- . 

972 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 9, 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1876. 

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

1. L. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. 

ARMY HORSES AND MULES. . 

Mr. BANNING. I ask unanimous consent to offer the resolution 

which I send to the desk, to get information from the War Department for t.he use of the Committee on Military Affairs. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, Th:tt the Secretary of War be required to furnish the J;Ionse wit~ a statement setting forth the number of dra~~ht horses and mules used ~n the sornce of tho Unite<l titates Army in eac~ and alllts departments, W!;?ether wttlf'the pl:tc <'~ 

where said horses nllll mules are rn use, tho a'\"era.9o cost per nead of satd amm::ls, 

and thP places where they are purohaseLl; also, a statement of tho cost. of mountmg the regiments of cavalry, naming the regiments (if any) most expensive to mount anLl remount. 

Mr. THORNDURGH. I object, upon the grotmd that it will take . a very la.rge fprce of clerks all the balance of the .session to furnish 

that information. . Mr. BANNING. In answer to the gentleman's objection I will say 

that if it will take a large force of clerks all the rest of the session 

to furnish that information I think it better we should find that out, 

and bve these Departments better. regulated,. so tba:; when called 

upon they can give us the information which they ought always to 

~re~vfu~~ ' 

Mr. THORNBURGH. If the Department had the force to do it I 

should not object, but I do not think they have. 

.Mr. BA.J.'rn'ING. This information is very important. 

Mr. THORNBURGH. I uo not know that it is so important as to . require a lar~" force of clerks to he devoteu to furnishing it. 

Mr. BANN lNG. It i ver:v important. I am told the number of 

dran.-rht horses :md mules now used in the service of the United States 

Army is over twelve thonsantl, and I suppose the gentleman from 

Temie !iee does not want to know if that be true. 

Ur. THORNBURGH. I do not want to have all the time of the 

clerks uf the War Department taken up in procuring that informa~ 

tion. I adhere to.my objection. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

The SPEAKER. The morning hour hegins at fifteen minutes past 

twelve o'clock, and the regular oruer is tho calling of committees for 

reports of a public nature. 

SALE F LANDS AT VINCENNES, Th'"DIANA. 

. 1\Ir. PARS')NS, from the Com1t1ittee on Private Land Claims, re- ported back, with amemlments, the hill (H. R. No. 19.J) aqthorizing 

the sale of certainlanus at Vincennes, Indiana, with the recommendation that the bill as amended do pass. 

The bill was read. In its preamble it sets forth that the United 

States heretofore acquired for debt, through the intervention of trustees, certain real estate in and near the city of Vincennes, Knox County, 

Indiana, cons:sting of about eighty acres of land, more or less, survey 

No.5, t.ownship No.3 north, range 10 west., second meridian, together 

with the half of lot No. 1 and the whole of lot No.8 of Harrison's addition to said city of Vincennes, commonly called "the steam-mill 

tract." or" Hall Neil on property;" and that the Ohio and Missis~ippi 

Railway Company, the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad Company and the Indianapolis antl Vincennes Railroad Company have sev- erally placed their tracks, switch.es, and certa.in lm!l~ing OJ?- said land 

while the title to the same was cltsputed. And, as It IS desirable that 

said companies shall continue to occupy such portions of sa1d land as 

may be necessary for t~e successful oper~~ion of their railroad ~iri~s, 

the bill. therefore prov1.des that the SoliCltor of the Treasury, if m his judgment tho interests of the United States require it, with the 

approval of the Secretary .of the Treasury, may sell, or cause to be 

soltl, at private sale, for not less than its appraised value, to be ascer- tained under the direction of the Solicitor of the Treasury, to said 

companies so much of the sa~e as may be reqnir~ for their tracks, 

switches, shops, and ot-her railroad purposes, provided that the aggregate amonnt so ~old shall not exceed one-t'?~d of th~ whole ?f 

said land, and provtded further that the remmrung portiOn of smd 

real estate may be sold nnrler existing laws as may be convenient 

and desirable. 

The amendments reported by the committee were re;m, as follows : 

.After the word "laws," in the l.::lat line, insert the words "in such parcels." Add to the bill this proviso: . That this act shall not prejudice any adverse cfaim or right to the sn.id L'IDds. 

:Mr. PAGE. I make the point of order that the bill contains an 

appropriation or disposition of the public lands, and should have its 

first consideration in the Committee of the ·whole on the Private Calendar. · 

Mr. PARSONS. I think it does not make an appropriation of the 

public lands. It remits the matter to the consideration of the Solicitor of the Treasury, by and with the approval of the Secretary of the 

TreaBUry. I do not see that it appropriates anything. 

Mr. HOLMAN. There was a bill I believe passed on this subject 

in the last Congress. 

Mr. PAGE. I submit that the point·of order is not debatable. I 

ask the decision of the Chair. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair will decide the point of order in a mo- ment, after he has hart. time to examine the bill. [After a pause.] In 

the judgment of the Chair, the point of order i not well t.aken. This 

bill propo e in no sense whatever a grant of land, but only provic}es 

for a ·sale of land in a certain event, the money received to be of course t.he property of the United States; and it makes no difference 

that the authority conferred upon the Government i in a certain 

event to sell to persons or partie named. In the judgment of the 

Chair, as the bill involves no grant of land in any proper sense, the 

point of order is not well taken. Mr. PAGE. It involves a disposition of the public lands. 

The SPEAKER. So may any hill for the ale of the public lands. 

!tlr. PAGE. The rule applies to any bill making an appmpriation 

of money or a disposition of the public lands. 

The SPt< AKER. An appropriation of the public lands. The Chair 

overrules t.he point of order. 

Mr. HOL~IAl~. I desll:e to ask the gentleman roporting the bill 

whetl.aer this sale is to he at public auction 7 

:Mr. PARSONS. No, sir. I would answer the gentleman that the 

obje.ct of the bill is to give to the Solicitor of the Treasury, with the 

approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the right to sell at private 

sale. · 

Mr. HOLMAN. I hope that will not be done. The bill of last ses- sion was for precisely the same purpose, and was amended by the 

Honse. 

l\Ir. PARSONS. This land is to be sold subject to appraisement; it 

is not to be sold for less than the appraised vz.lue. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I hope the principle of public sale will be adhered 

to. It seems to me it would be much better for the officers of the . Tre.asnry, who are required to take charge of this sale, to have it at 

public auction. I do not tmderstand exactly the object of this bill. 

A hill was passed at the last se ion for the same purpo ·o, which, I 

pre ume, was found to he insufficient; but that bill was amended in 

the Honse so as to require the sale to be at public auction, after appraisement. I ask that this bill be so amended as to require the sale 

to be at public auction upon such notice as the Secretary of the Treas- ur:v shall prescribe. · 

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman yield for that amendment! 

Mr. PARSONS. I do not. 

l!r. HOL.M.AN. This bill affects a portion of the Government lands 

in the State of Indiana, and I shall therefore h· veto insist that it 

shall not pass, so f~r as my vote is concerned, without the amendment I have indicated. I am not willing that railroad corporations 

shall obtain by any means an improper purchase of lands from the 

Government. Let them come in and compete for this property as our citizens must do. · 

1\Ir. PARSONS. The objection of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 

HOLl\IAN] will be found hardly tenable when you consider the fact 

that this bill remits the subject to the discretion of the Secretary of 

the Treasury and of the Solicitor. If the interests of the United 

States require it, they are to have the right to sell those lands at private sale. To favor one class of people over another is certainly not 

designed by this bill. It simply gives the right to those who have 

already improved. this land to purchase that which may be necessary 

for securing their improvements. Nearly twenty years have elapsed 

since the improvements were begun, and they have already made improvements upon that land in the pursuit of their enterprise, in the 

erection of a great public highway, which should in fact entitle them 

to the possession of the ground itself. They have attempted condemnation under the laws of the State, but have found no one to whom , to pay the money which had been decreed· as the value of the land. 

They, therefore, ask imply to he permitted-anti t.he Committee on Private Land Claims after full consideration have reported a bill for 

that pnrpo e-to purchase this land at its appraised value. 

The right to purchase this land is not to 'Qe given to them unless in 

the discretion of the Secretary and Solicitor it is necessary for the 

interests of the Unit.ed States. And they are limited in the amount 

of their purchase. I understand this lancl is embraced within the 

corporate limits of Vincennes. It will he divided into lots and parcels, 

for if sold in hn.l\ it would be sold at a sacrifice, even i sold at public sale after due advertisement. I understand, if I may be permitted 

to' say so, that the objection to the passage of this hill comes from 

private persons who are anxious to manifest an opposition to what 

they assume to be a railroad monopoly. This is not a railroad monopoly; there are three tracks there, and these people are simply asking 

the right to pay for that which has already been condemned under 

the laws of the State of Indiana and which they cont.inne to occupy. 

They do not wish to subject themselves to any speculation or attempt 

at speculation upon them. 

I do not appear here in defense of any railroad corporation or anything of the kind. When that question comes up it will be time 

enough for me to speak. In this matter, as the people in the vicinity seem w desire the pa,ssage of this bill, and as the interests of the 

country will be materially enhanced hy such a sale, the Committee on Private Land Claims have deemed it proper to report this bill to 

the House. 

ll!r. HOL.MAN. I have no desire to do any injustice to the corporation that is interested in this body of la-nd ; I clo not wish t.o do it. 
. ''" . .,, 

1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 97_3 

But I wish to avoid the possibility of any improper sale of this property. I do not desire to deprive this corporation of the benefits of 

the investments and improvements they have made upon this land. 

The statement shows very conclusively that they have been some- what embarrassed by the condition ·of the property in regard to title, a~d I think their rights should be protected to the extent of the improvements which they have made, and the tracks they have built on this land. But at the same time it seems to me very proper that ~here should be some safeguard against any improper combination 

between the railroad corporation on the one hand and the officers having charge of this sale npon the other. ·I think it is desirable for 

them that the exact manner in which they shall perform their duty 

shall be indicated clearly by this bill. 

My friend will perceive that if there is an appraisement-this bill 

bas no reference to the value of the improvements-t he land must be 

appraised just as it is. If this corporation is to take the property, 

they must take it at the a.ppraised value, nod the improvements ma-de 

by the company may be included in the appraisement. 

Mr. PAR~ONS. The appraisement is to be subject to the approval 

of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

Mr. HOLMAN. Why is it not hetter to specifically refer to the fact. so that there shall be no concealment, that this railroad· corporation 

has located a track on this land and made improvements upon it, antl 

require the Secretary of the Treasury to tako those improvements into 

a.ccount in determining what shall be the character of the appraisement; m other words, what shall be the appraised value ; and that 

this property Mhall be sold upon competition, with the rights of this 

company so far reserved as they ought to be in justice to the corporations that have made the improvements Y 

I wish to ask the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. PARSONS,] be- cause he is undoubtedly familiar with the subject, how it hap11ens 

that the passage of this bill is necessary f The act of last session 

seemed to cover the whole subject. It provided for this sale and provided that it should be made at public auction. Why ha_s it become 

necessary to pass this bill t 

Mr. PARSONS. In answer to the inquiry of the gentleman from 

Indiana [Mr. HoLMAN] I will suggest to him that the act of last ses- sion, though passed by the House and the Senate, Wa-8 not approved 

and si~ned. The particular necessity for this legislation is best ex- hibit-eel in the act itself and in the report. That report is long, em- bracing all the material facts which have been ascertained upon full 

investigation. As there seems to be some question about this matter, 

I will ask that the report be read. so that gentlemen objecting to the 

bill and . that the House generally may understand the reasons on which the Committee on Private Land Claims have based their con- clnMion to report this bill favorably. · 

The Clerk -read as follows : 

The Committoo on Privat~ Land Claims t{) whom wag referred bill of the House No. 1!)2, entitled" A hill authorizing the sale of certain lands at Vincennes, Indiana." have had tbe same under consideration, ancl submit the following report: 

The Janel '\-eferred to in said bill constitutes a portion of certain lands donated to a class of French inhabitants near Vincennes, Indiana, dul'ing the latter part of 

the last century, and several y~rs before the public la~ds of that r egion of conn- try l¢ere surveyed and brought mto market Tho particular tr·a.ct of land in ques- tion, in common with most other tracts similarlv donated, had not much value at- tached to it for many years after it was !ITa.Ilted away by the Gover-nment, and hence was bartered and transferred on sevet-a'i' occasions from one to another in a very informal way, and no record evidence seems to exist as to some transfers of it which 

it is alleged were made while its value was thus comparatively insignificant. Near sixt;styears ago this land seems to bavofallen into the possession of an asso- ciation of gentlemen known as the Vincennes Steam-Mill Company. This com- pany erected a steam-mill and other valuable improvements upon it. .After con- tinuing in business for a few years this steam mill company failed and went int() liquidation. At the time of its failure it was indebted very considerably to tho Vin- cennes B11>nk, a banking corporation then in existence and doing busmess at Vin- cennes, and to satisfy that indebtedness, either in whole or in part, the steam-mill company conveyed the land in question to said bank. Soon afterthatconveyance, that is to say, near fifty years ago, the bank also failed, being at the time largely 

in arrears with tlle United States Government as a depositor of public moneys. The bank thereupon conveyed this land, with other tracts, to certain trustees for 

the use of and in part satisfaction of its indebtedness to the Government. In 1832 this land was contracted to be sold to one Hall Neilson, as t he assi!!neeof 

other parties, for the sum of $6.000, to be paid in annual installments of $1,000 each, 

and the said Neilson was put into possession of the land under his contract of pur- cha e. Soon after Mr. Neilson had thus acquired an interest in the land, suit was brought al!ainst him a.~ the tenant in possession for the recovery of the same by 

parties claiming title adverse to the Govemment. This snit was continu '1(1 from 

time to time and prosecuted in the courts of Indiana for many years, and finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States. (See Hall Neilson vs. Clark n. 

Lagow and others, 12 Howard, pa$e 98.) This suit after goinl! back to the State courts was finally decided fa.voraoly to the Government. In the mean time other 

suits were com.mPnced by other parties on claims of title adverse to the interest of 

the Governm~nt in this land. This subs~_uent litigation bas not been fully and 

completely disposed of, but so far as demswns have been made on the di.ft'erent 

phases of it which have been ruled upon they hav-e sustained the equitable title 

of the Government to this property; and the officers of the Government in charge 

of this litigation are encouraged to believe that a final decision of claims to it will soon be made confirming the title of the Government. At all events they are hopeful that a final solution of all pending cL'tims will soon be raa.ched either the one way or the other. . In consequence of the litigation which thus e·nsned concerning the title to the 

land in question the Government was unable satisfactorily to fUlfill its contract for the sale of the same to Mr. Neilson, and by reason thereof he became in a few years discouraged, and ultimately abandoned the possession of it. The buildings on this land soon went into decav, and were taken away by some of the adverse 

claimants. In 1860 Mr. Neilson died, leaving a widow and children, who still snr- viT"e him. The committee a.re informed that the sai<l widow an<l children do not 

~:~~~~~~~as!:'o~t land, and do not either intend or desire to complete Mr. 

Wit-hin the last twenty-five years three railroad companies, that is to say, the 

Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company, the Evansville and Crawfordsnll~ Hailroad Company, and the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroatl Company, have run their tracks across and placed tlleir switches upon this land. . Some proceedin:rs were bad to condemn the ri;;rht of way over this land, but owing to the disputed condition of the tit le to it and the number of a•lverso claimants. it 

is alleged that the proper parties were not ma(le tO such proceedin:;s, an I hence a!ly jud.:rment that may have been rendered under them is of doulltful validity, if not absolutely void. - Tho land lies in a narrow strip fronting on the Wabash River,.anrl runs back in a soutb c:~ sterl y direction for a half mile or more to t ile hin-h grouml in the r ear, and 

is so situa-ted that saia railroads harl necessruily to run their tracks over it. It is not divided either lly any natural ill visions or IJ01muaries by whluh it couhl prop- erly be sold in parcels in case it should be oifem-'11 at public sale, as such li.Ulu~ hav-e to be sold under xi~ting laws. 

The committee are impr~sed with the belief that the oecupancy of a portio:1 of 

this land by the railroad comflanies woull probably be a very serious drawback 

anrl impediment to t.he sale of h by 1 he Govr-r:nment as an e:1tirety. - The commitU,e think it also n ut. unreasona.J:e that tho ra:ilroal com'la.nies shoul:l 

under the circumstances, have tho opportunity of Jlttrcbasi::Jg so much of saU bn] as they really need f or railroad purposes at its apprai d va uo, without beiu;.; pos- sibly compelled t() purchase the whole tract, in order to protect their in~t'O.it.s on what they now occupy. The committee, t oo. think itprob~ble that the lanrl willsellforalarger sum in the agf,!re~ate if sold in parcels than if solcl as an entirety. _ The bill, however, under consideration leaves the question as t'l whether any of this 

land shail be sold at p1ivate sale to sa ill railroad companies to the so:m :l discretion of 

the proper officers of the Treasury D epartment. In a matter of so little imp'lrt:mce in a pecuniary point of view the committee regard that as a sa· e an :I reasonable 

arrangement. It will be observed that the bill does not. in the s!.ightest. dc;rree interfere or propose to inturfere with any adverse claim to the land referreJ t :l in it, 

