Mr. CONGER. I rose as soon as I could to make the point of order. Caldwell, w. P. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Michigan [.Mr. CONGER] did Calkins_ 

not in the first instance make the point of order. gampbe!I, 

lfr. CONGER. I raised the point of order as 8oon as the Chair had ci!k ~£ Missouri, 

announced what was before the Honse, and I had no right to do it Clark, Rush sooner than that. The Chair would have told me that I could not Cox, .Taoob D. 

speak until the question was stated had I tried to do o!lherwise. ~~E • 

llr. BURCHARD. If the point of order had been made in time, it cum~~;; 

Evans, .Tamea L. 

Felton, 

Field, 

Forney, Jrort, 

Fr:re, 

GOode, 

Hale, 

Harris, Benj. w. 

Haskell, 

H~tcher, 

Hayes, Hazelton, 

Herbert, 

Hungerford, 

.Tames, 

Lindsey, Strait, Loring, 'l born burgh, Lynde, Throckmorton. 

Mayham, Towneend, Amos 

McGowan, Townsend, M. L 

Monroe, Van Vorhcs, Norcross, Wait, Oli~~~\ Walker, O'Neill Ward, Page, ' Watson, Pound, Welch, Reed. White,· Harry Rice, William W. · White, Michael D. 

Robinson, Milton S. Whilfhorne, Ross, Williams, A.. S. 

Ryan, Williams, .Andrew 

Sampson, Willis, .AlbertS. 

Sexton, Wilson, Sinnickson, Ye.ltes, Smalls, Young. Smith, .A.. Hen 

certainly would lie against the motion of the gentleman from North ' 

Carolina, [Mr. WADDELL.] N.A.YS-125. 

Mr. CONGER. I wish to make a statement about the time when I 

made the point~~ o~der, before the Chair decides. I stood here on the floor objecting to debate and awaiting the announcement by the 

Chair of the proposition before the Honse. Had I made the point of 

order before the Chair announced th~ question, the Chair would haye 

very properly rul~d me out of order. 

'fhe SPEAKER. The Chair never takes snap jndgment on mem- bers. If a member states that he wished to make a point of order, 

the Chair will not take adyantag~ of him. 

Mr. CONGER. I rose for that purpose and was objecting to debate when the Chair announced the proposition, so that I could properly make the point of order. 

Mr. SPRINGER. 1 suggest to the gentleman from North Carolina, 

that he move to go int:-9 Committee of the Wbole, and we can then 

move to rep9rt the bill back to the House by a majority vote. 

Mr. CONGER. One question at a time, and perhapH we can man- age very welt. 

'fhe SPEAKER. The Chair will cause to be read a role which it seems to him has reference to such a condition of business as is now pendinp;. 

The Clerk read as follows : The Honse may at any time, by a. vote of a majority' of the members present~ pro- vide for the discharge of the Committee of the Whole House and the Committee of 

the Whole on the state of the Uninn from the further considet'lltioo of any bill 

referred to it afteract.iDg withont debate on a1f amendments pendisl"and tbat~llf ~~~ -

VII-·-101 

Aiken, Durham, Aldrich, Eden, Atkins,. .Elam, Baker, William H. Evins, John H. 

Bla.ckb.urn, Finley, Blair, Foster, Boone, Franklin, 

Bouck, Fullel", 

lloyd, Gardqer, Bra~!:g. Garth, Brewer, Gause, Brid~!:es, Giddings, Bri~!:ht. G!over, Brogden, Gunter, 

Bund:r, Hamilton, Candler, Hanna, Cal"Jisle, Hardenbergh, Chittenden, Harmer, Cl:Uiin, Harris, HenlJ R. 

Clarke of Kentucky, Harris, John T. 

Collins, Harrison, Conger, Hartridge, Covert, Hartzelf, 

Cox, SamuelS. Hendee, Cravens, Henkle, Crittenden, nepry, Cutler, Hewitt, G. W. 

Davis, Horace Hubbell, Davis. Joseph .T. Ittner, Dibrell, .Tones, .TamesT. 

Dickey, • .Tone:t, JohnS. 

Douglas, Keije~! 

