1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5197 

sit it out with him, but if he has no objection I suggest that we had 

better adjourn. 

Mr. PRATT. ·I have no objection. 

Mr. THURMAN. Then I move that the Senate adjourn. · Mr. LEWIS. I hope the Senate will not adjourn. ·we shall never get another cl.Jance to vote for this bill if we adjourn now. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio moves that 

the Senate do now adjourn. 

Mr. COOPER and Mr. DAVIS called for the yeas and nays; and 

they were ordered. · The yeas and nays were taken. 

Mr. SPENCER. On this question I am paired with the Senator 

from ·ohio, [Mr. SHEruiAN.] If he were here he would vote "yea," · and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. On this question I am paired with 

the Senator from Vermont, [Mr. ED;\IUNDS.] He would vote "yea," 

and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. RANSOM. I desire to state that on this bill the Senator from 

Wisconsin llli. CARPENTER] and the Senator from Delaware [Mr. 

BAYARDl are paired. :Mr. BAYARD would vote for the bill, and Mr. 

CARPENTER against it. 

Mr. SPENCER. I desire to make a statement in reference to 

myself and the Senator from Ohio, [l\fr. SHERMAN.] If he were here 

he would vote against the bill, and I would vote for it. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I hope the vote will be announced, and we can have these explanations to-morrow morning. 

The result was announced-yeas 27, nays 21; as follows: 

YE.A.S-Messrs. Allison, Anthony, Borema.n, Boutwell, Chandler, Clayton, Con- over Ferry of Michi~an, Frelinghuysen, Hager, Hamlm, Hitchcock, Jones, Mc- Cree~y, Morrill of Marne, Morrill of Vermont, Oglesby, Pease, Pratt, Ramsey, Sargent, Scott, Thurman Washburn, We t, Windom, and Wright--e7. 

NAYS-Messrs. Alcorn, Bogy, Cooper, Davis, Dennis, Fenton, Flanagan, Goldthwaite, Gordon, Hamilton of Texas1 Johnston, Kelly, Lewis, Merri.mon, Norwood, 

Patterson, Ransom, Robertson, &.rusbury, Stevenson, and Tipton-21. ABSENT-Messrs. Bayard, Brownlow, Buckin~ham, Cameron, Carpenter, Conklin<T Cragin, Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry of Connecticut, Gilbert, Hamilton of Maryland, Harvey, Howe, Ingalls, Logan, M.i~hell, Morton, Schurz, Sherman, Spencer 

Sprague, Stewart, Stockton, and Wadlelgh-25. 

So the motion was agreed to; and (at eleven o'clock and thirtyfive minutes p. JP.) the Senl\te adjourned. 

' 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

FRIDAY, June 19, 1874. 

The House met at eleven o'clock a.m. Prayer by the Chaplain, 

Rev. J. G. BUTLER, D. D. . The Clerk proceeded to read the Journal of yesterday. 

Mr. HOLl\IAN. I move that the further reading of the Journal be 

dispensed with. 

The motion was agreed to. 

REPORT ON TRANSPORTATIO.c . 

:Mr. DONNA.L~, from the Committee on Printing, submitted the 

following concurrent resolution; which was read, considered, and 

agreed to: 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, (tlte Senate concurring,) That there be 

printed six thousand copies of the report, w;ith appendfx and evidence, of the Select 

Committee of the Senate on Transportation to the Sea-board, four thousand of 

which shali be for the use of the House of Representatives, and two thousand for 

tho use of the Senate. 

REPORT, OF CO:IL.'1ISSIONER OF EDUCATION. 

1\fr. DONN .AN also, from the same committee, reported the following 

resolution; which was rea.d, considered, and agreed to: 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, (the Senate concurring,) That there shall 

be printed twenty thou and copie of the report of the Commissioner of Education, 

five thousand of which number sbnll be for the use of the Commissioner, five thousand for the use of the Senate, and ten thousand for the use of the House of Repre- sentatives. 

llEPORT ON FIBH M\"'D FISHERIES. 

l\Ir. DONN .AN also, from the same committee, reported the following 

concurrentre olution of the Senate; which was read, considered, and 

concurred in : 

Resolved, (the House of Representatives concu1·ring,) That Spencer F. Baird, 

United States Commissioner of Fish and F~heries, be authorized to have the 

engravings for his r eport executed unuer the direction of the Joint Committee on Pu.blic Printing. 

STATISTICAL ATLAS. 

:Mr. DONNAN also, from the same committee, reported the following resolution : 

Resolved by the House o.f R epresentatives, (the Senttte concurring,) That the three 

thousand copies of the Statistical Atlas of the United States, based on the results 

of the ninth census, now being compiled by Francis A. Walker, the publica.tion of 

which is provided for by the act of March 3, 1873, shall be distributed for public 

and official use as i'ollows: Twenty-five copies for the President; six hundred 

copies for the Senate; one thousand two hundred copies for the House of Representatives; two hundred and twenty-five copies for the State Uepartment, a.ud 

for t..ransmission to United States legations and the more important consulates 

abroad, and to the legations of foreign government-s in Washington; seventy-five copies for the Tre:lsury Department; forty copies for the War Department; twenty- five copies for the Navy Department; twenty-fi-ve copies for the Department of 

Justice; twenty-five copies for the Department of Agnculture; six hundred copies 

for the Department of the Interior for its use and di.stribution among the execu- tives of the several States, State libraries, and libraries and literary mstitutions; 

sixtv copies for the Library of Congress, and one hundrod copies for Francis A. 

Wa1ker. . 

Mr. DONNAN. I will state to the House that the printing of this 

document was ordered by the last Congress but no provision was m:td.e for it.s distribution. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

REPORT ON ML.~G STATISTICS. 

l\Ir. DONNAN, from the Committee on Printing, reported the following concurrent resolution : 

Resolved by the House of lUpresentati.ves, {the Senate concurring,) That of the report 

of R. W. Raymond on mining statistics, with the accompanyino- engravi.n.,.s, there 

be printed three thousand copies for the House of Representatives, two thousand 

for the Senate, one thousand copies for the Treasury Department, and one thousand copies for the commissioner. 

Mr. HOLMAN. It seems to me that we are running into a very 

unusual expense to the Treasury for these plates. I think I have not 

known for many years the publication of so many plates as are now recommended by the CommitWe on Printing. It will be attended with a great deal of expense. 

Mr. DONNAN. This was recommended by the committee two or three months ago, and was in the hands of one of my colleagues on the committee to be reported. He is absent and I have reported it. 

l\1r. HOLMAN. Unless we are to adopt some mode of distributing 

these documents to the country which will be more certain than by 

this mode, I do not think we should adopt this resolution. 

l\Ir. DONNAN. It is the usual publication, and two thousand less 

copies. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I think we are going into a great expense. The resolution was adopted. 

PRINTL.~G OF DEBATES. 

Mr. DONNAN, from the Committee on Printing, reported a joint 

resolution (H. R. No. 112) in regru:d to printing the debates of Congress. 

The resolution upon which the committee acted was as follows: 

Resolved, That ~be Committee on Printing be, and they are hereby, directed to inquire into the cost of reporting and printing the debates of Congress, as the work 

is now being done; whether it WIU! not more acceptably and economically done by 

the proprietors of the Globe; whet.ber the permanent establishment of the work at the Government Printing Office will not involve large expenditures for facilities 

for its prosecution, and to report by bill or otherwise at as early a day as prac- ticable. 

The joint resolution accompanying the report was read, as follows : 

Resolved lnJ the Senate and House of Repruentative& of the United States of America 

in Oongrus assemlJled., That the Congressional Printer be, and he is hereby, directeu to keep a separate ana exact account in detail of all expenditures for printing, mail- ing, and bindin~. the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, including specific statements of the cost of all macninery and material which may have been or shall be used for the 

publication of said RECORD, commencing with. its first public.'l.ti.on at the Govern- ment Printing Office, and that be shall publish the amounts thus yearly expended in his next succeeding annual rep()rt, and each succeeding report, separately from 

the other <fiabursements of his office. • 

Mr. DONNAN. I desire briefly to call the attention o.f the House 

to the conclusions of the committee. In regard to the reporting of 

the debates, the syste-m of which ha.s been changed, and which until 

the very recent action of the two Houses materially reduced the ex- pense, it has by the action of the two Houses within the last ten days 

been so arranged as to make the cost of reporting precisely what it wa.s for the last Congress. In regard to the expense of printing and 

binding the debates the committee come to the conclusion that the 

printing of the debates of the present Congress at the Government 

Printing Office will cost the Government (if the volume of work shall 

equal that of the last Congress) at least $125,000 less than was paid to 

l\Iessrs. Rives & Bailey for the same volume of work for the Fortysecond Congress. 

The present quarto form of the daily REcoRD, although attended 

with slightly increased cost, is greatly preferable to the newspaper 

form. 

Upon a calculation of comparative cost, upon an equal quality of 

paper, as between t.he Government Printing-Office and the Globe 

office, the proposal for the work of Messrs. Rives & Bailey is to be 

increased in the sum of $24,727.55 for 10,914 pages of printed matter 

and 12,332 copies. 

The proposal of Rives & Bailey, so far as it relates to the binding, 

if they furnish equal quality of material with that now used, is $6,116 

cheaper(the volume of the work being as stated above) for the debates 

of a. full Congress than the bintting is now being done at the Government Office. 

· The cost of the debates of the present Congress, the numbe:¥ being now fixed at 10,350 copies, if the work makes 10,014 pages, will cost 

2131508.49, which is less than it would cost under the proposed contract 

of R1 ves & Bailey, makingproportionate allowances on the cost of paper 

and the loss at the Government Office on binding, and counting the 

entire stereotyping a real loss to the Government, in the sum of 

61,18'2.06. . . 

The probable expenditure for facilities to continue this work at the 

Government Printing Office will be comparatively trifling. It would be the reverse of economy to enter into the proposed con- tract with Rives & Bailey. . The expenditure for this work ought to be kept separate and dis-
5198 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JuNE 19, 

tinct from other Government printing, and so definitely and minutely 

reported that Congress may be able to readily know what this work 

is costing; and the committee therefore recommend the p!lssage of 

the joint resolution which has just been read. 

I now call the previous question. 

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered; 

and under the operation thereof the joint resolution was ordered to 

be engrossed and read a third time, and being engrossed, it was ac- cordingly read the third time, and passed. 

Mr. DONNAN. I move to reconsider the various votes upon the 

reports from the Committee on Printing ; and also move that the mo- tion to reconsider be laid on the table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair desires to make a suggestion in regard 

to the business of the House. The Committee on War Claims de ire 

to make sundry reports, adverse and favorable, upon matters which 

have been referred to them, for the purpose of havin"' the same re- ferred to the Committee of the Whole and placed on the PrivateCalentlar. If that shall be done to-day it will be almost impossible for the 

clerk to jo,llTilalize them. The former custom was for committees on the ast day of the session to make their reports to the House, to be 

journalized as of the last day 9f the session and correctly entered on the Private Calendar for the next session. The Chair sugge ts that 

it would be well to adopt that plan now. If the ;mass of papers in 

po es ion of the committees shall be reported to-day, it will be impo sible to correctly journalize them as of to-day. But the proceedings of the last day of the session are journalized with gren.t care and 

the Private Calendar made up with corresponding care. It willleu.d 

to much more certain correctness of the Journal if that plan should 

be followed with regard to committees mu.king reports this session. 

Mr. SENER. There is no intention to pass upon these clu.ims at 

this period of the session. 

Mr. L.A. WRENCE. We do not propose to pass upon them. 

Mr. SENER. Of course; all you want is to advertise the conclusions of the committees. 

The SPEAKER. It will be impo ible to jonm::tlize them properly 

if made now. Mr. LAWRENCE. There are not so many reports but whu.t the 

clerks can mu.ke up the Journal. 

The SPEAKER. The Cu.lendar would not be printed. 

Mr. LAWRENCE. Then I will ask unanimous consent now that on the laat d:ty of the session I may be permitted to make these 

reports. 

The SPEAKER. Of course it is the right of a committee, not of 

individuals, to report for reference to the Private Calendar. If there 

be no objection,. on -the last day of the session any committee of the ~<mse having had a subject before them will be permitted to report 

upon that subject, favorably or adversely, for 1·eference to the Private 

Calendar, their reports to be filed at the Clerk's detlk for that pur- p~~ . 1Ir. HARRISON. I object. 

Mr. MONROE. I move that the rules be suspended in ortler thn.t 

such leave may be given to the committees of the Hou e. The motion to suspend the rules was seconded; upon a division, 

ayes 105, noes not counted; and (two-third voting in favor ther of) 

the rules were suspended and the order made. 

PERSONAL EXPLANATIO~. 

1-lr. FIELD. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in moving to suspend th'e rules for the purpose of putting on its passage the bill (H. R. No. 

3521) to incorporate the National Iron-molders' Union, I stated that 

the bill was reported from the Committee on Education and Labor 

with the recommendation that it do pass, whereupon the gentleman 

from Pennsylva.nia [Mr. SToRM] arose and denied that I was author- ized to report the bill from that committee. Without commenting 

upon the remarks of the gentleman and the lack of courtesy exhibited 

by him on that occasion, I send to the desk an extract from the rec- ords of the committee furnished to me by its clerk, which will show on what authority I acted yesterday in asking the House to suspend 

the rules and pass that bill a-s a report from the Committee on Edu- cation and Labor. 

The Clerk rea-d as follows : 

[Extract from minutes of Committee on Education and Labor.] 

H. R. No. 3521, to incorporate the National Iron-molders' Union. 

1874, June 3.-Mr. FIELD called up the bill and moved that the committee report 

it favorably to the Honse. Mr. McDILL seconded the motion. The motion was decla.red carried. Mr. STORM voted nay, and said that he reserved his right to oppose the bill in the House. 

E. B. WIGHT, Olerk. 

Mr. STORM. I desire to say- that I am informed this morning by 

an honorable gentleman of the committee that though the entry just 

rend was made, the clerk, Mr. ·wight, who made the entry bas said 

that the bill was merely directed to be reported in order to get rid of 

tbe importunity of the gentleman from .Michigan [Mr. FIELD} who was very desirous of pa sing the bill. That is what I understand 

the clerk says this morning. The SPEAKER. The Chair h:ts again to remark that he has never before known disput-es to arise so frequently as at this session in re- gard to what ha-s been done in committees. Such disputes are very 

unseemly things to occur in the House. They involve questions of 

veracity between gentlemen, the most delicate of all questions ever brought before the House. In this case the Chair begs to stu.te that 

the gentlemanfrom~:lichigan [:Mr. FIELD] is sustained by the records 

of the committee. ltlr. MAYNARD. .AP, a member of the Committee on Rules, I wish 

to ask wheth'3r it is not contrary to the rules and out of order to make 

any reference on the floor to what tran pires in a committee f 

The SPEAKER. It is; but any member of a committee has a riO"bt 

to make the point upon another member that he is not authorized to 

present a report; because if a member makes a report be is not au- thorized to make lle is committing a very censurable act; and the 

Chair thinks that any gentleman who questions lightly the authority 

of another to make a report commits an act not wholly within pa.rliamentary propriety. 

Mr. G. F . HOAR. As to the point raised by the gentleman from 

Tennessee, [Mr.ltiAYNARD,] the report of a committee is itself a statement tbu.t the committee have authorized that report to be made, 

and to that extent it is a statement of what hns tran pired in the 

committee. 

The SPEAKER. That is a matter of nece sity. 

1\Ir. MAYNARD. I had reference to the discussion, &c., occurring 

in a committee room. The SPEAKER. It is not within parliamentary propriety to refer 

to such things in the Hou e. 

11-rESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. 

A mess-c'l.ge from the Sena.te, by Mr. SYMPSON, one of their clerks, an- nounced that the Senate had passed, without amendment, House uills 

of the followin"' titles : A bill (H. R.No. 3417) to relieve Thomas Claiborne, of Tenne ee, or political disabilities imposed upon him by the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States; 

A bill (H. R. No. 3332) to fix the time for the election of Representatives in the Forty-fourth Congress from the State of Mississippi; 

A bill (H. R. No. 3680) for the government of the District of Columbia, and for· other purposes; 

A bill (H. R. No. 3740) to create the Bozeman land district in the 

Territory of Montana; . A bill (H. R. No. ~748) directing the Secretary of .the Treasury to 

report upon the necessity for :1 public building at Brooklyn, New 

York, and the cost of the same; and 

A bill (H. R. No. 2701) to relieve William G. Jones, of Alabama, of ·political disabilities. The message also announced that the Senate had concurred in the 

amendments of the House to bills of the following titles : A bill (S. No. 176) to encourage the establishment of public marine 

schools; and 

A bill (S. No. 311) for the re~ef of Joseph Montanari, and for other 

purposes. 

The message further announced that the Senate had passed House 

joint resolution and bill of the following titles, with amendments in 

which the concurrence of the House was reque ted : . Joint resolution (H. R. No. 95) authorizing the Postmaster-General 

to perfect title to certain real estate obtained from John W. Norton, a defaulter to the postal money-order bureau; and 

A bill (H. R. No. 2797) making appropriations for the payment of 

claims reported allowed by the commissioners of clainls under the act 

of Congress of March 3, 1871. 

SALE OF ARSENAL GROUNDS AT SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI. 

Mr. WELLS, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. No. 

3759) amendatory of the act providing for the sale of the ar enal 

grounds at Saint Louis, Missouri and for other purposes, approved 

March 3, 1869; which was read a first and second time, 1·eferred to the 

Committee on Military Affairs, and orderetl to be printed. 

PATENT LAWS. 

Mr. E . R. HOAR, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 

No. 3"760) u.mendatory of the patent laws; which was read a fir t and 

second time, referred to the Committee on Patents, and ordered to bo 

printed. PUBLIC BUILDING AT AUJ3UR...'{1 NEW YORK. 

Mr. 1t1AcDOUGALL. i move to suspend the rules and pass a bill (H ~· No. 3761) directing the Secretary of the Treasury to report 

upon the neces ity of a public building at the city of Auburn, New 

York. 

The bill, which was reacl, directs the Secretary o:C the Treasury to 

report to Congre at the beginning of the next se sion whether tho 

present needs of the Government require the erection of a public 

building at Auburn, New York, and the estimated cot of the same, 

including the site. 

ltlr. HOLMAN. I trust we will not enter upon the work of con- structing any more public buildings. Mr. MAcDOUGALL. This simply authorizes the Secretary of the 

Treasury to make an estimate. . Mr. HOLMAN. That is the first stop toward the construction o.f 

the building. The question recurred on the motion to suspend the rules. 

The House divided; and there were-aye& 21, noes 25. Mr. NEGLEY demanded tellers. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL REOORD. 5199 

Tellers were ordered; and Mr. NEGLEY and Mr. HouiAN were 

appointed. 

The House .again divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 81, noes 40. 

So the motion to suspend the rules was seconded. 

Mr. KILLINGER. I demand the yeas aud nays on the motion to 

suspend the rules, as it seems that we are going to have a great many 

like propositions. 

Mr. HOLMAN. Let us :first try a division. 

Mr. KILLINGER. Very well. 

The House divided; and there were-ayes 35, noes 67. 

Ir. MAcDOUGALL demanded tellers. 

Tellers were ordered; and Mr. MAcDouGALL and 1r1r. KrLLI~WER 

were appointed. 

The House again divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 103, nays 

30. 

Mr. KILLINGER demanded the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

The question was taken; and it was decided in the affirmn,tiveyea.s 151, nays 67, not voting 71; as follows: 

YEAS-Messrs. Albert, Archer, Arthur, Ashe, Averill, J3annmg, J3arnum, J3arry, 

Bass, J3ell, Blount, Bowen, Bradley, Bright, Bromberg, Buffinton, Burleigh, Cain, 

Caldwell, Amos Clark, jr., .John B. Clark, jr., Clymer, Coburn, Comingo, Conger, Cook, Creamer, Crittenden, Crocker, Crooke, Crossland, Crounse, Crutchfield, 

Danford, Darrall, Davis, Dobbins, Donnan, Dunnell, Durham, Eames, Eldredge, 

Glover, Gooch, Hagans, Benjamin W. Harris, H enry- R. Harris, .John T. Harris, - Harrison, Hatcher, Hathorn, .John W. Hazelton, Hendee, Hereford, Hodges, Hos- kins, Houo-hton, Hubbell, Hunton, Hyde, Hynes, .Jewett, KendJJ.l, Knapp~ Lamar, 

Lamisont 'Lamport, Lawson. Leach, Lofland, Lowndes, Lynch, Maynaru, .James 

w. McDill, MacDougall, Merriam, Milliken, Mills, Mooret Morey, ~egley, Nesmith Niblack, O'Neill, Orr, Packard, Parre, Isa:w C. ParKer, Parsons, Pelham, P erry, Phelps, Pierce~ .James H. Platt, jr., ~homas C. Platt, Potter, Pratt, Purman, 

Rainey, Rapier, Reaa, Rice, Richmond, Robbins, Ellis H. Roberts, Rusk. Sawyer, 

.John G. Schumaker, ~ener, Sheats, Sheldon, Sloan, Sloss, Small, Smart, George L. 

Smith, H. Boardman Smith. .J. Ambler Smith, Snyder, Stanard, Standiford", .St. 

.John, Stone, Strait, Sypher, ChristopherY. Thomas, Thornburgh, Tremain, Vance, 

Wallace, Walls, .Jasper D. Ward, Marcus L. Ward, Wells, Wheeler, White, White· 

head, Whitehouse, Whiteley, Whitthorne, George Willard, Charles G. Williams, 

.Johit M. S. Williams, William Williams, William B. Williams, Willie, Ephraim K. 

Wilson, Wolfe, Wood, .John D. Young, and Pierce M. B. Young-151. 

NAYS-Messrs. J3arber, Barrere, Beck, Berry, J3iery, Bland, Brown, J3undy, 

Burchard, Burrows, Cannon, Cessna, Clements. Curtis, Dawes, Field, Foster, Gar· 

field. Gitldings, Hamilton. Hancock, .John B. Hawley, .Joseph R Hawley, Gerry \V. Hazelton, Georg~ F. Koar, Holman, Hunter, Hurlbut, Kasson, Kelley, Killinger, 

Lawrence, Lowe, JUagee, Marshall, Martin, McCrary, Mc.Junkin, McLean, Mc- Nulta, Monroe1 Morrison, Neal, Orth, Hosea. W. Parker, Pendleton, Pike, Randall, 

.James W. Robmson, Ross, Henry B. Sayler, Scofield, Sherwood, A. Herr Smith, 

.John Q. Smith, Southard, Speer, Spra~e, Starkweather, Strawbr!_~e, Todd, Townsend, Tyner, Walilion, Charles W. Willard, .James Wilson, and woodworth-67. 

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Adams, ..Albright, Atkins, Begole, Buckner, Benjamin 

F. J3utler, Roderick R Butler, Cason, Freeman Clarke, CL'1yton, Clinton L. Cobb, 

Stephen A. Cobb, Corwin, Cotton, Cox, DeWitt, Duell, Eden, Elliott, Farwell, Fort, 

l!'reeman, Frye, Gunckel, Gunter, Eugene Hale, Robert S. Hale Harmer, Hav~ns, 

Rays, Herndon Hersey, E. Rockwood Hoar, Hooper, Howe, Kellogg, Lansmg, 

Lewis, Lou~hridJ1;e, Luttrell. Alexander S. McDill, McKee, Mitchell, Myers, Niles, 

Nunn, O'Bnen, Packer, Phillips, Poland, Ransier, Ray, William R. Roberts, .James 

C. Robinson, Milton ayler, Henry .r. Scudder, Isaac W. Scudder, Sessions, Shanks, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, William A. Smith, Stephens, Storm, Stowell, Swann, Taylor, Charles R. Thomas, Wad dell, Wilber, .T eremiah M. Wilson, and Woodford-71. 

So (two-thirds voting in favor thereof) the rules were suspended, 

and the bill was passed. 

PUBLIC BUILDING, ATLANTA, GEORGIA. 

~1r. WHITELEY. I move to suspend the rules so that my colleague 

from the third district of Georgia [Mr. CooK] may introduce and the 

House may pass a bill (H. R. No. 3762) to am~d the act entitled "An 

act for the erection of a public building for the use · of the United 

Stat~s in Atlanta, Georgia. • Mr. GARFIELD. I hope the House will take a recess for thirty 

minutes. 

Mr. STARKWEATHER. I move to go to the business on the 

Speaker's t.able. . The SPEAKER. There is a motion pending for that purpose. 

Mr. MAYNARD. \Vhy does the gentleman from Ohio move to take a recess for thirty minutes 

1\ir. GARFIELD. To prevent if I can the passage of bills for the 

construction of any more public buildings. 

1\ir. POLAND. My object yesterday in offering the proposition I 

did was to try to get something satisfactory to all parties. I had the 

usual fate, and without satisfying anybody have subjected myself 

to misconstruction. I now withdraw my proposition. Mr. GARFIELD. I hope we will be allowed to call up the 3Jllendments of the Senate to the post-office appropriation bill. 

1\ir. STARKWEATHER. I move to suspend the rules and go to 

the business upon the Speaker's table. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Georgia has the floor on a motion to suspend the rules. 

Mr. WIDTELEY. I move to suspend the rules so that my colleague 

may introduce and the House may pass a bill to amend the act entitled 

"An act for the erection of a public building for the use of the United 

States in Atlanta, Georgia." 

Mr.· CONGER. There are important reports to be macle from com- mittees, and I hope an opportunity will be afforded to do so at this 

time. · 

Mr. WHITELEY. I insist on my motion to suspend the rules. 

The SPEAKER. The bill will be read. 

The bill was read. It provides that the act named in the title be so amended that the sum authorized to be expended in the construetion of the building be fixed at $250,000 ; and that no sum in excess thereof shall be expended upon said building. 

Mr. KILLINGER. Is that the same bill we voted on yesterday 7 

The SPEAKER. It is. 

Mr. HOLMAN. I move the House take a recess for an hour. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I move the House adjourn, ancl on that demand 

the yeas and nays. I believe it to be my duty to prevent, as far as I 

can, the passage of bills for the construction of any more public buildings during th1s session of Congress. · The SPEAKER. The same motion which will adjourn will refuse 

to second the motion to suspend the rules. It is the carelessness of 

gentlemen in regard t,o seconding a motion to suspend the rules which pr~cipitates a good deal of the trouble in getting to the public busi- ness. The rules give to the majority the right by a vote, not by yeas 

and nays, to refuse a second. 

l\Ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. This proposition is very different from 

the last. The last simply called upon the Secretary ~f the Treasury 

for information. This is a proposition to increase the appropriation 

heretofore authorized. 

Mr. SPEER. I object to debate. One is in Georgia, the other is in 

New York. The question being taken on seconding the motion to suspend tho 

rules, there were-ayes 48, noes 56; no quorum voting. 

Tellers were ordered under the rules; and Mr. CooK and Mr. ScoFmLD were appointed. 

The House again divided; and the tellers reported ayes 108, noes not counted. · So the motion to suspend the rules was seconded. 

The question was on suspending the rules and passing the bill. 

Mr. KILLINGER. I call for the yeas and nays . On ordering the yeas and nays there were-ayes 3:>, a sufficient 

number . So the yeas and nays were ordered. 

The question was taken, and there were-yeas 157, nays 56, not 

voting 76 ; as follows: 

YEAS-Messrs. Adams, ..Albrio-ht, Archer, Arthur, Ashe, Atkins, Averill, Bar· num, Barry, Beck Bell, Berry, lJland, J3lount Bowen, Bright, Bromberg. Brown, 

Buckner, Caldwell, Cason, .John B. Clark, jr., Clements Clymer Coburn, Comingo, Con$er, Cook, Creamer, Crittenden, Crocker, Crooke; Crossland, Croun e, Crutchfiela, Darrall, Dobbins, Donnan. Dunnell, Durham, Eames, Eldredge, Field, Frye, 

Gidclings, Glover, Gooch, Gunter, Hagans, Hamilton, Hancock, Benjamin W. Harris, 

HenryR. Harris, .John T. Harris, Harrison, Hatcher, Hathorn, Havens, .Joseph n . Hawleyli Hays, .John W. Hazelton, Hereford, Herndon, Hodg,es, Hooper, Howe, 

Hubbe -, Hunton, Hurlbut, HydE~, Hynes, .Jewett, Kn.sson, Keuey, Kellogg, Ken- dall, Knapp, Lamar, Lamison, Lansing, Lea-ch, Lofland, Luttrell, Marshall, Martin, 

Maynard, MacDougall, Mc.Junkin, McKee, McLean, Milliken, Moore, Morey, 

Morrison, Neal, esmith, Niblack, O'Brien, O'Neill, Page, llosea W. Parker, Isaac C. Parker, Pelham, Perry, Pike, .James H. Platt, jr., "Potter, Purman, Randall, 

Read, Rice, Richmond, Robbins, .James C. Robinson, Rusk, awyer, .John G. Schumaker, Saner, Sessions, Sheats, Sloan, Sloss, Small; H. Boardman Smith, .r. Ambler 

Smith, Snyder, Southarcl, Speer, Stanard, Standiford, St . .Jolm, Stone, Storm, Stowell, 

Strait, Strawbridge, Thornburgh, Tremain, Vanc~1 Wallace, Walls, .JasperD.WarU, Wells, Whiteheaa, Whitehouse, 'Vhiteley, Whitthorne, George Willard, Charle 

G. Williams, .John M. S. Williams, William B. Williams, Willie, Ephraim K. Wil- son, WolfE~, Wood, .John D. Young, andPierceM.B. Young-157. 

NAYS-Messrs. J3arrere, J3iery, Bradley, J3uffint{)n, J3undy, Burchard, J3urlei"'h, 

Burrows, Cannon, Cessna, C urtisl Danford, Duell, Foster, Garfield, Gnnckel, .John 

B. Hawley, Hendee, E. RockwoouHoar, George F. Hoar, Holman, Hoskins, Hough· 

ton, Hunter, Killinger, Lawrence, Lawson, Loughridfe' Lynch, Ma~t.ee, Merriam, 

Monroe, Orth, Packard, Packer, Pendleton, Thomas C. Platt, Pratt, J.~'l.y Ellis JI. 

Roberts, .James W. Robinson, Ross, Hem·y J3. Sayler, Scofield, Sherwood, A . . Herr Smith, .John Q. Smith, Sprague, Todd, Townsend, Tyner, Waldron, Marcus L: 

\Yard, Charles W. Willard, .James Wilson, and Woodworth-56. 

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Albert, Banning, Barber, Bass, Begole, Benjamin F. 

Butler, Roderick R Butler, Cain, Amos Cl.Mk, jr., Freeman Clarke, Clayton, Clin- ton L. Cobb, Stephen A. Cobb, Corwin, Cotton, Cox, Davis, Dawes, DeWitt, Eden, 

Elliott, Farwell,Fort, Freeman,EugeneHale, RobertS. Hale, Harmer, GcrryW. 

Hazelton, Herse:v.-~.Lamport, Le~, Low~, Lowndes, McCrary, Ale~a.nder S. McDill, 

.James W. llcDlll, Me.~. ulta, Mills, Mitchell, Myers, Negley, Niles, Nuun, Orr, 

Parsons, Phelps, Phillips, Pierce, Poland, Rainey, Ransier, RaJ;!ier, William n. Roberts, Milton Sayler, Henry .J. Scudder, Isaao W. Scudder, Shanks, Sheldon, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Smart, George L. Smith, William A. Smith, Starkweather, 

Stephens, Swann, Sypher, Taylor, Dharles R. Thomas, Christopher Y. Thomasl 

Waddell, Wheeler, Whit-e, Wilber, William Williams, .Jeremiah M. Wilson, ana Woodford-76: 

So (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof) the rules were sus- pended, and the bill was passed. 

POST-OFFICE APPROPRIATION BILL; 

Mr. TYNER. I rise to report back from the Committee on Appropriations the bill (H. R. No. 3094) making appropriations for tho 

service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June 30, 

1875, and for other purposes, With the Senate amendments and the 

recommendations of the Committee on Appropriations thereon. Bnt 

I yield for a few moments_ to the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. 

HOOPER.] 

WATCH PRESENTED BY GEl'."'ERAL W ASHL."{GTON TO MARQUIS DE LA 

FAYETI'E. 

Mr. HOOPER. I ask unanimous consent to introduce a joint reso- lution making an appropriation for the purchase an.d restoration to 

the family of the Marquis de La Fayette of the watch presented to 

him by General Wa-shington. 

The joint resolution was read. It appropriates the sum of 300, or so 

much thereof as may be necessary, out of any money in the Treasury not 

otherwise appropriated, for the purchase and restoration to the family 

of the Marquis de La Fayette of the watch presented to him by General Washington, and lost by General La Fayette during his last visit 
5200 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

• to this country, such purchase and restoration to be made under the 

direction of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair suggests to the gentleman from Massachusetts that before the resolution is voted upon it might be well to 

change it so as to p1ace the matter under the charge of the Secretary 

of State instead of the Honse of Representatives. The Chair thinks 

that as a matter of propriety that would be better. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I think that would be rather more appropriate. 

Mr.l\fA.YNARD. I desire to say a word or two on the resolution. 

Mr.NIBLACK. IfthegentlemanfromMassachusetts[Mr.HOOPER] 

has any explanation to make I think he ought to be heard. 

Tire SPEAKER. Is there objection to modifying the joint resolution 

by substituting "Secretary of State" for "Speaker of the House of 

Representatives Y" 

There was no objection, and the joint resolution was modified 

accordingly. 

:Mr. HOOPER. I ask the Clerk to read what I send to the desk. 

The Clerk reau as follows : 

AN niTERESTD\G RELIC. 

John R. Ward, e q., of Texas, has in his possession an interesting relic of the 

times of the R-evolution. It is a watoh bearin~t~he inscription, "G. Washington, to GilbertMottiers de LaFayette, Lord Corn warns oapitnlation, Yorktown, October 

17, 1781." The watoh is of the shape 1.--nown as "bull's eye," which was the fashional?le.one at that yeriod, and is heavily double-cased With gold of high pnrity. The exterior oase 1s ornamented with classic devices in high relief; an armed 

and helmetted warrior presents a crown to a throned female. The watch bears the name of the maker, "E. Halifa.x, London, 1769." It is in a good state of preservation, rnns, and, with treatment after the manner of Captain Cnttl~ keeps excellent 

time. It was pnrchase<l by Mr. Ward at a pawn-broker's sale in .umisville, about 

four years ago, for the sum of seventy-five dollars, who retains it subject to the 

order of any of the descendants of its illustrious donee. According to t.he state,. ment of General Rogers, of Tenne see, who was commander of the body-guard of 

General La Fayette during his visit to Kashville in 1825, this watoh waa stolen 

from its owner a,t that time and ita fate was unknown, although a. large reward was offered for its return, until it turned up in the way above--described. 

Mr. 1\fA.YNARD. The statement just made is historically true. 

General La Fayette visited this country not long before he died, if I 

remember rightly, in the years 1824 and 1825. In the course of his 

journey through the country he went to Nashville, where this watch, 

which had been presented to him by General Wa.<>hington and which 

he seems to have worn as a pocket time-piece, disappeared and un- doubtedly was stolen. Great efforts were made to recover it, and if 

I reJD.ember rightly large rewards were offered. The people of N aahville felt mortified and humiliated that such ~n occurrence should 

have happened in their community; but the watch disappeared and 

wa.'i forgotten until some time since, wheu it found its way into a pawnbroker's establishment in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. I 

have this to say in behalf of the people of Tennessee : that if th~ 

matter had been brought to the attention of the Legislature of 

that State I am very sure they would have desired, so far as they 

could, to have made an appropriation in order to recover this watch 

and restore it to the family of La .. Fayette. But as this bill has been 

brought in here it becomes a matter of national interest rather than 

of local interest. 

Mr. GARFIELD. There is only one question about this joint reso- lution that should cause any hesitation in voting for it; but I think 

it due to all concerned to make the inquiry whether this watch is 

genuine! Of course if it is genuine such a resolution a-s this ought to 

be passed; but everybody knows that there are frequent pretenses 

of antiquity in works of art and in matters of this description. I 

understand that the gentleman from Massachusetts has had this 

matter examined by experts at the Treasury Department and elsewhere, and he tells me that some of those experts have raised a question a-s to its genuineness. - Mr. G. F. HOAR. One of the experts raised a question as to its 

genuineness because the word "Motier" is spelled with two "t's" 

and a final "s;" but I say with all deference that it is well known 

that General Washington himself was not a very exact speller, and 

the engraver no doubt followed his spelling. I understand that this 

watch hn.s been submitted to experts in the Treasury Department, 

and that they have examined it, and report that in their judgment 

it is genuine. 

Mr. GARFIELD. If the on1y argument against the genuineness of 

the watch is the spelling of the inscription I admit that is not very 

strong, for it is well known that Washington did not excel in spelling. Even Franklin, who was his superior in scholarship, spelled . very irregularly ; for example, he spelled soap " sope." 

No objection being made, the joint resolution (H. R. No. 113) re- ceived its seveml readings-and was passed. · 

UNIVERSITY FOR THE B)AND. 

On motion of Mr. MONROE, byunanimous consent, the Committee on Education and Labor was discharged from the further consideration of the memorial in favor of aiding the American Printing House 

and University for the Blind; and the same was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. 

On the motion of Mr. DAWES, by unanimous consent, the Committee on Ways and Means was dischargea from the further consideration of the memorial of the board of regents of the American University, &c., for the Blind, setting forth the needs of the blind as to means of improvement and the obligation of Congress to aid in providing fa-cilities for liberal education as has been done for deaf-mutes ; 

and the same was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor. 

FAYETTE HUNGERFORD. 

On motion of Mr. DAWES, by unanimous consent, the Committee on Ways and Means was discharged from the further consideration of 

the petition for relief in the case of Fayette Hungerford; and ~eave 

was granted for the withdrawal from the files of the House of the 

papers in said case. NELSON TIFFANY. 

Mr. YOUNG, of Georgia. I ask unanimous consent to report from 

the Committee on :Military Affairs the bill (H. R. No. 447) for the 

relief of Nelson Tiffany. I would state that it is the unanimous report 

of the committee, and I would not trouble the House with it but for 

the fact that it is to remove a charge of desertion from a soldier who, as I am told by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. G. F . HoAR,] 

is now upon his death-bed. The bill was read. It directs the Secretary of War to remove the 

charge of desertion from Nelson Tiffi:tny, late a. private in Company H, 

Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, and to gra.at to said Tiffany an honorable discharge. 

No objection being made, the bill was ordered to be engrossed and 

read a third time ; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the 

third time, and pass~d. 

CO?t:IPULSORY PILOTAGE. 

Ur. E. R. HOAR, by unanimous consent, presented resolutions of 

the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts relative to 

compulsory pilotage at Hell Gate; which were referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 

UNITED STATES CU~TOM-HOUSE AT LOUISVILLE, KE:J!o;'TUCKY. 

Mr. :MILLIKEN. I ask unanimous consent th-at the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds be discharged from the further con- sideration of the bill (H. R. No. 2109) fqr the protection of the United 

States custom-house in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and that the same be passed. The bill was read. The preamble recites that the strip of ground 

thereinafter described is indispensable to the preservation of the 

United States custom-house, to prevent destruction by fire, and to prevent obstruction of the lights and ventilation thereof in one of its 

most important fronts. 

The bill empowers and directs the Recretary of the Treasury to purchase from the owner or owners thereof, at a price not to exceed 

$12,500, all that certain piece of ground in the city of Louisville, 

county of Jefferson, and State of Kentucky, situate west ·of and 

adjoining the United States custom-house, fronting twenty-five feet on Green street, and extending back one hundred and fifty feet, parallel with and the same depth as the custom-house property; and for 

that purpose the sum of 12,500, or so much thereof as shall be neces- sary, is thereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not 

otherwise appropriated; provided, however, that no part of the 

money thereby appropriated shall be paid or expended until a clear, 

perfect, and absolute title in fee-simple to the ground shall have been 

secured and conveyed to the United States by a good and sufficient 

deed of general warranty. 

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and 

being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and pa-ssed. 

EA.&T TENNESSEE UNIVEBSITY. 

l\fr. MAYNARD. I ask consent that the Committee of the Whole 

be discharged from the further' constderation of Senate bill No. 110, 

for the relief of the East Tennessee University, a.nd that the· same be now passed. It is a bill which has been reported favorably from 

the Committee on War Claims. 

The bill directs the Treasurer of the United States to pay to the 

president of the East Tennessee University the sum of 18,500 in 

full compensation for aid. given by· and on behalf of said univer ity 

to the ·Army of the United States in the late war of the rebellion; 

provided that before said sum shall be paid a release in full of all 

claims against the Government by said East Tenne see University 

shall be executed in due form by the proper officers thereof, and deposited with the Treasurer, along with a receipt of the money appro- priated by the bilL 

Mr. HOLMAN. I hope there will be some explanation of this bill. 

Mr. MAYNARD. If I can be permitted to do so, I will make a brief 

statement . 

Mr. HOLl\fA.N. I hope the gentleman will explain why the form 

of the bill has b"'en changed from what it was last session. 

1\Ir. MAYNARD. A bill for this purpose was passed by the la.st 

Congress. A bill for a similar purpose ha.s three times received' tho 

approval of the Senate. The :first time it was too late to be acted 

upon by the House. In the last Congress it was pa-ssed by the two 

Houses and vetoed by the President. The veL<> was not upon the 

merits of the bill but upon the form of the bill. Upon examining 

the :claim the President held it was one which would meet his approval, and indicated by his Private Secretary a. form of bill which to 

his mind would be unobjectionable. That form was a-dopted by the 

Senate, which passed the bill, and the Committee on War Claims of 

this House have reported it favorably. That claim arises out of the use and occupation of the property of the university after it came within the Federal lines for hospital and military purposes. The 

money to restore the property t.o its former condition was borrowed 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5201 

by the university, and they are now paying interest on it at the rate 

of 10 per cent. per annum. Mr. ATKINS. I would inquire if the Committee on \Var Claims of 

this House have not reported upon this bill favorably f 

Mr. :MAYNARD. I have so stated. 

1\Ir. KELLOGG. Certainly, they have. 

1\lr. HOLMAN. I would like to hear the report read, if there js one. 

Mr. LAWRENCE. I should like to say a word or two abont this 

matter. 

1\fr. MAYNARD. I will not consume the further time of the House 

bv discussion of this bill. If there is objection made I will move that 

the rules be sus-pended and the bill passed. 

1\fr. HOLMAN. I hope the gentleman from Tennessee [1\fr. MAYNARD] will have the letter read showing why the form of the bill 

has been changed. 

M1·. KELLOGG. I desire to say that tho only objection to the old 

bill was that it might be made a precedent for other claims. Tho 

Committee on War Claims thought this bill onght to pass. 

Mr. HOLMAN. As the bill formerly passed it was for spoliation 

and damage tlone to the property; in that form it was vetoed. Now 

the bill is changed so as to appropriate money for aid furnished by 

tho university to the Government of tho United States. · The history of this claim against the Government is remarkable. 

At the last session of Congress it passed in the following words: 

An act for the relief of the East Tennessee U,niversity. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative-S of the United States of 

.America in Congress assembled, That the Treasurer of the United St.'lt.es be, and he 

i hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the trustoes of the East Tennessee University the um of 818,500, in full compensation for all claims which could be made by said university for all damages caused to its builrlings at Knoxville, Ten- n e ee : Pr01Jided, That beforo said sum shall be paid a. r elease in full of all claims 

against the Government for a.ll damages that might or coul<l be claimed by said 

Elli!t Tennessee University on account of said bmldings, shall be executed in due 

form by the proper officers of said univel'Sity, anu dcpositeu with the Treasurer along with the receipt for the money hereby appropriated. . J. G. BLAINE, 

Speaker of the House of Representati'!Jes. 

SCHUYLER COLFAX, 

Vice-P.resident of the United States, and PreFJidlmt of the Senate. 

I certify that this act did originate in the Sena.te. GEO. C. GORHAM, 

Secretar'lj. 

Tho President returned the bill with the following veto message: 

To the Senate of the United States : 

I have the honor to return herewith Senate bill No. 490, entitled "An a{)t for the r elief of the East Tennes ee University," without my approval. This claim, for which $18,500 arc appropriated ont of the moneys of the United 

States, arises in part for the destruction of property by troops in time of war, and 

therefore tlJe same objections attach to it as were expressed in my message of June 1, 

1872, roturnina tile Senate bill awardin.~ ~25 000 to J. Milton Best. 

If the prece'aent is once established that thoGovermnentis lia.I.Jlefor the rnvages 

of war the end of tlemanus npon tho public Treasury cannot be forecast. 

The ioyalty of the pooplo of the section in whkh tho university is located, under 

circmnstances of p erso'nnl clan.ger lli!d trials, thus entitling them to the most favorable construction of tho obligation of the Goverument toward them, is admitted; 

aml notbincr but r egard for my duty to the whole people, in opposing a principle 

which, if allowed, will entail greater burdens upon the whole than the relief which 

will be afforded to a. part, b:;· allowing this bill to become a law, could induce me to return it with objections. P..ecognizing the claims of these citizens to sympathy, and the most favorable oon- sicleration uf their claims by tho Government, I would heartily favor a donation, 

of the amount appropriated by this bill, for their relief. 

U.S. GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

January 29, 1873. 

Among the papers that came with this bill from the Senate are the 

following: EXECUTIVE MANSION, 

Washington, D. C., Februa1y 3, 1873. 

Sm: The President directs me oo say that the inclosed draught of a. bill is what 

he would be willing to ap:provo in the case of the East Tennessee University. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

Ron. HORACE MAYNARD, 

House of Representatives. 

0. E. BABCOCK, 

Secretary. 

A bill for the relief of the East Tennessee University. 

B e it e·nacted by the Senate and House of R epresentatives of the United States of 

.Am.e1'ica in Congress assembled, That the Treasurer of tho Unite1l St.atcs be, and he 

is hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the president of the East Tennessee Univers1~ the sum of 18,500, in full compen ation for aid:given by and on behalf 

of said university to the .Army of the United States in the late war of the rebellion: 

Provided, That oefore said sum shall be paid :t r elease in full of all claims against 

the Government by saicl East Tennessee University shall be cx:ecuted in duo form, 

by tho proper officers thereof, and deposited >vitli the 'l'rcasurer along with the 

receipt of the money hereby appropriated. 

By the one bill this university is to be paid 18,500 "for ~ll da-mages 

caused to its bltildings at K1wxville, Tennessee," by the Army of the United 

States; ancl by the bill now pending $18,500 "for aid given by and on behalf of said ttniL•ersity to the A.t·1ny of the Unitecl States." And this 

change in the form of the bill is to change the result, the one subject 

to the veto and the other entitled to approval. And yet tho real thing 

remnjns unchano-ed. Can it be possible that the mere change in 

phraseology of the bill can affect the quality of this claim against 

the Government 'I 

Mr. KELLOGG. It is all right. 

326 

Mr. HOLMAN. The bill upon its face ought to express truly what 

the appropriation is for. · · The SPEAKER. Does tho gentleman objec~ to the request that the 

bill be now pas ed f 

Mr. HOLMAN. I do. 

1\Ir. MAYNARD. I move to suspend the rules and pass the hill. 

The motion to suspend the rules was seconded; and the rules were suspendeu upon a division, ayes 114, noes not counted, (two-thirds 

voting in favor thereof,) and the hill was pa.ssed. 

Mr. MAYNARD. I will a.sk that the communication to which I 

referred, together with the form of hill therein recommended, be 

printed jn the RECORD as a portion of the debates. 

No objection wa.s made, and it was so ordered. 

[The communication and form of bill were as follows: 

EXECUTIVE lLlliSJOX, 

Washington, D. C., FebruanJ 3, 1873. 

Sm: The President clirects me to say that theincloseddraughtof a bill is what he 

would be willing to approve in the case of the East 'l'ennessee University: I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

Ron. HOUACE MAYNARD, 

House of Represe?ltatives. 

[Inclosure.] 

0. E. BABCOCK, 

StMretary. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives o..f the United States of 

.Ame-rica in Oon_qress asse-mbled, That the Treasurer of the United States be, and 

be is hereby, authorized and clirect.e<l to pay t.o the pre iuent of the East Tennessee University the sum of 18,500, in full compensation for aill given b.y and on behalf 

of said university to the Army of the Unitell States in the latewarof tl10rebellion: 

Provided, That before said sum shall be paid, a release in full of all claims against 

the Govermnent by said East Tennessee Unh·ersity shall be executed in due form 

by the pro per officers thereof, anll deposited with the '.rreasurer, along with the 

receipt of the money hereby appropriateu. ] 

EASTER. OR NORTH CARO~A CHEROKEES. 

Mr. VANCE. I ask consent that the Committee of the Whole be 

discharged from the further con ideration of a bill (IT. R. No. 3000) 

for the relief of Samuel W. Davidson, Henry Smith, John Gray By:-

nnm, and others, aud that the sarrie be now pa~ed: 

The bill directs tho Secretary of the Treasury to pay,· out of any 

money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $4,500, or so mnch thereof as may be necessary, on account of expenses inconed by Silas H. Swetland, as special agent to settle with the East- ern or North Carolina Cherokees, in the year 18691 amounts to be 

found due to the following-named persons, towit.: Samuel W.D~tvidson, Henry Smith, N. J. Smith, J.D. Abbott, M. C. King, John Gray 

Bynum, aud to others whose claims may be filed and verified. Mr. HAWLEY, of Illinois. Does that bill come from any committee? 

Mr. VANCE. It comes from the Oommittee on Indian Affairs, and 

is also recommended by the Secretary of the Interior. 

Mr. GARFIELD. Is it the unanimous report of the committee 'I 

Mr. VANCE. It is. . 

Mr. GARFIELD. How much money is there in jt 'f 

Mr. V .A.NCE. There is not over $4,500; it is all right and correct. 

No objection was made, and the Oommittee of the Whole was discharged from it-s further consideration, and the bill was ordered to 

be engrossed and read a third time; and being epgrossed it was ac- cordingly read the third time, and passed. 

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

table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

!tlr. TOWNSEND. ~desire to have a joint resolution passed. 

Mr. TYNER. I give not~ce that after the joint resolution of th~ 

gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr·. Tow ~sEND] shall have been dis· 

posed of, I will not yield to any person except to the gentle-wan from 

Connecticut [Mr. ~11~KWEATHER] to move to proceed to business on the Speaker's table. 

LOWER Pill~, C!p!STER, PEl\'NSYLV.Al\'IA, . 

!tlr. TOWNSEND! l as&: unanimous consent that the rules be sus- pen<led to pa.ss the joint resolution (H. R. No. 108) in reg~nl to the 

lower pier at Chest.er, Pennsylvania. 

The joint resolution was :read. It instructs the Secretary of War 

to have an examination rnade of the lower pier at Chester, Pennsylvania, by a competent engineer, with a view to a.scertain whether it 

would be to the advantage of the Government to htJ>ve said pier 

adapted to the purposes of supplying Government vessels ·with coal, 

iron, and other general supplies, and to have made an estimate of the 

probable cost of such adaptation, and to report the result of such 

examination to Congress. 

There being no objection, the rules were suspended, and the joint 

resolution wa.a passed. · ORDER OF BUSTh"'ESS. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. TYNER] who is 

now on the :tloor to report the Senate amendments to the post-office 

appropriation bill yields to the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. 

STARKWEATHER] who desires to make an arrangement to dispose of 

busine son the ::lpeaker's table. . Mr. STARKWEATHER. We have tried, and could not go to the 

Speaker's table, making any exception, to dispose of hiHs by a rna-
5202 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD; JUNE 19, 

jorit.y vote. I now move that we go to the Speaker's table uncon- dit.ionally, and that a two-thirds vote be required to pass any bill. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. STARKWEATHER] asks that bills on the Speaker's table may be taken up 

seriatim, under the two-thirds rule, each bill being exactly on the same basis as every other bill. 

Mr. STARKWEATHER. Either to be pa.ssed or to remain on t.he 

Speaker's taule. Mr. POTTER. Will the Chair please state the effect of this proposition 'r 

The SPEAKER. The effect of it would be that no bill could be 

di::;posed of except by a two-thirds vote. 

Mr. POTTER. And any bill failing to obtain such a vote would 

remain on the table 

Tho SPEAKER. Yes, sir. Is there any objection to proceeding to 

di pose of bills on the Speaker's t.able sm·iatim, under that arrangement 

Mr. HOLMAN. I trust it will be understood that if a bill be not 

sustained by a two-thirds vote it shall be regarded as rejected. 