but leaves all questions concerning the title to tbojuilicial tribunal • to which they 

~~~~r/iia~ ~~1iu!~~saitpb~c~~~~~!?ct n;~a:h~ Gr:::~~~~n~.e tf ili~vt!:ai icls~~: sOOll be adverse to the Government, nothing will be left on which the provisions ot the proposed measure can operate. Tho committee th61-efore report back said 

bill and recommend its passage with these amendm nt.~: 

1. Provided, That this act shall not pre,judice any adverse claim or ri:rht to tho said lands ; and 2. .A.mend bf inserting after the word " laws " in the last line the words " in 

such parcels. ' . 

Mr. HOLMAN. I still think it would be better that we should give 

the ri~ht of way through this land to these companies and provitle for 

the sale of the remain<ler of the laud at public auction rathhl' than 

pass the bill in this form. 

Mr. TOWN~END, of New York. Some of us have not yet been able 

to hear this bill read. I ask that it be read again. 

The bill was again read. 

Mr. HOLMAN. It will be observed that the residue of this land is 

to be sold as ot.her public lands are sold. It appears to me that t.he 

remaining portion at least ought to be appraised and sold at public 

auction. 

Mr. BUCKNER. Why sot 

Mr. HOLMAN. Why nott 

Mr. BUCKNER. The very object of this bill is to leave this matter 

discretionary with the Secretary of the Treasury. Somebo<ly mnst 

necessarily determine this question; and the bill proposes to remit 

thew hole matter to his discretion, except that it is provided there shall 

first be an appraisement; and certainly the Sec.retary of the Treasury 

in the exercise of his judgment will not sell this property at less than 

what it is considered worth. Why should we subject these ra.ilroatl 

companies to the danger of a combination being made a~ainst them 

after they have improved the property and done everythrng in their 

power to gettherightof way. They need this land fortheir switches as well as their depot grounds. The rights of the Government are 

thoroughly protected under this bill. 

Mr. HOLMAN. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BUCKNER] will 

observe that according to the provisions of this bill the residue of 

this land, after the railroad companies have taken one-third, is to be 

sold as other lands are sold. Other lands are sold at $L.25 an acre, as my friend well knows. In other words, it is proposed to pot the 

remaining portion of this land on the same footing with the public 

domain, subject to salo. It strikes me tha..t the residue of this lantl 

ought certainly to be sold at public auction. That is the policy we adopt with reference to our reservations for military purposes; when 

they become useless to the Government, they are put into the m:u·ket 

to be sold at public auction upon proper competition. 

Mr. BUCKNER. This case stands on a different footing. These 

parties have already done ~verything they could to obtain title to the 

land; they have pnt their improvements upon it; it is therefore not 

proper that the land should be put up at public sale. 

.Mr. HOL"l\f.AJ..~. But does that apply to all the land T 

Mr. BUCKNER. No, sir; only one-third of it. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I am trying to get the attention of my friend from 

Missouri to the fact that I am now saying nothing about the one- third which it is proposed to sell to t.hese railroad corporations. I am speaking about the residue, which according to the provisions of. the 

bill is to be sold as other lan<lsaresold. Now, why should not the residue 

be appraised and sold at publiQ auction just as yon sell your military 

reservations when they become useless for public purposes f 

Mr. BUCKNER. There is uo improvement upon the remaimng 

two-thirds. 

Mr. HOLMAN. But here is land in a town, a town of very considerable importance; and I am trying to point ont to the gentleman 

from Missouri that this land should be oftered at public sale, instead 

of being subject to entry at $1.25 an acre. Mr. WILLIAMS, of Indiana. I would like to have the bill read 

again._ Many gentleman, I think, do not understand it. 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY ·g, 

~.PARSONS. I insist upon the demand for the previous question. 

The bill has already been twice read, and I presume the House understands it fully. 

The previous question was seconded (there being ayes 81, noes not 

counted) and the main question wa-s ordered. Under the operation 

thereof the amenllments reportell by the committee were agreed to, 

and -the bill, a~ amended, was ordered to be engrossed a!ld read a third 

time, there being ayes 87, noes not counted. · The bill, being engrossed, was read a third time. 

Mr. BLAND. I would like to ask the gentleman from Kentucky 

.[l\1r. PARSONS] one question: Are we not authorizing and requiring 

the sde of lq,nds to which the Government has no title, and is not the 

Government thus obligating itself either to make title or to respond 

in damages! As I understand this report, the question of title is not 

yet settled i and by wha.j; authority should the Government undertake 

to sell the lands until tllat question is settled! 

Mr. PARSONS. If the~entleman will remember the proviso to the 

lMt par.t of the bill, he Will understand that t.here is a distinct reser- vation as to the question of title. And there is no declaration on the 

part of the House and the Government of the United States of owner- ship. further than the preamble itself recites. The amendment was designed to reserve that question, and does reserve it. I hope the 

bill will now be put upon its passage. 

Mr. HOLMAN. There is no question but the title is correct. 

The House divide<l; and there were--ayes 72, noes 53. 

Mr. BAKER, of Indiana, demanded the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-yeas 

109, nays 120, not voting 60 ; as follows : 

YEA.S-Messrs. Adams, William H . Baker, Blair, Blount, Boone, John Young 

:Brown, William R. Brown. Buckner, Horatio C. Burchard, John ll. Caldwell, '\Vilf. 

iam P. Caldwell, Campbell, Camller. Cannon, Ca~ Cook, Culberson, Dibrell, Dur- ham, Eames, Egbert, Evans, Fa.rwell, Forney. ..t<·ort, Franklin, Freeman, Frost, 

Fuller, GarfielU. Gause, Goode, Goodin, Ganter, Robert Hamilton, Hardenbergh, BenJamin W . Harris, Henry R. Harris, Hartrid,:re, Hatcher, Hathorn, Haymond, 

Henderson. Henkle, Hereford, Goldsmith W. H ewitt, Hoge, Hooker, Hoskins, 

Hubbell, Hurd, Hyman, Thomas L. Jones, Joyce, Kehr, K elley, Ketchum, Kimball, King, Franklin Lanuers. Lane, Lapham, Levy, Lewis, Levi A.. Mackey, Maish, 

MacDougall, Mills, Morey, Morgan, Norton, 0 llrien. O'Neill. ParsollS, Plaisted, 

Platt, Powell, Raine:v. Rea, lleagan, Ridtlle, John Robbins, Robinson. Sampson, 

Schleicher. Seelye, Sheakley. Singleton, William E. Smith, Southard, Sparka, Springer, Strait, Stone, Stowell, Teese, Throckmorton, Martin I.1'ownsend, \Va.Rh- ington Townsend, Gilbert C. Walker, Erastus W ells, Wheeler, \Vhiting, Wike, James D. Williams, B.enjamin Wilson, Alan Wood, jr. Woodburn, and Yonn,:r-109. 

N.A YS-Messrs. Anderson, A she, Atkins, John H. Ba.,.ley, jr., John H. B:~.ker, 

Ballou, Bell, Blackburn, Blaine. Bland, Bradford, Bright·, llurlmgh, C11.son. C3<:1well, 

Caulfield, Chittenuen, John n. Clarke of Kentucky, John B Clark,jr .. of Missouri, 

Clymer, Collins. Con~er, Cowan. Cox, Crapo, Cutler, Darrall, Davy, De Bolt., Deni- son, Dunnell. Durancl, Ellen, Ellis, Ely, Faulkner, Foster, Frye, Glover, Hale, Andrew II. Hamilton, Haralson. Hart,zell, Abram S. Hewitt, Hoar, Holman. Hopkins, House Hunter, Hunton, Hurlbut, Jenks, GeorgeM. Landers. Leavenworth, Lynch, 

Lynde, Edmund W . M Ma~key, Ma.goon. McDill, McFarland, Mc:Mahon, Metcalfe, 

Miller, Milliken, :Mo11 roe, Mutchler, Nash, Neal. New, Oliver, Packer, Payne, 

Phelps_._ John F . Philips, William A. Phillips, Piper, Poppleton, Potter, Pratt, 

.Ramlall, John Reilly, James B. Reilly, Rice, William M. Robbins, Rusk, Sava~e, 

S..'l.yler, Scali's, Schumaker, Slemons, Smalls, A . Herr Smith, Stenger. Stevenson, Tarbox, Terry, Thompson, Thornbur,:rh, Tucker, Tufts, Turney, Van Vorhes, 

John L . Vance, Robert B. Vance, Waddell, Waldron, Clmrles C. n. Walker, Alex:-

anderS Wallace, John W. Wallace, Walsh, Warren. Whit-e, Wig~inton, Willard, Alpheus S. Williams, James Williams, JeremiahN. Williams, Wi.llfum B. Williams, .Tame~ Wil on. and Yeates-120. 

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Ainswort.b. Ba.gby, George A. Ba~ley, Banks, Banning: Barnum, .llass, Beebe, Bliss, Bradley, Samuel D . Burchard, Cabell, Chapin, Cocli- rane. Urounse. Danford. Da.v~ Dobbins, Douglas. Felton, Gibson, Hancock, John T . Harris, Harrison, Ha.vs, .tiendee, Hill, Frank Jones. Kasson, Knott, Lamar, 

Lawrence, Lord, LuttreU: McCrary, Meade, Money. Morrison, Odell Page, Piel'C6, 

Pnrman, Roberts, Miles Ross, Sobieski Ross, Sinnickson, Swann, Thomas, Walling. Walls, 'Vard, G. Wiley Wells, Whitehouse, Whitthorne, Andrew Williams, 

Charles G. Williams, Willis, Wilshire, Fernando Wood, and Woodworth~O. 

So the bill was rejected. 

Druing the vote, . Mr. GARFIELD moved to dispense with the reading of the names. There wa no objection; and it was ordered aecordingly. 

The vote was then announced as above recorded. 

:Mr. CAULFIELD. I enter the motion to reconsider the vote by 

which that bill was rejected. . Mr. WILLIAMS, of Indiana. I hope the rejection of the bill will 

be reconsidered and that it will be recommitted to the Committee on Private Land Claims. · The SPEAKER. The morning hour ha-s expired and t~e motion to 

reconsider will be entered. 

DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULA APPROPRIATIO~ BILL. 

Mr. RANDALL. I move thernles be suspended and that the House 

resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole on the diplomatic and consular approptiation bill. 

The motion was agreed to. · The House accordingly resolved itself into the Committee of the 

Whole on the state of the Union, (~1r. HOSKINS in the chair,) andre- sumed the consideration of the bill (H. R. No. 1594) making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic service of the Government 

for the year ending June 30, 1877, and for other purposes. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. SPRINGER] is 

entitled to the floor upon this bill. · . Mr. SPRINGER. Mr. Chairman. this House of Representatives presents a condit.ion of thingR that has not existed in this Government for 

many years h~retofore. The anomaly in a republican form of government is presented of a popular brunch of the legisla.ti ve body being con-

-- -

stituted so that the majority thereof is in opposition to the general 

administration and to the other branch of the legislative department. 

There was some reason for this state of things. It was not the result of 

accident or chance. But the people of this country in the elect-ion in 

1874, when this body was chosen, had a deliberate pmpose. It was what is called an "offyear,"when there was little excitement, when the 

people made np their minds to express a sentiment and principle in t be 

election of their representatives. A most unaccountable and remarkable instance of the popular revolution which took place in that elec- tion. was in the return of de~ocrats in largo republican districts. · Mn.uy 

districts, which bad been overwhelmingly republican heretofore, wt·re found, to the very great surprise of the candidates after the votes were counted, to have resulted in the election of democraticRepresentat.ives. 

My friend on the left here from Michigan [Mr. DURAl\"D] was so fortunate,orunfortunate, I do not know which, so far as regards himself, but 

fortunate for the people, as to reverse a popular oppo ition majority of 

six thousand in his district, and be chosen by seventeen hundred ma- jority over his opponent. The honorable gentleman from Mas a- chustltts, [Mr. THO:.-IPSON,] with whom I have the honor to serve on tbe Committee on Expenditures in the State Department, succeeded . the blustering General Butler who nsed to walk up and down through 

these Halls and dictate such policy to h1s party friends a:s he desired. 

The quiet, amiable demeanor of the pre, ent member is in striking con- trast with the pretentious manner of his predecessor. Yes, sir, the 

people meant somethiJ?.g when they brought about these thing . And 

whatwastheirmeaning f They had deliberatelymadeuptheirminus 

that there must be retrenchment, economy, and 1·eform in this Government. They had trusted long to the party in power, and hatl been 

disappointed. They went about it deliberately, and sent a majority 

to this House which would respect the wishes of the people ancl carry 

out the policy which they had determined should control affairs in 

this Government. Now, what the peop1e do deliberately they ~enerally do well. 

Fortunately for this side of the House, they made the mn:jorit:v so great that we can los~ a few ·votes on these bills and still be able tO re- spontl to the popular demand. I am not surprised when one of these 

bills comes up for the purpose of bringing about retrenchment in the 

Government that certain gent.lemen on this side of the Honse are not 

able to go with us. There is some one who in all these measures sees objections and cannot go with us; but when we have gotten throno-h 

with all of them, we will have a few votes to spare on these measm~s of ecoiwmy and ~Still meet the reasonable expectations of our constituents. When we have done our work and submitted it to tbe co-ordinate branches o~ tlie Government, aml then afterward to the people 

who sent us here, we feel assured that they will indorse oor course. I was somewhat surpri. ed, however, in the di cossion of this CJnestion 

at the remark of my esteemed friend froru New York [Ur. HEWITT] 

who represent the great commercial metropolis of this country, and 

also of my amiable and venerable friend who sits near me [Mr. WooD, 

of New York] They seem to have mistaken, to have entirel~mistaken 

the object of this bill. One would have thought from their able arguments on this question that this was "a bill for an act to prohibit com- merce between this country an.d all the nations of the earth." Tbe 

gentleman from New York [Mr. WooD] said, "We cannot dispense 

with the carrying trade of this nation." Well, I want to know who 

proposes to dispense with the carrying trade of this nation. My amiable friend [~1r. HEWITT, of New York] with whom I have the honor 

to serve on the Committee on Foreign .Affairs said that "this hill 

strikes. a deadly blow at our expanding commerce, at our growing industries, at our commercial ports, and at the welfare of our country." 

I read, sir, the gentleman's words from the RECORD of this morning. 

There must be something terrible about this bill if it is intended 

to cut off all communication between this country and foreign ports. 

I bad never conceived this to be the object of it heretofore; Gentle- men seem to think that a few diplomatic officers and consuls, resident 

in remote and obscure places, are the agencies by which commerce is cr~atedorpermitted between governments. There never was a greater 

m1stake. Tbe:v are the results of commerce, and not the cause of it. 

They are the effects of commercial intercourse, and not the moving 

motive or cause. Why, Mr." Chairman, if a gold mine shoulJ. J:>e discovered at some obscure place in South America and it should be proved to luwe tho 

richness of the discoveries made in the State of Californja in 1848-'49 

vast enterprises would be set on foot, steamships would be freighted 

and would leave our ports, and in a few months a great city would 

be buil up there and the products of Illinois and of the whole of this 

country would be landed on those shores. There would be a state of 

fifty thousand inhabitants there before the red tape of the State Department could get a consular agent located in that place. I am very 

thankful that commerce does not depend upon the establishment of 

corumls and consuhtr agents at various places. Commerce will bring 

these when they are needed. 

Mr. Chairman, when the committees of this House began the con- sideration of the diplomatic and the consular bills, with a view to 

reducing the expenses and securing such economy as would not impair the usefulness of the service, certain partisan papers of the country 

a-ssured us that we were wasting our time and energies; that new members of Congress were in the habit of making a tight upon those 

subjects which they knew least about, the consulates and tho Army; 

that this was not the field for applying a ri~itl economy. We wore 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 975 

directed to the Treasury Department, to the War Department, to the 

Interior Department, to th~ Post-Office Department, and told that 

these were t.he proper places to look for extravagance and to seek to 

cut off abuses. We were told that our diplomatic and consular representatives were almost starvin~ in foreign countries, or subjected to 

such pecuniary embarrassments ill order to eke out an existence as to 

greatly impair the efficiency of the service. 

The gentleman from :Minnesota [Mr. DuNNELL] yesterday instituted a comparison between the palatial residence of Lord Lyons in 

Paris and the humble quarters of :Mr. Washburne, the American nilnister. Sir, I thank boo for that comparison. It is a. comparison 

which we might well dra.w between an effete aristocracy and a growing democracy. Ou country is not respected abroad the less by rea on of the fa{}t that our ministers go about there in the ordinary 

apparel of gentlemen and live in apartments befitting the representatives of a popular government. 

The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] in his remarks to the 

committee on this bill said: 

I believe every gentleman of intelligence on this :floor will admit that the foreign 

service of the United States, the State Department, both as it is exhibited at home 

in its civil functions and abt'Oad in its diplomatic and consular functions, has been 

for years the most economically conducted, the most honestly man~~ed, the most carefully kept up of perhaps any of our Departmeuts. All men of au parties have 

given their testimony in years past to that as the general truth. 

We11, sir, I shall not dispute the proposition of the gentleman from 

Ohio, but we will see how that is before -we get through; and I have no doubt the other apartments are just as honest as this is. But 

notwithstanding these assertions this side of the Hot1se and the Committfle on Appropriations have steadily pursued, in reference to our diplomatic and consular representatives, the course to be carried out 

in all other departments of the public service, namely, a. careful 

scrutiny into expenditures, abuses, anu a.Il manner of e-xtravagance. 

We are not making exceptions. We are following a principle. We 

have laid the ax at the root of the tree, and everything that is not 

sound shall be hewn down. . · Tlie necessit.y for a rigid economy was never greater in the history 

of this country than it is now. All our industries are prostrated. 

Thousands of laboring-men are out of employment and many of them 

go tramping up and down through the land begging for bread. And 

yet we are told that fl. foreign embassador cannot suppo1t himself 

respectably on $17,500 a year. Sir, we must come down t.o harrl-pan. 

We must teach the office-holders of this country that the people are economizing themselves and that their servants must do likewise. 

The Committee on Expenditures in the State Department, of which I am chairman, have been taking the testimony of witnesses and have 

obtained a vast amount of valuable information bearing on this bill. 

I ask of every member of this House his attention to this subject, 

and if I do not convince this committee that the foreiO'n service is 

in no respeot an exception to the extravagance, inefficien~y, and peculation prevailing in some other Departments of the Government, then 

I will admit that I am mistaken; that there are no abuses· in the 

Government; that the whisky ring, and the Credit Mobilier corporation, and other iniquities were not wron~ in themselves, but merely 

the necessary means used by a kind Proviaence to teach public officials 

how dangerous it is to be wicked. . The bill under consideration reduces the appropriations for a.ll the 

diplomatic and consular service from $1,352,485, the amount estimated 

to he ne{lessary by the State Department, to 916,647.50, being a saving 

of $435,837.50. This may well be denominated a sweeping reduction, a it is over 32 per cent. less than the appropriation for the current 

year for the same service. I am not prepared to say that this bill is 

perfect and that all the reductions should be made in the manner indicated in its provisions. And while there are some items that may 

perhaps be increased, yet I am equally certain that there are others 

that are still t.oo high, or that some offices still retained in the bill ,ought to be abolished. I will point these out before the bill is re- ported to the House, or some of them at lea-st. · . The reductions in the salaries of diplomatic officers are such as are demanded by the nature of their service and by the absolute necessity 

at this time for a rigid economy in every department of Government. 

Does anybody suppose ~that any one of our present foreign ministers 

will resign on account of the reduction of their salaries as proposed T 

Will Schenck do it, or Bancroft D~vis, or Boker, or Godlove Orth, or Cramer, or Horace Maynard resign and come home in disgust T I trust 

not. It would be a great calamity to them, if not to the conntTy. The 

annual salaries of ministers to the four great powers were $17 500 each 

in gold. This bill reduces them to $14,000. Will any.of o~ constituents oomplain of this f They will rather suggest that, in view of 

the general stagnation of business and the necessity for individual 

economy on the part of rich and poor, it is not unreasonable to ask our foreign diplomats to give fewer entertainments and live in l ess splendor than formerly. We do not ask them to deny themselves the 

necessaries of lif~. We pay our cabinet ministers $<.~,000 per annum and I assert wi~hont fea.r ?f su.ccessful contradiction that every mem: ber of the President's cabrnet IB called upon to make more pecuniary outl~ys, in order to live i? ~ manner be_fitting his position, than is 

req mre~ of any one of our mirusters at foreign courts. President Grant 

baR no difficulty in findin~ gentlemen to fill his cabinet offices on ac- count of inadequate salar1es. 

The salaries of our ministers are not the only expenses we have to 

meet in connection with our diplomatic service. In reading the ac- counts of our ministers abroad for contingent expenses it will be seen that the expenses of each mission are no small items. The continrrent 

expenses of some of the leading missions for the year ending Jnn~ 30, 

1875, were as follows : 

l ~: ri:~!~i~~~~=;~.~:·:::::::::::.:·.':::::::::::.:::::::::::::::::: ~: ~~: R. C. Schenck , Great Britain............................................ 3 359 29 

~~fetllc':t~~~P!n~~~~ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~: ~~ ~ Boker and Maynard, Turkey .•••.•. ··············-···· ...•••.••• ~ •.••.•. 12, 609 99 

r~~~~~~~1~~·=·=·=·=·=·~·:·:·=·:·:·=·=·=::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::: ~:I~ The above will serve as an illustration. The small acco~ts ren- dered by Mr. Jones and Mr. Partridge are sufficient to prove the ex- travagance of the others. Mr. Schenck's contingent account for the· year ending June 30, 1873, amounted to ,.16,700.65. This included 

items for telegrams for quarter ending March 31, 1873, amounting to 

$9,191.38, gold. 

I find here an item of $487 to Adam Badeau; perhaps some of you 

have heard of him. The receipt is as follows: 

CONSULATE-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

. London, December 4, 1871. 

Received of Major-General Schenck, United States minister, ~87, paid me on account of contingent expenses of foreign intercourse. 

.ADAM BADE A. U, . Bearer of Special Dispatches to Madrid. 

Mr. Bade.au wa-s at this time consul-genei:al of the United States at 

London, ·receiving a salary of $6,000, having been commissioned April 

28, 1870, and continues in office at this time. 

This was for special services rendered oy Badeau as bearer of dispatches from Mr. Schenck to Madrid; they must have been valuable 

services, I presume, because the Government had to pay $487 for them. 

The real cost of his trip was probably $75, if it was ever necessary 

for him to go there at all on behalf of the Government. 

Mr. Cushmg's account contained an item of $5,752.56 for telegrams 

for the quarter ending March 31, 1875. 

It is fortunate for the tax-payers of this country that "Christmaa comes but once a year," as our diplomats are liberal at Christmas with 

other people's money. They charge n p to the United States items for 

such gra . tuities as follows, and I almost blush to name them: 

~ .. ~- :~~~~~: .~:~ ~-~~: :::::::::: :·:::: ::: :·:: ::::::::::::::::: :::::: $1~~ n 

Caleb Cushing, (extraordinary expenses)........ . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . .• . • •• . . • . 56 58 Eugene Schuyl11r, (charge d'affaires at Russia, New Year) . . . . • . . . . . .•. • . . 69 54 Eu~ene Schuyler, (Easter presents.1875) .............••. ~...... •...•....•. 57 88 

Marshall Jewell, ("on taking leave " ) . ................................... 19 42 B. F. Stevens. (always liberal) . ... . ......••••.••••• _....................... 81 25 George H. Boker, (on occasion of Barim) .•• -........................ .....• 75 00 

These are small matters, I admit, and perhaps it is not dignified to 

refer to them. But they aggregate 546.77-which if a. permanent an- nual tax upon the people, imposed by the necessities of the situation, 

is equivalent to an increaEe of the national debt to the amount of ~,000-on account of Clu:istmas and other gratuities by foreign minIsters. • Here, sir, yo~ beh?ld him who was called the watch-dog of the 

Treasury when ill this Hall, but as soon as he gets abroad he begins 

to waste the people's money in every conceivable manner. Then her~ is B. F. St~vens (and I_cl_ass him among the diplomats, 

because he 1s anexpens1ve luxury) gtvmg of the people's money with a liberality which would do credit to any gentleman, if it was his own money that he was giving away. 

I call the attention of the committee to George H. Boker's account 

for contingent expenses. The large amount of such expenses in the 

Turkish mission needs explanation. Upon examination of the ac- counts and vouchers on file in th~ Fifth Auditor's Office, it appeared 

that 1\Ir. Boker ~Ofi:Clnde~ a treaty with Turkey just before his departure for Russia ill April, 1875. He presented a bill for "pre ents 

purchased for officials of the Turkish government on conclusion of 

treaties, as per instructions of Secretary of State." Thi!3 account 

amounted to ·t0,607.56 in gold, and was promptly paid. The items of 

this bill are quite suggestive, and I may be pardoned for particularizing. The vouchers on file are in the French language-neYer to be 

lmderst.ood by granger congressmen-and the rich presents were purchased in Paris, of course. They are as follows; the ha.ppy recipients will hereaft.er be the envy of every tax-payer in America: 

Statement of p1·csm~ts given to Tt,rki.sh official.s on the corwltl-8Unt of treati~. 

Francs. . Safvet Pa-sha, minister of foreign affairs, one "set of table-service for twenty- . four perso~s. (Voucher N <?· 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . 15. 411 Refet Bey, his son. cravat-pm and buttons, (Voucher No. 1 C) .. . . . ........ · 4, 000 

Sakes Etlendi, secretary of ministry of foreign affairs, one small table-serv· 

ice, (Voucher No. 3 K) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 000 

Parnis Effendi, councilor of ministry of forei~ affairs, one small table-ser-v- ' · ice1 (Voucher To. 3 L) . . .. .. . ...............•........ . . _ .. . . _... . . . ... . . . 4, coo Mumr Effendi. dragomrtn, &c., one small table-service, (Voucher No.3 M).. 4, 000 

Kianvil Bey, grand master of ceremonies, one set of diamond shirt-buttou~ 

(VoucherNo.1Dl ....•........ ............ .. .......... . ............... .. 4,000 

Alexandre Effendi, ex-mnstesher, one set of diamond shirt-buttons, (-Voucher 

No.1E) . . .. .. .•.................•....••........•.............. ... ....... 4,000 

Costaki Effendi, watch-chain and sleeve-buttons, (Voucher No.1 B)....... 4, 000 

Niazi Bey, wn.tch-eh:Un and sleeve-buttons, (Voucher No.1 A)............. 3. 700 

Ziver Bey, wn.t{lh, {Voucher No. 2G).. .. . ..... .... .. . ... ....... ..... ...... 2, 000 

Cha.ness Effendi, watch, (Voucher No. ~ H). . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • • • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 000 
976 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 9, 

Prancs. 

Vekil Effendi, watch, (Voucber~o. 2 F) ..•••.•• :.......................... 2, 000 Mehemet, watch, IVoucher No.2 I)........................................ 4:0 

Vitalis, watch, {Voucher No.2 J).. ........................................ 500 

Freig~ ¥!~~~~-&~~ :::::::::: ::~: :::::::::: ~:: ::: ~::::::::::: :::::::::: 54

• ~~ 

Grand total . • • . . . • . . . • • . • • • • • • . . • • . . • . • . • • • . . . . • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • . • • • • • • 54, 781 

The vouchers are an furnished by 1\fr. Boker, and are very good 

reading at this time. I will give a few of them, one in the language 

in which I find it; the others are translated: 

[Voucher No.1.] 

M. Mananian, fabricantjoaillier, rue de Richelieu, No. 41, 

Doit M. son excellence Monsieur Boker, 

PARIS, le 6 juin 1875, 

1 cbatne de gilet, ornaments en or, avec m6daillons et boutons de man- chettes, enrichis (l"emeTaudes et diamants. . •.. .. .•.• .•••.• ....••.•...• 3, 700 1 chaine de gilet, boule.<~, avec m6daillon, etc., boutons de manchettes, en- richis de diamants et rnbis ...... . ............. . . .. : ..•. ..••• ·--- .. ..• 4, 000 1 6pin le de cravate, fer a cheval, pierres variees J ~ f:~::d~~h=a::t~ts ..• -i~: . .". -~~-- .. ~ -- ~~ ~:: ~ :: ~~: ~: ~:::::: : ~: 3 ldm. idm. • • • . . . . . • • . • . • • . • • • • • . . • • . . . . • . • . . • . . . • • . • 4, 000 