Keightley, 

Kelley, 

Kenna, 

Ketcham, 

Kimmel, 

Landers, 

Lathrop, 

Ligon, 

Mackey, 

:Manuin~, 

McKenZie, 

McKinley, 

McMahon, 

Mills, 

Money, Morg-.w, 

Mor.ie, Muldrow, 

Overt~n. 

Patterson, G. W. 

Peddie, 

Phelps1 Pollara, 

Price, 

Pridemore, 

Pugh, 

Rainey, Randolph, 

Rea. 

Reagan, 

Reilly, Rice, Americus V. 

Riddle, 

r..oubins, 

Roherts, 

Robertson, 

Rollinson, George D. 

Sayler, 

Scales, 

Shallenberger, Singleton, 

Slemons, 

Southard, 

Sparks, 

Springer, 

Steele, 

Stone, .Tohn W. 

Tipton, 

Townshend, n. W. 

Tucker, 

Turner, 

Vance, Waddell, 

Walsh, 

Warner, 

Williams, C. G. 

Williams, .Tere N. 

Williams, Richard 

Wood, 

Wren, Wri.;ht. 

. .. 
1602 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. MARCH 8, 

NOT VOTING-72. 

.Acklen, Cole. Hunt.on. Phillips, 

Dacon, Cook, Jones, Frank Potter, 

:Ra:.rlcy, Danford, Jorgen en, Powers, 

:Baker, John H. Ellsworth, Killinger, Qniun, 

Banning, Errett, . Knapp, S"aiJp, 

Eland, Evans, L Newton Leonard, Schleicher, 

Blount, Ewing, Locl...-wood, Shelley, Eri/!~8, )'reeman, Luttrell, fltarin, 

:Buckner, Garfield, Maish, Stephens, Entler, Gibson, M:~orsh. Stone, Joseph C. 

Vabell, Hart Martin, Swann, 

Vnin, Henderson, McCook, Thompson, 

Camp, Hewitt. AbramS. Metcalfe, Turney, Caswell, Hiscock, llitcbcll, Veeder, 

Chalmt-rs, Hooker, Morrison, WiJ?ginton, 

Clark, Alvah A. Honse, Muller, Wilhams, James 

Clymer, Humphrey, Neal, Willis, Eenj. A. 

Cobb, Hunter, Patterson, T. M. Willits. 

So the motion of Mr. CALKINS was not agreed to. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

:Mr. SINGLETON. I desire to give notice to the Honse that after 

the morning hour to-morrow I will move to go into Committee of the 

Whole for the pnrpose of proceeding with the consideration of the 

consular and diplomatic appropriation bill. 

Mr. CONGER. I desire to reserve all points of order upon that 

bill. 

The SPEAKER. They have already been reserved. 

Mr. CONGER. I wish to reserve them if they hnvu not been. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman would now be too late. 

Mr. HALE. I reserved all. points of order wheu the bill was re- ported from the Committee on .Appropriations. 

LEAVE OF ABSENCE. 

Leave of absence was granted, by un·animous consent, as follows: 

To Mr. BRIGGS, for one week. 

To Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina, for ten days. 

WITHDRAWAL OF P APEllS. 

Mr. SW .ANN asked and obtained unanimous C01Jsent for the withdrawal from the files of the House of papers in the case of Charles 

Myers, there having been no adverse.report. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

Mr. TOWNSEND, of New York. - I call for the regular order. 

The SPEAKER. The regular order is the motion of the gentleman 

from Virginia, [Mr. HARRIS,] that the House now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at four o'clock and 

:fifteen minutes p.m.) the Honse adjourned. 

PETmONS1 ETC. 

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

under the rule, and referred as stated : By Mr . .ALDRICH : The petit.ion of the publishers of the'Chicago 

(Illinois) Times, and of Cushing, Thomas & Co., book and joll printers, 

Chicago, Illinois, for the abolition of the duty on type-to_ the CommH.tee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. BELL: The petition of type-founders ofthe United States, 

relative to the duty on type-to the same committee. 