Tho SPEAKER. Failing to obtain a two-thirds vote any bill would 

naturally retain the status out of which it failed to be taken by a two-thirds vote. Mr. HOLMA.J.~. Bnt if a bill does not receive a majority vote, it 

shoUld be regarded as rejected. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman will observe that his proposition 

would not be. either parliamentary or just. The proposition is to take 

up bills· scl'ia.tim,; and any bill not disposed of by two-thirds would 

be left without prejudice just where it now is, on the Speaker's table. 

:Mr. HOLMAN. My point is that there are some bills on the Speakor's table which it is very desirable to dispose of finally at this session 

of Congress. Bnt I see the embarrassment in the way of" carrying out 

my proposition. The t)PEAKER. The gentleman from Indiana would not.propose 

that a minority of the House should have power to reject a bill. 

:Ir. HOLMAN. Not a minority but a majority. I suggested that 

if a bill did not receive a majority vote, it should be regarded as l'ejecte(l. · The SPEAKER. That would be a complicated arrangement. Mr. RAINEY. I hope that will not bo agt·eed to. It is unjust. 

The SPEAKER. The proposition as submitted puts every bill on precisely the same basis. 

Mr. POTTER. I uudersta.nd the present proposition is to consider 

the bills on the Speaker's taole seriatim,, subject to the rules of the 

House. The SPEAKER. That is the proposition. If the House makes no arrangement to go to the Speaker's taole the Spoa,ker will neco ·sanly 

be compelled still to decline to recognize individual members desiring 

to take bills from the Speaker's table, because he cannot exercise a favoritism in. that regard. 

Mr. AVERILL. Does this proposition a-dmit of any discussion on these bills 'l 

The SPEAKER. The motion as now submitted would not admit 

of discussion, although some provision of that kind. might be attached 

to it. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I think the better course is to go to the Speaker's 

table in the ordinary way. ~1r. WILSON, of Iowa. If two-tl1irds of the House desire to go to 

the Speaker's table they can do so, anil then a majority vote can pass 

any bill. [Cries of "No!" "No!"] I understa-nd what lam talking 

about. I say that if two-thirds of the House desire to go to business on the Speaker's table they can do so~ and then a majority can pass 

any bill. But under the proposition of the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. STARKWEATHER] every bill taken up will fail unless it can obtain a two-thirds vote. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman will observe that no bill has been 

taken from the Speaker's table out of its order since the last ten days 

of the session began. 

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I understand that. · The SPEAKER. The Chair has· declined to recognize auy gentlem:m·to mo.ve to take anypa1·ticular bill from the Speaker's table, and 

he will so d.ecline until the end of the session, unless the House shall 

direct him in what manner to proceed. 

:1\ir. WILSON, of Iowa. But two-thirds can go to the Speaker's 

table to dispose of the business there. · The SPEAKER. Certainly; ancl if the gentleman from Connecticut will yield that issue can be tried. 

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I make that motion. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Iowa moves that the rules 

be snspended and that the House proceed to dispose of business on the Speaker's table. This, of course, will leave every bill subject to 

lle clisposed of by a majority vote of the House. 

Mr. KASSON. I wish to make a parliamentary inquiry. 

The SPEAKER. The proposition of the gentleman from Iowa is 

that t.he rules be suspended and the House proceed to the business 

upon the Speaker's tn.ble. 

.J\I.Ir. KASSON. The parliamentary inquiry I wish to make is this: 

If the House should reach the Speaker's table will a singlt~ objection 

to a bill involving an app1·opriation carry that bill under tho rules to 

the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union to have its first . consideration . 

The SPEAKER. It will . 

. Mr. ELDREDGE. Wben we get to the Speaker's table under a • suspension of the rules, can any bill be passed by a mujority vote o.r the Hou e' 

The SPEAKER. It -can, unless subjected to the point of onlcr stated by the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. KAssoN] that it involves an 

appropriation and mnst under the rules have its first consideration 

in Committee of the Whole. 

Mr. POTTER. If the present motion be voted down, will not the 

motion of the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. STARKWEATITER] 

then be in order 'i 

The SPEAKER. It will. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I hope the House will a1low the amendment-s of 

the Senate to the post-office appropriation bill to be first acted on. 1\fr. KILLINGER. These amendments are excepted by the present motion. · The question recurred on seconding the motion to suspeml tho rules. 

Tellers were ordered; a.ndl\Ir. WILSON, of Iowa, and 1\fr. POTTER were appointed. 

Mr. CONGER. As this is a test question, I hope we wiil have the 

yeas and nays. 

The SPEAKER. The rules do not permit the yeas and nays on seconding the motion to suspend the rules. 

The House divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 108, noes 100. 

So the motion to suspend the rules was seconded. 

l\Ir. WILLARD, of Vermont. I demand the yeas and nays on the 

motion to suspend the rules. Mr . .AVERILL. Will all the bills lying on the Speaker's table be 

liable to the ordinary points of order t 

The SPEAKER. They will. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

:Mr. LYNCH. If this motion should be decided in the affirmative, 

and a point of order should be made against any bill when reached 

upon the Speaker's ta.ble, would not a motion to suspend the rules 

and pa s the bill be in order 

The SPEAKER. It would. 

Mr. LYNCH. That removes one objection. 

Tho question was taken; and there were-yeas 139, nays 111, not 

voting 39; as follows: 

YEA.S-MeRsrs . .Albert, Barber, Barrera, Ban-y, Ba s, Begole, .Brndley, Buffin ton Bnndy, Burchard, Burlei~;h, DniTow, Benj:unin F. llutler, Cain, Cannon, 'a on ' 

Cessna, .Amos Clark, jr., Stephen A . Cobb, Coburn. Conger, Corwin, Cotton, C'rockcr' 

Ceooke, Crounse, Crutchfield, Curtis, lJarrall, Dawes, Dobbins, Donnan, Duen; Eames, Field, Foster, Frye, Garfield, ~ocb, Gnnckel, Eugene Hale, Benjamin \ V. Harris, Hathorn, .John B. Hawley, .Joseph R. llawloy, Hn.y!!, Gerry W. lln.zelton, . Jolm .w. llazeltQn, Hentloe, E. Rockwood Hoar, George F. Hoar, Ho4ll!es, Hooper, lloskins, Howe, llubboll, llunter, llurlbut, Hynes., :Kru:!son, Kelley, K ellogg, Lam- port, Lans~,g, Lawrence, Lawson, Loughriuge, Lowe, Lynch, Maynard, Mi::C1·ary, 

.James W. McDill, MacDou:rall, :McKee, Merriam, Monroe, Moore, Neg_!ey, Niles, 

Nunn, O'Neill, 01·r, Ortb, Packanl, Packer, P~e, Parsons, P elham, .l:'ondlcton, 

Pierce, Pike, .James H. Platt, .ir., Thomas C. Platt, Polan4l, Rainey, P..a.usicr, Rapier, Rice, Richmond, Ellis H. Robert , .James W.l:.Obinson, Uoss, Rusk, Sawyer, 

Henry B. Sayler, Scofield, I: a.ac W. Scuutler, Sheats, Sheldon, Sherwood, Small, 

Smart, H. Boardman Smith, .John Q. Smith, Spra;!hC, Starkweather; St . .John, Sto- well, Sypher, Todd, Townsenu, Tremain, Tyn r, '\Valuron, Wallace, WaJ.Ls, .Jasper D. Ward, Marcus L. Ward, White, Whiteley, Charles W. \VilL'lrdJ!eorge w ··illard, 

Charles G. Williams, .John M. S. Williams, \Villiam Williams, william B. Williams, .James Wilson, Woodfonl, and Woodworth-139. 

N .A. YS-llessrs. Adams, .Albright, Archer, Arthur, Ashe, Atkins, .A. verill, Ban- nin~, llarnum, Beck, Bell, llerry, lliery, Bland, Blount, Bowen, Bri<Ybt, Bromberg, 

Brown, Buckner, Roderick R. Butler, Caldwell, .John B. Clark, jr., Clements, 

Clnuer, Comin.a;o, Cook, Cox, Creamer, Crittenuen, Crosslanu, Danfor1!, DMis, Dlmnell, Durham, Eldredge, Fort, Giddin.,.s, Glover, Gunter, llamilton, llancock, H enry 

R. Harris, .John T. Harris, Harrison, 'Hatcher, Hereford, H erndon, Holman, Houuh- ton, lltmton, Hyde, .Jewett, K endall, Killinger, Knapp,. Lamar. Lamison, Leach, 

Lofl.antl. Lowntle . Luttrell, Magee, Marshill, 1\f:Jrtin, 1\lc.Junkin, McLean, Mil- liken, Mills, Morrison, Neal, Nesmith, Niblack, O'Brien, Ho ea. W. Parker, P erry, Phelps, Potter, Purman, P.andall, Ray, Read, lwbllins, .James C. Robinson, MiltQn 

Sayler, Sener, Sloss, A. Herr Smith, J' . .Ambler Smith, Snyder, Southard, Speer, Stanaru, Standiford; Stone, Storm, Strait,. Strawbrill..,e, Christopher Y. Thoma , Thornburgh, Vance, W ells, Whitehead, Wl1itehouse, \Vbitthorne, 'Villie, l!."'phraim 

K. Wilson, Wolfe, \Vood, .John D. Young, anu Pierce M. B. Young-111. 

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Freeman Clarke, Clayton, Clinton L. Cobb, DeWitt, 

Eden, Elliott, Farwell, Freeman, Ha~ans, Robert S. Hale, Harmer, llavens, Hersey, Lewis, Alexander S. McDill, McNrut.a, .Mitchell, Morey, Myers, Isaac C. Parker, Phillips, Pratt; "\Villian1 R. Roberts, .John G. Schumaker, llenry .J. Scuduer, Sessions, Shanks, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Sloan, George L. Smith, \Villiam A·. Smith, 

Stephens, Swann, ',I'aylor, Charle~;~R. Thomas, Wadaell, Wheeler, Wilber, and.Jeremiah M. Wilson-39. 

So (two-thirds not having voted in the affirmative) the rules were not suspended, and he motion was not agreed to. 

During the roll-cMI, · Mr. PARKER, of Missomi, stated be was paired with Mr. WADDELL, 

of North Carolina. 

The vote was then announced as above recorded. 

Mr. STARKWEATHER. I now renew my motion that the House 

proceed to the business upon the Speaker's table and take up the 

bills Bel'iatim under the two-thirds rule. 

The SPEAKER. The failure in that event to second the demand . for a suspension of the rules will of course leave the bill upon the ' 

Speaker's table. 

Mr. MAYNARD. Will it not be the fairest way to take np :first 

those bills which will not be objected to 'i . 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Tennessee suao-ests before 

the House proceeds t-o take the bills on the Speaker's ta~~e by a twothirds vote that the bills be run through to which there is no objec- tion . 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5203 

Mr. COX. Can bills be referred under that orde:(T 

The SPEAKER. By a twg-thirds vote. 

1\11'. ~TARKWEATHER. We ran through the unanimous consents 

the other day. . The SPEAKER. But since t-hen a great many bills have gone upon 

tho Speaker's table. Will the House now proceed to the business upon 

the Speake1Js table and take up the bills Beriatin~ under a two-thirds ~~~ . 0 

Mr. KASSON. If there be no objection, I suggest there be allowed 

five minutes' time to any member who wishes to oppose a bill. 

The SPEAKER. It would take three weeks to go through the 

business on the Speaker's table in that way. 

The motion to suspend the rules was seconded. 

The rules were suspended, (two-thirds voting in favor thereof,) and 

tho order was made. 

The SPEAKER. The order will continuo until the bills on the 

Speaker's table are exhausted. · 

PERSONAL EXPLAl.~ATION. 

Mr. BURROWS. I ask unanimous consent to make a personal ex- planation, which will not occupy more than a single minute. 

There was no objection. 

l\11'. BURRO\VS. Last Tuesday, when the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. DAWES] moved to go to the Speaker's table to dispose 

of business thereon with the exception of the civil-rights bill, I took 

occasion to inquire why he excepted that bill. In doing so I had no 1mrpose to question the gentleman's friendship for the bill or to intimate that he was hostile to it. The position of the honorable gentleman is too well known to the House and the country to justify any 

such supposition. I did him no· such injustice. 

BUSINESS ON TilE SPEAKER'S TABLE. 

·The SPEAKER. Pursuant to order the House proceeds to consider 

t:>nsiness on the Speaker's table. The Chaif will first dispose of the 

executive communications on the table. 

GENERAL ORDER NO. 32, WAR DEPARTMENT. 

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

War, referring to the resolution of the House of April13, 1874, to ex- amine and report as to General Order No. 32, War Department, Adjutant-General'.s Office, of March 15, 1873; which w.as referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, aml ordere~ to be printed . . 

EXTENSION OF CHESAPEAKE .AJ\"'D OHIO CANAL. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the chief 

clerk of the War Department, in answer to a resolution of the House 

of January 9, 1l:S74, in relation to the extension of the Chesapeak~ 

and Ohio Canal; which was referred to the Committee on Railways 

and Canals, and ordered. to be printed.." 

BARRACKS AT .A.LCATRAS ISLAND, CALIFOlUUA. 

The SPEAKER a.lso laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, in relation to an appropriation to build permanent 

barracks at Alcatras Island., California; which was referred to the 

Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. 

HURTT COURT-MARTIAL. 

The SPEA.K.ER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting additional papers in connection with the 

Hmtt court-martial; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 

COST OF LIEUTENANT G. I. WHEELER'S EXPEDITION OF 1873. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Sectary of War, in relation to the cost to the Government of Lieutenant 

G. :M. Wheeler's expedition of 1r573; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ord.ered to be printed. 

GOVERNMENT BUILDI~GS AT YUJ.\IA DEPOT. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, in relation to number aml (limen!>ions of Government build~ngs at Yuma depot and their liability to damage from freshets 

in the Colorado River; which was referred to tho Committee on .Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 

MURDER OF LIEUTENAl.~ EBEN WHITE. 

• The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the chief 

clerk of the War Department, giving circumstances of the murder 

of Lieutenant Eben White by John H. and Webster Sothoron ·which was referred to the Committee on War Claims, and ordered to be 

printed. 

NOLAND, TOPP, V A...~CE, ET AL. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the Hout>e a letter from the Secretary of War, in relation to the claim of Noland, Topp, Vance and 

others for cotton taken from them; which was referred to the Committee on War Claims, and ordered to be printed. 

PAWTUCKET RIVER, RHODE ISLAND. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the !louse a letter from the chief 

clerk of the War Department, transmitting a report upon the past 

improvement and present condition of the Pawtucket River, Rhode 

Island; which was· referred to the Committee on Commerce au.d 

oruered to be printed. . ' 

BIPROVEi\>IENT OF MOUTH OF MI~SISSIIPI RIVER. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, in relation to t.he improvement of the mouth of the :Mississippi River; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce 

and ordered to be printed. ' 

l\IILITARY TELEGRAPH IN ARIZONA. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, in relation to an appropriation for theextension of military telegraph line in Arizona Territory; which was referred to the 

Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 

MILITARY RESERVATION AT FORT WILKINS, :MICHIGAN. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secre- t~ry of War, in relation to the military reservalion at :Fort Wilkins 

Michigan; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs' 

and _ordered to be printed. ' 

MESSAGE FROM Tim SENATE. 

. A message from the Senate, by Mr. SY:MPSON, one of their clerks, 

mformed the House that the Senate had passed a resolution directinc:r 

that there be printed of the report of the Superintendent of the Coaat 

Survey, for the year 1873, three thousand extra-copies for the use of 

the Superintendent of the Coast Survey; in which the concurrence of 

the House was req nested. 

The message further announced that the Senate had ao-reed without an:-endment, to t~e c.oncurrent resolution of the Hou~e of Representatives for the prmtmg of two thousand five hundred copies in 

quarto, uniform with the series, of Professor Hayden's final report on the Creta-ceous Flora of the West. · · The message further announced th[tt the Senate had pa-ssed, with an amendment, in which the concurrence of the House was requested. 

the concurrent resolution of the House for the printing of the special 

report of Edward Young, Chief of the Bureau, of Statistics, with the 

appendixes. 

The message further announced that the Senate-had passed, without amendment, the bill (H. R. No. 3309) granting to the Nevadv 

Narrow-gauge Railroad Company the right of way through the public 

lands for a railroad. · The message further announced that the Senate bad agrce(l to th~ 

amend!ll~nt of the House of Repre~entatives to the bill (S. No. 784) 

authonzmg the transfer of gold mmt bars from the bullion fund of 

the assay office New York, to the assistant treasurer at New York 

with an amendment, in which the concurrence of the House wa~ requested. 

MEXICAN VOLUNTEERS. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War in relation to House bill No. 1157 to provide for the payment of certain volunteer companies in the service of the United 

States in the war with Mexico and in the suppression .of Indian disturbances in New Mexico; which was referretl to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

GEORGE A. MILLER AND GEORGE L. 1\fAHONEY. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War in relation to the claim of George .A. Miller, late lieutenant 

Twelfth Tennessee Ca;valry, for pay for services and for horse, &c., 

lost; and also the cl~Im of George L. l\fahonc,y for pay as first lieutenant Company C, Sixth Tennessee Volunteers; which was referred 

to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

PROCEEDINGS OF A MILITARY BOARD. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War in relation· to the proceedings of a board of officers con- venecl at Camp Dougl~, Utah Territory, to investigate and report on losses by fu·e ~or whiCh St?~ond Lieuten~t Wallace Mott, E1ghth Inf~ntry, and assistant comnussary of subs1stence, was responsible· 

whiCh was referred. to the Committee on Military Affairs, and. ordered 

to be printed. 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL B. T. ROBERTS. 

Tho SPEAKER also laicl before the House a letter from the Secretary of \Var iu relation to the retirement of Lieut-enant-Colonel B. 

T. Roberts, Third United States Cavalry; which was I'eferred. to the 

Committee on Military Affairs . 

AR.M:Y MUTUAL SURVIVORSHIP ANNUITY SOCIETY. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a. letter from the Secretary of \Varin relation to tho formation of the Army Mutual Survivorship Annnity Society; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

DAKOTA INDIAN WAR CLAL':IS, 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the chief 

clerk of the War Department, transmitting the report of InspectorGeneral James A. Hardie, United States Army, on the subject of the 

Dakota Indian war claims of Ul6.t; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. · 

INDIAN DEPREDA TIO~S. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the Houstt communications from 

the acting Secretary of the Interior, tl'atlsmitting, in compliance with 

the act of May 29, 1872, the claims of F. Z. Salomon & Co., John 
5204 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Richards, Albino Ortega, Franklin Cook, administrator of the estate 

of John Cook decea.sed, Frederick Weddle, 1\1. Yrisani, John Watts, 

aud Franz and Charles Hunin~, for Indian depredations ; which were xeferred to the Committee on mdian Affairs. 

HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION, ARKANSAS. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the acting 

Secretary of the Interior in answer to the resolution of the House of 

.Tune 4, 1874, in relation to the Hot Spring re ervation, Arkansas; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Public Lauds, and ordered 

to be printed. 

1\IATTHEW RESERVATIOX, OREGON. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secre· 

tary of the Interior, snbmittiu<Y estimates of appropriations to meet 

deficiencies on accoun.t of the Indian. service at the Matthew reser- vation, Oregon, for the year c.uding J Lme 30, 187 4; which was referred 

to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. · 

CHARLES OLIVIER CLOSET. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the Honse a letter from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting, in compliance with the act of Jrtne 

22,1860, a report upon the claim of Charles Olivier Closet to a certain 

tract of land in the State of Louisiana; which was referred to the 

Committee on Private Laud Claims. 

NEW JAIL, DISTRICT OF COLUl\ffiiA. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the Hou e a letter from the Secretary of the Interior in relation to an additional appropriation to com· plete in a substantial manner the new j ail authorized to be constructed 

in and for the District of Columbia by the act of January 1, 1872; 

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

B. SOULE. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secreta:ry of the Interior, transmitting the report of the register andreceiver of the land office at New Orleaus, Louisiana, upon the claim 

of D. Soule to a certain tract of land in saicl State; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Private Land Claims. 

PRIVATE LA1\'D CLAL\fS IN NEW MEXICO. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Interior, t.ransmitting, in compliauce \vith the act of ,July 

22, 1854, a repod of the surveyor-general of New Mexico upon private land claim No. 91; which was 1·eferred to the Committee on Private Land Claims, and ordered to be printed. 

WILLIAM S. STEPHENS. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a communication from 

the chief _clerk of the War Department in rolat!on to the claim of 

WilliamS. Stephens for compensation for losses sustained on a con- tract for furnishing haversacks; which was referred to the Committee on Claims. SPECIAL REPORT OX Il\IMIGRATION. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Trea m·y, transmitting one from the Chief of the Bureau 

of .Statistics in relation to printiug in the Swedish language his special report on immigration; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 

REFUNDS AT SL"' I•'RANCISCO. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, in answer to a resolution of the House of January 4, 1874, transmitting a detailed statement of refunds ma.Ue at the 

port of San Francisco, which had not been received at the date of 

such resolutiou; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 

Means, and ordered to be printed. 

RECONNAISSANCE OF N:>RTHWESTERN WYOMING. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a report on the recon- naissance of Northwestern ·wyoming made in the summer of 1873 by 

William A.. Jones, captain of engineers, United States Army; which was referred to the Committee on :Military Affairs, and ordered to 

be printed. 

WILLIAl\I F. KING. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the chief 

clerk of the War Department, tmusmitting the d.rau~ht of a bill to 

authorize the issue of cJothiug to Serge:1nt-major Wtlliam Jl,. King, 

'.rwenty-fifth Infantry; which was referred to the Committee on Miltary .A.:ffairs. AMBROSE J. CLARKE. 

The SPEAKER also laid before the House· a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, in answer to a resolution of the House of June 

6, 1874, in relation to Ambrose J. Clarke, la.te paymaster United States 

Navy at Drooklyn, New York; which was referred to the Committee on Naval.Mfairs. ENROLLED BILLS. SIGNED:" 

M:r. DARR~L, from the C:ommittee on Enrolled Bills, reported that the comm1ttee hatl exam.rned and founcl truly enrolled bills of 

tho follo,;v ing titles; when the S]_)eaker signed the sa.me: Au a.ct (H. R. No. 526) for the relief of James De Long; 

·An act (H. R. No. 1206) for the relief of Charles J. Sands, t>f Brooklyn, New York; 

An act (H. R. No. 2064) making appropriations for the legislative, 

executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the year 

ending June, 30, 1875, and for other purpo es; 

.A.n act (H. R. No. 2292) for the relief of William Walker; 

An act (H. R. No. 2.39 ) granting a medal to John Horn, jr., for his 

heroic exploits in rescuing men, women, and children from drowning 

in Detroit River; 

An act (H. R. No. 2694) for the relief of Benjamin \V. Reynolds; 

An act (H. R. No. 2898) for the relief of J. W. R. Wing, of New 

Bedford, Massachusetts; 

An act (H. R. No. 3166) to correct the date of commission of certa.in 

officers of the Army; 

.A.n act (H. R. No. 3171) to amend the customs revenue laws and to 

repeal moieties ; and 

An act (H. R. No. 3586) to authorize the coustruct.ion of a bridge across the Mississippi River a.t or near the city of La Crosse, in the 

State of Wisconsin. 

Mr. PENDLETON, from the same committee, reported that th~y 

had examined and found. truly enrolled bills of the following titles; 

when the Speaker signed the same: • .A.n aet(S.No.176) to encourage tho establishment of public marine 

schools . .A.n act (S. No. 311) for the relief of Joseph Montanari; and 

.A.n act ( S. No: 595) for the relief of Benjamin Cooley and James W 

Boswell: ARMY PENSION DEFICIEXCY. 

The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication just re- ceived from the Acting Secretary of the Interior, trnnsmittin~ a letter 

of the Commis ioner of Pensions, representing the necessity for a deficiency appropriation of 200,000 for the payment of Army pensions during the cmrent fiscal year. . l\Ir. GARFIELD. \Vould it be in order to move to refer that com- munication to the committee o{ conference on the ilisa~reeing votes 

of the two Houses upon the deficiency appropriation bill i . The SPEAKER. The Chair does not know why it would not be. 

1\Ir. GARFIELD. I make that motion. I wish to iuqnu·e whether 

this will give tile conference committee juri ilictiou, if there should 

be no amen<lmeut pending between the two Hou es touching any 

such subject' 

The SPEAKER. In the opinion of tbe Cilair it would, if it is an actual, legal deficiency; in that case the uill by its title would cover this subject. 

l\Ir. HOLMAN. I submit that the committee of conference would 

have no jmisdiction, 1mless this matt.er should be germane to some amendment mafle by t.he Senate. 

Tile SPEAKER. The deficiency bill embraces aU items of public 

service in which there may occm a legitimate <le:ficiency. The Chair 

therefore thinks tha.t this matter would be within the jurisdiction of 

the conference committee. .A.t all events tho communication may be 

referred; and that point if uece sa.ry can be brought up afterwar<l. 

The motion of 1\Ir. GARFIELD was agreed to. 

POLITICAL DISTURBA..l"'CES IN ARKANSAS. 

Mr. TYNER. I yielrl for a. moment to the gentleman from Vermont 

[JI!Ir. POLAND] on the condition that the proposition he is about to 

submit shall not consume time. 

Mr. POL.A.l~. I have been directed by the select committee on tho condition of affairs in Arkau as to report back certain testimony 

taken on that subject, a.nd also to submit the following resolution: 

Resol·ved, That the select committee of the House appointed unrlor a resolution 

adopted May 27, 1874, to inquire into · the disturbed condition of governme~al 

nffmrs in the State of Arkansas, be cflntinued during the recess of Congre.ss, w1th 

the. ame powers conferred by the resolution under whlch said committee was ap- pointed. 

The question being taken on agreeing to the resolution, there were- ayes 51, noes 52; no quorum voting. :Mr. ELDHEDGE. I call for the yeas and nays. ~Ir. TYNER. I yielded to the gentleman from Vermont with the 

understanding that this proposWon should not take time. 

Mr. POLAND. That wa.s the understanding, and I withdraw the 

resolution for the present. 

The SPEAKER. It can come up immediately after the post-office 

appropriation bill is disposed of. • 

POST-OFFICE APPROPRIATION BILL. 

Mr. TYNER. I move that the House now proceecl to tile consideration of the amendments of the Senate to the bill making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June 30, 1875, and for other purposes, and that they be considered 

in the House under the five-minute rule. 

Tho motion was agreed to. 

The first amendment wa.s read, as follows: 

In the proviso relating to employment of letter.carrlers strike out "twenty thousand" and insert "thirty thousand;" so t.hat the paragraph will read as follows: 

For pay of letter.carriers, 1,900,000: Promded, That hereafter letter-carriers 

shall not be employed for the free deli very of mall matter in towns and cities whose 

population within their corporate limits, aa shown by the last report of the na- tional census or by any subsequent census taken in pursuance of Sta.te statute or by order of the ma.yor and common council of such town or city, shall be le..'IB tba.n 

thirty thousand; but this proviso shall not affect the free delivery in tmvn.s and t>.Wes where it is now established. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5205 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended concurrence. The amenilinent was concurred in. The second amendment was read, as follows . 

Add to tho paragraph in r egard to the pay and employment of letter carriers the 

following : . Ancl for the more efficient management of the free-delivery system, the Postmaster-General may designate a fourth-class clerk to act as superintendent of fr e 

lin ry in the Post-Office Department at an annual salary of $2,500; and for thts 

pm pose the snm of 700 is hereby appropriated, out of any money in tho Trca,sury not otherwise appropriated. -

The Committee on Appropriations recommended cont;)urrence. :Mr. HOLMAN. On concurring in this amendment I ask for a division. It makes an increase of salary. The question being taken, the amendment was non-concurred in; 

there being ayes 25, noes not counted. 

The third amendment was road, as follows: 

Strike out the words "running out of tho District of Columbia." and insert the worus " in Virginia. and .Maryland;" so that the paragraph will read as follows: 

]'or advertising, $80,000: Promded, That hereafter no payment shall be made to any newspaper published in the District of Columbia. for advertising any other routes than those in Virginia and Maryland. -

The Committee on Appropriations recommended concurrence. The amendment was concurred in. 

The fourth amenclment was read, a,s follows : 

Strike out the words " and no" and insert "nor any;" so as to make the paragraph read as follows : For stamped envelopes and wrappers, $535,424: Provided, That hereafter no en- velope, as furnished by the Go>ernment, shall contain any lithographing and 

enzraving, nor any priuting except a. printed request to return the letter to the wrtter. 

The Committee on Appropriations recommendecl concurrence. The amendment was concurred in. • The fifth amendment was read, as follows: 

In the Jll1ra..,uraph appropriating :for miscell:mcous items $2,500, strike out the following proviso : Provided, That the monthly and annual report-s of the Department of Agricul- ture shall pass free through the mails. 

· The Committee on Appropriations recommended non-concurrence. The amendment was non-concurrecl in. 

The sixth amendment was read, a-s follows : 

Insert the followin~ as a new paragraph: - For the purchase of bw-hooks for tho library of the office of the Assistant Attorney-General of the Post-Office Department, $2,000. · 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended non-concurrence. The amendment was non-concurred in. " The seventh amendment was read, as follows: 

"~ Ins rt the follo,ving as a. new section : That tho r evised statutes of the United States shall not be published by the 

United States in any newspaper, anything in existing laws to the contrary not- witllsta.nding. · 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended concurr-ence. The amendment was concurred in. 

The eighth amendment was read, as follows : 

Insert as a. new section. the following : . SEc. 5. That on all newspapers and periodical publications mailed from a known 

office of publication or news agency, and addressed t() regular subscribers or news agents, "\)Ostage shall be charged at the following rates: On newspapers and periodical publications, four cents for each pound or fraction thereof: Provided, That the rate of postage on newspapers or periodicaJ.s, not exceedin~ two ounces in weight, 

antl circulars, when the same are devosited in a letter-earner office for delivery by the office or its ca1Tiers, shall be uniform at one cent each; but periodicals i~liing more than two ounces shall be subject to a postage of two cents each, and these rate.s shall be prepaid by stamp. 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended concurrence in the 

Senate amendment, with an amendment, to make the section read as follows : 

. SEc. 5. That on all newspapers and perlodical publications mailed ;from a kno'Wll 

office of :public ation or news agency, and aduressed to r egular subscribers or news agents, postage shall be charged at the following rates: On newspapers antl periodicaJ. publications, issued weekly and more freq1,1ently than once a week, one cent antl five mills for each pound or fraction thereof; and on those issued less frequently than once a week three cents· for each pound or fraction thereof: Provided, That 

the rate of postage on transient newspapers or periodicals, not exceeding two ounces in weight, and circulars, w ben tile same are depositell in a letter-carrier 

office for delivery by the office or its cal'l'iers, shall bo uniform at one cent each; 

but periodicals weighing more t-han two otmces, sent to other than regular subscribers or news agents shall be subject t() a post~tge of two cents each, and these rates shall be prepaid by stamp. 

Mr. KASSON. It seems to me t-here is an error in the insertion 

of the word" transient," before the wo,rd "newspapers" if the proviso re1ates exclusive]y to pa-pers, &c., sent for delivery by letter-carriers within the delivm·y of that office. The intention of the clause, 

I presume, is to subject such papers, whether transient or continuous, 

to the pa-yment of one cent, because delivered by letter-carriers. I 

think, therefore, the word "transient" is an error. Mr. TYNER. I think the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. KASSO~] is 

mistaken. The first part of this section provides for the rate of post- a.ge on newspapers, which rate is of course to be prepaid. After fixing the rate of postage the proviso then goes on and declares that 

newspapers or periodicals not exceeding a certain weight shall go 

through the mails at a certain rate. The proviso, tmless there is some qualifying term, will change the rate of postage fLxetl in the first part of the section. The purpose evidently of the Senate was to provide the law as it now exists should be continued, and in onler to avoid any mistake or misapprehension a-s to the first part of the section the Senate evidently intended· to make a different rate of postage, or rather intended to continue the present rate of postage on transient 

matter. To make tha.t purpose cleal," the Committee on Appropriations thought it necessary to insert the word "transient" before the 

word "newspapers." If the gentleman from Iowa will tm·n to the 

first part of the- section he will see that it provides for sending news- papers and l'leriodica-ls and publications mailed from a known office 

of publication or news agency and addressed to regular subscribers or news :tgents. That does not apply to outsiders, but only to subscribers or news a~ent-s. Without some such proposition as we l1avo 

inserted the publisher or news dealer may send his transient mail- matter aU over the country at t-he rate fixed in the first part of the 

section, and therefore the proviso changes the rate npou transient 

newspapers or periodic:-1.ls from the rate fixed in the first part when 

the same is depositell in a letter-carrier office for delivery. Mr. KASSON . . I think what the gentleman from Indiana says 

implies that provision should be put somewhere, but the word "tran- sient" where it is put relates exclusively to those newspapers or periodicals depoE! ted in letter-carrier offices for delivery by the office or its carriers. Consequently if the word rc transient" is left where it is 

it would leave these newspapers and periodicals to be sent within the 

local delivery subject to a postage, which it is not the intention of 

this committee to allow. I suggest that sho'uld be considered in the 

conference. Suppose instead of being transient the publishing office or news agent in New York chooses to send through the locaJ office 

every day by the letter-carriers, then it would. imply if they were reg- ular issues and not transient they shoulU come under the previous 

rate per pound, which it is not the intention to do, as I understand. 1\fr. TYNER. Inasmuch~ this can be determined more correctly 

by the conference, I have no objection to striking out the word "tr::m- sient," where it is proposed to be put before "newspapers," and also 

in the latter part to strike out "sent to others than re~ar su bscrlbers or news agents," and let the vote be taken on the balance of the sec- tion. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. What does the gentleman now propose to do ¥ I should like to understand it. Mr. TYNER. I propose to strike out the work "transient" before 

the word "n~wspapers," and also to strike out the words" sent to ~ers than regular subscribers or news agents" after the word 

'' 6unces" in line 11. That willle::we the proviso precisely as it came from the Senate. 

l\lr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. A newspaper published in a town 

which has a letter-carrier office would be obliged to pay three cents 

for post~ge, whereas if it went_ over to the next town in the same county 1t would ~o free. 

1\fr. TYNER. The gent]eman will see by turning to section 7 it is 

there providetl that newspapers, one copy to each actual subscriber re- siding within the county where the same are printed in whole or in 

part and published, shall go free through the mails; but the same shall not be delivered at letter-carrier offices or distributed by carriers 

unless postage is paid thereon as by law provided. 

The provision to which the gentleman has called my a-ttention sim- ply requires the prepayment of postage where there is letter-ca-rrier deliv~ry of newspa-pers or periodicals. l\fr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. Do you provide the daily news- papers shall go through the mails free 'f 

Mr. TYNER. Not at all; bnt we propose, if the pub1isher of a daily 

paper sha-ll send copies of his publication to subscribers to be deliv- ered by letter-carriers, then postage shall be paid on them. But if 

the publisher of a daily paper shall send his paper through the postoffice alone to a subscriber in the county, then this bill provides it 

shall go free. We only propo c to charge postage to cover the service 

of the letter-carrier system. Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. Do you propose that it shall go 

free in a city where the letter-carrier system is established¥ 

Mr. TYNER. Provided it is delivered at the post-office but not by 

t.lie letter-earrriers. The gentleman from Connecticut would not ask · the passage of a law to load down the letter-carriers with daily 

papers to go through the mails ·and be delivered by these letter-car- riers free of postage. Mr. HA 'VLEY, of Connecticut. I think we are wrong in allowing a single ounce of mail Itlatter to go free anywhere. If you made 

everybody in the country pay for every service rendered by the PostOffice Department yon could reduce the newspaper rates below what 

they now are. The effect-of the law as the House proposes to amend 

it is to offer the highest kiml of protective duties for county week- lies and for county pa-pers. You permit them to go entirely free 

through the mails and then you turn arotmcl and put a heavy bnrden 

upon the publishers of papers of more extended circulation and ma-ke · them pay the expense of de1ivery of the entire newspaper press of 

the country. If you take the ground that no matter shall pass through 

the mails free, and stand upou it, and let all papers pay each in its 

own county as well as everywhere else- let e>ery man who ha.s an advantage from the Government pay for it..---you can then put your 

rates down to one cent instead of anything going free, you can then 

rednee postage to the lowest rates po sible. 

Mr. POTTER. Does this provide for prepayment of postage on the· part of newspapers circulating in the counties 'l 

1\Ir. TThTER. There is no recommendation in reg3~d to tli.at by 
5206 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JuNE 19, 

the House Committee on Appropriations. The Honse is now con- '3iderin(J' the amendments of the Senate to this bill. 

I will say, Mr. Speaker, that nearly all the rep1ainder of this bill is 

simply a copy of certain chan"e.s which the House has already passed 

iu t.he shape of two or three different bills t.bat were reported here · by the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. There are certain changes, however, that have been made by the Senate in 

wllich ,the Committee on Appropriations of this Honse recommend non-concurrence. And now let me say a word in reply to the gentleman from Connecticut, [Mr. HAWLEY.] We have come nearly to the plan of re- quil'ing prepayment on nearly all classes of mailable matter. It is 

true that certain newspapers are permitted to go free in the mail in 

the counties of their publication. But there is so small a proportion 

of them that get into the mails at all that it may be said that even they do not vary the rule. For instance, the weekly newspaper in 

the county almost inva.riably delivers two-thirds or three-fourths of 

its cil'culation to its subscribers in the town or city where published. 

These newspapers are carried by the maJority of t.he publishing 

houses to the post-office and never go into the mails, but are delivered at the delivery window of the post-office. A very few, a very 

small percentage, go into the mails and are carried short distances 

of from one to :t:iiteen miles. That small proportion, I repeat, scarcely 

changes the mle. So that we have come down almost to the rule re- quiring everything that enters the mail to pay postage, and to prepav it also. 

'fhe dail:v newspaper stands precisely on the same footing with the 

weekly newspaper in regard to weekly circulation within the county. 

And I apprehend that the sober reflect.ion of nearly all gentlemen 

here will bear me out in saying that this .change in the law-a change 

in the law which ha been in existence only for a yearpast-re-estab1 ishing the principle of free circulation within counties, is really right, 

in order not to impose a tax on the circulation of that class of intelligence which is the most 1mable to pay it. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I desire my colleague, the gentleman fromindiana, to state what amount of increa e is made in newspaper postage 

by the Honse bill over the presept law, and how much by the Senate 

amendments. 

n.'Ir. TYNER. The present law, as the gentleman is aware, provides for a rate of postage on weeklies and semi-weeklies and dailies 

in proportion to the frequency of their publication. As nearly as the 

Post-Office Depa1·tment has been able to reduce it to the cost per 

pound, this is a reduction, a very considerable reduction upon the 

postage on newspapers. But the change of providing for a prepa,yment, thus enabling the Department t.9 collect all its revenues on thiR_ matter, has in my judgment, and I make the statement after very 

considerable reflection about it, reduced the actual cost per pound - nearly or about 50 per cent., and will pay an increased postage or rev- enue to the Post-Office Department to the extent of not less than 300 

per cent. 

l\fr. HOLMAN. I desire t-o a-sk my colleague what is the effect of 

the Senate amendment making the rate four cents per pound 

MI'. TYNER. The effect of that, in my judgment, would be to inCI'ease the rates of postage at least 200 per cent., and in some instances more than that, over the proposition heretofore adopted by the House. 

And another effect in my judgment will grow out of that. If we fix 

the rate of postage at four cents, so high a rate as that will induce 

all the publishing offices of the country to resort almost exclusively 

to the express companies for the delivery of their newspapers on short 

routes and within short distances, and will also 1.ndnce them to send 

their publicat.ions through the mail when they have to be cal'ried 

long distances, the result of which will be in my judgment to cheat 

the Post-Office Department out of a large proportion of the revenues that it now gets, and to enhance the revenues of the express companies -in proportion. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. I desire to make another suggestion as to what will be the effect of this Senate amendment, charging 

four cents a p01md, which is a root extraordinary, extravagant, mid unrea onable increase of the rate of postage. One other effect would 

b , a it is of the present law, to throw the whole burden of the po tage on the publishers of the newspapers. That is the effect of the 

law. ¥ou say the publisher will get it out of his subscribers. You are by this law to levy-how much Y Two million dollars Y 

Mr. TYNER. It will not amount to that. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. You expect an increase-! underst.aud some two million dollars. That is all to corrie out of four, six, or eight hund.I·ed persons in the country-the whole of it. You change 

the mode of collecting from the subscriber to the newspapers and the men who publish them. And this is a tremendous tax upon a comparatively few people of the country. 

Ah, but you say it is like the whisky tax, which does not ·come out 

of the distillers, but the drinkers of whisky have to pay it ultimately. 

You sa,y that t.he subscribers will have to pay this postage. Not at all. 

The publishers of newspapers now charge for their papers one or two 

dollars a year; they cannot charge 1.08 or 1.09 so as to cover the 

po tage. I tell you,· as a newspaper publisher, that we shall not change our yearly rates at all, but we shall shoulder this enormous burden, 

ranging from any sum as small as you please up to 300,000 a year. I 

think there are newspaper establishments in -the countty that will 

pay 300,000 a year under this law; and it will be a long time before 

the matter can be so adjusted that the burden shall be divided between 

the publisher and the subscriber. · 

Mr. GARFIELD. I ri e to oppose the amendment. I think the ~ou~e may weJ! dev?te some time to the consideration of this question rn connection w1th four or five other amendments which follow 

it, They relate to one of ~he most important topics connected with our postal affairs that has yet been befol'e Congress. We are l.J re discussing not only the rato of postage on newspapers, but also the 

rate on merchandise, that question coming in in one of the Senate . amendments. It is proposed by the Senate to put up the amount of 

mercha,ndise that may be carried through the mails to fom· pounds. 

At present the am01mt is only twelve onnces. They propose to ma-ke 

it sixty-f?ur ounces. The Senate proposes? also, to inr:rease the charge 

for carryrng newspapers to three or four tunes what 1t now is .. 1\Ir. KASSON. These newspapers, to which the gentleman from 

Connecticut [Mr. IlA WLEY] has alluued, accon1ing to my recollection 

raised their prices during the waT to about double what they were before, and they have not since that time reduced the price. That is 

a point t-o be considered in connection with the alleged hardshil'l upon 

newspaper publisher , in case they do not recover the whole amount 

from their snbscrib'3rs. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. That is a matter with which Congress has nothing to do. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I think Congress should ascertain the orirrinal 

and present object of the Post-Office Department. A novel and re- m:;trkable proposition was ruaue before the Committee on Appropriatwns a few weeks ago by an able gentleman who appeared before 

them in regarrl to the postal telegraph. He insisted that the object 

of the Post-Office Departlllent was not to transmit intelligence at all, 

but to carry packages; that it did not make any difference to the 

Government what was in the pa-ckage, but that a sealed packa(J'e, not 

above a certain weight should be carried by the Governmeift at a low rate, and that the transmission of intelligence was only an incident resulting from the transmission of a package. I have had occa- sion, since that gentleman appeared before the committee, to inquire 

into this question historically to ascertain whether that was the 

object in the minds of our fathers when they created the Post-OfficE} 

Department. I have copied the :first resolution that I can find 1mder 

the old Confederacy, _and which originated onr present ·Post-Office 

Department. 

I find the first notice of the Post-Office in the Journal of the Confederation May 29, 1775, as follows: 

Aa the present critical situation of the Colonies renders it highly necessary that 

ways and means should be devised for the speedy and secure conveyance of intelligence from one end of the continent tQ the other- - Resolved, That Mr. Franklin and others be a committee to consider the best ~~~~.of establli!hing post for conveying letters and intelligence through this oonThis, 1\.'Ir. Speaker, was the corner-stone of our postal system. The 

report w~ read July 25, 1775, and agreed to July 26, and B. Franklin was appornted Postmaster-General, and a line of post was established from Falmouth in Maine" to Savannah1 with ·as many cross- posts as the Postmaster-General should think ttt. · In 178'2 the first onlinance was passed regulating the post-office, 

with the followil1g preamble: "Whereas the communication of intellirrence with regularity and dispatch from one part to another of 

this United States is essentially requisite to the safety a-s well as the 

commercial interest," an<l the Congress being '' ve ted with the sole 

and exclusive right and power of establishing and regulating pos~ 

offices throughout the nited States:" therefore, &c., the PostmasterGeneral and his agAnts, &c., and no other person, "shall have the 

receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, sending post or with 

speed, carrying and delivering of any letters, packets, or other dispatches from any pla-ce within these United States for hire." - Such was the beginning of our postal system, which was organized 

for the purpose of transmitting intelligence, and not as an expre s for 

packages. The transmission of packages was authorized only because 

the packages contained intelligence. 

Now, it is from this tand-point that I approach the question of 

postage on newspapers. We are met with this argument; we are told, and told truly, that 78 per cent. of all the matter that pa es through the mails is newspapers, and that the newspapers paid during 

the last year a little more than "'1;000,000 of the twent.y-nine or tllirty 

millions that were paid as J?OStage, and yet the newspapers fnrnishett over 78 per cent. of t.he we1ght. of our mails. We could not defencl 

that as a matter of justice, if it was the business of the Post-Office 

Department to carry packages as an express agency. Now I take it that tile Senate in their amendment have gone over to the express theory of the Post-Office Department. They have enIm·ged to four pounds the amount of merchandise of any sort thn.t 

may be sent through the mails, and have raised the price of postage on newspapers to four cents per pound, at least treble the pre eut 

rate. They have overthrown the theory upon which tho post-office wa-s founded, and propose to convert it into an express office. If that 

theory be the true one, then we ought to charge far more for tramporting a newspaper than a letter, because it weighs more. If the 

theory of charging by weight and distance is to prevail, then as a, 

mattec of course the Sena.t.e is right, only they ought to have goue 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5207 

further and made the newspaper pay eight or ten times as much as a letter, in proportion as its weight is greater. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS obtained the floor. 

:Mr. GARFIELD. I desire to conclude this line of thought. 

.Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I will yield my time to the gentleman. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I wish to call a.ttention to another thing. In 

1 41 an attempt wa-s made to readjust our postal system in rega-rd to 

mtes, and to make newspapers pay a larger sh.:<tre comparatively of 

ibe expenses of the Post-Office Department thu.n they were then 

doing. The result of it all was that the rate of letter postage was decreased, while the rate of newspaper postage was kept substantially the same. I have no doubt that upon thA theory which the Senate seem to 

have adopted they have not gone even far enough. But I contend 

that the original theory, and t.he one which we onght to maintain, is 

tha·t the Post-Office Depa.rtment wa~; createu not for the purpose of 

revenue, but for the purpo e of disseminatincr intelligence throughout tho country. Therefore, where there is intelligence of so public n. nature and of such general importance as that in the newspapers we give it the preference, and that is the rea-son why the newspaper 

should have the preference over the letter. I send a letter to a friend; 

it is a matter that concerns only him and me. nut the news of the 

crops, of the business, of the commerce and t.he trade of the country 

is a matter that at once concerns millions of people. Therefore, for 

the public good, for the. general welfare, the newspaper ought to be 

sent at a less cost than the private letter. 

I am clear also that the Senate is right in one thing, and that is 

that the post.age on newspapers should be prepaid. I have here the 

statistics of last yea.r, which I think will be of some service to the 

House. In 1873 the actual legal charge for postage on newspapers 

amounted in the aggregate to 2,718,241. Yet there was collected 

and paid into the revenues of the Post-Office Department for postage on newspapers only $1,072 998, a little more than one-thiru of tho legal 

charge. It is fair to say that substantially only about 30 per cent. of 

the entire legal charge of carryin (J' the newspapers in the mails was paid. 

Whyf I can give the House an illustration in my own district. I rec-. ollect seeing last faU a postmaster in a country office where the revenue of the office was very small; perhaps the fees of the office did not produce a salary of more than $100 per annum. The man said to me: "I collect a hundred accounts every quarter for postage on newspapers, or four bunured accounts a year, at nine cents each. In other 

wonls, I have to open four hundrerl accounts, each account amounting 

to only nine cents, and I must collect them. In doing so I have an infinite am01mt of trouble. A. man comes in for his newspaper; he 

has not t-he money to pay the quarter's postage, or he cannot make 

tho change, or I cannot make it, and I violate the law and let him 

have the paper for several weeks without paying the postage. He is a friend of J)line; I do not want to make him angry, and finally I pay 

the postage out of my own pocket." Or, what is true in a great ma- jority of cases, it is never paid, but returned as delin<}uencies. It is a miserable, trifling, little picayune business. We ought tu fix the mte 

at that which we determine should be fixed, not a high rate ; the . Senate ba,g fixed too high a rate, but the Honse has fixed a rate which 

is really a reduction. We ought to fix that ·rate, and stand by it, 

and provide that it shall be prepaid before the newspapers go into 

the mails. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connectipnt. I hope the gentleman did not un- derstand me as opposing the prepayment of new~paper postage. 

.Mr. GARFIELD. 0, no. .Mr. HA. WLEY, of Connecticut. I do not know any one engaged 

in the business who does not think prepayment a wise and proper 

rule. And all that the gentleman has said about tho annoying cha.racter of these little collections is true. But make your rate low, and ·you will get more money. 

Mr. GARFIELD. The House will remember t.hat some months ago we discussed the question of freedom of transmission of newspapers 

in the counties where published. I expressed my opinion on that 

snbject, and as a re ult I have been very considerably criticised by 

those who thought I was attacking the metropolitan press and praising especially the country press. I argueu then upon the same principle which Benjamin Franklin laid down when he or~anizecl the 

Post-Office Department, that•it was for the diffusion of mtelligence 

aml not for revenue t.hat the postal system was established. I said 

then and I say now, for I am confirmed. in my belief, that no greater 

injustice can be done than to establish a dead-level rate of postage 

for newspapers in the counties where they are published. In fact, 

the first law that Franklin introduced made a discrimination based on distance; and I think it is worth while to refer to it here. The fir~t notice of newspapers in our postal ln.ws was in tho ordinance of 

1792. The service bad existed about twenty years before the news- papers were recognizeJ., they being so few in number and of such 

little weight in comparison with letters. ·But in 1792, few as news- papers then were in comparison with what they are now, it had be- come important to recognize them, and an ordinance was passed 

declariugN ewspapers shall be carried in a separate bag from letters, antl charged one cent for one hrmdred miles and one and a half conts for a. greater distance. 

Letters of cour~:;e were ratetl much higher. 

The newspaper continued to be an inconsiderable feat.ure of the 

postal-service till about the end of the first quarter of the present 

century, hut about that time the price of paper was greatly reduced, 

the size of newspapers greatly increased, and complaints were made 

by the Postmaster-General of the excessive weights of papers in proportion to the letters, and as early as 1838 an estimate was made of 

comparative weight of letters and papers sent from the :five largest 

cities of the Union in a week. The weight of the letters werefomteen 

hm1dred and twenty-eight pouilds and of the papers.fifty-:five thousand two hunched and 'forty-one pounds, while each letter paid an average twelve cents, and each paper one cent. 

It was urged that it was unjust that letters should bear almost the 

entire expense of the Post-Office Department; that the posta ~e on papers sboulcl be inci'eased and that on letters diminished. The Post- 'master-General in 1841 proposed an increase of 100 per cent. on the 

postage of printed matter converted into weight, ·with a reduction of 

25 per cent. on letter-postage and prepayment on letters and papers. 

To the advance of rates on papers it was replied that as the post- · office was established for the diffusion of intelligence, and as news- papers performed that service for the public which letters did for tho 

individual, and a-s the letter-postage was less than by any other means of conveyance, it was in the public interests that row rates on papers should be maintained. Congress therefore reduced .the rates 

both on papers and let.ters, making them in each ca e depend on weight, and .without regard to distance of transmission, requiring 

prepayment on letters but not on newspapers. With some modifications this has continued to be the law until the present time. · I think they were right. to recognize as they did in the early days 

of the Government the difference between a local circulation anrl a general, wide-spread circulation of newspapers. If we propose by our legisl:l.tion to do justice to the various interests of the country we ought to make some difference without respect. 

I do not say as an independent question that the country news- papers ought to be free; that they have any special claims to total 

exemption from posta<re; but I do say that they have aright to have a difference made in their favor on the score of the small distances 

which they are tran mitted. Of course the city newspapers are free 

within their respective counties as the country new.spapers are. It 

was not merely for the country papers, but for relative justice that 

I pleaded when speaking on this subject several months ago. 