Total . • • . • . . . • • . • • . • • • • . . • • . • . . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • • • • . • • • 19, 700 

Pour acquit: PARIS, le ~ juin 1875. 

:M. :MANANIAN. 

[Duplicate voucher No.4.} 

Mr. BOKER, Dr. 

PARIS, 29 Jum, 1875. 

Weight. Francs. 

8, 070 One center-piece, or basket, oval, Louis XVI style, with chiseled 

channels and ca..c;t~arlanrls, (length 60 centimeters,) foliage-handles, with birds, lined in enameled zinc . .... . ......................... 4, 660 

4, 200 Two baskets, round, or end-pieces matching the center-piece, Louis ~1, ~th channels a!ld garlands, foliage-handles, with birds, two lmmgs m enameled zmc ...... ..... .. . . . ...... . . . . ..... . ....... 3, 942 

5, 010 Four fruit-bowls, oval feet, style Louis XVI, foliage-handles, with 

birds, four flint-glass bowls, cut and engraved, very rich style, 

6, 555 F~:;:;~~t~b~~1.e;: ~~~-d t~~t: :;t:Vi~-~~is. xvi; i~ii~'\i~'ha~dl~s: ~ili 3

' 032 bird~; four silver bowls, scalloped border, assorted to match cen- ter-piece; four cast bay-trees, chiseled on the castings, chiseled 

garlands, fiat channels, chiseled, in the center a bouquet of chiseled flowers, gilt and gold bottom...... . • . . . . • • • • . . . . . . . • • • • . . • • • 3, 777 

Total................................... . • • • • • • • • . . • . • • • . • • • • • . • • . . • • . 15, 411 

Received payment. CH. FRAY. 

This is a most remarkable list of presents. We have diamonds, 

rubies, and emeralds in rich profusion. Imagine the festive yonth, 

the son of the minister of foreign affairs, promenading upon the avenues of Constantinople or dancing with princesses in the palace of the Sublime Porte, wearing upon his shirt"bosom au eight-hundred-dollar 

breast-pin ("fe~· a cheval, puwres vm·iks," as the voucher informs us) 

paid for by the tax-payers of America. . .Mr. Chairman, the time was, many years ago, when the people were so sensitive about these expenditures that, because a few gold spoons 

ba(l been purchased for the" Executive .Mansion, the people of this 

country became indignant and overthrew the administration. Here we have one mini'Jter in a foreign court expending over $10,000 in 

gold for presents to Turkish officials on one occasion. It bus been 

thought that such favors were reciprocal. I do not know whether 

that be so or-not; but it seems to me the Turkish officials have never 

said ''turkey" to us once. Mr. HOLMAN. You do not know about that. 

Mr. SPRINGER. At least Mr. Boker has not asked Congress to 

allow him to receive presents from the Turkish government, as he 

ought to have done had any been made him. What this treaty was I do not know; it has not been transmitted to us with the President's 

message. The people will be anxious to know whether it, like the 

Indian's gun, "has cost more than it has come to." 

The bill under consideration makes no provision for the Greek mission. This will be unfortunate to no one except to John Meredith 

Read, our minister-reRident at that conrt. The dispatches sent by 

him to this Government, and submitted in the reports made to Congress, are of such a chara-ct.er as to demonstrate conclusively the perfectly useless character of t.hat mission. My friend from Indiana 

[Mr. HOLMAN] has been kind enough to refer to one of them to show 

its great. importance. But here is another which he has overlooked, 

which shows not only the nature of the correspondence, but the great 

learning and erudition of our minister. It is on page 666 of Doe)ument No. 1 on Foreign Relations. He says in this communication, 

dated Athens, August 7, 1875: 

Mr. SotiropoulosThese names are very euphoniousformer minister of finance, in his able brochure entitled" ExOtat~ 1rtpt p.tTa.{Jo>..YJ~," 

&c. 

Now I shall have to get my learned friend from Massachusetts [Mr. 

SEELYE] to translate all this Greek, for Mr. Read i~ actually sending the dispatch partly in English and partly in Greek, and we common people in the West never can know what it is, unless we can get it 

translated by some one. What is this all about f Greece is a great 

country; j.t is a sweflt morsel in the mouth of O\IT minister, this Greece 

to which he is a-ccredited. They have wonderful people there. And 

be reports the subjects of taxation by t.hat governm£nt. Enumerated 

among those subjects are bees, pigs, potatoes, onions, garlic, mulberries, and fig-trees. This is indeed a very great country, to have such 

fruitfulsnl>jects of taxation . 

. But that is _not ~ll. Mr:- Read tells us what ~anner of country it 

Is. He descnbes 1t as bemg one of those sellll-barbarous countries 

in which it is very unsafe for any gentleman to be outside of . the 

corporate limits of the city. I am assured of that fact. It is very 

uns;1fe, perhaps the most unsafe of any country claiming to be civil .. ized in the worldl And "a minister to Greece" is a great misnomer, 

for he is a minister to Athens only. He dare not go a mile outside of 

the Cl)rporate limits of the city without military protection. But 

there are other good things in his correspondence. I have one here 

under date of March 8, 1875, from :Mr. Read to 1\lr. Fish, and it is as follows: 

SIR: A magnificent ball took place at the palaee on the 3d instant. On that oc- cao>ion the American ministerThat means, of course, J. Meredith Readhad the honor to be selected to lead a contra-dance with the queen. 

Now, tha.t must have been delightful. Just ima.gine the minister 

resident of the United States leading the contr..L-dance with tho 

Queen of Greece. He was so elated over it that he had to dispatch 

the news as soon as possible to this country, it was so very important. He goes on further: • 

The spacious salons were filled at half pa~t nine, an the festivities continued 

until half past five in the morning. 

At that time, we presume, our minister departed for his residence. 

I can imagine the scene, as he wended hit~ way through the ancient 

city, at that unseemly hour of night, inspired, as he wrote in the letter 

read by the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HoLMAN] on yesterday, by 

the view of- · 

The majestic outlines of the Acropolis and its im.mortal ruins, illuminated by 

the calm, silvery rays of the same fair moon which loolied down upon the lalxlrs 

ceremonies, and sacrifices of Phiuias and Pericles two thousand years ago- · ' 

singing that American refrain, which must have sounded to the inhabUants there as Greek would to us: 

We wont go home till morning, 

Till daylight doth appear. . 

Yes; as my colleague suggests, we~ring a spiked-tailed coat, and a white cravat, of course. He then goes on: 

The arran!!ements throughout were of the most admirable character. An elabo- rate supper for eight hundred guests was laid in the royalsaZled manger and in the two large a.{)joining rooms, while the ministers of state and the diplomatic corpsJohn Meredith Read, of course, for that is what that meanswere entertained by the king and queen in the beautiful pri\'uto apartments of 

their majesties. · · 

No common people could enter these private apartments f?f, their 

majesties, none but diplomatic representatives :mel ministers of stale. 

If the people of this country could have looked upon that group, 

which might be fitly described in the touching language of John Hay1 narrating the finding of Little Breeches in the sheep-fold, they woula. 

haveSeen them huddled there 

So warm, and so sleepy, and white. 

How did our minieter get there f · It is simply amazing. It must 

have been by some providential interference, as was the case with 

Little Breeches, whose advent into the sheep-fold was caused by the 

interposition of angelsThey jest scooped down and toted ~ 

To whar it was safe and warm. 

1\fr. Read goes on further and says: 

The palace is well adapted for sodal assemblages upon a grand scale. 

Well, I am very glad to bear that; I was afraid they would be 

crowded, there were so many present. 

The crimson carpets bring into brilliant re1ief the white marble floors. 

I do not understand how the :floor could be seen when the carpet 

cevered it; but perhaps he could "see as thr~ugh a glass darkly." 

On either band a double row of attendants display the splendors of the national costumes. The two principal ball·rooms are of vast size. 

Now that is very important, because it is very annoying when l!l.dies wear long trains to be crowded into small dancing-rooiDB. I am glad 

the apartments were spacious. It is very important, too, for us to 

know this, because we are paying money for it . . 

Their highly decorated walls and lofty ceilings stand revea.led in the soft rays of two thousand wax-candles. 

I thought they had gas in that city; but it seems not. It took 

2,000 wax candles to illuminate on that great occasion. And then our minister proceeds to say that it was very refreshing to ee "not only 

descendants of heroes, but heroes thf'lmselves walking along through 

those halls;" no doubt he imagined that he was one of those heroes·! 

But he goes on in this state paper to give us soQle information to 

which I call the attention of the learned members of this Honse, be- cause I confess it is a little mysterious to me. I never knew before 

the important information here transmitted; and I am willing to pay 

a small amount for it. · 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 977 

The names of Mavrocordato, Kolokotronis, Botzaris, Capo d'Istria, and many more which long a!!"O became household words in America, have now in Greece living illustraLions in "'the second and third generaLions. · 

No·w ..whoever heard before that MavrocGrdato or Kolokotroniswere 

household words in this country Y What little "contraband "walking 

up and down through the cotton-fields of the sunny South bears t he 

euphonious name of Mavrocordato or Kolokotronis T If any representative has b'llch a constituent let him speak now; "for him have I offended." [Laughter.] "I pause for a reply." [Laughter.] "Then nune have I offended." There is no such person in this country, and 

Mavrocordato and Kolokotronis, as household words, exist only in the 

fertile imagination of our resident minister to Greece. 

Now,l\fr: Chairman, what must have been thedeli~htful sensations 

of the State Department when they received this diSpatch from Mr. 

Read, stating that he was ·dancing a contra-dance with the queen. ·we can hardly im3.ooine the sensations that must have crept over the 

amiable gentieman that presides in the' pala-ce on the other aide of the 

Executive Mansion. I know some one must have sent a dispatch in 

reply, saying : 

"On with the "dance! let joy be unconfined ; No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flymg feet." 

Enviously yours, &c. 

Of course they all wanted to dance a set with the queen on that 

occasion; but they could not. J obn Meredith Read was so fortunate a.s to have this great pleasure all to himaelf--

Mr. HEREFORD. What is the cost of printing all t.hisY 

Mr. SPRINGER. It costs $7,500 a year for the salary of this honorable gentleman. How much it costs to print all state papers, so called, 

I cannot tell; and the contingent expenses will doubtless increase the 

grand total to a considerable sum. In fact, I have looked over fig- ures so much of late that I am quite confused and cannot keep them 

in mind very well. But I can imagine the sensation that will come over J. Meredith Read when he hears that this bill has paBsed both 

Houses, been approved by the President, and that "Othello's occupation's gone." He will doubtless cast one wistful look at the palace of 

the queen, and exclaim in the language of Byron: 

Maid of .Athens, ere we part, .Give, oh, give,JDe ba~k my heart I 

[Laughter.] 

And after J. Meredith Read has embarked upon a stately ship in 

the harbor at Pirreus, and sees the queen standing on the shore, he 

will doubtless continue the beautiful song: 

Maid of .Athens I I am gone : Think of me, sweet! when alone. 

Though I fly to IstrunbolI suppose that in Greek means Philadelphia. [Laughter.] 

.Athens holds my heart and sonl: 

Can I cease to love thee 7 No ! Zw71 p.ov, ua~ aya1rw • . 

More Greek! It is gettin~ worse and worse all the time. I will 

have to call upon my cla,asiC friend from New York [Mr. Cox] to 

translate this Greek. I am a little rusty. Perhaps my learned friend 

from Ma,gsachnsetts [Mr. SEELYE] can· enlighten the Honse. 

1\Ir. SEELYE. I would suggest, Onme ignotun~ pro m.agnijico. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. SPRINGER. Thank you! We all know just what that is. 

[Renewed laughter.] 

The bill might have gone further than abolishing the Greek mission. It mig)lt have taken in Denmark. If the mission to this little 

kingdom had been stricken out, nobody would ha~e been alarmed 

about it ; for I assure you, gentlemen, '• something is rotten in the 

state of Denmark." That kingdom is but a relic of the past; it is 

only great in poetry and romance. Without it we should have bad no Hamlet, and the Prince of Wales would have been a ba-chelor! 

That kingdom does not command sufficient importance in the eyes of 

the world to justify us in sending a minister to it. What political 

significance can that government have to us 'f A mission to Hayti or San Domingo would have been more important. When a European 

government exists only at the will or sufterance of other powers it can have no political importance so far as this Government is con- cerned. 

The Hawaiian Islands are of growing importance to our Government, but a consul-general is quite sufficient for all the business between the Government of the United States and that of King Kalakaua 

for the next twenty-five years. 

It is of the greatest importance to Kalakaua to cultivate friendly 

relations with this Government, but we can get along without him. 

The correspondence between 1\Iinister Pierce and Mr. Fish, from 

August 20, 1874, to April29, 1875, may be briefly stated. In the first 

place, we are told that "King Kalakaua was about to leave Honolulu 

for the United States." He wa,g "about to leave/' mind you, and note 

the importance of that fact I In the second place, we are informed that 

the time was fixed for the king's departure. In the third place, we have the departure of the king. Fourthly, we are told of the king's return to Honolulu. Then, in the fifth place, he made an address to 

the people; and, in the sixth state paper, we learn that resolutions were passed thanking the people of the United States of America for 

their kindness to him. I see from appropriation bills passed at the 

TV--fl3 

l 

last session of Conl?re s that it cost us 19,000 to entertain King Kalakana while he was rn this country; and the salary of our minister was 7,500 more. · 

But, Mr. Chairman, the H awaiians were grateful, and among the 

di patches tran mitted to this Honse is the following, · copied from 

the Hawaiian Gazette. The report of the proceedings of this meeting closed as follows : 

.At the close of the proceedings their majesties retired, and the audience dispersed. 

Here we have a piece ot information of the greatest importance: 

It was not generally known that the king would speak in English, or there 

would have been a. much larger representation of the foreign element. It was one of the finest and ~oat orderly !lSsemblag~s that we have e_ver s~en .iJ?- th~t church on a similar occasiOn. The king &nd pnnce were dressed m plrun cttizen s clothes, 

with royal badgesi· while the queen, who was tastefully attired in black silk with 

white lace shawl, ooked very attractive. 

[Laughter.] . I have no doubt of that fact. [Laughter.] 

The whole proceedings went off very creditably to those who took part in them. 

His Majesty has ordered that the resolutions be printed on white satin, and they will be in this shape forwarded to the President of the United States. 

[Laughter.] _ 

Now, gentlemen, this is diplomacy. [Laughter.] 

Mr. RANDALL. Is the gentleman reading from the state papers T 

Mr. SPRINGER. Yes, sir; it is all in this document of correspond- ence between our minister to the Hawaiian Islands and other diplomats and Mr. Fish, Secretary of State. These resolutions I have no doubt have been printed on satin and now adorn the archives of this 

Government as an enduring monument to the white satin diplomacy now prevailing, and which cost the people of this country such large sums of money every year. -

Something bas been said about these South American missions, and 

their importance. It will be fonnd on examination, so far as this 

matter is concerned, that the interests of the United States are not 

likely to suffer by the abolition or consolidation of some of our missions in South America. I have before me a copy of the Chicago 

Tribune, a very ably edited and widely circulated newspaper, ami if 

the House will allow me I will ask ·the Clerk to read a,n extract from 

its editorial columns. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

.At Hayti the respectable oolored gentleman who represents the United States seems to be mainly occupied in turninJZ his residence into an asylum for r ebellious cut-throats. and in issuing in exchange for fees naturalization certificates of dubious legality. Better make him a consul, and save money and reputation. The 

consolidation of the Central and South American missions 1s another proper thing to do. Most of them are mere receptacles for played-out Congressmen and decayed dead-beats, who besiege an incoming administration, and literally bore themselves 

into these sinecures. Our late minister to Peru had so little to do that he went into 

business in Lima as a-pawnbroker. 

[Laughter.] -

Mr. SPRINGER. That extra.ct is taken from the leading organ of 

the republican party in the Northwest. It is a paper noted for its 

candor and truthfuiness, and I commend what it states on this subject to my friends on the other side of the House who have taken ·sue}}. 

alarm at the discontinuance of a few of these unnecessary foreign 

missions. I am sure that the paper represents the sentiments of a large portion of the people of Illinois of both parties. 

The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. MONROE]_was particularly alarmed 

at the great wrong which is to be inflicted upon our commerce in 

doing away with these diplomats in South American states, which are republics only in name. Gentlemen have said that this bill was going to destroy our commerce and our trade; that we must have 

diplomats there in order to encourage commerce . . There never was a greater mistake than this. 

I have a different idea a.s to what means are necessary for increa,sing our commerce with the South American states. It is not by sending consuls and ministers there at great expense, but by the passage 

of the bill introduced in this Honse by my distinguished colleague 

[Mr. MORRISON] wbo is chairman of the Committee on Ways and 

Means, or some similar measure of revenue reform. That bill will 

have the effect of making it possible for articles manufactured in 

this country to seek an outlet in the markets of the world. I ask 

the Clerk to read another extract from the Chicago Tribune referring 

to the bill introduced by my colleague, [Mr. MORRISON.] 

The Clerk read a.s follows : 

Its enactment will powerfully tend to revive manufa-cturing industry by cheap· euing the cost of production, and ther eby enabling our manllfa.ctJurers to export their surplus goods to foreign countries. We can have no real or r eliable improvement in the times until this be done ; nor is it possible to resume and maintain specie 

payments until we largely increase our exportation of manufactures. 

Mr. SPRINGER. This is another very valuable suggestion from a very good paper, and I commend it to gentlemen whatwant to encour- age tra-de with South America. There is one proposition that cannot 

be gainsaid. We can never sell the manufactured a.rtioles of this 

country in South America or in any other country until we can furnish them to the people of that country cheaper than other countries 

can. We may have our diplomatic officers there as thick as mile-posts, 

but they will never bring a dollar of trade ; but the people of South 

America, the very moment t.hey can buy the products of this country 

at the one hundredth part of a cent less than they pay for the corre- sponding product of other countries, will purchase from us, and not 

before. Trade is governed by prices and the law of supply and de-
978 CONGRESSIONAL REOORD. FEBRUARY 9, 

mand. What polit.ical economist has ever said that commerce is con- trolled by consuls Y 

But, Mr. Chairman, I come to another subject embraced in this bill. 

That is the contingent approp iation of $50,000 for foreign intercourse, which my friend from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] facetiously suggested we had divided by two. I propose to show the committee that we might divide it by another two and still be reasonable. A great 

portion of this cost of foreign intercourse grows out of what is called 

the dispatch-agency business. This dispatch agency is what might 

be denominated the fifth wheel to the postal wagon. It is a business 

which has no foundation iu law, but only rests upon precedent. It 

has grown t'tp in this country in this way: The Secretary of State- some gentlemen may not have thought of this-does not intrust his 

communications to foreign ministers and consuls abroad to the ordinary mail communication, but has a dispatch agent in New York, 

another in Boston, another in London, another in Havre, and another 

in Hamburg, to whom he sends his mail-matter, under arrangements 

entirely separate from those of the Post-Office Department. The en- tire cost of the dispatch agency for the year ending June 30, 1875, was as follows: 

London agency: B. F. Stevens, agent, salary, in gold .•.•••.•••.•.••...•••••••••••..••••• Expenses, in gofd .........•.•••.•••••••.....••..••••••••••••••.••.••••• New York agency: 

=~~! ~~~~·- ~~~~~~-~~::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::: 

Hamburg agency: Edward Robinson, agent, salary, in gold ............................. .. Expenses, in gold ....... ............................................. .. Havre agency : Thomas Taylor, agent, salary, in gold ................................. . Expenses, in gold .................................................... .. Boston agency : Jonathan Amory, salary .............................................. . No expenses. 

t2, 000 00 

25,336 69 

1, 000 00 5,444 13 

750 00 

35 08 

800 00 3332 

400 00 

Total .............................. : ................ : ............. 35,799 22 

The tQta.l cost of foreign agencies, in gold, for the time mentioned was $28, 955 09 

In American currency, found by adding 15 per cent.............. . ..... 33,298 33 

Cost of New York agency............................................. 6, 444 13 

Cost of Boston agency .................................... , . .. • .. • .. .. • 400 00 

Total cost of all agencies, in United Stat.es currency.............. 40,142 46 

This is the entire cost in American currency of the dispatch-agency 

business; a sum that is annually paid for transmitting 10,784 pounds 

of printed m~tter and 362 pounds of written matter. 

I have here an almanac which gives the rates of postage at London, 

where Mr. Stevens, the agent, is stationed, and from which he claims 

to have forwarded mail matter and prepaid the postage. He charged 

t.he Government this last year the enormous sum of 11,67 4.57 in 

American currency for postage on that matter. Now you may take 

the postal rates and apply them ~o this mail matter, and you will find 

that you could send every pound of it to Constantinople for less than 

$1,300. 

Gentlemen may say this is honest. There may be an explanation 

of it. But here is the amount of mail-matter as communicated to 

the co_mmittee by the Secretary of State himself, and if you pay the 

regular postal rates you will find that you can send it all to the re- motest place mentioned for one-tenth of the money Stevens claims to 

have expend~d for postage. · We have an agency also in Ne~ York, that of Mr. Radcliffe Baldwin. I must refer briefly to this. It seems that Mr. Baldwin draws 

his salary of $1,000 a year, and has nothing to do. This appears from 

the fact that he employs one Tice to do all the business. Tice is a historical name in this country. You have all hearcl of Mr. Tice's 

meter; and here is anotQer invention by which the people's money is 

appropriated without considera,tion. There never was a better itemizer than this man Tice. Nearly the entire volume of this manuscript 

which I hold in my hand consists of charges written up by Tice 

against the Government for nominal services. Whenever a steamer comes to New York he boa,rds her and charges $1. If he is so success- ful as to capture a mail-bag he charges two or five dollars for his 

perilous services. Thus his items amount to fifteen, twenty, or twentyfive dollars a day. For what Y For going on board steamers and 

gathering one or two mail-bags; and he never neglects to put in cartage at $1.50 for each service. It seems, too, that he subscribes for all 

the leading newspapers of the day to keep him posted, and he hires a box in the post-office which he puts down to ''Uncle Sam" at 16 a year. TheNewYorkJourualof.Commerceheputs down at 17 a year. 

All this costs him nothing, for he is a dispatch agent of the United 

States, and men in these positions are always liberal with the people's 

money. • But for a veteran itemizer commend me to B. F. Stevens. He can heap up charges against the Government with less compunctions of 

conscience tha,n auy man I know of. His items would so startle my 

friend from India,na, [Mr. HOLMAN,] if he had a chance to peruse 

them, that I fear to have them printed because of the effect they 

might produce upon him. J\.1r. Stevens's items aggregate over $25,000 

in gold. For w bat f For distributing 10,784 pounds of printed and 362 

pounds of written mail matter in the city of London and prepaying 

the postage thereon to its destination. His postage account for each 

month of the year ending June 30, 1875, rendered in pounds sterling, was as follows : 

1874-t~~~~~~: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

October ................. : ..................................... .. November ..................................................... . December .......... . ......................................... .. 1875-Jannary . ..................................................... .. 

r;.~clt~::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

April .......................................................... . 

~::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

£ 8. d. 

161 11 10 

172 I:i 10 

181 13 2 

191 7 7 167 12 0 

183 10 8 170 1l 4 

166 3 10 

182 8 4 

185 9 8 

162 13 4 

171 14 0 

Total ....................................... .................... 2, 097 9 7 

Federol currency .. • .. • .. .. . .. . . .. . .. .. ... .. .. .. . • .. .. .. . .. • .. .. $ll, 674 57 

This may be honest, buj; when his accounts have been investigated 

it will be found that this whole system of dispatch agencies is an outrage upon the tax-payers of the country and that there is no neces- sity for its continuance, and whyY Because we have now postal 

treaties with most of the governments of the world, by which treaties 

it costs us comparatively nothing to send all our mail matter to other 

governments of the world. By reference to the report of the Post- master~General, transmitted to this Honse, it will be found that postal 

treaties have been concluded between this country and the most of 

the countries of the world. The ~port says: 

Each country retains all the postage it collects on the postal union correspond." ence of every 'kind, both on the prepaid sent or the unpaid received, thus dispensing with all accounts between the several post departments of the union nPQn the 

international corresPQndence exchanged between them. 

Our correspondence with diplomats and consuls may be prepaid 

with our own official stamps and t.he cost to the people of this country 

will be the mere price of printing the stamps and carrying the mail 

to the borders of the other cotmtry. 

What is the remedy then for this dispatch-agency system f It is 

simple: abolish the whole dispatch-agency business and let the mails 

of the State Department go through the regular channels. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. MONROE. I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman be 

allowed to finish his rem·arks. • The CHAIRMAN. The Chairrepeati what he has already said, that 

there is no power in Committee of the Whole to change the rules of 

the House. 

Mr. MONROE. But if there be no objection it may be done. 

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will submit the question to the com- mittee. Is there objection to the gentleman from Illinois being alloweil 

to complete his remarks f The Chair hears no objection, and the gentleman will proceed. 

Mr. KASSON. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him if he is 

not aware of the occasion for these special dispatch agencies Y 

Mr. SPRINGER. I know of no occasion. 

Mr. KASSON. It is that during many years governments have had 

seals of other governments and have opened and examined corre- spondence and dispatches, resealing the dispatches with the counter: 

feit seal. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I cannot yield; I have no time; I am speaking by 

the indulgence of the Honse. 

Mr. KASSON. The gentleman has just had all the time he needs 

yielded to him by the courtesy of the House. 

The CHAIRMAN. Will the gentleman from illinois indicate how 

much time he requires Y 

Mr. SPRINGER. I shall proceed n.s rapidly as possible. I have this 

to say, that the mail facilities for transmitting the business corre- spondence between the people of this Government and all the nations 

of the earth are the regular mail communications, and if these com- munications are not sufficient to transmit such dispatches a-s we have 

heard read to-day, I am at a loss to know what are the comparative 

advantages of the mail service. But I must not overlook the consular service as affected by this bill. 

I ask the indulgence of the committee for a moment upon that point. 

The salaries of forty-five consula,tes are abolished and the salaries 

of others are reduced. Three of the consulates whose salaries are abolished paid the consuls 3,500 ea-ch, or 10,500. The fees collected 

