1885. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 939 

IMPROVEMENT OF NATALBANY RIVER. 

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of 

War, transmitting report of a preliminary examination of Natalbany 

River, Louisiana, with estimate of the cost of improving the same; 

which was referred to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and or~ 

dered to be printed. 

UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE COMPANY. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting a report of the Chief of Engineers referring 

to Senate bill 420 and House bill 5278 for the relief of the Union 

Metallic Cartridge Company; which was referred to the Committee on 

Patents, and ordered to be printed. 

POSTMASTERS' LOSSES BY FIRE, ETC. 

Mr. SKINNER, of New York, by unanimous consent, introduced a. bill (H. R. 8031) to amend an act entitled "An act authorizing the 

Postmaster-General to adjust the claims of postmasters for losses by 

burglary, fire, or other unavoidable casualty," approved March 7, 

1882; which was read a. first and second time, referred to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, a:nd ordered to be printed. 

LEAVE 01!' ABSENCE. 

By unananimous consent leave of absence was granted to Mr. FERRELL for one week, on account of sickness in his family. 

And then, on motion of Mr. WARNER, of Ohio (at 5 o'clock and 6 

minutes p. m. ), the House adjourned. 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

The following petitions and papers were laid on the Clerk's desk, 

under the rule, and referred as follows: 

By Mr. BARBOUR: Petition of John Henry Harrover, asking for 

.compensation for personal injuries sustained during the late war-to 

the Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. BUDD: Petition of janitors of stations, District of Columbia, 

for an increase of salary-to the Committee on the District of Columbia. 

By Mr. DAVIDSON: Bill making an appropriation for the improvement of Pensacola Harbor, Florida-to the Committee on Rivers and 

Harbors. 

By Mr. G. R. DAVIS: Petition from J. A. Mulligan Post, No. 306, 

G. A. R., Chicago, Ill., urging the purchase by Congress of Miss Ransom's portrait of General George H. Thomas-to the Committee on the 

Library. 

Also, resolutions of the Board of Trade of Chicago, in favor of the 

Potter refunding bill-to the Committee on Ways and Means. · 

Also, resolutions of the Board of Trade of Chicago, urging Congress to 

acquire right and title for the Government in the Portage Lake and 

Lake Superior Canals-to the Committee on Commerce. 

By !fir. D. B. HENDERSON: Petition of Nancy J. Arwine and 30 

ot;Jlers, of Troy Mills, Iowa, urging an increase of widows' pensionsto the Committee on Pensions. 

By 1\Ir. FOLLETT: Petition of Sophia G. Mitchel and Eliza J. Mahon, of Palatine Hill, Miss.-to the Committee on War Claims. 

Also, petition of James M. Seeds, of Cincinnati, Ohio-to the same 

committee. 

By Mr. GEDDES: Resolution of M. F. Wooster Post, No. 34, G. A. 

R., Department of Ohio, for the passage of the bill to purchase Miss Ransom's portrait of General George H. Thomas-to the Committee on the 

Library. 

By :M:r. HAYNES: Petition of Elmira. Davis and 9 others, of New 

Ipswich, N.H., asking an increase of widows' pensions-to the Com .. 

mittee on Pensions. 

By Mr. KLE:U.'{ER: Petition of citizens of Stewartsville, Ind., asking 

for an increase of widows' pensions-to the same committee. 

By Mr. LACEY: Resolutions of the Michigan State board of agriculture, in favor of the passage of H. R. 7498, establishing a,aricultural 

experiment stations-to the Committee on Agriculture. 

By Mr. LYMAN: Petition of Adeline A. Cooledge, Cochituate, Mass.-

to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. McADOO: ProtestofBricklayers' and Masons' International 

Union of America, in convention assembled, agaiBst the repeal of me- chanics' lien law in the District of Columbia-to theCommitteeon the 

District of Columbia. 

By Mr. MULDROW: Papers relating to the claim of William Surratt, of Alcorn County, Mississippi-to the Committee-on War Claims. 

By Ur. NICHOLLS: A bill to provide for the survey of the entrance 

of Do boy Sound, in the State of Georgia-to the Committee on Rivers· and Harbors. 

By Mr. PATTON: Petition of39 citizens of Emlenton; of19 citizens 

of Elk City; of 23 citizens of Curllsville; of 55 citizens of Manorville, 

and of 40 citizens of Clarion, Pa., asking for tlle appropriation of $268,000 

for the improvement of the Allegheny River and its tributaries-to the 

same committee. 

By Mr. PAYSON: Petition of George P. Mulcahy and others, of 

Wheaton, Traverse County, ~innesota, for restoration of indemnity 

lands-to the Committee on the Public Lands. 

By Mr. ROSECRANS: Concurrent resolution of the Legislature of 

California, requesting Congress to pay California Indian war debt-to 

the Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. A. H. SMI:TH: Remonstrance of J. E. Wittmer and 50 others, 

citizens of York County, Pennsylvania., against the ratification of the 

treaty with Spain-to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

By Mr. E. B. TAYLOR: Petition of Jason N. Watson, fora pensionto the Committee on Pensions. 

By Mr. VAN ALSTYNE: George R. Meneely & Co. and others, urging the passage of the reciprocity treaty with Mexico-to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

The following petitions for the passage of the Mexican war pension 

bill with Senate amendments were presented and severally referred to 

the Committee on Pensions : 

By Mr. FUNSTON: Of citizens of Blue Rapids, Kans. 

By Mr. LACEY: Of Elias D. Williams and 90 others, citizens of 

Barry County, Michigan. 

By Mr. NUTTING: Of26citizensofMadisonCounty, of 62 citizens 

of Oswego County, of 66 citizens of Oswego County, and of 84 cJtizens 

of Madison County, New York. 

By Mr. G. W. RAY: Of citizens of Chenango County, of Delaware 

County, of Walton, Delaware County, and of Smithville, Chenango 

County, New York. 

By Mr. SENEY: Of Samuel J. Browne and 145 others, of Hancock 

County, Ohio. 

By Mr. TOWNSHEND: Of citizens of Franklin Cou.nty, Illinois. 

SENATE. 

FRIDAY, January 23, 1885 . 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. E. D. HuNTLEY, D. D. 

The J ourna.l of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. 

Mr. GEORGE. I pre86nt a resolution of the Federation of Labor 

Unions of the District of Columbia. It is very short, and I ask that it 

be read and laid on the table, as the bill to which it refers is now on 

the Calendar. 

There being no objection, the resolution was read, and ordered to lie· 

on the table, as follows: 

To the honorable the Senate of the United States : 

Resolution adopted by the Federation of Labor Unions of the District of Co- lumbia, Tuesday evening, .January 20,1885. 

Whereas the House of Representatives has passed a bill (H. R. 2550) to pro- hibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract ; and 

Whereas said bilJ having been favorably reported to the Senate of the United States from the Committee on Education and Labor of that body, and its con- sideration postponed until the second Thursday in December, 1884, and ttJ.en again denied consideration; and Whereas this measure )laving been unanimously indorsed by the working- men of the country in their organized capacity in the belief that its passage would tend to increase their prosperity and happiness: Therefore, 

Resol11ed, That the Federation of Labor Unions of the District of Columbia very respectfully, but very earnestly, petition the Senate to consider and pass House bill No. 2550 at an early day, so that its enactment into law may not be endangered by reason of the usual press of business during the closing days of the session. 

Mr. LAPHAM presented a memorial of merchants and manufacturers of New York city, urging th8 immediate ratification of the proposed 

Sp,mish reciprocity treaty; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations. 

Mr .. PALMER presented the petition of Adam Duncan and other citizens of Houghton County, Michigan; the petition of D. F. McDonald, 

Henry Pratt, and other citizens of Houghton County, Michigan, and the 

petition of E. L. Wright and other citizens of Hancock, Mich., praying 

for the purchase by the Government of the two canals across Keweenaw 

Point, Mich., in accordance with the report of the Secretary of Warj 

which were referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

Mr. ALLISON presented a. memorial of the Cigar-makers' Union of 

Avoca, Iowa, and a. memorial of the Cigar-makers' Union of Burlington, 

Iowa, remonstrating against the ratification of the Spanish reciprocity 

treaty; which were referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. 

Mr. PENDLETON. I present the petition of James M. Dalzell, of 

Caldwell, in the county of Noble, State of Ohio, representing that he 

was a private in Company H, One hundred and sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; that he is entered on the pension-rolls of the United 

States at the rate of $6 per month; that he received no arrears of pension before January 1, 1883, because of the operation of the statute of 

limitation; that be is poor, has a large family, and desires that he be 

put upon the pension-roll by the action of the two Houses of Congress 

at the rate of $16 per month with arrears of pension from the date of 

his discharge. I move that the petition be referred to the Committee 

on Pensions. 

The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. MILJ.JER, of New York, presented a memorial of the National 

Cigar Manufacturers' Association, remonstrating against the ratification 

. 
I 

940 CONGRESSIONAL REOOR.D-SENATE. JANUARY 23, 

of the proposed-reciprocity treaty with Spain; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Relatio~s. · · 

Mr. McMILLAN presented a petition of the ~aint Paul (Minn.) 

Chamber of Commerce, praying for· such legislation as will result in the 

United States acquiring title to and ownershi:{l of the Lake Superior 

Ship-Canal Companies and the Portage Lake and River Iinprovement 

Company's canals and water ways connecting the Keweenaw Bay with 

the watersofLakeSuperior,·in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; which 

was referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

He also presented a memorial of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Chamber of 

Commerce, favoring such a treaty with tqe Spanish Antilles as shall 

open their markets to the prod)l.cts of the United Stat~; 'Yhich was referred to the Committee .on Foreign, Relations. 

Mr. BAYARD presented the petition of H. A. Du Pont and othe;r citizens of Delaware, in favor of civil-service reform, and praying the repeal of the present laws fixing terms of four years for .certain civil 

offices; which was referred to the Committee on Civil Service.and ~etrenchment. 

REPORTS OF CO~DIITTEES. 

Mr. INGALLS, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to 

whoni was referred the bill (H. R. 5249) to provide a criminal code for 

the District of Columbia, reported it without amendment. 

Mr. JACKSON, from the Committee on Pensions, to wl:J.om was re- ferred the petition of Mary E. • Fillebrown, ·widow of Commodore 

Thomas Scott Fillebrown, praying tbr a pension of $50 a month, submitted an adverse report thereon, which was agreed w; and the committee were discharged from the further consideration of the petition. 

He also, from the same committee, to whom were referred the following bills, submitted adverse reports thereon, which were agreed to; and 

the bills were postponed indefinitely: 1 A bill (S. 1747) granting a pension to Patrick O'Brian; 

A bill (S. 1260) granting a pension to William J. Duley; and 

A bill (S. 1780) granting a pension to Benjamin Goodwin. -

Mr. CULLOU, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred 

the bill (S. 1183) granting a pension to Hugh O'Neil, reported it without amendment, and submitted a report thereon. 

Mr. MORGAN, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported 

an amendment intended to be proposed to the consular and diplomatic. 

appropriation bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appro~riations, and ordered to be printed. " I 

· Mr .. MAHONE, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was 

referred the bill (S. 2368) requiring the use of domestic material in the 

construction and repair of Government vessels, steam-boilers, and ordnance, reported it with an amendment. 