I have no doubt it would be more just if we had a graded rate based 

upon the limits of distance and weight; yet that would be too cum- bersome, aml perhaps" the order that is now adopted in this bill ought 

to stand. I •vish, for one, to disclaim any purpose of a-ssault on the 

newspapers on the one hand, or of toadying to them on the other. I 

stand by the old theory and traditions of the G9vernment in regard 

to the Post-Office Department. 

1\Ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I move to amend the amendment presented by the committee by substituting one cent in place of one· cent 

and a half, and two cents iustcacl of three cents. 

I recognize the force of the· argument for prepayment ; but I do 

not recognize the accuracy of the figures which are here presented. 

It is claimed that the ·postage upon newspapers carried through the 

mails dming the past year would have been nearly 2,700,000, while 

the amount collected was but $1,072,000. Gentlemen have cho en to 

make a calculation based upon these figures; but I venture to say 

that their results are inaccurate. They can have no data to justify 

the estimate which has here been submitted. I do not question the 

honesty of their intentions; but they are making calculations about 

that which is necessarily uncertain, and they reach a conclusion 

which is absurd upon its face. The claim that there was a failme on the part of the postmasters to collect $1,700,000 of postage which 

should have been collected on newspapers should have taught them 

that their calculations are radically wrong. 

The postage as it stands is so bigl;l as to drive a great many news. papers out of the mails. They are compelled. to rely upon other facilities for reaching their subscribers, because· the postage uow is. too 

high. They do not object to prepayment; but if you get all of this 

2,700,000, (which is the calculation as to the amount that should be 

obtained from newspapers going through the mails,) if yon have sure pay upon tbenewspapers, :you can,carry them fore\ en a lower rate'- 'L'he 

tendency of the present system, as:the experience- of gentlemen experienced in postal matters will testify,. is to drive new paper out of 

the mails for all short distances. Practicnlly yon carry in the ma,ils 

only the newspapers .that go •a great wnys.. Now, if you want to. get 

the profitable business for the mails, you must make your- rates. Jow 

enough to attract it;· and ill my judgment they ought not to be hi~ her 

than one cent for weeklies and dailies; and two cents for-magazme . Such a discrimination as·now exists:ongbt .n.Qt to . be made between 

magazines and newspapers, because the greater amount of busine 

furnished by the dailies and weeklies places them within the range 

of a wholesale business; whereas the magazine postage, large a it 

is, must be in the aggregate very much less. than the newspaper 

postage. 

Gentlemen tell us a great deal about the weight of newspapers. 

Some of them are the very gentlemen who argued a while ago that 

weight made no difference at aU, when they wantecl agricultural 

reports carried for nothing: If that argument is sound, I would be 

glad to borrow some of the eloquent sentences of my friend from 

Illinois [Mr. CANNO~l who tried to tea.ch us that it ditl not make any 
5208 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

difference how much the mails weighed. But it does. What I want 

is that yon shall fix some fair ra.te for a wholesale businesswhenyou 

ask for prepa.yment. That is all we ask. 

The newspapers of this country do not want any sympathy from 

this body or any other body. They ask for just.i.ce; that is all. I 

know, M.r. Speaker, that this body, at least, is not going to legislate 

against newspapers out of spite. Bear in mind, gentlemen, great as yon may be, and long as you may live, your career is short compared 

with tho life of _a great newspaper. The newspaper is an institution 

of this country, and there is no man so great ,_that he can afford to sneer at it. I only choose now to say that the newspaper ::t.sks no favors, asks. no sympathy. If yon choose to legislate from spite yuu 

may, and newspapers will be can-ied outside of yom mails. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. CANNON, of Illinois. :Mr. Speaker,· I wish to refer to there- marks of. the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] for a moment 

b efore referring to what the gentleman from New York [Mr .. ELLis · H. ROBERTS] has been talking about. I understand the gentleman 

from Ohio antagonizes the Senate amendment which provides that 

mailable matter of the third class may weigh not exceeding fompounds 

for each package, and postage shall be charged at the rate of one cent 

for each two ounces or fraction thereof. I .claim that is a proper 

amendment. It is substantially the same provision contained in the 

bill passed by the Honse the other day which was reported from the 

Committee on t.he Post-Office and Post-Roads. I claim it is right not 

only as· a matter of jnstice to persons who live in portions of the coun- try where there are no express offices, but it is right also as a matter 

of revenue for the Department, and whoever antagonizes an amendment of that kind, while he may not do it ;intentionally in favor of 

the express companies, nevertheless is in fact operating in their favor 

and against the convenience of the people of t.he (ionntry. 

In seven of the principal cities last winter the mails were weighed 

for thirty days, and there were in round numbers one hundred and 

twenty thousaud pounds of books and merchandise producing $20,000, 

of postage. For the same thirty days the newspapers and periodica.ls mailed in the same seven eWes weighed fom million pounds, 

which at a cent and a half a pound, the rate which the gentleman 

proposes to fix,·would produce only $60,000, but which, if charged at 

the same rate as books and seeds and cuttings, would produce near half a million of dollars. Yet the gentleman from Ohio claims yon 

should not carry four pound packages of third-cla,ss mailable matter 

which produces this kind of revenue. I say as a matter of justice to 

the people and as a matter of justice to the revenues of the Post-Office 

Department this third-class mailable matter should go through the 

mails as provided for in the amendment of the Senate. 

But the gentleman from New York [l\fr .. ELLIS H. RonEnTs] says we have no data that the revenue w oulcl be $2,000,000 on papers and 

periodicals at the rate which is proposed shall be fixed by the ·com- mittee. I say we have the data in the census report of 1870, and also 

in this weighing for thirty days in these seyen principal cities of the 

country. Newspapers, periodicals in these principal cities for thirty 

days weighed four millions of pounds. For the en tire year that would 

make 48,000,000 pounds for these seven cities alone. Calculation to 

produce 2,000,000 of revenue at the rate proposed is upon the basis 

of 97,000,000 of pounds. You will notice, therefore, that these seven principal cities would give over one-half of the amount necessary to 

produce this amount. Therefore I say you are not groping in the 

d:uk, but you can calculate with as great certainty as you can in 

reference to anything· in the future not absolutely certain that there 

will be this amount of newspapers and periodicals going through the. mails at this reduced rate. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. The gentleman from Illinois states that a certain amount was carried through the mails for a certain period, a.nd then makes a calculation according to the census of 1870; is not 

that a guess 'f 

Mr. CANNON, of illinois. It is not a guess; the observation of 

postmasters and· the ascertained facts show that it is correct, and 

such calculation is verified by the weighing of mails for thirty days 

in thos~ seven principal cities. . . Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. He weighed within a certain territory 

and found a certain result and doubled that result. I think that 

cannot be called anything else than a g11ess. 

Mr. CANNON, of illinois. No, sir; one fact verifies the other. If 

seven cities mail forty-eight million pounds of newspapers in a year, 

certainly the whole of the balance of the United States would mail as much more. Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. His calculation is the resi:Ilt of a guess, 

very ingenious, perhaps, but nevertheless a guess. 

1\fr. CANNON, of Illinois. The gentleman wants to have the last 

word. So be it.. 

Mr. G. F. HOAR rose. ~ 

The SPEAKER pro ternpm·e. No further amendment is in order. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I withdraw my amendment on condition the gentleman renews it. 

Mr. G. P. HOAR. I have listened to the distinguished gentleman fmm New York, [Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS]~his speech to-day and his 

speech on the general question some weeks ago-with less pleasure than that which I usually derive from what he has to say to the 

House, because it seems to me in discussing the effect of this legislation npoll a portion of the people he ha..s fallen into the common error 

of supposing his opponents influenced byameanor lowmotivewhich 

may possibly enter some minds rather than by a general desire to do 

what is right and for the public interest. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 0, no. 

:Mr. G. F. HOAR. He said the other day in substance if the Honse 

expected to curry favor with the country press by giving them their 

newspapers free they were mistaken. 

Mr. ELLIS H . ROBERTS. I say it now. · 

Mr. G. P. HOAR. He warns us now against legislating out of spite, 

and compares the length of the life of a great newspaper with the 

length of the career of a man in public station. But, Mr. Speaker, 

that is not the mgtive with which the gentlemen of this House are addressing themselves to this important public question. It is not in 

the least a question of the interest of the publisher of a newspaper. 

We have to deal with the question of the interest of the reader-the man who is to receive the newspaper. Now, the little local newspaper is a necessity of life to the people in the neighborhood where it 

is circulated. The widow, the laborer, and the poor man in the conn- try like to have on Saturda-y night for the family reading the weekly 

newspaper which has the CUTI'ent county news, and the weekly news- papers a.re of such a clas~ and the people who take them are of such a class, that the burden of postage may be a very serious burden in 

determining the question whether they can take the paper or not. On 

the other hand, the large daily newspaper of the metTopolis is supported by the advertisements of the business and wealth of the couu- try, and colossal fortunes are made by these long-lived newspapers 

after they once get established, while the little weekly newspapers 

perish like the leaves of the autumn. 

The gentleman from Connecticut, [l\Ir. HAWLEY,] an old news- paper publisher, declares that what ever may be the postage we put 

upon the city paper it makes no difference to the subscriber, but that 

the publisher would and could shoulder the entire burden. Now, 

therefore, it is important for us in om legislation to encoura:ge as far as possible and as far as is necessary, by lightening the burden, the 

circulation of this information among the people by the press, with 

the influence it exerts in enabling the American people to govern 

themselves. The press of this cotmtry, l\1r. Speaker, has a grea.t power, a great educational influence. I recognize its power; I recognize its . value. It has its errors, it has its sins, it has its crimes, it has its 

licentiousness, it has it.s recklessness. It also has its honest and gen- erous support of what is good and true. The cure for the evil which 

to-day prevails in the American press, as in the press of every generation since newspapers have existed, is the multiplication and not the 

suppression of the circulation of the newspapers. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. G. F. HOAR. I should like to have just three minutes more. Several MEMBERS. Go on. 

l\ir. G. F. HOAR. If the s-reat newspaper of New York misrepresents the men in this House m their public conduct, thereby striking a blow at the very principle of self-governm~nt itself, beca.use under 

the shadow of every calumny printed against the· pure man ten 

knaves escape the just punishment of public indignation, and the 

knavery which exists- and it does exist-in our Government to-day 

is shielded by the unjust attacks made upon honest and faithful 

public servants, teaching people to look upon all public men as alike 

bad-if the great newspaper of the metropolis engages in that work 

of misrepresentation, the cure for that evil is to put by its side ten 

other newspapers of equal cimulation% and out of these eleven or twelve newspapers the people will sooner or later learn to pick out 

the truth. 1 go, 1\fr. Speaker, for reducing the postage on bot.h classes 

of newspapers to as low a rate as the public burdens and the state of 

the public service and the condition of the public Treasury will permit. And I trust my friend from New York, whom I honor as much as I do any man-there is no man whom I honor more on this floorwill not attribute to. me either the desire to CUITY favor with the 

country newspaper or to wreak spite against the city paper when I 

give my vote. 

l\Ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker, the newspapers of this 

country, as of all countries, must be matle by men. The newspaper 

will have human frailties and will represent human passions. It 

would be fortunate for us if ·it were not also true that a legislative 

body represents hlliD.an frailties and embodies human paasions. For 

much of what the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. G. P. HoAR] 

has said I thank him, because I know that the compliments he pays 

to the press are not mere words. 

Now, the practical question is whether you a.re to make your postage so high as to be in the interest of the richest newspapers, or whet.her you will adopt such a. rate as shall be in the interest of the 

Government, in the interest of the Post-Office Department. Mr. G. F. HOAR. I do not differ with the gentleman as to that. . Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTR. I know that the gentleman from 

Massachusetts does agree with me as to t.he rates ; and it seems to me 

that it is essential that we should adopt such a. rate that it may not 

depend on the mere word of the g~ntleman from Massachusetts, good as that word is, to prove that we do not legislate out of spite. I 

know that newspapers sometimes . indulge in unjust criticism, but 

they also often speak necessary and proper judgment. Wbcn their censure is not deserved, when it descends to slander, wo must r ely 

upon character to stand up against it-character which is a.bove 

abuse, which adorns this Hall, an<l which is the safety of this Rcpub-
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5209 

lie. I want the action of this body to be not only jnst, but to be so just that no fair man can complain of it. And therefore it seems to 

nie that the amendment which I move presents .the equitable and 

proper tigure to adopt in this bill. 

l\1r. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. I wish to make a single remark. 

The gentleman from Massachusetts [:Mr. G. F. HOAR] did not quite do mo justice in saying that I ::wknowledgetl or asserted that all this postage, now that it must be prepaid, must come out of the greater news- papers. That exp1·ession requires mo(lifi.cation. I said it would not 

at present increase the rat.es of subscription. It would take a long 

time, I said, before the business so worked round as to get the money 

from the suftscriber. But if those papers on the average pay now only a fair profit and this is a deduction from their fair protit, it is inevitable under the ordinary laws of business that in time they will come to collect all this from theii· subscribers. That unquestionably will 

be the result. 

Now the hardship of this law is in the violence of the change 

and in the smluen concentration of a small tax upon a few persons. 

I t.herefore would like very well, and I t.hink it would be better for 

the se-rvice in the long run, to begin with the low rates suggested by 

the gentleman from New York [l\fr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS] even if we should collect no more revenue than now; and then in a year or two, 

a-fter the business had been adjusted and if required by the exigencies of the public service, to increase it a trifle. 

I say make it very low, because you change the method of collection. It bad better be one or two cents per pound now, and then a year or two hence when the business adjusts itself you can add a cent or half a cent. 

1\fr. COBB, of Kansas. Suppose we put it at one cent per pound, as proposed by the gentleman from New York, [.Mr. ELLIS H. RoBERTS,] does the gentleman from Connecticut suppose that any Congress will hereafter ever raise the rate of postage 1 Has such a thing _ ever been done f 

Mr. H.A. WLEY, of Connecticut. I suppose Congress will raise it if 

they find they cannot afford to carry this matter at the rate now tixed. • Mr. COBB, of Kansas. Is it not a fact that in fixing the rate of 

postage on newspapers by this bill we are fixing .it for all time It 

has been. the uniform practice of the Government to diminish the 

rates of posta,ge instead of increasing them, and if we once fix it at 

this rate it will never be placed at a higher 1·ate, and morP,over next 

year the gentleman from Connecticut or some one else will move to 

make the rate half a cent per pound a,nd finally the postage on this 

matter will be abolished altogether. 

Now a word more. It seems to me that the bill which passed the 

House, being reported from the Committee on the Post-Office and 

Post-Roads, fixing the rate of postage at one and a half cents per 

pouncl on newspapers and on periodicals a,t three cents a pound, was the proper thing. It seems to me that if Congress intends to fix any 

rate of postage upon these publications it ought to fix the rate at 

something which will be a compensating rate. If not, wipe it out 

entu·ely. It cost $26,000,000 last year to transport the mails, a,nd of 

that 26,000,000, 25,000,000 was the cost for the transportation of 

express matter and newspapers. We recehed in return for that some- thing a little over a. million dollars for· an expenditure of $25,000,000. It seems to me that it would be the fair thing and the right thing 

either to impose a. proper rate of postage or to wipe out this charge 

altogether and transport this matter through the mails free. 

Mr. H.A. WLEY, of Connecticut. I hope the gentleman will put a mark of interrogation at the close of his remarks, for he interrupted me on · the plea that he aesired to ask a question. 

The question was upon the amendment o1fered by Mr. ELLIS H. 

RoBERTS to the amendment reported by the Committee on Appropriations. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I desire to state to the Chair that my 

amendment is an amendment to the amendment of the Committee on Appropriations. The committee propose one cent and three mills and 

three cents as the rates. I propose one cent and two cents. 

Mr. TYNER. If the Chair will bear with me I will state the proposition. The Senate propose~; to make the rate fom cents per pound; 

the Committee on .A.pproprtations propose one and a. half cents and 

tb1·ee cents. The gentleman from New York proposes to fix it at one cent aml two cents per pound. . The question was taken on the amendment offe1·ed by 1\fr. ELLIS H. 

ROBERTS, and it was not agreed to. 

The questio.n recmTed upon the amendment reported by the Committee on Appropriations. . Mr. TYNER. I propose to withdraw that part of the amendment 

of the committee which attaches to the proviso to the section. The 

amendment of the Senate will then be agreed to with an amendment, 

and the proviso will be open to such changes as the committee of con- ference may think necessary. 

Mr. KASSON. I think it is necessary that there should be an runenclment. striking out the pro.viso so as to bring it within the purvjew of the committee of conference. 

.Mr. TYNER. I think not. 

:Mr. GARFIELD. 0, no; the proviso is a part of the section. 

Mr. KASSON. Bnt you propose to concm· in the proviso without 

any a.men<lment. 

?\ir. GARFIELD. The proviso is a part of the section. We have 

amended the section, and that leaves it to the conference committee 

to make any changes in it or in the proviso to it that they may 

deem fit. 

Mr. KASSON. Very well. 

The question was taken upon Mr. TY1<."""ER'smotion; and the amenclment of the Senate was concuned in with the amendments recom- mended by the Committee on Appropriations. 

The next amendment of the Senate was read, us follows: 

That upon the receipt of such newspapers and periodieal publications at the office 

of mailing they shall be weighed in bulk, and postage paid thereon by a special adhesive stamp, to be devisecl and furnished by ~h~ l'ostmast~r-General, which shall 

be affixed to such matter, or to the sack contaunng the sam~, or upon a memorau- dum of such mailing, or otherwise, as the Postmaster-General may, from time to time, provide by regUlation. . 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended concurrence. The amendment was concurred in. 

The next amendment of the Senate was read, as follows: 

The newspapers, one copy to each actual subscriber residing within the county where the sa, me are printed, i.n whole or in part. and publllihed, shall go free tbrougli. the mails; but the same shall not be delivered atletter-ca.ITier cffices or distributed 

by carriers unless postage is paicl t~ereon as by law provided. 

The Committee on Appropriations reco,mmended concurrence. The amendment was concurred in. 

The nex.t amendment of the Senate was read, a.s follows: 

Soo. 8. That all mailable matter of the third class, referred to in section 133 of the act entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relatin~ to the 

Post-Office Department," approved June 8, 1872, may weigh not exceeding four 

pouncls for each package thereof, and postage shall be charged thereon at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof; but nothing heroin conbinod 

shall be held to change or amend section 134 of said act. 

The Committee on Appropriations recommended non-cQncurrence. 

1\fr. C.AN~ON, of illinois. I understand that the committee recom- mend non-concurrence in that amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro tempo're. The committee do recommend non- concurrence. 

· Mr. C.ANNON, of illinois. I move to amend so as to concur in the 

Senate amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has only to ask a division upon the question of concurriug; that is the parliamentary 

form in which the question is put. 

Mr. CANNON, of illinois. Before the vote is taken I desire the 

attention of the House to this section of the Sellllte amendment. The 

gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] referred to it in his remarks a few moments since. I replied to him very briefly. And I want the 

attention of' the House cal1ed now to the fact that the gent]eman 

from Ohio [Mr. GARFIELD] now proposes that third-class matter, in 

packages of the size of fourpounds,shallnot be allowed to go through 

tho mails, a.lthough it may pay postage. .And I want again to call 

the attention of the House to t;J:te fact that this class of matter, at the 

rate of po tage proposed, will yield an absolute revenue to the Department sixfold greater than newspapers will yield. 

I have in my district, and I see many gentlemen before me who I 

know have in their districts, men who live at a distance from expressoffices and who cannot avail themselves of the express 'office, and to 

whom it woulcl be a great convenience to receive packages of thirdclass matter through the mails. Then both as a matter of conveni- ence to the ma-sses of the people of the country and as a matter of 

1·evenue, which we need in the Post-Office Department, it is wrong 

to non-concur in this amendment of the Senate. Not only was this 

subject considered in the Honse the other day when a bill on the 

subject was passed, but the Senate adopts and accepts the proposition, 

and yet the Committee on Appropriations propose that it shall be ro- jected. 

I stand here to say that it it~ not in the interest of the people nor of the Post-Office Department nor of anybody in the world except 

express companies that we should vote down this proposition. And 

if gentlemen want to make a. record against the proposed amendment, 

that is their lookout and not mine. I only want the attention of 

members called to it so that they may realize what it is proposed they 

shall do when they are asked to non-concur in this amendment. 

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT. 

.A. message, in writing, from the President of the United States was delivered to the Honse by Mr. BABCOCK, his Secretary, who also informed the House that the President had approved and signed bills 

and joint resolutions of the following titles: 

An act. (H. R. No. 208) for the relief of Julius Griesenbeck, of Waco, 

Texas; 

An a{lt (H. R. No. 280) granting a pension to Ann Crane; 

An act (H. R. No. 735) to increase the pensions of soldiers aml sail- ors who have been totally disabled; 

An act (H. R. No. 1045) for the relief of B. W. Harris, late collector 

of internal revenue for the second (listrict of Massachusetts; 

An act (H. R. No. 1051) for the honorable dischar()'e from their sev- eral positions in the Army of Captain J. Horace McGuire, First Lientenant Henry R. Gardner, Second Lieutenant 'Villiam D. McGuire, 

and Second Lieutenant William C. Reddy, all late of the. Tenth 

Regiment UnitedStatesColoredArtillery, (heavy,) and directing their 

honorable muster-out of the service of the United States as of the 

date of their dismissal ; 

An act (H. R . .No. 17'06) to authorize the widening of Wigh't street 
521_0 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

through the grounds of the United States ma.rine hospital at Detroit, 

Michigan ; · An act (H. R. No."1768) for the relief of Epliraim Showalter; 

Au act (H. R. No. 1828) tofurthercontinue the actt.o authorize the 

settlement of the accotmts of officers of the Army and Navy; 

An act (H. R. No. 1931) to a.nthorize the sale of the military reser- va.tion of Fort Reynolds, in Colorado Territory, and the Government 

buildings thereon; 

An act (H. R. No. 2208) authoriziBg the President to reinspate 

George M. Book on the active list of the Navy; 

An :wt (H. R No. 2211) for the relief of Beck & Wirth; 

An act (H. R. No. 2359) to a.uthorize and direct the Secreta.ry of 

W ai' to reserve from sale ten thousand suits of old and d,isused Army 

uniform clothing, now in the Quartermaster's Department of the 

.Army, anu to transfer tho same to the National Home for Disabled 

Volunteer Solcli.ers; 

An a.ct (H. R. No. 2416) to authorize the Secretary of War to as- certain the amount of expenses incurred by tho States of Oregon and 

California. iu the suppression of Indian hostilities in the years 1872 

and U373· - An act '(H. R. No. 2453) to increase pensions in certa.in ca-ses; 

.An act (H. R. No. 2697) to create an additional major of artillery 

and to promote Captain James M . Robertson; . An act (H. R. No. 2704) for the relief of Selden Connor; 

An a.ct (H. R. No. 3073) relating to embassadors, consuls, and other 

officers; 

An act (H. R. No. :3183) for the relief of Jonathan D. Hall; 

An act (H; R. No. 3237) to a.uthorize· the First National Bank of 

Seneca to change its name ; 

An act (H. R. No. 3303) to extencl the time for filing claims for 

additional bounty under the act of July~' 1866; 

An act (H. R. No. 3335) authorizing the Secretary of War to grant a right of way across a. corner of the Fort Gratiot military reservation 

to the city railroad company, Port Hmon, Michigan; 

.An act (H. R. No. 3359) fixing the time for the election of Repre~ 

scntatives from the State of Pennsylyauia to the Forty-fourth Congress; 

.An act (H. R. No. 3575) for the relief of certain sett,lers on the public lands in certain portions of the States of Minnesota and Iowa; 

.An act (H. R. No. 3601) to admit free of duty articles·intendeu for 

the international exhibition of 1H76; 

.An a.ct (H. R. No. 3672) authorizing the board of commissioners of 

the Soldiers' Home to sell the property belonging to t1-te Soldiers' 

Home, situated at Harrodsburgh, Kentucky, a.nd known as Harrodsburgh Springs property; 

.A joint resolution (H. R. No. 53) authoriz-ing the issue of clothing 

to certain enliste(l men of the Army ; and 

.A joint resolution (H. R. No. 107) providing for the termination of 

the treaty between the United States and His Majesty the King of the 

Belgians, concludeu at Wa-shington July 17, 1858. · The message further announced t.hat the following bills, not having 

been returned by the President with his objections to the Honse -in 

which they originated within ten days from the time they were presented to him, as prescribed by the Constitution, b,.'td become laws without his signature and approval: · An act (H. R. No. 1582) for the relief of C. C. Spaids; 

An act (H. R. No. 1770) for the relief of Jonathan L. Mann,- late a chaplain in the volunteer service of the Army; and 

.An act (H. R. No. 3174) explanatory of the act of June 30, 18G4. 

POST-OFFICE APPROPRIATION DILL. 

The House resumed the consideration of the Senate amendments to 

the post-office appropTiation bill. 

The pending question was upon the following amendment of the 

Senate: 

SEc. 8. That all mailable matter of the third class, referred to in section 133 of the act entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the 

Post-Office Department.," approved J nne 8, 1872, may weigh not exceeding four 

pounds for caeh package thereof, and posta~e shall be cbar~ed thereon at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof; but notning herein contained 

shall be held to change or amend section 134 of said act. . 

The Committee on .Appropriations recommended non-concurrence. Mr. TYNER. I disagree with the gentleman from lllinois [~!r. 

CANNON] in regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Appropriations concerning this amendment. .As the law now stands 

merchandise can be tmnsmitted through the mails in parcels not 

exceeding twelve ounces in weight. Now in my jmloment the purpose of a post is not to convey express matter thro!1gh the mails all o>er the country. The object of the Post-Office Department is simply 

to convey intelligence to the people either in printed or w1·itten form. 

Whenever you go beyond that, and admit oxpre&s matter, merchanuise, or anytlling of t.hat character in the mails, then you do it only 

as a matter of convenience to the people. I admit that there are some localities in the United States that are rather remoto from ex- press offices, and it seems to me that the Government should provide some mode by which they may receive packages of this sort. But 

when Congress authorized the transmission of packages of twelve ounces in weight through the mails it made as groat a concession to 

the public interest, in my judgment, as it ought to do. If you now provide that these packages shall be couveyeu in the mails to the ex- tent of fom· pounds in weight, it will not IJe twelve months before 

the proposition will be made here to increase the weio-bt of packages 

to six, eight, and ten pounds; and your post will bec~me an express 

package-carrier, instead of a bearer of intelligence among the people. 

Mr. HALE, of :Maine. Let me inquire if one result of such a proposition would not be that every railroad corporation now carryino- the 

mails will claim to have their rates of compensation uonbtel' aml 

treblecl f . 

Mr. TYNER. The law regulating the manner of compen.csating railroad companies for cn.riJing the mails provides that they shall be paiu 

according to weight. If you load your mails down with merchandi e, as a matter of course when you come to readjust the comJ!ensation of 

railroad companies you must pay them for carrying meithandise as well as for carrying mail matter proper. 

Mr. FORT. Mr. Speaker, I am not entirely certain that I understand what this amendment imports. I understand, however, that it 

would admit into tJ1e mails packages not exceedincr four poun<ls in 

weight of any merchandise or thing that will not da~age or interfere 

with the transmission of mail matter in the mail-bags. If that is the 

case, then I am in favor of the provision, not only because it is clearly 

in tlle interest of the people, but because it is also in the interest all(l 

profit of the Post-Office Department, this amendment shou]d bo 

a.dopted. 

It will take auy gentleman hut a moment to figure up and see what 

profit the Government will make by carrying these packages in the 

mai1s for ~he COJ?-Venience of the people. It is eight cents per pound, 

and, as I figure 1t, the Post-Office Department will receive $160 per 

ton for this kind of matter under this amendment. .Am I not right Y 

Then if the Government will receive $160 per ton for carrying the e packages for the convenience of the people, the · Post-Office Department will make a good profit, and it occurs to me that there is no great danger that the railroad companies can possibly so increase theil· rates for carrying the mails as to make the Government lose 

money in carrying.these packages. . 

Mr. GARFIELD. The gentleman speaks about the Government 

receiving · 160 per ton for these packages. For what number of miles T 

The railroa·d companies receive so much per mile. 

Mr. FORT. The postage to be paid on this matter will amount to 

160 per ton for a long or short distance. If you put a ton weight of 

these packages in the post-office in New York to go one hundre(l 

miles the Government would get $160 for it. If I send it a tllousaml 

miles or to San Francisco the Government will receive the same sum, 

and it _would well pay the Government for carrying these packages that distance. 

Mr. GARFIELD. But we have to pay the railroads for carryincr onr ma.ils; :we pay them not only by the ton but by the mile. 0 

Mr. _FORT. Yes, sir; but the Government would make money on any chstance. The Post-Office Committee understand no doubt how 

the contracts are made with the railroad companies to carry the 

mails. I understand those companies are paid so much per mile per 

pound; but I ask the gentleman who has charge of this bill [Ml·. 

TYNER] whether the Government ever pays .160 a ton for carrying 

mail matter any distance in the United States; and, Mr. Speaker, 

whether these packages are not caniecl over from three to five hundred miles on the average 1 

:Mr. TYNER. It does. Some of the railroad companies receive fifty 

dollars per mile for carrying two hundred pounds of mail matter per 

day. Th\~ gentleman, if he will figure that up, will find it amounts to 

about eight cents a pound. Undonbtedlyitis the fact that the greater 

t.he quantity of matter passing over a road the less are the rates per ~un~ . . Mr. FOR'r. Yea, but that iH for carrying that amount every (lay 

m the year. The gentleman does not mean that it costs fifty dollars 

for carrying two hundred pounds one mile as he states it. By examination of carefully prepared reports and papers of Mr. 

Bangs, superintendent of the railway mail service, who seems to 

clearly understand his official duties, it will appear that these packages can be carried for the people cheaply and at the same time the 

Government will make money by doing this service. 

That is a question which the Post-Office Committee can settle. 

But in my judgment this is a provision in the interest of the people, and not in the interest of express companies. The people all over this broad country are interested in receiving at cheap rates 

small packages. They cannot afford to pay the heavy express charges. 

We all know that matter sent by express passes frequently through 

the hands of several express companies before rea-ching its destination, and thus the charges ru·e increased. There would be nothing of 

the kind to increase the ex1Jense in the Post-Office Department. I 

trust the amendment will be adopted. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 

Mr. GARFIELD. Mr. Speaker, in two respects we are departing 

from the traditions of the post-office. I have already tried to point 

out one; I will now point out anot.hcr. For the first fifty years of tlte 

postal service down to October 1, 1829, the total receipts for postage were $26,889,000 and the total expenditures on account of postage 25,~6,400. In other words,. for the .first fifty years of the postal life 

of thiB country our Post-Office Department was not only self-sustaining, but paid a Tevenue of about one million and a half of uollara 

into the Trea ury. . 

Now, I do not believe we ought to undertake to make the PostOffice Department a source of revenue, but I do think we should 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5211 

e~d avor to make it self-sustaining. It ought to stand on its own ground. In view of the fact that during the first fifty years of this 

Government our total expenditure for postal service was lmt twentyfive millions and a quarter of dollars. I am amazed at the fact that we appropriate in this very bill 35,000,000 for the expenses of the Post-Office Department for :t single year. In other words, for the next fiscal year the postal service of the country is to cost a total of 

LO,OOO,OOO more than all our 1)ostal expenses during the first fifty 

years of the life of the Republic. 

1\fr. CANNON, of illinois. But while we a,ppropriate $35,000,000 for 

tho postal service do we not expect to get $30,000,000 back f 

:Mr. GARFIELD. CertainJy. · Mr. SMITH, of Ohio. And do we not ilOW send more mail matter 

through the mails in :1 single year than we did during the first fifty 

years of which the gentleman speak ' 

Mr. GARFIELD. There is no doubt of that, and very much more. But I wish to call attention to still another fact. Two years ago for 

tile fir t time in the history of the Government we departed from the 

time-honored doch·ine that it was the business of the Post-Office Department to transmit intelligence for the information and improvement of the people. I affirm that our fathers, in establishing the 

Post-Office Department, had in view a sort of educational pmpose; 

the diffusion of information among the people ; not the carrying on of any ordinary commercial bnsines . . Mr. SCHUMAKER, of Now York. Would the gentleman obJect to 

carrying Webster's Dictionary in the mails 

Mr. GARFIELD. Certainly not ; for books are one of the mediums 

of int llig~nce. Letters, newspapers, books, all sorts of printed information are in the line of the original rturpose of the post-office. 

But when you propo e to carry on by means of the Post-Office Department a general ex press business for the benefit of the people, why 

slwuld you not undertake to plant corn for the people f Is there not a limit somewhere to the extension of the functions of Government 'f 

Why should we go further than we have gone in this direction t I 

think we made :t mist.ake in our departure two years ago from the 

original bn incss of the Post-Office Department; but if you extend 

the innovation already made by allowing packages of dead weight of 

not more than four pounds to pas~ through the mails there is no rea- son 'why yon should not include a whole car-lo::tcl of wheat; there is no reason why yotl should not send pianos by mail; there is no reason- why you should not undertake the entire transporta,tion of merchandise for the people. 

Mr. FORT. The Government could :tf.ford to do it at 160 a ton. Mr. GARFIELD. I say that by such a measure as this we abandon the true policy of the post-office, and we assume under the cover of a postage-stamp jurisdicti.pn of the general business of transportation. 

1\fr. COBB, of KansM. Would the gentleman have the mails transportccl on horseback, as they used to be in Franklin's time f 

Mr. GARFIELD. 0, tio; not at all. 

1\fr. CODB, of KansM. Would the gentleman circumscribe the 

operations of any of the otller Departments of the (i()ve.rnment to 

wllat t b .v were fifty years :wo t · 1\fr. GARFIELD. Certain~y not. I would carry out in all its 

lm.•adth the policy of transmitting intelligence among the people. I 

would not object to including in the operation~ of the Post-Office 

Department the telegraph, if upon due consideration that measure shall seem advisable; for it is in the line of transmitting intelligence. 

But when yon undertake to send through the mails mere dead weight, 

not intelligence,· you tran cend the fundamental idea in the establisbmeilt of a Post-Office Department. 

Mr. FORT. I withdraw the amendment. 

Mr. MARSHALL. I renew the amendment by moving to strike 

out tho last word. I seek the floor because I happen to be a mem- ber of the Committee on Appropriations and differ from the majority 

of that committee in their opinion of this question. I agree with my 

colleaO'ne [Mr. CANNON] who has spoken on this amendment that 

this adds notping to the bmdens of the Government. It does furnish, 

however, a great convenience, or will do so to a considerable portion 

of the people who need it. If it were a proposition to establish an express business generally where we have no lines whatever1 I 

should oppose it as soon as any per on on earth; but we have these 

mail routes and public carriers.which are carrying the mails of the co un 1·y for the people. There are many portions of the country, as has been well said by my colleague and others, which have not the 

convenience of express offices or express companie , and this provision would not impose any additional bmden upon the Government 

whatever; for it has not been shown and it cannot be done that the 

cost of carrying these packages will be greater to the Government 

than the revenues derived from so doing. While it imposes no additional burden upon the Government it affords a great convenience to 

the people throughout the country. I see, therefore, no reason why we ehould non-concur in the action of the Senate. In my judgment 

the House should concur in the amendments of the Senate and furnish this additional convenience to the people. It is not and cannot 

be shown it will add one cent to the cost of carrying the mails. Iadced my ft·ieucl here says it is an it.em of economy and we will derive 

acluitional revenue from it. I believe such will be the result. 

AB has been already remarked, I cannot see any int rest in any per- son or pai1:ies in tho conn try opposing t.his except it may be tho express 

companies of the country. It may in a slight degree come in competition with their business, but only in a slight degr e. I do not think 

it departs from the ordinary bus:iness of the country in carrying the 

mails; and I do not think we ougp.t to vote it down when t.he other 

legislative branch of the Government has placed it on this bill, and it 

is now before the House for action. I shall vote to concur in the ac- tion of the Senate and against tho recommendation of my colleague on the Committee on Appropriations. 

Mr. COBURN. 1\Ir. Speaker, I rise to oppose the amendment. I 

have been all a,long in favor of-tho greatest freedom in the transmission of mail matter. If I llad the power I would make the transmission of mail matter entirely free. There is no reason why the 

Post-Office Department shonld support itself any more than the Army or Navy, or any more than t he free school . The object of the PostOffice Department, as the cbah·man of the Committee on Appropriations [Mr. GARFIELD] has well said, is to tran mit and diffuse intclltgence throughout the country. That is understood to be its 

object, and that fact onght not to be forgotten. I will vote, therefore, to reduce newspaper postage and letter post.age :1t every opportunity. The benefits of the Post-Office Dopru:tment shoula have 

the widest possible range. But this matter now before the Ron e is as wide as the world from any question of that kind. As long as we pay postage on anything, I a~ in favor of allowing postage on packages of this kind and in favor of carrying them. It is a matter of 

great convenience to all people remote from exprc offices, and while we do pretend to demand pay for anything why not take pay for 

packages of this kind T When the Govel'nment cea es to demand r1ay 

for any 1..--ind of mail matter it will be time to leave it off these packages and not till then. Until that time arrives let us carry the o packages and charge s~mething on them, and let the people have tho 

benefit of this Government express if they have a mind so to c:1ll it. 

Oms is a widely extended conntry, and there are some places too far 

sepa.rated from express offices to justify opposition to this measure. In many places the express offices a,re a considerable monopoly. The common people at remote distances will be largely benefited by this, 

and while we charge for any mail matter we ought to allow thee 

packages to be increased to four pounds. I would not make the weight to be carried greater; but I believe there is no danger of car- rying elephants or pianos, or any of tho e great weights which some dread. The fact is :1t the rate fixed in the bill no one can afford to 

pay to carry large or heavy articles. It is to be presumed sub equent 

Congres es will act rationally on this matter as an express, and I have no fear of launching into a dangerous experiment by allowing four 

pounds wei<Yht to be carried through the mails. 1\!r. MARSHALL withdrew his JJro fm•ina amendment. 

The question recurred on the amendment of the Senate. 

The House divided; and there were-ayes 96, noes not counted. 

So the amendment was concmred in. The twelfth amendment of the Senate: 

SEc. ·g, That the Postmaster·Gen eral may prescribe, by re!!Ulation, an affidavit 

in form, to be taken by each publisher of any newspaper or periodical publication sent through the mails umler the provisions of t-his act, or news agent who di tributes any of such newspapers or periodical publications under the provisions of 

this act or employe of such publisher or news a~r nt, stating that he ill not s nd, or knowingly pennit to be sent-, through the mails any copy or copies of such n :w • paper or :periodical publications except to regular subscribers thereto, or news agent~, Wlt.lJOut prepayment of the postage thereon at the rate of one cent for each t:wo ounces or fractional part thereof ; and if such publisher or news agent, or em- ploye of such publisher or news ap:ent; :when r eqrured by the Postmast er General or :my special agent of the Post·Office D epartment to make such affidavit, shall re- fuse so to do, he shall be doomed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on con"\'"iction, sha 11 bo fined not exceeding 1,000 for each r efusal; and if any person shall know~~~y 

:md willfully mail any matter without the v.ayment of po tage as provided by tl.lis 

net, or procure the same to be done; or if any postma t er or post-office official 

shall kno"l\i.n rrly pennit :my matte r to be mailed without the prepayment of post- arre as provided m this act., and in violation of the provisiona of the same, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction ther eof, shall 

be fined not less than 100 nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned not e:xjeeding three years, one or both, in the discretion of the court. 

The SPE~<\KER pro tempore. The committee recommend concur- rence. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. I a.m not willing to vote for con- currence as this ta.nds without·some limitation. · I wish to call the attention of the committee to this point, that it 

may be corrected by the committee of conference. Tho amcndmont 

of the Sena,te providesThat the Postmaster.General may prescribe, by regulation, on affidavit in fonn, to be taken by each publisher of any newspaper or periodical public.'ttion s nt through tho mails under the pt'O>isiuns of this act, or news agent who distributes any of such newspapers or periodical publications under the provisions of this act, or employe of such publisher or n ews ap:ent, stating that h e will not send, or knowingly permit to be sent, through the mails any copy or copies of su ch new paper or p riodical publications except to regular subscribers t.bereto, or nowsagent , with· out prepayment of tho postage t.hcroon at the rato of one cout for each two onnces or fractional part thereof; and if such puhlisher or news a~ nt or employe of sud.t puhlisber or news a_gent, when r equired by the Postmaster-General or any special agent of the Post-Office Department to make sncb affidavit, shall refuse so to doThat is to say, shall refuse to take an oath in advance tha-t be will 

never mail such matter contrary to law- hall refuse to tnke an oat.h 

that he will not some time or ot.her be a criminal for such refusalhe shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be :finecl not • exceeili.n~ $1,000 for each refusal. 

Is that the way to get .at it 7 The motive is to prevent publishers ancl their e.mploy6s from putting matter into the mail contrary to 
5212 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

L'tw. That is what the fmmers of this amendment are thinking of. 

'l'hey are thinking of the great piles of pap~rs that go fr:om the larger 

newspaper offices by the cart-load to be mailed, anu de rre to ;~::u·e~ent 

the employe , the peoJ?le in the newspaper office, from throWing mto 

the general pile tr::mstent papers addressed to per ons not regul:u 

subscribers. Now there nnght be a few boys, three or four boys m tho office who micrht be disposed to put in such a bundle a'paper 

addres ed to some friend without a oue-cent stamp on it, which would 

go to be weighed with the ~·e~t. Now under th0 amendment they 

desire to have an oath adxmmstered to the publisher and to all the 

employes that they will not put a single paper in i~egally. If t_hey 

decline to do it, aml refuse to swear that they will not coiDIUlt a crime, they are to be fined $1,000. The amendment goes-on to provide: 

And if any person s ball kno~j?:~Y and w~y mail any matter without the pay- ment of postage !\8 provided by tJllS actThat is to say, if a person puts a paper into the office not prepaid anu if he 1.-nows anything about it, he knows it will not go unless 

prepaid-yetifhe mails that paper:, whythe1~ ho 1~ay be fined 1,~00 

and be imprisoned for three years m the pemtent1ary. That I think 

certainly requires revision. But the words " as provided in this act 

and any violation of the yrovisions of. th~ same," show that it w~ 

not this section alone that they were thinkmg of when they used this 

expression, but the section also providing for this express business 

and the sending all sorts of matter up to four pounds and the various 

other sections here. 

Any violation of any of t ese provisions by any person subjects 

him it may be to ·1,000 fine and three years' imprisonment, one or both. It strikes me that this punishing of men for not swearing that 

they will not commit a crime, and this extravagant punishment for a stupid or iO'norant violation of a law that nobody now understands 

here entirely0is something that is rather unusual and needs revision. 

I wish that we may reach the object and prevent a violation of the 

law if we can. I would not object to some regulation which would 

prevent newspaper publishers fro~ putting "t!ansient papers_in t~e 

mails. If any newspaper office deliberately vwlates the law m thm 

respect, I would not object to the Postmaster-General having the discretion to say "You shall not send your papers through the mail at 

all; me will stop them if you do not obey the law." But I do not 

like this provision as it stands now. 

Mr. TYNER. The gentleman from Iowa [Mr. KAssoN] desires to 

offer an amendment, and I yield to him for that purpose. 

Mr. KASSON. And the gentleman can then answer both the gentleman from Connecticut and myself. I wish to suggest some amendments to lines ~, 19, and 22 which seem to me necessary to make the 

thing legally accnrate. The amendment reads thus: 

If any person shall1.11owin"lY or willfully mail any matter without the payment 

of postage a-s provided by this act. 

And in line 22 it is provided : 

If any postma-ster or post official shall knowingly permit any matter to he mailed 

without the prepayment of postage. &c. 

It eems ·O me that the word "such" should be inserted as in all 

like cases, so that it may be limited to the persons referred to in sec- tion 9. My proposition is to make it read: 

If any such person shall knowingly or willfully mail any matter witho-qt the pay- - ment of postage as provided by this act. 

The early part of the section provides duties for publishers and 

their employes only, not the general public. I suppose t)le gentleman 

from Indiana will not object to this amendment. 

Mr. TYNER. I think that is right. • 

~fr. KASSON. Then I also ask attention to the propriety of inserting in line 21, after the word "done," the words "and without intent 

of avoid.i.IJ.c;!: prepayment of the postage due thereon." I thought at 

first that tliese words might not be required., but on reflection I think 

they are necs ary. 

Mr. TYNER. I have no objection to that ; and I think these amendments will very nearly meet the objection of the gentleman from 

Connecticut, [M1-. HAWI.EY.] But tpe gentleman from Connecticut 

is not aware that the law as it now exists, and as it has existed for 

many years, requires that the publishers of newspapers shall when 

called upon make affidavit concerning the papers that they send out 

to actual subscribers. That law-I shall not take time in reading 

the whole of it-contains these words: 

.And if any such newspaper or other periodical shall be thus unlawfully sent with the knowledge or con ent of such proprietor, or his agent, clerk, or servant in charge of such business, or if such affidavit shall when required by the Post- master-General or any special agent of the Post-Office Department be refused, the person ~lty of the offense or refusing to make tho affidavit shall forfeit and pay fifty (louars in each case. 

That is the same principle, but the amount of penalty is different. 

Mr. H.A. WLEY, of Connecticut. That is not an affidavit aa to 

future conrluct. 

Mr. TYNER. The gentleman will see that under the present law, 

which provides for the collection of newspaper posta~e at the office 

of deli very instead of at the office of mailing, there IS no neces ity 

for requiring the affidavit that will be rel]_uircd when prepayment is 

demandetl at the office of mailing. 

1\ft·. RAWLEY, of Connecticut. The gentleman is more familiar 

with the statutes than I n,ru in reln,tiou to po tal matter', and I desire to _ask him i~ there is any provision ~m. the ~tatnte-book requiring 

n, publisher or his agent to make affidaVIt m advance that he will not 

violate the law Y 

~fr. TYNER. No, there is not. Ancl for that 1·eason I suggested 

that the publi her himself is not re ponsible for tl1e postage that accrues upon hi new papers. But when under this law he becomes 

responsible he should be made to take an affidavit, in . the :thst illstance, that he will not knowingly commit a fraud. 

~fr. H.A. WLEY, of Connecticut. 1\fy objection to this amendment 

of the Senate is that it is n. provision requiring the publisher of a newspaper and all his employes to take an oath that th3y never will 

violate the law, and if the publisher decli.nes to take t-hat oath, then 

he is to be punished by a fine of 1,000 and imprisonment. I think 

that is a very extraordinary provision. 

1\fr. TYNER. 1\fy proposition is this: That if a publisher avails 

himself of the use of the mails to send out his newspapers he shall be 

compelled to comply with the terms of the law, and if he cannot do 

it he should be excluded from the use of the mails. 

Mr. CANNON, of Illinois. The gentlem3n from Connecticut is in error . . There is already a section in the postal code which snbstanti::trlly requires an affidavit like this. The only change propo edisto 

make the affidavit meet the propo ed change in the law. I have the 

law before me, anu from it it appears that the publisher has to take 

that affi<lavit now. 

~fr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I desire to say a word upon this question. I hope the House will non-concur in the amendment. This 

oath required of publishers and their agents cannot be taken by auy 

honest man with the expectation that it shall be literally fultilled. It proposes that a man shall not only swear in advance that he will 

mail no matter that is not prepaid as tho law requires that it shall 

be prepaid, but it makes him swear that he will mail no matter that 

is not fully prepaid. If he mails a paper, for in tance, which is a fraction over two ounce , and fails to put on the ricrht posta-ge, he 

becomes liable to the extraordinary penalties provided in this n.ct. 

Sir, there is no member of this House who can tell with certainty 

when he mails a newspaper what its exact weight is, and yet if the 

publisher puts into the post-office a newspaper without paying sufficient postage thereon, he is to be held liable to the e penalties. 

1\fr. TYNER. When the gentleman from Virginia became a member .of this House, he took an oath that he would not violate the Constitution of the United States. That oath referred to his future con- duct. Why, then, is it wrong to require a newspaper publisher to swear that he will not violate the lawf 

Mr. IiARRIS, of Virginia. Another objection to this section is that· tho punishment ·provided is entirely disproportionate to the offense. 

This bill provides that if any publisher shall mail any matter without the postage there.on being paid in full, he shall be fined aa much as $1,000, and imprisoned for three years in the penitentiary. Even 

admitting that the man were guilty of the offense, I say that it is 

barbarous, cruel, and against the spiTit of the age to put a man in 

the penitentiary for three years for mailin~ a newspaper without the 

proper postage on it. Even if ho does it willfully, he knows that his 

paper will not go, and therefore he can have no intent to defraud the 

Government. Anu if he put it in without intent to dei&nd, he ought 

not to be fined and imprisoned to this extent. I hope the amendment 

llffered by my friend from Iowa: [1\fr. KASSON,] which was offered 

with my concurrence, will bt} adopted. 

Jtfr. G. F. HOAR. I desire to move an amendment which I think 

will meet the objections mooe to this section. 

The SPEAKER pm tempore. There is an amendment offered by the 

gentleman from Iowa [Mr. KAssoN] pending. 

Mr. KASSON. I understand that that amendment was accepted by the gentleman having chn,rge of t~e bill. 

1\fr. TYNER. I ha,ve no right to accept an amendment; but I 

have no objection to that amendment. 

The question was taken on ~fr. KAssoN's amendment; and it was agreed to. 

~fr. G. F. HOAR. I move to amend the amendment of the Senate 

by inserting after the word "do," in line 16, the words : 

And shall thereafter, without having taken such affidavit, deposit any newspaper in the mail for transmission. 

It seems to me that although this section is perhaps not very important in its practical effect, it is. in principle. It is open to the 

grave and serious objection that it requires a citizen to t:1ke an oath as to his future conduct . 

The principle upon which this section of the postal code is based 

is this : the publisher of a newspaper is permitted to address his 

papers to his subscribers through the mails, and therefore he ought 

when availing himself of the privilege to be required to take oath 

that he will not attempt to defraud the Government. But as this 

section now stands the newspaper publisher may be required to make 

this affidavit even when he neYer has used and never wants to use the mails at all for the transmission of his newspapers. This pro- vision requires every person to take this affidavit who may publish a newspaper, and on failm·e to do so to be liable to a penalty. My 

p1·oposition is that if he fail to take the oath, and afterward undertakes to avail himself of the use o£ the mails for his papers, he shall 

he liable to the penalty. 

Mr. TYNER. I do not know that I object to that amendment. 

The amenclmeut to the Senate arueudment was agree~]. to. 

,. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5213 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. This section seem to be a dangerous one at the best. It gives t.o the Po tmaster General certain powers. 

I presume it is not proposed to require t.bis affidaYlt in all cases, but 

only .where fraud is feared. I therefore move to amend by inserting 

after the words "Postmaster-General" the words "when in his judgment it shall be necessary;" so that if tho Postma ter-Generall shall 

fearjraud in a,ny particnla.r case ho may requu:e snob an affidavit. 

The amendment to the Sena.te amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. KASSON. I ask my friend fr0m Indiana [:Mr. TYNER] whether 

it is \vise t-o leave the minimum of punishment as printed in this bill. 

The bill provides "not less than 100 nor more than 1,000." Is it 

not better to have it read "not more than 1,000 " 

Mr. TYNER. I care nothing about that; I a,m indifferent to the 

matter. 

Mr. KASSON. Then I move to strike out the words "less than 

$100 nor;" so that it will read "not more than $1,000." 

Th'e amendment to the Senate amendment was agreed to. 

1\{r. KASSON. I ha,ve one more amendment which I will suggest, 

but will not press aga,inst the views of the committee. It seems to me that three years' imprisonment is a very remarkable punishment 

for omitting to pay one cent postage on a newspaper. I suggest one year as the max.inmm instead of three years. 

Mr. TYNER. The publishers ought not to compln.in, for if the punishment is extraordinarily severe, there will be no conviction under 

the law. 

The amendment to the Senate amendment was agreed to; and the 

Senate amendment as amended was then adopted. 

'l'he next amendment of the Senate was to add to the bill the following: . 

SEc. 10. That so much of thls net as chan~es the rate of posta.ge on newspapers anll periodical publications shall not t.ako effect until the 1st llay of Janun.ry next .. 