at these places for the year ending December 31, 1874, were only 

1,159.29. The salaries paid exceeded the fees received by $9,340.71. 

One of the consulates abolished-Hakodadi, in Japan-paid its consul . a salary of $2,500 per annum. The fees collected at this place for the 

year ending December31, 1874, amounted to 303.06; loss to the Government, · 2,496. Seven other consulates were in class V, and paid 

each a salary of $2,000; total, $14,00(}. The whole amount of fees collected at these consulates for the year ending December 31, 1874, was $1,757.79; loss to the Government, 12,242.21. Eighteen o-':oher con- sulates belonged to class VI, and paid a salary of $1 ,500 each to the 

consuls; total cost to the Government, $12,000. These consulates, 

for the year ending June 30, 1875, pa,id fees to the amount of $4,605.03. 

The excess of salaries paid over fees received was $7,394.97. Sixteen 

of these consulates where salaries are abolished were in class VII, and 

paid salaries of $1,000 each, or 16,000 in all. 

The whole amount of fees collected at these consula,tes for the year 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 979 

ending June 30, 1875, was, $3,245.60. The excess of salaries paid over fees received was $12,754.40. 

In all the consulates where salaries are abolished the fees collected were only $11,070.79, while the salaries paid were 58,000, showing an excess of $46,929.21 of amount of salaries paid over fees received. 

The consuls whose salaries are abolished are mostly in remote 

parts of·the world, where little or no trade exists with the United 

States and where none is likely to be built up. 

But this bill only abolishes the salaries of the consuls at those 

places. By section 1695 of the Revised Statutes, page 303, the President is al1thorized to provide for the appointment of vice-consuls 

and consular agents in such manner and under such regulations as he may prescribe; but no allowance shall be made for the pay thereof, 

except out of the fees collected. But postage and stationery may be 

allowed. The bill, then, does not necessru:ily deprive any place 

where there is now a consul of the benefits of such an officer. It only 

abolishes the salary, and -a consular agent may be appointed who 

may be a resident merchant or banker and who will gladly take the 

office for the honor, commercial advantage, and the fees. This is bot 

unusual. But this is not all. The consul may be continued without a salary. I assert then, notwithstanding all the alarm that has been 

manifested, that not one con~ate has been abolished by this bilL 

The consular business will proceed just as it has proceeded heretofore, only it will not cost the people quite so much. That is all. But ~entlemen express alarm at abolishing the salaries of forty-five un- rmportant consulates, as if this were a new thing. 'l'here are now eighty-nine consuls of the United States in different parts of the 

world who receive no salaries, among them the consul at Reims, in 

France, where the fees amount to $1,666.50; the consul at Brunswick, 

in Germany, whose fees amount to $2,49d.25; the consul at Victoria, 

whose fees amount to $3,365.35, and many other places of equal importance. There are eighty-nine consuls who get no salary at this 

time, and only one hundred and eighty-eight consuls, consuls-general, 

and vice-consuls who receive salaries. Yet there are three hundred 

and fifty-seven consular a~nciea whose agents get no salaries, except 

the fees collected up to $1,000. The fees collect.ed above that sum are paid over to the consul who retains $1,000 from all his agencies 

and pays the balance into the Treasury. 

Onr consular officers are, then, aa follows: 

Sala.ried consuls, &o ....................................... : ................... 188 

Non-salaried consuls and consular. agents . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . 446 

This is as it stands under the law now in ~orce. If this bill passes, 

the result will be as follows : . · 

Salaried consuls ............................................... - ............. 145 

Non-salaried consuls and consular agents ..................................... 4.89 

I have been able t9 exhume from the archives of the Governmentin fact it was not in the archives at all, but I have obtained it-a 

copy of the report of a gentleman who was appointed by the Presi.,. 

dent of the United States to inspect our consulates. I mAan Mr. De 

B. Randolph Keirn, of Pennsylvania. He was the most successful 

traveler I ever knew. Be began in May, 1871, and in eighteen months 

he had traveled 63,000 miles and visited nearly every imp~ con- sulate. He says on page 21 of his report, -which has but recently seen the light of day : 

I might extend my observations tq>On the irref!rolarities, irresponsibility, aml un- accountability of the present consular system o the United States to an indefinite 

length. There is hardly a feature in it that does not indicate imbecility in point of 

executive force, humi.liation in point of character, and mingled extravagance and 

penuriousness in point of practice. 

He goes on then to refer to the versonnel of these officers, and ·says: 

The officers, as a rule~ at the time of my visit, had been obliged to open their 

books anew, or had haa it done by a subordinate. Almost every consulate had some defects in its history, owing to the incompetency, low habits, and vulgarity of some of its officers dorm!! the endless round of evilS incident to official rotation. 

Abuses had been committed in the collection of fees, in the exercise of judicial 

powers, in the adjustment of the business affairs of American citizens, in the set- tlement, where permitted, of the estates of intestate American citizens dying abroad, in selling the American flag, in "running out" ships, in the discharge of seamen, in affordino- relief or medical attendance to destitute or sick American set>.men, in issuing fuegal passports, in countenancing shipping-masters, in taxing Chinese emi~nts. I:iJ.deed the most interesting feature of my investi~ations was the ingenuity displayed by consnbr pfficers, since the a<lt of 1!!56 particularly in 

defrauding the Gi>vernment and grasping gains from various outside sources. ' 

In another place he says: 

To cap the climax of all, I am not aware of a single case of formal investil7ation 

and punishment of a consular officer for his offenses. Even removal from ~ffice where made. has been, as a rule, exceedingly tardy. I am therefore not surprised at the temerity of officers in the unfaithful performance of their trusts. _ 

I might read many other extra-ot.s from this report to the same effe·ct. 

Such is the testimony or one of these agents who visited every important consulate of the United States. In reference to the swind- lin~ practices that are carried on in the distribution of this seamen's 

relief fund, he shows that ream upon ream of fraudulent vouchers have 

been sent to the State Department; that natives have been procured 

for small pay to ma,ke these 'fraudulent olaims, in order to draw this 

relief fund and a.fterward divide it between the consul and those 

employed by him. 

And yet the honorable gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] says 

this is the most economical and honest Department of the Government. What must the other Departments be, if this is the chara-cter 

of the one under consideration 'f 

But I am glad to be able to say that there were sop:J.e honorable 

exceptions to the general demoralization, dishonesty, and incompetency which prevailed among our consuls. The honorable gentleman 

from Ohio [~lr. Mo~TROE] was, when :Mr. Keirn visit.ed South America, 

the American consul at Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Keirn said of him in his 

report that the administration of the gentleman [Mr. MONROE] then 

consul presented " a gratifying example of official ability." AH his 

accounts were found to be correct, and the manner in which the con- sul discharged his duties in reference "t!> the seamen's relief funds 

''spoke volumes for the efficiency and character of the officer in charge." 

I take pleasure in thus giving my colleague on the Foreign Affairs 

Committee the benefit of tll.i.M honorable excep~on. 

Mr. Keirn makes mentiqn of the illegal and unofficial fees collected 

by our consuls in the British Isles ; and with this I will close so far as the consular service is concerned. He shows that in the British Isles, 

under the pretext of commissioners' fees for administering oaths, in one year there was collected over $50,000. In London, commissioners' 

fees were charged in one year to the amount of over $11,100 ; in. Liverpool, $6,000 ; in Manchester, 9,000, and so on. And since that time 

the consular service has so largely increased-1 ask special attention 

to this bet-that in the consulate of London oue hundred and twentytwo invoices were signed in one day, upon which, according to t.he 

information contained in this report, a fee of sixty-three cents ingold 

is charged on each by the commissioner, not an officer of the United 

States. That amounts to a large sum of money, and makes the con- sulate worth from $40,000 to $50,000 a _year in unofficial fees, if the same average should be kept up. 

I have a statement, furnished to me by a gentleman who was in 

London for many months, who stated that one of the consuls at Liverpool, who went there a poor man during Mr. Lincoln's administration, came away with a fortune of 300,000. Yet gentlemen tell us these 

officers are starving in foreign ports; that we are niggardly to our con- suls. The reports of Mr. Keirn, in the Department, lying there un- disturbed for three years, charge these officers with all manner of 

speculation and swindling; but we have not heard of a single instance of a man being brought to punishment for it. 

We are told that this is the best Department of the Government ; 

that it is high-toned,. and W6 must not; touch it. We will soon have 

occasion to see what is in the other Departments of the Government. 

This Department has had its agents going around the world,-among 

them, as a gentleman near me suggests, the Rev. Dr. Newman. · He 

went immediately after Mr. Keirn came back, but we have heard 

nothing of our consulates from Dr. Newman through official published reports. We have had these gentlemen making their trips 

around the world. It· is true Mr. Keirn, whose mission at first appeared to be a job, took the matter in dead earnest, nnd made a report 

of what he saw: Mr. RANDALL. And he has been snubbed by the State Department for it. 

Mr. SPRINGER. I suppose so, for I wrote a letter to the State Departmept aml asked for aU the reports received from the persons 

appointed by that Department, and Mr. Fish assured me, in a com- munication that I have here, that that Department knew nothing of 

it; that no snch persons had been appointed by that Department. 

And yet Mr. Keirn, in his report, furnishes a copy of ·his commission. , If any gentleman wants to see it, I have it here before me, signed by 

President Grant, and his letters of introduction to consuls were signed 

by J. C. Bancroft Davis us Acting Secretary of State and his instructions by Secretary Boutwell. Mr. Fish, however, regarded Mr. Keirn as an agent of the Treasury Department. 

Mr. RANDALL. He told too much truth. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Yes, it would seem so. And although · the law 

required that this last report which I hold in my hand should be 

sent to the House of Representatives and be printed as a public document, I am a-ssured that to-day it has never been printed with the 

public documents as required by law. I obtained a copy from a gentleman in this city to whom it had been given by Mr. Keirn. No attention has been paid to it. 

I might entertain the House with a long list of instances of corruption 

and malfeasance. Gentlemen would be amazed at the length of the 

recital. In no case has one man been brought to justice on being ex- posed. Mr. R. F. Farrell, now of New York, having broken up the 

wine ring at Cadiz by his zeal and unswerving integrity, was re- moved by the President and a man put in his place, who assured Mr. 

Farrell that he would not trouble the wine merchants. Mr. Farrell was a faithful officer, and received the highest commendation for the 

energetic admi.J;ristration of his office while consul at Cadiz from Secretary Seward. But the wine ring did not like him. He would not 

sign fraudulent invoices, and they demanded his official head. Mr. 

Farrell testified before the Committee on Expenditures in the State 

Department at this session that in his opinion the Government had 

durin-g the pa.st ten years been defrauded out of at least $40,000,000 

by the fraudulent undervaluations of invoices. 

And who was Mr. Farrell's predecessor! A man of whom the Department had positive proof that he had sold the American flag for 

a bribe of $1,000, and had cleared a ship enga.ged in the slave trade. 

He was simply invited to come home; and I understand he dropped 

down in J\fichigan, ran for the Legislature, and was elected. 

Mr. RANDALL. To what; party did he belongf 

Mr. SPRINGER. He did not belong to ours, I am sure, or he never 
l 

980 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 9, 

would have been appointed to a consulate. Otherwise I have no information as to his politics. 

I will not weary the House further. I have gone over the subject 

very hastily. I thank the House for the attention it has paid me. I 

believe that after gentlemen have examined carefully the consular 

service they will agree with me that it needs reform as well as all the 

other departments of the Government, and if those on th1s s1de of 

the House intend to keep faith with the people who have sent them 

here they will not let up on this bill by reason of the alarm that has 

been e:q~res ed by the honorable gentlemen from New York, [Messrs. 

WooD· and H:Ewrrr,] who have supposed that our commerce with 

foreign countries was in some way unfavorably affected by it. 

We must meet this measure and every mea-sure alike. This bill is 

not an except.ion in its efforts toward economy-. It illustrates a rule 

that we are going to apply to all the appropriation bills. We are going 

to cut down the expenses in all the different branches of the Government ; and the President will find that we have divided his salru·y 

by two, as well as the appropriation for contingent expenses of foreign 

intercourse. But it is to be regretted that the President's salary can- not be reached during the present term. Other officials who have 

been receiving large salaries and doing little or no work will find that 

their services will soon be dispensed with. And this House will not 

have finished its work until it shall have cut off all manner of official extravagance, abolished all sinecures, exposed corruption and 

peculation, reduced the public expenses $30,000,000, and thus have 

carried out the pledges made to the people when we were elected, to 

establish in all the branches and departments of the Government re- trenchment, economy, and reform. 

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I think the House and the country should 

be congratulated upon the unanimity with which this bill comes from 

the Committee on Appropriations. If I understood correctly the honorable gentleman from Mississippi, [.Mr. SINGLETON,] who reported it, 

there waa rio dissent in the committee as to its provisions. If I am wrong in that statement, I can be corrected. 

This is a bill for retrenchment. It is one of many ; for many of 

similar import are to come. It proposes a reduction of some 436,000 

upon the appropriations of last year for foreign purposes. 

It was said by the gentlem::in from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] the other 

day that our average expenses for diplomatic and consular service for 

many years had been about $1,:300,000. In 1o59 these expenses had ~own to $912,000 ; and the average since that time haa been about 

$1,200,000. To be more exact, let me q_uot-e the exact figures: 

Our diplomatic and consular expenses for the year ending June 30, 1859, we.re only $912,120J. for the year ending ending June 30, 1860, they were $1,047,745; for the 

year enning June 30,1861, they were $1,158,380; for the year ending June 30, 1862, 

they were $1,260,544.34; for the year ending June 30, 1863, they were $1,235,889.89; 

fort.heyea.r ending June 30, 1864, theywere$1,260,544.34; for the year ending June 30,1865, they were 1,354,100; fortheyearendingJune 30,1870, theywere $1,110,734; 

for the year ending June 30, 1871, they were 1,041,347. 

La.st year they were about $1,400,000. I do not count the extraordinary sum, $1,929,817, that was embraced in the bill to pay the 

British mixed commission awards. This year we propose -a reduction of at least $436,000. It should be and it is done intelligently. 

I deprecate the remark ma-de yesterday by my honorable collea~e 

, [Mr. WooD] that this reduction is without wise consideration. ~ir, 

it ha-s ha-d careful examination. Why, :Mr. Chairman, in my experience in this House for over sixteen years, I have never known an appropriatio11 bill to be presented with more prudence and heed. 

We are acting upon authentic information given in advance. 'rhis 

is apparent from the speech as well as the report presented by the 

honorable gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. SINGLETON.] He gave us a report to accompany his bill, upon which he spoke wisely and well. 

He even gave us a map of South America to illustrate the proximity 

of those Spanish American states affected by the provisions of the bill. 

In addition to that, we have had the studious examination of the Appropriation Committee to show most amply the relations, commer- cial and otherwise, we bear abroad, and especially to the South American states. THE PROPOSED REFORM. 

Th~ l'eform proposed is succinctly stated in the report of this com- mittee. I quote from the report to show the scope of this retrenchment.: • 

In th e [South American] republics, a.s will be seen, the bill recommends a. very con- siderable change in diplomatic representation. Following the example established 

by the act of J tily 11, 1870, combinin"' the representation at Paraguay and Uruguay, and the act of May 22, 1872, pla.{ling ~ the Central American states in the charge of ono minister, the committee have concluded that no important interest would sii.ffer 

by the dropping of two of the ministers now in Government service, and combining the diplomatic representation at Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador in one person, to reside 

wherever, in either of those states, the President may direct. The representation 

in the states of Chili and Bolivb is also combined, thus dispensing with another sal· 

a.ry of $10,000. Paraguay and Uruguay have been attached to the Argentine Republic, saving another salary. The minister to Greece has been dropped as unnec- essary, and in lieu a. fourth-class consulate established at A.thens. The minister to Hayti ha.s also been thought unnecessary, and a fourth-class consulate established at Cape Haytien in lieu thereof. The bill discontinues two envoys extraor- dinary and four ministers r esident, forty-four consuls and officers of lesser grade, t·educes tho salaries of the :rui.nisters at Great Britain, France, Germany, and Rus- sia $3,500 each; those at Spain, Mexico, Austria., Brazil, Japan, and China. $2,000 

ea.cb ; that of the minister a.t Italy $4,000, and those at all other places, with the ex- ception of the minister representing t.be United States a.t the Central American states, $1,000 each. Many consuls liave been thrown into a. lower grade, and other reductions av~ b~n maiie. The total of this change has resultecl m a. reduction of 

the uill $435,837.50 below the appropriation of last year, and within a trifle of tho snme :unount below the estimates from the Department upon which the bill is 

based. 

It is no answer to this bill, and its provisions for retrenchment, to 

say that it destroys our commerce or shackles our navis-ation. That 

is not a fair nor a logical argument. In no single particular, as will 

be shown before we get through with this discussion, haa there been 

any abridgment in the consular or diplomatic. service which does not run hand in hand with commerce and navigation and which does not 

subserve the best general interest. 

I know the bill strikes in certain places. This report shows exactly 

how much our ministers are to be curtailed, how much their salaries are to be reduced, and how many consulates are to be abolished. 

You will fin(l it all in this record. and I need not refer to •t in detail. 

It also shows where we strike the "contingencies," and the "lo s by 

exchange," and the item as to seamen to which the gentleman from 

Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] adverted, and as to which the gentleman from 

Illinois. [Mr. SPRINGER] gave such n. conclusive reply, based on :proper 

data. HOME ECONOMIES. 

This retrenchment is entitled just now to the consideration of this 

House. At the present time we are not quite well enough off at home 

to maintain our foreign relations abroad in such a superb manner as we used to do; nor can we, nor ought we to, ape the manner of other 

nations in the splendors and excesses <of our diplomatic display. We can well understand why, owing to our greater commerce, in 1859 or 1860z or even before those years, we might have paid more for this semce. But when you, sir, send your boy out from your home, 

w:hile you yourself are not very ''well to do" in your domestic circumstances, can you afford to have him live quite so well as if you had a. good exchequer 'f Although gentlemen may say that we are not pay 

ing our ministers enough according to the old standard, are we not 

paying them enough according to the standard of domestic, if not of 

forei~n, economy! 

It IS not alone because we would save millions by this policy of re- trenchment. But we have a duty to do in showing where millions 

by the hundreds, might hav~ been saved in the pa.st ten years of prodigal rule. · More than that. It is a part of the process of summoning 

before the high and popular court of impeachment those who have 

squandered our re13ources, and who did it at a time when the war- fevered and war-worn patient was endeavoring to convalesce. In 

order to prescribe remedies for restoration and to make & diagnosis of 

the ills wherewithal we were afilicted, we must omit no scrutiny. 

We must stop at no persuasive call, however honeyed, to desist. 

The gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. GARFIELD,] who made a masterly 

address to us, pre~nant with figures and sense, has told us that he 

knows how hard IS the task of cutting down appropriations. He 

speaks from experience. He knows the "local pressure'' of interested 

parties who desire to "swell appropriations." He also confesses that 

every Executive Department here "tends to errlarge the field of ex- penditure within itt> jurisdiction." He commends the resistence to 

such pressure which is proper to be made and which our committee is 

making. Why, then, does not he throw his sword into the scale in 

favor of this galln.nt bancl of committeemen 'f He itemizes certain 

points where reform is or will be proper. There is the fortification 

bill, pubU'C works and buildings, rivers and harbors, and many civil 

esta.blishments in Washington "overgrown by the work thrown on them by the war." He would reduce these; ay, ten or fifteen millions below the appropriations of last year. Ah! indeed; who was the chairman of appropriations la-st year 'f What party did he lead 

when we plead against abuses 'f "Work thrown on them by a war" 

ten years ago ended; and is he just beginning to find out, under a new rule here, that ten or fifteen millions per year might have been saved Y 

A hundred and fifty millions not saved ! Were they squandered since 

the wart If, then, it appears as the sequel, when the House shall 

ha.ve concluded its money bills and the Senate shall have received or rejected our reforms, that forty millions a year might have been saved 

during ten years, what sad words of tongue and pen will be his" might 

have been." Four hundred millions squandered in ten years! What 

is there to show for it Y A hapless people living beyond their income 

and devouring their capital; want ; lack of labor; depression of 

business and perpetual dread of panic ; and worse! 

Was there ever a time when economy was so needed, so demanded 

by popular depression and misery f The gehtleman from Mississippi 

[Mr. SINGLETON] told us that his own section was so overtaxed and 

overburdened with debt that it was almost impossible for them to 

obtain the necessaries of life. This is too true all through the South~ 

How is it in the WestY My friend fro.m Ohio [Mr. VANCE] handed me a paper with an account of the ''bread brigades" forming in Law- rence County, Ohio, in which there is a sad picture, only eqnaled in 

its terrible reality by what is daily aml hourly too frequent in the 

great metropolis I represent. If in Mississippi the once beautiful 

plantations are "now neglected and growing up in sedge-grass," what 

must be our condition when the cry for "bread" makes the peninsular part of Ohio a.n, object of sympathy and beneficence! 

THE SHERIFF'S FLAG. 

If in the South the "sheriff's flag" floats above the hammer of the 

auctioneer of estates and men and women are losing their properties 

under such compulsory proce ses, what must we think of prosperous 

P nnsylvaniaf A Philadelphiapaperinsiststhattheconditionof the laboring class in that city and in all parts of the country is deplorable; that from fifty thousand to seventy thousand persons formerly 

employed at manufacturing in PhiLW.elphia are now out of work. 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 

A distinguished member from Pennsylvania [Mr. KELLEY] has pub- It might be well, in answer to one of those gentlemen, [Mr. HEWITT, 

lished the statement that thousands of his constituents, including of New York,] to say that, as a plutocrat of the loftier and gentlest 

men, women, and children, theretofore employed in manufMturing, fjrpe of benevolence, he might well afford to pay for his work what 

had been practically idle since 1873, and that so dreadful and pro- the poverty-stricken and pa.nic-bedeviled people of this country ought 

tracted ha.O. been their poverty that they were grateful for the crusts not to pay. What he can afford in his business this people cannot for 

given to beggars, and that thousands of able-bodied workmen had their administration. The cost of living abroad is not the measure of 

been forced to become tramps, seekin~ for food they had no opportu- foreign salary, bnt what is left at home to pay. Suppose, as the gennity to earn. T~se statements, detailing the wretched condition of tleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] argued, that in ten years the cost 

the unemployed workmen of Pennsylvania, are confirmed by Senator of living abroad has doubled, yet has it not more than doubled at 

WALLACE. I notice also that sixty thousand miners of coal are home 'f Who pay these salaries 'f The plutocrats; the rich who travel 

thrown out of employment in Pennsylvania. far countries for to see, and whose protection in travel and tra-de is 

Is New England better offt Why, even there they are laboring on the main object of diplomatic agency! No; the poor and needy. 

half time and at the lowest scale of wages. The rich men of this House, abroad, or in commerce, do not know 

THE FANCY ECONOMISTS and. feel the burden. No one but the wearer can tell where the shoe . · . pinches. Gentlemen cannot tell this who clothe their thoughts and Th~ g~ntle~an from PennsylvanL't [~:lr. RANDALL] was renunded by ~-'their feet in slippered, luxurious ea-se, and feel no twinge except the 

the ilistingmshed_gentlema_n fro.m Ohio [Mr. G~IELD] not to boast luxury which comes of gout and prosperity. when he put on his armor, like him who taketh It off. The gentleman 

[Mr. GARFIELD] is a little interested, his anwu1· propt·e is at stake, I 

fear, in keeping up the taxes. Was he not the author of many former 

bills t He and his party, which for ten years would not touch the 

currency to resume and Toted down propositions to economize, now all at once become urgent in their dire dilemma 'that we should resume and retrench whatever betides, but they are equally opposed to us when we report bills in the precise" shape" in which they come. Take 

any shape but this- of retrenchment I "Our honor is at stake," sighs 

the member from Minnesot:t, [Mr. DlTh"NELL,] and he too is in "entire 

sympathy" with reform; yet if we reform, alas! commerce will be 

ruined, or never arise from its ruins. Thus mourn other Jeremiahs; 

and so every bill for retrenchment is opposed on some pretext or an- other. 

The unanimity of sentiment on the part of the opposition, who 

have spoken under the lead of .the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GAR- FIELD] in favor of economy, is only surpas ed by their concerted fail- ure to sustain it. Their mere words are "apples of gold in pictures of 

silver." They are not 11/il.tritious, however beautiful. Hear a few of 

their sentiments I The gentleman from Ohio [:Mr. MOJ\'"ROE] says 

that "the object of this bill is retrenchment. I am most sincerely in 

sympathy with that object. I expect often to vote that way. But, 

sir, this bill preeents an unpromising field I" He went further and 

gave us his definition of economy. He would cut off any branch 

which was not worth the money. Words-words-words; souniling 

brass ancl tinkling cymbals. Then his colleague [Mr. Gliu'IELD] 

takes up the brass, and I mean no disrespect in using the expression. 

[Laughter.] He draws the bees to his political assembly by saying : " 0, there should be no politics in such bills I Do I not sympathize 

with the committee in their laudable efforts to cut down expenditures t" 

And then he lauds to a pitch of irony the splendid economy for years 

of the State Department I It is the old story of the traveler out West. He meets a native on the Reserve- a- skeleton, worse than 'flhe fancy 

photographs of the prisoners recently alluded to : " You seem, my 