Mr. WILSON. IamdirectedbytheCommitteeonPensions; to whom 

was referred the bill (H. R. 4036) to increase the pension of Thomas 

Ward, to submit an adverse report thereon. ·' 

Mr. VOORHEES. I ask that the bill be placed on the Calendar. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be placed on the Calendar with the adverse report of the committee. 

Mr. WILSON, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom were referred the following bills, reported them severally without amendment, 

and submitted reports thereon: . 

A bill (H. R. 499) granting a pensi~n to Mary A. Knawber; 

A bill {H. R. 3612) granting a pension to Hayden Reynolds; and 

A bill (H. R. 5812) granting a pension io Ellen A. Vance. 

Mr. WILSON, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2272) granting a pension to Andrew Franklin, alias 

Andrew. McKee, reported it With amendments, and submitted a report 

thereon. · \ 

Ur. MANDERSON. I am directed by the Committee on Private 

Land Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 79) to amend an aet 

entitled "An act to confirm certain private land claims in the Territory of New Mexico,'' to report it back adversely. I ask that the committee be discharged from the further consideration of the bill and that 

it be indefinitely postponed. ' 

M:r. MILLER, of New York. That is a bill which was introduCed 

by myself by request. 1 I ask that it be placed on the Calendar. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will he placed on the Calendar with the adverse report of the committee. ' 

Mr. HOAR, from the Committee on the Library, reported an amendment intended to be proposed to the sundry civil appropriation bill; 

which was 1·eferred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered 

to 'be printed. · ' I • DISTRICT WATER-SUPPLY. , 

Mr. INGALLS. I am directed by the Committee on the District of 

Columbia, to which was referred the resolution offered by the Senator 

from Ala.bama [.Mr. MoRGAN] calling for information from the Secretary of War relative to the construction of the new reservoir in the District of Columbia, to report it back with a recommendation that the 

committee be discharged from its further consideration and that the 

resolution lie upon the table. The resolution is accompanied by a re- port upon the subject from Major Lydecker, the engineer ci>mmissioner 

of the District, which I ask may be printed. . The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The committee will ·be discharged 

from the further consideration of the resolution and it will be laid upon 

the table, if there be no objection. The Senator from Kansas mo es 

that the re-port of MaJo;r Lydecker, accompanying the papers returne4 

by the committee, be printed. That order will be entered if there be no objection. 

SAl\IUEL 1\L THOMPSON. · 

:1\fr. CULLOl\1. I am instructed by the Committee on Pensions, to 

whom was referred the Qill (S. 2570) g;rantingan increase of pension to 

Col. Samuel M. Thompson, to report it favorably witb_ an amendment. 

I ask the consent of the Senate to take up the bill and put it h,pon its 

passage. I think there can be no possible objection to it. ThepE1fSO~ 

whose pension the bill proposes to increase is over 84 years old anc\ is 

entirely dependent. I ask that the Senate pa.ss the bill for his relief. 

Mr. COCKRELL. Let it be read for information. 

The Chief Clerk read the bill, as follows: 

Be it enacted, &:c., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and be is hereby, au- thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and 

limitations of the pension laws, the name of Samuel M. Thompson, a private in 

the Mexican war under Col. E. D. Baker, and colonel of the Fourth illinois Regi- ment of Volunteers in the. Black Hawk war, and pay him a pension of $50 per month, in lieu of that which be now receives. , 

Mr. CULLOM. Theamendmentofthecommitteereducestheamount 

of pension to $25 from $50, as proposed in the original bill. 

Mr. COCKRELL. Why should this bill be considered in preference 

to all other pension cases? 

Mr. CULLOM. I was about to state that this man-- · 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the present consideration of the bill? Debate is not in order until the Chair has ascer- tained if there is objection to its consideration. 

l\Ir. CULLOM. I ask consent to make a statement, and then I think 

there will be no objection to the bill being considered and passed this 

morning. 1 

' _ 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If there be no objection the Senator from illinois will proceed. The Chair hears none. 

Mr. CULLOM. The person who is' provided for by the bill is over 

84 years of age tmd absolutely dependent. He has no immediate family 

upon whom he r.an rely; and unless the bill is passed immediately it 

will not go through both Houses perhaps at this Congress. I hope the 

Senator from Missouri will withdraw objection to it on that account. 

Mr. COCKRELL. I shall not object to its.consideration, )Jut I wish 

to hear the amendment. 

By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, 

proceeded to consider the bill. 

The'amendnient reported by the Committee on Pensions was, in line 

9, before the word "dollars, 1' to strike out " fifty " and insert "twentyfrye;" so as to read: - · 

And pay him a pension of~ per month, in l,ieu of that which be now re- ceives. · ' 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. · The question is on agreeing to the 

amendment. 

Mr. COCKRELL. What is he now receiving? 

M:r. CULLOM. He is now receiving a pension of $12 a month, which 

is not enough to supP<>rt him. He is over 84 years old and entirely dependent. 

Mr. COCKRELL. I have a bill pending before the Committee on 

Pensions which proposes to pension a man who is as old as this man, 

who is n:Ot drawing any pension, and I should be satisfied to plaCe him 

on the pension-roll at $8 per month. His service antedates the service 

of this man. His injuries were received in a battle where· the late 

President Lincoln commanded a company, and it was beside Captain 

Lincoln that this old soldier retreated from the battlefield where t·hey 

had been fighting Indians and in ·which he had been wounded, and it 

was Captain Lincoln who dismounted from his horse and bandaged his 

wounds and saved him. That bill has been pending some time, and I see no necessity for this discrimination. I • 

Mr. CULLOM. I ask the Senator from Missouri to name theperson 

to whom he alludes, and we .will see if we can not get a report on the 

bilL But in this caseJ as a mat~r of fact, the person named was in 

the Blaek Hawk war as well as in the Mexican war. ' He is absolutely 

dependent for existence, and ifthe bill is to be passed at this Congress 

it ought to be acted upon at once. I should not ask the consideration 

of the bill if the man was not as old as he is and so absolutely dependent. I hope the Senator from Missouri will not oppose the passage of 

the bill ~ as it is.only proposed to give this man just what is suppos~ 

to be sufficient to keep him from absolute distress. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the 

amendment recommended by the committee. ' 

The amendment was ~eed to. . 

The bill was reported to theSenate as amended, and the amendmen~ 

was concurred in. ' • 

, The b~ll was ordered to be engroSsed for a third reading, read the 

third time, and passed. · 

SUITS FOR DAMAGES. 

Mr. HARRIS. The Committee on the District of Columbia, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 7131) to authorize suits for damages where 

death results from the wrongful act or neglect of any person or. cor-
1885. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 941 

poration in the District of Columbia, directs me to report it with an 

amendment in the nature of a substitute, and aJso instructs me to ask 

for the present consideration of the bill. 

By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, 

proceeded to consider the bill. .. Mr. HARRIS. l ask unanimous consent that the substitute which 

the committee reports be read instead of the original bill. 

Mr. SHERMAN. As the bill is short, I should like to hear the bill 

read so as to see the connection. The bill is short, I understand. 

Mr. HARRIS Yes; it is a short bill. Let it be read first. 

The Chief Clerk read the bill. 

The amendment reported by the Committee on the District of Columbia was to strike out all after the enacting clause and to insert: 

That whenever within the limits of the District of Columbia. the death of a. person shall be caused by t.he wrongful Mt neglect, or default of any person or corporation, and the act, neglect, or defauit is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured, or, if the person injured be a married 

"woman, have entitled her husband, either separately or by joining with the 

wife, ta maintain an action and recover damages, the person who or corporation 

which would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action 

for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured, even though the 

death shall have been C9used under circumstances which constitute a felony: 

Provided, '.rhat in no case shall the recovery exceed the sum of $10,000. SEC. 2. Tllat every such action shall be brought by and in the name of the 

personal representative of such deceased person, and within two years after the 

death of the party injured. SEc. 3. That the damages recovered in such Mtion shall not be appropriated to the payment of the debts or liabilities of _such deceased person, but shall 

inure to the benefit of his or her family, and be distributeda{)Cordingtotheprovisions of the statute of distributions in force in said District of Columbia. 

Mr. HOAR. I wish to inquire of the Chair as to the parliamentary 

condition of the bill. Has the Senate agreed to consider it at the present time? 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate has. 

Mr. HOAR. I hope it will be permitted to go over. I do not think 

it accompli hes as "Written -the purpose for which it was drawn. My 

attention was drawn away when the bill was ta.ken up. 

· The PRESIDENT pro tempore. TheSenatorfrom Tennesseereported 

it this morning and asked unanimous consent that it be now considered. 

The Chair asked whether unanimous consent was given and it was 

granted. 

Mr. HARRIS. Ifthe Senator from Massachusetts desires to look at 

the bill, I shall not insist npon proceeding with the consideration of it. 

If be desires it to go over I shall not insist. 

Mr. HOAR. Before the bill goes over I will. state my point to the 

Senator. A. similar matter came up when I wa.s a member of the other 

House. · 

I sup~e it is well settled at common law that the d~th of a person 

injured by the tort or the tortioU& negligence of another is not itself a 

substantive subject of damages; that the recovery in such a c..'lSe would 

be limited to compensation for the injury which the person injured 

suffered in his lifetime. That is,· if a man were injured by the negligence of a railroad company and died, having lived in suffering for 

twenty-four or forty-eight hours, his administrator could not anywhere 

recover more (and at common law I suppose th~ action would die with 

the person) than for the twenty-four or torty-eight hours' suffering. 

I suppose it is the purpose of this bill to do what similar statutes have 

done in many States of the Union and in England, to authorize the death 

itself to be an element of damage, of which the family shall reap the 

benefit to the limited extent described in the bill; but as I heard the 

bill read at the desk I am afraid it does not clearly accomplish that obiect, and that the pointwouldstill beopen to the defendant to say that 

the act of Congress has authorized the recovering of damages after the 

death of the person injured and the distribution of those damages among 

the family to the exclusion of creditors, but has not authorized the fact 

of death . itself to be taken into account in measuring the dainages. 

That should be done, I think, to the limit of $5,000 or $10,000, or whatever may be considered a reasonable limit. It is $5,000 in my State. 

I see this bill proposes a limit of $10,000. For instance, if a man is instantly killed, so that he sustains no damage in his lifetime, or if the 

damage which he sustains is clearly trifling, I -think still up .to some 

amount to be fixed and limited the killing of the person should be a 

ground of damage to his surviving family. It occurred to me that the 

bill may require some amendment in that particular. , Mr. HARRIS. It was certainly the object of the committee to provide for the very case that the Senator from MaSsachusetts thinks it 

possible we have· not sufficiently guarded. However, in view of the 

suggestion of the Senator from Massachusetts, I will ask that the bill 

as proposed to be amended be printed and go over until to-morrow, 

because if it is subject to the criticism the Senator from Massachusetts 

makes it is certainly desirable that the point should be distinctly and 

clearly covered. 

Ur. RIDDLEBERGER. Before the Senator from Tennessee withdraws the bill, I think possibly a word of explanation may satisfy the 

Senator from Massachusetts. I introduced a similar bill early in the last 

session, and I think it passed the Senate by a unanimous vote, exactly in 

the words in which this bill comes here to-day. It proVides for nothing except that actions may 'lie where death ensues from the wrongful 

act, neglect, or defuult of a person or corporation. We all unde~nd that actions lie for injuries, but that the action dies with the person injured. The bill changes no principle of the common law save and except that alone. 