By Mr. BICKNELL : The petition of Mackellar, Smiths & Jordan, 

and others, of similar import-to the same committee. 

fly Mr. BOUCK: The petition of citizens of Wisconsin, for the 

granting of bounties to a certain class of soldiers-to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

lly Mr. CLYMER: The petition of Saint Ann's Infant .Asylum, of 

Washington, District of Columbia, for relief-to the Committee on Appropriations. · By Mr. CUMMINGS: The petition of a committee of type-founders 

of the United States, that the tariff on type remain unchanged-to 

the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. CUTLER: The petition of the South Park church, Newark, 

New Jersey; of the Presbyterian church of Stewartsville, New Jersey, and ofT. S. Wilson and other citizens of Five Points, New Jersey, 

for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic-to 

the Committee on the Judiciary. . By Mr. DAVIDSON: The petition of William J. Watkins and 101 

others, citizens of Saint John's County, Florida, in reference to the 

imposition of a duty on foreign fruits-to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By.Mr. DIBRELL: Papers relating to the establishment of postroutes from Jasper to :Moffitt, Tennessee, and from Mellville to Fillmore, Tennessee-to the Committee on the Post-Office. and PostRoads. 

By :Mr. EWING: The petitions of R. F. Price and 38 others, citi- zens of New Straitsville, Ohio; of John Lines and 21 others; of 

H. R. Campbell and 48 others; of J.D. Payne, A. J. Ganaway, J. J. 

Archer, and 12 others; of John Sullivan ·and 45 others; pf Peter R. 

Lines and 45 others, citizens of Coal Township, Perry County, Ohio, 

against a reduction of the tariff-to the Committee of Ways and 

Means. 

Also, t.he petition of the publisher of the Ohio State Journal, Columbns, Ohio, for the abolition of the dnty on type-to the samo com mit tee. 

By Mr. FE:mf: ~ co~municat~o~ from the governor of Idaho Te:r .. 

' . 

ritory, relative to the military necessities of said Territory-to the 

Committee on Military Affairs . lly Mr. FORT: The petition of the publishers of the followingnamed papers in Illinois : the Iroquois County Times; tho Henry Republican; the Times, Kankakee; the Woodford Sentinel, Mata.morn; 

the Ilome JonrnaJ, Lacon; the Watseka. Republican; the Paxton 

Record; the Pontiac Free Trader; the Onarga Review ; and the Minonk Blade, for the abolition of the dnty on type-to the Committee 

of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. HAMILTON: The petition of Hon. Conrad Daker, Hon. T. 

A. Hendricks, and Hon. E. T. Cox, relative to the tariff on alum and 

aluminous cake-to the same committee. 

Dy Mr .. H.ATCHER: The petition of Valentine Retter, relative to 

tho duty on Canadian malt-to the same committee. · By :Mr. HENKLE: Papers relating to the pension claim of .Ann R. 

Voorhees-to the Committee on InTalid Pensions. 

By Mr. JOYCE: The petition of Mackellar, Smiths & Jordan, and 

others, type-fonn<lers of the United States, that the duty on type 

remain unchanged-to the Committee of Ways aud :Means. 

By Mr. KEIGHTLEY: Tho petition of Thomas Buckhout and 40 

others, of Mattawan, Michigan, for the retention of the present tariff on wool-to the same committee: ' 

By Mr. LAPHAM: The petition of Mackellar, Smiths & Jordan, 

and others, type-founders of the United States, for the retention of 

the present duty on type-to the same committee. 

Also, memorial of the national convention of the United States . export trade, relating to the navigation laws of the United Statesto the same committee. 

By Mr. LUTTRELL : The petition of the publisher of the Advocate, 

Susanville, California, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the same committee. 

By Mr. MACKEY: Tho petition of a committee of the type-found- ers of the United . States, in reference to the duty on type--to the same committee. 

lly Mr. MAGINNIS: The petition of -s;he publishers of the .Avant 

Conrrier, Bozeman, Montana, for the abolition of the duty on typeto the same committeo. 

Bv Mr. McliAHON: The petition of Frederick Albert, for a pension'-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

Also, the petition of S. Brinley and numerous farmers of Preble 

County, Ohio, against tho reduction of the tariff on flaxseed and linseed oil-to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

:Jly Mr. O'YEILL: The petition of MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, of 

Philadelphia, James Conner's Sons, and Fo-rmer, Little & Co., of New 

York, type-founders, protesting against a certain petition "for the 

abolition of the tarifl' duty on type," considering it as scandalously 

false, as containing statements many of which are utterly devoid of 

truth, and as in the interest of foreign type-founders-to the same committee. . By Mr. PHELPS: The petition of :Mrs. :Maria Taylor, for a pension-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. PRICE: The petitions of members of the bar of Cedar and 

Muscatine Connties, Iowa, for a United States Court at Davenport, 

Iowa-to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

.Also, the petition of a committee of the type· founders of the United 

States, for the retention of tho present duty on type-to the Committee of ·ways and Means. 