friend, to have the fever and ague in these parts." "0 I no, sir," 

replied the man, shaking from crest to foot and yellow as ocher-"N o, 

there's-none-around-here, but plenty of it-in the next county I" 

It is the old milk-sickness story: It is just a little further on! 

LLaughter.] These friends of economy cannot, like the man who ate 

his soup with a fork, get enough of it in the abstract, but they are not so hungry for the concrete reality I According to the proverb, 

by t.oo large a grasp or embrace of the J.o,rger ideal, they take such a furious hold of the total thing that they fail to hold anything in detail. 

ECONOMY- JUST 'OT NOW. 

It will be curious to watch how their platoons will fire into our re- trenchment bills. We have already had their attack on the West 

Point bill; but they bad not the courage to call the ayes and noes on that. And the people, ay, aud the very officers, now applaud the meas- ure. When it comes to this bill, a new set of a sailants, and, I re- gret to say, fortified by the business tact and influence of my col- leagues, [Messrs. HEWITT and WooD,] appear upon the scene. But 

I venture to say that there will be no flinching upon the part of this 

majority on this measure when the debate is concluded and the scandalous abuses of the consular and diplomatic service are fully displayed. 

Soon we will have the fortification bill, and the opposition ~uns will 

thunder upon that. Then the river and harbor bill. That will appall 

the boldest. Then the war appropriations. Thundering Mars will roar till Janus will open hi8 temple door. Neptune will sound his 

conch-shell from the very deeps, till the re ounding shores echo its 

protest against the Navy bill. When the Indian bill appears reduce<! 

to an honest diminution, the war-whoop will sonnd from Missouri to 

where rolls the Oregon, which used to hear no sound save its own plashing. 

The burden of these loud complaints against these bills is that salaries are reduced. While the general sluinking of wages and values 

is going on everywhere, the clamor here is that large salaries secure good services. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] struck 

this n·ote: "You only want rich men for office; you would shut out 

those who can live without private fortune; you would establish a pluto~rMy." Then my colleague [Mr. HEWITT] subjoins his practical remark: "In my extensive business I woulcl pay men better for similar service;" and then my other colleague re ubjoins his exclamation: "If this bill saved twenty millions I would not vote for it." 

EARLY UNSALA.RmD HONOR. 

"We cannot have good service abroad except on large salary;" is 

that your argument t Need I point you tQ our earlier statesmen, from 

Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others, down to our own selfish 

earl. But my colleague, [Mr. Woon,]whose lineage by our Directory is 

that of a Philadelphia Quaker, has said that l!ranklin honored this 

country, as minister to the court of France, dressed in plain attire, 

and on large salary. Is it possible that he did not know the history 

of that mission of Franklin t He went out to France in October, 1776. 

When he left Philadelphia, this is recorded of him 'by his biographer, 

(Sparks, volume 1, page 416:) 

As a proof of Franklin's zeal in the cause of his conn~ and of his confidence in 

the result, it may be stated that before be left Philadelphia he raised all the monex he could command, being between three and four thousand pounds, and placed It as a. loan at the disposal of Congress. 

But it is further recorded of him that he served substantially without compensation; ay, more thau that, that he denounced the ambition and avarice of public men as baneful to the state. I read from 

Sparks, volume 1, page 517 : 

It had long been an opinion of Dr. Franklin 'that in a democratical go>ernment there ought to be no offices of profit. The first constitution of Pennsylvania con· ta.ined an article expressive of this sentiment which was drafted bt, him. One of 

his speeches in the national convention wa,g on the same subject. ' There are two passions," said he, "which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the love of power and tlie love of money. Saparately each of these has great force in promptmg men to action but when united in view 

of the same object they have in many minUs the most vioient effects. Place before 

the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall at the same time be a place of profit, 

and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The vast Dl:\mber of such places it is that renders the British government so tempestuous. The stru$gles for them are the true source of all those factions which are p6rJ?etually dividfug the nation, 

distracting its councils, hun'ying it sometimes into fruitJ.ess and mischievous wars, and often compellingasu bmission to dishonorable terms of peace. And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable pre-eminence through aU the bustJ.e of 

cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of chara{lters Y It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the kust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These 

will thrust themse-lves into your government and be your rulers." * * * He 

thought the pleasure of doing good by serving' their countr,y and the respect inspired by such conduct were sufficient motives for true patriots to give up a portion of 

their time to the public without a pecuniary compensation beyond the means of support while engaged in the service. In his own case be had an opportunity of putting these principles in practice. AU the money he received as president of Pennsylvania for three years he appropriated to some object of public utility; and if the whole 

fifty years of his public life are taken together, it is believed that his receipts in the 

fonn of compensation or salaries were not enough to defray his necessary expenses. 

What if his presence were to instruct these two members, [Mr. 

RANDALL and Mr. WooD,] both natives of his Quaker City. To which 

would he give a smile; to which a frown'/ At first flush he might 

say to one, "Sir, your presence in any assembly, your dignity, your 

ability, the admimtion you deservedly excite is sufficient compensation for one so rich in lands and bonds." To the other he would say, "Go on! Read Poor Richard! Be just, be thrifty, be trustworthy; 

and a grateful people will add to the honor of your birth near the 

Hall of Independence with a crown of approbation; for is not a good name better than riches!" And to all of us he would say: "You are living in evil times, when men in public station make money and salaries the touch -stone of honorable service for their country. In my days 

it was considered' decorous and sweet even to die for one's country.' In 

your day, it is considered decorous and sweet to live for one's country, 

and to live well, and gather from the brow of labor-its sweat of pearl 

to decorate the fantastic gaudiness of greed and luxury. 

UTOPIAN IDEAS. 

Mr. Speaker, it is said by Sir Thomas More that when the foreign 

embass:tdors came into Utopia the people of that perfect realm 

laughed at the bedizenment and jewels which glorified their persons. 

Benjamin Franklin, whose thought drew lightning from the cloud, 

and whose diplomacy broke the scepter of tyrants, must have read 

this satire, when in his snuff-colored dress and with his unsala.ried state, 

he was made the welcome guest of the greatest of the Old World, 

while he kept his trust and faith to the people of the New World. 

BRITISH POLICY. 

What is the :ngument to justify large salnries for diplomatic and . consular service 'I Why, Great Britain pays hlghly and does a large business over the sea and over the world. To be sure, Great Britain 

has an inexorable grip on these volcanic Spanish American republics, 
. 

982 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 9, 

or upon most of them. I read to-day in a. report made by a distinguished gentleman from Illinois, [General HURLBUT,] who was our minister to Bogota, that the English government had a. mortgage on the customs-dues of the republic of Colomoia amounting to 85 per 

cent. He wrote home that unless there was somerepudiationof that 

mortgage upon the customs-dues there would be a revolution in that 

country. Our Isthmus route is daily imperiled by English supremacy. There are I know·large fields for enterprise in Spanish America and iu the Pacific. I do not deny the statements made by the 

gentleman; and I would prefer if anywhere when r etrenching, not 

to cut down in China and Japan any consulate already existing. 

But as to mortgaged Spanish America, what is the argument in favor 

of keeping up our diplomatic expenses to a high figure in those re- publicsf The gentleman [.Mr. MoNROE] ~ave us a table. In that 

table he showed the area. of those countries; he showed also their 

imports, exports, receipts, expenditures. He also showed the popula.-

tion and the public debt. What for f To induce us to add salaries 

to our consuls! That is beautiful argumentation. The area of a country is to determine our diplomatic and consular arrangements! 

If that is the case, why do 1Ve not have a minister to Iceland f Why 

not a consul seatecl amid those great volcanic wastes where no man lives and where the lichen would starve f 'Why do you not have 

diplomatic accommodations with the interior of Africa or in the Desert of Sahara T If mere area is to be made the test, you will find 

plenty of room on our planet. 

As to population, to be sure there is one-third of our own population in these Spa.nish American republics. It numbers sixteen and a half million.s, but most of it are Indians. They are not a producing 

cla&s; they are not the class of which we buy or exchange.. They 

give us alpaca wool, guano, niter, ores, dyes, and other stuffs; they 

give us medicines arrd hides; but we have just as many consuls there 

to-day as we need for our commerce. That is the esdential point. 

CONSULS AND COMMERCE. 

But, Mr. Chairman, ~entlemen mistake when they say this is a bill 

to revive commerce. Bills of this kind cannot revive commerce. Consuls are incidents only to commerce. I will tell you soon where and 

how our commerce can be revived; why your diplo.tp.atic and con- uslar system, instea.d of reviving commerce, amounts to nothing in 

this regard. It does not draw commerce along with it; it is hardly the 

jolly-boat in the wake of the steamer. It is only a bubble in the 

wake of the steamer of commerce. What you want in order to make commerce and revive shipping in 

this country, is a fair revenue law. Your taxes should be removed 

from the ingredients which enter into our wooden and iron ships. Thus 

you make it the interest of our people not to invest in bonds which 

pay no taxes; but to invest in the vehicles of oceanic and distant ven- . tures, which will pay more than the income on untaxed bonds. The 

competition of wooden and sailinO" vessels with steam and iron ves- sels I do not propose to discuss. The Baltimore clipper is a memory. 

India and China and their trade is greatly occupied by other nations. 

The old "Indiaman" is a myth. Comforts go with steam and dividends follow comfort. The simple truth must sooner or later appear, 

to wit : that tlie incidental protection to other interests has murdered our carrying trade. The internal-revenue tax of two and one-half 

cents a pound on cotton helped to cripple us as a sailing people. But 

the crowning crime which has put gyves on our. commerce is the tax 

imposed on all the ingredients which enter into the construction of 

ship and steamer. Thts, sir, is a bounty to the foreign producer and 

builder. It kills our competition. Worse than the depreciation of 

currency, it deters capital and destroys enterprise. If you will not by 

your bad tariffs let us buy ships abroad, then let us by good tariffs 

buy the materials to make ships at home. Then you will revive com- merce, and navigation, and shipping. I see my friend from Pennsylvania. on the alert. He always is, when I mention ship-building. 

I know we have some ent~rprising ship-building in Pennsylvania. As we approximate in this country to the price of xron abroad, even without the aid of Government subsidy, but with a fair, honest revival of 

business and lower tariffs, we may again have our olcl revival of ship- building. Then navigation and commerce will begin a new century. But never until our tarifi" is modified, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, will we have our olden ship-building. We have lost it already. 

I have the statistics here to show this in detail. Our tonnage to-day 

is only about eight millions of tons. Great Britain, tbat used to be our only rival, has sprung up to twenty millions of tons. I did not 

intend to read the statistics which clearly show wha.t I have stated, 

but if the House will indulge me I will briefly give the details on that 

point referred to by one of my colleagues yesterday, in a comparison 

of business between the United States and Great Britain. In Great 

Britain the exports and imports amounted last year to over five hundred and fifty millions pounds sterling. Of this I am credibly informed. I know in previous years it was a little over this statement. In 1872 it was £608,000,000; but for the present year it is 

2,750,000,000. The imports were not much in excess of the exports. 

In the United States there was but eleven hundred millions of this 

kind of prosperity, making adUference between the two countries of • sixteen hundred and fifty millions. 

In Palgrave'sN otes on Banking, page 50, the imports and exports of 

England in 1819 are placed at only £6!},000,000 sterling. In 1844, · £144,000,000; but in 1872 what had they risen to! To £608,000,000. 

If they have fallen off any since, according to the former computation, 

it is because of excessive production and the consequent plethora. 

I have already shown you what is our tonnage as compared with 

Great Britain. I should be more exact as to American and foreign 

tonnage. Our commerce is in question, and our forei~n affuirs are in 

the quandary. 

The following table shows the amount of American and of foreign 

tonnage entered at ports of the United States for the years name·cl: 

.American Foreign Excess of Excess of 

Years. American foreign tonnage. tonnage. tonnage. tonnage. 

1830. ________________ ; ---··----- · 967,227 131, 900 835,327 ~ ... . ... .......... ... -.. 1840·--·-·--------·- ------- ----·. 1, 576,946 712, 363 864, 583 .... .... .................... 1850. -------- · ·------ --- -- ----- -· 2, 573,016 1, 775, 623 797,393 ....... ... .................... 1860------------ ----------· ------ 5, 921,285 2, 353, 911 3, 567,374 ............... . ............. 

1861. - - . ----- - -- - . --- -- - - - - -.. - -. 5, 023,917 2, 217,554 2, 806,363 .............................. 

1864.----- --- ---- --- -- ·-----·--·· 3, 066,434 3, 471,219 ........................ 404,785 

1866·-- ---- -----·----- ---------·· . 3. 372,060 4, 410, 424 ........................... 1, 038,364 

1868_ ----- ---------------. ·-----. 3, 550,550 4, 495, 465 ......................... 944, 915 

1869·--· ----------------------·· . 3, 402,668 5, 347,694 .... .. ....... ....... 1, 945, 026 

1870 . . ------- --- -----------··--· · 3, 486, 038 5, 669,621 ....... .. ............ 2,183, 583 

187L--------------··------:---·· 3, 742,740 6, 266,444 ......... .. ...... .... 2, 523,704 

1872. --· ·----·--- --- ·-----------· 3, 711,846 7, 094, 577 ................... 3, 382, 731 

1873 . ___ __ ·-----.--- ------·-··-·-· 3, 612,631 8, 033,087 ..................... 4, 470,456 

We thus see that from 1861 to the beginning of 187 4, .a period of 

only thirteen years, there is a change aga,inst the American shipping 

of 7,277,819 tons. Now our carrying trade costs us millions. It is 

reckoned at eighty or a hundred millons, which goes to England, 

France and Germany for the Atlantic freights aud fares alone. But there are more fa-cts of value for study and reflection. In 1860 

the total American tonnage which entered British ports was 1,747,651 

tons, the total British tonnage entering our ports being 1,136,364 tons. 

But in 1870 the American tonnage entering the British ports was only 

4791670 tons, while vessels flying the British colors entering our ports 

during that year mea.sured 2,778,823 tons. Herein we have greatly 

retrograded; England has greatly increased. 

COMMERCIAL SUPREIIIACY OF ENGLAND. 

Now, how did Great Britain get this advantaO"eous power f When 

did it come to her T It came from her policy, her wisdom. Not before the l'epeal of the corn laws, not before her reciprocity with 

France, not before free trade was fixed there ; for before that time, 

during six years, EngL'l.nd took off almost as many taxes as she imposed. 

But I must be more accurate: The taxes imposed by Parliament during that time (1836-1841) were £2,161,227. The taxes repealed in the same time were £2,131,303. During this time the postage was re- duced to a penny. That much was off, and we know the result. Did revenue increase f Were expenses lessened and receipts increased f . 

The revenues diminished nearly a half million sterling. Did the na- tional debt decrease 'f No. Discontent came;· Chartists arose. Then 

free trade came and corn-laws were repealed. It was the triumph 

of Peel, Cobden, Bri~ht, and Ebenezer Elliott. But 1852 saw the con- summation, and England then began to see through her mists and fogs 

her way to fiscal freedom. During the six subsequent years, or rather, 

to take a better era, from 1860 to 11:;66, the taxes imposed were £3,263,-

215, and those repealed were-astounding fact 1-£19,209,863. Eighty 

millions of our gold dollars of a difference; eighty millions of ta.xes reduced under liberal policies over the imposition of taxes. Then 

England leaped forward under some magic fiscal Magna Charta. The 

world wondered, and Cobden and Chevalier and the unselfish and ra-- tional giants of economic thought everywhere received apotheosis. 

I .say here that the British taxes, imposed six years after their 

free trade, were £2,263,000 sterling. The taxes that were repealed were £19,210,000 sterling. In other words, we have a difference of 

£16,000,000 sterling, or more than $80,000,000 of taxes repealed or reduced over taxes impo ed or augmented; and the result wa.s gratifying to all the world, and espec1ally to the British exchequer. It was by free trade, by a liberal policy, by allowing aU the world to 

trade with her, and Great Britain to trade with all the world, that 

she made this magnificent change and this great prosperity. And 

until we do as England allowed her citizens to do-buy our ships where we please, or allow our people to build ships without restriction and 

without prohibition of the articles which enter into the ships-we never can reach the degree of prosperity in the shipping interest 

hich we had in 1859 and 1860. :Moreover, l\Ir. Chairman, allow me to say that some of our best ship-builders agree as to that. I h ave a letter, which was published, from Donald Mackay, the great shipbuilder of Boston, who said that if he had fair play .in the taxing of 

commodities which enter into ship-building, than he could again have 

his ship-yard ring with its olden industry. . 

TARIFFS Ah-n COMMERCE. 

But the main reason I have for dwelling on t.his subject now is that 

I may answer the gentleman from Minnesota., [l'tlr- DU1-."'NELL.] He 

said-(and he argued very astutely for a man who is about to seek a new election) that our tariff bill did not tend to retrench in one sense, 

but it levied more taxes in .another; and he called us to an account on this side of the Honse for that. He mentioned the tea and coffee 

tax, and the silk tax, and some other taxes. He asked me to respond 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 983 

to him. I will give his own reasoning on that subject, and then I 

will respond to him. 

When I go to my constituency a.nd say to them, " Gentlemen, we have reduced 

the eA""Penses of the Go>ernment," they Will say to me, " That is all very well; but; 

have you reduced this indirect taxation'" Of course I will answer, "0, yes; we did reduce it." They will ask me how, and I will tell them the simple story 

how we did itr-the democratic House, I mean, for it will not have my vote. I will 

tell them that we have cut down the tadff on silks and silk tlress-goods from 60 per cent. ad va-lorem to 40 per cent. ad valorem. Thev will sit in mute silenceThese interesting and intelligent constituents will sit in mute silence when the gentleman makes ·that statement. No wonder they 

will sit in mute silence at the audacity of such a statementbut will ponder in their minds how that tallies with the theory that the luxuries 

of life sha.ll pay the higher duties. 

SILK AND SMUGGLING. 

Will they if they are intelligent'l Well, now, let us look at the silk 

business for one moment. That involves the revival of commerce; 

for I say yoa cannot have that except you do take off your taxes in a revenue way. Why, sir, there is a man now in New York in Ludlowstreetjail whose name is Lawrence. He has beenputtherefor smuggling-smuggling silks, which are easily smuggled, being very valuable and small in bulk. He has stated-and it has come out in au- thentic form with respect to some of our best merchants who bought 

from him,-he has stated that he made contracts, or always could make 

contr.acts, to bring silks and silk goods into New York for 18 per cent. on the cost price. Well, what does he do with them or what is done 

with them by the men who bring them in T Why they sell them-a 

thing not very creditable-they sell them to merchants who are re- putable, and then they sell them, and they pay 12 per cent. So there 

1s 30 per cent. gained on the goods by the smuggling. When the duty 

is 60 per cent. on silks there is a premium on rascality of 30 per cent., as the gentleman from Minnesota will see. Now, if we reduca the 

tariff on silk goods to 40 per cent. it takes away the incentive and inducement to imuggling, and we on our side of the House can say to 

the gentleman's mute constituents, all of whom or some of them at 

least. have silk dresses in their homes; we can say then to the gentleman's constituents whep. they sit mute, when they are pondering 

about these luxurious silk dresses, that we took away the incentive 

to smuggling by fixing the tariff so that honel:lt merchants can trade 

in New York as importers and as wholesale dealers and retailers. And 

then we will say, or rather we will insinuate in a quiet way, that 

after their own Representative got all·the facts of the case, he voted 

against that tariff on silk to help rascality in New York. 

Ml'. DUNNELL. Will the gentleman allow me tQ ask him one question"! 

Mr. COX. Very well, sir. 

Mr. DUNNELL. How much revision of the tariff will it require 

to do away with all the rascality in New York 'f [Laughter.] 

Mr. COX. Well, about as long a-s the tariff-customs duties are collected by the gentleman's own party. I refer him to his own collector 

and President Grant & Co. [Laughter.] I will not go any farther 

West. [Laughter.] BREAKFAST. 

Now I want to say to my honored friend from Minnesota, [Mr. 

DUNNELL,] for I love to debate with a man so courteous and pleasant 

and who is merely seeking informatiou for his constituents, I want 

to read to him what we are proposing in the tariff bill; and first I 

will say that if we do raise the duty on tea and coffee a little by our tariff, we will take care to cut off el!ongh of the tariff in other re- spects where your bounties come in and where your gratuities are to 

make up the added duty on tea and coffee. .Si.r, the gentleman raises 

the old cry of the cheap breakfa-st-table. Now, we have disposed of 

that several times. Perhaps the gentleman from Minnesota [:Mr. DUNNELL] knows that the present tariff taxes the spoon, the salt, the 

dishes, the table-cloth, and the table itself. We may reduce the tariff on many articles, and if we do put a duty on tea and coffee, we shall 

then give you an honest, good breakfast-table on a purely revenue basis, without bounty, and invite you to come to ·take breakfast 

with us. NO BINS OF OMISSION. 

But the gentleman thinks that we are not in earnest about this 

tariff bill. You will see about that before the session is over. Before we go further I will say that. I shall be guj.lty of no sins of omission. I will tell him where we propose to cut down: Cotton dresses 

from 61 to 30 per cent.; spool thread from 81 to 40 per cent.; cotton 

yarn from 60 to 40 per cent.; bar-iron from 40 to 26 per cent.; wire 

from 54 to 32-t per cent.; hoop-iron from 55 to 36 per cent.; saws from 

40 to 27 per cent.; sewing-machine needles from 47 to 22 per cent.; 

steel from 40 and 50 per cent. to 30 and 32 per cent.; screws frpm 60 

to 37 per cent.; the poor man's iron pot from 45 to 32 per cent.; lead 

from 45 to 22t per cent.; cast-iron piping from 50 to 35 per cent.; 

wool from 50 and 51 per cent. to 25 per cent.; woolen flannels and 

blankets from 90 to 47 per cent.; woolen cloth from 67 to 47 per cent.; common alpacas from 70 to 50 per cent.; clothing from 53 to 45 per 

cel!t.; carpets from~O to 45 :per cent.; bunting (the dear centennial 

flag) from 112 to 48 per cent. . I know that it is unpopular with some people to save indirectly. I 

know that a man in Minnesota might sleep in cold winter weather wtth 

half a blanket with the prospect of getting three; but I think he 

would rather have two now rather than the prospect of a <lozeu in 

the future, o~ rath~r than have a tariff which gives bounties and subsidies to the prosperous, and does not give revenue. I have a list 

which I can show the gentleman which shows that where 100,000 were collected as duties upon certain articles which went into the 

Treasury, a million of dollars go outside as bounties; bot I need not 

argue ao-ainst bounties. 

I wocld ask my friend from Minnesota [Mr. DUNNEI.L] whether he 

has not voted for subsidies and bounties and all that sort of thing 'f I 

know that is his record, and therefore I can make no point on him 

for inconsistency when he votes for bounties onder the t.ariff. He 

is not my man for that fight. Does he not vote for all such devices Y 

Does he not vote for railroad and other subsidies T Why, sir, you are obnoxious all around on the question of subsidies and bounties. But we propose to make revenue and not give bounties. We would cut 

down marble from 129 to 40 per cent.; gun and blasting powder 

from 60 and 58 per cent. to 40 and 24 per cent. And with this explo· 

sive article I close the list for the present, as by this time the gentleman's theory must be blown up higher than Thomas's infernal machine 

has blown his victims in Bremen. 

It may be asked what reference this tariff talk has to the business 

before the House. How does it concern the diplomatic billY Gentlemen have argued that we are destroying commerce. They pretend to be anxious to revive it. They would do it by giving certain 

salaries to consuls. If you mean to revive commerce take off the 

bounties we now pay to selfish and greedy people, and give fair interchange of commodities. Let the people North, South, Ea-st, and West 

boy in the cheapest markets of the world, as we do among our States. 

Give them a fair show all around the world, and then we 'can take ,your southern and western cereal and cotton products, send them to 

European markets, and bring back something to h~lp in time of need. 

FREE SHIPS AND THEm FRIENDS. 

I do not know whether the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. DUNNELL] was in Congress in 1872 or not; I think he wa-s not. I have 

looked up his record upon that point and I cannot catch him. I think 

he was not here in 1871. 

Mr. DUNNELL. After March 4, 1871. 

Mr. COX. In March, 1871, a bill was brought in here for the purpose of giving free registry to iron vessels of two thousand tons burden 

and over that might be bought abroad. It was just at the beginning of 

the Franco-German war, as you may remember. President Grant sent a message to Congress asking us to permit these vessels to be bought 

and placed under our flag. It ·obtained i;he assent of this House. 

There wa~ a large number of republicans for it. I do not think the name of the gentleman from :Minnesota [:Mr. DUNNELL] is recorded on either side or as being absent; I do not know how he voted. But we did carry that measure in the House and it dropped out some- where between the Hoose and the Senate in the last days of the ses- sion. What wa-s the result 'l When that war broke out there were twenty-seven great German steamers, built upon the Clyde, lying -at 

Hoboken. Their owners were willing, as the French navy was then 

powerful on the sea., to have them placed, 'temporarily at least, nnder our flag. What for 'l So that they could bear our cereal products of 

the West to Europe. . Mr. KELLEY. Did not that debate occur on the last day and in 

the last hours of the session! 

Mr. COX. It was in the morning of the 4th of March, 1871. 

:Mr. KELLEY. So that the bill did not drop out somewhere between 

here and the Senate. 

Mr. COX. I know it dropped out. 

Mr. KELLEY. It dropped out with the Congress. 

Mr. COX. And you voted against it and made a good speech against 

it· I remember that. I made a speech for it. ~Ir. KELLEY. I want you to tell the facts a-s they exist, and you 

profess to have examined the record. 

Mr. COX. I willma.keit all right if I have made a mistake. What 

I want to say is this : On the hst day of the session, when the bill was brought in here, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. KELLEY] 

opposed it; General Butler favored it, as a golden opportunity of statesmanship to obhin the carrying trade of Europe during the FrancoGerman war. Then and there this Hoose, a.Imost two-thirds republican, failed to respond to the demand of your President. It wa~ the 

-demand of economy and of enlarged intercourse with the commercial 

world. It wa-s a demand, like that made in the Crimean war, which so redounded tO the credit of our economy and to the profit of our people. 

· Mr. KELLEY. Then the House did not pass it. You are no'\V' 

stating the record. 

Mr. COX. How is tha.tf Just state that again. 

Mr. KELLEY. You have just now stated that the Honse passed 