I will further state to the Senator from Massachusetts that the bill 

as now presented is an exact copy of the English statute, I think third 

Victoria, which has been passed by most of the States of the Union, 

. with the single ex.eeption of the provision which limits the recovery to 

$10,000. It is the. same as the bill that we passed last seSsion and 

which went to the other House. The other House sends us back a 

bill--

Mr. HARRIS. If the Senator from Virginia will allow me, I will 

state that my memory was exactly the same as the memory of the Senator from Virginia as to the fact that the Senate had passed the bill 

that we reported last summer, ·but-upon examination I find that both 

the Senator from Virginia and I were mistaken. The Senate has not 

aeted upon the bill that we reported last summer. I have examined 

· the Journal to see. 

Mr. RIDDLEBERGER. If I am mistaken in that I ask the pardon 

ofthe Senate; but I think yet I am not mistaken. I think I wa.Svery 

earnest in pressing that bill upon the attention of ,the Senate, and my 

recollection is that it was-passed. . 

Mr. HARRIS. The bill is now upon the Calendar. 

:M:r. RIDDLEBERGER. However, that is what the bill provides 

for. It seems to me that we are about as ready to consider it now as 

we shall be a.t any other time. If I may be within the parliamentary 

usage in stating that the other House has but two more District days, 

I desire to be understood as making that statement as a reason why, 

if we propose to legislate on matte1-s pertaining to· the District of Columbia at all, we ought to do it a.o:; quickly and as promptly as possible. 

If there be any objection to that simple change in the common law, 

then an objection will lie to this bill. If there be no objection to such 

a change, then there can be no objection to the bill. I ask the Senator 

from Massachuset~ thiS statement is not satisfactory to him. Of 

course if it is not I wi\]. agree to let tile bill go over. ' 

Mr. HOAR. ThestatementoftheSenatorfrom Virginia, a I understand it, indicates that the bill is defective in the point which I pointed 

out, and, if so, I t.hink the whole Senate will desire some change of 

phra eology. It is in entire sympathy with the purpose of the Senator 

that t make this suggestion, and not in opposition to it. I suppose it 

is true that legislation which passes by unanimous consent in the Senate 

is quite as likely to have some defect of expression as that--which passes 

after severe scrutiny and discussion; and it is also true that the most 

careful draughters of bills here find frequently that some new view or · 

some point whic4 has not occurred to them is suggested by other Senators. I find it so in my own experience, I know, very often. 

The point which I make I should like to repeat for the understanding of my honorable friend from Vir~inia, if he will kindly give me his 

attention one moment. Under this bill as it is proposed, although the 

person injured dies and an action is given to the administrator-it is 

not brought in the name of the person injured after}$ decease-I am 

afraid the -rule of damages which the common law prescribes would be 

left unchanged; that is, in estimating the damages no account whatever can be taken of the fact of the death. In other words, it is not 

anything more a damage if the person dies than if he recovers. I think 

under the bill, if a person should be killed and the widow, the administratrix, brought a suit, tl:re man having lived six hours after his injury, the court would tell. the jury, ''You ca,n not take into consideration 

the fi:tet that the man died and did not recover from the injury. That 

is not an "injury to the man in his lifetime. You can only take into consideration his six hours' suffering, he having lived six hours after the in-· 

jury before he died." I suppose the Senator wants what I want, and 

what I think. the whole Senate wants; he want.s to provide in fixing the 

limit of $10,000 that the fact of the man's being killed may be taken 

into consideration. . 

Mr. RIDDLEBERGER. I will only sa.y a single word fru;ther, by 

the courtesy of the Senate. I W(;mld not ordinarily no so certa.in that 

a bill a.ccomplished the purposesandobjectshad in view w~reit not.for 

the fact that I know t~ bill is a verbatim copy of the statute of which 

I have spoken, the English statute, and the statutes ~opted by a large 

number of the States, and that as a law it has been passed upon by the 

appellate courts of a large number of the States and by the Supreme 

Court of the United States. The very question suggested by the Senator from Massaehusetts was passed upon by the Supreme Court. It 

has been held here in the Supreme Courtroom that under that statute 

(and I may here parenthetically remark that it has been so held in 

England) damages are recoverable for the death as for the suffering' before death, taking into consideration t_he pecnni~ry value of the life, 

and all damages that could possibly ensue under the old common law. 

The only change is the one which I suggested before, that the action 

subsists beyond the death. • ' · 

With this, sir, "I am willing t.o defer to the SenatorJi'om Massachusetts and give him the time he wants to consider the bill, but I do h~?pe 

that it will be the pleasure of the Senate to consider it at as early a day a.s possible. · I > 
1 

942 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. J .ANU.ARY 23, 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. SHERMAN in the chair). The 

Chair understands the Senator from Tennessee [l\fr. HARRIS] as moving 

to lay the bill on the table until to-morrow. 

Mr. HARRIS. I ask that the amendment be printed, and I shall ask 

the Senate to-morrow morning to proceed with its consideration. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be ordered to be 

printed and the bill will be placed on the Calendar. 

STREETS OF WASHINGTON. 

Mr. BROWN. The Committee on the District of Columbia were in-' 

structed by a resolution of the Senate "to inquire whether any additio~alleb;islation is necessary to enable the commissioners of the Dis-. trict to keep clean the streets in the city of Washington." We have 

consulted the commissioners and they respond that they do not need 

further legislation on the subject, but that they do need an additional 

appropriation of $.5,000 on account of the increased area of the paved 

streets that are to be kept in order next year. As they will doubtless 

include that in their estimate and it will go beiore the Committee on 

Appropriations, the Committee on the District of Columbia ask to be 

discharged from the further consideration of the subject. 

The report was agreed to. 

REMOVAL OF POLITICAL DISABILITIE..o;;. 

Mr. GARLAND. I am directed bythe Committee on the Judiciary, 

to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7872) to remove the political disabilities of Gabriel H. Hill, of Virgi:q.ia, to report it. without amendment and recommend its passage.. I ask for the present consideration 

of the bill. 

By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, 

proceeded to consider the bill. 

The bill was reported to·the Senate without amendment, ordered to 

a third reading, read the third time, and passed (two-thirds of the Senators present voting in the affirmative). 

Mr. GARLAND. I am also directed by the Committee on the Judiciary to report favorably the bill (H. R. 7963) ~emove the political 

disabilities of J. Pembroke Jones, of Virginia.J I ask for the present 

consideration of the bill. 

By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, 

proceeded to consider the bill. · 

The hill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to 

a third reading, read the third time, and passed (two-thirds of the Senators present voting in the affirmative). 

Mr. GARLAND. The Committee on the Judiciary have had under 

consideration the bill (S. 2094) to remove the political disa.bilities of 

Louis Marquart. The committee in investigating this matter found 

that the person named doe..c:; not labor under any disabilities; that his 

disabilities, so far as any existed, were removed by the act of the 13th 

of .May, 1884; and they instruct me to report the bill back and recommend its indefinite postponement. 

The bill was postponed indefinitely. 

ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. CLARK, its 

Clerk, announced that the Speaker of the House had signed the following enrolled bills; and they were thereupon signed by the President 

prot~~e: • . A bill (H. R. 4681) for the relief or Yost Harbaugh; 

A bill (H. R. 181) to declare forfeiture of certain lands granted to aid 

in the construction of a railroad in Oregon; and · 

A bill (H. R. 1565) to authorize the appointment of a commission 

by the President of the United States to run and mark the boundary 

lines between a portion of the Indian Territory and the State of Texas 

"in connection wit.h a similar commission to be appointed by the State 

of Texas. 

BILLS INTRODUCED. 

Mr. SABIN introduced a bill (S. 2573) to authorize the construction 

of a bridge cross the Saint Croix River at the most accessible point between 'Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, Minn.; which was read twice by 

its title, and referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

Mr. HARRISON (by request) introduced a bill (S. 2574) to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River near the 

town or city of Thebes, in Alexander County, Illinois; which was read 

twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Commerce. 

Mr.-VOORHEES introduced a bill (S. 2575) for the relief of Peter 

Collier; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Finance. 

Mr. ALLISON introduced a bill (S. 2576) granting a pension to W. 

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

Mr. ALDRICH introduced a bill (S. 2577) to authorize the printing 

ofthe eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late Henry B. Anthony; 

which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committe on 

Printing. .AMENDMENT TO A.N A.PPROPRIA.TION BILL. 

Mr. CAMERON, of Wisconsin, submitted an amendment intended 

to be proposed by him to the Indian appropriation bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. 

FLAG FROM THE WOMEN'S SILK CULT\..RE ASSOCIATION. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair asks leave to lay before 

the Senate a communication from the Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States. If there be no objection the communication 

will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows: 

WOlllEN'S SILK-CULTURE .AssOCIATION O F UNITED STATES, 

Philadelphia, January 23, 1885. 

To the honorable members of the Senate of the United States at Washington: 

The Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States, established in Philade lphia in 1880, have siucethattimedemonstrated silk-culture in the United States to a condition and state of progress never before attained, and upon the popularity of which numerous stock companies and individuals have established business cente1·s. 

While not deprecating such conditions, we do ask that the questions, by whom and how was the indu<~try introduced be answered by honestly and properly 

accrediting their just due to its rightful authors, the Women's Silk Culture Assocmtion ofthc United States, who herewith present to the Senate of the United States nt Washington a truly A.medcan national flag, in the sense that the silk> produced for-this flag was raised in American homes by American women and children. reeled by the Women's Association of Philadelphia (who are the only reelers of commercial silk iu the country up to this time), spun, dyed, woven, and mounted in the city of Philadelphia, and through the liberality of Mrs. C. 

C. Thurn, of the association, who generously offered to flefray t·he expense in- curred in producing the flag, the a!>Sociation are enabled to offer it to the na- tional Capit~l as a memento of our success in starting silk-culture as an industry for our A.mericansil ters. Weaskforthisflaga:placein theHallsofourNational Government, that it maybearwitness to the fmthfulnessofoureffort and to the qua lity of our American product, both agricultural and mechanical. This is not the first fruits of specimen products of the association. The Gar- field brocade, presented to the widow of our late lamented President, was manip- ulated by our association, and its wonderfully beautiful quality and design dis- played to our statesmen at Washington. A State and national flag have been presented to the State Legislature of Penn- sylvania, made of native silk, grown in the summer of 1883, a nd put through all the processes of manufacture in t.he city of Philadelphia. Besides these national gifts the association has had American silk worked up into knitting silk, brocade, gros-grain silk, and chenille, and in every form the quantity and quality has proved a good and profitable result. - For statistiC.'! we refer you to our fourth annual report, just to be issued, and to the files of Daily Silk Reoocd, published by the association during the late ~xhibit. And begging your acceptance and a place of honor for this flag, we also ask that due consideration shall be given to this association when the National Government may see fit to aid this industry. American women are raising silk-worm eggs far Ruperior to foreign breeds. What the industry needs is experimental stations, where the process of culture and reeling shall be established, and where the experience and knowledge of foreign operations shall be united to American talent, industry, and intelligence. 

Remember, we are the silk association of the United States; our correspond- ence, our information, and :progress belong to nearly every State in the Union. The California. association IS modeled after our own, but more liberally dealt with by her State. 