By Mr. RICE, of Ohio: The petition of the publisher of the Jlicksville (Ohio) News, for the abolition of the dnty on type-to the same committee. 

By :Mr. SAMPSON: The petition of R. H. Hanna and 10 others, 

members of the barof Louisa.County,Iowa,for holdiog United States 

circuit courts in the clistrictof Iowa at the same times and places that 

district courts are now held, and for the establishment of Davenport as an additional place of holding said courts-to the Committee on the Judiciary • .Also, the petition of George B. Hunter and 197 others, citizens of 

Newton, Iowa, for the amendment of tbe bounty laws-to tbe Committeo on Milit.ary .Affairs. - By Mr~ SP .ARKS: The petition of the publishers of the Gazette, 

Nokomis, Illinois, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the Committee of Ways and :Means. 

lly Mr. STEELE: The petition of J. Froneberger, James D. Moore, 

and 2i other citizens of Gaston County, North Carolina, against the 

abolition of the western jnclicial district of that State-to the Committee on the Judiciary. · . By Mr. STRW ART: The petition of the publisher of the Duluth 

(Minnesota) Minuesotian-Herald, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. STONE, of Michigan: The petition of the publisher of the 

Lake Shore Commercial, Saugatuck, Michigan, of similar import-t() 

the same committee. 

By Mr. STRAIT: Memorial of D. F. :Weymouth and others, rela,.. 

tive to timber culture-to the Committee on Public Lands. 

lly .Mr. WATSON: The petition of 700 citizens of the United States, 

ship-owners and mariners of the lake frontier, against transferring 

the life-saving service to the Navy Department-to the Commit.teo on Commerce. 

By Mr; WIII'ITHORNE: Memorial of the Board cf Commerce of 

Mew phis, Tenne!:!bee, in favor of a snbsiuy for aline of steamers f1·om 

the Mississip.pi River to Brnzil-to the su.me c(}mmittee. 
1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1603 

Dy Mr. WILLIAMS, of New York: The petitions of James L. Burpee, Charles Barher, and others; of Benjamin E. Wells,· John Rogers, 

and others; of Frederick C. Shelden, A. D. .Moorhouse, and others; of 

J. F. Pott-er, H. H. Smith, and others, and of C. H. Pike, P. Harris, 

and others, for the amendment of the laws to authorize payment of 

bounties to soldiers discharged for disabilities contract-ed in the service-to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. WILLIAMS, of Michigan: The ~tition of John P. Clark 

and 120 other citizens of Wayne County, Michigan, for the betterprotection of the food-fishes of the great lakes and connecting straitsto the Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. WILLIAMS, of Oregon: The petition of the publisher of 

the Democr:l:tic Times, Jacksonville, Oregon, for the abolition of the 

duty on type-to the CoiD.II;littee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. WILSON: The petition of C. C. Martin & Co., Thompson & 

Jackson, and others, and of M. Reilly, Brown & Goode, Ogleboy & 

Sons, and others, for a uniform tariff on various grades of sugar, without regard to color or quality-to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of Jacob Altmyer and 391 others, of Benwood, 

West Virginia, against a change in the tariff on iron-to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of the publisher of the Ritchie Democrat, Cairo, 

West Virginia, for the abolition of the duty on type-to the same 

committee. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

SATURDAY, Marek 9, 1878. 

'(he House met at 12 o'cloek m., and was called to orfler uy Mr. BLACKBUR...~ as Speaker pro tentpore. 

Prayer by Rev. J. G. BUTLEB, D. D., of \Vashington, District of 

Columbia. 

The Journal of yASterday wna read and approved. 

CO~TAGIOUS OR L~FECTIOUS DISEASES. 

Mr. HARTRJDGE, by unanimous coment, introduced a biU (H. R. 