The Committee on Appropriations recommend non-concurrence. Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I tmst this amendment will be con- currecl in. If t.here is to be change in the law as regards the rate of 

po ·tage on newspapers we at least should have notice until January • next. 

1\Ir. GARFIELD. The committee thought there ought to be notice, 

but notice of more than is provided in this section. That is the rea- son they recommend non-concurrence in the amendment. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. "With that understanding I will not 

ohject to non-concurring in the amendment. 

Tho amendment of the Senate was non-concurred in. 

The fourteenth amendment of the Selillte was to a{ld to the bill the 

following: 

SEc. 11. That the sixty-third, eightieth, eighty-first, eighty-second, eight.y-t.hirll, 

eighty-four.tl:J.. and eighty-sixth sections of, the saill "Act to revise, consolidate, anll 

amend the st.'ltutes relating to the Post-Office Department.," approved June 8, 1872, 

bo amrn(lcd to read as follows: 

SEc. 63. That the postmasters, excP--pt t.he postmaster at New York City, whose 

annual sa.la,ry is hereby fixed at ,000, shall be divided into four classes. as follows: The first class sh..'lll embrace all those whose annual salaries are not more than "'4,000 nor less than $3,000; the seconu class shall embra{le all those whose an- nual salaries are less than $3,000 but not less than 2,000; the third class shall em- uraco all tho.'~e whose annual salaries are less than 2,000 but not less than 1,000; 

the fourth class shall embrace all postmasters whose annual compensation, exclusive of their commissions on the money-oruer business of their offices, amounts to less than 1,000. SEC. 80. That the postmast{lr at New York City and postmasters of the first, sec- ond, and third clas ·es shall be appointed and may be remo·n~d by the President\ 

by a.nll with tho atlvico anll consent of tho Senate, an1l shall hold their offices for 

four >ears, unless sooner removed or n pendetl according to law; and postma ters of tlie fourth class shall be appointed and may be removed by the Postma.<;ter-Qeneral. by whom all appointments and removal:! shall be notified to the Auditor for 

the Post-Office Department. 

SEc. 81. That the compensation of the postmaster atNewYork Cityshallbe~,000 

per annum, and the respccti ve compensations of postmasters of the fu·st, second, anll 

thiru classes shall be annual salaries, assigned in even hundrethrof dollars, and 

payable in quarterly payments, to be ru;certained and fixed, by the Postmru3terGeneral, from their respective quarterly returns to the Auditor ~or the Post-Office 

Department., or copies or duplicates thereof. for four quarters immediately preced- ing the adjustment or re-adjustment, by atliling to the whole amount of box rents, not exceeding '2,000 per annum, commissions hlso not to exceed 62,000 per annum on the othe1· postal revenues of the office, at the following ra.te , namely: On the 

first .,.100 per quarter 50 ])Or cent.; on all over 100 and not over i-400 per quarter, 

40 per cent.; on all over $400 null not o>or ..,2,400 per quarter, 30 per cent.; aud on all ov<·r ,.2,400 per quarter, 10 per cent. And in order to ascertain the amonnt of the post-al receipts of each office, tho Postmaster-General may require post- masters to furnisll duplicates of tlleir quarterl.v ·returns to the Auditor at such t-imes and for such peliotls as he may deem nece . ary in each case: Provided, 

That whcneYer, by reason of the exten ion of free tleliYcry of letters, the box rents of any post-oilice are <lecre..'lSed, tho Postmaster-General may allow.~ out of the re- ceipt of such office, a sum snfficient to maintain the salary'thereot at the amount at which it had been fi.-;::ed before the decrease iu box rents. SIW. 82. That tho compensation of po!-!tmastcrs of tbo fourth class shall be the 

box rents collected at their oftices and commissions on ot.her postal revenue.'i of 

their offices at tho rate of 50 per cent. on the first $100 or less per quarter; 40 per ceut. on the next $a00 or lo s pN· q narter; 30 per cent. on the excess allovo 5400 per 

quarter; the same to be ascertained and allowerl by the A utlitor in the settlement 

of the11uarterly accounts of such postmast-ers: Provided, 'l'hat when tho a.ggre~ate 

annual compensation. exclusive of commissions on money-order business, of any 

postrua.qter of this class shall amount to 1,000, the Aullitor shall report such fact to tho Postmaster-General, iu order tllat sneh ·l)Ostmaster may be assigned to his 

proper claa , and his salary fixed as l!erotofore provided. 

SEC. 83. '!'hat the salaries of postma tors of the first, econd, and third classes, 

except that. of the postmaster a,t New York City, shall be rea:ljustell by the Post- master-General once in two years, and in special cases as much oftener as he may deem expetlient. 

SEc. 84. That the Postmaster-General shall make all orrlers a siguin~ or chang- ing the salaries of postmasters in writing, and record them in his journal, and notify the change to tile A.mlitor; and any change mad.e in such salaries shall uot take 

effect tmtil the first day of the quar·ter next following such oruer: P;ovided, That 

in cases of not. less than ao per cent. increase or decrease in the business of any 

po t.-office, tl1e Postmaster-General may adjust tho. alary of tlle postmaster at snch 

office, to take ofl:'ect. from the first day of the quarter or period the returns for wllicll 

form the basis of readjustment. · SEc. G. 'l'hat the Postmaster-General may clesi:;rnate offices at the intersection 

of mail routes as distributing or separating "offices-; and where anv such office is of 

the thirll or fourth class he may make a reasona~le allowance to tile poatmaster for 

the necessary cost of clerical services arising from such duties. 

The Committee on Appropriations recommend non-concurrence. Mr. LA. WRENCE. I would like to inquire of the gentleman who 

has charge of this bill [Mr. TYNERl whether this amendment of the 

Senate will inct·ease or decrea e the salari"es of postmasters\'_ It was said by my colleague and friend from Ohio [l\fr. GARFIELD] that 

the Post-Office Department ought to be self-sustaining. Now everybody knows that the Post-Office Department bas ceasecl to be selfsustaining, ma~y ~ecause the expenses .have been very largely and 

very unnecessarily mcreased. The salanes of postmasters, except in 

the small offices, have been so Jargely increased that in most of onr towns and villages of ordin:uy size therr pay is much larger than the 

compensation given by private employers for services of alike character or va1ne. And the pay for transporting the mailR has been 

aga,in and again increased until, notwithstanding the frauking privilege has been ab9lisbed, expenses have gone on increasing so that 

the public has lost the whole benefit resulting from that fact, aml 

the Post-Office Department is an annual charge upon the Tma m·y 

of the United States. 

I think it is time we should begin to legislate in the interest of 

economy, and somewhat in the direction of a reduction of expenses. 

If we do not we may as well understand that this great upheaval of 

public sentiment among the people, sometimes called the "grange 

movement," will overtake gentlemen, and they will learn when too 

late that the republican party ought to do what they have not done as well as they might; that is,. cut clown expenses. The republican 

party has undoubtedly practiced a,u economy in public expen es which no other party has ever done or will do; but still there is room for 

improvement. Gentlemen on this floor may as well understaml that 

retrenchment is demanded, and justly demanded, by the onliglltcncd 

public judgment and by justice. 

Mr. MAYNARD. I have taken but litt1e part in this debate. Bnt 

I desire to say that if my excellent friend from Ohio [l\fr. LAWRENCE] 

or any other gentleman in this House ever supposed that abolishi11g 

the franking privilege was going to reduce the expenses or increaso 

the revenues of the Post-Offico Depa,rtment he was more >erdant, if I 

may be allowed to use that expre ion, than I supposod him to be. 

But I rise now principally for the purpo e of entering, for I do not 

know how many times, a protest against the doctrine that the PostOffice Department should be self-sustaining. We can make the PostOffice Department self-sustaining if that is a desirable object in and 

of itself. In the first · place, we can make our rates of po'stage suifi- ciently high '; in the second place, we can pay our mail contractors 

little or nothing ; and more especially and in the last place, we can refuse to put the mail service on any route when the business of the ron to will not pay for carrying the mails. Then your Post-Office Department will be self-sustaining. Restrict mail transportation t-o tho more populous business portions of the country where you have ex- presses, where private corpora,tions woulcl carry the mails, but never go out into the prarries of theW est, never go out into the mountains,. never go out upon the frontiers with your mails, because if you do, 

your operations will be much more costly than in the more (Iensely 

settled portions of the country. 

We hear every session this talk about making the Post-Office Department self-sustaining, as though there were some virtue in that 

idea. Sir, I oppose ma1.-ing the Post-Office Depart.mont self-su::~

taining. It means the denial of postal facilities to those who have 

gone out upon the frontier to open up the wilderness; it means the 

denial of postal facilities to ettlers in all sparsely populated parts 

of the country. It means the maintenance of mail facilities between 

New York and Philadelphia, between Baltimore a,nd Chicao-o, and between others of our principal business cities. But whe0

n you get 

away from these points, if you carry out the idea of makinO' the 

post-office self-sustaining, your mails will be monthly, perhaps bimonthly. 

I am in favor of affording facilities to our people for intercommu- nicatiou of intelligence, for tho circulation of newspapers, perioclicals, 

antl other forms of literature, even though the mail-c~trrier mav rro 

with sca.rcely a handful of m:i.tter. It is in this way that we tlifft~e 

intelligence to the border of the land; it is in this way that we build 

up om' civilization; not by your miserable, pitiful cry of ." making 

your post-office self-sustaining." 

[Here the llammer fell.] 

:Mr. TYNER. I move to amend by striking out the last word, for 

the purpose merely of saying to the gentleman from Ohio [l\fr. LAWRENCE] that in the amendments we are now considering tllere is no proposition to increase the salaries of the postmasters. 'l'he Committee on Appropriations has recommended .non-concurrencc only because 

there are in th~se amendments certain details that ought to be further 

exallli rietl. 

. Mr. HOLl\fAN. I wish to say that the views expressed by the gen- tleman from Tennessee [.Mr. MAYNARD] are such as woultl be very o-enerally approved if the deficiency in the revenue of the Post-Office 

Department resulted from extending postal facilities to tbc spanmly-
5214 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

settlecl sections of the country. But all that can be done without 

having any deficiency. The deficiency iu the revenues of that De~ 

partment results from the large iucrea e that h as been made in the 

allowances to the great railroad corporations of the country, the in- crease during the la t few years having been at the rate of more than 

50 per cent., and npon snch roads as the Erie Railroad of New York 

the increase within the last eighteen months has been over 100 per 

cent. It is by the controlling power exercised by these corporations over your Post-Office Department, increa ing year after year the 

charges for transporting your mails, that this heavy deficit is produced. 

:Mr. COBB, of Kanl3!kl. I want to call attention to the fact that 

section 82 will necessarily diminish the pay of every little postmastor throughout the laud. It seems to me the Honse ought to insist 

that the pcrcen~aglj on the first $100 or any fraction thereof should 

bo 60 per cent. mstead o.f 50. 

The amenclment of tt.e Senate was non-concurred in. 

Tho fifteenth amendmeut was read, as follows: 

Insert the followin"': 

SEc. 12. That section 240 of said act shall read as follows: 

SEC. 240. That when tlto amount or mail-matter to bo catTied on any mail-route 

is so great as to sCiionsl_y rotartl th~ pro gross or en~an~er the security of the l etter- mail, or to increa..'3o tho cost of catTtago of tho n}ail, tho Postmaster-General shall 

provi<lo for tho separate. ~tTiago of th~ letter mail at tho usual ~tt? o~ speed; and 

when tho costoftrausnnttrng othermail-mattcrthan tho lctter-ma:.tlts mcreasell by bcin"' catTicc1 in postal cars,· it shall be carrie(l in other cars, but with duo regard to c~edition. An1l po tal cars !Jhall not b~ put ou any ron~os, or ~he ~nmb r be 

increased, except when tho servtce of calTywg tho letter mail requrres 1t. 

Tho Committee on Appropriations recommended non-concurrence. Mr. KASSON. I move to amend the amendment of the Senate by 

adding the following: 

Provided, That no postmast~r in any town. or city havin~. acco!Xlinlr ~ tho last cen ·us a population less than fifty thousand m nnmbor, shau rece1ve a higher com- pen. ation por annum than $3,000. _ 

I have but a single word to say on this proposition. Early in this 

session I obtained from the Post-Office ·Department a statement of 

the effect which a measure of this kind would have upon the defi- ciency of the Department. I have only to say-- 1rfr. COBB, of Kansas. 1\fr. Speaker, I do not wish to lose my 

right to make a point of order on this amendment. .Mr. KASSON. I submit that the point is made too late. I had 

commenced to debate the amendment. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair the point 

is made too late. 

Mr. KASSON. I have found upon inquiry at the Post-Office Department that such an amendment a.s this would save several hundred 

thousand dolJars annually. 

Touching the merits of the amendment I wish to say that in most 

States of tllis Union, especially the agricultural States, there is no officer of the Stato government who is paiu so high as the postmasters are paid in many of the towns of those States. The governor of 

Indiana does not receive as much salary as several postmasters in that 

Stat-e. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa the secretary of state, 

the State auditor, the State treasurer, with a responsibility of from 

baH a million to two or three million dollars, do not receive M much 

compensation as do your postlllft-sters in many of the towns. The question is one ofjnstice. You clo not pay the judges of your 

supreme courts in the agricultural States of this Union $4,000 a year; 

yon do not pay your governors or other State officers that amount of 

salary; you do not even pay them 3,000. I say therefore that the 

postmaster of a single office, with limited responsibility, is in some cases paid by t.he General Government 50 per cent. higher than is re- ceived by State officers performin~dutiesof tlie greatest responsibility. In the interest of economy we suould consider the question whether we are just in paying these high salaries to some postmasters while 

the great mass of postmasters throughout the country receive such 

small·salaries. If you do not wish to save money, then tako what 

you save this way ju tly and distribnt.e it among postmasters whoso 

pay is utterly insufficient for the service they do. 

Mr. MAYNARD. Let me ask the gentleman a question. Concurring, as I do, in his estimate of the salaries paid, I wish to ask whether he thinks the population of a city or town is the proper criterion; 

"'hether the postal business does correspond in every instan.ce with 

tho population; whether the postal business in Chicago is not larger 

than in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or in any other city than New York, 

and whether it is right to take the number of people in a place as the 

criterion for t.he compensation of a postmaster Y 

Mr. KASSON. It is t he only criterion we can adopt for fixing the 

maximum rate. · Mr. KASSON's amendment was_ rejected. The Senate amendment was non-concurred in. 

Tho sixteenth amendment of the Senate : 

Ad!l the following : SEc.13. That section 245, section 246, section 247, section 251, and section 253 of the act entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the 

Post-Office Department," approved J nne a, 1872, be amended to read as follows : SEC. 245. T~1.at every p1•oposal for carryin::J; the mail shall be a~companied by the 

bond of the b1dcler, Wlth suretws approved by a postmaster, and m cases where the amount of the bond exceeds 5,000, by a postma.ster of the first, seconcl, or third 

class, in a sum to be designated IJ v the Postmaster-General in the advertisement of 

eauh route ; to which bond a. comlition shall be annexed, that if tho said biclder 

shall, \vithin such time after his bid is accepted as the Postmaster-General shall 

prescribe, onter into a contract with the United States of Anlorica, with good and 

sufficient stu'l:ltics, to be approved by the Postmaster-General, to perform the service 

proposed in his sn.i!l bid, and, further, that he shall perform the said service accorc1-

mg to his contract, then tbe said obligation to be voic1, otherwise to be in full force 

and obli1:1:ation in law; and in case of failure of any biduer to enter into such con- tract to perform the service, or, having executed a contract, in case of failure to perform the service, accorlling to his contract., he and his sureties shall be liable for 

the amotmt of said bond as liquidated damage , to be recovered in an action of dol.Jt on the said bond. No proposal shall be cousidered unless it shall be accompanied by sunh bond, and there shall been aft:ixed to said propo ·altho oath of tho bidder, taken before an officer qualified to administer oaths, that he has tho ability, pecuniarily, to fuliill his obligations, and that the biu is made in good faith, anll with 

the intention to enter into contra-ct and perform the service in case his bill is ac· cepted. • SEc. 246. That before the bond of a bidder provided for in tho afore aid section is 

approved, there shall be indorsed thereon the oaths of tho sureties therein, takon 

before an officer qualified to administer oaths, that they are O'l¥-ners of real c tate, 

worth. in the ag~egate, a sum donblo the amonnt of tho said bontl, over and above 

all <lebts due anu owing by them, and all·jndrrments, mortrrages, and executions 

against them, after allowing all exemptions of every character wl1atever. SEc. 247. That any postmaster who shall affix his sip1aturetotho approval of any bonll of a bicl£ler, or to the certificate of sufficiency ot snroties in any contract be· 

fore tho said bond or contract is signed by the biullerorcontractorn.n<l his sureties, or shall knowin~ly, or without tho exercise of duo diligence, approve any bond of a bidder with insufficient smeties, or shall kno,vingly make anyfal. o or fraudulent7 

certificate, shall be forthwith dismissed from office, and be thereaft~r disqualified from holding tho office of postmaster, anu shall also be deemeu j:!nilt.v of a mis<le- meanor, and, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not oxcoeding ,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. 

SEc. 251. That after any regular bidder whose bid has be n a{)copted shall fail to enter into contract for the transportation of the mails according to his proposal, or, having entered futo contraet, shall fail to commence tho performance of the 

service stipulated in his or their contract as therein Y.rovided, the Postma ter· General shall proceed to contract with the next lowestb1dller for tho same sen·ico, who will enter into a. contract for the performance thereof unless tho Postmaster- General shall consiller such bi(l too bigb, in which case he shall reaLl vertiso such 

service. And if any bidder whose bill has been accepte!l, and who has ontorml 

into a contract to perform the service according to his proposal, an1l in pursuance of bis contract has entered upon tho performance of tho service, to the sa.tis.fuetion of tho Postmaster-General, hall subsequently fail or refuse to perform tho senico accordin<• to his contract, tho Postmaster-General shall· proceed to contract with 

tho ne:rl 'i.owest bidder for such service, under t he advertisement thereof, (nnl ss tho Postmaster-General shall consider such bid too high,) who will enter into un- tract and give bontl, with sureties, to be approved by the Po. tmaster-General, for 

~~~tftA~~tf:::~~~~~;~~~;~:: :fa~~tf~~~i!l'n~l\:~~~ tho~da~~i~t~csc~~ panie<l his bid; but inca e each and every of tho next lowest bitlJ.ers for such . orv- lce whose respective bids are not. con iliored too high by the Postmaster-General • shall refuse to enter into contract anll give bond as herein required for tho faithful 

.J?Oiformance of his contract, tho Postmaster-General shall immediately atlvertise 

for proposals to perform the service on said route. Whene\Ter an accepted bitlrlor 

shall fail to enter into contract, or a contractor on any maill'Onto shall fail or refnso to perform the service on saill route accord~!? to his contract, or when a. ne\Y route . shall bo established, or now servic-e requireu, or when from any other cause there shall not be a contractor legally bound or required to perform such serviuc; tho 

Postmaster-General may make a. temporary contract for r.arrring the mail on such 

rout-e, without advertisement, for such period as may bo ner.e ary, not in any case· exceeding six months, until a letting under advertisement can take place: Provided, lwwever, That the Postma ter-General shall not employ temporary service on any route at a hig_her price than that paid to the contractor who !!hall have per- formed tho service <luring tho last preceding regular con b-act term. Aml in all ca es of regular contracts her€ after made, .tho contract may, in tho discretion of 

tbePostma..ster-Genoral, be continued in force beyond its express torms for a pt>doll not exceeding six months, nntil a. new contract with tho same, or other contractors, 

shall be made bv the Postmaster-General. 

SEc. 253. That hereaft~r all bidders upon every mail route for the transportation of the mails upon tho same, where the annual compensation for the service on nch route at the time exceeds tho sum of 5,000, shall accompany their bids with a cer- tified check or draft, payable to tho orner of tho Postmaster-General, upon omo solvent national bank, which check or draft shall not bo less that 5 per cent. on the amonnt of the annual pay on said ronte at tho time such bid is made, and, in cru e of a. new or moclifietl service, not less tha.n 5 per cent. of tho amotmt of the bond of the 

bidder required to accompany his biu, if the amount of the said bond exceeds 

5,000. In case any bidder, on being awarded any such contract, shall fail to exe- cute the same, with good and snffiment snretie , according to the terms on which 

such bid was made and accepted, and enter upon the performance of the service to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General, such bidder shall, in adilition to his 

liability on his boncl accompanying his bid, forfeit the amount so deposite1l to tho 

United States. ancl tho same shall forthwith be paill into tho Treasury for the nse of the Post-Office Department; but if such contract . hall he duly executed and the 

service entered upon as afore aid, such draft or check so dopositetl, aml tho cheeks or draft-a deposited by all other bidders, on the sa.mo route, shall be rotnruecl to tho respective bidders making such deposits. No proposals for tho transportation of 

the mails where tho amatmt of tho bon1l required to accompany tho same shall o . ceed $5,000 shall_ be considered, unless accompanictl. with tho che-ck or draft herein 

required, touether with the bond r equired by a. preceding section: Provided, T hat not hing in this act shall bo coustrued or intended to affect any penalties or forfeit- ures which have heretofore a.ccrnod under the provisions of the sections hereby 

amended. 

Mr. TYNER. I move to non-concur in all the remaining amendments of the Senate. 

Mr. HOLMAN. Let that motion be confined to the particular sec- tion now pencliu•-r. · Mr. TYNER. 1ry proposition -is to non-concur in the remaining 

amendments to the bill. The Committee on Appropriations recom- mend non-concurrence. 1\fr. L.A. WRENCE. Is this motion debatable f 

The SPEAKER. Tho gentleman will proceecl with his five minutes. :Mr. J;.A WRENCE. I do not know what are the remaining ameutl· 

menta of the Senate, but I do not think we should non-concur with- out having them all read so we may understand them; ancl while wo are on this subject I wish to say a single word in reply to the gentle- man from Tennessee, [Mr. MAYNARD.] He discussed one proposition 

and I discnssecl another. I do not object to carr~.~ mail facilities just a>S far as the gentleman from Ten nos ce. I will go with him as far as any gentlema.u on this floor to carry mail facilities to eYery corner of the country, but in doing that I will not incur any unneces- sai'Y expc:mse. And if it is t~t pitiful cry to insist there shonltl be n. · 

reduction of the expenditures of_ tho Government in this or n.ny othor 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5215 

Department of the Government, I think the gentleman will find it is a cry to which tho people will:p.ve their atten~ion. It is high time 

there should be somebody stn.na up and speak rn behalf of er,onomy 

while there are so many to stanu up and speak in favor of extravagance an1l unnece:ssary expenditures. 

Mr. BURCHARD. I desire to move an amenclmetlt to the last sec- tion which provitles thn,t public documents may be sent through the 

mails without prepayment of postage. I think it is a good provision 

that postage should be paid on delivery. 

1\Ir. HOLMAN. I hope my" colleague will limit his motion to sus- pend tho rule& and non-concur in the u.mend.rnent of the Senate now 

pending. 

Mr. TYNER. I adopt that suggestion and move to suspend the 

rules and non-concur in the pending amenclment. 

The question recurre(l on seconding the motion to suspend the rules. 

'l'he House divided; and there were-ayes 196, noes not counted. 

So the motion to suspend the rules was seconded. 

'l'he rules were suspended, (two-thirds voting in favor thereof,) and 

the pending amendment. wa,s non-concurred in, · Seventeenth amendment of the Senate. 

Add the following: SEc. 14. That hereafter the requirement that postage shall be prepaid shall not 

a.pplv to public documents certified to be such by any member of the Sen;~.te or of 

the House of Representatives, or by the Presiuent or hea-d of any Executive Depart- ment, or other person entitled to the franking privilege when the law was passed abolishing the same; anu the postage on no singlevolnmeof public document shall 

ox:ceed the stun of twenty-five cents, aml the same, if not prepaid, shall be payable bv the person to whom the same may be directed and received; and the words 

"Public (locument;' written or printetl on the envelope containing any public tlocu· 

ment, a.n!l subscribed by the member or other person mailing the same, shall be 

deemed a. sufficient certificate that the same is a public document; and the term 

public uocuments shall be <leemcu to include all publications printed by order of 

Congress, or either House thereof, or of any Department of the Government. And if any such documents shall not be tn.ken from the post-office to which the same shall be directed within thirty days a.fter being received thereat, the postmaster m:ty sell the same for the amount of t.he postl\~e uue thereon, aml shall acconnt to the Post-Office Department for the proceeds tneroof: Prouided, That this section 

shall apply only~ documents ordered to be printed by either House of Congress • previous to the passage of this act: And provided further, That the Co::mRESSIONAL P.ECORO, or any part thereof, shall be carried tlrrough the mails free of postage. 

lli. TYNER. The committee recommend non-co~currence in this 

amendment. 

:Mr. BURCHARD. I desire to move to strike out all in this section 

preceding l-ine 7 and all following the woru "thereof" in line 22. 

'!'his will leave merely the proposition to which I referred a mo- ment or two ago to stand by itself, that public documents may circulate through the mails without prepayment of postage, the postil.ge 

being left to be paid on their deli very. 

I move to strike out the first six lines, because they may be con- stmeu into a restoration of the franking privilege. I also move to 

strike out so much of the section as limits the provision to uocuments 

alrcauypriuted,and also so much as provides that the Co~GRESSIONAL 

RECORD or any part thereof shall be carried through the mails free of 

postage. I hope the House will concur in the "remainder of the section. 

The SPEAKER p1·o ten~pore, (Mr. WHEELER.) The gentlemen will 

send his amendment to the Clerk in writing. 

Mr. PARKER, of Missouri. Does not a motion to concur take precedtmce of the amendment of the gentleman from Illinois t 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The motion to amend takes precedence. . Mr. 1\IILLS. I desire to offer an amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro ternpore. The amendment of the gentleman 

from Illinois [Mr. B URCILUID] has been received at the desk, and will 

be read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Strike out the first six lines of the section, and strike out all after the word 

"thereof " in line 2-2. 

1\Ir. MILLS. I offer tho following amendment: 

In line 8 of the section strike out "twenty-five" anu iasert "ten ; " so it will 

reatl: 

The postage on no single volume of public document shall c:x:ceeu ·the suru of ten 

cents. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. I hope the attention of the House 

will be given to this section. There m1n be no doubt that it is to a very considerable extent a restoration of the franking privilege. As 

such I object to it, and I desire :.t distinct vote taken upon the question, anll if possible by yeas and nays. 

Now, I am not going to join in any common cant or slang about the 

franking privilege. It was abusecl no donbt to some extent. Still it - had its uses. It certainly had its benefits at a time when our facilities for the distribution of information were not so good as they are at present. It was then valuable to the people, and valuable to our public institutions, if not abused. But the public sentiment of the 

country was upon the whole against it. The tendency of public sen- timent has been in tho direction of paying for everything we send 

through the mails. The public adopteu that idea and we legislated 

in that direction a year ago. We have professed to abolish thefr::mki ng privilege. We have professed a sincere desire to make the experiment of no free matter. I wish to adhere to that experiment for one or two or three or four years until we understand and the country understands its operation. Perhaps by and by public s~ntiment may 

jnstify some modification of the existiug law by which public documents got up at the p'ublic expense may be distributed. 

Mr. l<'ORT. I wish to ask the gentleman a qncstioT!.. 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. No, sir. But we are evidently not 

ready for that yet. Public sentiment is not ready for it. And so I 

object to any direct or indirect restoration of the franking privilege 

of any soct or description whatever. I wish to wait one or two or three years longer, and then see what should be done. For the present I am tmalterably opposed to that, anP. I call for the yeas and 

nays. 

MESSAGE FRO)'I THE S~ATE •. 

A message from the Senate, by 1\Ir. SYMPSO~, one of their clerks, informed the House_ that the Senate bad agreed to the I'eport of tho 

committee of conference on the bill (H. R. No. 1572) to amend the 

several acts providing a national currency, and to establish free banking, and for other purposes. 

POST-OFFICE APPROPRIATION BILL. 

The House resumed the c-onsideration of the Senate amendments to 

t.he post-office appropriation bill. 

1\fr. P ARKEH., of Missouri. With regard to what the gentleman 

from Connecticut- [1\fr. HAWLEY] has said, I desire to say that this is no restoration of the franking privilege. '!'his docs not permit rlocn- ' 

ments to go through the mails free of postage. 'The gentleman from 

Connecticut asserts that the people of this country have pctitione1l 

Congress that the franking privilege be repealed. Well, sir, I do not 

believe that the people of this country ever did any such thing. The 

Postmaster-General of the Unitell States, after having almost a conl 

of petitions printed in the Government Printing Office at the Government's expense, sent these petitions on t to the different postmasters 

in the country, who in many cases filled them up with their own hands, as they feared their official heads would be cnt off unless they 

would indorse this humbug, because it is notlllng else. They tliu in some cMes get a few people to sign t.bese petitions, but in the majority of cases they signed them tbemse1 ves with the names of persons 

taken from the directories of the (lifferent towns and cities of tho 

country. They went to the tombstones ancl to the graveyards in 

many cases to get the names of men and send them up here to instruct the American Congress upon this question. 

Now, su:, if it be true that tho people did petition us to repeal this 

franking privilege, why let them know the full eftect of it by payi11g 

the postage themselves upon all documents that they ma.y desire. 

For one member of this Congress, after the people of this cotmtry 

have demanded that our pay shall be so reduced that no man can live conveniently here as a member of Congress upon it, I do not 

propose to pay any postage upon these documents. 

Now this section simply proposes that the people who petitioned for a redress of this grievance -shall pay their own postage. Let them do 

it if they desire the documents. 

1\fr. l<'ORT. How can the dead men do it f 

Mr. PARKER, of Missouri. l\fy friend asks how the clead men can do it. l\fembers of Congress do not sond documents to dead men, but 

tho postmasters put the names of dead men upon petitions to Con !!Tess 

asking the repeal of the franking privilege. 0 

Mr. HOLMAN. It is very clea;r that no man has asked for the 

restoration of the franking privilege since its abolition; that is 

very clear. 

Mr. TYNER. Mr. Speaker, I am quite willing to let my vote, in 

the event the yea,s and nays shall be called on this amendment, indicate to my constituents what my position is in· regarcl to it. But I 

do want to, say that I am ready to put myself on· record in any man- ner whatever against anything which looks like a restoration of tho 

franking privilege. . Sir, I voted for the repeal of the franking privilege during the last 

Congress. I have had no report from the Post-Office Department 

since nor any other information that indicates to me that I ought to 

change my position in that regard. I believe, sir, that I was as much 

instructed by my constituents, through their -platforms at homo, 

through the expressions of the public press n.nd in every other way, 

to vote in favor of the repeal of the -franking privilege anu a(Y'ainst i~ restoration, as I have ever been instructed in regard to any0

qnes- twn. 

·we are now entering upon a political campaign in which some gentlemen of this Honse are to take a part, and in which they are to 

be candidates. I warn them that they bad better be cautions abont 

voting for anything that looks like a restoration of the franking privilege. I have little more to say and then I desire to yield the re- mainder of my time to my friend from Ohio, [Mr. GARFIELD;] but I 

want to say, in addition, that this proposition is to permit the postaf)'e on these doanments to be collected at the office of delivery. It ruea~s that any constituent of any gentleman on this floor shall be privi- leged to ask him to send him a report, bot it is to be at the ex-- pense of the constittlent, and with the understanding that he himself shall pay the postage. I now yield the remainuer of my time to 

the gentleman from Ohio. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I desire to say a single word only upon this 

amenclment, and then I hope the previous question will Le snst~iined 

and a vote will be taken. There is a proviso n.t t he end of this sec- tion that hereafter the CoNGRESSio~ AL REcorm shall pass through ~he mails free, and in that there is this a little bit of moral bribery 
5216 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. Ju~TE 19, 

o.ITercd to every meml)er of Congress, that the Co -GRESSIONAL 

RECORD or any part thereof shall pa s through the mails free of 

postage. 

1\lr. HA. WLEY, of Connecticut. The appendices. 

Mr. GARFIELD. All you would have to do is to have your speeches 

printecl with a heading "Appendix to the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD," 

and it becomes a part of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, and p~sses free 

through the mails. In other words, here is a plan to let all the 

speeches that members of Congress may make, if they have a simple 

l1ea.ding saying something about the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, go 

through the mails free· hereafter, and if that is not a species of moral 

bribery, which I believe this House will not have the courage or rather 

the lack of it to consent to, then I do not know what is bribery. I ask 

for the previous que tion, and call for the yeas and nays in concur- l'in(Y' in the amendment of the Senate. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair de ires to ask the gentle- man from Connecticut [ 11:. HAWLEY] upon which of these propositions he asks for the yeas and nays. There ru:e two amendments to 

the amendment of the Senate which have been offered in the Honse. 

Does he desire the yeas and nays upon those amenclments, or upon 

concurring in the Se~ate amendment J 

Mr. HOLl\1AN. I hope the yeas and nays will be called on the 

question of concurrence in the Senate amendment. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The first amendment pending is that 

ofrered by the gentleman from Texa.s [Mr. MILLs] to strike out in 

line 8 of the Senate amendment the words "twenty-five" and to insert 

in lieu thereof the worcl "ten;" so that it will read, "and the postage on no single volume of public document shall exceed the sum of ten 

cents, &c." 

Mr. :MARSHALL. I desire to say a few words on this amendment. 

Jilr. SHANKS. I have been t1·ying to get the floor myself, and I must 

object. 

1\>lr. TYNER. The previous question has been asked by my coll eague, the chairman of the Committee on Appro~riations.-

The previous que tion was seconded and the ma.m question ordered 

being :first upon the amendment offered by Mr. MILLs. 

The question was put; and on a division there were, ayes 115, noes 

not counted. 

Mr. GARFIELD. I call for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered, 34 members voting therefor. 

The question was t.a.ken; and there were-yeas 127, nays 111, not- voting 51 ; as follows: 

YEAS-Messrs. Adams, Albert, Archer, Arthur, Ashe, Atkins, Averill, Barber, 

Barrere, Begole, Bell, Bllrry, Blanrl, Bowen, Bright, llrown, Buckner, Bundy, llurcbard, .Burleigh. Benjamin F. Butler, Roderick R. Butler, Caldwell, Cannon, Ca- son, John .B. Ulark, jr.~ Freeman Clarke, Clymer, Stephen A. Cobb. Coburn, Corwin, Creamer, Critwnuen, Crutchfield, Davis, Dobbins Dunnoll, Durham, Field, 

Fort, Giddings Glover, Gunter, Ha<Tans, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry R. Harris, 

lbrrison, Hatcher, Havens, Hays, Jo~ \V. Hazelton, H emlee, Hereford, Herndon, 

E. Rockwood Hoar, Ge.orge F. Hoar, Hodges, Ho ·kins, Houghton, Howe, Hubbell, 

Hunter, Hunton, Hurlbut, Hyde, Hync , Jewett, Killinqcr, Lansillli;- ~:wrence, 

Leal\h, Loflanu, Lowe, Magee, Marshall, Martin, Maynara, McKee, · , Moore, 

Morey, Negley, Niblack, 0' .Brien, Orr, O.rtb, Pa~e, Isaac C. Parker, Pelham, Pike, James H. J:>latt, jr., Thomas C. Platt, Rancla.ll, u.apier, Read, Richmond,. Robbins, 

Sawyer, Henry J. Scuduer, Saner, Sessions, Shanks. Sheats, Sherwood, Speer, Stan'diford, Strait, Swann, Charles R. Thomas, Christ.opher Y. Thomas1 Thornburgh, 

Toud, Town end, Tremain, Vance, Wallace, White, \Vbitehead, Whitenouse, Charles 

G. Williams, \Villiam \Villiaws, EphraimK. Wilson, James Wilson, Wolfe, JohnD. 

Younrr, and PierceM. n. Young-127. 

N A "YS-Messrs. Albright~ Barnum, Biery, Brailley, Bromberg, Buffin ton, Burrows, 

Cain, Cessna., Amos Clark, jr., Clements, Comingo, Cono-er, Cook, Cotton, Cox, 

Crooke, Cro sland, Crounse, DanforJ~Darrallt])awC3, Donnan, Duell, Eames, Fos- ter, I!'rye, G-arfieltl, Gooch, Gunckel, J!On<Tene .tlale, Benjamin W. Harris, John T. 

Harris, Hathorn, John B. Hawley JosephR. Hawley, Gerry W. Hazelt.on, Holman, 

Ka::;son, Kelley, Kellogg, Knapp, Lamison, Lawson, L~~g~dge, Lowndes, Lynch, James ,V. McDill, MacDou,rrall, Mc-Junkin, Merriam, .lYI.illiken, Monroo, Morri on, Neal, Niles, O'Neill, Packard, J:>ackor, Hosea W. Parker, Parsons, Pendlewn, 

Perry, Pierce, Poland, Potter, Pratt., Rainey, Ransier, Ray, Rice, Ellis H. Roberts, James C. Robinson, James \V. Rouinson, Ross, Henry B. Sayler, Milt.on Say~er, 

John G. Schumaker, Scofield, Isaac W. Scudder, Small, Smart, A. Herr Sllllth, 

Geor.,.e L. Smith, H. Boardman Smith, John Q. 8mHh, Snyder, Southard, Sprague, Stana~d, Starkweather, St. John, Stone, St.orm, 'towell, T,yner, Waldron, \Valls, 

Jasper D. Ward, 1\furcus L. \VarU, \Veils, Wheeler, Whitthorne, Wilber, Charles 

W. Wilbrd, Geol'ge Willard, John M. S. Williams, William B. Williams, Woocl, 

Woodfor.:l,and ·Woodworth-111. 

NOT VOTING-MtlSsrs. Banning, B:u-ry, Bass, Beck, Blount, Cla.yton, Clinton 

L. Cobb, Crocker, Curti , DeWitt, Ellen, El<lredge, Elliott, Farwell, Fr~eman, Rob- ert S. Hale, Harmer, Hersey, Hooper, Kemla.ll, Lll-ID;a.r, Lamport, LeWis1 Luttrell, 

McCrary, Alexan•ler S. McDill, McLean, Mc.r ulta, Mitchell, Myers, N esllllth, Nnnn, 

Phelps, J:>hillips, Purman, William R Roberts, Rusk, Shelrlon, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Sloan, Slo s, J. Ambler Smith, William A. Smith, tophens, Strawbridge, 

Sypher, Taylor, Watldell, Whiteley, Willie, and Jeremiah M. \Vil on-51. 

So 'the amendment of Mr. MrLLS was agreeu to. 

The question recurrecl upon the motion of :Mr. BuRCHARD to strike 

out of the amendment of the Senate the following at the beginning 

of the section : 

That hereafter the requirement that postage shall be prepaid shall not apply to 

public documents certified to be such by any member of the Senate or of the Honse of Representa.tive , or by the President or hea.d of any Executive Department, or other person entitled to the franking privilege when the law was pa.ssed abolishing 

the sam~; and. 

Also to strike out the following at the end. of the section: 

Provided, That thi section shall apply only to docnment.s ordered t<1 be printed by e'ither House of Congress previous to the passage of this act : And provided 

further, That the CoxGRE SIO.)IA.L RECORD, or any part thereof, sha.ll bo ca.rriecl 

through the mails free of posta~e. 

The question was taken upon the amendment of Mr. BURCHARD ; 

and upon a division there were-ayes 75, noes 15; no quor11m voting. 

Tellers were ordered ; and Mr. BURCHARD and 1lh. SPEER were appointed. 

:Mr. SPEER. I desire to make a parliamentary inquiry. Is this 

amendment divisible f 

The SPEAKER p1·o te'mpore. It is not. 

Mr. SPEER. Is it in order to move to amend the amendment ! 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is not; for the previous question is 

operating. 

The House again ~vided; and the tellers reported that there were ayes 83, noes not counteu. 

M~. SPEER. I th~ the House has been voting nnd~r a misapprehensiOn of the question, and I therefore call for the yeas and nay . The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair desires to stato that the 

amendment of the gentleman from Texas [Jiir. MJLLS] havingdJeen 

offered as an amendment to the one offered by the gentleman from 

lllinois, [Ji!r. BURc~,] if the amendment of the gentleman fi·om 

lllinois be voted down the amendment of the gentleman from Texn.s 

will fall also. 

Mr. G. F. HOAR. The amendment of the gentleman from Texas 

relates to a portion of the section not affecteu by that of the gentle- man from Illinois. 

Mr. BURCHARD. As I understood, the amendment of the gentle- man from Texas was submitted M an independent propo ition, an<l so voted on. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair at the time stared distinctly that the amendment of the gentleman from Texas must be 

germane to the amendment of ~.he gentleman from Illinois. 

111r. MILLS. Does the Chair state that if the amendment of the 

gentleman from Illinois is vot.ed down my amendment goes down 

The SPEAYillR. It does. 

Jiir. MILLS. Then if the amendment of the gentleman from illinois is voted up my amendment goes down also. 

Tl1e SPEAKER. That is a question for the House to dete1·mine, 

not the Chair. 

1i1r. WOODFORD. Desiring to vote for a part :md against a part 

of this amendment of the gentleman from Illiuoi , is it not proper 

to a-sk that it be divided! 

The SPEAKER. It can be divided if it contains distinct snbst::m- tive propositions. 

Mr. CESSNA. There is some confusion about the statement of the 

Chair in my mind, for he seems to connect the amendment of the 

gentleman from Texas [Mr. MILLSl with the amendment of the gentleman from Illinois, [:hir. BURCHAU.D.] Now 'the amendment of the 

gentleman from illinois relate to a part of the section not reached 

by the amendment of the gentleman from Texa . The amendment 

of the gentleman from Texa has been auoptcd, and is now a part of 

the section. I differ with the Chair with great r luctanc ; but it seems to me that the amendment of the gentleman from Illinois con- tains three distinct propositions, and if so I shall ask for a separa.te 

vote on each one of them. The first propo ition is to trike out the 

first six lines of the amendment of the Sen< te as printed. That is a separate, distinct, anu substantive proposition of itself. The second 

proposition is to strike out the :first proviso of t.he section, which is 

also a separate a.nd independent pro1wsition of itself. The third propbsition is to strike out the last proviso of the section, which is al o a separate and independent propo ·ition of itself. The thxee part.s of the 

amendment are not related to each other; they are di:1:l'erent in char- • acter; and in order that the House may have an opportunity to vote 

according to its own desire I shall a k the Chair to allow the amendment to be divided into the three parts I have indicated. 

1\ir. HOSKINS. A single woru in regard to the proposition now before the House. The g ntleman from Texas [~11:. MILLS] moved an amendment to a certain portion of this section, and his amendment was adopted by the House. I submit that t,he amendment of the 

gentleman from Illinois [Mr. BURCHARD] and that propo ed by the 

gentleman from Texas are not germane to each other; they do not 

apply to the s:tme portion of the section nor to the same subject. It 

strikes me therefore, with due deference of cour e to the ruling of 

the Chair, that they are independent propositions, and that if the 

amendment of the gentleman from Illinois be voted down it does not 

necessarily car,ry with it the amendment of the gentleman from 

Texas, for the reason that the two a.menclments uo not apply to the same subject-matter or the same part of the section. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair uoes not holu himself re- sponsible if the House has been misled upon this proposition. He 

uistinctly stated to the gentleman from •rexas, and it is so recorded, 

that his amendment must be germane and must appertain to that of 

the gentleman from Tilinois, [Mr. BURCHARD.] The mistake, if there 

has been any, was on the p:trt of the House, not of the Chair. In view 

of the circumstances under which the amendment of the gentleman 

from Texas was offered, the Chair now states that if the amendment 

of the gentleman from lllinoi be voted down, that of the gentlemau 

from Te:s::as goes down with it. If the House has :wted under auy 

mi understanding that may be corrected; l)ut the Chair is coiToborated in his position by the Journal clerk who made the entry. Before deciding the question whether the amendment of the gentleman from illinois is divi ible, the Chair asks that gentleman to 

state hi amendment, so that it ma,y be understood whether it em- brae s different substantive propositions. . Mr. BURCHARD. I moved to strike out the first six lines of the 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5217 

section down to and including the trord "and;" so that the section 

shoulrl begin, "The po tage on no single volume," &c. I also moved 

to strike out after the word "thereof" in line 22, the provi o and the 

further proviso, leaving the body of the ection to wltich the gentle- man from Texas had moved his amendment striking out t.wenty-five 

and inserting ten. 

Tlte SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair holds tltat this amendment 

is divisible. 

Mr . .MILLS. I move to recon ider the vote by which my amendment was adopted, so tl1at the House may extricate it elf from this 

difficulty. Eitlter this must be done, or my amendment must be-considered as an independent proposition. The Chair has correctly stated 

that he put to me the qu tion whether my amm1dmcnt was germane 

to that of the gentleman from Illinois. I do not wish the Chair to 

be placed in a wrong attitude before the House. l\1y amendment re- lates to the very next sentence after the fir t part of the amendment 

of the gentleman from Illinois, and I thought it wa,s germane to that 

amendment. Bnt I see now that it is not so, and th refoi·e I presume 

IQY amendment must be aclopted as an independent proposition. 

Mr. PAR ONS. · I rise to a parliamentaryinquixy. I wish to know 

whether the Honse cannot now vote directly to strike out the fust 

six lines and the .last six lines of this ection ithont affecting at all 

the independent pxoposition embraced in the midclie of the section' 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will entertain the pq>po ition of the gentleman from Texa-s [Mr. MILLS] to r econ..,itler the vote 

by which his amendment was adopted. 

.Mr. BURCHARD. I rise to a point of order. As the order for 

the previous question was partly executed, I submit t.hat it is not in 

order to reconsider. 

The SPEAKEH. pro tempore. That point of order is well taken. 

The question will now be taken upon the fust proposition of the 

amendment of the gentleman from Illinoi , ·which i to trike out the 

first six lines of the section. The clause propo ed to be struck out 

will be read. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

That hereafter the r equirement that po ta_!!e shall be prepaid shall not apply to public documents certified to be su ch by any member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, or b.v the Pr·e. iuent or head of any Executive Department, or otber person entitled to the fra.uk:lng privilege wben the la.w wa passed abolish- ing the same; and. · 

The question being taken, there were ayes 45, noes not counted. 

Mr. TYNER. I call for the yeas and nays. Ur. CLYMER. I move that the House take a rece. still half past even o'clock. 

Mr. G.A.Rl!..,IELD. It i nece ary that this bill should be sent to a conference committee to-night, if we are to adjourn on the 2:td. 

The motion of Mr. CLYMER wa not agreed to ; there being-aye 

72, noes 9cl. 

The question recurring on ordering the yeas and nays upon acrree- ing to the first division of the amendmeo t of }.11-. BURCHARD, the ~yeas and navs were not ordered. 

So the first division of the amendment was not agreed to. The que tion then recmT d upun the cconcl divi<ion of the amendment, which wa-s to strike out the following: 

Provided, That this section shall apply only to document-'i oruered to be-printed 

by either H~use of Congre s previous tO the .Passage of this act. · 

The question being taken, there were-ayes 100, noe 48. 

So the second division of the amendment wa agreeu to. The que tion then recurred on t.hethiru division of the amendment, 

which was to strike out the following: 

And provided further, That. tbe CONGRE SIO~AL RECORD, o~ any part thereof, shall be carried through the mails free of po tage. 

.Mr. HAWLEY, of Ulinois. The Honse having refused to strike ot~t 

the :first part of the ection, as propo ed by the amendment of the 

gentleman frorn Illinois, if these word should now be struck out 

where then would be the amendment of the gentleman from Texa-s 1r. CE SNA. 'l'hat relates to the middle of the section. The que tion being taken; there were-aye 7cl, noes 71. 

ilr. PEER called for tellers. 

Tellers were ordered; anti 1\11-. SPEER aml Mr. BURCIIARD were oppointed. 

The IIonse divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 107 noes 63. So the third division of the amendment was agreed to.' . The PE..A.KER pro temp01·e. The Chair will now tat.e that the portwn of the amendment of the gentleman from Illinois to which the 

gentleman from Texas offered his amendment has been adopted ; con equent1y the amendment of the gentleman from Texa has been 

adopted. But the Chair will rule that the latt.er was offered as an 

independent amendment, and the entry in the Journal will be made 

accordingly. 

The question recurring on concruring in the amendment of the 

euate, as amended, 

.Ur. HAWLEY, of Connecticut, called for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. . 

Mr. BURCHARD. I ask that the Senate amendment as now amended be read. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

SEC. 14. That hereafter the requirement that postaae shall be prepaid shall not apply to public do101runents certified ~ be such by any member of the Senate or. of 

327 

the Honse of Representatives, or by tl1e Pre ident or be:ul of any Executive De- partment, or other person entitled to the franking pridleue when the law was passed aboijshin~ the same; and the postage on no single volume of public docu- ment shall exceea the sum of ten cent<;, and the same, if not prepaid, shall be pay- able by tbe persoo to whom the same may be directed and receiveu; and the words "public document " written or printed on the em-elope containing any public document, and sub cribed by the member or other v ·r on mailin" the same, shall be deemed a Rnfficieut certificate that tl1 e samei a public dooruuent; and the term public document shall bed emcd toinclu1leall public.ations printed by ordl'r of Congress, or either HoW:Ie ther of, or of any D partmPnt of the Government. Anu if any such uocnments shall not he taken from the po t-ollice to wbich tlJe same shall be directed within thirty days after b~ing receiv tl thereat, tho post- master may sell t.he same for the aruount of the postage due thereou, a.uu sball account to the Post-Office Department for the pmceeus thereof. 

Mr. PLATT, of Virginia. I move that the Ron e now take a rece . The motion was not ageed to. · The question recm·red on concurring iu the Senate amemlment as amended. 

The (1uestion wa taken; and it was deciued in the negativ -yea 

113, nays 119, not voting 57; as follows: 

· YEAS-Messrs. Adams, .Albert, Albright, Arthur, Ashe, Barber, Barnum, Bar- rera, Barry, Beck, Begole, Bell, Berry, Bicrv, Bowen, Br::uUey, Bright, .Browu, Bucl - ner. Burchard, Burleigh, Benjamin F. ]~uti r, Roderick R. Butler, Cain, (;a.ltlwel~ 

Cannon, Cason, John B. Clark, jr., Freeman Clarke, Clymer, Stepht>n .A.. Cobb, 

Coburn, Comingo, Cook, Corwin, Cr amer, Crutchfidrl., Davis. D o\.Jl.>in , Donuau , Dunnell, Durham, Fielu, Giuding Glover, Gunter, Harran , Hamilton, Hancock, 

Henry R. Harris, Hatcher, Hays, Gerry W. Hazelton '5'ohn \V. Hazelt.on, Uere- ford, H erndon, George F . Hoar, Hodges, Howe, Hubbt>ll, llunter, Hunton, Hvnes, Killinger, Knapp, Lamar, Lamport, Lan ing, L each, Lowe, Magee, 1\lar>~hall , ")brtin, Maynard, McCrary, McKeo, M cLean, Mill1:1, Moore, Morey, Ne_gley, O".Brif' u, Orr, r:_~%e, Isaac C. Parker, Pelham, James H. Platt, jr., Thomas C. Platt, Purnt an, Raul! au, Ransier, R..<t]lier, Read, Richmond, Robbins, Rusk, beats, Sherwood,, 'lo:m, 

George L. Smith, Speer, Standiford, trait, Christopher Y. Thomas, Thomburgb. 

Todd, Townst nd, Vance, Wallace, White, Whitehead, William Williams, and John D. Yonng-113. 

~ .A.YS-Messrs . .A.rcht>r, Atkins, .A. verill, Bass, Bland, Blount, Bromber", l3nffin- ton, B1mdy, Burrows, Ce sna, .A.mo Clark, jr., Clement , Conger, Cotton Critttu- den, Crooke, Cro sland, Crounse, Danford, DarraH. Dawe , Eames, Fort, Foster, 

Frye, Garfield, Gunck el, Eugene Hale, Benjamin \V. Harris, J ohn T. Bani., Ha- thorn, Havens, Jolut B. Hawley, Jos ph R. Hawley, E. Rockwood Hoar, .Holma.u, Hoskins, H yde, Kas on, K ellogg, Lami on, Lawrence, Lawson, Lofland, Lowrull'x, 

Lynch, James W. McDill, MacDon~<all, MeJunkin. Mc.ryulta, Merriam, 1\li.llikeu, Monroe, Morrison, Neal, .r iblack, ifiles, O'Neill. Orth, Packard, Packer, Ho~w~ \\. Parker! Pars~ns, P endleton, P erry, Pil'l"Ce, Pike, Poland, Potter, Pratt, Haiuey, Ray, RICe. Ellis H. Robert , James C. Robin ou, Jame~ W. llobin on, Ro. , , awyf'r, H enry B. Sayler, 1\lilt.on Sayler, John G. chumaker , .... cofielll, Isaac W. S~>u•lclcr, 

S ssions, Shanks, Smart, .A.. H err Smith, H. Boardman Smith, John Q .. ruith, 

Snyder, Southard, Spra.o-ue, Stanard tarkweather, St. John, Stone, Storm. towell, 

Strawbridge, Swauu, T.vucr, \Valllron, Walls, Jasper D. Ward, Mar'CU>i L. W. rd, 

Wells, Wheel er, \Vhitehou e, \Vhitthornc, Wilber, Charlfls W. \Villard, GP.orge Willard, Charles G. \-Villiams, John .M. . Williams, \Villiam B. Williams, James Will on, Woodford, and Woodworth-lUI. · OT VOTING-Me srs. Banning, Clayton, Clinton L. Cobb, Cox, Ct-ocker, Cur- tis, DeWitt, Duell, Ellen, Eldredge, Elliott, Farwell, Fr ·man, Gooch, RobPrt . H<tle, Harmer, Ha.rri. on, Hendee, H ers y, Hooper, Houghton, Hurlbut, Jew tt. Kelley, Kendall, L ewis, L<>ughridg , Luttr U, ..Al xa.nller S. McDill, Mit hcll, 

Myers, esmith, N unn, Phelps, Phillip, , William R. Roberts, Renr.v J. S nuder, s~ner, Sheldon, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Slo~s, Sma.ll, J. Ambler Smith, William .A.. Smith, Stephens. S.vpher, Taylor, Charles R. Thomas, Tremain, Waddell, White- ley, Willie, Ephl"aim K. Wilson. J eremiah M. Wil~:~on, Wolfe, Wood, and Pierce M. B. Young-::.7. 

So the amendment, as amended, was non-concurred in. 

Mr. TYNER. 1 now move there be a committee of conference 

1·eq nested on the disagreeing votes of the two Hous a. The motion wa agreed to. 

And then, on motion of Mr. GARFIELD, (at five o'clock and fifty 

minutes p. m.,) the House took a recess until seven and a half 

o'clock p.m. 

EVENING SESSION. 

The Honse reassembled at even and a half o'clock p.m., the Speaker in the chair. ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED . 

Mr. PENDLETON, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported 

that they had examined and fonnd truly enrolled bills of the following titles; when the Speaker signed the same: An act (S. o. 954) prohibiting the publication of the Revi ed 

Statutes of the Unitetl State in the newspapers at the expense of the 

United States; and 

An act (S. No. 110) for the relief of the East Tennessee niversity. 

fr. HARRIS, of Georgia, from the same committee, reported that 

they had examined and found truly enrolled bill. of the following 

title. ; wh~n the Speaker signed the same: An act (H. R. No. 3309) granting to the N vada County NaiTow- gau~e Railroad. Company a right of way through the public lands for a railroad; . An act (H. R. No. 3332) to fix the time for the el~ction of Representatives in the Forty-fourth Congre s from the tat.e of .Mia i ip].>i; 

An act (H. R. No. 3417) to relieve Thomas Claiborne, of Tenness e, 

of political disabilities impo ed upon him by the fomteenth amendment to the Constitution of the nited State ; 

An act (No. 4600) for the government of the District of Columbia, 

anll for other purpo e ; aDd 

An act (H. R. No. 3748) directing the Secre·tary of the Trea ury to 

report upon the nece sity for a public building at Brooklyn, New 

York, aud the cost of the same. 

CHOCTAW CLAIM. . 

Mr. W .ARD, of New Jersey, obtained the floor, and yielded ten minutes to . 
5218 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Mr. PARKER, of Missouri, who said: Mr. Speaker, I would not 

trouble the Hoose at this time if it were not for the fact that in the 

discussion the other day on what was called the Choctaw claim the 

gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. COBURN,] unwittingly, of course, fell 

into a blunder which may justly be considered. puttingmembers of 

Congress in the po ition of having voted for a claim for which a receipt in full had already been given. In order that those gentle- men who vot-ed for the bill and in order that those who disco sed it 

and voted against it may not be put in a false position, I desire the 

facts in connection with this matter may be given to the country so 

they may be completely understood. 

It will be remembered that the gentleman from Indiana had read a receipt which he claimed in his speech wa a receipt in full for the 

payment of this Choctaw claim. Of course if that be the fact then 

this Honse was spending valuable time in disco ing a claim which 

had been receiptecl for in full and it pots the House in a false position. If it be true that this claim had been atisfied in full and a receipt had been given for it, it also puts a lea(ling committee of this 

House, the Committee on Appropriations, in a false position. If it be true that a receipt in full had been given for this claim, it 

puts the gentleman from Maine, the gentleman from Ohio, my friend 

from Pennsylvania, [Mr. SPEER,] and in fact all of the gentlemen who 

discussed this, except the gentleman from Indiana himself, in a ingular position, because they all a?nll_tt~d _that th~ claim had m~rit 

in it. It could not hav,e any ments m It if a receipt had been given 

in full for it. 

In order that the fact.s may be known in connection with this matter, I desire to trespass npon the House briefly to show what this re- ceipt means and what it was given for, and that it may be perfectly 

understood I ask the Clerk to read the receipt a given in the RECORD and that portion of the remarks of the gentl man from Indiana 

immediately following. The Clerk read as follow : 

[Copy of release referred to in the foregoing letter.] 

· "\Vhereag by an act of Congress entitled "An act to supply cleficiencie in the 

appropriations for the service of the fi cal year ending the 3Uth of June, 1 ·2," it is 

provided that after the 30th day of June, 1852, all paym nt~ of interest on ili amounts awar4led Choctaw claimants, under the fourteenth article of the tr at.v of 

Dancinu Rabbit Creek, for lands on which they residetl, l>nt which it is impo-sil.Jle to give them hall cease, and that the Secretary of tho Int~rior be directed to pay saiil claimants the amount of principal awardoo in ea~h CMe respectively, and that 

the amount necc ary for this pnrpo e be apJ?TOpriated, not exceciling 372,000; and 

that the final payment and sattsfu ·tion of smd awa,nl hall be tirst ratified and ap- proved as a final r el ase of all claims of such parties under the fourteenth artitJle 

of said treaty l.JY. the proper· national authority of the Choctaws, in such for·m as shall be pre cnbe~l uy the Secretary of_ the Interior: .£ ?W, l.Je it known, that th 

said ueueral conn 1l ot the Choctaw Nation do h er eby ratify and approve th final 

payufent and satisfa ·tion of &'lid awards, agr eably to the provisions of the act aforesaid, as a final r elease of all claims of such parties und r the fourteenth article 

of said trea.ty. Mr. COBURN. Under the r elea I haveju tread 50,000 waspaicl bytheGov rn- ment and accepted by the anthoriti s of U1e Choctaw Nation as a complete and final s ttlement. Thl're the matter shoulllre t. If the account has since been opened, if au equity bas been raised on behalf of these Indians if au obligation has ince 

been mcnrred by the treaty-making power of the United States, that is matter of 

discussion for lawvers; it is a. question that ought to l.Je investigated thoroughly 

anfl completely, ari(l hould not be brought _in here at the end of an-appropriation 

bill to be di cussed under the pre ent circumstances. I regard this matter as of very great importanc_e aside.from the. amo~t of money involved. We ought to adopt and stand l.Jy a. pohcy agruust openm&: claims of such 

6l'eat aae unle some eq n.ity of a very tron cr character is presen ten. Here~ so far as I can ee, there is none. T'he claim s ems to be trun;tped u;p a.f_ter 

settlement in full more than t\ enty ye.o'l.rs. It deserves th fullest mvest1gati.on 

and the most thorough iliscu sion, such as we cannot gi eat this time. 

Mr. PARKER, of Missouri. It will be observed, Mr. Speaker, that 

the gentleman a erts in his remarks here that this receipt was given 

in full, and he nses the expression that if this accoun t is again to be 

opened ther shonlcl be some strong eq nity before it is opened. ·why, 

sir, it never bas been cJosed. The gentleman fell into a most egregious 

blunder when he presumed that thi receipt was given in full for this 

claim that ba been before the Hou e at this s ion. It will be re- membered by the Hou e that after the Senate madejts award in 1859 

it directed the Secretary of the Interior to make up the account, and 

in that account is sbo n just exactly what this receipt was given for. 

The whole number of acres of land the Government acqnir d of 

these people by pnrchase was 10,423,195.69 acre . It will be re- membered that under the treaty of 28th Septemb r, 1830, called the 

treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, a portion of tho e people de irecl to 

remain in their conn try in Mis ·issippi. The Government by the fourteenth article of that treaty provided that those who desired to r -

ma,in should have set apart to them a reservation of six hundred and 

fmty acres to the head of each famHy and so much to each child and 

member of such family. The amount of the e reservations that were set apart under th.is fourteenth article of tbe treaty was in the aggregate 334,101.62 acres. It was ascertained when the Government, after 

having made a survey of this conntry, came to parcel out the e re -

ervations to these people that ettlers had gone upon the land, and 

the Government of the United tates wa unable to comply with the 

provisions of the treaty of 1830. The lands were not there to be given 

to them. In order to settle the controversy Congress pa eo a law in 1 42 providing for the appointment of commissioners to settle the differences 

between them. Those commissioners did settle the differences, and 

the Government by its solemn treaty, subsequently entered into, provided that this people hould have, in lieu of the reservations, scrip 

valued at 1.25per acre and upon wbicbscriptheywere to pay interet 

at the rate of 5 per cent. until the principal was ·atisfied. Und r the terms of the act of June 30, 1~52, the Government appropriated 

'2,000 to sati fy thi cri p which hacl been given in lieu of there r- vations belonging to the Choctaws who cho e to remain in the tate 

of Missis ippi. This receipt, when the $870,000 were paid, wa gi en in full satisfaction of the claim for the e 32'2,046.74 acre , or the scrip 

for it; and that is all that this receipt means and all that it ba.s 

reference to. 

By turning to the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1 :10, it will bo 

observed that that article, which is referred to in this receipt a beiug 

the one out of which the subject-matter of th re eipt grew, has no 

reference to anything in the world except t.he e 334,000 acres of r ,' r- vations. Article 14 of the treaty proviues thatEach Choctaw head of a family being desirous to remain ani!. become a cit.i- zen of the States shall be permit;ted to do so by signifying his intention to t.h 

agent within six months from the ratification of this trt'laty, ancl he or she slmll 

thereupon be entitled to a reservation of one section of six btmclred aml fort-y acr ~ 

of land, to be bounded by sectional lines of survey; in like manner shall b entitl!\d to one-half that quantity for each unmarried child which is livin~ 'vith him ov r ten years of acre, and a quarter section to uch child as may be unuer ten years of age, t~ adjoin the location of the parent. If they reside upon said land intenrling to become citizen of the tate for five years after the ratification of thi treaty, in 

that CMe a. grant in fee-simple hall i ue ; said reservation hall include the pe . entimprovem nt of the head of the family, or a portion of it. Persons who cl.'tim nude~ this arti.cle shall not lo e the pdvilege of a Choctaw citizen, but if they ever remove are not to be entitled to any portion of the Choctaw annuity. 

It will be observeu that when the Secretary of the Interior cast up 

this amount in 1 59 he deducted from the account the three bnmlre1l 

and thirty-four thousand acres for which we bad given the crip, and 

upon that subsequently paid this 70,000. Tbi receipt, by its ex- press terms, i a receipt in full only for the Yalu of thrPe bun1lr d anu .thirty-four thousand acre of land, nothing furth r. It expre, s upon its face that that i what it is. 

Now, without being de irons of critici ing the gentleman from Incliana, I will ay that he either knew about this matter or he diu not 

know. If he did not know :tbont it, then itwa c rtainly, to say the 

least and to put it in the mildest form pos ibl , unkind for him to 

eek to pot almo tone-half of this House in tb po ition before the 

country and the worlU of voting to pa s here a claim which, if it 

had been a he as erted, atisfied, it would bave been simply an outrage upon the Hotu!e to unue1·take to pa s. If he did not unrl.ersta.nd 

the ca. e, if he fell into thi error without unu rstanding it, be i~::~ 

equally culpable as though he bad understood it, because upon a matter of this importance and magnitude which may affect the standing of fellow-members of this Hon e, which ma,y put them in a fals 

po ition before tb ir a ociates, it is ungenerous for a gentleman of 

this House to make a ertions upon a subject about which he know 

nothing. If he does know an.vtbing about it, then he does not properly nnuer. taml and con true the record. 

I beg pardon of the Ron e aml of the Chair for thus trespa inoupon their attention on this matter; but I d em d it clue to other 

gentlemen of this House, as well a to myself, that the country shoulu 

properly understand what this r·eceipt was, and that the speech of 

the gentleman, consi ting of a ertions that thi was a fraudulent antl 

trnmpeu-op claim, should not go to the count1·y without the fa ts 

being shown to rebnt ncb statement . I thank the House for its 

attention. • BOUNTIES. 

])fr. WARD, of New Jei y. Mr. Speaker, I bad the honor to introduce, in theearlypart of these sion,a bill (H. R.No.1244)granting 

bounties to the heirs of decea ed soldiers. I give notice that I will, on the first opportunity, call up that measure aucl pre s it to a ot . I send it to the Clerk's desk that it may be read. 

The Clerk read as :(ollow : 

A. bill !IT:luting bounties to heirs of soldiers who enlisted in the service of tbe 

United States during the war for thesuppre ion of the rebellion for ales p riod 

than one year, and who were kill d or have died by rea on of such service. 

Be it enac~d 1Jy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America. in Oonyress assembled, That the heirs of any soldier who was killed or di e( I 

while in the military service of the United State , in th line of duty, durin a the war for the suppressiou of t.be r ebi'Uion, who. e p riofl of enli tment wa.s for 1 :-~s 

than one year, or wbo . hall have since died by r eason of wonnds received or dis- ease contracted while in such. ervic , shall be enti.tleu t~ r ceive the sa.me l>ounti ,. as if said soldier hatl nlistetl for three years: Provicled, TIL<tt the heirs . o ntitle<l 

shall be sncb, an<l only sucbJ. a are namefl and in the order named, and upon the onilitions mention ell m the nr t Bection of the act of July 11, 1 2: And providetL 

fu1·tll.er, That nothing in this act shall authorize th payment on accouut of any soldier who has received bounty from the Govemment of the United State . 

:Mr. WARD, of New Jersey. The object ancl purpo e of this mea .'- ure is clearly and concisely stat cl in the bill. It provides that tbe 

heirs of those who were killed or who have died from wounds or dir;- ease coutracteu in the rebellion, who e period of nlistment were for 

less than one year, shall be entitleu to receive the same bouutie as 

if they bad enli tell for three years; and also proviue that nothiug 

shall be paid on acc01mt of any soldier who ha r ceiv d bounty. Volunteers in the Army of the United State who served in the r - cent war, and who enlist cl for one year and 11pward, have very prop~ 

erly received bountie , while tho e who came forward so promptl. 

and nobly in the beginning of the struggle, ha e beeu in this respect 

wholly neglected. It has always s emeu to m~ manifestly unju t 

that those who were first tore ponu to the President's proclamation 

calling upon the militia of the several Stat s to aiu in maintaining 
1874. CONGRES~ION.AL RECORD. 5219 

"the honor, the integrity, and t.he e~tence of our National Union," 

should be treated with less constderation by the General Government 

t.han "tho e who subsequently enlisted. 

The bill under con ideration does not propo e to give bounties to 

those who survive, though it would be only equal ju tice that they 

should receive them, but H proposes that where any one of these soldiers has laid down his life on the field of battle or bas died by reason of wounds received or di ease contracted in the service, that then his 

widow, his mother, his children, his .sisters, or broth~rs, acco~ding to 

the established oruer of representation as propo ed m the bill, shall 

receive a bounty equal to that received by those who enlisted for a 

longer period. In order that the proviso of this bill may be properly understood, 

I call attention to the following extract from tlte act of J nly 11, 1 62, 

specifying the ueneficiaries nuder that act: I 

Provided, That said bounty shall be paid to. the !ollowing pe~ on. , and in the 

order followinu, aml to no other person, to W1t: First, to thtl wulow of such deceased soldier, if there be one; second, if there be no wiuow, tben to the chilllren 

of such deceased solflier, share anu share alike; third, if such solc.lier left neither a widow, or child, or children, then anu in that case such bounty shall be paid to tbefollowi.n.,.persons, providecl they beresiclentsof the Unitetl Stat.es, to wit: First, to his fa.the;'; or, if he shall not be living or ha abandoned the support of his family, then to the mother of such oldier; and if there be neither fa~her nor mother a.~ aforesaid, then such bounty shall be paid to the brotb ·rs and siSters of the deceased soldier, resident as aforesaid. 

Mr. Speaker, this proposition needs no ar!!UJUent; neither logic nor rhetoric can aid it. Whether the soldier e;Jlsted for three months or three years, or for a shorter or longer period, I think it will be admitted by all that if he gave his life to his country he gave as much as he who gavemo t-evenall that he had; and his dependent family 

i equally deprived of the services and support of their natural protector. We are to-day in the full enjoyment of home and country, of civil 

and religious liberty, of freedom and equality. We have privilege& 

that no other people on earth enjoy. The e privileges have cost a price, and that price is the blood of those whom this bill seeks to 

remember. Our sense of obligation and gratitude cannot reach them, 

but those who were ever dearer to the dying oldier than his wan- ing life are w,ithin our reach, and it is unt a small meed of justice 

for us to say to them we will pay to you who have lost your son, or husband, or brother, that which they did not receive in life, and 

which the thousands of volunteers now in life and health rlid receive. 

The proposed bounty is in fact only abontoue-balfthe sum realized 

by those who were entitled to bounties under exiting laws, becau e they received tlieir bountie long years ago, which, with the interest 

adued, reaches nearly twice the sum originally paid them. It is only a ked at this period for the representatives of tho e soldiers who .en- listed for less than a year, anu have died uy reason of their services, 

what others received many years since. I know that retr nchment and economy is the aim of the members 

of this House, and rightly too, and no one will l>y any proper measure go further in that <lirection than I ; but let us ee to it that in our en- deavor to promote economy we do not perpetuate injustice, and that we are not sordid and ungrateful, remombering that there are some duties to which the plea of economy cannot rightfully be made. While 

the volunteers for a year aud upward have rec ived their bounties 

and many are now. enjoying them, we cannot under the plea of econ- omy refuse a bounty to the widows and moth 1 of tho e against 

whom the Government has o long and unfairly discriminated. 

But, Mr. Speaker, it appears to me that consirler d a a measure of 

economy even, this bill hould be approved. This nation is in its infancy, and it is too much to hope, with all our desires for peace, that 

there are not other wars before it, and more blood to be sheu, and I 

insist therefore that the Government cannot afford to withhold this 

justice, and longer manifest a want of consideration for those who 

have died in defe~se of the nation; for such a policy would tend to 

retard enlistments and lead the people in times of emergency to st:md 

aloof from the defen e of the national life until the nece ities of the 

Government would compel the offering of extra-ordinary bounties. 

Whether, therefore, considered as au act of justice, or in view of possible future wars, I deem this measure to be ef}ually entitled to our favorablb action. . Mr. Speaker, tho. e whom the bounties provided by this act would 

r·each, being the families of deceasell soldiers, are the ones who have 

suffered most by the war. Deprived of the care and support of tho e upon whom they depended, they were obliged alone to toil and to 

suffer, and often for the very necessaries of life. They bore the anxieties and tortures of mind incident to the ever-pressing reflection 

that son or husband or brother ·was in peril. Theirs was the grief 

and fearful desolation when were returned to the family circle, cold 

and dead, the remains of him who a few months before left them 

uouyant with hope and burnin~ with patriotism; theirs have since 

been the privation and ne~lect mcident to a life of poverty and want. 

Since the beginning of tne war up to the present time it has been 

my pleasure to give orne attention to the interests of the soldiers 

and of those they have left behind them; and while as a rule they 

bear their misfortunes with wonderful resignation, I am bound to 

bear my testimony that the discrimination in the way of bounties 

against those who enli ted for less than a year and who gave their 

lives in the service of their country, has produced with many a deep 

Rense of wrong and injury, and I feel that we should hasten to relieve 

the nation from this charge of injustice, which is in truth too well sus- tained. 

Mr. Speaker, I do not wi h the House to act blinuly on this subject, 

and would not conceal from it the fact that the bill involves no inconsiderable expenditure. I estimate that there are forty-five hrmdred 

and fifty families tnat would Le entitled to claim the benefits of this mea ure ; andauountyof 200foreacbfamilywouldinvolve an expenditure of 900,000. But although the sum is con id ruble we should 

not he itate to vote it; we are doing but simple jnstice to tho e by 

whose fearful sacrifices it is tbat we have anytbiug to economize or to bestow. It will be observed that thi uill does not authorize the payment 

of one dollar on account of tho e who have received bounty, and that 

it does not apply to the future, but only to the heirs of soldiers now deceased, and dues not therefore involve an expenditure that it is to 

be either continued or increased. So long a perio(l has now elapsed 

since the war· ceased, that in the future it cannot be reasonably claimed 

that the soldier has died from wounds or di ease contracted in the 

service. 

It is impos ible to state with exactne s the number of beneficiaries 

which this bill will include, and I have been obliged, in arriving at 

my conclusions, to a ume that the number of deaths in the short 

service will be in proportion to the length of the terms of enlistment, 

the arne as in the long service. The \Var Department has furnished me with a statement of the number of enlistments during the war, 

and the length of service; _the whole number being 2,669, :>2, divided as follows : 

i~~ tr:J;~~;:-:-:-:-:·:-~-: :- -:-:-:-:-:-:-: :-:-:-:-:-:-:-::_~.~ ~ ~ ~:: ~ ~~: ~= ~ ~ :: ~ ~ :~ ~ ~ :~ ~ ~::::: 1, :*: ~gg Whole number for one year and upward to whom this bill does not relate For less than one year: 

2, 367,171 

Sixty days .... . ................... -----·------ .......... : .. . Throo months . .............................. _ .. _ . ........ _ .. 

ro~h~~~~-~~:~: :::: :~::~~ ~~: ~ :·: ~ ~: :~::: :::~~ :~·.::: ::·_-_ -,-_ Six:months .............. ................................... . 