All the work of our association bas been carried on by the most frugal and economical management, but much left undone that could have been accom- plished had we the means of perfecting our aims. Therefore we crave the as- surance of future good-will and influence in the interests we have stimulated and planted throughout the whole United States. 

Mrs. JOHN LUCAS~fresident. 

Mrs. MATTHEW S.LMPSON, Mrs. C. C. THUM, Mrs. WM. B. ELTONHE.AD, 

Miss PH<EBE HORNE, Mrs. W. T . REYNOLDS, Vice-Presiden.U. Miss E. T. VA....~ REJ.~SSELAER, Recording &crttaf'11. Mrs .• V. C. HAVEN, Corresponding Secretary. Mrs. E. V. B. OSBOURN, Chairman P. andS. CommiUu. Mrs. G. W. HALL, Ruling Comtnittee. Mrs. H. P. TAYLOR, Trea.&urer. 

Mr. BECK. I offer the following resolutions and ask for theii- immediate consideration: 

Resolved, That. the Senate of the United States accepts with thanks the silk tla.g 

presented by the Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States as an example of purely American production of Rilk culture and manufacture . .Resolved, That the patriotic exertions ofthe ladies of the association and their co- workers to ameliorate the industrial condition of their country-women and en- large and diversify female employment receive the cordial appreciation and sympathy of the Senat-e. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the present consideration of the resolutions? 

Mr. MORGAN. ' Mr. President--

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator object to the con- sideration of the resolutions? 

Mr. MORGAN. No, sir; I rise to support the resolutions. 

The PRESIDENT pro t~pore. The Chair hears no objection. The 

question is on agreeing to the Tesolutions. 

Mr. MORG.A,N. I feel very grateful to the Senau>r from Kentucky 

that he has introduCed these resolutions recognjzing the handiwork 

and patriotism also of the ladies who have honored the Senate with the 

presentation of this flag. I welcol{le the flag, with all that it means, 

into this Chamber and over this Government as thoroughly as any man 

in the community. There was a time when I was acting in hostility to 

it. That time will never again arise. The sentiment which it embodies in the present form in which it comes before us is one that adds 

strength to the bondofnnion that binds these States together, andone 

that intensifies the love of country that every American should be 

proud to enjoy and to express. 

As an evidence of the interest of the women of the United States, 

and particularly of this honorable association, in a domestic industry, 

it is something admirable in itself, and I think is something that will 

produce very :fine fruits in the United States. 
I 

1885. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 943 

We are yet a very dependent people for this important staple, and 

we are not to be relieved from our state of dependence, it seems to me, 

otherwise than through the agency of the women and children of the 

United States, for the culture of silk is not one of those plantation industries that can be facilitated by large investments of money or by 

extensive employment of force. It is purely a domestic, a home industry, in which the laborers must necessarily be the women and children of the land. They are qualified by their natural capacities and 

fitness for such work to produce and to reel silk and to make it a marketable commodity. Men are not qualified for this kind of work. A 

thousand plantation hands might be employed in the State of Alabama, 

which is one of the silk-growing regions of this country, in rearing 

mulberries, and in feeding cocoons, and in reeling silk, and there would 

come no profit from that investment. A thousand women and children similarly employed would bring great benefit to the country. 

I consider this as one of the most necessary as well as useful of all 

the industries in which the people of the United States can engage. 

If we will but think for a moment how much of excellent and innocent 

employment it would bring to thous~mds of unemployed women of the 

United States, how much of the comforts of life they would be ena.bled 

to earn without any great physical exertion, without exposing themselves to the heats of summer or to the chilly winds of winter, it seems 

to me that we should have a greater appreciation of the efforts of these 

ladies to foster and encourage this industry. 

Then, 1\olr. President, there is something very natural as well as very 

beautiful in the association of women in the silk-culture and in preparing it for commerce. They mutually assist each other; they mutually adorn each other. There is no woman who does not look better 

in a silk garment, and there is no silk garment that does not look better upon a woman than it does upon a man. There is a natural association between that sex and this industry; and these ladies evince a 

spirit of benevolence toward their own sex when they take the charge 

of this subject. It is entirely appropriate that they should do so; and 

I hope that the Senate of the United States, as far as it may find constitutional authority to do it, may aid and assist and encourage this 

excellent and beautiful industry which has to-day exhibited itself in 

the bright, shining folds of the American flag that now appears in the 

Senate of the United States. 

I therefore second the resolution of the Senator from Kentucky. 

Mr. DAWES. Mr. President, I have been gratified at this interesting ceremony here, illustrating the great progress and rapid growth of 

silk manufacture in this country, and it calls up very vividly in my 

mind an incident in legislation. In 1872, I think it was-it may have 

been still later, perhaps in 1874-when the Committee of Ways and 

Means of the House of Representatives were considering'the question 

whether it were possible for the people of this country with any success 

to engage in the manufacture of silk in competition with the manufacturers of silk in other countries where labor was cheaper, a very distinguished political economist of this country~ appeared before that 

committee for the purpose of relieving those manufactures of silk 

which are made in foreign countries from the duties then imposed upon 

them, on the ground that the manufacture of silk in the United States 

was an impossibility, and that therefore the duties upon manufactured 

silk were simply a tax upon the consumer. 

I can not keep out ofmy mind the statement made attbattimethat 

this was utterly impracticable, and yet the census of 1880, eight years 

at most from the time that statement was made, revealed that there 

were made annually in this country $41,000,000 of silk manufactured 

goods; that we were then with one exception the largest silk manufacturing country in the world; that $19,000,000 of capital were invested 

in that manufacture, and that thirty-fourthousand and odd men, women, 

and children were furnished with employment and wages in that work, 

and that the cost of silk goods in this country bad in the mean time 

been reduced 34 per cent. To-day I suppose we are the first country 

in the world in the product of silk manufactures, and this and like 

goods are the fruit of that system. I congratulate the country upon 

this occasion for this demonstration of the wisdom of the policy that 

has nurtured and sustained the manufaetnre of these goods, and I extend personally ro those who have presented this flag my congratulations upon the success attending their efforts under the particular 

economy of the United States. 

The PRESIDENT pro te?npore. The question is upon agreeing to 

the resolutions submitted by the Senator fromKentucky. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

ELIZABETH F . ASPER. 

Mr. COCKRELL. I ask that Order of Business 1028, being the bill 

(S. 1594) granting a pension to Mrs. Elizabeth F. Asper, which was 

placed on the Calendar at my request after having been adversely reported by the Senator from. T~nnessee [Mr. JACKSON], be stricken from 

the docket and the bill indefinitely postponed. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from ~uri asks 

unanimous consent that the bill named by him, adversely reported 

from the Committee' on Pensions on the 20th instant, be taken from 

the Calendar and indefinitely postponed. That order will be entered 

if there be no objection. The Chair hears no objection . . 

LANDS IN INDIAN TERRITORY. 

The PRESIDENT po tempore. The Chair lays before the Senate the 

Calendar under Rule VIII. \. 

Mr. PLUMB. I was under the impression that the resolution of 

the Senator from Missouri [Mr. VEST] was on the table for consideration under the order of resolutions offered on a previous day. I wish 

to offer an amendment to it if the Senator himself does not propose an 

amendment. 

The PRESIDENT po tempore. The resolution of the Senafur from 

Missouri was read twice on the 22d instant. and ordered to lie on the 

table. It does not therefore come before the Senate under the order 

of resolutions. 

Mr. VEST. I move that the Senate now take up the resolution. 

The PRESIDENT po tempo're. The Senator from Missouri moves 

that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution 

(S. R. 113) in relation to certain lands in the Indian Territory acquired 

by the United States from the Creek and Seminole Indians. The question is on that motion. 

Mr. CONGER. Let the resolution be read. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It will be read for inforllliltion. 

The Chief Clerk read the joint resolution, as follows: 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre8entativesofthe United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed and empowered to ascertain, by communication with the authorities of the Creek and Seminole Nations of Indians in the Indian Territory, upon what terms·the said nations will relinquish and convey to the United States all the right, title, and interest in and to all that country described in article 8 of the treaty made between the United States and the Creek Nation on June 14., 1866, as "the west half of their entire domain, to be divided by a line running north and south," the lands so described in the treaty being now known a.s "Oklahoma." and be- ing fully described in Senate Executive Document No. 109, Forty-eighth Con- gress, first session, page 4, and the lands described in article 3 of the Seminole treaty of March 21, 186G (14 Statutes, page 756). _ SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior shall coJninunica.te with the author- ities of the Creek and Seminole Nations immediately, by special agent or other- wise, a.s he may deem necessary, and transmit the result to Congress. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the motion to 

take up the resolution. 

The motion was agreed to; and the joint resolution was considered 

as in Committee of :the Whole. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The joint resolution will be read. 

Mr. VEST. It has just been read, and it is not necessary to read it 

again. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri asks 

unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with. 

Mr. INGALLS. It had better be read, I tliink. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The joint resolution will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read the joint resolution. 

Mr. DAWES. I should like t~ inquire of the Seaator from Missouri 

if that description would not include all that land which has been appropriated for the Iowas and Kickapoos? 

Mr. VEST. No, sir; I think not. - Mr. DAWES. I had the impression from reading it that it included 

that land as well. 

Mr. VEST. I drew it with reference to Oklahoma as put now on 

the map. 

Mr. DAWES. I suggested yesterday to the Senator a modification of 

the resolution. 

Mr. VEST. I have an amendment to propose to meet the views of 

the Senator from Uassachusetts. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri offers an 

amendment to the joint resolution, which will be read. 

The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed to substitute for the resolution 

the following: 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed and empowered to ascertain, by communication with the authorities of the Creek, 

Seminole, and Cherokee Nations of Indians in the Indian Territory, upon what terms the said nations will relinquish and convey to the United States all their right, title, and interest in and to all that country described in article 3 of the treaty made between the United States and the Creek' Nation on June 14, 1866, as" the west half of their entire domain," and the lands described in article 8 of the Seminole treaty of l\Iarch 21, 1866 (14 Statutes, 756), and so much of the lands described in article 16 of the treaty made between the United States and the Cherokee Nation July 19, 1866, as has not been already purchased by the United States from said Cherokee Nation for the purpose of settling friendly Indians thereon, as provided for in said treaty. SEc. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior shall communicate with the authori- ties of the Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee Nations immediately, by special agent or otherwise, a.s he may deem necessary, and transmit the result to Congress. 

Mr. SHERMAN. This joint resolution has not yet been considered 

by any committee, and I know that there are amendments proposed to 

be offered to it. I suggest, therefore, that without further debate it be 

referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. lam also told-I am not 

a member of that committee-that that committee have already examined many of the facts that enter into the consideration of this resolution, and they have an examination pending beforethemonthe subject 

of the condition of affairs in this territory. I hope, therefore, without 

occupying time now, it will be referred to the Committee on Indian 

Affa.irs, and that any amendments to be suggested may be now offered 

and sent to that committee. 

I 

j 

l 
I' 

944 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-' SENATE. J .A.NUARY 23, 

The PRESIDENT pro tempo-re. Does the Chair understand the Sena.-

tor from Ohio to make a motion? 