it, and yet you sa-y the Hoose did not pass it. • Mr. COX. It refused to lay the bill on the table; that was the 

vote, I think. · Mr. KELLEY. But the House did not pass it, as you have just 

stated. 

Mr. COX. I believe that it did not pass it; but there was a test 

vote upon laying it on the table. I know it fell out. 

Mr. KELLEY. Yes; and we all fell out together, for Congress ex: pired. 

1\-!r. GARFIELD. One of the opponents of that bill was the Repre~ 

, 
984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 9~ 

sentative from the city of New York, the gentlemai.t's own colleagu~, Mr. Brooks--

:Mr. COX. I know that. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I greatly regretted to see him join in the opposition to the bill, for I was in favor of it. 

Mr. COX. I know that; you have always acted in that line, and are one of the free-traders in this House, though you do not always 

tell it out. 

Mr. KELLEY. Now, if you want to correct the RECORD, you must. take out your misstatemenrthat the bill passed the House. 

l't!r. COX. The idea I want to convey to the House is that the bill was favored by the House; that by a test vote the House refused to 

lay it on the table. 

Mr. KELLEY. Yon said the Honse ·passed it; the RECORD says it 

did not. 

:Mr. COX. It is not material, the bill came up. . l't!r. KELLEY. If it is not material, why did you state itt You 

do not· always talk nonsense. l't!r. COX. I follow your example sometimes and say a great many 

superfluous things. [Laughter.] But I never interject things into 

your remarks when you s-peak, without your consent. 

Mr. KELLEY. You do not! 

Mr. COX. Without the consent of yourself and the Chair. 

Mr. KELLEY. I cannot make any response to that. 

l't!r. COX. I know you cannot by the rules; for you are not on your 

feet. Now, what I wish to say and what I wish this House to understand is simply this: that there was an opportunity present<ed by the mes age of President Grant, and by the b:ill which waa introduced, 

to give to the Western people an opportunity to ship their produce 

to Europe during the time of that war. That war interrupted as well the producing industries as the commercial relations of the 

countries involved in it. I call attention to the fact that during that war when there wa.s a great call for flour, wheat, and corn from 

Europe this mea.sure was not pa-ssed. The republican Congress adjourned, and even after the impressive speeches made by General 

Schenck and General Butler in favor of that bill, tho commerce of 

the country failed to revive, by the a-cts of omission of the republican 

Congress, in despite of an urgent message from a republican President. 

When I went home to New York City after that failure and saw tho e vessels laid up in Hoboken I was satisfied by authentic proof, 

that there w~ a loss of $20,000,000 or $25,000,000 to the people of the 

West, who bad abnnd.'\nt grain then to send to Europe to replace the 

lack of production of and by the nations who were fighting a great 

duello on the fields of Europe. 

THE WORM IN THE ACORN. 

The point I wish to make on my friend from Minnesota [Mr. DUNNELL] is this: That to revive commerce you must either let us buy 

shi,ps or build them. If you will not let us buy abroad, place a tax 

per ton on the ship and let it come in and raise our flag. But there 

is a difficulty. What 7 Because that l~ts in iron cheaper; and the 

gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. KELLEY] and his protectionist 

friends fight that. This point reminds me a good deal of what I heard once when traveling in California. I saw some dead trees with holes 

perforated in them, and I asked my guide the meaning of them. He 

said they had been made by the woodpecker. I asked, What for!" 

"Topntintheacorn." "Forfoodf" ''Yes; forfood." "Dothewoodpeckers live on acorns here f" "No; they do not live on the acorn; 

but in winter a worm gets into the acorn, and they go for the worm." 

[Laughter.] That is the way with you gentlemen who are protectionists. You do not want a revenue tariff; you do not w~nt free 

shlpping ; yon do not want a revenue duty simply on tea and coffee. 

You will not stop smuggling by lower rates. Yon want, if possible, 

to raise taxes for protection, by bounties. That is the worm in the acorn. DIPLOMACY AND RETRENCIDIENT. 

But, Mr. Chairman I pass from that business and come to the more agreeable task of malrlng a criticism, if I can, of our diplomatic relations. The gentleman from Ohio said he thought we might save $10,-

000,000 or $15,000,000 this year. He wa.s for retrenchment. 0, they are always for retrenchment till the bill comes along that really em- braces retrenchment. When the military bill comes along they will 

howl for retrenchment-on the next bill! When the naval bill comes up they are for the next succeeding bill. When the ID.dian bill comes up they will perhaps take scalps for retrenchment-on the next bill! 

And when it comes to retrenchment on appropriations for harbors and 

rivers then you will hear what some Englishmen call the " shrieks of 

locality." On every bill brought here gentlemen will find that they are abstractly in favor of retrenchment while the great body of members 

on that side of the House, and some on this side, will be found voting 

the other way. Now, I propose to stand by my committee on this 

business. UTILlTIE8 OF DIPLOMACY. 

But how are we treated a.broad by our foreign representatives 'f I 

do not want to pay any more or any such salaries to men as are rep- resented in our public reports. I except Mr. Marsh, Mr. Washburne, 

and several others. I have looked through and through this diplomatic correspondence to find some good or great thing for our edification as public men or for the advancement of commerce. I beg pardon; I picked up this morning a dispatch from Liberia, in which t he 

eminent minister there says that they have had but one kind of em.·· rency in Liberia lately, that is the common copper cent., and that 

they propose to issue more money, paper money, and to make a loan 

of £30,000 sterling to float thegovernment. But the government did 

not float, and it did not float on this copper-cent coinage. That is 

instructive. How much do we pay for this instruction Y 

One of our ministers from Brazil writes to inform the sovereigns of 

America that the emperor opened the LegisL'lture "in more than usual 

state, "¥earing a white-satin dress, his cape of plumes, a long velvet 

mantle and crown, and bearing his scepter even in his coach." This 

is extremelyfine reading for a novel or a. newspaper, but it illustrates 

t.he fact that toilet seems to be one of the great objects of diplomatic 

observation. How much do we pay for thatY Then we read in the 

recent published dispatches that the Emperor of China died of smallpox, and that our minister wrote ba-ck to his successor that all the 

American people were sorry for it. He also informs us, and it is a useful piece of information for the medical profession to ponder, that 

the two court physicians, because they did not cure him, had lost one row of their buttons and their pea-cock tails ! But our minister had 

not a kind word for the poor doctors, for were they not bound not 

only to make their kow-tow to the- celestial majesty of the flowery 

kingdom but to his two majestic mothers! Again, we learn from a South American minister how they cure bull's-hides there. 

I find also a dispatch from Greece where there is a description, and a very fine one, of the Grecian mode of voting for members of the 

chamber of deputies. They bring a long thing like a stove-pipe and 

the candidates hold up the stove-pipe. The suffragan takeR a white 

ball or a black ball, runs. his arm way down so a.s to keep his secret 

from all mankind and drops in an "ay" or a "no" for one of the candidates who holds up the stove-pipe. [Great laughter.] That is interesting for civil-service reform! He says also that if one hundred nominate a candidate for the chamber of deputies the candidate can run his 

stove-pipe anyhow, and this favors the third party men everywhere. 

It would suit some of our friends like our honorahle profes or over ·there who gave us the maxim Omne ignotum pro n~agnijico est. [Laughter.] If gentlemen cannot understand when a hand goes in that way, 

how it comes out in another way and elects some one whom nobody 

likes, it is only because it is too magnificent an improvement on our system sent to us from Greece at an expenditure of 10,000 a year. 

[Laughter.] CHINESE .AMNESTY. 

But, Mr. Chairman, there are other things to bo learned. I will pick 

up our correspondence with China. It is a wonderful correspondence 

about the young emperor, Tung. He ar~nes in this way-I will have 

to read it because it touches something so near the other side. 

[Laughter.) 

For more than UID years past, blessed with t.he counsels of maternal love, we have striven to reach the hi hest :(lath. Happily it has been so, that wherever the armies 

of the state came, the (Taipmg) rebels of Yueh (Kwangtung and Kwangsi) and the 

(Nienfi] banditti were vanquished and subdued before them, and the insur~ nts 

among the Miaotse and the .Mohammedans in Yunnan, Kweichau, and Shenai nave all been conquered and brought into submission. 

[Laughter.] 

Now that is pleasant reading, and I do love to read when we have 

to pay $17,500 for information. [Laughter.] I especially commend 

to the gentlemen who have not shown any inclination toward amnesty 

this extract : 

Tranquillity has been ever:f!Vhere restored; but, though the miseries of war have 

ceased, the injuries and wounds of our people are not yet healed, and whenever we think of them it .drives away all sloop and repose. 

This seems to have been an occasion for a centennial amnesty in 

China. [Laughter.] 

It is equally our hope that all our ministers and servants, both civil and milita ry, in all parts of the land, will unite in public-spirited and loyal efforts for the com- mon good, each zealously discharging his allotted duty, that thus they may uphold for our adopted successor a more and-more glorioll8 rule. If this be done, the crav- ings of our breast will be assuaged. LLaughter.) 

That, Mr. Chairman, is one of the Confucian sentiments we · learn 

which is really useful. We ought to pay for it a large sum. [Laughter.] I should like very much to go a little further into this book. 

Let me here ask the Chairman how much time I have left. 

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman has fifteen minutes remaining 

of his hour. 

Mr. COX. My friend from Illinois when he waa speaking passeu over to me a most remarkable document. I should hardly believe it 

to be genuine but for the authentic source-the State Depa1·tmont 

itself. Gentlemen say that there has never been an inquiry or investigation as to this particular diplomatic business. There never was such a handsome raking as this State Department has received this 

session by this democratic committee of investigation. It never ha.cl 

it before ozo since I have been here. It ought to have been done before, 

and you gentlemen on the other side of the House ought to have done 

it and received the credit for it. 

BOKER .AND BIJOUTERIE. 

I know gentlemen will vote for the bill after they hear that for a certain treaty about Turkey and its· minister of foreign affairs we have paid 54,7Ell francs. Now, what was it paid forT To corrupt 

TUrkish officials; to obtain from them a treaty t Comment is u el s to this House on such a scandalous outrage upon morality. It was 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 985 

paid by 1\-Ir. Boker to Safvet Pasha, minister of foreign affairs in 

Turkey, and his son and household. But what fort To make a treaty. Did you ever see that treaty' It has never been published. 

There is a reference to it in the President's messa~e, but you cannot. find the treaty. Our minister, Mr. Boker, pn.id to ~:::;afvet Pasha, minister of foreign affairs, a-ccording to this account, 54,781 francs for 

himself and other Turkish officials to run a treaty through the Sublime Porte. [Laughter.] Now, what does that meanT You honest 

republicans ought to understand it. Omne ignotttm p1'0 magnifico est. 

[Laughter.] Just look at this item, the last one in this bill: "Four 

cake-bowls, round feet, style of Lonis XVI, foliage-handles, with 

birds; four silver bowls, scalloped border, assorted to match centerpiece; four cast bay-trees, chiseled on the castings; chiseled garlands; 

flat channel, chiseled, in the center a bouquet of chiseled flowers, gilt 

ahd gold bottom, 3,777 francs..'' The whole thing was "chiseled." 

[<"ireat laughter.] Certainly it wa-s; but I should like to know who 

else was chiseled. [Laughter.] 

Now let us look at the other items. Let me read this French. I 

wish I could do it better, but I never could understand English well 

enough in this House. [Laughter.] If the gentleman will only re- member his wrongly quoted motto, " Omne ignotwrn p1·o 1nagnijico est," 

I will read him only one item to satisfy that motto. [Laughter.] 

Here is the bill rendered to our State Department from Mr. Boker by 

"M.Mananian,jabricant joailUm·, rue de .Richelieu, No. 41, doit M. Bon 

excellence MonBieu1· Boker, PariB, le 6 juin 1875." [Laughter.] That means that Mr. Boker is excellent; and so he is. But his bill does 

not look so excellent. It amounts to 19,700 francs. And it is settled-

" Pour acquit, Paris, le 8 juin 1875, M. Mananian." Here are some of 

the items: "Epingle d~aravatfJ,jera ckeval,pierres va?-iees,4,000 franC8." 

Do you know what that is, gentlemen from the West f [Great laughter.] My friend from New England [Mr. SEELYE] knows what it is. 

It is a pin for a cravat in the form of an iron horse, with various stones 

set in it. [Laughter.] Four thousand francs. Nearly a thousand dollars for that locomotive, put as a brea-stpin in the cravat of a son of Safvet Pasha, the minister of foreign affairs. Perhaps he gave it to one of 

the houris in his harem. Here thereisanotheriteru, "3 boutonB dechemiBe 

en b1•illant8, 4,000 francs." ',('hat is, three shirt-buttons. [Laughter.] 

Yes, let me say boldly, three shirt-buttons. [Continued laughter.] 

How will our hard-worked mechanics and farmers like thes.e items 'f 

Well, l\!r. Chairman, gentlemen say that we l:mgh this bill out of court. 

We do not mean that. We simply mean to show up, after the modest 

and logical manner of the reductio ad abBm·dunt, precisely how you have 

conducted the best-conducted Department in your Government. If 

this is done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry f If they . can do this in a respectable Department, presided over by an ex-gov- ernor and an Ex-Senator from New York, a distinguished man, an honest man, and do this without accountability, what they will do in 

the Indian Department, God only knows. [Laughter.] 

GREECE AND ITS DANCES. 

Now, gentlemen, I will go to Greece, although there is hardly a ~rease spot left I [Laughter.] However, there is something very 

mteresting in connection with Greece, which I would like to refer to. 

I do not think it has been exhausted altogether. The gentleman from 

Illinois [Mr. SPRINGER] anticipated me a little, as I was the first man to find out the interestin~ letters which he has quoted. My 

friend Judge HoLMAN also anticipated me, but he did not find, read, nor comment on the most interesting epistles. 

Here is one: LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Athens, March 8, 1875. (R-eceived April5.) 

Sm : A magnificent ball took place at the palace on the 3d instant. On that oc- ca.sion the American minister h:\d the honor to be selected to lead a contra-dance 

with the queen. A GRECIAN MINISTRY DEFENDED. 

Now that is something that I like. It makes me wish to defend in one sense the minister to Greece. I will defend anybody that has 

been so abused as this minister. Why what do we not owe to Greece f 

Think of it! The land where " burning Sappho loved and sung," 

and all the rest of Byron's fine ode, which you, }{r, Chairman, rehenrsed 

in your boyhood. Think of Athens-the eye of Greece, and the Pirams, which has been called the ''eyesore of Greece." Think of the 

arts of war and peace which Greece illustrated two thousand years 

ago! Think of Marathon nrnd Salamis, and the "ships by thousands" 

which used to lay below, but which do not lay around there at all 

now, especia,lly with our starry flag at the mast! Think of Thermopy1m and her three hundred, of the Pyrrhic phalanx and Anacreon, 

Soli's rock and Suninm's marbled steep; and then, swan-like, die for 

love of Greece, after Byron's draught of Samian wine! Think of the 

Acropolis. Think of those old heroes that modern Greeks name their 

children after-.lEschylus, Thersites,Agamemnon, and ffiysses-never 

forgot ffiysses, [laughter]-Epaminondas, and Pericles, and Sophocles, and Alcibiades, and Themistocles, and Euripides, and all the 

other DD's belonging to the early days of ancient Greece. [Lau~hter.] 

Yet, sir, as my friend from Indiana [Mr. HOLMAN] well srud, our representatives, when they go to Greece, go to the tomb of departed 

greatness. Greece gave a,rt, science, logic, and poetry to the ages: 

S'.1e is entitled to a minister from the United States of America, not on account of any special living people that are there, or any special commerce which they have with us, for they only send us, I believe, 

from two to ten thousand pounds of Zante currants every year; but 

Greece has a nomadic population of goat-herds, and we ought to improveonn.certainkindof goatthatwehavein this country. [Laughter.] IDEAL GREECE AND REAL .AMERICA. 

Is there here any man who will not assist us to protect and raise 

Greece to her ancient fame f Let him read Clay and Webster, if not 

Plato and Aristotle. Let him read the catalogue of the Homeric 

heroes I True, her streams are dried up, her soil barren, her olive-trees 

cut up by the roots for fuel, and her very grass made the food of her 

nomadic goats; but is it not Greece f Some cynic may ask before 

voting appropriations for our minister, who honors the dead past and 

the great heroes of that dead past, "What is Cithera's isle to the 

grasshopper-despoiled West Y What is Milos, whence the famous 

statue of Venus came, or Salamis with the fame of Themistocles, when 

Mississippi is under the ban and its plantations are overgrown with 

sedge-grass T What the Pirreus, where Socrates questioned the sailors, or what th~ academy under whose olive-trees the divine Plato sat 

while the bees of Hymottus settled on his lips, when the Texas border 

is ravaged by greasers and American cattle driven to Cox· tina's ranches 

by the thousand 'f What are Morea's hills, with their golden and purple sunsets, when beyond our Runset, contractors cheat the Government and Indians on meat and flour 'f What the violet-wTeathed city 

of Minerva, when in the great metropolis of New York, 'farther 

west,' the tenement-houses teem with skeleton starvelings? Let imagination paint in rainbow colors the verdureless ·and yellow isles of 

Greece and sing them again in Byron's muse, but what are these to 

the demoralized and overflowed bacon of Alabama f When there is 

sung the glories of Bacchus and the mazy dance of the Ba-cchantes, 

who is to tell the mysteries of the crooked juices of the maize of Tilinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri 'f" [Laughter.] 

And if, further, the same cynic asks why King George of Greece plays 

with his pet birds while the bandits prowl, plunder, and murder; if 

it is said that Greece is the land of ruins, brigands, and beggars, and 

the little kinglet o.f Schleswig-Holstein is held on his throne by other 

powers, may we not respond, "It is Greece, the Greece of Aristotle and 

Homer, to which we send expensive embassadors 'f" · We ought to go furt,her in our pride and protection for this grave 

of greatness. We ought to bring out of the ruins of the Acropolis some of those rare works of art that were left by Lord Elgin when he 

surreptitiously carried off so many to the British Museum. I plead as · well for art as for the poor inhabitants of Greece. 'l'hey ought to be 

in some way or other protected by our minister. [Laughter.] 

SAMOA. 

There are many new members here who probably do not ~ow that 

two years ago we had an Executive Document, No. 54 of the second 

session of the Forty-second Congress, sent here by a Colonel Steinberger, who went to what i5 called the Navigator Islands. He was on a special mission from our Government. I do not know just what 

it was for. Perhaps there was a land job in it. Omne ig1wtunt pro 

mi1'ifico. [Laughter.] But he went out to these islands, and there he was soon hand and glove with King Lunalilo. He is now premier. 

There he is now, sitting under the bread-fruit trees, with the little 

monkey clinging with prehensile grip to their limbs, and he (I do not mean the monkey) wrapped around with the star-spangled banner of our country; only seventy-five hundred miles from San Francisco, 

eight thousand miles from China, and four thousand miles from Juan 

Fernandez! There our banner floats! [Laughter.] 

O, how proud we were when we knew that our banner wa-s floating over those basaltic rocks, washed by the waves as they rolled over coral 

reefs, with fishes among them of all kinds and colors I Then to think· that away off, where no good man had ever gone, except some of the 

Botany Bay shipwrecked convicts to convert the natives to our religion-how beautiful it was in this centennial year to feel that General 

Grant had sent out Colonel Steinberger to bring those islands within our own influence and confederacy I If we can do so much for such 

people who are so far off, why not jump from Samoa sixteen thousand 

miles to Greece, and there revive through our diploma-cy its ancient 

glories unde.r our centennial tutelage. LLanghter.] 

GREECE RESUltED. 

In Greece we have a minister whom I like. I do not want to see him dismissed. He is a man that can dance a contra-dance with the 

Queen, and such a queen as Queen Olga-a. grand duchess of Russia! 

And Russi.'lo may almost be called the leading power of Em·ope. We 

should be proud to think of such a minister I How did they dance itT 

[Laughter.] 

Hands across and down the middle, 

To the tune of flute and the fiddle. 

l\!r. Chairman, I have seen much promiscuous dancing. Byron re- fers to the Pyrrhic dances of classic Greece, but that dance is obsolete. I have seen the Kabyles in Northern Africa with their strange 

swaying dances. I have seen some dancing in the aisles of this House 

that forcibly reminded me of the Dervishes of the East. I have seen some ravishing dancing by the senoritas of Seville. 

But, sir, I pause. We have here a gentle professor, [Mr. MoNROE,] 

at one time a very good professor at Oberlin, and a good man. He 

is or was a very rel1.gious man. He is well educated, but did he know 

when. he was speaking for Greece and its minister the other day and 

quoting its history-did be know that our minister there had been 

dancing a contra-dance t Did he know that he was thus desecrating 
986 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY . 9, 

the old religious Presbyterian principles T No, sir, I repudiate such an idea. How can he vote against Greece in this bill "I rLaughter.l 

DIPLOMATIC EATING, .AND DRINKING • .AND DRESS. 

Sir, the letter which the gentleman from Illinois sent up to be read was not exactly read by the Clerk in the proper tones. I proceed to 

read it through: 

The spacious salons were :filled at half past nine, and the festivities continued 

until half past five in the morning. The arrangements throughout were of the most admirable charaeter. An elaborate supper for i~ht hundred guests waa laid in the royal salle a 'TIW.nger and in the two la~e adjoining rooms, while the minis- ters of state and the diplomatic corps were entertained by the King and Queen in 

the beautiful private apartments of their majesties. 

I would like to know what they had to eat on that festive occa- sion. What did they drink"/ Was it champagne or was itBnrgundyf 

Did they haTe imported from Spain the rare Montillado 'f Did they 

have Reudisheimer, or did they have Hockheimer or some other 

"heimer" from the Rhine T [Laughter.] What were th~y drinking! 

Was it the ~in D'Asti from Italy or Tokay from Hungaryf What was their rnenu, Was it drawn from Apicius or the "mouth officers" 

of Lucullus 'f Wa-s it inspired by Brillat Savarin or Delmonico 'f I 

think some man on the republican side of the House who is interested 

in retrenchment ought to have the question raised and inquiry made as to what was going on on that occasion in respect to the edibles and 

drinking; for I hold that the .first duty of an American diplomat is 

to drink nothing but pure old American Bourbon whisky. [Laughter.] 

Moreover, the utility of this wonderful diplomatic system which I am now defendin~, for I think it will prove of great utility, is the 

right to have inqmry as to the peculiar diplomatic dress our minister wore when he danced with the Queen of Greece. 

Did he wear a spike-tailed coat; were his hands covered with graceful kids; were they of the Alexandrine pattern, and was his hair 

parted in the middle! [Laughter.] How was the Queen dressed! 

How did she manage that white-satin dress so as not to take the color 

from her cheeks, as represented in another interesting dispatch "I We 

want to kno~ all about it; how long was her train; and, if ilot, why 

not! [Laughter.] .ART .AND GREECE. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I had the other day a little troublesome matter 

with my friend from Maine [Mr. HALE] as to which I wish t.o express 

my regret. I called him by an endearing epithet, but I felt a little bad 

about it. I went to the Corcoran Art Gallery on Saturday to relieve 

myself from this feeling. 

I never felt the necessity of keeping a minister at Greece until I 

walked, thoughtful, silent, among the mutilated pla-ster casts of the 

Corcoran Gallery on Saturday. There were orators without lungs, 

stat.esmen without brains, soldiers without arms, and Venuses without robes. [Laughter.] Here was a torso Demosthenes and a one-eyed 

Homer; there was a Theseus garroting a spavined Centaur. The 

gentleman from Kentucky will understand what a spavined Centaur 

is. [Laughter.] All about were the fauns, satyrs, Apollos, and Di- anas which Greece gave to art and art to the ages. Although the only . art of modern Greece consists in the ransoming of travelers from brigands, and the farming out of revenues for the sick man of the Levant, 

and feeding goats, yet that is a strong reason for a minister to look 

after art, b1i.gands, and revenue. If the British Queen-whose empire is based on the wisdom and the 

rocks of ages, and whose star and course of empire is eastward throu~h 

her newly acquired Suez Canal to her hundreds of millions in India, 

and whose footsteps of empire are marked at Malta, Corfu, and in 

the isles of Greece-could not protect her subject.~ from brigandage 

and murder within sight of the Acropolis, does it not become our duty, as the mighty limb of her magnificent trunk, to throw our shadow over that sterile soil where Marathon looks on the seal Is 

not this our bounden duty this centenninJ. year T Are we not inviting all the nations to our carnival of industry and jubilee of freedom. 

What would that interesting occasion be without a wooden horse 

from Greece within thy gates, 0 city of Brotherly Love I 

Moreover, do we not reach on t to other isles than those of Greece and 

other lands remote f Does not Massachusetts, through an honored son and an ex-member of Congress, give law to the realm of King 

Kalakaua f Ha-s not our vessel, with our proud starry flag, borne a Pennsylvanian, Colonel ·Steinberger, to the distant Samoan group 

of the southwestern seas, eight thousand miles from our coa-st, near the tropic of Capricorn "I Has he not there eaten of the bread-fruit 

with the kings of the g:oup and, a group of kings, made himself premier over their counmls and king of. the ex-Cannibal L!lands t If we can do this in the isles of King Lnnalilo, amid the ancient vesicular lava-beds, all;)..agladaloids, and basalt, where, over coralline led~es, 

amid which disport fish banded and spotted with green and cnm- son, the wild waves are singing our everlasting glory hallelujah; 

why may we not rea-ch out from Pago-Pago and the slopes of Upolu 

and Savaii to the land where Homer ruled as his demesne and Sappho 

sang her sad refrain to the 1Egean, into whose bosom she sprang and .from whose bosom her favorite deity arose. [Laughter.] 

If we can use the contingent fund, as we have, to reach Pago-Pago and its interesting converts to poly~amous Christianity, why may we not extend an enterprising rule and roving into that land where 

Pericles ruled, DemostJJenes spoke, Sophocles sung, and even Pa.ul 

preached Y Did we not last yea.r, to gratify an Ohio member, appropriate thousands for a. new survey of Judea 1 And, if so, wJ:ty may 

not Mars Hill have its geol<?,gist and the Morea. its photographs'¥ 

GREEK COillffiRCE. 

Gentlemen may tell us that we have .no commerce with Greece, 

and therefore require no minister there. Gentlemen may say thclt our ships and clippers no longer plow the historic waves, rendered 

classic by the prows of Ulysses and the pinnaces of Agamemnon. True our ship-building is a myth; but Greece is the Jand of myths. True: 

the decadence of our shipping calls for little or no men-of-war; but 

what an interesting study for our minister are the men of war who 

went out to take Troy forty-five hundred years ago and besought and 

besieged that city till the young men went west I But is it not a strong reason for the encouragement of our navigation f If we had our olden commerce, there would be no need of its fostering. We 

must have ancient Greece to teach us the art of navigation and revive our shipping I · 

By t.he latest returns up to September 30, 1875, for three months we had only two ships, with eight sailors apiece, which cleared for Greece. 

It is not recorded that they ever returned. But no matter for that. 

Let us encourage emigration. During the past fifty-five years, from 

1821 to 1875, we had two hundred and eighty-three descendants of 

Epaminondas and Socrates come to our shores, being four persons and 