~~~\:O~~r:~:::::: : ~~:::: ~ ~:: ~ ~ :·.:::: ~ ~::: ~ ~ :·.·-·.·_·_-_._._-_-_-_-_-_·_-_ 

2!)6 

10 '416 

85,507 

42 

20,439 373 

87,588 

For less than one year (and it only to the families of this 

cla of soldiers who were killed or di din couseqmmce of 

the service, that the billr f eraT. _ .. _ .. _ ... _ . _ .... .. ................. . 302,661 

Total number.......................... . .......................... ~ G69,832 

The following is a statement of the numb r of t.r·oop who entered 

the ervice for a les.'3 term than one ~ear, showing tlte State anu Territories in which they enlisted : 

Maine ................... ... _ ........... ..... _ .......... . .... _. _ .... ..... .. ew llampsbire ......................................................... . Vermont ............................................................ ..... . Massachusetts ...... .. . .................................................. . Rhode Iosland .... ...... ...... _ .... . ... . .... ...... .... ...... _ .... _ . _ ..... _ . . Connecticut . .. _ .... _ . .. .... .. ............ . _. _. __ ... _ ..... _ ..... _. _ .. _ .... . New York .. . .. . __ ....... . ..... _._ . . .... . ... _ ...... __ ............ _._ . ... _ .. New Jersey_._. _ ........... ... _ .... _ ........ _ .................... __ ...... . Pennsylvania ......... _ ..................... ............................ _ .. Delaware .. _ ........ _ ....................... .......... . .......... _ ..... _ .. . 

~rJ:!1~1~~i~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~: ~:: ~~ ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ ~:: ~:~ ~:~: :~ ~::: :~::: :~:: ::: ~: 

~?!~: : ~::::::::::: ':::::::: ~:::: ::: ~ :·: ~ :::::: ~:::: ~ ~ ~ : ::: :: ~::: ~::: : ~ : : : ~ wi~:~~h;.: : ~ :: : ~: : ~ : : : : : ::: : : :: ~ ::::::: : : ~ :: : :: : :: ~ : : : ~ ~ ~ : : : : ::::: : ~::::: Minnesota. ............ _ .......... _ .... _ ... _ ... ......... . ................. . 

~~:otirl::: :: ~:: ::::::: :·.-_:: :: -.·.:: ·_ :::·.-.-_-_-_-_::: ~::::::: :: ·_ :·.::::::: -_: ::::: Kansas .................... -··· · ·----·· ........... . ....................... . Tennessoo ... _ .... . .......... ·-- .................. _ -- .. . ............. . . . . . Arkansas .................................................... -.- ...... -.- -. 

~:~£~~:~~~i~~~:~::: :::::::: ~ ~ :::::::::::::::::: ~::: ::::::::::::: :~:: ~ ~ ~~tria~~:::::~:::~~::::::~:::~:::::~:::::::::~:~:~~~: ::::::~~::~:~:::: 

8, 3!)1 

2, 6e2 

5,56:.1 

Z7 3:.13 

5:206 

8, 004 

29,916 

14, 579 6:l, 773 

2, 574 

2,912 

2, 04 

4, 720 51, 347 17,710 

20, a44 

781 3, 909 

930 4, 869 

16,590 

1, 091 

73!) 

374 

42 

1,22R 

1,342 

2,3!)6 

669 

TotaL ........................... _ ........... .. _... . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . 302, 661 

Tb whole number of deaths in the Army, incltl(ling all enli tments, was 327,5 , and as five months is he average of the short terms it 

gives as the probable number of deaths in the cla.s provided for in 

this bill, the number before stated., namely, 4,550. I houldstate that 

the econd Auditor of the "!'rea ury, Ron. E. B. Fr nch, who, from 

his great experience and int~lligence, is perhaps better able to form a correct opinion on this subject than any one else, a ores me that 

my est~ate of deaths in the short service is very liberal and will ex- ceed by far the actual number to be provided for. In iustice to the Thirty-eighth Congress it hould be sta..ted that it 

pas ed an act, which was approved :March 3,1 G5, (Statutes at Large, 

volume 13, page 488, section·ll,) by which bounties were intended to 

have been given to the heirs of all soldiers, but beino- referrred to in 

said act as "volunteers," the ecretary of War decided tltat thi ·class 

of men, having enlisted under the President's call for militia., wer not 

entitled to the benefits of the act; and in consef}nence thereof the ~ood intentions of Congress were defeated. Now should the proposed 

bill be concurred in the spirit of that law will be carried out and the 

long-deferred justice accomplished. 
5220 CONG-RESSION~ RECORD. JUNE 19, 

It is not necessary I am sm·e to appeal for the support of this roeas-' ure to the gallant and patriotic gentlemen upon this :floor who participated in that tenible strife, or to the other members of this House, 

who, in common with all the people of this land, are to-day enjoying 

the fruita of that fearful conflict ; for it appears to roe that the demand is so reasonable and so just that no one will hesitate to grant 

the desired boon to the widows and orphans of the slain, but that all 

will gladly embrace the opportunity to perform this act of equity 

and mercy. ~11'. Speaker, feeling that this brief statement of the merits of thiH 

bill might with propriety be made I have ventured thus long to occupy 

the attention of the-Hou e. Permit me in conclusion to add one remark that the old and beautiful maxim which declares that "it is 

sweet to die for one's country," is only true when one dies with the 

conviction that he will be remembered with gratitude and the clear ones he leaves behind him with justice. 

MOIETIES, SANBORN CONTRACTS, ETC. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, failing health and 

the imperative dil'ection of roy mecl ical adviser ofthe danger of taking 

part in a debata which might call for a dmught upon physical stren.,oth 

kept me silent upon the debate on the b-ills repealing the several 

moiety laws by means of which the collection of taxes had be n as ured in all civilized nations. Perhaps this inability WM not·infelicitou, because it now permits me to call the attention of the House 

to what I deem the dangers to the revenue of o complete a departure 

from a system begun under Hamilton, sanctioned without interruption by every legislative act without one intended exception; and 

because this may now be done, too, after the officers lately executing these laws have gone out of office. The personal enmities and 

f elings which egged on the prosecution of the inve tigations of the 

Committee on Ways and Means have subsided or failed in their spe ific ohje~ts; personal ambition and hat.e, which were its impelling mo- tives, have either been satiated or failed in theil' purpo e ; and the 

bill propo ed by the committee having pas ed the House without a division, what I may now b1·ing to the attention of the House will not 

have its weight diminished by the allegation of a desire to defeat an alleged measure of reform for personal or private reasons. I assume the experiment of abolishing moieties is to be tried. I only 

desire therefore now to raise a warning voice against thi experiment as one in the interest of th dishonest ana un crnpulons importer and 

tax-evader, against the interest of the people as well as the hone t 

and con cieutious merchant. 

What, then, i the moiety system f It is giving certain L<trgerewards 

to official or other persons who will take upon therru elves the unplea - ant task-which is the dnty of every citizen, but wholly neglectedof exposing frauds upon the Government and evasions of its taxe by 

those by whom the law requires they shall be paiu. This system has 

been the machinery for preventing fraucls in the collection of taxes 

in all civilized countries from time immemorial. We derive our law 

in this regard, as indeed in all others, directly from Eno'land. It wa declared in the House as an argument against it that the moiety system had been abolished in England. That is true; but the other 

truth which can etl its abolition was not stateu in the same connec- tion by either of the gentlemen of the Committeo on Ways and Means 

in their elaborate speeches taking up several days upon this subject, or in the several reports which they have made to the House, cover- ing six hundred pages; and that is, Great Britain has abolished unties 

upon all articles of importation sa e seven only, and upon these bel' 

tax is sub tantially a specitic and not an ad vctlurem, dnt~·, and she ha. thrown around those seven articles such safeguards a to comp l 

the hone t payment of the impost upon them; while " •! have impo ed 

duties, generally ad valoren~, on th1'ee thousand two hu? • .lJ•ed and eleven 

articles of impo·rtation of every pos ible description, and in the value 

of each of which every customs officer would be required to be 

skilled and expert in addition to his assured hone toy, in order to an accurate collection of the imposed duties; and, in addition,_ experi- ence shows that he would have to l.lo still more expert as a detective 

in discovel'ing and thwarting the many device by which the ju t dues 

of the country are evaded and the revenues defrauded by the skillel, 

expert, and unscruptuous importer. 

It has been said and reiterated, "Why cannot the revenue officers 

collect all the revennesY If they are honest and do their llnty, what neces ity to have informers and detective f" The answer is a plain one: The more honest the officer, the more unsuspecting of fmml 

and the more easily deceived ; and yon cannot get men for 1,500 a year who are learned in the whole circl~ of human knowledge asapplied to the many thou and article of use, ne sity, and luxury 

which are imported and taxed by a nation, comprising every -yariety of 

climate and every grade of nece sity and luxury in its inhabitants, 

surrounded by a customs line of more thari twelve thousand mile , 

to say nothing of .Ala ka, over which importation may be made without the payment of dutie unle s prevented by the custom officers. 

Does not this simplest, temeut show the entire impo ibility of collecting the just taxes upon this number of articles by the knowledge of the customs officers, to be imported under an ad valormn duty 

founded upon their valuations, or to protect from smng~ling so ex- tended a customs line by any practical nnmber of officials T The Committee on Ways and Mean forgot to tell you also that in addition to 

the number of officers which Great Britain has to snpervi e the collectiou of taxes upon goods, she still has a "preventive service," as it is called, with an organized corp of trained officers, covering h er whole coast, and watching every bay, inlet, and headlancl of her island whereon contmband goods can po ibly be landed. We have no such service, but officers engaged in collecting revenues upon I'egnlal'ly imported goods only, tho special agents of the Treasury and the revenue marine excepted. How, then, can smugglli1g and the mn ·h more extended and injurious crime, the importation of goods b false 

values and false weight and measurement, be prevented f Only by th' 

imposition of penalties so severe that they will make tho hazard of tho 

business more than commensurate with th~ profits. Now the profit on the undervaluation of a; single cargo may be hundl·eds of thonsan<ls, 

while smuggling rou t of nece ity be of very ronch 1 o value at tb 

single ventlll'e. Therefore the importation at undervaluation and by 

false weights anll measures is much more dangerous to the reveune than any po sible smuggling. Yet the col.D..Dlittee s ro to have directed all their enerl?ies to relieving from penalties frauds by uud r- valuations and cheating by fal e in voice whereby the gr a test wrongs 

and injuries are inflicted upon the Government, and to have given 

their attention to the prevention of smuggling, which of nee ity 

ronst be comparatively innocuou and in much smaller amount . The smuggler ron t hide in nooks and inlets, and bring in hi croods 

by stealth under the cover of darkness. Of nece ity they are few and 

of little cost. The fraudulent importer by a false valuation bring in 

hi good by the cargo, in three thou and ton steamers plying w·· kJ y 

between New York and Liverpool, and pa es them thmugh by a bribed officer at uuuervaluatiou on a perjured invoice of a c nfetl r- ate partner house in Europ , cheats the people of the United tates 

out of millions, thereby becomes a "merchant prince," and ·ov r, hi ins perhaps by building churche or other o tentatious act of 

advertising benevolence which bring trade to his honl:le; at the ullle 

time he lulls the nspicion and blinds the vigilance of the bon .st 

customs offic r. For how can he b lieve that such a beuevol ut, 

rich, and praying merchant can be getting the means for hi.s charities 

by defrauding the revenue, cheating the people out of < million dol- lar, and giving a thousand in charity that he may not be snsp ·t >d 

of the fraud I hope to convince the House before I get through 

that this is no fancy picture. Yet from this cla of defrauder of the revenue the bill of the committee take away almost every safeguard, 

and r lieve substantially of ev ry penalty. 

Penalties, however evere, will be of no value as a preventive un- less it is known tlh<tt they will be enforced. What do s the CAll ri- ence of all time and of all peoples teach u as to th detection of 

crime where there is great interest to co er it np This truth: that 

under ncb circurostanc crime is only to he found out and thwarted 

by an equal intere t in the discov rer anll pursuer, and the only 

safety to the revenue of the country is in tile b lief of the fraudulent 

importer that he is liable to be pnrsn d by men who e intellects are s1urpened and whose nergi are purred by an equal interest to discovel' the fraud with that which has impelled him to do the wr ng. 

It i replied to this that it is to be pre nrned merchants ar all 

honest; that it is not to be assumed that they defraud the rev nne; 

that a to them all this machinery is n ele s, all the pains and penalties imply vexatious, aml their only application i to inju.r the 

innocent importer who may happen to have made mistakes. The 

committee, however, have again forgotten to tell us that in e ery case of hone t mistake the law gives instant remedy in the remi 0 ion 

of all penaltie . Peualtie can only be inflicted on the m r bant 

when the Secretary of the Trea ury cannot be convinc d 1::\e is hone t. 

An illu tratiou, however, upon this point will give a better idea of 

the honesty of all merchants than any reasoning. .And 1 t I JIU1Y be 

suppo ed to b prejuc.liced I will take 

THE TEA TRADE OF BOSTON. 

The Honse is aware that our revenue sy tern allow the merchant 

to briug his goods in without payment of duties and keep them in 

bond, and in case he de ires export them without p~yment of duties. 

The House will also do me the favor to remember tliat up to 1 70 we had not a very large duty on tea, but yet enough to excite the cupirlit. of some "hone t merchant ." In 1 67 there wer exported in bond free 

of duty from Bo ton to certain small places in the Briti h pro vine •s bordering on the coast of faine, to wit: Saint Stephens, Saiut.Auclrews1... the I land of Grand Menan, Campo Bello, Indian Island, a,ll(l 

Saint John's River, 6,738 packages, ontaining 33 ,30 pounds of tea. 

But in the latt.er part of 1 G7 one of these "p stif ron inform r~:~, . 

upon whom the very viah:~ of wrath of the chairman of the commit- tee were poureu out-an informer, aided by a pecial agent of the 

Trea ury, wentdownEast alongtheline dividing us from the pro ince of New Brunswick, aurl commenced a serie of nits and eizur which 

the bill of the committee now forbids, esllecially seizures of book 

and papers; and the consequence wa that the next year, 1 6 , at the 

same ports, only 1,794 package of tea, amounting to 5,96 poundR, 

or one quarter a many, were ent there from, Boston to he muO'gled 

back into the Uniteu State . Does not this conclusively prove the nece ity for the use of the informer and the penalty of a moiety given 

to him to induce him to act for the Government so that he rna be 

willing to be vituperated by the learned chn,irruan of tlte committee 

in the following choice language: 

"An odious, despised bein.,., from whom everybody shrinks;" "who .has no place whatever in decent SOcie~ ;'9 II WhO ha. hiS :1CCur8eU employment; H H a vilt:l1 fll tel'• ing, putrescent informer.' "who takes the wages of sin a.nu iniquity." 

• 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5221 

Who would not require at least one-half of all the penalties he 

could get to have such billingsgate thrown at him in the face of the 

country 'f Did it ever occur to the chairman that there must be some- t4ing to inform of before there could be au informer; that the "honest merchant" must have committell a crime before anybody could tell 

of that crime; that the "honest merchant" must be convicted of 

defrauding the revenue by a jury, unless he confesses his guilt, before 

the informer can get a quarter of the penalties of the crime to which 

th court sentence the criminal In all this mo t remarkable ebul- li~ion of vituperation thelearne<lchairman finds no word of objurgation or characterization of the dishone t, perjured, fraudulent, smuggling importer, becan e of who e crimes alone the "pestiferous informer" can exist. Ah! who would not rather be the" merchant 

prince" who defrauds his government and chea~ the people and ia 

fal to his country and his God alike, to be praised and be lauded 

therefor by the Committee on Ways and Means, rather than the citi- :r, n who informs the Government of his crimes in order that they 

m:t. be hindered, stayed, and punished f 

To stamp the fact that all this importation of tea in bond from 

Bo ton-for I do not take into the account the other ports of the 

United States-to this province was.entirely for the purpose of being 

smuggled back into the United States by the "honest merchant," I call attention to t.he fact that in 1870 the duty was taken off tea, 

and in 1873, with all the increa e of population, there was sent from 

Bo ton to the same port ouly twenty-eight packages of tea, amounting to 1,766 pound , in I :find 1,738 package , containing 338,000 

poun(ls, when it could be smuggled with profit, the duty in the province being the same an the while-the duty having changed in this 

country alone. The table I send to the Clerk's desk will show this 

better than I have stated it. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Slat6/nent of the tea e.rported in bond to B1·itish prot inces durin!J the 

yea1·s 1 67 and 1868 fmTn th~ port of Boston. 

To New Brunswick. 

~~: 1~~::::: ::::::::::: . Grand Men au ........ .... .. . 'ampo Bello ...•.•.....•.... lmlian Island ............. .. ~aintJobn . ................ . Saint John River ....... ... . OLber porta . .......... . .... . 

Before the in· former. 

1867. 

Pkgs Lbs. 2,838 128, 494 224 10,055 40 2,624 32'2 13, 32'2 189 8,356 

2, 931 167,907 

194 8, 050 

After the suit. 

1868. 

Pkgs. Lbs. 34 15,941 10 360 33 2,01 33 1, 02 105 4, 754 1, 230 58,6 65 3, 405 

.After duty was taken off.* 

1873. 

Pkgs. Lbs. 

····---- --·-·---· 18 804 1 58 

- ~ .... - -- - ---·----- ------- --------- 9 904 

------- ---- ---·-· 

Total .. . .. . . . . .. . .. . .. . . 6, 738 3.1 , 808 1, 794 85, 968 28 1, 766 

*So there was no profit in smuggling acros the line into the United States. 

CUS1'011!-HOUSE, BOSTON, 

Collector's OjJwe, March 30, 1814. 

The fot·egoing tabular st..1.tement was compiled from the records in this office. 

lt->EAL.] W. A. SIMMONS, Collector. 

:Mr. B TLER, of Ma sa{)hn.setts. Bnt this exporting in bond of a .f w hundred thou ancl pounds of tea to half-civilizeu islands, a I 

have aid before, is but a bagatelle in comparison with the amount 

of frauds committed npon the revenue by false and fraudulent invoices of high-cost merchandise. I have therefore been at some pains 

to get for the u ·e of the House some accurate data founded upon 

statistics, which ma,y be verified by anybody who will take the same pains that I have don , and which cannot be successfully contradicted. 

Upon t hese I make this startling announcement to the House and 

the country: That the United States does not receive more than 

two-thi1Yls of her 1·even u.e ·upon all a1·ticles on which ad vawrem duties are 

impo ed in wh{)le or ·in part, so that to-day no more than 67 per cent. 

of our revenu are collected, owing to this class of frauds added 

to the others of which I have been speaking, or, in other words, if we could collect our revenues according to the present rate of taxation we could pay off yearly more than one hundred millions of the na.- tionaJ uebt, imposing no gre8.ter bnruen on the people than now, be- cause all of the e revenue of which the country is defrauded are charged to the consumer as if paid by the merchant; so that by these enormous frauds the country is doubly the lo er, first in its revenue, anu secondly ?Y th consumer paying it to the fraudulent merchant, 

generally an unporter who has a, branch of his mercantile house in 

this country and in tlte COUlltry from which his goods come. 

I would n.ot da1:e, ir, to make this very startling, nay, wonderful 

and almost mcreclible statement as to th e frauds of undervaluation 

:ond fal e invoice were I not fortified by proof which I bring to 

th atteJ?-tion of th~ House, p:emisi?g only that great as are the ~ra:nd With all po 1 ble penalties, etzure of book&, and moieties to 

Informer , and all the afegnards that the experience of the enstom-house officer of England and this country has enabled us to 

throw aro~nd the ~evenues of the United States, these safeguards 

and penalties and hinderances to frauds· have by the bill of the Committee on Ways and Means almo t every one of them been removed. 

Now to the proof. Let us take a. manufacture which has but just begun in this country. 

WORSTED STUFFS. 

Fraudulent undervaluations in worsted stuffs of all kinds sont from 

England to the United States are simply enormous, as the subjoined 

examples will demonstrate : Combed, not milled, worsted stuffs exported from Great Britain in one year, total number of yards, 154,206,478. Of the e there were sent 

to the United States 48,542,218 yards; to other countries, 105,664,260 

ards Total value a-s declared in the invoice to the United States, 

10,324,741.24; to other countries, 33,331,100.44. Average invoice 

value per yard to the United States, 21 cents; to other countries where 

there is no tariff o.f duties, 39.7 cents. Difference, or undervaluation, 

47 per cent. E timatell aunualloss on duties on this single class of 

goods, 3,007,190.40. OTHER WORSTED STUFFS. 

Total exported in five months; 85,299,174 yards; to the Unitecl 

Sta-tes, 28,442,728 yards; to other countries, 56,856,449 yards. Total 

declared valne to the Uni.ted States, $5,073,U75.2 ; to other countrie , 1 ,03 ,050.80. Average per yard to the United State, 18 cents; to 

other countries, 31 j cents. Difference, or nndervalua tion, 45 per cent. 

LINE~ • 

Exports in one year to the United States, 70,234,347 yards; total 

declared value, 10,507, 790.04. Average invoice value, 14.9 cents per 

yard. Exports same year to France, Prussia, and Spain, 7,404,154 

yards; total declared value, 1,64G,214.72; average invoice value, 24. 

cents per yard. Difference, or undervaluation in linens, sent to the 

United States, 43 per cent. LINEN Y AIL'\'8. 

Total exported in one year, 34,002,479 pounds; to the United States, 

1,247,457 pounds; other countrie , 32,755,022 pounds. Total declared 

value to the United States, 24 cents per pounds; to other countries, 

35 cents per pound. Undervaluation on yarns sent to the United 

States, 32 per cent. LINEN DAJIL\BK AND DIAPER. 

Exported to aJl countries in one year, 1,397,077 yards; to the United 

States, 1,267,390 yards; other countrie , 129,687 yards. Total declared 

value to the United States, 413,311.80; to other countrie , 56,081.08. 

Average per yard to the United States, 32 cents; to other countries, 

43 cent.s. Undervaluation, 26 p r cent. The undervaluation in the exports of carpet-s from the looms of 

Kidderminster, Halifax, &c., is enormous. In bags, leather, gloves, 

percussion caps, &c., the same ratio of undervaluation is shown to 

exist as in fa!!t it does with all articles paying an ad valorem duty. 

The whole needle trade of Redd:itch and vicinity is carried on on a similar basis. It is like other branches of our foreign trade entirely ·in the hands of the foreign manufacturer and his resident agent or partner here, thus defying detection and exposure except by the 

greatest skill stimulated by the big he t rewards. Certain it is that all 

articles of foreign manufacttue and importation shipped to the United 

States are in quality and co t far better than the average shipped to 

other countTie , and therefore the average rate of invoicing should 

be much higher for the United State:, wberea as we have seen it is rVastly lower. This fact, therefore, clearly demonstrates such under- ~aluation is done for the sole purpo e of defra.uding our revenues. To show the accuracy of the conclusion it is only necessary to turn 

to articles which pay purely specific duties. By their undervaluation 

nothing is to be gained. Take for examplecoTTON GOODS. 

Total of heavy printed cotton exported in the same year as above 

from Great Britain, 715,559 642 ya1'ds; to the United States, 27,3e4,430 

yards; other countries, 6 , 175,212 yards. Total declared value to 

the United Stat(l , $3,258,229.92; to other countries, 72,2-24,682.20. 

Average per yard to the United States, 111; cents; to other countries, lOt cents. LIGHT PRINTED COTIO ' 8. 

Total exported same year, 141,604,328 yards; to the United States, 

9,324,688 yards; other countrie , 132,279,640 yards. Total declared 

vaJ.ue to the United tat-es, 1,151,591.88; other countries, 13,9 5,843.08. 

Average per yard to the United. States, 12 cents; to other countries, 

10 cents. 

Here it will be seen that as soon as we approach goods paying ex- clusively a specific duty the average rate of invoicing is higher to 

the United States than to other countries, proving that a better ciass 

of goods generally is sent here than to other countries, and leading 

to the inevitable conclusion that the same difference of high r rates 

of invoicing would prevail in worsteds, linen , carpets, &c., if they. 

al o paid a specific in tead of an ad valorem, or mixed duty. The same fac~s are true regarding imports from other countries. 

The <Jommittee on Ways and Means may reply to this-which would 

be the fact-that they have not had these statistics before tbe111. 

Certainly not. If they have, their report does not show it. They 

have examined only cases of individual merchants to find out if the 

laws ha.Ye worked supposed hardships, and not the case of the people, 

to see bow they are defrauded. The committee put forward most 

prominently of all, as example of the hardship of the law upon bonest men, the case of Phelps, Dodge & Co., making the case of that 

firm the ground-work for all their recommended legislation; and 

in their report, and in the debate which followed, and which for days 

members of the committee had substantially to themselves, no one bas uttered a word of animadversion upon Phelps, Dodge & Co. 

No harsh language is used; all that is reserved for the officeF who 
5222 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

brought their pleaded guilt to light. In the course of the evidence, a taken before the committee, there seems to be a studied and care- ful attempt that that firm shall appear to the country as honest and 

injured merchant , who had, by the devices of the officers of the Government, been robbed of a very hhrge sum of money. All the lawyers 

and chairmen of boardti of trade, anti there were many, made it the 

ground-work of their attacks npon the revenue laws. It went forth as the chevctl de bataille of tho e who ue ired to take off all effective 

penaltie to prevent frauds in the collection of the revenne. The fact of thi case, as stated by Mr. Dodge, the senior partner, 

wl10se te timony as a witne's occLlpieu longer time than any other 

witness save one, and to make room for whom the repre entative of 

the National Board of Trade gave way, are these. (Let us premise by 

saying, however, that none of the a.ctive junior partners of the house 

who swore to the invoices, and were charged with committing the 

frauds, were sent for by the committee.) Phelps, Dodge & Co., a firm 

of many yea.rs' standing, who had imported .between'' three and four 

hundred millioudollars' worth of goods, and had paid the United States 

Government more than fifty millions of dotie ," e~y honest-giving 

t!le very language of Mr. Dodge-" I will say it with perfect confidence 

that our good name and our integrity were never assailed in these 

many years until it was as ailed by the Government "-meaning the 

charge, made by a special agent of the Trea~ury, of false valuation 

in December, 1~72. Mr. Dodge again reiterates that statement : "The 

first knowledge or hint in forty-odd years of busioe s that I have had 

with the Government, that I was accu ed of any dereliction of duty 

was, when sitting at the board of one of our large insti.tntions, Ire- ceived a note from my pa,rtner, asking me to come to the customhouse," (iu December, 1872 ;) that thereupon he went, and found his 

:tirrn accused of having ruauy invoices for fiv0 years-which was as far a the Government could go back ou account of the statute of 

limHations-sworn to at a false valuat.ion, for the purpo e of defrauding the revenne; and that t.he books and papers of the firm touching 

those importations would be seized if not voluntarily produced to 

the officers. Thereupon, yield.ing to tile nece ity, his books and pa- vers were pro1lnceu, aud from those books aud papers the special 

agent of the Trea ury made up an account, first, of $260,000, but 

afterward corning up to the enormous sum of $271,000, the amount 

of a,rticles in the invoic··s in which ''simple mistakes" only, as M1'. 

Dodge now declare , had been made in stating their value, hy which 

the Government had lost duties to the amount uf some sixteen hundred dollars only. Bot Phelps, Dodge & Co., fearing that these" simple mistakes" would hold them guilty in a court, and beihg ''subject 

to a system of terrorism" whicll they could not withstand, in oruer to ave them elves from the oppressions of the Government official , io entire consciousness of integrity and innocence of all intended or actual wrong, after they bad taken counsel of four most eminent lawyers, and after reflecting upon th-e subject for more than six weeks, 

made an offer of compromise of penalties for the crime of importation 

by false invoice , which they confessed in wTiting they had done, and 

paid. this very great sum of mouey into the Treasury, as penalty. 

This is the statement, in brief, as ir. Dodge puts it forwa,ru in con- nection with the record. He admits t.ha.t the house of Phelps, Dodge 

& Co. ba had, for mauy years, a branch hou ·e in Liverpool-Phelps, 

James (£, Co.-which was substantially the same in interest as the 

house in New York, composed of the same Phelp and the same .James as the honse in New York. To exclude all conclmsiou that this .Mr. 