Mr. SHERMAN. I do moveto refer the joint resolution. "' 

Mr. PLUMB. Before that motion is put I desire to offer an amendment, in the nature of a substitute for the resolution, to be printed and 

go with the resolution if it is tope referred to the committee. · 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio moves that 

the joint resolution with the amendment proposed by the Senator from 

Missoufi be referred to the CommitteeonJndian A.ffair.s, pending which 

the Senator from Kansas asks leave to submit an amendment intended 

to be proposed for a similar disposition, if that disposition shall be made 

of the resolution. . Mr. INGALLS. .May we _hear the amendment read? 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment intended_ to be proposed by the Senator from K.a.nsaS [Mr. PLUMB] will be read for information, if there be no objection. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That the President be requested to enter into negotiations with such of the Indian tribes in the Indian Territory as may be inpo st'..ssion and control of more lands than are necessary to furnish each head of a family of such tribe with one hundred and sixty acres, with a view of obtaining q. relinquishment: to the Government for purpose of occupancy by' actual settlers only of all lands beyond the quantity necessary to give the quantity of lands aforesaid to the heads of families in said tribes; that such action be undertaken as speedily as'possib1ei and such propositions as may be received from any of said tribes for the disposa of their lands, and all other results growing out of said negotiations, to be re- ported to Oongress at the earliest practicable moment. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The q uesti.on is on the motion ~f the 

Senator from Ohio to refer the resolution with all amendments to the 

Committee on Ind.iar.. Affairs. , 

Mr. MAXEY.. I should like to inquire of the Senator from Kansas 

who offers the substitute whether it is designed to cover the land occupied 

by the :five pivilized·tr;ibes at this time, and in that connection I would 

state that not a great while ago I made a calculation of the land occupied by the Creek and Choctaw Nations, and there are about four hundred acres for every head of a family in one case and six hundred acres 

in the other. To reduce that down to one hundred and sixty a.~res 

wGuld necessarily leave open a large quantity of land. I have no doubt 

what I say of the Choctaws and Creeks is true of 1 the Chickasaws and 

Seminoles. I want to know the scope of the sulistitute. 

. Mr. PLUMB. The design is to open negotiations with all the tribes 

in the Indian Territory having more lands than enough to give one 

hundred and sil-tY acres to each head of a family in su~h tribe. 

Mr. MAXEY." Including the' :five civilized tribes as well as 'the 

others? • ' 

Mr. PL UltfB. All of them together, for the purpose of presenting to 

Congress such proposition as the tribes niay be willing in the present 

condition of things to make, With a view io such a limitation of Indian 

holdings in the Territory as, while meeting th~necessities of the tribes, 

shall also result in surrendering to the General Government all the 

lands they do not need. ' . 

Mr~ MAXEY. If I can get the attention of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 'I would also say that I am very much of opinion that 

there is a confusion in respect to the word '' Oklahoma '' as used. The 

treaties made with the five civilized trib · in 1866 make provision for 

a Territorial form of government, and the Choctaw treaty makes provision for a Delegate, and if the Territorial Government is organized the 

treaty with the Choctaws and Chickasaws designates the Territory thus 

organized as the "Territory of Oklahoma." That-is the name in the 

treaty. 'l'hose treaties are in full force and' effect to-day; and if. we 

ever execute the power which we have of organizing the rndian Territory we shall do it under the name of Oklahoma. And yet this little 

piece of.ground west of the country now occupied by the Creelul gets 

· somehow, without any authority of law, the name of Oklahoma, and 

we get the two things mixed. The word'' Oklahoma" properly applies only to that portion of the Indian T~rritory occupied by the :five 

civilized tribes as hl.id down j.n the treaties of 1866. I call the attention of the committee to the :Met, as I seethe resolution of the Senator 

from Missouri speaks of that little patch of land there ·as the so-called 

territory of Oklahoma. . It is not correctly so called. , Mr. VEST. I must say to the Senator from Texas that he is mistaken if he thinks I have u.sed the expression 'the territory of Oklahoma. '' I have only followed ·the Interior Department. They have 

marked that country as Oklahoma, I do not know on what authority: 

Mr. MAXEY. I have referred to the treaties. The designation is 

without legal authority. ' · · 

Mr. VEST. I have no objection to the reference. 

Mr. CONGE.R. Mr. President1 I do not know that I wonder that the 

Senator from Kansas and the Senator from Texas "should desire to kave 

snch·a resolution passed, but I do not know what particular i.Rterest 

the State of Missouri may have in this question. I only look upon 

this resolution as a crude, informal, indirect way of inviting everybody 

who wants to join the Oklahoma band and movement to begin to organize and gather around the borders of this Indian Territory, go through 

it, and pick out land. Instead of the crowd of boomers that are there now which the Army_ can hardly keep off from Oklahoma, it is to. get an army there big enough to swallow up the An:ny of then nited States 

and the Indian Territory too. 

Here is a proposition ~ade and to be p~ed, if it is passed, by both 

Houses of Congress, informing the people of the United States that we 

are about now to negotiate to get away from the Indians all this western p'U't of the Indian Territory, which I think embraces lands that 

have been given to several tribes that have been moved onto the same 

territory that is provided for in this resolution to be negotiated for. 

I think it will appear so. It is an invitation beforehand, or a notice 

beforehand, to everybody that desires possession of the Indian Territory 

to gather there, as where'' thecarcassis, there will theeaglesbegathered 

together," and seize upon thisland-togiveimpetus, to give new life and 

new motion and new activity to those who are striving to get the land. 

It is useless for me to say, for every Senator knows, tha.t the passage 

of this resolution will call together force enough there to compel Congress to rob the Indians and steal their lands. The Secret:lry of the 

Interio;r is to send an agent down there to :find out as quickly as possible how these tribes will be willing to sell their lands! . Thati amended 

by the Senator from Kansas by inquiring into the propriety of asking 

the Indians, each one, to pick out his forty acres or eighty acres or one 

hundred and sixty acres or three hundred and twe.i:J.ty acres, whatever 

the laws will allow an Indian to have at all, so that the re~t may come 

into market. I think this is the most bold-faced scheme of robbery of 

Indian lands set apart for generations as a reserve upon which that unfortunate people may be gathered and may be secure in some possession 

of territory that has ever been proposed in Congress. 

There is land enough for the white people without encroaching upon / 

the Indian Territory. There are places for the enterpdsing whites to 

roam without trampling on the graves and the lands of the remnants 

of the vast number of Indians who once inherited this whole territory. 

These very Cherokees and Choctaws and Seminoles, by the superior 

power of a civilized nation, have been driven from the Atlantic westward and westward and westward, across the Mississippi, across Arkansas. They have been driven to a Territory set apart and pledged to them 

in perpetuity as one place removed from the ocean, removed from the 

lakes, removed from the Gulf, removed from the great centers of s~ttle

ment and civilization, where the remaining Indians might live or die, 

as the Great Father might permit. On the south lies Texas, already in 

the possession of au empire ofland; on the north Kansas and Colorado; 

and on the west, according to its boundaries, f.'exas still and New 

Mexico. 1 - • 

The greed for land has come over the people of the United States, ·the greed for the choice valleys and the river bottoll1S and the forests 

set apart in this Indian Territory has sprung ri.p with these Oklahoma 

boomers, and through their efforts it spreads and spreads till it has invited States tp come into the struggles for the possession of these lands. 

Sir, I denounce this whole system as in direct violation of the theory 

and principles of this Goveriiment for over fifty years in regard to the 

rn·dian Territory, and the setting apart for the use of all Indians that 

the United States might desire to gather.npon these Ian~ aud for their 

posterity one piece of territory which should be beyond the cupidity 

and beyond the control and beyond the settlement of the conquerors 

of this continent. Let it remain there. Let that territory remain for 

the Indian. . , . 1 If it becomes necessary; as undoubtedly it Will, to 'remove the tribes 

in the Northwest, and in the West, and in the South, from -their lands 

because they have been proved to be fertile, as the lands in :Minnesota, 

as the lands in Dakota, as the lands in Michigan, as the lands in Montana and Wyoming and all through the Western Territories,' let this 

territory be open to them. The white men are demanding those lands 

to-day. The great stock-raising and stock-growing people of Texas are 

demanding the Crow territory and the Blackfeet territory and all the 

great reservations at the North as pasturage ground for the herds of 

long-horned Texas cattle. Already we have a bill pending before us 

that not only looks to the uses of these lands at the north for that purpose, but proposes to create a great highway six miles wide froin Texas 

ru~g through States and giving along at different ~ints 10,000 acres in a spot for grazing lands for Texas cattle. There is ne proposition 

offered to help the cattle of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana and l\finnesota and Iowa and all these Northwestern States, p. breed of cattle infinitely superior to all the long-horned Texas steers in beauty and value; 

but in order to make way for the invalid tribes of cattle, for the pleuropneumonia of Texas, we must set apart right through States and right 

through Territories a highway not the king's, but the cattle's ~ghway, pleuro-pneumonia recesses into which cattle can go and have 

health and strength and preserve their life till they can be got by that 

roundabout process to market. 

· That is the object of stealing these lands. Already those who have 

herds of cattle look with greedy eyes upon this Indian Territory as 

great pasture lands for cattle. ' 

That is the object of this joint resolution, to drive the Indians off 

and 'procure a place upon which sickly· cattle Ca.n recuperate their decaying energies and live till they can be driven on the royal highway 

to the healthy regions of the north and be seemingly fitted for the consumption of. the human race. That i4 what all tp.is means Indian 

rights are nothing; the Indians can be driven from their lands, as they 

have been, to make way for cattle. Ih old times "the cattle upon a thousand hills I' were said to belong to the Lord. By the march" of im~ 
1885. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 945 

provement and by the energy of Senators from Texas we are ready to 

believe that the cattle upon a thousand plains belong to Texas-not 

much similarity in ownership! [Laughter.] 

I oppose this resolution. Its tendency is bad and wrong. It invites 

encroachments still more rapidly upon the Indian Territory than they 

exist now, and these encroachments have been swelling in· force. The 

head of that organization may die, but the body lives. The leader of 

the band may perish, but his followers would trample over his grave in 

their approaches to Oklahoma. 

. Sir, I talked a day or two since with an officer whose duty it was 

with the few troops the Government has given him to make constant 

pilgrimages of war down through the Cherokee lands and into what is 

called Oklahoma to bring back the wanderers from lands of the United 

States out of the Indian Territory and let them plant their tents outside the line. If this resolution should pass and if· the Secretary of 

the Interior should :find some man, or should desire to find some man, 

to talk with the Indians, and see what of this property we had better 

have, the most deserving man for the place, the man who has thought 

longest upon the subject, the man who has labored most earnestly during the years of his life and has led on his cohorts to find outallabout 

this region, is ·dead. He can not have him. He perished in his efforts, 

but he had lieutenants that the Secretary of the Interior could secure 

the services of, and they are there now. If the Secretary of the Interior would send man to make this investigation he has only to send down to those idle men who are trying 'to get into the Indian Territory, and get them to negotiate for these 

land, and give the reasons why they want them. It will be a curious 

history when the Secretary reports whom he has employed; it will be 

a curious history when tho e who desire these lands have joined with 

this agent to influence the Cherokees, and Choctaws, and Seminoles, 

and Senecas, and Kickapoos, and Arapahoes, and all the euphonious 

bands of that region, but there will still be the secret history of the 

consumption of whisky, of the bribery of drunken chiefs, of the corruption of the headmen of the tribe, which has accompanied almost every 

attempt to win treaties from the Indians to getaway their lands against 

the will of the tribe and against the sober judgment of the chiefs. 