four-fifths of a person on an averar,e per an~um, distributed from PassamaquoddytoPasodelNorte. Now, when immigration is falling off, 

it is high time to rea-ch out the hand to the heroes of Thermopylm and 

Missolonghi. Let us brin~ to our shores the honored scions-thus 

gloriously quoted by Mr . .~.tead, our minister, in his dispatch, to wit: 

Mavrocordato, Kolokotronis1 Botzaris, Capo d'latria, and man:y more which long 

ago became household words m America, have now in Greece living illustrations 

in the second and third generations. These reJ.>resen tati ves of a glorious past pace 

to-day beneath the paintingswhich tell in graphic ways their ancestors' heroic story. 

. We can make Solons out of them when war does not summon them 

to its gory field! 

I saw in the gallery remains of Greece in plaster of Paris." There was Demosthenes; and let me state here confidentially [laughter] 

that he bears a strong resemblance to my friend from Pennsylvania, 

[Mr. KELLEY.] LLaughter.] And now I come back to the House 

of Representatives I see that Greece is not dead ; that she is still a living Greece, living in plaster of Paris right in the city of Washington. 

I will go further. I think we ought to have a minister to all other 

obsolete and blase places. Why not have a minister of the same rank 

at Herculaneum, at Pompeii, and at all those places to which we resort as a matter of course and curiosity f 

Mr. SPRINGER. To Nineveh. 

Mr. COX. Where f 

Mr. SPRINGER. Nineveh. 

Mr. COX. Yes, to Nineveh, perhaps the most eligible situation on the globe. [Laughter.] I would prefer a consul to Nineveh forcertain reasons which I need not mention. [Renewed laughter.] 

TRIPOLI, TURKEY, .lli'D OUR MINIBTER. 

That reminds me of something I intended to discuss. I was saddened to read in these dispatches that our friend Mr. Maynard had 

been rather snubbed bJ" the State Department because of a little 

matter to which I will briefly call the attention of the House. It is our duty here aa well to protect our ahsent members as those present, 

just as my friend from Indiana [1\.lr. HoLMAN] protected Judge Bingham the other day in such an eloquent manner. I wou1d protect Mr. 

Maynard from the harsh criticism passed upon him in one of these 

papers. How did the criticism upon him originate Y I will tell you. 

There is a sort of hermaphrodite country called Tripoli; it does not 

know whether it is a part of Turkey or of Egypt or of Algiers or of the 

Desert of Sahara, which is soon to be flooded. 

We have no minister there, but we have a consul-general, Mr. Vidal. Last year or year before last he wrote a dispatch, which was quoted in this House to show that our Protestant missionaries ought 

not to waste their time in Tripoli or in the territories of the oi barbaroi 

of the Greeks. He said the place for Protestant propagandism wa-s in Bulgaria. The old New York Presbyterian Observer came out and 

read this consul a. lesson. It said: "Why do you as a consul of the 

United States undertake to direct our missionary enterprises T What 

is that to you ! Where do yon get your power!" Mr. Vidal had 

urged that there were a great many slave-traders brin~g slaves from 

Soudan and taking them to Constantinople and putting them in th.e 

harems of these bashaws of many tails. This brought Mr. Vidal into 

all sorts of trouble, aJ,ld this book shows that he retired from his con- sulate and his companions to a little place 1;emote from the city and near the sea. One day a Turkish ,;ailor wended his way up to his kitchen 

to light his cigarette. Mr. Vidal, with that patriotism which becomes an American abroad, proud of. his :flag although Jt covers no com- merce, rushed for that snilor a.nd tripped him up. He had the spirit 

of Decatur who cut out the Philadelphia from that port. But the 

sailor stood up to Vidal and a contest ensued. He rushed to Malta, 

appealed to Mr. Maynard, and Mr. Maynard appealed to Washington. But I must be precise. Here is the reproof, which it hurts my heart 

to reproduce. Onpage1316 of the diplomatic papers, "Mr.Fi.sh to Mr. 

Maynard," under dat e of November 9, 1875, writes thus, and harshly: 

This subject was fully discussed in my former dispatch, and I allude particularly to it in this connection ill order that yon may eco~D;ize its significance and the im· 

portance of being controlled in the settlement of t-nis affair, and in all our negotia- tions connected therewith, exclusively by our treaty with Tripoli. For these reasons it would ha.vo been better if, in your note to Safvet Pasha., you 

had not referred to our treaty with the Ottoman govemruent as securing our con· 
1876 . . CONGRE~SION.A.L RECORD. 987 

sul ~inst the indignity of proceedings against him by •.he local authorities for an alleged misdemeanor. The "most-favored nation" clause in our treaty with 

Tripoli secures to the United States'consnl all the rights and privileges accordtld to the representatives of other foreign powers. Ravin~ appealed to onr treaty with Tripoli, we cannot, in the settlement of this question, take our treaty with 

the Porte at all into consideration. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentlem'ln has expired. 

Many MEMBERS. Go on! Go on! 

The CHAIRMAN. If there be no objection, the time of the gentleman will be extended. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. COX. I thank the House· for its indulgence. Mr. Maynard 

suited the Turkish m,ission better than any man I know. He had 

the grave, deliberate, and majestic ·manner which we aJ.>e told by 

TMophile Gautier (in his volume on Constantinople, just issued, page 

156) belongs to the Turk, who never hurries himself, except in the 

presence of death. How sad he must have been at the treatment 

which his first little effort at diplomacy received from the State Department, his first effort to put things into shape for this consulate that 

had no commerce to take care of and was always in trouble. I see him as he retires to the cemetery of Scutari. There, amid the gx:avestones that are capped with the turban of Moslem, he sits annd the · ashes of despair. 

With all the propriety of deportment, he is sitting cross-legged sipping 

his Mocha and smoking his chi bonk, until addressed by some bashaw 

of his acquaintance in these words: "How is it with you, my bashaw 

from Tennessee t Thou lookest sa-d to-day. What has gone amiss 

with thee, my brotherf" "I have heard from the great mogul of 

New York, and he has blamed me for that which I have written, and 

I am unhappy_ therefor." ''Turn your eyes up to these cypress-trees 

which weep with you, and with the dead near you; cast your eyes 

toward Mecca; bow your head with your fez cap three times, and yon 

may be happy. Bishalla, go bragh! Brother Maynard; Mahomet is 

his prophet. Be just unto all men; sin not. Write not home anything encouraging about radicalism or Ku-Klux; be honorable, be 

just, and yon will be happy. Allah is great, and Mahomet is his 

prophet. Rememberest thou not that one star goeth around another 

star, and that a star with a long tnil swishes around the sun and goes 

and comes at intervals; comes in and goes out like eternal day and 

eternal night f Let the star with the long tail spin I Allah is great, 

and Mahomet is his prophet." [Laughter.] • . And thus our friend will be consoled. 

HOW TO REVIVE COMMERCE. 

· Why, gentlemen, to end this speech and to end it at once, you can- not revive commerce by your petty, rascally consular system, as my 

friend from illinois [Mr. SPRINGER] has developed it to you to-day. 

You have to make a cause for it here. Commerce does not depend on consuls. Commerce depends on your laws, or rather the repeal of 

yom laws. Take off your burdens; take off your taxes. Then com- merce will come; and the great art of ship-building, now almost 

obsolete in this country, so that there is no more apprenticeship to 

it, will revive again, and with it the retmns which commerce always 

gives to nations. 

But we. have other and greater elements than that of consular rela-

"!Jons, c.onnected· with commerce. My friend from Ohi9 [Mr. GARFIELD] in his grand survey of the Pacific referred to them. We have 

the elements of steam and electricity, drawing nations closer together; 

Stephenson and Bessemer helping on land; Watt and Fulton on the 

sea; Morse everywhere. Why do they help commerce f They call 

attention to the source of supply from the source of demand and vice versa. In Chicago the price of grain in Liverpool and London is a matter of hourly intelligence. Why, sir, in Utica, New York, where 

there is a cheese exchange, every time a man brings a cheese into Utica 

he looks at tlle bulletin to see the price of gold or cheese in Liverpool. 

We are drawing the world together. Iron aided by steam, with its 

great arms, is breasting the mobile eleme-nts of the ocean while electricity is senditlg its message. 

I can remember ~oing, years ago when I was a boy, to the district 

of my honorable friend from Massachusetts [Mr. HoAR] to look at a new paper-machine there. It was the wonder of the time. My father 

had built the first paper-mill west of the Alleghany Mountains. He 

followed the old pla.n of making paper in molds, by vats. I worked as a paper-maker before I became a bla-cksmith or a Congressman. 

[Laughter.] I understood thoroughly that business. I went there 

and I saw that machine. By the old hand-process about one htmdred pounds of paper was made per day; now llo machine will turn 

out two thousand pounds in the same time. A machine will convert a stream of fluid pulp into paper, dry and polish it, and cut it into 

sheets; the time consumed in converting the pulp is two minutesthe old process was eight days. Steam, electricity, pa-per-newspapers 

and all-are to-day revolutionizingandreviving commerce. But for 

these elements all your consulates amount to nothing. 

It is said by philosophers that the smallest atom-even an atom so small that Tyndall could not express it; an atom so small that it ha,s no upper nor under side-it is said that even the tiny love drop in the 

bottom of the little Alpine flower down amid the glaciers has its effect 

upon the rings of Saturn, and perhaps upon some other "rings" that 

I need not mention in this community. [Laughter.] But whatever 

may be its effect, it is no more in the great forces of the universe as 

connected with our practical life than is your little consul in the 

revival of commerce, trade, and navigation. 

The Hanseatic League made commerce without consuls. The Venetian argosies and the Dutch Indiaman carried for and enriched 

their country without consuls. Transportation is the secret. It 

brings the prairie to the seaboard. It has made for us seventy-four 

thousand miles of railroa-ds, with a gross receipt of five hundred 

millions. When it is rash and grasping, as in 1873, it made its tax on cereals to you of the West-at five cents a bushel, $45,000,000. 

Learn from England. Encourage iron and steam. Take oft' your 

great taxes and the multitude of them. Give enconra,&ement to our people to sell abroad. The gentleman from New York LMr. HEWI'IT] 

spoke about our cotton trade reviving. I know it is reviving to some extent ; but last year $75,000,000 worth of cotton was sold by England 

where we should have had the market. We are, it is true, selling some abroad now, and I hope we shall sell more. If our t.ariff bill passes, 

with the aid of steam, with the aid of electricity, with the aid of fair 

dealing, with a reconciled country North and South, East and West, 

and with the blessing- of a centennial year, and divine goodness, we ma.y have another kind of jubilee in which there will be an interdependence of men and nation.s arid an independence among men from 

bad government everywhere on our star. [Applause.] 

Mr. KELLEY. Mr. Chairman, I did not know how funny our diplomatic and consular relations were. I have discovered that the discussion of them is, to use a slang phrase, " as good as a circus," i11deed as good aa a circus with two clowns of such equal merit that one does 

not know at the shallow follies of which he has laughed most. During the fourteen years I have been here, realizing the fact that no man can study every question presented in all its details, it has been my 

habit to follow committees, and, when one of them reported a bill 

to the House and brought it up for discussion, to listen to their statements of facts, their arguments, and to be largely governed by them 

beca.use I believed (and usually the discussion of the bill confirmed 

the belief) that the members of the committee ha.d studied the subject, understood something about it, and had reported :the bill in good 

fait.h. 

I listened yesterday to the statesmanlike speech of the gentleman 

from New York, [Mr. HEWITI',] and drank it in gratefully, for it was replete with well-digested facts. It showed that he understood the 

subject he was discussing in all its relations and bearings. And I came to the House i.his morning to be further instructed, having heard 

that elaborate speeches were to be made by the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. SPRINGER] and·the ~entleman from New York [Mr. Cox] 

in support of the bill he had criticised with such intelligent discrimination. Having heard t.hem, I am constrained to say that I shall 

shrink from the advice of the committee whose bill they champion, 

whose views they sustain. Enlightened by their remarks, I cannot 

look upon this as a serious bill. The courso they have pursued con- vinces me that it is a. mere political dodge,~ peg upon which to hang 

sophistical suggestions in favor of economy, that they may go with 

their pla,titndes, plausibilities, and gross jokes, unfit by their coarse- ness for this Hall, t.o the more vulgar part of their cou.stituencies in an appeal against the action of the republican Senate in maintaining, as I believe it will do, the well-devised diplomatic and consular system which, whatever may be its defects, has grown up aa the outgrowth of time, and been developed, shaped, nurtured, and cherished 

by the wisest and best statesman of the democratic and opposing 

parties. 

The gentleman from Ulinois [Mr. SPRINGER] made an unfortunate 

allusion to a former member from Pennsylvania, whom he honored 

overmuch in saying that, by referring to the gold spoons which were part of the fmniture of the Executive Mansion, he had over- thrown Van Buren's administration. That administration, sir, was bound to fall, and Charles Ogle~s mean and vulgar recital of the 

implements used at the presidential table on state occasions did not 

assist in its overthrow. It however did other things, sir. It made an honored family ashamed of its name and caused every Pennsylvanian to blush when" Spooney Ogle" was spoken of in his hearing. 

There is scarcely a man in either party in Western Pennsylvania 

who does not remember the Ogle family and its history before its 

pride was extinguished by the mean and base pretense of economy 

of the man who sought ent.rance to the White House to carry with 

vulgar exaggeration into a political campaign the details of its social 

life on state occasions. General Jack Ogle, of Somerset, who was known all over Western Pennsylvania and largely over the west- ern country as the "frosty son of thunder," was a man of eccentricities, but he was a man of character, integrity, and pride. When he 

went among his mo.untaineer constituents his utterances swayed their 

mind and will as the storm sways the branches of the oaks of the 

forest. For many years he had been a vital power, but he nev-er raised his hea-d in public after his kinsman gave the gentleman from 

Illinois a precedent for his speech of to-day. He felt the degradation 

of the family name and retired from public life. 

The speeches we have heard, sir, may be said to have concerned all 

things and other things besides; I shall not therefore pretend to follow the gentlemen in their devious windings and wanderings. But 

few of their remarks had serious relation to the consular and diplo- matic bill. They meant to darken counsel on that subject. When 

the gentleman from lllinois spoke of the crimson mat upon the 

marble floor he exhibited hiB profound knowledge of eastern life by 
-

988 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.· 

asking how the marginal marble could be seen through the crimson 

mats which lay at the feet of the ladies, aml added the suggestion 

that he had probably seen through a glass darkly. The thought wa.s suggestive. But, sir, there was withall an honest, earnest, un- der purpose in bot.h speeches. It was not economy with which the 

gentleman from illinois began or retrenchment with which the gentleman from New York began. It was by the darkening of counsel to 

make campaign documents at whatever risk of danger to the com- merce of the country, and to argue, in advance of the report of a bill 

relating thereto, a question about which, if the gentlemen will pardon me, I will take the liberty of saying they know as little as they seem to know about our consular and diplomatic service. 

The gentlem~n n:om New York [Mr. Cox] told us, from his imagination purely as he was compelled to admit, how thia House at the 

instance of the President had hastened to pass a bill allowing the purchase and registry of foreign-built ships. He has been here sixteen 

years, he says, and t?entlemen can scan hi8 record, and the record of 

the House, scrutinizmg votes-standing, by tellers, and by yeas and 

nays-and find they all disprove the statement, though he said he had 

just been examining the record of the vote by yeas and nays to ascer- tain how the gentleman from Minnesota voted. The proposition was upon the recommendation of the President, submitted to the 

House on July 15, 1870. The session was to expire that day, and the 

Speaker's hammer came down while the discussion was proceeding; 

and his other facts or allegations seem to me to be almost as well 

founded as this one that we passed any such bill. 

Thus he tells us that ship-building has come to be almost a lost art, 

is almost obsolete. Why, I tell you upon official authority that since 

1870 not four branches of industry have so rapidly grown within our country as iron-ship building under the beneficent influence of protection to American industry. We are building ships forourown use and for exportation to float foreign flags in the ownership of citizens 

of foreign countries. I speak not wildly on the subject. The iron 

ships which now bear American commerce over the Pacific Ocean, 

grander in their proportions when ln,unched within a year than any . other commercial vel:lsels then floating, were built by John Roach & 

Sons on the Delaware, in the district of my friend and colleat?ue 

[Mr. ToWNSEND] who represents .Chester and Delaware Counties. 

The only line of iron ships that bear the American flag across the 

Atlantic Ocean in foreign commerce were built by William Cramp & 

Sons on the same river, the Delaware, in the fifth district of Pennsylvania. 

Under free trade and har4 money there was no chance to develop 

either the resources of the country or to engage in the construction 

of ships. In 1868 the total tonnage of iron ships of American build 

in our country was 2,801 tons; in 1B69 it was 3,545 ; in 18i0, 7,602 ; 

in 1871, 15,480; and it has increased with increasing ratio each year. 

The municipal authorities of the city of Philadelphia have recently 

obliterated seveml important streets for some distance west from the 

wharf-line to make unbroken space for an iron-ship yard, which will 

begin work with nn engagement for one hundi:ed iron steamers, many 

of which willcarrythemineml wealth of Pennsylvaniatotheislands 

of the sea, where it is needed as fuel n.nd machinery in the production 

of sugar and other commodities. 

The gentlemen say reduce your ·customs duties in order to increase 

your revenues. To which I rejoin, read the firu:ljncial and industrial 

hi tory of your country, gentlemen, before you undertake to teach or persuade. Yes, read the history of your own country in its official 

statistics. Note what its revenue has been under the varying tariffs 

that have succeeded each other. You will find that under low duties the revenue always falls off, and that under the highest tariffs the revenue has steadily increased. And there is a philosophic reason for these 

resnlt..s. They are not accidental coincidences. Under a protective 

tariff our people are employed ; labor and skill are in demand; the 

rate of wages increases. They are able to supply their wants. Nay 

more, they are able to gratify their desires. Supplying their wants 

and gTatifying their desires, they purchase dutiable goods imported 

in exchange for those we export. 

Do not rely upon my statement merely; I have before me the officia.l figures of the customs-revenue received in every year from the 

foundation of the Government, beginning with 1791, when the first 

tariff went into effect, to the close of 1869. . The war forced us to adopt 

high tariff duties. The protective tariff was not accepted as a theory 

but as a necessity. We increased duties three times, in 1861, in 1862, 

and in 1864. And with what effect upon the public revenues T Prior 

to 1861 they had in but four years exceeded $55,000,000; in 1861 they 

reached but $39,582,186; in 1862, $49,056,398; in 1863, when protection began to operate, they came to $69,059,642; in 1864, to $102,316,153; 

in 1866 they went to $179,046,630; in 1867, to 176,417,811; in 1868, to 

$164,464,599 ; in 18G9, to $180,048,426. And just in proportion as duties have been reduced and the prices of our commodities also been 

reduced by a contraction of the currency increasing numbers of our people have been forced to pmctice economy and retrenchment by reason of enforced idleness, and the revenue has diminished. 

We can never, said the gentleman from illinois, [Mr. SPRINGER,] 

sell our manufactured goods until _we cheapen them, so that the people in South America for example can buy them at 100 per qent. less 

than other countries will sell. Sir, how will we make a profit by selling our goods at 100 per cent. less than others f 

.Mr. SPRINGER. I said 100 por cent. less than other countries sold 

them at. 

Mr. KELLEY. That is precisely what I said the gentleman had 

state$!. To sell goods at 100 per cent less will in some instances re- quire us to pay people for taking them. We will be giving a bonus 

to people to a-ccept them. 

Mr. SPRINGER. What I meant to say was a hundredth part of 1 

per cent. 

Mr. KELLEY. 0, a hundredth part of 1 per cent. That is another 

thing. 

Now let me tell-the gentleman that, if he will study the commerce of his country through its official statistics and the leading trade 

journals, he will find that we are selling iron goods in Birmingham 

and other leading iron districts of England, that we are selling cotton goosis in Manchester, that we are selling saws in Londun, (and 

through London to every part of the British Islands,) that we have 

driven a]rnost all commodities produced chiefly from the useful metals 

out of Canada or compelled British ma,nufacturers to sell them there 

without profit; and that we have done thiS' by virtue of the protective system which made wages so high that the inventive genius of man has been applied to the production of labor-saving machinery 

for use in every art, traO.e, and mystery. By this means we have lessened the cost of production and improved the quality of our wares and fabrics. 

But protection, by thus stimulating the development of our multiform raw materials, made such a demand for labor as raised wages 

and tempted millions of immigrants to come and dwell among us and 

pay duties and taxes upol\ the imported and domestic articles they consume. Under free trade and hard money our immigration, which 

had once attained the dimensions of 250,000 in a single year, shrunk 

away so that in 1861 and 1862 the total immigration was less, in each 

of those years of free trade and hard money, than 92,000, w bile, under 

the influence of the protective system and the "rag-baby," a-s out 

national currency has been derisively called from the very steps of 

the presidential mansion, it grew up to 449,483 in 1872 and 437,004 

in 1873. Under the influence of contraction and the dread of free 

trade, consequent upon the incoming of the democratic party as a majority in thia House, with the threat of a return to low duties, it 

is shrinking away again, and last year amounted to but 191,231. And 

in th~ six months of the current :fiscal year thn.t have elapsed there is a further shrinkage of about 30 per cent. as compared with the same period of last year. Go on, gentlemen, and pass the bill you are in 

such bpt haste to advocate, and the consequence will be t.hat the 

farmers of Illinois will burn their corn, as they did in the old days of 

free trade and hard money, though the fields upon which it will grow are underlaid with coal at n. depth ranging from but thirty to two 

hundred and sixty feet. Strike down the workshops of the country, 

reduce wages so as to prohibit immigration, buy your manufactured 

goods from foreign nations, so that employment in England, France, 

and Germany, at good wages, can readily be had, while the machinery 

of the United Shtes stands idle, and our working-people are beggared, 

and where then will be the farmer's market Y Who will come into the new States of the West and Northwest, or swarm into the fertile and 

sunny South to add value to land and promote the improvement thereof. 

The mere introduction of that bill by the chairman of the Committee 

of Ways and l\ieans and its reference to that committee have already 

paralyzed the few industries that our folly in contracting the money 

of the country had left in a comparatively prosperous condition. 

Mr. SPRINGER. Will the gentleman allow me a word t 

Mr. KELLEY. Not just at this time. 

The gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] spoke of the miserable 

Spanish republics. Miserable! Why are they miserable f He told us that England had a mortgage upon their territory and their custom- revenues. And why are they thus miserable and enslaved f It is be- cause their affairs have been managed on the theories of the gentle- men who have harangued us so to-day with such flippancy. 

They have been ~overned by free-trade principles. Their rulers 

have believed that It was better that their workshops should be beyond the Atlantic. They had no local-credit system by which domestic exchanges could be facilitated. Their money as gold and 

silver. They had not reached that point of progress when credit 

not only supplements but substitutes metallic money, a thing of intrinsic value and therefore liable to be withdrawn from them by foreign creditors. Producing only raw materials they have been unable 

to accumulate capital or aggregate population; and whether they 

wanted a railroad or a few wagon-wheels, whether they wanted pins or needles or fine carriages, or whatever other manufactured articles, 

they went to foreign countries and got them made, thus depriving 

their own people of employment. They preferred that their wor.k 

should.be done by the people of England, France, or Germany; and so it has come to pass that free trade has exhausted their resources and forced them to repudiate their national obligations. Some of 

them have declared their inability to pay interest already due. This 

is so with two or three of them already; and with growing demands 

for interest further repudiation must come. It may be postponed by makin~ new loans out of·which to pay interest; but the ultimate re- pudiation of aJl their debts is inevitable. When the interest on . a foreign debt exceeds the annual profits of the people creditors must 

suffer. 

But I ask gentlemen whether somebody does not hold a mo~gage 

on our custom-duties¥ Are we in a position to taunt these exhausted, 

poor republics and scoff at their misery f Whei·e do our custom-duties 

got Who holds a statutory mortgage upon them! The foreign· 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 989 

holders of American bonds that require us each year to ship twice aa much gold aa we can mine and all the silver we can mine at whatever 

price they will give us for it, and to supplement them with corn and 

cotton, with tobacco and petroleum; and, sadder than all, with other 

bonds and mortgages. Ay! when you come to· ask that the legaltender money of the country shall be received for duties you will be 

told that those duties are mortgaged, that a statute has declared that 

you shall not touch a dollft.r of them until you have paid the holders 

of your gold-bearing bonds, and I fear that if you persist in the reckless course of issuing them we are now pursuing the day may come when some member of the British Parliament or of the French Chamber will enlarge the language of the honorable gentleman from New 

York [Mr. Cox] and say "the miserable republics of America." The 

unlimited purchase of foreign productions with interest-bearing bonds 

will bankrupt any nation, let its people be as proud as they may. 

To drop from a grave question to a very trivial one, let me say 

there has been much discussion as to the costume in which Franklin 

appeared at court. Sir, I have had opportunities of examining the 

best portraits of Franklin and was delighted, on entering the Wadsworth Athenreum at Hartford, Connecticut, to be able to examine the 

suit in which he appeared at the court of France. It was a suit of 

magnificent embroidered brocade coat, vest, and breeches. When 

Franklin represented the tax-payers, the people, the patriots of America, they were all in earnest. They knew his power and wished him 

to exert it as best he could in their service. He loved plain dress, 

but he -adapted himself to the usages of the court to which he was accredited. They did not make his costume the subject of demagogical speeches that would discredit him with even the ignorant or meanly penurious portion of their constituents. They sent him and 

other ministers abroad to exercise power and in1luence, and this could 

oest be done by mingling in social life and manifesting becoming interest in the affairs of the people and Government, and creating a good impression of himself and his country; and I have no doubt that 