James of this firm in 4iverpool did a,ny ·wrong, Mr. Dodge tells us that Mr. James joined the firm and {ernoved to LiverpoolWhere, for over forty yeal'S, he has been the reRiden t partner, sustaiuing the cbar- acter of a high-minded, rc pee ted, and honorable merchant, and for a number of years past tne oldest American merchant in England ; his name a synonym of honesty and uprightness, and shediling a luster on his own couutry and American merchants; gratified by the honors conferred abroad, but ever looldn~ with pride, as an American citizen, for protection to his own country. In all this time not a que<~tion bad ever arisen as to the vast shipments made to the honse in New York. Ou entering his office one day in December, 1872, he fonnd the following dispatch, in leaded lines, in the newspapere: " PHELPS, Door.E & Co., NEW YORK.-This great firm have had their books and papers s eized by the United States for alleged frands on the revenue to the amount of l, 750,000." I will not attempt to de cribe the feelings of sv.ch a man. I will simply say tttat the shock came well-nigh killing him ; nor has he ever entirely recovered. lie felt that a life-long r eputation, dearer·to him than anght else. had been struck down, in a moment, by his own Goverument, on which he had depended for prorec- tion He had pas ed his three-score and ten until then with an unblemished char- acter, and fEilt that, at least, he had a ril!ht to demand that he should be" con idered innocent till proved guilty." Can a. law liable to produce suoh results be jnst 9 

If this account of Mr. Dodge is in the main true; nay, if it is found to 

be tToe in any substantial portion; if his firm had maintained always a name for integrity and honesty of dealing with the Government; 

if his statement about Mr. James be true, that '' in all this time not 

a q nestion had ever arisen as to the vast shipment made to the house 

in New York," then I agree" that a law liable to produce suchre ults 

not only i unjust" and should be repealed, but that it is the duty of the 

United tates Government to condignly punish the officers who have 

rlone so gross a wrong to such honorable men, and not only to r epay 

them the money that has been extorted fi:om them, but to give them a very largo snm as orne slight reparation for then nq ualified wrong and 

unheard-of injury without just cause committed upon them. But if 

all these statements are not true, in substance or in fact; if the whole 

story in all its essential parts is as fa,lse aa the perjured invoices under 

which Phelps, Dodge & Co. pleaded guilty that they passed their 

goods without tax into the country, then the law that catches perjured Pcoondrels and smuo-gling villains and poni hes tl1ern, howev r severely, ought to be su tained and made more stringent, not le . Tho first statement of M:r. Dodge which cballengos attention iR 

whether the house in New York anrl Liverpool ha , until the la.tt.er part of December, 1 72, always borne this onbl mished reput.atiou wH.lJont fault or blot, which he st.ate ·; and. have the dealing of that bon. with the GovArnment been always just and true, as Cbrist.iau :mer- chant princes" onght to have dealt with the Govemruent t Becan e, if 

that bo so, it can hanllybe believed that for a.comparati vely small ·n1n 

of money a house of such wealth and good repute has sn<ldon ly be- come so vile and so crimina.! as they confe eu themselve to b in 

their letter to the Secretary of the Treasury when th y clesire'l t.o 

"settle" with the Government for their crimes. If, oo the other band, 

it is found that this firm have been cheating this Government for 

long yea,ra, then we shall conclude that they have only been cangut 

at their old tricks. Now, !r. Speaker, it is a notorious fact to everybody havi•lO' to <lo 

with importations in New York officially for many year p~t t.bat 

the honse of P!Jelp , D.:>dp;e & Co. have been coofe ·ed to be guilty 

of the roo t petty and outrageon srun17glinrr, t :1king aclva.ntao-e of all 

technical points to get their goods in Without pay ing unties th~t could 

be most-ingenionsly conceived. A l.Jarsh accusation this, you say. Ye , and one tha,t onght not to be madeunlessitcaubemadegood. Well,then, ir,manyyeu.r. a~l), ·ineo 

the fort.y years that Mr. James has been resident partner of the lton e in Liverpoor and interested in the house in New York, dnriuO' whicl! 

time Dodge says not a que tion has been raised a to the va0t ship- ments of thi house, and since Phelps, Dodge &. Co. have been one of the largest importers in the country of lead, tin, and other met,- als, the Congress of the United States pas. d a law to encoom.,. 

American art, a law which in various phase you ~rill tiud on yo~r statnte-books as the tariff wa revi od from time to time, whi ch \Ht. 

in effect that statuary of American artists should come i u fre . Where- upon this firm, of which Mr. James, this" hone t, honored merchant,' was rusideut pa,rtner and consignor, had hundreus a,nu t.hon aml of 

tons of lead and block-tin and copper ·cast into statuette of the 

Godde s of Liberty and Washington and Jeffer on, and imported them 

into this country as works of American art, thereby e ·capiug th1 

dut.v. Dot when here they were taken from the hold of the vessel 

to the warehouse, and from the warehouse went to tht> melting-pot, 

being sold to their customers for pig-lead allll tin. 

Now, right here, I challenge auy honest, just-minded man to look me in the face and say that an" honest merchant" or a" Cht·istian gentlema.n" ever dirl such a thing to cheat his goverom nt, wh ther a Jame 

of Liverpool or a Dodge of N w York. And yet this Dodge tell us that the" first knowledge or hint, in fort.y-oddyearsof lm iness that I 

have had with the Government, that I was accused of any derelictiqn of uuty" wa-s in December, 1 72. Was that true So far frow 

its being true, Mr. Speake r, Congre s had to cbanrre this very law 

about American statuary on acc:mnt of these fraudulent importations 

and cheating of the revenue of which I ha,ve spoken by this very 

firm; a,nd this firm was accn ·ed of this fmnd upon the revenue on the 1st uay of .March, 186G, on this very floor. I ·end to the Clerk to 

be read an extract from the Congressional Globe of t.hat date, part 

two, second session Thirty-eighth Congre s, page 1255. . The fifth 

section of the tariff bill was under discussion, and was as follow : 

.And be it further enacted, That the term statuary, as used in the laws now in force imposing dnties on foreign importations, shall be und rst.ood to include professional productions of a statuary or of a cnlptot· only. 

llr. KERNAN. I de ire some explanation of this scct-iou. I should like to know what this unprofes ional statuary is. Has thi provisiou refer·ence to those people 

who import leaden statues of Liberty, &c.~ 

Mr. MOlllULL. I may state, in brief, that it ba-s been found tha.t parties havt' iu many ca es eva.den tbe payment of dnties by imporlin"' articles in the' form of stat- nary when they conltl n ot legitimately rank: a such. Iu ome instauccs 1 a1l b~• R 

b een thus imported to. lar~e extent. W e bad a Law by which statuary wa ::ul- mitted free; an<l statues of the" Father of his Conn try" and of the'' Author of t.he Declaration of Independence" were brought over in tl:utt way. I b lieve that the gentleman is answ<1re<l. Mr. ELDREDGE. I would like to know from the g ntleman from V ermont whet-her this doe ~ not r efer to one particular firm. I want to know whethe r this does not refer t.o PHELPS, DODGE & Co., aml that firm alone. Mr. STEVENS. When statuary was admitted free we harl stnt.ttcs of W ebster and Clay and others in copper and 1ea4 imported, and ·o soon as tJt y were lauded and takPn out of the custom-house they were melted down. IT wAS A FKAUD UPON 

THE REVENUE. 

Mr. ELDr.JWGE. W11at firm did that 1 Mr. STEVENS. Phelps, Dodge & Co. 

Now, as Mr. Dodge himself came into Congress as a, member of this Hou~:~e at the very next ses ion, one would have supposed that he would 

hn.ve arisen to explain if thi~ very grave charg npou tbe president of 

the Young Men's Christian Association was not true. So fa.r the record. 

I am told, and I believe, tha.t there are men in this Hou e who know 

the fact that }.fr. Dodge himself admitted before the Committee of Ways 

and Means of a former House, when questioueu, that these import.ations 

were ma-de. The fact never has been denied, n.nd can be t ily suu tanti ted. Imagine the fine fi lings of this old Mr. J a me , the "honor d merchant" of Liverpool, when he wasloafling up th.i fraudulent stat-. uary to cheat the revenue of his country! 

I nave no doubt that it was quite true, as Dod~e state , that when 

James heard that Phelps, Dodge & Co.'s books bad been cized in New 

York in 1~73 he nearly fell dead, or that it almost killed him, for he 

knew how fraudulent their acts were, and al wa,ys had been, and feared 
• 

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5223 

the consequences. There was a merchant of high standing in Boston 

not many years ago who, when charged with frauds upon the revenue, 

made confession by committing suicide. 

Importing of lead and tin and copper in the form of statuary was by no means the most serious attack of this firm upon the revenues of the Government for thoir own benefit. Cast your mind back, Mr. 

Speaker, to April, 1 64, the very darkest hours of the war, when Grant was reor~auizing the Army of the Potomac fol" his march on Richmond; when every pat.riotic man was preparing himself for the final 

great struggle; when the nation needed every dollar that it could 

command, and when it became necessary to add one-half to our revenue hy taxation to sustain our falling credit, with gold at 180. 

'Vhat shall we say of a firm which in that trying hour of the nation's 

peril exercised its infernal ingenuity in devising ways and means to 

defraud our impov rished. Trea.sury of millions, and succeeded in so 

doingf 

To meet the exigency we were obliged to pass a joint resolution 

providing that until the end of sixty days 50 per cent. of the rates of 

duties impo ed by law should be added to the then present duties and 

impo ts on all good<J, wares, and merchandise, so that we might have 

time in which to adjnst t.he tariffs; and then, just sixty days from 

that time, to wit, on the 30th of June, we passed an "Act to increase 

thedut.ies on import ." It covered nearly all importations, and, among 

oth~r things, it providedOn tin plates, ancl iron galvanized or coated with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, 2·.\- centl:l a pound. 

At this time, if ever, Mr. Speaker, it became all patriotic men, all 

lovers of the country, to do everything·that possibly could be done 

to aid the revennes of the country, to sustain its credit and enable 

the soldiers to receive their pay, and to support the armies in the 

field. Let us see, then, what the course of this firm of Christian 

merchants, Phelp ·, Dodge & Co., was in that crisis of their country's 

need. They were the largest importers of tin plates in the country, 

and that article is one of the largest of their importations. As we shall see in a moment, it ought to yield a large revenue. The duty 

npon it at that time was 25 per cent. ad valorem,, which would be 

about 11- cents per pound. It was the intention of Congress to in- crease it; therefore they enacted that" on tin plates, and iron galvanized or coated," &c., there should be a dutyof2t cents a pound. llut 

Mr. William E. Dodge went to the Treasury Department of the United 

State , in his own person, as I have the means of showing, and there 

auvocated a reading of that law which was sanctioned neither by 

the letter, text, spirit, nor meaning, nor by the true and just thought 

of any patriot. He procured an opinion from the Treasury Department by which the comma was construed to be removed after the word 

"plates" and inserted after the word" iron/' so as to make it read: 

On tin plates and iron, _~ralvanized or co<\ted with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, 2! cents a pounU. 

So that, with that construction, the duty had not been raised on tin 

plates at all, but only on "galvanized" tin plates. Who ever heard 

of a galvanized tin plate¥ None was ever imported, I venture to say, or ever will be. The con f'l]_oence was, that all the tin plates imported 

into the United St.ates, of which Phelps, Dodge & Co. were by far 

the largest importers, came in at 25 per cent. ad valorem, instead of 2t 

cents a ponnd, which was a very la.rge increase of duty. I send a table to the Clerk to show how this would operat-e in favor of Phelps, 

Dodge & Co. I have not been able to obtain the statistics of their 

importatwns in 1864-'65, but I have their importations for 1870-'71, 

in which, taking ti.Je average bot·h of weight and value, the following 

resnlt is shown. 

The Clerk read as follow : 

Imports of tin plates by Phelps, Dodge tf Co. for the year 1870-'71. 

1870, (boxes) .... -- ...........•.... -- ·----- · ··--- ·--- .... ----------. -·· 585, 378 

1871, (box ) ................•. ·····-·-···· .. .............. -· ....... ... 7J4, 112 

Tot.'ll, (boxes) . ........... ···-·- ·-··· . .... ···-·· .•.... ·-· .. . ....... 1, 319,490 Average weight, (pounils,) say ....... ... _ ••..... _ ... _ ..... _. _ .. _.. . • • . 125 

Total weight, (pounds) ....... ·-··· ... --- ·-·· ... ·---~- .... ---·- ___ 164,936,250 

Duty, (cents) ...........•.. ----·----- ....... ·---- .... ·-·_-··-·· ···.___ 2! 

Tot.'ll duty ...... ·--·-- ............ ··-------· ... ······-..... ·-·-· .$4, 123,406.25 

Total number of boxes, 1,31!1,490, at an average value of 22 shillinW~ sterling per 

box, making £ 1,451,439; equal in United States gold to 7,024,965; c.luty at 25 per 

cent., 'L,75ti,241. RECA.PITULA TION. 

Amount of duty at pecific rate of 2~ centa per ponnd .......... __ ·----- , 123.406 

Aruount of duty at ad valore1n rate of 2.'5 per cent .....•.... __ . ........ _. 1, 756,241 

Difference in favor of importer ..... -· ............. -.......... . ...... 2, 367, 165 

l\l,r. n TLER, of Massachusetts. Showing, it seems to me cleal'ly ev n allmitting that my average may be con iderably out of the way' a difference of at least 100 per cent. in favor of the ad valorem rate. ' 

Whether that average value is precisely correct or not is of no con- sel]_uence; because it would not substantially vary the figures, and that 

shows that in 1870-'71, and every other year from 1864 until the change 

of the tariff on June 6, 1872, would make a difference in favor of 

Phelps, Dodge & Co. and against the United States by this change of 

the law at the personal solicitation of William E. Dodge with the 

Treasury officers of the Uuited States of$~,367,000, andover four millions annually, taking the whole importation of the United Sto.tes during that eight years. 

We have heard, in the matter of the duty on fruits, the earnest 

denunciations of the Committee .on Ways and Means of the Treasury 

Department for not paying attention to the position of a commo., by 

which ·300,000 were refunded; but the Committee on Ways and Means 

have told the Hou e nothing of the effect in fa.vor of Phelps, Dodge 

& Co., not solely of looking out for :1 comma, but the delibemte 

taking of a comma from one part of a law, where it had been placed 

by Con~res , and putting it in anot.her place where there was none, 

by which quite four million of revenue we1·e lost to t.he Government 

annually during a. period of eight years, and that in favor of the 

fraudulent importer. In verification of this, I send to the clerk a letter of the Secretary of the Treasury of July 22, 1 64, and I beg him 

t.o read the portion between the brackets. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Srn: Your letter of the 12th instant is received, requesting to be iJ1strncted in 

writ.ing in relation to the proper construction of the language of the second paragraph on the ninth page of the printed tariff of .June 30, 1864. viz: "On tin plates, 

a.nd iron galvanized or coated with any met..'ll by electric batteries, or otherwise, 2! cents per pound." It woulrl a.ppear that an error of punctua.t.ion has been marle by ·some one; most probably by the clerk who engTossed that part of the act. If the comma which is 

mserted after the word "plates" be omitted, and a comma placed after the word 

"iron," the trne sense will be had, which unqne tionably 1s, that the tin pl.1.tes, as well as the iron, must be galvanized or coated 'vith any metal by electric batteries, or otherwise, in order to bring them within the provision. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachu etts. And that construction remains even unto this day. For we find in the authorized tariff of the Treas- ur.v Department, pnblishen after the act of June 6, 1872, which took 

off 10 per cent. from the duties, the following remark_able announce- ment: 

Tin pL11tes, galvanized or coated with any metal otherwise th:.m by lectric 

batteries, 2~ cents per ponnd. Ordinary tin plates, or tins ot.her than the above, 

15 per cent. ad valore1n. 

And yet, with this vast fmud upon the revenue by this firm staring 

them in the face, if they had chosen to examine it, the Committee on Ways and Means have recommended the diminution of duty on tin 

plates, upon the petition of Phelps, Dodge & Co., to 1 cent per pound, 

and pas ed the bill through under suspension of the rules. 

1\Ir. DAWES. No, sir; one cent and a quarter, against their protest. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Mas a.chusetts. Ah! One cent and a qnart.er. 

Which was against their protest, the one cent or the quarter cent! 

1\Ir. DAWES. I gave you a fair answer, sir. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massa.chnsett . Certainly, sir. I snppo e you 

would not give any other. ''Vhat made you think yon would f 

Mr. DAWES. You did not treat it fairly. Ordinarily such an an-' swer would be fairly treateu . 

Mr. BUTLER, of .Ma ·sachusetts. Wait a moment. I will read the 

memorial sent to Congress on this object : 

To the honorable Finance Oomnnit.tee of tlw Sv>nate and House of Representatives of 

the United Stal/'-8: 

Your memorialists-merchants, importers, dealers1 and workers of tin plates- respecfully reque t that you will consider the expeiliency a.ncl recommend to Congrc the conversion of its pre entad valore1n duty on the import of tin plates into1 

~r;J~~{~~'t~ :fte~i~;!~e~!s1~:~~~v~~t;i~ as a mea-sure calculated to simplify 

* * * * 

The importations of tin plates during the last two fiscal years were in value as follows: 

1872.-Amount in value imported .... ............... --····------------- $12,312,428 

1873.-Amountin value imported ..••...... · .. ------ ........ ------··---- 14,993,650 

Tot.'ll value .• _ .. ---.--· ........•.•. --·. ___ ··----·---· .... ------·--. 27,306,078 

That with an ad valorem duty of 15 per cent. the accruing revenue would have 

amounted on this import:ttion to $4,095,761.70. 

:But the actual weight imported during the above two years was: Pounds. 

1872.-Gro s weight, including boxes ........ __ ---·-· .... ·-----·---...• 209,671.640 

1873.-Gross weight, including boxes ................•.. _ .............. 214, 069, 374 

Total ponn<ls. _____ .........• ·-·---. __ ... -··--- .•.................. 423,741,014 

which import, at a. specific duty of one cent per pound gross weight, (or·including 

the weight of the packages,) would have yielded a revenue of ,237,410.14. The 

difference in two years' revenue receipts, therefore, between the present ad valorem 

and the recommended specific rate of duty, would have been only $141,648.44, or about 70,000 per annum, and that 70,000 in favor of the revenue. 

Who do you suppose signed thi memorial t The fir t signature is 

that of Phelps, Dodge & Co., of New York. 

Mr. DAWES. But you said that we passed through here a bill 

maki:J?:.~ the duty one cent a pound, on their petition. Now look at 

the bill, and it will show that the duty as fixed by t.his House was one cent and a quarter per pound, which is an increase over the 

present tariff; and that is their complaint which they have carried 

to the other end of the Capitol. 

1\fr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. And have got it down there, I 

believe, to one an<l one-tenth of a cent. Mr. DAWES. No matter what they have got it down to there. 

Your charge waa against the present Committee of Ways and Means. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. They came here and aaked for a 

duty of one cent per pound; and you put it upon tin plates, wooden 

boxes, iron packa~es, and all at one and a quarter. Is not that soY 

.Mr. DAWES. And does not that make more for them to :pay r 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Does it! 
5224 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Mr. DAWES. Doe it not make more to put the duty on the boxes 

well as the tin ! 

Ir. BUTLER, of Mas achusetts. No, sir. There is a specific duty 110w on the packages which i not to be collected when yon put on tlle duty Ly the pound. But however tha.t may be, one cent. and a quarter per pounu is not two cent. anu a half. 

1\lr. DA WE. . Yonr char~ wa again t the Committee on Ways anu 1eaus. Will yon plea.·e ·t.ick to ha.t ~ 

:Mr. BUTLER, of Ma ·a chLl etta. No, sir; I have got through with 

them for the present. ~Ir. D WES. Deoause yon are answert>A:l. 

Mr. BUTLER, of 1a sU,clln:.;etts. The fact between us are all 

b efore the country. 

Mr. DAWES. Yon ought to leave your statements as they are 

then. 

1r. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Now, having eli. posed of that difference of a qtlarter of a cent a poun.d between. me and the learned chairman of tlle Committee on Ways and l ean , [Mr. DAWES,] I find 

I mu t ha t en on. Such being the undeniable recorded facts in rAgard to Phelp , Dt)dge & Co., what was the pecia.l agent of the Treasw·y to believe 

when be found them charged with fraud, e pecia.lly when fal. e and 

double invoice were procluceu to him in Decemuer, 1!:372 Y Why, he 

coulu not but believe that these men were continuing to take all wanner of unfair, frauclulen.t, and swinuling advn.nt-ages of the Govrumeut, a:nd doubtle ·s he examined their book· with that belief. 

And what did he fiud Y He found that they had a c9rresponding 

house in Liverpool, and that that house was engaged in consigning 

in voices of tin plates to the house of Phelps, Dod<>"e & Co. in this 

country daily, and som time three or four invoices per day; that in 

every case thm>e invoices were sworn toM a purchaser's invoicethat i , that the goou1:1 had been pmcba ed in open market by the 

house of Phelps, Ja.me & Co., and that the prices annexed to the 

a.rtides t-herein were the true a,ud genuine prices paid for them. But 

h e found th: t in the only kind of tin pl:.LI es in which they could 

cbeat-.,.becanse the prices of the oruinar.v kind of tin plate were as staple as gold eagles would have been if imported by that finn-in 

every instance they had a uouble invoice ii·om the manufacturer, and 

tha.t those specially large size of tin were not purchased by Phelp , Dodge & Co. or Phelps, James & Co. in op~n market at all, bot were tnaonfactured for tho ·e firms, which are one and the same firm; and 

that iu every instance, when they swore they had bought the.<;e a.rt.icl in op n market, they swore falsely, and knew it, because 

they knew the article was manufactured to oruer for their firm, and 

they should have sworn to the cost price of the manufactured ::wticle, 

which he found each time had been in the po e . ion of the firm 

before the oath was maue, and it wa a. higher cost than the invoice 

price to which they made oath. So that they and t.ho e whom they employed had beeu guilty of deliberate and corrupt perjury every day 

in the year and very year of our Lord for the :live during which the law 

allow eel the officer to look back. And be fonnd the evidence of that 

in thi~:~ : That every one of these co tom-boo e invoices, of which 

they had duplicates in t.he books of tile firw, had a thin paper copy · of the true wa.nufaoturer's cost pasted over it, iu order that the firm 

might know how to sell at a proper price the goods which they hau 

undervalue<l so a,s to smuggle them by false invoices into the country. 

Uuder thelie circumstances the special agent reported to the Secret ary of tlle Treasury the facts. Mr. William E. Dodge employed four 

lawyer -l\lr. Abram ·wakeman, a former surveyor of the port of 

New YOl'k, and a learned lawyer in revenue law; blr. Henry E. Knox, 

candidate for supreme juuge of New York; Judge Fullerton, the fore- mo t criminal lawyer in the city of New York; with a gentleman who 

bad been Attt)rney-General of the United States, a..scon ultingcounsel; 

aud tbo e lawyers, after examining his case carefully for six weeks, au vised _him three times over to offer to pay the value of every falsified-invoice article; which falsified-invoice articles amolll1ted to more ban a q ua.rt r of a million dollars 271,000, to get released from 

the e frauds, and Mr. William E. Dodge and his partners, after full 

consultation, agreed to that proposition, nay, ardently desirE--d it, and maue a. wTitteu ~;tatement to the Secretru·y of the Treasury that on ac- ·onnt of "certain irregulariLies" which had been found in th ir busi- ne · they were willing to ·pay 271,000 to compromise a suit which 

the di trict·a.ttorney in the mean time had, at then· request, brought 

again t them for a million dollars, or le than two-thirds of the whole 

amount of their tainted or fraudulent invoices. That suit wa brought 

in that form at the req nest of the counsel of Dodge, after the compromise had been agreec.l upon, in order that when that compromise 

honlu be accepted it might cover every claim for penalties against 

Phelp , Dodo-e & Co. 

\Vh u the 1etter offering to pay that great sum came to the Secretary 

of <-,be Treasury GEORGE S. BouTWELL, he wTote bu-ck in substanceall o.f which will be found in the te timony-" I cannot accept tbi · 

compromi e. I will not be put in the position which that offer will 

put me, of being a. blackmailer. Either you have committed fraud or you have not committed fraud. If ou have not committed fraud, 

you shoulu not pay the Government anything. I will consider the 

qu tiou of comprumi e, but I cannot comproillise under your state- meut t.hn,tyou are guilty of irregularities only." Thereupon that offer 

wa mollified by Phelps, Dodge & Co., after consultation with their 

four eminent counsel, who ac.lvised their client to plead guilty to a 

suit charging them with importing goods to a million dollru in value 

by false. inv-Dices and fraudulent appliance ; and thereupon Phelps, 

Dodge & Co. sent au offer of comprolllise, admitting their gn.ilt individually and collectively, a.nrl renewing their offer to pn.y the 271,000; 

and while the ecretary of the Trea ury wa con iuering it they withdrew the offer. 

Meantime the matter had got into the newspapers ; th hristi::lll 

Association, of whi h 1\lr. William E. Douge was a burning alllt <L 

shirring light, b gau toinfl_uire, What mannerof man i thi wh ruak<' 

long sermons by day and prayers by ni~ht in the temple wbilt~ hiH 

partners in lmsine are accumulating his profits by daily and honrl.Y 

perjurie ·and fraud upon the Government' And 'Villiam E . Dod~ 

wrote, as the te timony shows, to GEORGE . BOUTWELL, and ·aitl to 

him in ubstance, "I withdraw my offer of compromi e." H expc tecl 

the cretary to answer to that, "I cannot permit the withdmwal, as 

the matter is clo ed." Then Dodge would doubtless have •"one away 

and said, "The compromi e wa inadvertently mall , autl w'fwn I Wt'nt 

to witht.lraw it the ' cretary took a snap-judgment npou ru ."' lluL 

the ecretary,withllisusualstraightforwarcln ,wrotein uu ·tancf': 

"Very well; if you hink yon are not guilt-y wit.btlra.w yonr compromise antl go to a jury." So the compromise was withdrawn . Tber - upon Dotlge consult again with his f01u lawyer· ; and afte1: nearly 

t' o week 'dela.y he renews the offer and th money i · pai1l. In or<l r 

to break b.lli fall he says to t.be Secretar,v, "The Go ernmont offi . r · think that I ought not to withdraw the compromi e, they havitw once acceptccl it I am b~und to carry it out." \Vbat' a. tlto manly 

and honorable aml straightforward answer to that of tho , ecret:uy 

of the Trea tuy It was, "Mr. Dodge, if your action in r new in~ 

the proposition has been influenced by thi representat.ion, you will 

have an opportunity to con ·iuer the subj ct anew and take n ·h 

conr. as you may thlnk proper before final action by thi. Depart- ment." l<'ind.ing no subterfuge would avail, 1\lr. William E. Dodg , with his four lawyers behind him, af-ter we k of ·ncb con. ·nita tion 

and ncb shifts anu uch at.tempts at evasion as I Jw.ve de ·crib (1, 

delib mt-ely put on file a written tatement a{lmit.ting that hi :linn wer gnilty of the barges in suit; tha.t by th se fal and framluleut 

invoice the re\enne hat.l been uefrauded; • nd pajd 1,000 in ex pi a- tion of that o-uil t .. 

The PEAKER. The hour of the gentleman. ha expiretl. 

b-lr. BECK. There a,re a number of gentlemen who want to sp ak; 

I am pretty early on the list m self. I amp rfectly will.iJIO' that half 

of my time should b taken by the gentleman from 1\1< · ·a husett , [ fr. B TLER.] 

Mr. ELLI H. ROBERT . I want to have it under toou wheth ·r thi amu.ment i to be all on one ide, and all to be mad by the glmtlemau from M:assachnsetts 

Mr. BUTLER, of fas acbn ·etts. It is a great tleuJ. like the argu- ment of the committe a few da. s ao-o; th y had two day . ~lr. ELLI H. RO.BERT . The gentleman from l\Ia a hu. ett h. tl 

been three time invited to h pre ut and take part in the di cussiou. 

All I desire to know i wheth r or notot.her gentlemen are to succeed 

the gentleman from Massachn ett, or will member of theCommitt e on \Vays aot11\Ieans have an opportunity to ue h ard Y· 

Cries of' Go on." ''Go on." 

1\lr. BUTLER, of l\fa achusetts. I am in the hantls of tJ1 Hollil . ~Ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I do not object to th gentleman sgoing on. But. I desire to have it under ·tood that ther ar two gentlemeu 

other than members of the Committee on -,Vays and Means who aro to speak after the gentleman from l\1assachusett g ts through and 

before any memb r of the Committee on W ttys auu Means can b 

hearu. · 1\Ir. BUTLER, of 1\Iassachu etts. I do not are who peaks after me. · 1\ir. FO 'TER. We want this matter understoou. If tho ·e t.wo 

gentlemen who have the floor after the g ntleman from l\fas5a hn- . sett.s gets through are to speak an hour each that will make a great 

difference. 

:Mr. BUTLER, of l\lassachu ·etts. I do not know how long th 

will peak. But if you will allow me to go on, we ar w ting good 

time here. 

The SPEAKER. 'I'he gentleman from Massachu etts is not entitJ d 

to the floor any longer except by some arrangement tha.t may b 

made. The rules of the Hon e are speei.fic that no gentleman shall 

speak more than one hour. 

Mr. FOSTER. Who will follow the g ntleman from 1\iassachusett f 

The SPEAKER. There has been a list made out--

1\lr. COBB, of Kansas. I move to suspend the rules in order that 

tho time of the gentleman from'Massachus tt may be ext nded.. 

The PE.A.KER. The gentleman ha not the floor for that purpo 

1\Ir. FOSTER. I w&nt to have this thino- under tood. 

ir. BUTLER, of Mas achusetts. I want it u.nd r tood, too. 

1\Ir. POSTER. I do not object--

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusett . Wb.v do not you keep qui t., then' 

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks that it would b only the ordi- nary fairness of debate that members of the Committee on'Ways antl 

I ans should have the right to follow the gentleman from Massa- chu etts. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma sachusetts. I have no obj ection to that; I 

only wi h they would not interrupt me now. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5225 

1\lr. GARFIELD. I understand that the gentleman from Kentucky 

[Mr. BECK] has yielded the half of his hour to the gentleman from 

Ma sa.chusett.s. 

Mr. BECK. If I have an hour I will yield the half of it. 

Mr. GARFIELD. If that is theca e then I do not think there need 

be any trouble. 

1\Ir. NIBLACK. The gentleman from 1\Iassachm~etts was ill when 

tbis debate wa.s going on. "\Ve all wanted to hear him then, and I 

hope he will be permitted to proceed now. The SPEAKER. I it understood that the gentleman from Massa- chusetts [Mr. BUTLER] has the floor indefinitely, or for only a specific 

time? 

Mr. DAWES. I understand that the gentleman has half of the 

hour of the gentleman from Kentucky. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma.ssachnsetts. I have that much; I do not know 

how much more. Mr. MAYNARD. Is there not some way to settle this matter by 

some motion? 

1\Ir. BUTLER, of 1\Ia aohusetts. I have eleven to one to speak 

against me ; I do not care about thls thing, however. 

Mr. TOWNSEND. I believe that my name is next on the list on the Speaker's table. I am willing to give at least twenty minutes of 

my time to the gentleman from Massachusetts . .Mr. MAYNARD. I would ask the gentleman from Mas achusetts 

how much more time he wants 

Mr. BUTLER, of 1\la achnsetts. Not much more; but I do not 

want to feel cramped for time. 

Mr. MAYNARD. Then I move to suspend the rules so that the 

gentleman from 1\la.c:;sachusetts may have another hour. • 1\lr. FOSTER. There is no need of making that motion. 

Mr. FORT. I hope the motion will be put. 

The motion to suspend the rules was seconded; and (two-thirds 

voting in favor thereof) the rules were suspended. 

[The announcement of the result was greeted by applause on the 

floor and in the galleria . ] 

The SPEAKER. It is a gross infraction of the rules of the House 

and of decency for the galleries to manifest approbation or disapprobat.ion of any action of members of this Honse. And the !]hair will 

put in active effect his power to clear the galleries if this is repeated. 

The sl~~btest manifestation of applause or disapprobation will cause the gaJJ.eries to be cleareu. 

1\fr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Phelps, Dodge & Co. paid the 

271,000 in expiation of that guilt. And yet we are told" all mer- chant are hone t," and Phelps, Dodge & Co. are the very princes of 

merchants. N<~.y, Mr. "\Villiam E. Dodge claims he comes here before 

your committee, as I understand, as pre identof the Chamber of.Com- merce of the city of New York, as the exemplar of the merchant, as a dealer in hru:dware ties up his goods and puts a specimen pair of 

shears on the outside, so th. t we may know the quality of the cutting 

instruments inside without opening the pa.ckage. 

To show yon that I cannot be mistaken in thi matter, I have caused 

to be prepared anu will send to the Clerk to be read a table showing 

how frauds on the revenue have grown up and how necessary these . penalties are to their detection and punishment. It appears that in 

1792 the whole amount of forfeitures, fines, and penalties derived from 

the frauds of the merchants of that period wa.s 11 ; in 1797, 220; 

in 1798, ; and in 1873, it was 1,261,175. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Statem,ent of the annttal t·eceipts from, custonw, and {r01n fines, penalties, 

andforfeitures,from Mm·ch 4, 1789, to Jtuw 30, 1873. 

Years. Cust{)mS. 

Fines, penalties, and forfeitures. 

1791 .... -------••••• -----.---------.- •• -- $4, 399, 473 09 11 00 1792 ---......... --- ... ------ ...... -... --- 3, 443, 070 85 118 00 I793 ..................................... 4,255, 306 56 ..................... . I794 ........... ............. ...... ....... 4, 01,065 28 ...... -........ - .. --.-

1795 . -••. -.--- ..... - .. - ••• --- •. -• ------ - - 5, 588, 461 26 ...... -- .. . -. . -. --.. .. 1796 .................. .•••.• ............. 6, 567,987 94 .•••••. -··- ... -...... . 1797 .................................... . 7,549,649 65 220 00 ....... . 

1798..................................... 7,106,06193 8 00 ·••····· 1799..................................... 6,610,449 31 16,42181 .024 I800 .................................. .-.. 9,080,932 73 14,019 84 .015 

------------ By decade .............. ~- .......... 59, 402, 458 60 31, 098 65 . 0052 

=-== ;::==-== -- 1 01 .................................... . 10, 750, 778 93 2, 492 54 .0023 

1802- .... -........................... ----

1803 ..... -----........ -- •• - ... - .... -.- . --

12,43 '~5 74 1, 971 96 . 0016 

10, 479, 417 61 1, 039 00 .001 

1804. --·- ............................. --- 11, 098, 565 33 2, 5U4 44 .0021 

1805- ...................... ------ ....... . 12, 936. 487 04 1, 359 17 .001 

1806 ........... ------ ................. --- 14,667,698 17 363 14 

1 07 .................................... . 15, 845, 521 61 1, 764 71 .0011 

1808 .• -.- ......... --.-----....... ---.. -•. 16, 363, 550 58 4, 972 00 .003 

1809- .......... . - ....................... . 7, 257, 506 62 176 00 

1810 -........... -......... --•.••.. - ..... . 8, 583, 309 31 748 80 .000 7 

By deca.de ........................... .. 120, 421, 070 94 17,391 82 • 0014 

=== ------- 1811 .... -.............................. .. 13, 313, 222 TJ 11,125 24 .0083 

1812 -· ................................. .. 8, 958, 717 53 1,190 00 .0013 

1813 .................... -- ·- ............ - 13, 2-24, 623 25 2, 256 21 . 0017 

1814 .................................... . 5, 99 , 772 OS 2, 536 13 .0042 

1815 .... ----.• -- ....... -...... -- ••• --·---- 7, 282, 942 22 ...................... 

Statement of the annual1·eceipts from, custon~s, ~·c.-Continued. 

Years. 

1816 ----.--------------------.•. ---------

1 17 ------------- -- -·-----··------·------ 1 18- ·----- ...... -- •.. -- ................ . 

1 19- · -----.-- .. -.----------. ··--....... . 

1820 -- -- ------.. -- -- - --. -- ---- - .. -•• -. - • -

By decade ......................... .. 

1821 ............ : ........................ . 1822 .................................... . 

1823 -.------- .•. - .. -........ ----.-.-... .. 

1824 -.. -.-- •• - -- ... --.-. -.. -.. - .. -- .... -. 1825- ....... ·- .... --- ..... - ........... ---

1826 ---- •• -•• ------ ..... -........... ----· 1827 --.-.--.. ----- ---- .. - ...... -•. -- .. -.- 1828 - -... -.. - .... - ..... -- . -... - .. ----- . -- 1 ~ . .................................. . . 

1830. -...... .-.. ------- .................. . 

By decade .......................... . 

1831 . ... - ... -.... -.. -- .......... - .. -- ... - 1832 .................................... . 

1833 ............................. -.•.. ---

1834 --.. - .• -.. -- . -... --- - -........ -- • --.. 

1835 -. -.--.... --- ------ .. -.. -- .. - ....... - 1836 .......................... ---- ···· ---

1837 . ---.. -.-.. -..... ---.- . -... ---.... - . - 1838----- ............................... . 1839 .................................... . 1840- ................... . ....... -...... .. 

Customs. 

$36,306,874 88 26,~3. 34 49 17, 176, 385 00 20, 283, 608 76 

15, 005, 612 15 

163, 834, 167 09 

13, 004, 447 15 I7, 589,761 94 19,0 • 433 44 17,7,32571 

20, 098, 713 45 23, 341, 331 77 19, 712, 283 29 

23, 205, 523 64 2'2, 681, 965 91 21, 92"2, 391 39 

198, 5Zf, 177 69 

24, 2'24, 441 77 28, 465, 237 24 29, 032, 508 91 16, 214, 957 15 

19, 391' 310 59 23, 409, 940 53 11, 169, 290 39 16, 158, 800 36 23, 137, 924 81 13, 499,502 17 

Fines, penalties, and forfeitm·es. 

$2,0 5 00 525 

577 60 2,120 89 

105 97 

22,002 29 

. 00054 

. 00033 

• 001 

.0013 

173 72 . ..... .. 10 00 ...... .. 

3, 411 06 • 001:> 1, 382 44 . 0006 157 45 1, 339 41 . 00057 

2, 704 3-2 • 0012 

35~ 21 

9, 537 61 

4, 995 37 8, 868 04 2, 889 84 2, 464 00 2,156 76 

3, 390 05 993 56 1, 366 14 2, 976 18 5, 316 76 

. 00047 

.002 

.0031 

. 00099 

.0015 

.0011 

.0014 

.00089 

• 00084 .0013 

. 0039_ 

Bydeca.de........................... 204,703,913 92 35,4L6 70 .1::017 

1841 - .. --.- .. ---- -.. -.. -.. -.- -----.. -- ... ==1=4,,=4=87=,=2=1==6 =7=4,.!-===6=, 68=1=4=1=!==. =00=4=6 

1842 ....... -.-... -.. --.. -- ....... --. -.-.. 1 ' 1 7, 908 76 1, 592 44 • 00087 1843 ............. ............ ............ 7, 046,843 91 99 . 00041 

1844- .............. -............... ------ 26, 1 3, 570 94 9,180 99 . 0035 

1 45 ...... -----.... -........... -... - --.. . 27, 528, 112 70 145 54 1>!46 ..... .• ...... ...... ...... ...... .... .. 26,712, Gli7 87 2, 049 13 . 00076 1 47 ... .................................. 23,747,864 66 13,:n8 65 .0056 1848..................................... 31,7;i7,0TO 96 6,510 92 .002 

1 49-.---- .............. -- ... . ........... 28,346,738 82 11,155 97 . 0039 1850- ...................... -•• -.... ...... 39,668,686 42 9, 224 46 . 0023 

-------------1----------1------ By deca-de ............. :............. 243,666,681 78 60,148 50 .0024 

1851 . ............. -~- ............ -... ---- 1852- ..... -.... --- ....... ·-- ............ - 1 53 .................................... ·. 1 54 .................................... . I ~5 . ................................... . 

1856 .................................... . 

1857 -. -.. -- -. ---.. -- - -.. -- • -• -....... -- - - 1858 .................................... . 

1859 ... - -..• -.. --.. - ... --- -... -- -. -- -- ~ .. 1860 ................. -••• -- ··- ---- •••. - •. 

By deca.do .......................... . 

1861 .......................... - ......... . 

1 62 ......................... --··- --- .. -. 1863- ........................ -.......... . 1 64 .................................... . 

lil65 -• - ---- .. -- -- -.. --- -- - -... -- ...... - .. 1 66 .................................... . 

1867 -.• - •. - -.. --.---...... -- •. - --. -- -. - . - 1868 -...... . ................. --- ........ . 1869- ............................ --.-.--. 

1870 -- ......... -----· ................... . 

49, 017, 567 9-2 47, 339, 326 62 58, 931, 865 52 64, 224, 190 27 53, 025, 794 21 64, 02'2, 863 50 63, 875, 905 05 4 L, i89, 620 96 49, 565, 824 38 

53, 187, 511 87 

544, 9 0, 470 30 

10,776 93 13, 049 71 :>, 441 09 5, 702 54 33,645 53 

19,346 95 ~~. 169 39 26, 432 90 

19,46 67 34,305 69 

• 0022 

.C027 

.00092 

. 00088 

.0063 

.003 

.0014 

.0065 

.0039 

.0064 

177, 339 40 . 0032 

=·.====--

39, 582, 125 64 49, 056, 397 62 69, 059, 642 40 102, 316, 152 99 84, 928. 260 60 179, 046,651 58 176, 417, 810 164,464, 599 56 1 0, 048, 426 63 I94, 538, 374 44 

15,389 77 17,963 76 139;174 05 446,265 22 4L3, 713 97 

534, 227 34 455,90 13 

81 '054 83 . 803,045 08 

576,238 22 

.0038 . 0036 

.02 

. 043 

. 049 

. 029 

.026 

. 05 

.045 

. 03 

By decade. . . . • . .. . .. . .. .. • . . . . . . .. .. I; 239, 458, 442 34 4, 219, 980 37 . 035 

1871- ...... ------ ............ ...... ...... 206,270,408 05 1, 028,416 67 . 049 1872- ...................... ........ •••••• 216,370,286 77 722,284 76 • 033 1873 .. .. • .. .. .. . .. . • .. .. • . • • . . • • .. • • • • .. • 1 , 089, 522 70 I, 261. 175 51 • 067 

For three years ......... _._.... . .. .. • . 610, 730, 217 52 3, 011, 876 43 . 049 

TotaL ............................... 3, 385,720,600 18 7, 584,791 71 • 02'2 

NOTE.-The percentage column shows the fractional part of' 1 per cent. of the · amount received from fines, penalties, and forfeitures on the whole amount of customs. In the years orumitted the percentage is so small as to be insignificant. 

~Ir. BUTLER, of Maasachnsetts. Is anything more needed to prove 

that the dishonest importer, with his false invoices, his branch on tho 

other side to undervalue his goods, his false appliances to deceive the 

customs officers, has quite driven the honest merchants out of the 

lmsine s and left it in hands such as these f 

Men of the House of Representatives, it is to shield such as these 

that we have voted to take offthepenaltiesimposed upon defrauders of the revenue by false invoice and smuggling importers I Let me not be misunderstood. This experiment must be tried before tho 

people will understand how greatly they are defrauded and wronged. 

I do not oppose its trial. If I had intended to have done so I ahoulU 

have begun my oppo ition earlier: The result will be that you will 

find a great diminution of your revenues in the coming year. Yon 

will be called upon to pa.ss laws to raise more revenue at the next 

session; and I have no doubt that the committee will recommend to 

put the tax on tea and coffee and o:n friction-matches, and the com-
5226 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

forts and necessitie of the people. Instead of that, if I am here, I 

shall a k you o to adjust the p~nalties for defrauding the revenue, 

and make them so stringent., auclso sustain and reward the officers who 

fearlessly do their duty, that upon the silks, the worsted stnffi , the 

l:w ·, the satins, the jewels and the velvets, and the plate-gla , and 

the luxuries of h rich, .such tariff m..'l>y be honestly collected a will 

pay the expenses of the admi.nistration of your Government from the 

coii'er of your Trea ury. I might well stop here, but there is anoth r branch of the sy ·tern of collecting Government clues by givin~ moieti which nat.untlly ranue itself alongside the customs mmety. The practice of the Tre~ ury Department for many year , without tbe sanction of 13.,..,., 

nnt.il the th of May, 1872, of collecting delinquent taxes and old 

·laims and debts due tbe United States, that had pas eel out of the 

nsual channels of administration for years, wa by giving a contr~ ct 

for moieties to tlle informer or ollector. One of the earlier Seeret.arie who found the ueces ity of it was Mr. Guthrie, of Kentuch.JT, and 

it be(l'an with hi administration of the Department. It has heen 

conthwed by every S cretary thereof downward until Mr. BouTWl!:LL came into office, who wholly refused to giv ont such contracts until 

they were sanctioned by law. ConfJ're spa · d such law in 1 ,2, and 

under it· several contracts ~ere made which proved fruitle s. Finally a contract wa given to Mr. John D. Sanborn, uncl r which, in nine 

month , he collect d ~27,000 of delinquent and withheld taxes, and 

received one-half, be p.aying all the expen e . Tllese delinquent taxes arose in this way: There was a t~x upon 

estates of deceased persons, but the law was repealed in 1 · 70. Another 

clas of these delinquent taxes were taxes upon tlivldcnds by railroa(l 

and other large corporations. The law for these also was repealed 

at the arne time. Tbere was another tax upon incomes of men who 

had large revenue and bad neglected or r fu od to return tllem and 

pay the tax a wn,s tlleir duty by law to do, antl the law for that tax 

had been also repealen. The law establishing the office of as e sor hatl also been rep aled, and a the collector' duty had been only to 

collect the list of tb taxes given him by the a.., e or, anll as ind eel 

it wa in doubt whether the taxe coulfl be collected at all without 

th y were asse ed, it will be seen that tho whole of these cb s s of 

taxes were in danger of being wholly lo ·t to the Government. So that 

the collection of the e delinquent and pa t taxes had run down to 

ub. tantially a nominal nm in comparison with their great amount, ~md this, too, withont any speci::tl fartlt of the internal-revenue offi- cer . Their collection could not be enforced without snits, and no revenue officer was authorized to iucnr that :x;peu e on behalf of the 

Government. The amount of the. e taxes t.b us lJehind, and that had boon belliud 

for three or four years at the time Sanborn undertook his contract, 

i simply enormons. anborn testifies that he had knowledge of orne ti ve million of income and other tax due from property- ow-n rs in Europ , to get the nata of which he had spent a h rge sum of money. I have in my hand-which I will make a part of 

the record-ali ·t of taxes due from railroad companie~;~ still uncollected, the evidence of which ha been fully inve t.igated, but which 

the party giving me this list does not wish to (li clo e since the report 

of the committee r pealing the law, becan e be says the knowle1lgo 

has ost him money, labor, and time, and he do~ not choose to give 

it to the United t.:. t . I may say, howev r that this person is not Mr. anborn; but I have no doubt of its entire a.ccuracy. 

Amounts of withlteld taxes due fron~ 1·ailroad compauies. 

One company............ . . .............. . .. . .. ................... .. $16,569 91 Do . ... ..... . .......... . ....... . .. . . ...... .. ..... . ....... ·· · -- 25,413 2 Do... . ... . . .... .. ... . ... ..... ...... .... ... . . . .... ...... .. ... 10,712 57 Do . . ... .. .... :-. . ... ... .. . ........ .. ..... ....... ... . ... .. .. . . 10, 118 91 

Do. .... ... ...... . .. ..... ...... . ... .... ... ... . . ..... ..... .... . 0,384 93 

Do.................... ....... . ... .. .. ...... ...... ............. 40,727 40 Do .... ...... ..... . . ..... . ........ ·-· · ····· · ··· ·--.. ····· .... . 6, 584 80 

Do.... ...... ...... .......... . . ............ .. .......... .. .. ... 60,503 41 Do . .. .. __ . .. .. .. .. . _. _ . .......... . .. ... __ . . ... . . ... ..... _.. .. 54, 476 00 

Do... . . . .......... .... .... . . .... .......... .... . .. ........ .. . . 4~), 052 00 lJo. .. .. . .. ...... .... .. .... . ..... ........ .. .... . ....... .... .. . 25,832 50 Do. ....... .. ... . .. . ... .. ....... . .... . ...... . . . ... .......... . 175, ·154 00 llo..... ...... . .... . . . ..... ... ..... ... ...... ............ ...... 38,135 34 Do.. .. . ............. ............ ........... . . ... ............. 250 000 00 

Do..... . ..... . ........ .... .. ............. . .. ............ ..... 325,000 00 

Do.. . ... . ....... .................. ...... ...... ...... .. . . ..... 475,000 00 Do. . . .... . .. ... . ...... .. .. .............. ............ .... . . ... 125,000 00 

Do. . ... . ...... . .... . ... ..... .... ..... ... .. . .......... . .... ... 450,000 00 

TotaL ..... . . ..... .. . .. . ... .... .. . .... ........... .. ...... . .. .... $2,147,965 59 

And these are but a small part of the urns behind, which are ju~tly 

due the United State , and are of the arne kind of taxes which hone t men have been oblig d to pay. Now the question is, whether it was well by moieties to collect the e many million of dolla.rs which are 

owed to the United tate by thedi honestm n who haveevaded and 

escaped, either tho e who haver cci.ved legacies left by rich relatives 

or by corporation which have not made returns of their dividends or urplus profits, or by men who have received incomes in thi coun- try a.nd have refu d to make the returns thereof to the tax- gatherer ; or shall we allow the e vast sums to remain uncollected and the Government to be defrauded of them, or give a portion, and a large portion perhaps, to somebody who will bear the expense, give the labor, and bear the odium of enforcing their payment f 

Sanborn was going on iu good faith, as he testifies, having expended 

the principal part of the v ry lar~e sum of mon y which he receiv d as moiety, the money which he dtcl collect in gath ring up inforro[b- tion by which the ·e debts to the Government might b collected; and 

he would have collected. some millions if he had be n allowed to pru·sue 

his in ve tigations nnder the contract. 

TheCommitteeonWay andM anshavetak nom t.hr ehunrlr tl 

page of te timony; have examin <1 ver borl.v in ev ry p · ibl form, 

and they have failed. to find any ill gal act none by anboro in collecting the e tax ' , or tha.t he ev r attempt cl to colle ·t :tny ta ' tlmt wa not due, or return any to any one ·of the r v nu otliccr who 

offered t.o assist him that was not due, or that h fail cl to r tnm 

to tlle Treasury any moneys coUected. At lea t the report of tit~ 

committee does not bow tbe cont.rary. H is object d agnin t him 

by the ommittee, among other thing , that he put io a large J1umber of railroads in h is contract as defaulter' when he had not x- amined the books of all of them. Bnt he te tifie that he lw.d examined a hundred a~tl fifty of_ them b~ him~elf and hi agent , aml he 

fonnd every one of thoru delmqnent 1u taxes to th nited t.at. .s, an(l 

he a ·1uned that tlle ot.lter ·were in like comlition. At least be thouabt 

i afe to swear that he believed they wore, wllieh wa all that t.h f'bw 

requir 11 when he ma(le hi affidavit to the Trea ·ur Department. 

Ir. 'an born collected from tlle Delaware aml La, kawanna Railro:ldCompanyt.helargetl linqueuttax ofyear stnuding,of 00,685.~4; 

and the Committee on Wa. s and Means gravely report collusion with 

somebmly in the Troasm·y in order to do that, becan~e the very clay 

after the check_from the railroad company officer w:J s nt Mr. Sariborn wTOte to the Trea ·nry that the cb . ck had 1J n ent, antl gave 

th numlJ r of the check. Now, your committe a ·k, bow could 1r. San oru have known that unle he had been in colin ion with orne- body in the Trea my becau e Mr. Odell, the trea nr r of th milroad, swears noboc.ly kn w the a.monnt of that check but the pre id rit 

of the road, him elf, and hi clerk. What a wi e and llenetmting 

committee; as only three per on knew of the·check, aml the1·efore a fourth per on must have told about it! 

Now it so happen , a I am informed, that tbi v ry clerk wa the 

very ~an_who g~v~ anborn the information a· to the delinquency 

of thLS ratlroad In 1 taxe , and. the man, of cotu' e, who told him of 

the check ~hich he a clerk had written. Any one who examine the 

te.stimony will come to the conclusion that this great amonut nov r 

would have been coil cted, some of it having be n for nearly fonr 

year · overdue, if it hatl not b ·en for the moiety ys_tem under whi ·11 

San boru was operating. 

Bnt there is one ry cnrion fa t a,lJont this cl linqn nt tax of thi · rrulroad of nearly 100,000, which ho\ how tb frand rnn in a lin 

throngh orne men . It i · said, " If yon scratch a Ru :sian you wi1l 

tind :1. .Tarta.r umlerneath;" and it o happens if ou ratch one of 

t.he firm of Phelp , Douge & Co., yon will alway fiud a defrauder 

of the revenue, for it turn out tlla,t the hairman of th finance com- mittee of this railroad which wa ' delinquent in thi 100,000 ta was 

Mr. Vi~liam E . Dotlg , of the fum of Phelp , D dge & Co., tlle 

"Chn imn gentloman" and the "hone t merchant," who ·e firm imports a,s American works of ad leaden statues of the Godc.l ::; of 

Libm·ty, even at tlle ri'k of having her no e bruis d when he is 

tbrown into the melting-pot to come out as lead pipe 

Bnt it is not my pnrpo e at tllis hour of the ev ning, nor wonlcl it 

be of adva,ntage, to go into examina,tion of this y tern of coli tiou 

of d lin q uen t taxes. It ha · boon long in practi ; it has commend& 1 

it elf to a<lministrative offic~:~rs heretofote; it ha~ its use ; it has its 

d fects and tlisa.dvantage ; aud although some four to six million ·, which in my belief never will he got without it, might have boon got 

under it, yet as tho House has chosen to repeal it, antl as it only deal. 

with past debts -and delinquent taxes, it pa. ses out of the line of my 

duty as a legislator, especially as the whole internal rev ones in 

the future do not depend in any degree upon it, as do our customs revenues upon the other part of the moiety system. It is well enonhh 

to try the experiment of repealing this law and find~~ out wlletb r the Commissioner of Internal Revenue can make the collection Nor· is it my duty or purpo e to defend Mr. Sanborn, whet.b r he dicl well or ill. That is his a:lfair. I dld not promote his getting the contract. 