I am oppo 'ed to this resolution. If my voice could determine it, it 

would go no further than it is now, not even to a committee. There 

is no use mincing words about this. This means a wholesale stealing 

from the Indians of what this Government has solemnly pledged to 

them and to the world should be a final resting-place for the remnants 

who remain, and this resolution opens the way and excites the cupidity 

and excites the avidity of all those who desire to possess themselve of 

these lands with the hope and expectation that Congress having begun 

in the usual way by suggesting a fair treaty and a careful inve tigation, 

it is not going to take any different form than the usual methods of 

acquiring Indian lands. Sir, the Senator from ~fissouri who introduced 

this plausible r~olution in his place in this Senate Chamber depicted and painted the manner in which treaties with Indians at the West 

were agreed to, or were reported to be agreed to, and told the Senate 

that one chief whose name appears signed to a treaty giving up his 

valley and his reservation asserted then, and it has been proved since, 

that he never signed the treaty at all; and yet for months and years 

that treaty has gone out to the world with the signature of this old 

chief printed in the printed copies but never signed to the original 

treaty. 

I commend the pathetic, the interesting statement which excited the 

sympathy and feelings, and I may say the abhorrence, of Senators here 

to such kind of manipulation of the rights and interests of the Indians, as the Senator who introduced this resolution' ~pread before the Senate 

not many days since. The opportunity for an equally great wrong, for an infinitely greater viola~on of the obligations of the United States, is 

presented by this proposed treaty. If this resolution should go to the 

Committee on Indian Affairs for their consideration I have some hope 

from their reports on this subject, from the return of the Indian Committee to the old and better examination of these questions where humanity and sympathy for these fading tribes has exhibited itself more in these last few years than for years before, that it will receive such an examination and such a report as will satisfy the Senate and the coun- try that the time has not come to seek by treaties with these wards of 

the nation to take away what little they have left. 

Mr. INGALLS. .Mr. President, we belong to a rapacious and con- quering race. In the last two centuries we have marched aero s this 

continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, expelling or assimilating all rivals, and are now looking north and south meditatingnew 

conq uesm. Since the close of the Mexican war the American people 

have ceased to acquire additional territory, not because they had ceased to 

be acquisitive, but because they had enough. Bntwe have to-day practically reached the condition predicted by Maeaulay in one of his wonderful essays that in his opinion would constitute the chief danger of 

this Republic: the absorption of the public:; domain, so that, there being 

no longer any unoccupied fertile area over which the exce8Slve populations of the East and of the interior might diffuse themselves, com binations dangerous to liberty might be formed and a condition of affairs 

like that in the older countries of the earth might result. 

We have nearly arrived at the limit of the arable public domain. 

XVI-.60 

There is a .vast expanse yet unoccupied. Much of it consists of inaccessible mountain ranges; much of it is covered with timber; a very 

great extent consists of sterile uplands, fit only for' grazing, where the 

policy of leasing ought to be pursued. But I doubt to-day if there are 

within the possession of the United States Government, outside of Indian reser>ation , subject to entry under the homstead and pre-emption 

laws, 25,000,000 acres adapted to the cultivation of wheat and corn. 

Itwillall be absorbed inevitably within thespaceofthenextfiveyears. 

And the spirit or impulse to which the Senator from Michigan has referred as one of larceny, ai predatory, as verging upon robbery, a disposition to steal what has been consecrated by treaty and devoted to the 

occupancy of Indians, is entirely out.'lide of the legitimate description 

of these movements. They are inevitable. · We may as well, as he says, . 

not mince words about this matter. The American policy is a continental policy, and I am not sure that within the lifetime of men now living it ·will not be a hemisph~rical policy. But it is enough to say 

that to-day it is a continental policy; and nothing, no matter what may 

be the name or shape it assumes, will be able to stand before the irre- · 

sistible march of the Anglo-Saxon people, with all the corresponding 

advantages and benefits they have to confer, not only on the people of 

this country, but upon mankind at large. 

Now, sir, with regard to the Indian Territoty, that portion which has. 

been the object of so much solicitude during the past few months, in 

my opinion, is not at present open to settlement. I have had many letters from constituents, and to all of them I have replied that in the opinion of the Executive, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, in 

the opinion of the law o:ffi.cer of the Government, these lands were not 

open to public settlement; the title of the Indians had not been finally 

extinguished, and I have therefore ad vised them if they desired to avoid 

trouble they had better await the a-ction of Congress. Such is still my 

iudgment. I believe that what is knoWll as the "Oklahoma tract," a 

designation to which it is not entitled, was never set apart under any 

circumstances by the provisions of the treaties for public settlement. It was taken by the United States Government in trust to be used for occupation by friendly Indians and freedmen; and while there has been a difference of opinion as to what freedmen were meant, I believe it re- ferred to.the freedmen whowere formerly slaves ofthecivilized Indian 

tribes. I never have believed that that land was set apart as a general 

place of habitation for all the freedmen of the United States. I do not 

think that was in the contemplation of those who made the treaties; but 

I am of opinion that by the term ''freedmen'' was meant those freedmen of the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Choctaws, the ChickaBiws, and 

the Seminoles who had been liberated under the provisions of the treaties 

ofl866. 

Mr. MAXEY. I would suggest to the Senator from Kansas in that 

connection that the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Schurz, acted upon • the view presented to-day by the Senator from Kansas. 

Mr. INGALLS. So I understood, but forgot to say, and I am obliged 

to the Senator for suggesting it; but I was led to the remarks I made 

from the fad that a different opinion has been expressed, and during 

the last month I have had letters from freedfnen in different parts of 

the country, from many of the Southern States, asking whether th~t · 

land was not set apart for occupation by the freedmen of the country 

generally. . There seems to be a spontaneous impulse all over this country, not 

confined to theW est alone, but extending into the South and.' the North, 

for the occupation of that region; and to chara-cterize it as a wholesale 

disposition to steal, as a purpose on the part of the American people to 

break faith and violate treaties, is certainly a description that I can not 

with silence permit to be applied to it. Those men who are now upon 

that tract, although I believe they are there without authority or war- rant of law, have in most cases been imposed upon by interested and 

scheming leaders-, who have deceived them for plUposes of gain; but I 

have no doubt that they honestly believe that those lands are public 

lands of the United States, and that therefore they have a right to go 

upon them. 

So far as I am concerned I shall never consent to any injustice being 

done to the Indians. . I will never consent to the violation of our plighted faith with them. They are just as much entitled to the ob- servance of the obligations of honor as though those treaties underw hich 

they claim had been made with the most powerful nations upon the 

faee of the earth; and if I supposed, as the Senator from Michigan does, 

that this was a larcenous impulse; that we were occupying the attitude of highway robbers or footpads or buccaneers, I certainly should 

not favor it. But it may as well be conceded first as last that it is 

utterly impossible that these vast tracts of land should be held in idle, 

unproductive, and useless occupation much longer. I do not think it 

advisable that they should be so held. 

Some one has said that he who made two blades of grass grow whe e one grew before was a public benefaclor. Shall it be said that those 

who would upon these vacant and unoccupied solitudes build the institutions of a Christian civilization are less benefactors of the human 

species than he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew 

before? Sir, civilization is better than barbarism; cultivation is better 

than solitude; corn and wheat are better than prairie grass; the cow, 

the horse, and tJ:t.e sheep are better than "the bison, the coyote, and the 

.. 

. . . 

.. 
t. 

/ 

'. ' 

.. 

946 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. JANUARY 23, 

rattlesnake; and there is no use talking about this vast occupation of hear that that suggestion was against the interests of the Indians. If 

these great tracts of land by their savage tenants indefinitely in the an Indian has two acres of land and only needs one and he receives-for 

future. But, sir; they have had the right of occupation by sacred gnar- that one acre in excess of his needs, by aa agreement made with b.iB. 

antees; these lands have been consecrated by the faith of the nation, consent, the fair cash value of it, I take it the money is better to him .and they never will be relinquished, so far as I am concerned, without at interest than the land is. 

the consent of those ocCupants fairly obtained, voluntarily given, with I believe we should approach the discussion of this question. If Conjust and adequate compensation for every acre that they relinquish. gress will address itself to this question as one of present importance 

Such, sir, is the scope of the amendment offered by my colleague, and and as one about which the public is more or less concerned, that of itsuch I believe to be the scope of the resolution presented by the Sena- self will operate as a restraint against people going on the Indian lands 

tor from Missouri. I give them my hearty and ~rdial approbation, instead of an invitation to them to go there. I believe the very fa£t 

repelling at the same time the assertion of the Senator from Michigan that Congress has done nothing so long has taken no step in this direc:. 

that there is on the part of any persons, whether now upon these lands . tion, has led people to believe that they could, go upon the lands and ·or contemplating a journey thither, the disposition to do anything other precipitate action; and not only that, but it has operated to make peothan exact justice. ' ple believe that Congress was going to do nothing, and therefore i\ has 

Mr. PLUMB. Mr. President, if I bad supposed that any one could perpetuated .the conviction in the public mind to some extent o.f the 

characterize the resolution which I have offered as the Senator fi·om existence of large bodies of land under Indian control without being oc- Michigan has characterized it I should certainly have hesitated before cupied by anybody or made to do any public or private good. It is 

introducing it. Nothing was further from the intent, and nothing in with that view that I have offered this amendment. 

my judgment will be further from the fact than the result which he has I am satisfied that is the view which has been had in mind all through 

pictured as to follow the adoption of this resolution. It is directly op- this debate by the Senator from Missouri and the Senator from Texas, :posed to all those practices which have been characterized on this floor and as nothing can be done under this resolution except with the con- 'aS violations of the rights of the Indians heretofore in the making of sent of the Indians, and that consent is further to be followed by legistreaties. lation, nothing of the kind which the Senator from Michigan seems to 

Some years ago Congress prohibited the further making of Indian anticipate and which he has spoken of as heretofore having eharactertrea ties, and it was done because it was thereafter to be req nired that ized our dealings with the Indians in regard to their lands by means of 

all agreements with the Indians should originate with Congress and treaties can possibly occur. I assure him, whatever value that a nr-

·not with the Executive and that every step in the making and perfect- ance has, that I did not have in mind at all the repetition of that which 

ing of any agreement with the Indians should be subject to that day- be has justly charaeterized. I do not want one single Indian in any 

1light w:hich always characterizes the :proceedings of Congress in open tribe in the Indian Territory or anywhere else to surrender anything 

:'Session. There having been withdrawn from the Executive the :power that is his to the United States or anybody else unless he gets a fair 

.>to make treaties with the Indians, by a necessary and natqral conse- equivalent for it. 

r.quence there was withdrawn from him the power to negotiate any I understand further that the Supreme Court of the United States 

<agreement whatever with Indians, except by direction of Congress. has decided, in what is known as the Joy case, that the Cherokee InThis resolution looks .to the acquisition of no lands except what the dians have a fee title to their lands. All talk, therefore, about taking :Indians are willing to surrender. It does not authorize the bringing them, except upon compensation and by valid agreements with the 

to bear of any :pressures, but the Executive shall simply negotiate and Indians, is, of course, idle words. Nothing else can be done except to ·present to Congress such propositions as the Indians themselves upon treat with them for the acquisition of their soil as that of a private inlrls ·solicitation that they shall make some proposition may be willing dividual, and upon terms which will be agreeable to them and which 

to make for the surrender of that portion of the lands which they them- shall after all have the sanction of law. 

selves shall deem that they no longer need and which they are willing The Cherokee Indians themselves treated with the United States on 

to exchange for cash; and there is nothing else to do but that. It is the 16th day of July, 1866, for the ceding to the United States in trust 

the mo~t perfectly proper in my judgment of anything that could be of about 7,000,000 acres of their land, and it was stated therein that it 

proposed, and at the same time wholly .consistent with justice to the was for the purpose of locating friendly Indians upon it in bodies of 

Indians in every step of the transaction. · · 160 acres each, and that quantity was thereby fixed, according to the 

Mr. President, while the Senator from Michigan chided me for the judgment of the Cherokee Indians and the United States, as being a larceny I had in mind in offering this resolution he was chastising the proper and sufficient amount for Indian holding in that locality. I 

other branch, the House of Representatives, which yesterday-! did have applied in this resolution simply the same rule. In addition to 

not know it until a moment ago-adopted as an amendment to thein- that, the Senate has twice passed, as the Senator from Massachusetts 

dian appropriation bill for the coming year a provision in these words: said yesterday, a bill specifica1ly authorizing the President of t.he United. 