No. 3739) to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious dis- cases into the United States; w bich was read a first and second time, 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 

TEXAS PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia, by unanimous consent, presente(l the 

following memoria_}, signed by numerous citizens of Augusta, Georgia, in favor of the Texas Pacific Railroad (which was referred to 

the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and ordered to be printed in 

the RECORD: 

To the Honorahle Sen4te and Howie of Repre8e11.tativesr of the Congrus of the United Statu: 

Your petitioners, citizens of the State of G~rgia., representing the al!rlcultnral, 

commercial, and other intereais of the country, respectfully ask your attention to the measure nttw before your honorable bodies for the conRtruction of the Texas 

and Pacific Railroad from Vicksburgb, Mississippi, to San Diego, California. along or near the thi~y-second pamllel, by means of a. Jrnarantoo by t.he Gem•ral Gov- ernment of fhe mterest on the sum necefllia.ry for tho actual cost of the work, and 

pray that you will adopt such a law as will insure its early completion. In the opinion of your petitioners, the bills recently introduced into Congress by M~rs. STEl'RRNS, of Georgia., LAMAR, of Mississipdi, and otllers for a Governmrnt 

guarantee of interest OB the bonds of the Texa~~ an Pacillc Rallway Company, not to exceed a maximum of $20,000 per mile. or les11, should the actual cost of the 

work be less, with the ample security of o. first mot·tgage on all the property of the 

company; the retention of the dues for Government transportation of ali kinds, 

and of the proceeds of the sale of the company's lands, as well ·as bonds of the 

company, at the rate of $5 000 per mile, to ue sold in case of any default on its part 

in meetwg its interest ouli~ations, seem to furni!lh to the Government a. security so ample against possibJe•loss, that assi tance thus granted for this ~t work cannot. justly be regarded as a subsidy, but as a prudent, legitima.tel and constitn· 

tional method of ~ving aiSsistance to a great national enterpris(\, rrom which we udie'\'"e j!.rt.-at benefits would accrue to the whole country, and especially to our: sec. tion of the Union: . First. By giving employment to large nnmbers of laborers now in enforced idlene88. . Second. By opening up to cultivation vast areas of fertile lands, which otherwise must remain for generations unproductive, and turning the tide of foreign immigntion, not only into the unsettled rt>gions west of the Missi!U!ippi River, but into tli6 Southern Atlantic and Gulf States. 

Third. By vitalizing the vast amoUDt of dead capital now invested in unpM· ductive southern railroads. 

Fourth. By opening up new markets for Olll' surplus awicultural, mineral, and 

manufacturing products, and thereby stimulating into healthy development all our commercial and industrial interests. 

Fifth. By furnishing a shorter and better railway line across the continent, which 

will be open to traffic the whole year round, withou~ the possibility of interruption from snow blockades. , Sixth. By curt.a.iling and limiting the power of the present gigantic and danger- ous monopoly, known as the Union and <..:entral Pacific Railroads, and freeing com- merce frotp extortionate charges, hy providing a. competing line Ullder the control 

of the people, througi.J their representatives. 

Your petitiontt"S would further urge upon your honorable bodies the consideration of the following facts: 

First. That theGovernmt'nt has granted in principal and interest over 000,000 

and more tba.n tifty millions of acres of land for the construction of a transcontinental railway on or near the forty-first parallel of latitude, which i:~ so far north- ward~ to h~ of no p1 actical benefit to the people of the ~uthern States; notwith. 

sta11umg which, thtty are taxetl to pay the mte~st on thlS debt created whglly in 

the interest of another section of the Union. 

Second. That the Government Las ntJvor expended a doll:ir for a southern Pacific 

railway. 

In Vlt:W of these facta and consiuero:ions, yom: petitioners would ~estly pray 

for the passage of such a bill as would, in some merumre, equalize tbe bounties of 

the Go~ernment, by protiding the means for the early completion of the southern 

transcontinental highway known as the Tel:as and Pacific Railroad, and your . petitioners will ever pray. 

SESSION FOR DEllATE 0!\"LY. 

Mr. COVERT. I ask unanimous consent tbat a. session of the Honse 

be held on Monday evening next, at half-past seven o'clock, for the 

purpose of general debate. 

Mr. HALE. No business whatever to be transacted. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair hears no objection, and it 

is ordered accordingly. 