I had nothing to do with its fulfillment by hlm. If the law is an tmwise one let it be rep aled, and in that Ihaveneithormorenorl ·s interest or wish than every other memuer of t.hi Hou · . Bnt I take 

leave to say that it is not brave nor manly in thos gentlemen· wllo 

pa sed the law to make scape-goats of the officer who execute the law 

t hey passed. 

The Committee on Ways and :Means haYe pent veral mont.:JJs an1l a large amount of money in eeming examination of tho qncstion of 

the propriety of the law, and if that time an<l mon y were pent in 

good faith to a certain whether the law .of L'l>y , 1 ,z, giving tl1e 

moiety contracts to those who shoul(l collect old d bt ougllt to l1e 

r pealed, it may have been well sp nt. If on the . contrary thi apparent purpose of investigation bas only been to cloak :.mother and a tliifer nt one, carried on for political anu per oual porpos only, then 

the committee and the Honse may find that th y have been mad in 

thi mat~· simply instruments to pander to tho rivalries, h;,.te , and 

ambitions of politicians, instead of carrying on a great work of neces- sary legislation. 

I have some evidence showing that the whole San·born contract investigation was gotten up not exactly for those obj ects and those do-
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5227 

sigus which wise legislators and grave statesmen worrld willingly avow. 

The first the countryheardanything abouttheseSanborncontracts was that Mr. Sanborn was being indicted in Brooklyn by the district 

attorney of that district, one Tenney, about the 1st of February last. 

As soon as that was done n,nd duly trumpeted in the opposition news- papers, .Mr. Tenney, an office-holcler nnuer a republican allministration and claiming to be a r epublican himself, sent his assistant district attorney here to one of the Committee on Ways and Means, a leading democratic member of the House, to have him bring the Sanborn-contract matter "to the fron~," Tenney having furnished him 

with the Brooklyn democratic papers which gave flaming and laudatory accorrnts of M1·. Tenney's able enueavors, as they termed it, to 

ferret out a great fraud on the Government. One item of evidence 

that I have of this fact is a letter of direction to his a-ssistant, written by Tenney to his assistant1 which I send to the Clerk to be read. 

The Clerk read as follows: LAW OFFICES OF TE INKY & HOLT, 178 Broadway, New York, February 6, 1 74. 

FRIEND H UG HES: Do not fail to see Ron. JA.MEs B. BECK. He is a democratic member from Kentucky. He is member also of the Committee on \Vays and Means. I have to-dav sent him Union and Eagle. H e is a powerful member of the democratic party, and will bring this Sa11ham matter to the front. I think no news specially. 

Yours, &c .• TENNEY. 

Mt;.BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Now, if republican office-holders 

will put ammunition into the hands of democratic members on the 

Committee on Ways and Means With which to attack and break 

down the republican Administration, far be it from me to say one wonlin animadversion upon the conduct of that democratic member 

of the Honse who should make the best use he can of that information for that object. He shorrld "bring it to the frout," and cha~ge 

upon the Arlministration, and attempt to show its great corruption 

and wrong-doings. He ought, if he is permitted so to do, to drive out of office its Secretary of the Treasury and its Assistant Secretary 

of the TreasUI-y and its Solicitor of the Treasury, and •show that they were all corrupt together and bad men. He should make violent and 

denunciatory speeches against the Administration, founued on the ma- terial that republican officers anu a republican committee of the House 

will furnish him for that use. He does his duty, his full duty, in so doing as an oppo itiou member of the House, ancl I applaud him for 

his ingenuity, his boldness, efficiency, and perseverance; and I con- gratu,late him upon the result. It is uot often that a republican com- mittee of a republican House force a republican administration to 

allow a democratic member to carry off at his belt the scalps of three 

of its principal officers, including its Secretary of the Treasury, to 

gratify the ambition of one of its district attorneys, who wants to run for Congress on the opposition ticket, and has already driven his 

republican opponent from the track. 

But what shall we say of a republican majority of a Committee on Ways and Means who shall allow themselves to be made the tools 

of '1n opposition member, to find him ammunition with which to 

wound, if not kill, their own Administration, if the only inducement 

to what they did was being blindly led by the superior wiliness of . their democratic associate T "Btlt was that the mainspring of action on the part of all the republican m~mbers of the committee T Fourteen days after, to wit, the 20th of February, a letter was sent by the 

gentleman from Ohio, who reported the abrogation of the Sanborn 

contracts from the Committee on Ways and Means, to Supervisor 

Harmon, of Brooklyn, New York, the substance of which was sent . to me rrnder the headin9: "Copy of a letter picked up in the streets 

of Brooklyn, New York,' which is as follows: 

As a member of the Committee on Ways and Means he [FoSTER] 

had discovered the existence of the Sanborn contracts. At the same time he learned· that indictments had been found in Brooklyn ; that 

he prepared and offereu the resolution callincr on the Secretary for information; that he offered the resolution and General BuTLER objected 

to it. After this BuTLER came to him and asked him to offer the reso- lution again before the following Monday, expecting BUTLER to make a speech on it. In the meanwhile he [FOSTER] and General WooDFORD had agreed to reply to such speech if made and attack BuTLER; 

hut General BUTLER withdrew his objection and said he .hoped the 

Honse would pass the resolution, which surprised him and WOODFORD, 

especially himself, "as he had prepared hhnself t.o rap old Cock-eye." 

Here you have the substance of a genrrine letter which the gentle- man from Ohio will not deny, especially the last phra e, because I 

told him one day that whatever he might say of me behind my back 

I wished he worrld not write of me that way, and I do not believe 

he will again. 

Now, what could the gentleman from Ohio desire to "rap old Cockeye" forT What had he done to the gentleman from Ohio Y Had he ever interfered with himY Had he ever said an unkind word to him, 

or of or concernjng him T I averhfrom an intimate knowledge of 

that unfortunate individual with t e defect in his eye, so delicately 

alluded to, that he had never entertained for that gentleman any 

but the kindest feeling. What personal grief he had, ala-s! I know 

not. From the time I got that letter I wa.~ utterly puzzled to know 

my imputed offense; but I got certain information, Mr. Speaker, afterward, embodied in the sworn testimony voluntarily sent me by the 

affiant, which the Clerk will read. 

The Clerk read aa follows: 

CITY OF W .A.SHINGTON, District of Columbia: 

WARWICK MARTIN, of the city of New York, being first duly sworn, on oath de- poses and says: Being acquainted with some of the claims embraced in the so-called Sanborn con· tracts, I, after the investiga.'":ion commenced in the Committee on Ways and M eans, addressed Iron. RmmY L. DAWES and Ron. FEfu""\A.l'iDO WooD, of said commit- tee, req ue: ting to be summoned to testify in said case. I was not summoned; but bavin"" business in Washington, I came here on the 9th of .April, 1874, and con- cluded' to appear before saiu committee aud testify, if permitted so to do. I stopped at the Ebbitt Hout;e, anu there saw Mr. D AWES and informed him of my wiJ b to appear before the committ-ee. He sa.id I should be permitted to so te tifj. Af. terward o.p. thb samed.ay, at the committee-room, Mr. DAWES notified me tc. be pre . ent in said room on the following morning at ten o'clock. I was in said roou: promptly at the time named. On my arrival at said room only one ~entleman of the committee was present, whom I learned to be Ron. CHARLES l!OSTER. .An- other ~ent:J.~man whom I did not know, but who I snrposed wa.s a member of the committee, came into said room soon after my arrival, and he anti Mr. FOSTER com- menced conversation. Mr. FosTER said to him, in language which I fli~linct,Iy heard, that his object witl which he commencell th.il:!investigatwn, or one object, was to find something against BEN. BUTLER ; that said BUTLER ball written a letter to his district to defeat his eleo- \ion, and he witilled io get even with him, or words to that effect. On the followino- day, the Hili of April, Mr. FosTER c11.me np a.ml spoke t.o me at the Ebbitt HollSe, where we were both stopping. He and I had a short conversa. tion, during whiuh the name of General BUTLER was mentioned, I having, as I now remember, stated that the committee seemed to be investigating Genet-al BUTLEL~ 

in.stectu of the law of May 8, 1 72, and the contracts thereunder. Mr. FosTER stateu in r eply, "Damn BUTLER; he ought to be investigat-ed; all the men connected with these contracts are B uTLER's fricnu~. and you are his friend also~ and saw him last 11i~ht, and told him what I said in the committee-room yesteraay about him," or words to this effect. I then stated to :Mr. Fo 1'ER that he was mistaken; that I had never enjoyed the pleasure of an introduction to, or an acquaintance with, Genm·al :BUTLER; that I hall not seen him on the evenincr named, or at any other time, to converse willi him. I add thnt this il'l true ~stUl. "'r have never been unfrienilly to General BUTLER, but have admired him for many thing: , and especia.ll~T for the fact that he has always been in favor of compelling wealthy men, capitalists, and corporations to pay what they owe the Govemment, instead of taxing the poor, the industrious, and the honest farmers, mechanics, and laboring men to make gootl the deficiencies of the rich. 

I so stated to Mr. FOt;TER, and adcled that I thought this one question was all there wa,a in the so-called Sanborn c~e. 

-WARWICK MARTIN. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of May, A. D. 1874. [lillAL.] H. W. BRELSFORD, 

Notary Puhlic, District of Columbia. 

Mr. FOSTER. In so far as that afficlavit makes the charge that I 

wanted to investigate General BUTLER, I pronounce it here and now an unequivocal falsehood The party who makes it I know is perfectly characterless, and the gentleman from Massachusetts ought to 

know that, too. He is the man, a.s the gentleman from Ma sachnsetts 

knows, who attempted to blackmail his friend Sanborn out of sev- eral thoru;and .dollars. 

Mr. BUTLER, of 1\Iassachu etts. I never kuew Mr. Martin; I never saw him. I never boarded with him at the Ebbitt House, and he never was in my con£dence. 

Mr. FOSTER. He came to us in order to get more money out of 

Mr. Sanborn. 

1\ir. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Now, I want to. deny here most 

positively that I ever inte~'fered in the gentleman's disti·ict in Ohio 

in my life. Indeed, I do not know where exactly his district is, save that it is somewhere in that great State. I take shame to myself that 

I do not know it. I ought to have knmnt it. I know something 

about it now and its Representative; but that has nothing to do with 

the present question, because I aver, again and again. that I never did send out there to interfere with tlie gentleman from Ohio, and if 

he had called upon me he would have learned that I never did; and if 

he has any eviuence that I ever sent out to his district in any way, 

}lrior to the time that he wrote that letter to Brooklyn, let him now produce and declare it. I wait for it. Being so thoroughly con- vinced that I had never given him any cause for complaint, I have no complaint to make or unkind word for him. He has been acting 

under entire misapprehension of fact·and with a belief that I had 

done him a wrong. When he learns as he now does his mistake, his own sense of justice will correct it. 

I corrld not believe even the affidavit until I turned to this very 

voluminous report, containing, with th6 testimony, three hundred and 

twenty-two pages, and upon examinationforrnd no allusion whatever 

to my humble self or eyes in the report of the committee upon the 

Sanborn contracts by any designation whatever; so that I am sure it 

turned out that I had nothing to do with them whatever, becau e the 

gentleman from Ohio in the" examination of 'vitnesses alluded to me in various forms of questions thirty-three times, and each time he got 

the answer that the witness did not know that I did anything, or knew 

anything, or said anything on the subject of the Sanborn contractti. 

Still, every time he alluded to me the New York Tribrrne published a statement that General BuTLER's name appeared everywhere in tho 

investigation; and this statement was copied each day into all the 

Bo ton papers which are under the control of some of my colleaguetS 

from Massachusetts, who were endeavoring to convince the people 

that I wa engaged in the affau·. Nay, my colleagues' newspapers were so put to it for evidence of the fact that they declared that San-

.born's lawyer, 1\fr. Prescott, was my private secretary and henchman, 

whatever that may be, and cit~d as proof that he had his office with 

me, when I am told that he once had an office in a fom-story building where I have mine, with some twenty other tenants. Let me say that I never saw Prescott three times in my life, and did not know 

him by sight till he was sent for as a witness. Besides that, when the. 
5228 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JuNE 19, 

gentleman made his speech he alluded to me twenty-eight time, 

making sixty-one in all; and then, after his sixty-one que tion and per~o al allusions in the examination and in the speech, t he editor o.f 

the Tr-ibune thought that my "coa.t-tails" could be seen in the affair. .A.ntl this is the kind of attack to w hlch men in pn blic life are exposed 

from investigations when somebody want to get even with them. ow, I have no objection to being investigated by anybody and 

everybody, friends or enemie ·; for the more the latter investigate me the worse they will like me. But I do object to the publicmon y 

b ing spent for that purpo e umler the direction of the Committee on \ Vays and Mean when they ought to havo been perfecting a finance 

measure, so that the two-thirds r epublican majority of this IIou e 

honld not now hang their beads with hame th..:1.t this Cou~ress lla, 

to go home after more tba,n ix months' se ion audno comprehensive 

.tinancia,l or revenue measure perfected a,nd passed, or any evor come from that committee on which the House may pass. Bnt, on the con- trary, they have been engaged in vilifying the .A.clmiui tration, rapping "old Cock- yc," and getting even with him, even to ex:1Illiniug 

into his private affair , thefc be rcceiv rl from private per on ·, and hi~ p r ·onal act to the number of thirty-three qu ·tions. And tbns 

having learn u bow unjust andimproper it is for anybotly even, anywhere, to exn,mine into another's private affairs, tho committee re- ported a bill that a man's books and papers onght not to be u · tl or his private affairs inquired into without an order of a court npon a complaint under oath. Why was not thi committee lcgi~latiug about 

the drooping bn ine · and nnemployedlabor of the country and trying 

to find a remedy for that Y 

How will they answer to their constituents, nay, how will this 

committee an wer to the country, thattheyfrittere<l away their time in 

thi pursuit of personal revenge, and h:bve <lone nothing with either finance orr v nu except top· two bill ; one of which, if you look 

back at the table I have pr en ted, cuts off 1,200,000 of money paid 

into the Trea ury la ·t year, and the oth r the best-informed man upon the subject ·wears will prevent tho ollection of at leasli four 

millions of taxes more, all of which should come from those who have 

tried and are trying to_ cheat the United States~ 

Is it wonderful that the int rests of the rcpuhlic:tn party and the 

interests of the country hav been ~l ctcd while the Committ eon \Vay. and Mean , under tho 1 a.der hip of the gentleman from K n- tucky, endeavor to break down theAdminit~tration as he had a right 

to do, and und r the le td of the gentl llla,n from Ohio, mi tak nly 

thinkiug he had a private grief against roe to assuage, have fritt r (l 

the time of Congr ss away for more than ix month in striking at one of their fellow-member who ha>tl notinjur d them, a.ndagainstwhoru, 

although pursu d with the hate of hell, they founcl nothing and r - ported nothing a.fter six month of investiga.tion. No, thank God; as usual, "old oek-eye e ·capotl without a rap." 

I do not desire the Honse or the country to blame either of the 

gentlemen of the Committ eon \Vay and leans too much in this 

matter, becau e there wer tho ·e in this Hou e who were eggiug them 

on, advising them to do it. Nay, there w re tho e of my colleague 

from .Mas achus tt who, in order to trike :1t me, were willing to 

trike down the republican party. Th p ch of tho O'entleman from 

Kentucky against the Administrat.ion, forihued upon" bringinO' the an born matter o the front," a very able, bitter, denunciatory arraio·n- m nt of that .A.clrninistration, put with all the power he coulcl, aml 

quite worthy of the sncce sur of Clay in +,he Louisville di trict, wa launched at our l)arLy like a. thnnderbolt. I ex:pecte(l and suppo ed, 

and the Ilouse expected, that his democratic associates would circulate it everywher to break clown the 1·epublican party, even at the 

co t of paying the postage on the distribution. 

But what hall we say of republican Representatives who subscribed for and cireulate uch a speeuh by the thou anu-a sp ech 

of t.he leading orator of the other side b the thonsa,nu f Why, Mr. peaker, the State of Ma :ichusetts ha more of the Kentucky 

sp eches circulated in it by one of my colleagues tha,n of any repnblican speech made in this House durin(J' the present session. .A.nu 

why¥ Having circulated everywhere t~rough their lying newspapers that I wa connected with the Sanborn contract, it was thought 

by some of my colleagues t.hat tile arraig-nment of the gentleman from 

Kentucky of the .A.dmini tration would b an indirect "rap at old 

Co k-eye ;" an<l a my en mie ither could not or dare not make any 

sp ech against t hat long-snft~ ring imlidtlual thems lves, they cho e to end out this atta-ck upon their .A.dml.nistration, thus to belittle 

their Secretary of the Treasury from their own State, to be the means of circnlating the char~e of corruption a~ainst their party, in order 

to get an intlirect "rap ' at one of their collea.gues. Now, I call upon the g-entleman from Ohio to deny, if he can, that more than one of my colleagu have b n to him to give him information about m anu to have question put about me, and to advise 

with him a to the conr ethat might betaken in his committeetoinve ·• 

tign,te me. Sir, w, that so or not Y Will the gentleman answer upon 

hi honort 

Mr. FO TER. Do you wish an answer now 1 

1\It·. BUTLER, of Ma ·achnsetts. Y s, sir. l\Ir. FO TER. I have to say tbat I have had no consultation with 

any gentlema-n from Mas achnsetts in relation to the Sanborn inves- tigation; none of them have aided or advised me in any way in the 

pro ecution of this inve tigation. :Mr. BUTLER, of Massacilusetts. I am glad to hear it. 

Mr. FOSTER. 0~: in the inve tigation of the matter at all. l\Ir. BUTLER, of Mas achu ett . Only about other thing ¥ 

1\Ir. FOSTER. No; about nothing ell e. l\Ir. BUTLER, of Mas achusetts. Whenever I want a witne · to 

tell what is not true I shall not end for my friend from Ohio . . Mr. :F 0 TER. What do you mean by that 

1\Ir. BUTLER, of Mas achnsett . I mean that you tell th truth 

exactly. Does th House wontler now tha.t n.lmo t the only man who wns found to object to my auili·essin.g the House at tills hour was on of 

my coll agnes from Ma achu ett. Mr. pea.ker, I have done my duty to thi matter. I have ho\vn by such evitlence a ha come to me, and by the fa t , what was tho O'round-work, in fact, of this investigation and thi cry rai eu agn.in ·t 

the republican party because of the 'anborn contract . There is not a man within the sound of my voice that now doc. not understaml i t. fr. Sp aker, more than one-half at le. ·t of all the inve tigat.iou · carried on in Congr are for the pnrpo e of strikinO' down som rival, or injlll'ing orne en my, or injnrin(J' some atlministrative officer, or gaining orne party enu, not for the pmpo e of ai<ling l egi 1:1tion. This bnsin of investigat ion is carriotl too far. I ca.11 peak plaiuly in the 

face of the conn try; for myself I defy invt:>stigation. For fomteen years, since the conunencement of my public life, I have lived nnder 

the focn of a microscope, magnifying and distorting every action of 

mine a million time , except, perchance, it wn a good one, which it 

blurred ancl covered altog ther. Livingnntt r uchin T> ction, tber - fore, whether I would or no, I must lead an hon ·t and upright life, or some man would in all these y arshave got a" rap at old Co k-eye," 

aJld I propose to take very good care of him now and ever. I d sire 

inve ·tigat.ion. I look forwa.rd to the time when the m·ajority of this 

Hon e will be oppo diu politics t.o mine; and th n I a. 'k them to in- vc tigate every act of mine and publi ·hit r ~nlt · to the country. I 

invok the investigation of a gentlemanly. polit.ical oppo ition, and 

not of a malignant p rsonal pl u anu spit , egg d on by political 

rivah·y; becau e I humbly trust that when my ever·y act is known aml 

under tood authoritatively and ex11ctly in it breadth and in it mo- tives t.he kindly judgment of my conntrymen will be, after all rivalry 

and nnkintlne~s of thought has P• · tl away, "He was a man whose 

virtue ovorbalancefl his fault , who loved his country, his k ind, justice, and nobl ness." 

Mr. FO. TER. Let u pray. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma .. ·achusett '. Yes; but spoil it with an "e." 

1\Ir. ELLIS II. ROBERTS, Mr. peaker, after laws ar pas e<l it is 

not nsnal to cliscn them. It ha remained for the gentleman from 

Ma · achnsetts [l\Ir. BUTLER] to wait until both Hon~es of Congr · have acted upon the bill which he ·n.ils to come in and mak his 

argument against it. It is not b cause he wa not invited that he 

tlid not appear upon the discussion of the moiety bill ; it wa not 

becau e he dicl not have the opportunity to app ar tilat he did not 

tli en tho anborn contracts, wh n th bill in relation to tho e con- tmct wa pending in the lions . It fell to me to have char(J'e of the 

bill to amend the customs laws anu to repeal moietie , a.ud thr e ti;ne , ~Ir . peaker as yon p r onally know, the consideration of that 

bill wa po t:poned to enable the gentleman from Massachusett to 

appear all(l be heard upon it. He states that it was nnder tood by 

the coLrntry that he wa ill when the bill was pa eu. The ant -room at my back re oumlecl with the stories he was telling anrl th arO'nments he was making there against the bill. Not here b fore c';;ngre · , not here before the conntry, bnt back ther in the cloak-room 

he cho e to come and make his argument . Sir, I do not obj ct to 

his arguments now or at any time, here or elsewhere. 

EXPERIENCE AND AUTHORITY. 

He cho to refer to the British revenue system. H t lis you that we referr rl. in onr dis ussion to the Britishr v nne y tern a justifying the bill which Congress pa ed with entire nnanimity in this 

House, and with but threl3 dis enting votes in the other Hou e, and 

upon the conference report wit.hout one dissenting voice in either 

Honse. But the British sy tom, Mr. Speaker, is not our only anth rity, and · yet we might rely upon it. The gentleman cho e to say that onr tariff wa complex. It is; but our internal-r venue sy tern is om- plex now, and wa much more complex when Congres with great 

unanimity rope3Jed the moiety sy tem with ref r nco to the internal re-venue. Onr internal-re-venue v ·tern justifies that act of Con<Yr~s 

as British experience justifies the policy which we have auopted. More than that. It ha received th a.pproval of the repuuli au part.y 

in gr at tate , for republican m m hm of till House will bear in 

mind that in the platform ofthe republican party of Indiana adoptetl 

only two or three clays ago there i a tloclaration commentlatorv f 

the abolition of moieties and the abolition of the anhorn ·ontract ~:>. 

But the gentleman from Mas achu etta t 11 you that th moi ty 

system has been sustained by every .A.dmiui tration since tho fountlation of the Governm nt. It is true that it i an oltl system. ·In olden tiines it was customary to hang a mnn who tole a h p. It was not found by experience that that wa a wise provision of law, nor h as it been found wise t.o maintain a like barbarism upon our statutebook in any regard. 

But, Mr. Speaker, we have authority, if it is authority which the 

gentleman from .Ma achnsetts plead , for the action which ongrc s 
. . 

1874.· CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5229 

has ta.ken. The gentleman has chosen to sa.y that past .Administrations have sustained the moiety system. This .Administration has 

dema.nded its repeal. In the first me age of Pre ident Grant in 

1 'G9 he expressly recommended the repeal of moi~ties. Secretary 

BoUTWlli.L very ela.borately argued in favor of the abolition of the 

moiety sy tern, and, sir, Mr. BouTWELL voted in the enate for this 

very bill which the gentleman from Mas achu etts [:Mr. BUTLER] now denounce . In 1871 Pre ident Grant a~a.in recommended with great 

·earnestness the repeal of the moiety system, and Sbcretary BOUTWELL 

repeated his arguments to that end, and that Secretary of the Treasury for whom the gentleman from M; achu etts seems to have so much ympathy, 1\Ir. Richard on, the late Secreta.ry of the Treasury, 

also recommended the 3>bolition of moietie . Let me ca.ll attention to their exact wortl.~, although I have once before done so when the subject was· regularly before the Honse. 

In his measa,ge of 1 69 Pre ident Grant said : 

Your attention is respectfully invited to the recommendation.'~ of the Secretary 

of the Treasury for the creation of the office of Com missioner of Cu !.oms Revenue; * * * and most especially to his recommenllation for the repeal of la.ws allowing 

shares of fines, penalties, forfeiture , &c., to oliiccrs of the Government or to informers. · 

In the same year Secretary BOUTWELL said : 

Uniler existing laws, cert&n revenue officers and other persons appearing as informers are entitled t.o shares iQ. fines, peualties, an1l forfeitures. During the fiscal year 1868-'69 the Treasrn:y Devartment distriuuted the sum of 286,073.61 to touch 

officers and to informers in the various C.'tHes ariHing under the customs-revenue laws. A large additional sum wa.'3 ah;o paid throu~h the Internal Revenue office .. The reason on which the laws granting such allowanc are based is that officers of 

the Government are stimulatetl to gr ater activit.y in 1ihe (lisoovery of frandR and 

in briu•dng offi nders to punishment. There C.'hll be no doubt that snub is the 

effect of the policy; but the expe1ieuce I haYe bad in the Treasury DHpartmenthas· convi.nc d me that the evils a.tteu.lling the sy. tern are greater than the beuetits derived from it. It oftenoccm thatrevenueotlicersa.reled toassertclaims in behalf 

of the Government which have no just founiiation in law or in the facts of there- . pective cases; and where real cla.ims exist it is often the object of the informers 

and offic r·s who share in the penalties to mi r epres nt the case to the Department, so as to ecure the greatest allvantafe to them. elv . But a more serious evil is 

~~=e ~t~f :~:~~~s ~!~~,~~~~!ch ~ifr~; t~ rh~nbe~el~£u~: orru:~:t~J informers, instead of checking criminal practices at the outset. It is im possil.lle to set forth in exact language the character of the evils that grow out of the present 

system. I am, however, clearly of the opinion that the Government ought to rely upon public officers for the pro] er performance of theiJ· duties without st.iwulatiug 

them by any contingent advant.'l.ges. 

In 1 71, again, President Grant said in his annual me sage: 

The present laws for collecting revenue pay collectors of customs mall. alaries, 

but proviile for moieties (shares in all seizures) which, at principal ports of entry 

particnlarly, raise the compensation of those officials to a large sum. It ha always s mel! to me ru if this syt~tem must at times work pernicious] . It hollis out an inducement to dishonest men, shoulrl s11ch get pos e ion of tlmi>!" of:li.ce , to be lax 

in their crutiny of goods enter d to enable them finally to make large seizUTes. Yoru· attention IS respectfully invited to this subject. 

Secretary BouTWELL repeated his previous recommendations in 

thee words : 

It is my duty t.o call the attention of Congress to the importance of abolisbinothe system of shares in moietie a far as the b"nefits inure to revenue officers an:I other per ons officially connected with the Governm ut. This measure was recom- mended in my la.<~t annual report, and a statement was ubmitted to Con !IT . showing the amount received by of:li.cers of custom , tog ther with the bill increasing 

their salarie 'vithout any increas of appropriation from the Treasury; the sum now pail! from moieties being quite sufficient to place the entire force upon a sa.ti.s· 

factory footing in regard to pay. Dnrmg th last fiscal year the offic of collector anr1 surveyor of the port of New York each received from moieties the sum of 49,215.69, aud the naval ofticer the sum of ,195.59. 

In most of tl1e cases the officer do not perform spe ial services entitling them to the amounts ~ranted, and importers and others whose acts are matle the subject of :inv:estigation complain, and I think with just reason, tha.t the agents of the 

Government have a pec11niary int rest in pursuing those charged with violations 

of the la.w. The Go-vernment ought to pay fair salaries, and rely upon the good faith of its officers for the performance of their duty. One of the ditliculti s which 

the D partment h'l.s to meet frequently is, that cu::~toms officers have an interest 

in proceedings for the di covery of fra.ud, the settlement of cases, or the pro ecu- tion of them, which is different from the real interest of the Government; and, as a. nece . ary r suit, the conduct of such officers is open to suspicion, both on the part 

of those who are pursued by them and the Government that they ostensibly rep- r sent. 

It may be deemed expedient to leave the law as it now stancls in regard to inform rs who are not officers, making it a penal offense for any officer to enter into an arrangement with an informer for ru1y share of the proceed of the information, 

and "'iving to the info1·mer perpetual right of action for the recovery of any money or other va.lnable thing paillorgiven to an ofticer engaged in the discovery or prose- cution of a fraud or legal wrong against the Government. 

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue testi.fietl as follows in the 

Sanborn inve tigation, (page 96, Report 559 :) 

Question. Congress repealed all the moiety system as far as internal revenue was concerned 1 · 

An wer. Yes. 

uo~~ !~~~~1 was that before the pa.ssage of the act which authorized the SanA. ot long; but I cannot give you the exact time. 

Q. Had the moiety sy tern, up to the time of this repeal, been of such character a to recommend its continuance to you 1 Were you in fa.vor of its repeal when it was repealed ~ 

A . I w~s in favor of its repeal, with this other provision, if I could have some means afterward of compent~ati.ng persons who g1we information, and for that a sv ci: 1 appropriation of inOO,OOU was made. My objection was that, before that, 

officer and :Jli had moiety alike, and that gave to the officers tho appearance of 

hnntem for prey rather tban of officers doing their duty. 

tb~·s:~~! ras the -effect of the moiety system that W!I.S repealed by Congress on 

A. It hurt the service, I think, in this way: the officer getting his share the same :J,s a private individual, when he ·went to the citizen, the citizen always 

cL'l.imed that the officer came to him to make money out of him rather than to discharge his official duty, and in that way it seemed to degrade his official acts. Tha.t was the objection. 

Mr. Richardson, as Secretary of the Treasury, in an. elaborate letter 

to the chairman of the ...::enate Committee on Commerce, argued the 

subject a.t length and recommenlled "the abolition of the pre ent y~­

tem of moieties with one exception, to wit, where attempt at smuggling are detected or where the act of smuggling is accomplished." 

This is precisely what yon have done by our legislation. If, then, this is to be settled by authority, we find the President of 

the United States, both of his Secretaries of the Treasury, and the 

Commi ioner of Internal Revenue, on tl1e same side wtth Congre88 

and the republican party, and on the other side the gentleman from 

theE . ex district of·Mas achusetts. -

LO SES UNDER TIJE MOffiTY SYSTEM. 

But the gentleman from :Mn.ssachusetts comes here to teach us that we should have a specific and not an ad valo1'em, tariff. Perhaps that 

is so. Bnt that is not the question before ns to-night; and it was not 

the que tion pending b fore this House when the hills were pa ,ed 

which he now • sails. The gentleman t lis us that under this ·ad 

valo'rem system we collect but 67 per cent. of the duties, not without 

the moieties but with the moieties, not without this machinery of 

barbarism bnt with this machinery of barbarism. With your inducements to officers to suffer violations of the law to go on for years to rna. s large penalties for division; with your arbitrary invasion of the 

office and of correspondence; with your severities arraying public 

sentiment against you o that juries refuse to be the instrnment.<5 of 

your lu.w ; with commer e prote ting against your statute and their enforcement, it is not trange that we can collect but 67 per cent. of our duties. 

If we cannot do any better than tha.t with this system of barbari m, I ask my collea.gues about me if it is not high time to try orne better system. We mean to collect more than 67 per cent. That is 

why we have asked Congress 0 reform the revenue laws i that is 

why yon have abolished moieties; why you have adjtlSted tile u e of 

book and paper as evidence to the rule of every one of our States 

and to the practice of onr fathers; tha.t i why you b"tl'ike down the 

extreme measure adopted during the war; that is why you appeal 

to the mercantile community to assist in sn taining just laws. Yon, have made no mistake in so doing. .And even the gentleman from 

Massachusetts did not appear to obstruct your beneficent action. 

PHELPS, DODGE & CO. 

Bnt he does come here to tell us something about theca e of Phelp , Dodge & Co. Mr. Sp aker, we are not trying the ca e of Phelp , Dodge & Co. If we were, then the remarkable qnalitie of the gentleruan from :Massachusetts as acriminallawyermight well be brought 

into play, and conn el ought also to be pre ent on the other side. ·we 

are h re to consider legislation, not to a sail citizens who are reputa- ble, who were reputable before the gentleman from Mas achusetts came into the Conbrre s of the United States, and who will be reputable a.fter the gentleman from Ma sachn etts leaves thi body. Mr. BUTLER, of Ma sachusetts. To what citizens do you refer f 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I refer to the house of Ph lp , Dodge 

&Co. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma.~ achnsetts. 0, ye ; that is all right. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS . .And I refer to the gentleman from 

Mru sachOMetts. 

Mr. BUTLER, of l\Ia. Racbnsetts. I beard that. Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. .And I ask, becam;e I do not know so much a the gentleman from Massachu etts about the case of Phelps, 

Dodge & Co.--

1\!r. BUTLER, of fas acbusetts. That is evident. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I do not know so much as the gentle- man from Massachusetts of one side of tha.t case. To show why he 

is better informed about it than I can ue, I ask that the evidence of 

the informer with reference to the connection of the gentleman from 

Mas achusett with the case of Phelp , Dodge & Co. may be read. :Mr. BUTLER, of .Mas achusetts. I a.m very much obliged to yon 

for that. 

l\lr. ELLIS H . ROBERTS. It will be found on pa.ge 173 of the 

evidence. Mr. BUTLER, of fa. achnsetts. Will yon allow me to reply after 

it is read 'f 

Mr. ELLIS H . ROBERTS. No, sir. 

l\fr. B T LER, of Ma~achusetts. I thought so. l\Ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Yon declined to let me come in. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma achusetts. Never. :Mr. ELLIS H . ROBERTS. You have had your day in court. 

Ur. BUTLER, of Ma achnset.ts. I only declined to have you inter- rupt me, not to have you come in and reply. · 'fhe Clerk read as follows : 

Yr. FOSTRR. I did not exactly understand the answer to Mr. RoBERTS's question. You employed counsel for whJ.t1 Mr . .JAYNE. I deemed that it was a. case where some ugly points might arise, and 

where this matter might come up; that it probably wonfd come up in the course of some di en sion growing out of this cn.se. I did consent and ur.,.e settlement of 

this case for a sum of money that the counsel for the informer was not willing 

should be accepted. I deemed that some ugly proceedi.n~s might, perhaps, grow out of this attempt to black-mail. I thought the truth mignt come out and I might 

need coun el. I came with the facts to the Secret..'try of the Trca.'3ury, and to coun- sel whom I employed . 

• 
• 

5230 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Mr. FosTER. Then I am to nndersta.nd that yon employed counsel to pr vent a larger sum being paiu by Phelps, Dodge & Co. 1 Mr. JAYNE. I employed counsel to secure the settlement upon the terms that th y otfe1·ed and seemed anxious to olo e upon. Mr. FosTER . .And not to have them pay alar,. r sum 1 Mr. JAY · K. Not to have them pay a. larger t~um . 

.Mr. FOSTER. I tlrink it would l>e well for your to .W,ye the name of the counsel, for we have undert~tood that he was employed for a. <Ulltlrent pnrpo e. Mr. JAYNE. General BuTLER was the gontleman, sir. He watlnot employed for 

a different pru1>ose. Mr. FOS'l'ER. Has he be n employed in any other cases wit.h yon 1 Mr. JAYNE. Whenever I had que tiona of law that 1 diu not understand-ani:! in the com·se of my experience I have had a great many questiouH of law and of evi- tlence arisino--I have submitted a. number of question!:! to General B UTLER, anti I ll:we paid hi'm, I thluk, 1,500 be ides what I paiu in that case. Mr .FOSTER. How many c:l!:!es has he been employed iu ~ 

1111-~ JAYNE. I coulu not tell the exact numl>tlr t.hat I have asked him questions with regard to. I shonlu think two or three, or three or four, perhaps. 

1\fr. ELLIS II. ROBERTS. That is all I ask to have read at this 

time. That will show why the gentleman from Ma sacho etts know more about that case, or may claim to know more about one side of 

it than I do. Perhaps it is a part of the task which he has under- t~ken for tl.Je fee meutioned in that eyjtleuce, to -as ail a reputable rn rca~tile bon e upon the :floor of the .A.m ri an Congress. 

:Mr. BUTLE!b of 1\Ia achusetts. WHl the gentleman allow me- lli. ELLIS 11. ROBERTS. The floor is mine, Mr. Speaker. . ~Jr. BUTLER, of Ma achusett . Ye , you are as brave as a country editor generally is. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Brave! I have asked you three times 

to come into this House and tlebn,te this question, a:qtl you ltad not 

the courage to come. 1\fr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Not when I was sick. ~ir. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. The :floor is mine, 1\ir. Speaker. Mr. BUTLER, of Massa<lhusett. You k tl a sick ma.n to come; 

you are very brave. He is well now, and you will not l.J ~tr him. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS : 

I did hear him groan: Ay, and that tongue of his, 

* * * * .Alas! it cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius," As a sick girl. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Yes, I am like c~esar. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. · Yes; ".A.s a, sick girl." 

SEIZURE OF BOOKS AND P AP.ERS. 

Let me call particular attention to the very significant fact tha.t even the uentleman from Mas achusetts has not one wortl to say in 

favor of the sy tern of the seizure of books and pa.per You have 

nbstantially wiped it ont. . That i one of the chief features of the 

bill which you have pas ed. Against that reform criticism is dumb. 

WRY JUST ONE-BAJ.F 1 

The o-entlemau from Massachusetts contents himself with warning us aga~st the con eqneuces of the repeal of moieties. Wh_en wa. it ever discovered that exactly one-half was the proper sum w1th whiCh 

to induce lawyers and others to steal papers,ortohavethem' picked 

up on the street," to bribe the clerks of merchant house , and to sur- round the comm rc of this country with an infamous band f Why 

is it just one-halff Why not a · little more than one-half, o that 

lc ro-er fees could be paid for counsel to appear not only at the Treasury but upon the floor of this House f Why not more tltan one-half. 

Why not a little le f 

You, my colleagu s, have chosen to say that for smuggling you will 

pay one-half for the detection of the crime ; but for other offen es ao-ainst the revenue you will pay-how much f .A. bagatelle, is it . F~r the detection of any offense against the revenue committed by 

importers or by officers of the revenue you will pay as much as you 

pay for a year's work, not simply to the chairman of the Committee on· Ways and Means, with his expe1·ience of eighteen years in thi 

House, his ability, and industry and fidelity; but you will pay for the 

detection of every crime against the revenue, a much even a the 

American people pay to their chau·man of the Committee on the J ndiciary of this House, [1\ir. BuTLER.] Is not that q nite enough-a year's 

salary of the bet talent in the country employed in the cares and • responsibility of legislation for any detective who will bring to light one singla offense against the revenue Y The price of a farm, of a homestead, to a detective for a single case-is not that enough f Do 

you want to keep up a system for pouring money into State to con- trol guberna torial nominations f Even with all that flood of money 

gubernatorial nominations are not always secured. 

FTh'RS AND PENALTffi OT REPEALED. 

But the gentleman from Massachusetts appeals to the country 

against Congress as if we had repealed :fine , penalties, and forfeitures. 

3.'he gentleman from Ma acbusett could not have intended. to create 

that impre sion, because it is not true. You have not 1·epealed .fines, 

penalties, and forfeitur s. We have ought to make them more definite; we have sought to make collection dependent not upon informers, not even upon the pleasure of the ecretary of the Treasury, or any district attorney. But we have sought to make your law clear and to render its execution certain as the fiat of fate. 

THE UNANIMOUS VOTl~. 

But, Mr. Speaker, it is a work of supererogation to talk here in 

favor of a bill which received the unanimous vote in this House from 

every State ; which in the other branch of Congr bad bnt three 

negative-votes, and finally upon the conference r port was unanimously aclopted. Mr. D.A. WES. .After full cliscu ion. 

1r. ELLI H. ROBERTS. Ye ; after long and full <li. cu ion in 

the other House, and after a discus ion in this Hou e which was ex- han tive in every respect except in not having repre ented in it the 

honorable gentleman from Ma achusetts, [:Mr. BUTLER.] 

THE SANBORN CONTRACTS. 

After the arguments when the bill for their repeal as pending, ::md 

after wltat has been o for ibly aid by my ill timrnishecl collearrue ou the Commi~ on Ways and Mean , the gentleman from Ohio, [:M~. :Fo - TER,] it is not nece aryfor me to refer again to the oguate ubj ct- the :;au born contracts. I did not suppo e that there was in this bnd one man who would dare to defend tltem in their enormity. Even J obn 

D. Sanborn, when be came before tbe Ways and Means Committee, 

admitted that the rate allowed. to him for collection was exorbi- tant, and that he would be willing to con1.inue the collection at a les 

rate. · 

Mr. KASSON. .A.t 15 per cent. 

~Jr. ELLI H. ROBERT . My colleague on tbe committee, the gentleman from Iowa, [1\ir. KAs ON,] says Sanborn was willing to collect the taxes for 15 per cent. in tead of 50 per ceu t. The Committee 

on Ways ancl Means preferred what they consiclered a still better system, that the taxes honld be collected by the sworn otli ers of the 

Government as they have been collected steadily all the while, in spite 

of the work of Sanborn. I take the liberty of submitting as part. of 

my remarks tables showing the amount of taxes actually collectecl 

by yolll' Internal Revenue Bureau, even during t be progre s of the an born contracts. They are as follow : 

TREASURY DEP AltTllENT, OFFICE OF INTERNAL REVENUE, 

Wa$hington, .March 18, 1 74. 

Sm: I inclose herewith a statement, prepared in accordanc with your request 

showing the amount of repealed taxes returned to this otlice after tho e taxes wer~ abolished. Very respectfully, 

Ron. ELUS H . RoBERTS, 

How;e of Representatives, Washmgton, D. C. 

J. W. DOUGLASS, 

Commissioner. 

Statement showing the amonnt of 1·epealed taxes 1·etur-ned w the office of tl!e 

Commissioner of Internal R evenue after those taxes ·were abolished (exclusive of certain taxes 1·epealed Jtme 6, 1872, 1·elating to spi1·its, tobacco, 

aJI(l ctdhe il-e stamps) dw,ing the fi cal yea1·s encling June 30, 1 71, 1872, 

ancl1813. • 

Sources. Fiscal year ~71. 

Income . ..... ........ . ----··· - --- · --- ---·---·--- - Grows receipts. ___ .. ....... -----· $577, 723 99 ) 

Sal s --. - --- . ---------. --.. --- -- 637, 095 62 l pecial ta.xe _ ... _ .............. _ 93, 946 16 L gaci s .... .... .. -...... . ....... 9:.!7,879 10 

uc? i~ns ---------- - ---·------ 649,34916 I Articles rn S~Jh dnle A...... . . . . 38, 078 34 Manufactures and productions . 

ex lusiveof ga --· · -· --------- 1,058,393 18 J Gas .... -....... ------··: ···----- - ---- -· · ·---- · ·-· 

TotaL.·-·-- ·----·.... ....... 3,9 ,465 55 

Fiscal year lll72. 

1, 7 4., 426 19 

Fiscal ye.w 1 73. 

$5, 062, 311 62 

763, 761 77 

120,111 96 

-----1-----

3, ::!36, 243 4 5, 946, 185 35 

TKEASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF INTERNAL REVENUE, 

Washington, May 13, 1874. 

The following statement show ·th ollections retn.rned on legaci and succes- sions to theUollllllis ioner of Internal R evenue from two hnncll-ed and two collrc- tion districts druing the fiscal years 1872, 1873, and the first seven months of the fiscal year 1 74: 

From Jnly 1, 1871, to June 30, 1 72 . ......... . ........ , -----· ... . .. .. , 018 03 l!'rom .July 1, 72, to June 30, 1873 ............... _ .... __ .. __ ... _ ___ __ 442,412 95 

FromJuly1, 1873, toFebruary2B, 1874--- • ·------ --- --- ------------· 5,444 59 

Total ....... . .. . ---- . . --- ............... __ ... ___ ................. _ 1, 388, 75 !>7 

REGULAR COLLECTIONS VS. SANBORN. 

H .. ROGER, 

Acting O'lmnis:ricmer. 

Ob er e that even the Sanborn contracts have not pr ented the 

department from O'athering in by re~ular means la.rg snms of money 

from such taxes. Be ide. the collect10ns actually made by the regular 

officers for him, besides theca es ru1der indictment a.uu in process of 

settlement, on which Sanborn received. moi11ties, the official records 

show tltat these millions have been collected without paying toll 

to him. . 

In the la t fiscal year the internal revenue wa collected for about. 

5 per cent. and the customs for about 4 per c nt. n,nborn was allow d 50 per cent., yet his cupidity has snatched. from the direct com·se of collection not one-tentll of the actual proce ds of repea1etl 

taxes. 

He collected nothing from distillery cnses, except from one per- son under indictment. From leo-acies and succ s ions he picked up 

nothing except in a single city. }).·om mammoth corporations he took 

.. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5231 

little, if anything, besides what wa on its way to the Treasury. His own witn sses how that he rendered no ervice. John D. Coughlin 

' Rwearl:l tlJat for 1:2-! per cent. he collected the legacy taxes inN ew York 

for Sanborn, and would have done the same without his intervention. 

( 'ee vic.lence, page 9.) The testimony of Preshrey, (pa.ge 2,) of 

Green, (page 66,) of Oc.lell, (page 220,) and of Hawley, (page 227,) 

agrees in showing Sanborn only as the claimant for the moiety. In 

few in tances is it shown that he collected anything which the 

Department could not by its regular methods reach and gather in. 

No pretext of necessity, no allegation of neglect on the part of the 

Bureau, no exaggeration of the saving of money to the Treasury, can h supported by the facts to erve as an excu e or even a 1)alliation 

of the contracts and the abuses which Congress has now ended for- ever. 'rhe statute of 1872 was not in its terms mandatory. By it a practice which had e:x.isted was le&'alized and re tricted. The Secretary 

of the Tre~ ury might well feel bound to act nuder it. That, then, is 

the respou ·ibility of Congre , . The door wa thus openell to abuses. They were not actually introduced. They were invited. They flocked 

in like doves to the window. 

Only by abuses conld thi contract s. tern prove a source of wealth 

to the contractor. No individual couldhavether ourcesoftheGovernment for pre sing collection . Internal-revenue taxes lie within a narrow :field in which clo e scrutiny can be exercisecl. The chances 

for actual "discovery" of such taxes withheld mnst in the nature of 

the case be few. Only b.v abancloning or b1·eaking down the re triction of the statute ould the spoil grow to a corrupt ancl dangerous 

magnitude. Tllat was permitted to the contractor. 

Tlill REAL CRIME. 

He claimed "di cove~:y" of every tax under repealed laws, whether 

be found it in com-t, in t.he hands of int mal-revenue officers, or act- ually creilitecl to the Governm nt. Broader yet was t.he :field in which 

he a snmed mastery. Into hi contract he thrru;t the names of per- sons and corporations, sweariu~ that they were "indebted to the Govrnment upon taxe withheld,' although he hacl no knowlecl(J'e what- ever on the subject, and simply copied them from urrogate~ records 

and railway gnides. (See hi evidence, pages 1!>2, 15 .) 

AN RXCEI'TION. 

The indignation which has been rou eel by the expo ures reported 

by the Committee on Ways and Means proves that this contract system is au exception, a monstrosity in our administration. It is in 

antagoni m to our in titutiou , and especially to the spirit of recent 

legislation. You find farming the revenue prevail in emi-harba- rous China and in Turkey. The mo t des1>otic of the French m~marchsthus enriched their favorites, male aud female. Britain has never accorded welcome to the policy. Wit.h us it has u en an exotic parasite, of sickly growth. REPEAL IMPERATIVE. 

The rep al of any b.w that tolerateclsnch a system was imperatively 

demanded. 

The Committee on Way and Means, Mr. Speaker, have bad imply 

the work of carryin~ out what was obviously the wit~h of the House, 

and what beyond all que tion i the wi h of the country. Whether or not it be true that the gentleman from Kentncky, [Mr. BECK,] my 

colleague on the committee, had his attention first called to this matter or not I do nat know, be.canse the letter read here to-night is the 

tirst sn~~estion I have ever heard that he origiuat.ed this moveinent. 

When tnis Congress a em bled the notoriety of the case in B1·ooklyn 

attracted the attention of other memuers of the committee. 

.Mr. BUTLER, of :Massachu etts. Is the gentleman quite certain of 

that! 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I am. 'Mr. BUTLER, of 1\lassa.chusett . Congre s came together in Decem- ber, and the Brooklyn matter did not come out until long after. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. I know what I am tallill~g about. The 

first indictment was found in November or December. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma achusetts. o, ir. 

.Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Well; it is certain that before the res- olution wn.s introduced by the gentleman from Ohio [.M.r. FOSTER] 

he talkecl with a number of members of the committee, I thlnk I 

may say; bnt without speaking of anyLody else I know h~ talked 

to me about the form of his rf'solution. He introduced that resolution. .And the Committee on \Vays and Means would have been con- tent wit.h the simple repeal of the law. But it was the gentleman 

from the E ex di trict of Ma achnsetts who demanded that hil:l 

friend, Ir. John D. anborn, hould have a hearing, Sanborn having 

previou ly made such a request to some members of the committee. 

It wa Ly a republican member of the House that tllis resolution was introducecl, as a proper step toward the reform of a flagrant evil. 

REVE?\"'UE lt~SURES •. 

But the ~ent eman from Ma achusett chooses to introduce just 

here an indictment of the Ways and Means Committee for not bringing in a r venue mea m·e. 1\Ir. Speaker, the Ways and Means Committee have been studying the revenue question all through this Congress, and they have not 

brought in a bill to increase the taxes, because in their judgment it 

was not right, it was not proper; the exigencies of the country dicl 

not dem~nd that taxes should heincrea ed. And theWaysand l\f nns Committee are (]UHe ready to go to the country upon that record; 

that when industry is paralyzed, when ommerce folds its hands in 

idleness, when thousands of our people know not whither to turn for 

their day's labor. the Committee on \Vays andMeanshavedeclined to 

put new burden on the country. Mr. BUTLER, of :Ma achu etts. Will the gentleman allow me a momentf 

l\lr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Yes, sir. 

1\Ir. BUTLER, of Mas achusett . Did not the gentleman's com- mittee bring in a bill to increa e the tax on friction. matche t 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. No, sir ; we reft1 ·ed to repeal the tax on friction matches. 

1\1r. KASSON. We reported the hill a-dversely. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERT . It wa a bill to r peal taxes on friction 

matches, and we reported it adversely. This only illul:ltrates how 

very little the gentleman from the Es ex eli trict of M~ssachu etts 

knows about the que tion which he ba assumed to discns . :h!r. Speaker, I hold in my band the ju tification of the action 

of the Committee on Ways and Means in declining to increase taxe . The gentleman from Massachusett , [1\fr. DA WE , ] the chairman of 

the committee, early in thi session made a long argument in some parts of which I could not agree, but t.be couch1. ion of which was that no taxes were nece ary. I l1acl the honor to submit some re- marks al o leacling in the same direction. It was my fortune early 

in the se sion to make an estimate about the revenue for the pre nt 

fisca,l year. I ventured as early as the 2d of :March to say that the revenues for this fiscal year would be '~~'288,000,000, although the 

Treasury, with the abundant caution which i 1>roper for it, placed 

them at about the same time at. ·281,000,000. You will :find the table 

of the Treasury in the RECORD for March 3, cited in my remark . The estimate was for total income for the year ending June 30, 1874, 

$281,777,972.19; expenditure , inclnding sinking fund, 321,477,616.35; 

cash in Treasmy July 1, 1874, 20,302,305.14. 