That the President is he~eby authorized, requested, and required to open ne- States to enter into negoiiatio~ for the purpose of acquiring land above 

gotiations with the Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees for the purpose of open- this amount from all Indian tribes and the location of the Indians in 

ing to settlement under the homestead law the unassigned lands in said Indian severalty upon the remainder of their lands. It was only because I 

Territory ceded by them respectively to the United States by the several treat- feared that bill would not become a law, and therefore the Presi_dent ies -of August 11, 1866, March 21, 1866, and July 19, 1866; and for that purpose the sum of 85,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, a.nd the same is would not deem himself instructed to act immediately upon this queshereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropri- tion, which is so important, that I offered this resolution, in order ·that . a ted; his action hereunder to be reported to Congress. we might require of or at least suggest to the Executive that he institute 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. HARRIS in the chair). The hour measures at once, and not wait for the passage of the bill now on the 

of 2 o'clock having arrived, it is the duty of the Chair to lay before the Speaker's table of the House of Representatives, and which may not be 

Senate tlre unfinished business, which is the bill (H. R. 5461) to regu- reached, in order to accomplish this end. 

late interstate commerce and to prohibit unjust discriminations by com- Therefore this proposition is in accordance with the deliberate exmon carriers. pression of the judgment of this body on two several occasions by bill; 

Mr. LUMB. I ask consent that .this matter go on until it is dis- it is the expression of the judgment of the Honse of Representatives 

posed of. I think it will take less time to-day than it will to-morrow, made only yesterday. It is in accordance not only with the fitness of · and I believe it will take but a few moments. things but with the necessity of things, because without this the PresiMr. SHERMAN. · Does the Senator propose to force a vote on the dent·willnot, ashe ought not, feel himself authorized to engage innegoresolution to-day? tiations with any Indian tribe for any purpose whatever, or at all events 

Mr. PLUMB. No; only on the question of reference. for any purpose of the kind heretofore embraced ii1 the execution of 

Mr .. SHERMA.N. Very well. . treaties, Mr. PLUMB. There is no objection to tho reference. As I said before I say again, it was furthest from my thoughts that 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas asks nnan- any injustice or injury should result to any Indian or any Indian tribe 

imous consent that the unfinished business be informally laid aside in by reason of the adoption of this proposition or by reason of the negoorder that the Senate may proceed with the consideration of the joint tiations to be opened under it, or that we should witness in any degree 

resolution which has been pending during the' morning hour. Is there as growing out of it a return to that which all men deprecate, and which 

objection? The Chair hears none. · _ was disposed of when Congress provided that ·the Executive should 

Mr. PLUMB. The provision I have read was adopted in the House make no more treaties with Indians, but that all agreements with them 

yesterday, I think unaniinously. I think also in :pla~ of this being should recei"Ve the sanction oflaw. 

an invitation to people to go there it will be a restraint. I myself have . Mr. MILLER, of California. I move that the Senate proceed to the 

never invited any one or suggested that any one should go there. On consideration of executive business. 

the contrary, I can say with my colleague that I have discouraged per- Mr. PLUMB. I do not think "that there is to be any further debate 

sons from going there. At the same time! am not willing to close my on this resolution. I think it may be referred at once . . It will save eyes to that which I see impending, and which in the very nature of time to do that now. things is inevitable. The Secretary of the Interior himself within a Mr. MILLER, of California. I withdraw the motion for the purpose 

very few days has recommended to Congress that measures should be of having a vote on the motion to refer. 

taken to limit Indian holdings and that the lands not necessary for the The PRESIDING OFFICER. ·The Senator from Ohio moves that 

occupancy of the Indians should be acquired by the United States by the resolution and amendments be referred to the Committee on In<Ua.n 

agreement in order that thay· may be open to settlement, and I did not Affairs. 
1885. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 947 

I 

Mr. VEST. I wish to say a word. If I could be surprised at anything I should be surprised at what was said bytheSenator from Michigan this morning. I might content myself by stating that argument 

does not consist in mere assertion and that abuse cannot be considered as logic. The Senator from Michigan has not considered his words. I 

will simply say that this resolution was not intended to rob any Indians, but it wa.s intended to protect the Indians. Emphatically and 

distinctly I say I offered it for the purpose of protecting the Indians, 

and this morning the delegate from the Creek Nation wrote me a letter, 

which I have, thanking me in the name of that nation fo.r what I said 

yesterday upon this floor in behalf of his people; and the Creeks and 

Seminoles have filed in the Department of the Interior two papers, asking that the very thing should be done which I propose in the resolution I have offered to the Senate. Sir, I can only believe that the 

charge of stealing and robbery as applied by the Senator to this proposed action simply arises from the grossest ignorance in regard to this 

whole matter. 

In 1866 by the treaties with the Creeks and Seminoles they sold their 

lands to the Government of the United States, the Creeks at 20 cents an 

acre and the Seminoles at 15 cents; the Creeks selling the west half of 

their entire domain, divided by a line running north and south; the 

Seminoles selling the whole of their possessions and taking other lands 

from the Creeks. In these two treaties was a provision that the lands 

so sold should only be occupied by Indians from the plains and freed- men. The Cherokees sold all of their domain west of the ninty-eighth 

meridian, which should afterwards be occupied by Indians. The wild 

tribes were to settle there and receive one hundred and sixty acres to 

each Indian, the United States paying for the amount which might thus 

be taken. The Choctaws and Chickasaws sold to the United States 

7,000,000 acres for $300,000. 

The proposition of the people who are called " boomers,'' and who have 

gone on that territory without law and in defiance of proclamation, 

was to ignore the treaties and tear them up and take possession without regard to the rights or interests of the Indians as they then were. 

Under my resolution they cannot do that. My resolution says, and 

every impulse of my nature says, that these Indians shall be treated 

with the same standard of honesty as if it were the Government of 

Great Britain with whom we were treating. So far from outraging 

the Indians, it protects them. Every line of the resolution is in that 

direction and no other; and, sir, I undertake to say that there is not 

one member of the Seminole, or the Creek, or the Cherok~ tribes 

who will not indorse most emphatically the action proposed. . 

When the Senator talks about using whisky with the chiefs, he can 

not apply it to myself. I have always denounced such action in any 

quarter. This is a proposition not only for the protection of the Indians, butitha.s thesanctionoftheSecretaryofthe Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. This very morning the Commissioner of 

Indian .Affairs thanked me for having introduced this resolution, and 

said that he had already sent to Congress a recommendation of the same 

sort of action in regard to these lands. Yet the Senator from Michigan 

says that this is robbery ! Sir, I appeal to the facts. 

Mr. CONGER. Mr. President, I do not desire to prolong this discussion when the Senate wishes to go into executive session, and I care less 

for what the learned .Senator from Missouri may have to say about the 

gross ignorance of gentlemen who differ with him. An assertion of 

knowledge neither establishes knowledge, nor does the assertien of ignorance establish ignorance. 

The Senator goes beyond all the history and traditions and promises 

and treaties and pretensions of this Government, breaks through them 

all by his resolution, and proposes at once, whether it is best or not best, 

that the Secretary of the Interior enter into negotiations through some 

agent for these Indian lands. That is what I complain of. And when 

I recite that for two hundred years the whites on this continent have 

ip thousands of instances by.ti:aud, by _drunkenness, by corruption, stolen 

away this part and that part of the vast domain occupied by the Indians 

and claimed by them, and without waiting for Congress to determine 

what its policy sliould be, whether it is best to give up the Indian Territory,- ~h~ther it is best to confine the . tribes to a smaller portion of 

land, whetlier it is best to give them one hundred and sixty acres in severalty, the Senator's proposition is for a negotiation hurriedly, no matter what Congress or the people of the United States may think about 

preserving its good faith with the Indians and its promise to the civilized world that there should be one territory set apart for these Indians, once the occupiers and owners of this whole vast domain. It is proposed to start off an agent to buy t1teir lands. I say the chance is that 

the old policy of taking and occupying these lands will be renewed 

here; we are to follow the Rob Roy rule: 

Because the good old rule 

Sufficeth them, the simple plan , That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can. 

That is our policy with the Indians, and that is the natural result of 

this haste to find out ho\v certain heads of tribes, like this man here, 

who is said to be the representative of a tribe, can get your money to 

handle, for the chiefs decide such matters, not the Indians. There are 

men who have been lingering around this Capitol ever since I have 

known it, continually coming in here with their plans and projects to 

do one thing or another thing, and to get away the Indian lands. " I 

fear the Greeks even bringing gifts,'' and I fear these representatives 

of these nations even if they do write to the Senator from Missouri approving his plan. 

But, sir, the Senator from Kansas nearest me [1\'lr. INGALL ] has put 

his finger upon the knob which rings the bell to all the land. He relies on ''manifest destiny. 11 Whether the Senator believes in Providence, I do not know. Whether he believes in an overruling power of 

the nations and tribes of the earth from the beginning hitherto till now 

I never yet have been able to understand. But he argues this q uestion as De Quincey argued the question of murder. He argued t.he q uestion of murder as one of the fine arts. Murder having been viewed as 

a fine art, the getting of Indian lands may be regarded as a fine art; it 

is "manpe8t destiny, 11 inevitable that the white race shall drive the Indians off! The Senator plants himself on that great rule of destiny, 

which, he says, will control not only our own and the Indian lands, but . will spread itself north and south till it brings under the control of our 

people the North American continent, and soaring with his lively imagination still further, he crosses the tropics and claims that nothing but 

a hemisphere will satisfy the insatiable demands of fate-not Providence, not a King of nations and.a Lord of peoples-not justice, but 

murder as a fine art, occupying territory as a fine art! 