many of the foolish expressions which have been read from the published reports of our diplomatic correspondence have been prepared 

with a view of their being sent back to the country from which they came. Resort to such simple means of propitiating the good-will of 

nations is not a novelty. It has often been suggested by our State 

Department, by Mr. Seward in his time, by Mr. Marcy who, though 

he protested against court-dress and insisted upon a simple suit of 

black, always encouraged our representatives, to cultivate social 

amenities and to transmit to the Tiepartment things that would be 

agreeable when read by the court to which the minister was accredited. I agree with gentlemen that Mr. J. Meredith Read carried this 

spades of amiable diplomacy to excess. · I am also willing to go further and say that I do not think it important, except tra.ditionally, to retain a mission to Greece. It is a declining country. I am, however, unwilling to slight it, when I remember 

that some of the distinguished members of Mr. Monroe' cabinet were anxious to send a fleet to lay upon her classic shores and maintain 

her integrity at the cost of war. I am unwilling to slight it, when I 

remember that among the richest of the treasures of our parliamentary eloquence are the magnificent bursts of Henry Clay in behalf of 

prostrate Greece. 

Greece has a traditional right to claim sympathy and, if need be, 

aid from the American people. To blot Greece out would be to blot 

out a historic reminder of the courage and foresight of the great men who constituted the Cabinet of James Monroe and of the eloquence 

of Henry Clay. 

I am not upon the Committee on Appropriations, and therefore 

probably should not have thrust myself into this discussion. But 

discovering the double drift of the speeches of to-day-the one to 

make ad captandum fltnmp speeches for the coming campaign and the 

other to pave the way for an aasault upon that system which has 

made us great and is advancing our 'relative greatness-I was impelled to enter myprotest. In doing so let me turn to the statesmanlike speech of the gentleman from New York, [Mr. HEWIIT,] to which 

I have ah·eady referred. 

"Give us free trade," howl these two a~vocates of economy andretrenchment. Now let us look at the question. I have shown you the 

effect of protection upon the revenues of the country, and I tell you 

that to reduce the duties on imports as largely as that bill proposes 

would bring the Government to repudiation. I turn to the speech of 

the gentleman from New York, made yesterday, and find that from 

1790 to 1830 our whole foreign commerce amounted to but $115,000,000 

in any one year. In 1840 it had come to be 200,000,000. Then we gave it the spur of protection, the tariff of 1842, which lasted for four 

years and morem practice quickened a thousand industries. It enabled us to enter the markets of the world with various classes of saws, with 

but-hinges, the ordinary household furniture for doors :md windows, 

and many other varieties of hardware. 

Then came the discovery of Californi:l. gold, and our commerce went np to $708,000,000. In 1865, with the Southern .States withdrawn, wit.hout cotton or tobacco, our foreign commerce ranged at 

640,000,000. It was then feeling the full effects of the third increase 

of tariff duties. From 1865 te 1870 it jumped np to $875,000,000, and 

from 1870 to 1874 it went to $1,265,000,000. 

In 1869 I had the honor of addressing an audience in San Francisc9. 

.A. gentleman recurring to my well-known protectionist views said to me with satirical emphasis, "You will do well to.let our merchants 

know how you account for the decline in our commerce." I accepted 

his challenge, and in the course of my remarks stated and proceeded to 

verify the statement that our foreign commerce, instead of declining, 

was, under the in1luence of the protective system, growing so rapidly, 

in comparison with that of England, that it took but an ordinary 

arithmetician to calculate the elate at which the foreign trade of the 

United States would exceed that of the British Isles; and the gentle- man from New York [Mr. HEWITT] in a general way confirms that 

statement. Having given tables showing the growth of the com- merce of each country, he said : 

In 1874. the aggregate imports and exports of Great :Britain amounted to £667,- 733,165. Her popufation was 32,412,010. Her foreign trade, therefore, was at the rate of £ 21 or 100 in gold per head of population. In the same year the ag~regate imports and exports of the United States amounted to $1,265,719,964, which, 

allowing a J?Opulation of 40,000,000, gives a foreign trade of $30.66! per head, or less 

than one-third of the British per capita rate. Those who know the natural resources of this country will not require to be told that we have a. better basis for foreign commerce than Great Britain, and that if she can maintain a trade of I OOperc~tpiu.J, 

we shall surely arrive at the same result if we take the same means to secure it, 

and remove all artificial impediments from its growth. The figures may be bewildering, but thev mal be realiZed, and would amount to $4,000,000,000 per annum. The foreign tr:lde o Great Britain already exceeds 3,000,000,000. Few persons, however, realize the rapid development of our foreign commerce since 1840. Prior to that date its growth was very slow. 

1790 ..••••.•••••. __ ........... ·------· ••••••••••••.•••••• ·----- •••••• 42, 626, e« 1800 .•• -•• ·-· --- ••• ---.----··-.- ••• - •• --· -· .• ···-•• --------- ··-. ·--.. 83,962, 7!l4 1810 .•••••• ··---.---.- ·--- ••. -·--- •••••• ·-·--- ·---- ••••• -.--.•••• ---. 103,375, 370 1820....... ••• •• .••• •• • ••. •••••• •••••• •••• •• ••• . ••••••• ••••••••• ••• •. 108, 125, 6U 

1830 . ··-••••••••.•• -••• - •• --·--•••• -.-•.•••••• ·--· •. -- ••••. ·--. -·.-.. 115,951, 570 1840.---.- •• -••• - •. • -··.-•.•••••• ····-••••• -•••••• -·-••••• -· ••• -.-... 202, 846, 84l 

1850. -·· •• ····-.-·--. ···-••• ---.-. -·-.-.--.---.• -•.• -••.• -•.• - .• ---.- 300,131,472 1860 .• -- ·-. ---.-. -·-.-.-•••••••••.• -•.• --. ·~-- -·.-- -·. -·· --. --· ·-.... 708, 42'2, 506 

1865 .•• --. --·-·-.--. ·-···-. -·-••• -.- ·-·-•• -- ------ -· ·-··-· -----.•• --. 640, 184,622 1870 .••••• ·-·-·· ··-· --· ···-·-·---·. ···--· ·----· •••••• ·-·-·· ··---·. -·. 875,708,616 1874. --·---· •••••• ·--·-··-----·--· ·--··-·-·-·· ·--·--· --········ ~·-· · 1, 265,719,964 

Those who have been accustomed to talk· of the decay of .American commerce . can study this table with profit. There has in fact been no development in any a~e 

or in any country comparable to it. Compare it, for example, with the increase m Great Britain since 1865, an era of unexampled prosperity: 

Year. l ___ rn_l_po_rts_. -·I--E-xpo __ rts_. -II--T_o_ta_l. __ 

1865 ·-----····-·---·-··-·--· ·····j· 1870 ••• --- ••••• -•••. ·---•• --·- •• -

1874 ··········--·-···-·-········· 

£271, 072, 285 303 257 493 370: 082: 701 £258, 831,576 

244, 080, 577 297, 650, 464 

£489, 913, 861 547, 338, 070 667, 733, 165 

Between 1865 and 1874 British forei~ commerce therefore incroosed about 40 per cent. while that of the United St:J.tes mcreased nearly 100 per cent. 

How long will it take a steady increase at the rate of but. 40 per 

cent. on the part of one nation and of 100 per cent. on the part of an- other to bring them to an equality ! The existing difference being 

given it is a simple matter of calculation. How and why is it that we are gaining thus f It is because we have studied the facts of history, and have seen that England, by protective duties, by prohibitory laws, by the prohibition of the exports of her machinery or of 

models thereof, by denying the right of English skilled workmen to · emigrate, built up her industries, and, from having been derided for 

selling a whole skin for a sixpence and buying back the dressed tail 

for a shilling, had made herself the great manufacturing nation of 

the world and assumed the power that always accompanies that con- dition, thn.t of the great commercial nation of the world. We are following her early example, and if we persist may hasten the day 

when we may safely adopt her later and present policy. 

She has come to that condition in which free trade may be best for 

her general interests. I admit that there are times in the history of 

nations when the most absolute free trade is the best thing for their 

laboring-people. When a nation is young, its people living in the 

wilderness, with no factories, with no developed mines, with no models 

of the best products of art and ingenuity, free trade may stimulate 

the creation of industries, and procure patterns to be copied and to 

be used, and thus be best for the nation. 

But with the growth of the useful arts protection becomes neces- sary, and with these folly developed free trade may again become the 

better policy. When all the resources of a conntry are developed, 

when the people know what they can and cannot produce, when by 

large accumulations of capital and improved machinery they are able 

to produce more cheaply than other nations, they mayinvitethecom- petit.ion of free trade. They will thus get cheaply the raw materials 

they cannot produce, and if the free trade be reciprocated, they will, 

in accordance with the advj.ce of Lord Henry Brougham, then, in 

1815, Mr. Brougham, strangle rival industries in their infancy and prevent the development of competition. Neither the first nor last of these 

conditions is ours. We are but ascertaining the extent and variety 

of our resources. We are a debtor nation. Our capital is not our own. It is borrowed. We need the help of millions of immigrants, 

and must invite them by high wages and steady work, secured by adequately protective duties. 

My remarks, Mr. Chairmn.n, have been apart from the bill before 

the committee, for which I apologize to you and to gentlemen whoremain to hear me. But in view of the hilarity ancl I am sorry to say the gro s vulgarity that characterized the preceding addresses, the 

only earnest part of either bei.ug that aimed at our protective system, I felt myself justified in doing as I have done. 
990 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD . FEBRUARY 9, 

I yield, if I have any time remaining, to my friend from Mississippi, [Mr. LYNCH.] . Mr. RANDALL. I do not know that the gentleman has the floor 

to yield it. 

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman's hour has not expired. 

Mr. RANDALL. - How 8oon will it expire f 

The CHAIRMAN. There are fifteen minutes remaining, which he 

yields to the gentleman from Mississippi, as the Chair supposes he has a right to do. 

Mr. MORGAN. In order to givf\ t.he gentleman from Mississippi an opportunity to go on to-morrow I move j;hat the committee rise. 

Mr. RANDALL. I trust not. I hope the gentleman from Mississippi will finish his remarks to-day, because to-morrow I want to talk 

about the bill. 

Mr. HOAR. The Committee of the Whole have yielded to.every re- quest of this kind from gentlemen on the other side. It is now nearly 

five o'clock. On several days the committee, uponrequestof gentlemen on the other side, have risen a little after four o'clock. It would be 

rather hard to apply to the gentleman from Mississippi a different rule. 

:!\Ir. RANDALL. The gentleman from Mississippi knows quite well, 

and so does the gentleman from Massachuset¥!, [Mr. HoAR,] that I am incapable of applying to the gentleman from Mississippi a different rule from what I would apply to anybody else. · Mr. HOAR. That is the reason I made the suggestion. 

Mr. RANDALL. My wish to have the gentleman proceed now arose entirely from my anxiety to get this bill out of the way. I think the 

general debate has gone on sufficiently far-much beyond the usual 

practice. I only suggested that the gentleman from Mississippi 

should occupy his fifteen minutes now. Mr. HOAR. I was sure that the courtesy of the gentleman from 

Pennsylvania [Mr. RANDALL] would yield at once to the suggestion 

when it was explained. 

Mr. BLAINE. I wish to ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania a question. I have desired to occupy the floor, not directly upon this 

bill, but, if permitted to speak, I would keep a-s near to it as the gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] or my friend from Pemisy1vania, 

[Mr. KELLEY.] (Laughter.] 

Mr. KELLEY. I only followed in the beaten track. 

Mr. BLAINE. I would probably have the opportunity to speak 

through the kindness of one of my colleagues who has entered amo- tion to reconsider a resolution to which my remarks would more pertinently apply; but I would like very much to have an hour to-mor- row u poi:J. this bill. 

Mr. RANDALL. I understand that the gentleman wants to speak on the financial aspect of this bill. . Mr. BLAINE. My remarks will hn.ve a very close relationship to that. 

Mr. RANDALL. I will say to the /entleman that so far as I am able I will facilitate him, although do not want this evening to 

make any absolute promise. One thing is certain : Either I will facilitate his purpose before the general debate on this bill closes or I will 

join in securing him a hearin~ before we adjourn to-morrow. 

Mr. BLAINE. I do not desu-e to interfere with theregularroutine 

of business which the gentleman has charge of. 

Mr. RANDALL. I want to "heap coals of fire" on the gentleman's 

head. I have repeatedly yielded to him ; and I did so in a former 

debate when subsequently I wa-s cut off by him. But "bygones are bygones." . . Mr. BLAINE. Well, I wish to say, Mr. Chairman, thatthroughthe 

courtesy of my colleague I have entire power to get possession of the 

floor. 

Mr. RANDALL. The gentleman need not apply to his colleague, 

because he will find in me a very cheerful agent in accomplishing his 

purpose. [Laughter.] 

Mr. BLAINE. I waa only. giving a reason why I do not want the 

gentleman to "heap the coals" too hot. [Laughter.] . If it does not 

interfere with the course of the debate, I would like very much to 

have the floor for an hour to-morrow. 

Mr. RANDALL. I will consent that at the end of the fifteen minlites of the gentleman from Mississippi the gentleman from Maine 

shall have one hour. Then I want to discuss the 'bill somewhat, and 

after that proceed with the five-minute debate. · The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will understand this arrangement as binding in Committee of the Whole, unless objection be made. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. BLAINE. Then I will follow the gentleman from Mississippi. 

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will say that on going into the Committee of the Whole to-morrow the ge~tleman from 1\fississippi will 

not have the floor in his. own right; he will be entitled only to the 

fifteen minutes yielded to him by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (~Ir. KELLEY.] 

Mr. BLAINE. Then, I understand, I am to follow f 

The CHAIRMAN. Then the gentleman from Maine [Mr. BLAINE] •will be recognized. 

1\'!r. LYNCH. I desire to speak on this bill, but I certainly cannot 

express my views in fifteen minutes, and, unless by the courtesy of 

the committee I can have more time, I do not wish to occupy the 

floor at all. 

Mr. RANDALL. I cannot hear what the gentleman from Mississippi says. . The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Mississippi says that the 

.fifteen minutes to which he is entitled by courtesy of the gentleman 

from Pennsylvania will be of no use to him in completing the speech 

which he intends to make, and therefore asks that his time be ex- tended. 

Mr. RANDALL. · I have a right to be recognized by the Chair immediately upon the finishing of the hour of my colleague from Pennsylvania if he himself had occupied the whole of that hour, and, as he 

yielded what remained of his hour to the ~entleman from Mississippi, 

I will of com-se be entitled to the floor at the conclusion of that time. 

The CHAIRMAN. So the Chair understands. 

Mr. RANDALL. The gentleman from Mississippi obtained his right 

to the floor through the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and I insist 

upon cla-Wffih my right at the end of my colleague's hour. 

The C fAN. The Chair will recognize the gentleman from 

Pennsylvania, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. 

Mr. RAJ\TDALL. The committee or the House can extend the time 

of the gentleman from Mississippi as it pleases. 

Mr. STEVENSON. I move that the time of the gentleman frolll 

Mississippi be extended thirty minutes, which I understand is what 

he desires. • 

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will not submit that resolution to the 

committee until the time arrives. If the committee rise now, the gentleman from Mississippi will be entitled to the floor to-morrow, and 

either in the House or after we go into committee the question can be 

submitted as to whether his time shall be extended or not. 

Mr. RANDALL. I do not care how much time in reason· is extended 

to the gentleman from Mississippi, but I want the closing hour for 

myself. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I take it for granted there will be no objection to 

the extension of time, but to-morrow will be more appropriate to submit the request. I hope the committee will now rise. 

Mr. LYNCH. I will yield to a motion that the committee rise. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I move that the committee rise. 

The motion waa agreed to. . The committee accordingly rose; and the Speaker having resumed 

the chair, Mr. HoSKINs reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had, according to order, had under consideration the bill (H. R. No. 1594) making appropriations for the consular 

and diplomatic service of the Government for the year ending June 

30,1877, and for other purposes, and ~d come to no resolu~ion thereon, 

ENROLLED BILL. 

Mr. HARRIS, of Georgia, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, 

reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled an act (S. 

No.53)fixingthetime of holding the circuitcourtofthe United States 

in the districts of California, Oregon, and Nevada; when the Speaker 

signed the same. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. 

· A message from the Senate, by Mr. SYMPSON, one of their clerks, 

informed the llouse that the Senato h.a.d passed bills of the following 

titles in which the concurrence of tho House was requested: 

An act (S. No. 58) to pay the First National Bank of Saint Albans, 

in the county of Franklin, and State o~ Vermont, the value of certain 

United States Treasury notes held by said bank as financial agent of 

the United-States, and forcibly taken therefrom by raiders from 

Canada, in October, 1864; 

An act (S. No. 417) for continuing the work of improving the Capitol grounds ; and 

Joint resolution (S. Res. No.4) authorizing Captain Temple and 

Lieutenant-Commander Whiting, of the Navy, to accept a decoration 

from the King of the Hawaiian Islands. 

The message further announced t,hat the Senate had pa-ssed without amendment a bill of th·e following title: 

A bill (H. R. No. 417) donating condemned cannon and cannon-balls 

to the Ladies' Monumental Association of Allegheny County for monu- mental purposes. LEAVE OF ABSENCE. 

By unanimous consent, leaveof absence was granted.to Mr. ODELL 

for four days on account of urgent business, and to Mr. WOODWORTH 

indefinitely on account of a. death in his family. 

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS. 

On motion of Mr. TUCKER, by una.ni.mous consent, leave was was granted for the withdrawal from the files of the House of the 

papers in the case of William Graham, now in possession of the Committee on Patents. 

SAINT ALBANS NATIONAL BANK. 

On motion of Mr. HENDEE, by unanimous consent, a bill (S: No. 

58) to pay the first national bank of Saint Albans, in the count.y of 

Franklin, and State of Vermont, the value of certajn "United States 

Treasurynotesheld by said bankaafinancial agent of the United States 

and forcibly taken therefrom by raiders from Canada in October, 1864, was taken from tho Speaker's tableJ.. read a first and second time, and 

referred to the Committee on War vlaims. 

:Mr. HOLMAN moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was referred; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid o:u. the 

table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. • And then, on motion of Mr. CROUNSE, (at five o'clock p.m.,) the 

Hou.se adjourned. 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 991 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

The following memorials, petitions, and other papers were pr~­

sented at the Clerk's desk under the rule, and referred as stated : By Mr. BANNING: The petition of Walter J. Smith, for pay as first 

sergeant of the l<,orty-fifth Kentucky Infantry, to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. BELL: The petition of Abby A. Johnson, to be re.:instated on the pension-rolls and for arrears of pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. CONGER: Remonstrance of R. P. Fitzgerald and 45 other 

citizens of Milwaukee, against bridging the Detroit River, to the Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. CROUNSE: The petition ofT. P. Quick and others, of Lincoln, Nebraska, to repeal the stamp tax on safety matches, to the 

Committee of ·ways and Means. 

By Mr. DENISON: The petition of George H. Blake and 46 others, 

for the repeal of the check-stamp tax, to the same committee. 

By Mr. ELY : The petition of Seth Driggs, for relief, to the Committee on Military Affairs. · By Mr. FAULKNER: Papers relating to the claim of James Cummings, for pay for property taken and used by the United States 

Army, to the Committee.on War Claims. 

By Mr. FRYE: The petition of the Second Baptist phurch of Brooklyn, New York, signed by the pastor and officers thereof, for a com- mission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic." 

Also, the petition-of th~ National Division of the Sons of Temper- ance of North America, officially signed by F. M. Bradley, of Washington, District of Columbia, most worthy patriarch, and by Samuel 

W. Hodges, of Boston, Ma-ssachusetts, most worthy scrib~, representing about one hundred thousand members, of similar import, to the same committee. 

Also, th~ petition of the Grand Lodge of Good TempL'trs of the District of Columbia, officially signed by James F. Bolton, G. W. C. T.; 

J. S. Gourley, G. W. C.; MaryJ.Lowry,G. V.T.; Walter Drummond, 

G. S.; William H. Womersley, G. T.; representing 230 members, of 

similar import, to the same committee. · By Mr. GARFIELD: The petition of officers of national banks and 

other citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the repeal of the tax on bank 

deposits, to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

Also, the petition of citizens of·Columbus, Ohio, of similar import, 

to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, of similar import, 

to the same committee. · Also, the petition of citizens of Orwell, Ohio, for the repeal of the 

stamp tax on safety matches, to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of 45 citizens of Morgan, Ashtabula County, Ohio 

for the 1·epeal of the check-stamp tax, to the same committee. 

Also, the petition of citizens of Ravenna, Ashtabula, Ashtabula 

Harbor, and Warren, Ohio, for the extension of the national credit 

to the ~eat southern railroad to the Pacific, to the Committee on the Pamfi.c Railroad. 

Also, the remonstrance of 112 citizens of Ashtabula County, Ohio, 

against the passage of the bill to bridge the Detroit River, to the 

Committee on Commerce. · 

Also, the petition of the Grand-Division of the Sons of Temperance 

of Ohio, signed by the officers thereof, representing eight thousand 

members, for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor 

tr:tffi.c, to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. GOODE: The petition of Elizabeth Hanor, for a pension, 

to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. 

By Mr. GOODIN: The petition of E. E. Barrett and other citizens 

of Kansas, for a change of mail-route No. 33038, to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 

Also, the petition of John P. Mitchell and other citizens of Kansas, 

for a post-route from Neosho Falls to Williamsburgh, Kansas, to the same committee. 

By Mr. HANCOCK: The petition of Captain Reuben M. Potter, 

United States Army, that officers ove-r seventy years of age may retire 

when they desire to do so, to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. HATCHER: The petition of citizens of Mine La Motte, 

Missouri, for a reduction of postage on third-class mail matter, to the 

Committee on the Post Office and Post-Roads. 

By Mr. HENKLE: The petition of William Dadds, for pay for 

property destroyed a.t Annapolis, Maryland, by order of General B. F. 

Butler, to the Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. JENKS: The petition of Augustus Lempp, for a pension, to 

the Committee on Invalid Pensions. · 

Also, the petition of certain ex-soldiers of Pennsylvania, for the 

equalizing of bounty, to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

Also, the petition of Henry Reiring, for a pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. LANE: The petition of W. H. Henry and other citizens of 

Oregon, for the improvement of the Columbia. and Snake Rivers, to 

the Committee on Commerce. 

Also, the petition of F. H. Blanchet, archbishop of Oregon, on behalf of the Nestucca Indians, prayin~ the Government to carry out 

the treaty stipulations with said Indians, none of which have been 

complied with on the part of the United States, to the Committee on Indiun Affairs. 

_By Mr. MORRISON: The petitio~ of "the Grand D~vision of the Sons 

of Temperance of Illinois, officially signed and representing 2,000 

members, for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor 

traffic, to the Committee of Ways and Means. . By Mr. NORTON: Papers r elating to the claim of Pardon Worsley, 

for pay for services rendered the War Department as a detective, to 

the Committee of Claims. 

By Mr. O'BRIEN: The petition of citizens of Baltimore, Maryland, 

for the repeal of the check-stamp tax, to the Committee of Ways and 

Means. 

By Mr. PHELPS : The petition of Joseph Sheldon and others, of 

New Haven, Connecticut, for the repeal of the resumption act, to the 

Committee on Banking and Currency. 

Also, the petition of Patrick McCarthy and 126 other citizens of 

New Haven, Connecticut, of similar import, to the same eommittee. ~o, the petition of Cornelius K. Russell and others, of New Haven, 

Connecticut, for the issue of 3.65 convertible gold-bearing bonds, to 

the same committee. 

Also, the petition of John P. Phillips and others, of New Haven, 

Connecticut, for greenbacks to be made receivable at par for duties on imports, to the same committee. 

By Mr. ~IERCE: The petition of William M. Barrett, for a pension, 

to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. RAINEY: The petition of the Good Templars of South. 

Carolina, signed by the officers thereof, representing 4,000 members, 

for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic, 

to the Committee of Ways and Means. 

By Mr. REAGAN: The petition of W. M. Cook, for rent of buildings 

occupied by the United States Army, to the Committee on War 

Claims. · 

By Mr. SEELYE: The petition' of the First Baptist church at Fitchburgh, Massachusetts, for a commission of inquiry concerning the · alcoholic liquor traffic, to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. VANCE, of North Carolina: The petition of citizens of 

Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, for aid to be extended the Texas 

and Pacific Railroad. 

By Mr. WILLARD: The petition of 202 citizens of Coldwater, 

Michigan, for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor 

traffic, to the Commi~ee on the Judiciary. 

By Mr. WILLIS: The petition of the New York Women's Christian Temperance Union, officially signed, of similar import, to the 

Committee on Education and Labor. 

Also, the petition of Edmund Worg, for a pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. • . Also, the petition of Thomas Haggett, for pay for value of schooner 

Alonzo, to the Committee of Claims. 

By Mr. WOOD, of New York: The petition of the National Temperance Society, signed by William E. Doge, president, and J. N. 

Stearns, for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor 

traffic, to the Committee on Education and Labor. 

. IN SE;NATE. 

THURSDAY, FebruanJ 10, 1876. 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. ~he Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

DISTRICT 3. 65 BONDS. 

The Senate proceeded to consider its amendments to the joint reso- lution (H. R. No. 52) directing the commissioners of the District of 

Columbia to pay the interest on the bonds issued in pursuance of the 

act of Congress approved J nne 20, 187 4, out of any funds in the United 

States Treasury, subject to the requisition of said commissioners, and 

for other purposes, disagreed to by the House of RepreSentatives. 

On motion of .Mr. WHYTE, it was 

Re.9olved, That the Senate insist upon its amendments disagreed to by the House 

of Representatives to the said joint resolution, and agree to the conference asked 

by the Honse of Representatives on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon. 

Ordered, Tha.t the conferees on the part of the Senate be appointed by the President pro tempore. 

Messrs. MORRILL of Maine, SARGENT, and THURMAN were appointed 

the conferees on the part of the Senate. 

HOUSE BILLS REFERRED. 

The following bills from the House of Representatives were Bf'verally read twice by their titles and 1·eferred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary: 

A bill (H. R. No. 356) concerning cases in bankrn_Ptcy commenced 

in the supreme courts of the several Territories pnor to the 22d of 

J nne, 187 4, and now undetermined therein; 

A bill (H. R. No. 390) to repeal the act entitled" An act to establish 

a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States," approved March 2, 1867, and all laws and parts of laws amendatory 

thereof; 

A bill (H. R. No. 555) to amend section 856of the Revised Statutes; 

and 

A bill (H. R. No. 1210) authorizing actions in cases of deD>th resulting from wrongful act, neglect, or default.