PERSO~AL EXPLANATIO~. 

Mr. DAVIS, of North Carolina. I desire to stat-e that on yesterday 

I expected to he under the necessity of l~wing for my home this 

morning. I received, however, lastnigllt a dispatch ad'vising me that 

tho business which I bad expected to call me borne had been postponed until Monday week. I should deem this explanation unneces- Jary but for the fact that anticipating my departure I had upon that 

expectation ob-tained leave of the House yesterday to make somo reports. 

DEFICIENCY APPROPPJATION BILL. 

.Mr. FOSTER, from the Committee on Appropriations, reported a bill 

(H. R. No. 3740) to provide for deficiencies in the appropriations for 

the service of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 187t!, 

and for prior years, and for other purposes; which was read a first 

and second time, referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state 

of the Union, and ordered to be printed. 

Mr. FOSTER. I desire to giv-e notke that this bill will be called 

up as soon as the diplomatic and consular appropriation hill1s disposed of. 

TELEPHONIC CO~~"ECTION WITH GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

Mr. ROBERTS, by unanimous consent, reported from the Committee of Accounts tho following resolution: 

Relioloed, That the ArC'bitect of tho Capitol be authorized to have a wire COD· 

nected with the wire frcru the Senate wmg of the Capitol to the Government 

Printing Office, so as to establish n CQnnection between the office of the Clerk of 

thoHousennd thePrintinJrOffice uy telephone: PTat,-ided, Thatthecostof saidconncction and telephone ihall not exceed f;>O, the same to be paid out of the contin. 

gent fund of the House. · 

Mr. O'NEILL. I would like to suggest the propriety of establishing a connection by telephone between the Clerk of the House and 

the Clerk of the Senate, by means of which memuers might obtain 

information as to the condition of bills in the Senate and as to nom- inations, confirmations, &c. This would be a matter of very great 

convenience and a great saving of trouble and time, as the Door- ke~er of the House iH now 6bliged, when we wish information of that 

kind, to send pages to the Senate. If I have the privilege I will move to amend this resolution in the manner I have indicated. 

Mr. ROBERTS. In expl3.11ation of this resolution I desire to say that 

there is already a. connection between the Senat-e and the Government 

Printing Office by telephone; _and the resolution proposes merely 

that this connection shall bo extended to the Honse, so that we may be 

able to communicate directly with the Government Printing Office 

by telephone. The expense contemplated is about $50; a.nd uncloubtedly the adoption of this improvement will be a great convenience. 

Mr. O'NEILL. Tho expense of connection by telephone between 

the office of the Clerk of the House and the Clerk's office of the Senate wonlU be almost nothing; I suppoSe it would not amount to more than $10 or $1!). Now we all know the convenience of telegraphic 

communication between this House and the various Departments of 

the. Government, whereby we can have a message answered telegraphically in a very short time instead of sending a note uy a me:s- senger and having to await the receiving of an answer in the same way. This connection which I propose between the House and the 

Senate is desirable for the same reason, and owing to the great distance between the two bodies would be a matter of very consicler 

able convenience. I may say here that I hope the time is not far 

distant when by some rearrangement of the architectnro of this 

Capitol the Honse and the Senate may be brought more closely 

together, so that when we wiBh to go to the Senate to bear an interesting debate or when Senators de~ire to come to this Honse it will 

not be necessary to consume five minutes or more of valuable time 

in passing from one body to the other. 

Mr. ROBERTS. I am in entire accord with the views of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, an<l if he will introdnoe a resolution to 

provide for the object indicated by him I will give it my hearty support. 

Mr. O'NEILL. I give notice that I will introduce such a resolution, and have it referred t.o the Committee of Acconnts. . · 

Mr. ROBERTS. I have no object.ion to the gentleman.offering an 

amendment to this resolution, if he so desires. 

Mr. O'NEILL. I will then moYe an amendment, which I think the 

gentleman will accept. 

Mr. ROBERTS. I will accept it on one condition: that the gentleman will name a sum which shall be the maximum cost. 

Mr. O'NEILL. I will say, then, not to ~xceed $50 in cost. 

The SPEA:KER pro tempore. The gentleman from P"'nnsylvania 

will reduce his amendment to writing. 

A ME)1BER. Say $100.