Sir, the Senator from Kansas has read that eloquent description of 

Lamb in which he explained to the world the discovery of the exquisite flavor and the ineffable attraction of roast pig, how on the vast 

steppes of Tartary and in the borders of China where the pig and the 

family resided in the same bamboo house, when the fire came and destroyed the house the family escaped but the pig perished in the ruins, 

and when this Chinese man or this Tartar man, whichever it may have 

been, came to search among the ruins to find if anything was left, and 

removing the ashes, he stuck his finger accidentally into the body of 

the young suckling roast pig, .and cooling it in his mouth he found how 

delicious the acquisition was. He called his family, his wife and 

his children, or as the Senator from Kansas would so delightfully express it, his whole family circle, to partake with him of the roast 

pig. After that was consumed and a new bamboo house builded and 

new pigs acquired, an increase of stock, inevitable fate, inexorable destiny, compelled that Chinaman when the pig had attained a. suitable 

size for roasting to remove his family and set fire to his building so as 

to roast the pig. All over those vast plaina there was on every still 

night the burning bamboo house of a Chinaman who had learned how 

to acquire roast pig by consuming his dwelling to roast it. That is the 

origin, it is said, of that, and all over that region all kinds of rights 

are disregarded and all property destroyed that the family may luxuriate in that roasted delicacy. 

Now the Senator from Kansas says we have taken these things all 

along; we have destroyed rights; we have invaded treaties; we have 

made ourselves obnoxious to the whole civilized. world by seizing upon 

property, and we must keep up that method even though houses be destroyed to gratify our insatiable desire for more territory. 

I should like to dwell somewhat upon this, but the Senator from 

California [Mr. l\iiLLER] indicates in a manner which I can not mis-· 

understand that he is very anxious to go into executive session for some 

purpose or other, and I yield, as he has been so courteous as to permit 

me to speak on this subject-I yield to his desire now, and hope he will 

make his motion, and that this discussion may go on hereafter for I 

know the Senator from Missouri desires to reply, and the Senator from 

Kansas, ,to the roast pig argument. [Laughter.] I brought up that 

illustration because it touches a sensitive part of the nature of bot.h my 

friends. I want them to dwell upon it and prolong the exquisite sensation of enjoyment which such a thing suggests. I have introduced it 

here to make- it the subject of future remarks upon the same line of argument and to connect manifest destiny in regard to seizing Indian 

lands and the manifest destiny that lights up the vast plains of Tartary and China after the first discovery of the delicacy to which I have 

alluded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the motion of the 

Se,nator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN] that the' joint resolution and the 

pending amendments be referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. 

The motion was agreed to. 

PRESIDENTIAL .A.PPROV ALS. 

A message from the President of the United States, by Mr. 0. L. 

PRUDEN, one of his secretaries, announced that the President had on 

the 20th instant approved and signed the aet (S. 1625) for the relief of , 

William Bowen. 

The message also announced that the President had, on the 21st instant, approved and signed the following acts: 

An act (S. 2061) to authorize the construction of bridges across the 

Mississippi River, one within the State of. Minnesota and one "between 

the States of 1\finnesota and Wisconsin; and . 

An act (S. 478) to authorize the Secretary of War to relinquish and 

turn over to the Interior Department certain parts of the Camp Doug• 

las military reservation in the Territory of Utah, 
948 I CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- HOUSE. J ANU.A.RY -·23, 

The message further announced that the President had this day approved and signed the following acts: 

An act (S. 2045) for the relief of the Eastern Presbyterian church in 

the District of Columbia; 

An aet (S. 1758) for the relief of Charles 1\I. Blake, a chaplain in the 

United States Army; and 

An act {S. 1821) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to examine 

and adjust the claim of E. W. Streeter for moneys expended and serv- ices performed in taking the census of Dakota in 1860. 

EXECUTIVE SESSION. 

Mr. MILLER, of California. I now renew my motion. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California moves that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. 

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business. After two hours and thirty-four minutes 

spent in executive session the doors were reopened, and (at 5 o'clock p. 

m.) the Senate adjourned. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

FRIDAY, January 23, 1885. 

The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. JOHN 

S. LINDSAY, D. D. 

The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

PRESENTATION OF FLAG-WOMEN'S SILK-CULTURE ASSOCIATION. 

The SPEAKER. At the request of a committee of ladies representing the Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States, the 

Chair asks leave to interrupt the regular order- of the proceedings this 

morning for a moment for the purpose of presenting a communication 

tendering to the United States House of Representatives a silk flag of 

the United States. The Clerk will read the communication accompanying this flag, and, if there be no objection, it will be printed in the 

RECORD. 

There was no objection. 

The communication is as follows: 

PHILADELPHIA, January 23, 18&5. 

To the honorabl-e m.em.bers of the House of Represent~ives at Washington: 

The Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States, established in Phila.delphia in 1880, have since that time demonstrated silk-culture in the United States to a condition and tate of progress never before attained, and upon the popularity of which numerous stock companies and individuals have established bu iness centers. ·while not deprecating such conditions we do ask that the questions by whom and how was the industry introduced be honestly and properly accredited to its rightful authors, the Women's Silk-Culture Association of the United States1 who herewith desire to present to the House of Representatives of the Unitea States at Washington a truly American national flag in the sense tl:rat .the silk produced for this flag wa raised in American homes by American women and children; reeled by the Women's A sociation at Philadelphia, who are the only reelers of commercial silk: in the country up to this time; spun, dyed, woven, and mounted in the city of Philadelphia; and through the liberality of Mrs. C. C. Thurn, of the a sociation, who generously offered to defray the expense in- curred in producing the flag, the association is enabled to offer it to the national Capitol as a memento of their success in starting silk-culture as an industry for ., their American sisters. We ask for this flag a place in the Halls of our National Government, that it may bear witness to the ·faithfulness of our effort and to the quality of our American product, both agricultural and mechanical. This is not the first fruits of American-grown products. The Garfield brocade, 

presented to the widow of our late lamented President, was manipulated by our own association1 and its wonderfully beautiful quality and design displayed to our statesmen at. Washington. A State and national flag have just been presented to the Legislature at Har- risburg, which were ma.de of native silk grown in the summer of J BSS, and passed 

through all the processes of manufacture in the city of Philadelphia. Besides these national gifts, the association has had American silk worked up into knit- ting silk, brocade, velvet, gros-grain silk, and chenille; and in every form the quantity and quality have proved a good and profitable result. For statistics, we refer you to our fourth annual report of 1883 and to the files ·of the Daily Silk Record, published by the association during the late exhibit. And begging your acceptance and a. place of honor for this flag, we also ask that due consideration shall be gh·en this association when the National Government may see fit to aid this industry. American women are raising silk-worm eggs far superior to foreign breeds. What the industry needs is experimental stations, where the process of culture and reeling shall be establi bed, and where the experience and knowledge of foreign operations shall be united to American talent, industry, and intelligence. Remember, we are the silk association of the United States; our correspond- ence, our instructions, and progress belong to nearly every State in the Union. The California association is modeled after our own, but more liberally dealt with by her State. All the work of our association has been c>arried on by the most frugal and economical management, but much left undone that could have been done had we the means of accomplishing our aims. Therefore we crave the assurance of future good-will and influence in the intere ts we have stiniulated and planted. Mr. JOHN LUCAS, President. Mrs. MATTHEW SIMP ON, 

Mrs. CORNELIA C. THUl\1, Mrs. W I. B. ELTO~AD, 

Miss PH<EBE HORn, Mrs. W. T. REYNOLDS, Vice-Presidents. Miss E. T. VAN RENSSELAER, Recording Secre4ary. Mrs. V. C. HAVEN, Corresponding Secretary. Mrs. H .. P. TAYLOR, Trea.surer. Mrs. E. V. B. OSBOURN, P.andB. Committee. Mrs. G. W. HALL, Reel Oommitl.ee. 

1\Ir. KELLEY. Mr. Speaker, I ~~ire to offer a resolution in this 

connection. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resorved, That the House of Representatives accepts the flag prepared for its use, and presented by theW omen's Silk-Culture Association of the United States; that the excellence of the fiber and perfection of the colors it displays afford evidence of the remarkably rapid development of the culture and manufacture of silk by the American people, under the auspices of this association of women1 and that the House will cause the flag as the national emblem to be displa.yea within the Hall of the House and preserved as a memorial of the tact and en- ergy of the Wo en's Silk-Culture Association of the United States. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

1\Ir. 1\IcMILLIN. I demand the regular order. 

The SPEAKER. If there be no objection the Chair will lay before 

the House certain executive communications and personal requests of 

members. 

There was no objection. 

FREE P~ALTY ENVELOPES. 

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the PostmasterGeneral, transmitting a letter from the Third Assistant Postmaster-General asking an appropriation of $4,000 for the purchase of free penalty 

envelopes from the Post-Office Department for the next fiscal year; 

which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered 

to be printed. 

HARBOR AT CLEVELAND, OHIO. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting a report from the Chief of Engineers, with accom- panying papers, relative to the improvement of harbor at Cleveland, 

Ohio; which was referred to the CommitteeonRiversandHarbors, and 

ordered to be printed. 

WASHINGTON .AQUEDUCT. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the AttorneyGeneral, recommending the passage of a. bill extending the time for one year within which claims for property taken for the Washington Aqueduct may be presented to the Court of Claims; which was referred to 

the Committee on the District. of Colum?ia, and ordered to be printed. 

LEAVE OF ABSENCE. 

. By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted to 1\Ir. DA vrs, 

of Missouri, for two weeks, on account of important business. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

1\Ir. TALBOTT. I move to dispense with the morning hour. 

M:r. HURD. I rise to a question of privilege. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman will state it. 

POWER TO ORIGINATE REVENUE BILLS. 

1\Ir. HURD. I offer the resolution which I send to the desk. 

The SPEAKER. The resolution will be read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Whereas certain bills, appropriating money from the Treasury of the United States, originating in the Senate, have passed that body and have been sent to this House for· its concurrence, which are now upon the Speaker's table, to wit, Senate bill No. 398, entitled "A bill to aid in the establishment and temporary 

support of common schools," and many others; and Whereas it is asserted that these bills are in violation of the privilege of this House to exclusively originate bills for raising revenue: Therefore, Be it resolived, That the Committee on the Judiciary be hereby directed to inquire into the power of the Senate to originate bills appropriating money from the Treasury of the United States, and report to this House at as early a day as practicable. And said committee shall have leave to report a.t any time. 

Mr. RANDALL. I do not object to the resolution except in its · latter part, which gives leave to the committee to report at any time. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks if this be a matter of privilege 

at all the committee would have the right to report at any time. The 

resolution does not refer any bill to the co~ttee, b~t directs an inquiry to be made. · · Mr. TALBOTT. I make the point of order that this is not a privileged question. . • . . The SPEAKER. The Chan will hear any suggestion the gentleman 

from Maryland [~Ir. TALBOTT] has to make on that point. 

Mr. TALBOTT. I make the point of order for the simple reason that it is not a question for the Committee on the Judiciary to decide 

whether or not the power is in this House alone to originate revenue 

bills. That is a power settled by the Constitution. The gentleman 

from Ohio has a right to offer his resolution, but I do not think it is in 

the nature of a privileged resolution at this time. He can only offer 

it at some time when it would be in regular order. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks whenever it is asserted on the 

floor of the House that the rights or privileges 9f the House have been 

invaded or violated by any other body or by any individual, a question 

of privilege i.e presented at least to the extent that the Chair is obliged 

to submit it to the House for its decision. Of course the Chair itself 

will decide all questions of order arising during legislative proceedings 

of the House; but when the allegation is made that the rights or privileges of the House collectively have been invaded, that is a question 

which does not come within the province of the Chair to decide. The 

House is the custodian and guardian of its own rights and privileges