The figures which I then submitted were for receipts, ~ ,000,000; 

expenclitures, including sinking fund, 314,191,3G9.28; cash in Treasury, "35,000,000. . Now the warrant division of the Treasury, estimating for the 

few days remaining, gives the receipts for the fiscal year at over ·290,000,000 ; tlle expenditures at 316,843,349; and the cash in the 

Trea my July 1, at '33, 194,333. Here are the figures in detail: 

Cash in the Treagury Jnly 1, 1873. __ . _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ __ 131, 192,028 50 

From which deduct sums on deposit by provis- ions of law, represented in this a.ruount, as follows: 

'pecial depo its of legal-tenders held for redemption of certificates of 

deposit .. .. --·-----·------------ __ $31,730,000 00 Coin deposits for which win certifi- cates were outstandiug. __ . ___ . _ _ _ 39, 460, 000 00 

------ 71, 190, 000 00 

Total a.vailaule cash belonging: to the Government._ ..•. _ .•. _ ....... $60, 002, 028 50 Receipts from July 1, 1873, to .r'ebruru-y 1, 1874, (five days e timated) . __ ... _____ .. __ ... ___ ___ . __ . _. _ _ _ 165, 677, 972 99 

Receipts from F eurlL'try 1 to June 30, 1874, (twenty 

dac~:to~~ted,) namely: 

February . _____ ... __ . $14, 434, 659 17 

March ... _ . . __ .. _ _ _ _ _ 15, 147, 033 57 

Una.'!certain d and not r eported at close of monthly acwunt... 506, 664 35 priL ........... . . __ 13,~, 4 95 

May _____ _ . _____ .. __ . 12, 418, 062 15 

June, (pm·t estimated) 1:1, 000, 000 00 

Internal revenue: F ebruary . _ .. ___ .. __ . 8, 134, 40 79 :h.L'\rch _ ..... _ . .... _. . 7, 493, 792 94 

.April ............. _.. 8, 160, 855 9B May __ ..... __ . ___ . _ . 11, 462, 700 07 

June, (part estimated) , 500, 000 00 

69, 362, 908 79 

----- $43, 751, 757 78 Mi cellaneous: 

February ... __ . __ . . . . 3, 488, 931 00 March _ ....... __ _ .. _ . 2, 044, !I 1 94 

April .... _ ..... _ . • . . . 2, 308, 949 64 May _____ .... _ .. __ . _ _ 1, 800, 152 94 

June, (part estimated) 1, 600, 000 00 ----- 11,243, 015 52 124, :J57, 682 09 

Total ordinary revenues. ____ . . _ . . ... ·: ......... ___ ... ·-----._ .. $290, 035,655 OB 

Total available resources. _ .. _ ......... __ . _ . ... . __ . . .... _ .... _.. 350, 037, 683 58 Ordinary e~-penditures on acwunt of appropriations: From July 1, 1873, to February 1, 1874, (fivetla.ys estimated)----·-·········-···-· · ·····-····- · ····-·- 177,174,585 59 

FromFebruary1,1874, to June 30,1874, (twenty days 

estimated) · ·-· ··· ·· ··-····--···--··-···-···------ 110,477,394 81 

Total ordinary expenditures ...... _ ... _ .. . . . . .. 287,651, 980 40 • LialJili ties on account of sinking fund . __ .. ... _. . . . 29, 191, 369 28 

-----316,843,349 68 

33, 194, 333 90 

It will be seen from the foregoing statement that the inwme of the Government· for the current fi.scal year is estimated at ,383,674.68 in excess of the expendi- tw·es. Thi!:!' will leave $26,807,686.60 of the sinking fund unprovided for. 
5232 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Monthly statement of 1·eceiptsjor the year, adjusted toMarclt 31,1874. 

Month. 

1873--July .•..••.•.••...•.....•. . Augus.t .... ........ . ..... . 

Oc~:~~re~.:::::::::::: :::: N o~em ber ................ . December .. -------- ...... . 1874--January ...•...........•... Feuruary .....•...... .. _ .. . March .................... . .April .••........ .••.....•.. May . ................ _ ... . . June, (part e tima.ted) . •. .. 

Customs.. 

$14, 717, 146 47 IS, :375, 392 83 15, 963, 149 09 11, !12'2, 498 98 

9, 720, 83-1 27 10, 234, 831 2-:2 

13, 576, 973 71 14., 4J4, 659 77 15, 653, 6!'17 92 13,856, 4 95 12, 418, 062 15 

13, 000, 000 00 

Inte~~e.rev· Miscellaneous.. 

9, 36 '452 49 

2, 615,0 3 17 

7, 508,129 94 

2, 30 '949 64 1, 00,152 94 1, uoo, ooo oo 

Total ....••....•..•.••• ...... 163,533,73!" 36 101,301,15154 25,200,76818 

Grand total . ................... ------ .• ...... . ..•.•...•.•. _... 2!!0, 035,655 Od 

Although the estimates submitted by me nearly fonr months ago were then pronounced as over. a.uguine by some gentlemen on this 

floor and in the press, there ult has more than justified them. rl'he 

receipts overrun tho e estimates by more than 2,000,000, and probably by even more. WhHe the Treasury e timate of expentiitures still 

exceed . the figures submitted by me, the actual re ult will be found 

to be between them, and the net ca.sh in the Tr asury will vary little 

if any from 35,000,000. So tha.t setting out of the account for the 

moment the i sue of 26,000,000 of legal-tenders taken from the re- erve, we shall ha.ve from three to :five million clollars of net tuplu 

for the fiscal year to apply upon the sinking fund, while for the next 

year we may confidently expect under the laws as we now have them a complete adjustment of the sinking fund for both year . That i 

the justilication of the Committee on Ways and Mean for not bringing in a bill to inorease taxes. Our judgment was tha,t it was not necc sary; and we know no rea on why it hould be counte(l a luxm'Y 

to burden the people without nece ity. 

AS AILING THE ADUINISTRA.TIO • • 

Bnt the gentleman from Mas achusetts charges n.s his la. t inc:lic tment that the Committee on Ways and Means have been assailiuo· 

the Administration. How' By preventing a corruptioui ·t holdiu~· the Treasury in his hands and controlling it officers. How f By re': 

pe3:ling moieties rccommeudeti to be repealed by the Pre ·ic:lent of the 

rute<.l tates. How By striking down the infamous S::muorn con- tracts. Why, 1\fr. peaker, I have yet to learn that moietie are the 

administration of tile United tates. I have yet to learn that Joilu 

D. :tnborn is the republican admini tration. Indeed, Ir. Sp ·alter, 

f have yet to learn that even tile gentleman from the Essex di trict 

of 1\f;u;sachusetts, with a.ll lru ability, is t.he administration of the 

republican party....:.the admiui tration of the United States. When I 

learn either fact it will be time enough for me to inquire my duty 

~o~ard them a nch, and then, if not now, I will not be afraid of the m~t~tmel!-t of a ailing the Administration, if it be a , ailing the Admmt tratLOn to trike down corruption wherever I ee it, if it be a ailing the Administration to strive for the I'ight wherever it may lead. 

.Mr. Speaker, I have it in my heart and bones that the republican par~y is the p_ar~y of conscience, the party of progre s, and the party 

of nght, and 1 t 18 because I so believe that I have been a republican 

before the gentleman from Mas achusetts was a republican, and I 

e.:s;pect to be a republican after the gentleiilL'l>n from the E ex di - t1:1et of l\fas achusetts has made new party affiliations and gone to 

hts own place. 

I~ is becau e the moiety bill adjusts the revenue law to what I 

beheveto be the modern ideas of humanitynot only, but what eems to me to be thee entia! spirit of civilization, that in my humble way 

I have done what in me lay for the repeal of the system, and in doing 

that. I have rendered the best service in my power to the republican 

admmistrati on, to the republican party, to honesty in legislation and 

administration, and therefore to my country and my God. ~lr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, after listening to the extraordinary 

speechjust made by the gentleman from Massachu ett , [Mr. BUTLER,] 

I find but little in it that calls upon me for a reply, save and except 

his personal allusions to me in connection with the Sanbot·n inve tigation, and I desire to say that so far a my per onal a{ltion in these 

proceedings is concerned, it was solely in the line of discharging an official duty, and with no feeling of unkindness toward any one. I 

believed from the start that a monstrous robbery had bees. attempted 

and partly executed on the Treasury. I believed then, as I do now, 

that t;he law authorizin(J' the Sanborn contracts was pa sed for the 

purpo e of plunder by those who engineered its pa age. I believed 

that more than one member of Congress had knowledge of the purpo e for which it ':Vas to be u ed before it pill! etl. If, therefore, in 

asking general que tions about members of Congress in connection 

with these contracts, the answers. to which shoulcl point in all manner of ways to the gentleman from 1\lassachusett , [l\1r. BUTLER,] it is not 

my-fault. If be has had no connection with them, it is certainly un- fortunate for him that so many of his n:iends should be mixed up 

with them. 

I well knew that I would have to encounter such ho· tility as only 

the gentleman from Massachusetts can command. I knew that my 

letters, if po sible, would be stolen; I knew that unprincipled men would be induced to make fal e affidavit ; I knew that my pa t lir 

would be investigated with the purpo to "break me down;" unt I 

dtd not expect the secret ervice of the Government would !Je nseu to 

travel'se my district trying to hnnt up omething for the gentleman to u e against me. He has through the agency of one Hughes ecnretl a copy of a letter of mine, whieh he has jn t reacl to the Hou e, the 

contents of which he is welcome to. Let him make the be t use he 

may of the phrase. "old Cock-eye;" it is a generous, well-intended 

phra e, will wear well, anu live a long as the gentleman from Ma a- chusetts. He bas come forward with an affidavit from a blackmailer 

of Sanborn, known to him as uch, in which thefalsestatement is made 

that I saic.l to this man Martin" D-n BUTLER; he ought to be lnve tignted." Hehasacknowledgec.lthathehas ntintomydi tricttol aru of omething that he might u e again t me. Hi striker ha e gi eu out that I was to be scalpe.d. Now, what do all thisamounttof Tb re is nothing in the letter of which any friend of mine ne ti take exception except to smile at its trnthfulnes . There is nothing in th 

affidavit, (if true,) that reflects any discreilit on me; and so littl 

could his detective find in my district, that he has not been able to come forward with any charge whatever. 

On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, the investi(J'ation has been a com- plete succe , a vindication of my labors on the sub-committee and 

of the work of the whole committee in th re ·ults they have reached ; 

for the House have unanimou ·ly adoptec:l the bills and reports. Th 

law untier which the anborn contracts were made is repealetl, th 

contracts annulled, the officer of the Trea nry Department dir tl 

and indirectly connected with this di graceiul transaction ar re- moved, and are replaced with men in whom the country ha the fullest confidence. That I have ied in an investigation that hasresnlteti o sncce fnlly 

in every pha of the case i a matter in which I feel a just pride, and 

i one which I know the country appreciates. That the gentleman 

from Mn. 'achu etts ha snftered in reputation is not my fault, but 

rather that of hi a ociations. I am not surprised that he should 

feel so sore over it and that he has seen :fit to make a per onal attack 

npou me to-night. He has made his own bed of tortme; let him lie 

in it. I ca.Imot help it. 

I am very glad, Mr. Speak r, of the opportunity of presenting to 

the Hou ·e anu to the country the facts in relation to tLat investigation; and I want to ay here in the out et that the Committee on Ways and Mean never ordered an inve _tigation into the facts iu that 

ca.<;e to the extent of calling witnes es. The gentleman from Kentucky [ Ir. BECK] and my elf were appoint d a su!J- ommittee on the part of the Committee on Ways ancl Means to in estio·ate the 

affair of the Internal Revenue Office at the reque t of the Committee on Appropriations. During that inv tigation it came to our knowledge that the Trea ury of the United States wa being robb ti 

in some way, jnst exactly how we did not know. I went alone to the 

officers of the Trea ury D partment, b cause the gentleman from 

Keutnclty [Mr. BECK] said to me that I had better go my elf-that as he was a democrat it would be better for me to know the secret of 

the e thing alone. I went to the office of the Solicitor of the 'l'r as- ury, anti als to :the office of the ecretary of the Tr a ury, and my 

interview with those officers was so un atisfactory that I came back 

to the Honse and offered a resolution of inquiry calling for copie of 

the contract . After two or three week ' delay that resolution was answered, giving copies of the contracts, but without the name of 

parti charged with having withheld their taxe . 'rhat answer was un atisfactory to the Horu;e, and the gentl man from Pennaylvania 

[Mr. RANDALL] offered a re olution broader in its terms, which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. The Committee on \Vays anti Means ilirected me to report back to the House that r o- lution in still broader terms, calling for copie of the contracts and 

orders and everything in r lation to the an born contract . In th com e of time, in two or three weeks perhap , we got an an wer to 

this resolution. At the time I offere(l thls second re olution the g u- tleman from Mas achnsetts [Mr. BUTLF.R] will remember that he objectec:l to its introduction nule I would permit discu ion, bntfinally 

he as euteti to a withdrawal of Ilis objection, and the resolution was adoptec.l uy t.he House. 

At that time the gentleman from New York [Mr. WooDFORD] ask d 

the pri"ilege of making a peech,and that was the peeeh ref rr d to 

in the letter of mine read by the gentleman n·om Massachusetts, [ lr. 

BUTLER.] What he was going to ay I knew not, but he a ked the 

privilege and I granted it. Next day the gentl man from Ma a husetts [Mr. BuTLER] said tome if Iwonldofferthe r olution he would 

withdraw his objection. Then in two or three w eks til ecreta1·y'e answer came to the House, aml wa ord r d to b print d, anti wh n printed the document came to the Committee on Ways and Mean , and 

on examination the committee directeti me to report a bill to the Hou e 

to repeal the law. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, but for the written request of Sanborn a king 

to be heard before we acte<l, and tlte per onal application of the gen- tleman from 1\la sachusett [ lr. BUTLER] that S~omborn's requ t be 

granted, that law would have been repealed and no inve tigation 

wonld have been instituted. About that time :Mr. Sumner died, and 

this matter was postponed unt1l the ceremonies attending his funeral were over. Sanborn appeared directly afterward with a host of wit- nes es, half a dozen or more. He brought Mr. Coughlin from New 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5233 

York, he brought Mr. Simmons from Boston, he brought old Belsterling 

from Phila.delphia, and others-some from Washington and other 

points. They came on here and were going to convince (as the gentleman from Massachusetts said) the Committee on Ways and :Mean 

that we were all wrong, and that the law ought not to be repealed; but 

by the time we got through with them we found the whole transaction reekincr and stinking with corruption all over- so much so indeed 

tllat Saubo~n himself, at the instiga-tion I presume of the gentleman 

from Massachusetts, [Mr. BuTLER,] refused to testify. Mr. BUTLER, of Mas achusetts. Why do you presume that t 

Mr. FOSTER. Because he said he had a letter from a member of 

Congress asking him not to testify. _ :M.r. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. From me he did not. Mr. FOSTER. He saicl that he had got a letter from a member of 

Congress advi ing him not to testify. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma achusetts. His counsel i 

M.r. FOSTER. There is nothing but coat-tails about that. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachu etts. Did you not say in your letter 

that you were going to give a rap at old Cock-eye 'i 

Mr. FOSTER. Yes, I did; aud I wish to ask the gentleman from 

Massachusett if I did not get in a "rap at old Cock-eye" on a former 

occu, ion aml after the letter was wTitten, say about the lOth of March f 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. No; not once; not even his coattails. You have just said you never got nearer than his coat-tails. 

Mr. FOSTER. The gentleman was fairly knocked down one day 

here. But no more about that, however; let me go on with my story. Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. 0, yes. 

Mr. FOSTER. Sanborn himself refused to testify. The Committee on Ways and Means found out by tho e witnesses brought, here 

by Sanborn himself, without any expense to t.he Government, that he was robbing the Treasury as well as debauching certain internal-revenueofficersfromNewYork audNew England; that thoyweresimply 

collecting money that the officers of the Government could collect 

themselves without any intervention of Mr. Sanborn. We discovered, 

and you will find it in this report, that he collected several thousand 

dollars from one of these railroads six months before he had a con- tract to collect at all; that he collected several thousand dollars, some ten or twelve thousand dollars, without any contract whatever, 

and many other transactions equally scandalous. Mr. Speaker, we followeQ. this matter up, and I never a~ked a question which led to a sight of the gentleman's coat-tails, a,s you will see if you look through that book of testimony, but what was general in 

its character. I never a ked a question directly 8.bout the gentleman 

from Ma sa.chusetts, [Mr. BUTLER;] I asked about some member of 

Congress. We found Prescott, No. 12 Pemberton Square. I do not 

Bltppose the gentleman krwws hint, but he has an office in thesame building. I clo not suppose the genUeman front Ma8sacltusetts knew anything 

about P.resoott offering $5,000 to one of the Brooklyn paptws to take Sanborn's side of this qu<JSt·ion. I do not suppose he knew anything about paying money to the man Hughes 1vlw stole11ty letter to aid in seClu·ing Sanbom's 

acquittal in the United States com·t at Brookl11n. I do not svppose he knows 

anything abottt these people, as well as almost every other man engaged 

in tbis infamous transaction. But the facts are that in one way or another they all had some sort of a connection with him. My letter 

wa..'l stolen, not picked up in the street as the gentleman says, and giVtm 

to the gentlentan from M(tBsacltusetts. I expected my letters woulcl be 

stolen when I got into this controversy with the gentleman, and I was careful about what I wrote. There is nothing in any letter I have 

wTitten which calls for explanation. And further, 1\fr. Speaker, this 

House, for the protection of its member , ha-d to pass a. resolution to 

keep the gentleman from M:a achusetts from stealing telegrams. 

Now, 1\fr. Speaker, I have but little more to say about this matter. 

This investigation was urought on by the friends of and by the gen- tleman from Massachusetts himself. No other person was to blame. 

They brought it on, and out of the mouths of their own witnesses 

tbis testimony came. We forced it, it is true. We forced Mr. San- born to testify. We discovered thesefraudswhich are fully set forth 

in our report and which have not been and cannot" be answered by 

the gentleman from Massachusetts to-night. The bill repealing the 

law was pa sed by a. unanimous vote of this House, tho gentleman 

himself being present. . Mr. NIBLACK. I de ire to call the attention of the gentleman 

from Ohio before he conclude to the manner in which Mr. Sanborn 

procured information from Europe in regard to income taxes and 

other claims for taxes. Mr. FOSTER. What is the gentleman's point f 

Mr. NIBLACK. I desire to call the attention of the gentleman from 

Ohio to the manner in which Mr. Sanborn procured information from 

Europe as to certain taxes that the gentleman from 1\fa sachu etts 

[Mr. BUTLER] claimed that 1\fr. Sanborn had information of, which 

he proposeU. to oollect if allowed to do so. I desire also to call his 

attention to the manner in which 1\fr. Sanborn got information as to 

certain whisky taxes, also as to certain railroads. 

Mr. FOSTER. We have gone over all these things, :.1\fr. Speaker, 

in our report and in our speeches. But it may be well on this occasion 

to call the attention of the House and the country to them again. 

Now, this railxoad ca-se wa a. marvelous thing. Sanborn made mar- velous use of railroad guides ; that oath of his is complimented by 

the gentleman to-night. The acquaintance of Mr. Sanborn with the 

gentleman from:M:assachusett is long-lived. It dates away back to 

328 

old. Fortress Monroe time . This man Sanborn was engaged in busi- ness with Mr. Hildreth (I do not care to tell' here the relationship 

between Hildreth and the gentleman} down in the neighborhood of 

Fortress Monroe, selling good to the rebels. Hildreth and Sanborn 

made a great deal of money at that time. I am told that Sanborn was employed as aO'ent of the Adams Ex:pre s Company. Mr. Bullock was agent of the Adams Express Company South, and played 

rebel. The company wanted a go-between who would get through 

the command at Fortress Monroe, where the gentleman from Ma a- chusetts then commanded, and Mr. Sanborn was employed. What we were told as to that is not published, and I will not further allude 

to it. 

Several UK\IBERS. Out with it. 

M:r. FOSTER. Now, how was this information got about this five 

million of taxes due from abroad f That i a big sum to talk about. 

One Mr. Fay- Mr. A. Gooruich Fay, of New York- turns up here 

employed by the Trea u.ry, a special agent of the Trea ury Dep::u:tment at five dollars a day, including Sunday and including :s:penses, 

to go abroad to hunt up the e income cases. And when he returns· we find t.hat Mr. Sanborn turns np an informer in an S 00,000 job. That $5,000,000 story is all bosh, and used to cover up his raids as an informer. That is the way that information was obtained. I do not think it wonh while, Mr. Speaker, to detain the House at 

any greater length on the matter of the Sanborn contracts, and I 

would not have said a word on this subject but for the per onal 

attack the gentleman from Massachusetts ha made upon me. Mr. BUTLER, of assachusetts . I have made no attack upon you. Mr. l!..,OSTER. I do know from reputable sources that men have 

boon in my district--under whose auspice I do not know- looking 

into the matter of my election and tryin~ to find ont omething 

about me; for what purpo e I am not adVl ed. But I am advised, 

and I will sta,te it to the House, though the authority .may not be very 

crood, that the secret-service fund has been u ed to send men to my ~trict-I mean the secret service in charge of Colonel ·whitley, 

another one of the gentleman's friends- to look for a fifty-cent coun- terfeit plate. That was the ostensible purpose of his visit to my district. Tile real purpose was to hunt up something for the gentleman 

from J\Iassa.chuoetts [Mr. BUTLER] t-o use against me. I do not sttppose the gentlem,an front Ma.s aclmsetts knows anything 

about it. I do not BVJJpose he knows abottt auybody being sent there. Still, 

they have been there, and were sent by his friends. But, 1\fr. Speaker, 

it eemed to me under this provocation that I had a. right to s:1y "old 

Cock-eye" just once in a letter to a friend. ~fr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. That is your stock in trade. M1·. FOSTER. It is a good stock, is it not 

Ur. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. It is all you have got. 

fr. FOSTER. I do not know that I shall say anything further. I 

only rose to give a history of the connection of the Ways and Means 

Committee with the Sanborn case and to repel the gentl man's at- tack. But I do want to make a further remark; and that is about 

the ca e of Phelps, Dodge & Co. A more unprovoked, unwarranted, 

outrageous assault upon reputable gentlemen, I have neve1· he:1rd of, 

and I believe was neve-r heard by the Hone or the country before. What Phelps, Dodge & Co. may have done forty years ago I do not 

know. I am as u.red that that statuary business occurred before 

either of the gentlemen now composing this firm were partners in 

the House. What Phelps, Dodge & Co. did then I know not. But 

assuming that what has been said about 1.l.Je 'e thing is true, it has 

nothing to do with this case of last year. What is that caso 'I Why, Mr. Speaker, Phelps, Dodge & Co. in the course of five years imported 

$40,000,000 worth or thereabouts of tin. They paid $5,000,000 of duty, 

and in that time they overvalued their goods some 300,000. Tho 

total loss to the Government charged against them as accruing to tho revenue of the country is $1,640. Did tltey intend to defraud tho 

Government, or was it an error f 

Now, Mr. Speaker, when we look at such case as this e ought to 

take into account the surroundings. Is there any man living who 

suppo es that Phelp , Dod~e & Co. would rob the country of 1,640 

Mr. BUTLER, of :Massa.cuusetts. No. Mr. FOSTER. That is all that is charged against them. Does any man believe that they would rob the country of that sum' 

Mr. BUTLER, of :Massa.chusett. No. Ur. FOSTER. That was the aggreg8.te for five years, giving an average of about $300 a yea.r. We must judge a ca e of this kind 

by its surroundings. If a mendicant or ordinary vag~bond should 

obtain $1,600 that he could not account for wo would call him a. thief. 

But when you take into account the standing of Phelp , Dodge & 

Co. and their vast business, we must g,dmit that they wer:e simply errors; 

and if errors amounting to $300 a year should creep into a business of 

$8,000,000 a year, is this the great outrage, is this the great wTOng to 

the Government that the gentleman argues houlcl ruin forever the 

integrity of a leading firm like Me• srs. Phelp , Dodge & Co. 

Mr. Speaker, I say shame on the Government and sbame on the men in Congress or out of it who plead for such so-called justice or equity as against such an honorable firm. 

Now, .Mr. Speaker, if I should invite the gentleman from Ma-ssachusetts to my house to dine, and the next day should find a spoon 

(Jeremiah Iii: 19) of mine in his pocket, nobody would believe that 

he had stolen it; but if found in the poc~ets. of a, vagabond w.e.would 

know that he -was the thief. 
5234 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

The trouulo is, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Massachusetts 

[Mr. BuTLER] has in his pockets a large fee paid to him out of 

this robbery as counsel for Jayne, and it is getting too hot to hold it 

there comfortably. This accounts for the writhings and contortions 

ancl abuse of the name of Christian by the gentleman -to-night. 

Mr. Speaker, I give it as my deliberate opinion, and the country ·believe and I believe and the Committee on Ways and Means unanimously believe, this Congre believe, that Phelps, Dodge & Co. were deliberately robbed; and I believe furthermore that the coun- try never will do justice by them until they pay them back the money 

thus extorted from them. Without attempting to elaborate the questlon, that is my deliberate and honest conviction of that case. :Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Then why not bring in a bill to 

repay them 

:Mr. FOSTER. The time has not come for that yet. I have now said all I desire to say upon this subject. 

Mr. E . R. HOAR. I have but a word to say. My colleague has 

alluded to thefa.ct that whe.r;the proposed this evening should be set 

apart for speaking only, I interposed an objection, aud he has chosen 

to attribute it to personal malignity. I think the experience of many 

years must have taught my colleague that I have never had any appre- hension of affording him any opportunity to express his opinions or his purpo es, and have never hesitated to express my own in my own hnmble way, even if they happened to differ from his. I am not aware he can honestly say he ever knew of a ,refusal on my part to do him 

justice. 

Mr. Speaker, I thought when I heard that proposition made at this 

period of the session, when by resolution of both branches we were to end the session next Monday, with the great pressure of public 

business, with the efforts some of us were making to get to the busi- ne s upon the Speaker's table in which we felt a deep interest, asking to set apart an entire evening to the exclusion of public business 

for bringing forward private grievances which could just as well be 

brought forward on the stump, and to discuss a bill which had already 

passed both Houses, when the opportunity which was afforded was not a.ccepted by that gentleman, I thought we ought to prefer the 

public business; and for that reason I interposed -the objection. I 

think so now. I think we should have better spent this evening in 

attending to the public business than in witnessing the exhibition we have seen. And so far from its havin~ anything malignant in it, 

Mr. Speaker if we had known what we should have seen and heard · to-night, I tbhtk I might appeal to the judgment of the House the 

utmost friendliness to my colleague would have wished my objection 

should have prevailed. 

Mr. DAWES. :Mr. Speaker, at this late hour in the evening were there more occasion than there now eems to be to occupy the :floor 

of the House, I should be very reluctant to tax its patience. So far as my colleague ha.s made complaint against his colleagues, I am :tiDable in looking back over my own course to suspect he has any disposition to include me in that complaint. Whether he has or not I 

have this to say: in my connection with these investigations of this 

Rouse I have followed out a line of policy adopted by me on enter- ing public life, when I entered this House in a minority, and which I 

have followed from that day to this, most of the time in the major- ity, never to shrink from the investigation of an alleged fraud or corruption, whether it arose among my"political friends or among my 

political opponents, but at the same time! have studiously kept myself so that that spirit of investigation should neither be limited nor intensified by any personal hate or animosity on my part. And in all of the 

investigations in which it has been my misfortune to participate in 

this House, I have adhered to the resolution I adopted for myself 

when, by appointll!ent of the Speaker iu the first Congress in which 

I served, I entered upon an investigation; the democratic party being 

then in power and struggling as I believed they did to prevent 

and to cover up what was .proved to be an iniquitous and corrupt 

proceeding. I then and there pledged myself that if ever I stood 

upon this floor in a majority I would only bring additional zeal :md 

earnestness and sincerity to the work of bringina to the light and to 

condemnation and punishment whoever as a thief or as a corrupt man rai.sed his head inside of my own party. And, sir, with no limitation of mtensity, because of any per onal application or because 

any individual lay across that path, I have pursued that rule from 

that day to this. I have never turned from the straight line of any 

investigation one hair's breadth because it was likely to lay open an unseemly and unsightly transaction in my own party; and I never shall in the little remainder of public life that is left to me. In pursuance of that rule, in the last Congress, I began this investigation in reference to the effect of giving half of the proceeds of un- collected taxes and one-half of the fines and penalties to men who would turn their backs upon other employments at fixed salaries to 

engage in this pursuit. I followed it up as well as I could in the last 

Congress. And upon the very second day of this session, through the 

aid of this House, I called upon the Treasury Department to disclose 

what my colleague [Mr. BUTLER] has shown here to-night to be the 

effect upon honest men of this system which has been enfored in this 

country for the 1¢ :Q.fty years upon the collection of. the revenue; an effect which, I agree with him, has been continually growing worse and worse, until with him I belieye that ~der all the force and effect 

of this system of moieties there ha~ cqme tnto the Treasury of this 

kind of taxes buli alJout two-thirds. Was it not time, then, was it not 

a matter that commended itself to the Committee on Ways and Mea.ns, 

to look about and e whether there could not be some improvement 

uponasystemof collecting andenforcingrevenueswhich my colleague 

describes in this way·: that the less honesty a man ha who i engaged 

in enforcing the revei!ue laws the better; that efficiency, a.ccording to 

his idea, and succe , a.ccording to his idea, are incompatible with honesty in the public service ; and therefore you must have agreed to 

the old adage, "thieves against thieves and rognes to hunt rogues!" 

Su:, it did occur to me as a member of the Committee on Ways and'. 

Means and I accordingly set on foot the investigation which resulte<l · in a unanimous vote of this House that that system hall continne no longer ; it did occm to me that better tba.n impo ing new taxe 

would be an improv ment iu the sy tem by which th other third of 

tho e taxes alrea<ly imposed should flow into tho Tr asury of the 

United States rather than into the pockets of t hose men of whom my 

colleague says that the chief commendation they have for their serv- ices is that they have no honesty to embarrass or blunt them in 

their way and means of detecting rogues. Sir, no effort of my colleague or any other gentleman on this side of the House will enable 

him or them to enforce upon the republican party as a part of its 

creed or policy any such doctrine as that. Honesty a.nd efficiency in 

the public service, properly rewarded by fixed and fair salarie and 

compensation, I put against my colleague's policy and cheme, com- ing down though it may from the years that are past, bringing down 

though it does no other fruit than inordinate fortunes in the pockets 

of informers and pro ecutor , while the deficiencies in the collection 

of the revenue go on increasing year after year until the startling an- nouncement is made upon this :floor by the chief apostle and defender 

of it all that the re ult and fntit of it is that under this great sy - tern not more than two-thirds can be got into the Treasury! Sir, some other purpose, some other method, some other idea worthy of 

effort on our part shonld stimulate us to action and investigation, if 

the fruit of it all is going to bo such a sorry and sa<l picture as that 

which my colleague himself spreads out here as the fruit of the system. 

Sir, it was in this manner that these investigations originated in 

the Committee on Ways and Means. My colleague had much to say 

about the petty pursuits of the Committee on Ways and Means. He has criticised and complained of the a.ction of the Committee on Ways and Means in pursuing this investigation, and has spread 

before the House his troubles with one or two members of the com- mittee, and has sought to impugn the motives of the Committe on Ways and Means in their recommendation to this House and in their 

action which commanded the unanimous vote of the House. I participate in none of that controversy. I stop to make no inquiry con- cerning it; I have bad no part or lot in it. If my colleague from 

Massachusetts or my colleague on the committee from Ohio [Mr. 

Fo TER] has a grievance, I care not. 

Having approached this matter long before the gentleman from 

Ohio ca.II,le into the House, at all, ::md long before my colleague came into it, and therefore could not have any grievance with him or with 

the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. BECK,] I have pursued the even tenor of my way as chairman of the committee, directing as well as I could the examination for the pmpose of demonstrating what was wrung from the very officials in the administration of public affairs 

here at Washington with a view to the repeal of that syst-em. Even 

the last Secretary of the Treasury, when before the Committee on Ways and Means, declared it his conviction that this sysliem ought t o be aban<loned. Even Jayne declared before the committee that the 

system was unwise and that it ought not to be continued. No man, no official, has appeared before the committee or has made any communication to tbe·House who has not sustained this view. The late Secretary of the Treasury, [1\!r. BOUTWELL,] not only voted to repeal all of 

these laws, but he declared in his place in the Senate but a few days 

ago that this same l\ir. William E. Dodge, who was put in the front 

here by my colleague, wa.s an honest man. Sir, how much co-operation in this work of investigation have we received at the hands of my colleagueY Although he had notice from 

the committee whenever any testimony wa.s introduced there with 

which his name was connected, he failed to present himself there to 

be heard upon this question, as he has failed up to this hour to give 

the.Hou e the benefit of his views upon it. He has no cause of com- plaint against the Committee on Ways and Means for the manner in 

which they have pursued this investigation, so far as he is personally 

concerned. He had personal notice every time any testimony appeared before that committee touching him, so that he might have 

the opportunity to appear there. No man has cane to complain of 

the action of the committee. We invited the men who were receiving 

these moieties to appear; we invited the officials in New York, and 

Boston, and Philadelphia, who were receiving t.hese moieties; but 

they could not find time or opportunity to appear here and give ns the benefit of their counsel. And yet, 1\Ir. Speaker, I saw them around 

the galleries of this House and at the other end of the Capitol when 

the question was pending whether theso moieties should be cut off 

entirely. I saw them in the lobbies at this and the other end of the 

Capitol. There was opportunity and time enough for them to come to Washington to give the aid of their advice to legislators by their 

votes upon that m asme of repeal, but up to this hour the Committee on Ways and Means, so far as they are concerned and so far as my colleague is concerned, have !Jeen compelled to grope in the dark, 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5235 

and gather up by the best means they could the information upon 

this subject which could be wrung from unwilling witnesses. 

Sir, whatever others may say of the effect upon the party, and the 

damage to the republican party, that a republican Committee· on Ways and Means has inilicted by these proceedings, I have this to 

say, that although I have served on many committees in Congress, on none of them do I look back to the work accomplished with more pride and satisfaction than upon the work that has been accom- plished by the present Committee on Ways and Means, by which they 

ha.ve wiped out of the statute-book forever that blemish upon the 

Administration which hitherto has prevailed, a provision that in order 

to have an efficient prosecutor you must have a dishonest man, that 

in order that your officers shall pursue with energy the calling of 

enforcing the revenue they must be stimulated by one-half of all the 

fruits they can gather from infractions on it. 

Sir, I wish to detain the House no longer with comments upon this 

work of the Committee on Ways and Means. I have no personal con- troversy, as I have said, with my colleague. There is nothing that 

ha.s transpired in that committee, over which by your appointment, 

sir, I have sat as chairman during this investigation, of which any 

gentleman in this House has any just cause to complain. The com- mit.tee have submitted to this House and to the other the results of 

their work. The unanimous approval of both branches of Congress 

is sufficient for them. If I wanted any other proof of the force and 

power of the public commendation of this act, I would point to the 

efl:'ort of my colleague here to-night to baffle this current and to 

struggle against this condemnation of a system which I am sorry to see he has espoused and which he feels bound to defend. 

Sir, I can have no lot or pn.rt in any such policy. I believe that no such dishonesty on the part of public officers is necessary as he ha.s 

described here to-night. I believe that if we need more revenue we have need only the more faithfully to coll~ct our taxes. I believe 

that with honesty and fidelity, with a fair and fixed compensation, we can 'Secure that as the result of the work for which the Committee on Ways and Means have been arraigned before this House and be- fore the country this night. They are ready to appeal from my colleague to the judgment of the House and the country. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma.ssachusetts. Mr. Speaker-- Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. Before the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. DAWES] sits down-- Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. But he has sat down. 

1.-Ir. DAWES. If my time has not expired, I will hold the floor 

:long enough to allow a que tion from my eolleague on the committee. 

Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. When the gentleman from Massachusetts [1\!r. DAWES] was discussing this question on a previous occa- sion he said, in answer to his colleague, the gentleman from the Essex 

district of Massachusetts, [Mr. BuTLER,] that it" was true that the 

latter had introduced the first bill in this Congre s to repeal moieties. 

I desire now to ask the chairman of the Committee on Ways ancl 

Means, where now is the bill introduced by his colleague from the 

Essex district T 

Mr. DAWES. That bill was hung up by a motion of my colleague 

to reconsider the reference of the bill to the Committee on Ways and 

Means and it has never got there yet. · Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. So that it is true that the gentleman 

from the Essex dist1ict did introduce such a bill, and it is now hanging, as the chairman of the Committee on Ways and M13ans says, upon a motion to reconsider entered by him. 

Mr. DA ~S. Yes; my colleague had it referred to his own Committee on the Judiciary. After that I had it referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and he entered a motion to reconsider 

that reference, and it never was reached. I promised to yield the bal- ance of my time to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. TREl\1AIN.] 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. How much time is that 'l 

The SPEAKER. The Chair has really recognized, by a nod, the 

gentleman from Ma sachusetts, who first spoke to-night, [Mr. BUTLER.] 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. I will wait until the gentleman 

from New York [Mr. TREl\1AIN] is through. Perhaps some members 

may remain to hear me. · Mr. TREMAIN. 1\Ir. Speaker, understanding that. thare is no other 

member of the Committee on Ways and Means who desires to addre s the House to-night, it seems to me that I cannot, consistently with 

the duty I owe to an honored firm of CQnstituents, permit this House 

to adjourn without raising my voice to repel the most extraordinary 

and unjustifi.a.ble aspersions that have been uttered here to-night 

upon the floor of the American Congress. Phelps, Dodge & Co. are my 

constituents. For a quarter of a century that firm has occupied a position at the head of the mercantile community of the gTeat com- mercial emporium, with no stigma or stain resting upon their honor or upon their good name. To-night the gentleman from Ma achusetts [Mr. BUTLER] has 

constituted himself their accuser, ha.s appeared as witness against 

them, and has acted as their judge. No charges are served upon that 

firm to appear in this Hall; no counsel has a right to appear here to 

defend them. Slanders are uttered here for which a mau would be 

held personally responsible before the tribunals of his country if 

uttered where he would be deprived of the immunity that shields 

him here. He is here protected by the broad regis of the Constitution, which declares that no man shall be held responsible for words 

uttered in debate npon the floor of this House. 

And yet wha.t have we heard here to-night' For the purpose. of 

defending· two dead and buried institutions, and in pronouncing an anathema upon the action of the Committee on w ·ays and Means 

of this House for their action in condemning and hurling into that infamy from which no power on earth can lift them- the rotten J n,yne 

moiety system, and the infernal Sanborn contract-the gentleman 

from Mas achusetts has held up the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co. as swindling merchants, as perjured villains, as. men who have been engaged 

for years in attempting to defraud the revenues of this Government, 

and as men who ought to be held up before this crowded audience, 

upon an accusation which shall go upon the wings of the lightning 

from one end to the other of this Republic, as men wh!) have cheated 

the community in which they live, in obtaining that reputation and 

that honor which, forsooth, are to be destroyed before the keener criticisms, the sharper instincts, and the wiser sagacity of the hero of the 

Sanborn contract and the Jayne moiety system. 

No man can deny the power of the gentleman from Essex. But he 

has not the power to raise the dead ; and until he has that power he can never reverse the judgment of this House and of this country 

that the Sanborn contract and the manner of its performance con- stitute the most di graceful and disgusting performance that has aver brought discredit upon the American name. With all his power to 

please, and to call down the plaudits of tho galle1ies, the gentleman 

from Massachusett.s can never roll back the popular tide or reverse that judgment which is the judgment of the'American people that 

the scenes which have transpired in New York, of which Phelps, 

Dodge & Co. were the victims, are as deserving of the condemnation 

of an honest and a justice,.loving community as were the diabolical 

transactions of the inquisition and of the star chamber. Sir, there is in all this broad land but one man who has the bold- ness to starld up against the judgment of an honest people, against 

the unanimous expression of this House, against the conscience and 

the honest opinions of a thoughtful and a truth-loving commlmity 

in regard to these transactions. The time for making the defense was when the gentleman from Massachu etts was invited; and he 

did not come. He was sick! He will be sicker yet before he gets 

through with his connection with the Sanborn and the J ayne infamies. No man is able to stand up before the American people and 

sustain these atrocious proceedings. 

The gentleman has said that Phelps, Dodge & Co. were guilty of 

frauds in regard to statuary... Sir, a falser accusation was never made. I know well the history of that stale slander, which has been picked 

up from the gutters and peddled in yoUT cloak-room. It is false in 

every part of it. Let me say in the first place that in the firm of Phelps, Dodge & 

Co. the name of Phelps is retained although the man who bore it 

has been dead for many years. Under a statute of ·New York the name of a deceased member of a firm and of the old firm itself may 

nnder certain conditions be continued by those who succeed to the 

business. Of course it would never be continued except where it 

has acquired credit and standing by probity a.nd integrity and is a name that ought to be perpetuated. . Sir, it was nearly fifty years ago that an act of Congress was passed 

increasing the duty upon lead in pigs and . bars from one to threo 

cents per pound. What was the occasion of the increase Y Leal! 

mines han been discovered at Galena, illinois, and according to tho 

system of that day, of protecting American productions and America11 

industry, this duty was increased 200 per cent. There had beforo 

that time grown up in the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 

York, and Boston ar~~ manufacturing establisments, concerned in 

the manufacture of white-lead, in one of which theold firm of Phelps 

& Peck (the name of the dead Phelps being perpetuat~d in the firm) were interested. When that statute was passed, somewhere from 

1820 to 1824-I.do not remember the exact year- these large establishments found that their business was failing; and they looked around 

to see in what manner thev could reimburse themselvesforthelosses 

they sustained by reason of the legislation of Congre s. They founcl 

that this statute, which was under the old system of duties, had left 

upon old lean, so called, an ad valorem, duty of 15 per cent. I never heard that there was anything wrong in acting precisely 

according to law. The e manufacturing establishments consequently 

concluded to import old lead. I will show you by and by that as to 

the statuary story even the firm of Phelps &. Peck had no more con- nection with it than the gentleman from Es ex. There was a great 

demand for old lead. The consequence was that in the old establishments in England the roofs that were made of old lean were taken 

off, new lead put on, and the old lead importecl to this country. Merchants and the officers of the customs submitted the question t o the 

TreasUTy Department, where it was decided, properly and legally, that no more than 15 per cent. could be collected on old lead under the 

statute, although that lead was afterwanl used for the ordinary pur- poses for which pig-lead and bar-lead would be used. Congress: when the next session came, proceeded to cUTe that omission in the old law. They did so. Then these gentlemen looked around; 

and they found that there was still another provision in the tariti 

laws under which musket-balls and bullets were admitted at a. duty 

of 15 per cent. ad valorem,. There was then a wonderful demand for 

bullets and musket-balls, old and new. They were brought over in 

immense numbers. Again tbe revenue officers submitted the ques- tion to the Government; and the Treasury officials decided that tho 
5236 CONGRESSI.ON.AL RECORD. JuNE 1$l, 

importation of bullets and balls at 15 per cent. ad valorem was according t.o law; that the Government could not help itself. At the next 

session another la.w was passed patching up that hole in the tariff. 

But afterward it was discovered that there was still another item left 

mth a. duty of only 15 per cent. ail valorem; and that was le.aden 

weights and leads used by sailors. There wa then a wonderful demand all at once fo:r weights and leads. The old weights were found 

to bo very defective. Every shipper and every sailor wanted a new set of leads. A large number were imported. In the mean time a suit was brought in New York by Mr. Price, the district attorney, 

hut he was ignominiously beaten ; for the judge, upon the :first hearing of the case, di mi sed the complaint on the part of the Government. Then this U.efect in the law was supplied. But there was still 

left the old st. tute which saiu that statuary aml busts should be admitted either free of duty or at a small duty. Well, there never was such a demand for busts since the time when my colleague [Mr. Cox] 

got his bust made when he and I were in Florence. 'Why, sir, they 

had statues of all the great men of ancient and modern times. They 

had Moses and Aaron, and Benjamin and Joshua, and Cresar and Napoleoni and Wellington, and Washington, and Jefferson, and everybody e se, run into statues on the other side. Some of them came over, to be sure, as has b_een said, with an eye knocked out, or a nose battereu, or fingers dislocated ; still you could recognize them. They came in in great quantities. A snit was undertaken to be brought in 

New York; but Mr. Price had had nfficient experience in that line, 

:md he thought he would not venture upon the experiment. They 

went up to Boston and they sued an honomble old merchant, who wa one of these white-lead manufacturers, for importing the e leaden 

statues which, according to the language of the gentleman from Massachusetts, were·transferred to tho melting-pots. They brought suit 

against him. What did the old merchant do f His name I do not 

remember-perhaps some one from Massachusetts hore will. 

A MEMBER. His name was Leavitt. 

Mr. TREMAIN. Yes; I think his name was Leavitt. What flidhe 

do? No· doubt if the lawyer from Essex had been there he would 

have nm for his office if the Government officer haP, not got there 

ahead of him. As he was not there they had to take a man of less 

import:mce, and they employed a man you may have heard of by the name of Daniel Webster. :Mr. Webster went into court to defend his 

old f1·iend, an old Bo ton merchant. They proved he imported these 

old leaden statues, and they probablyconltl have satisfieu the jury if 

that had been material that he meant to melt them as soon as he had 

got them into his store. What did Mr. 'Vebster do Y Mr. Webster 

said to the judge, "I a.sk you to instruct the jury that the only question in this ca e is a question of bet, whether the articles seized by 

the Government were or were not statuary." It was not a question 

of law, but a question of fact for the jury. The judge, as he was bound to do, responded to that request by chargin~ the jury in accord- ance with the requesthancl the jury without leavmg their seats gave a verdict in favor of t e defenuant that he had violated no law. 

And that is all there is, Mr. Speaker, of this stale old statuary story, 

dug up from the gutters to sustain the 1·otten cause of the Sanborn con tract and of the Jayne moiety system and to bring discredit upon 

the name of Phelps, Dodge & Co. · • Now, whether these transactions by the importers were moral or immoral is a question I am not called upon to determine. It is enough, 

however, to say in this connection that at that time no member of the 

:present fum of Phelps, Dodge & Co., had any connection with it. It 

1s enough to say that the firm which was then in existence, and the pred- ecessor of this firm, was the old firm, of Phelps & Peck, that the firm of 

Phelps & Peck never had anything to do with the importing of leaden 

sta.tuary and busts, and that the story even as to them is made out of 

whole cloth, thrown in here when there was no man supposed to be . familiar with the facts to defend the firm of Phelps,.Dodge & Co. 

against a charge entirely in harmony with the general character of the 

transactions which the Committee on Ways and Means have properly 

sought to reform and this House has by its unanimous judgment con- demned. · Again, the gentleman tells us Mr. Dod<Ye claimed a particular interpretation of the statute in regard to th~amount of duties which 

should be collected upon tin plates. I a.m informed by an honored 

merchant from Boston on the floor of this House, since that charge was made, for I knew nothing of it and this is no time to be ca.lled on to defend an absent man against a charge made under the privileges 

of the House-l am informed by that honored merchant, who is familiar with the whole transaction, that in regard to that the Treasury 

Department fully ustained the claim which was made by Mr. Dodge. 

Allusion· has been made to the action of the Committee on Ways and 

Mean in recommending the ta.riff bill which proposed a specific duty 

upon tin and· the ·boxes in which it was contained. So far from being a can e of cen ure againt the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., that 

transaction is evidence of their strong de ire to conform to the law, 

and to guard against the defects and abuses existing under the law 

which had been the means of robbing them of 271,000. Look at it 

for a moment. 

The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman from New York has 

expired. 

Mr. TREMAIN. I understood the gentleman from Kentucky, {Mr. 

BECK,] one of the Committee on Ways and Means, to say he would 

yield to me whatever time he had. 

Mr. BECK. I told the gentleman fromNewYorkif I had anytime 

I would yield it to him. 

lli. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. The gentleman has yielded his 

time once or twice. 

Mr. TRE~fAIN. Thi gentleman himself has had two hours. I un- der tood the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. BECK] was willing to 

yield his time to me. Mr. BECK. The gentleman from New York aslred me if I would 

give him my time. I told him I believed I was on the list, :tn.d if I 

had any time I would surrender it to him u.s I did not expect to speak 

myself. 

Mr. TREMAIN. My name is on the list and I have the right to 

speak in my own right. 

Mr. RANDALL. Go on; we have given the other side two hours. 

Mr. TRElH.AIN. Mr. Speaker, what was the old law which is now condemned t If a man imported tin manufactured in the interior of 

England-and it is mostly manufactured in Wales-if he by mistake 

omits to put into the invoice the expense of cartage or of telegrapbs 

or of expre sage or of boxes or of any other item whatever, unuer that old law, which finds its vindicator here, not only was the article 

forfeited, but the whole invoice in which that article was contained was forfeiteu. · 

Nay, mote; it was not necessary to show that there wa.s any intention to defraud the Government. The Supreme Court decided that ~ hen the word "fraudulently" was omitted it was only nece sary to 

show that the invoice was entered at le than the actual cost, anll 

that it became a matter of law in such a case to in truct the jury 

that the whole invoice was forfeited. It was nnd r uch an odious 

system that Phelps, Dodge & Co. were sought to be charged with 

271,000 of forfeiture. Now what wa.s the amount of duty of which 

it was charged they defrauded the Government Y Why, ir, but 1,600. 

Here, sir, is a firm which had paid more than fi.ftymilliondollarsinto 

the Treasury; while the Ways and Means Committee state it ha b n 

proved before them that they overpaid to the Government on other 

articles three or four thousand dollars of duty. Yet these men wore to ·be held responsible in the large amount I have named for the e trifling inaccuracies in their invoices. It was to guard against that 

that Phelps, Dodge & Co. and all the other tin merchants and import- ers of the country presented the memorial to Congre s from which 

the .gentleman from :Ma.ssachusetts ~nly read the :first name, that of 

Phelps, Dod~e & Co.; and that memorial asked that the tariff be 

changed. Tney were willing to have put on a duty which would 

give the Government gr.eater revenue than they have derived from 

that source for the la-st three years. They thought one cent on the 

tin and boxes was enough. The committee of this Hon e put it at one and a quarter cents. That is what there is about that. 

Now, who is Mr. Dodge T He is a man who has been a member of 

this Honse, the peer of any gentleman upon this floor, the man who, 

after all these char<Yes were made against him, was elected by the 

unanimous vote of the merchants of New York president of the Chamber of Commerce in that great city, apo ition that he occupies to-day. 

Can a man acquire such a reputation and so enjoy the confidence of 

his fellow-merchants if he is that rotten and corrupt and swindling 

merchant that he has been held up before this· House to be by the 

gentleman from Mas achnsetts Y Shall his good character go for 

nothing Y Can long years of integrity and probity go for nothin~? 

Shall his reputation for Christianity and piety, evidenced by the frru ts 

that are welcomed everywhere by the Christian community as springing from a good heart, go for nothing Is such a man to be ridicnl d 

before your galleries a-s a man that preaches in the day-time and prays 

at night Y Is the American Congress to listen to hamngne of that 

chara-oter 7 . Then the gentleman, after haranguing the House for two hours, now seeks to stifle the voice of the Representative from New York, who 

ha.s no other interest at all in this firm except simply tc have justice 

d<tne. It seems to me that this whole debate to-night ha-s been in 

the nature of a funeral oration by the gentleman from Ma-s a~hnsetts 

over the dead; the dead and the corrupt; the dead and the con- demned; the dead and the infamous. And if the ~entleman from 

Massachusetts thinks that he is to be held as the saviOr of the republican party from the Ways and Means Committee. to whose eleven 

members he so triumphantly bids defiance, he will find that he is 

laboring under an egregious mistake. 

The people are quick to discover an honest desire on the part of 

the Ways and Means Committee and o.f this House to correct abn e and reform the existing laws. This Honse by both it partie , to their 

honor be it said, without regard to political consideration , have con- demned these laws and wiped them out of existence, and they will 

be heard of I trust no more forever. 

There was another subject I desired to speak on; but if the House 

will give me permission to print my remarks I will not detain it 

longer this evening. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. If there be anything personal in 

them you ca.nnot. 

1\llr. TREMAIN. I will tell the gentleman that I intend my'I'em&rka 

to relg,te to the extraordinary debate, the extraordinary personnJ.ities, 

the extraordinary course that was taken in the closing hours of the 

debate upon the Geneva award bill, a bill tha.t has passed this Honse. 

But I rejoice for the honor of my country that the triumph that was won here is destined. I believe, to be short-lived and to yield no :quits. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5237 

It requires not merely the consent of this House, but the consent of 

the Sonate and the President, before a. raid can be successfully made 

upon the public Treasury, whereby four millions of honest property 

can be confiscated and ten millions can be taken and given to a class 

of men who have no claims in law or equity upon them. That ques- tion is wholly postponed and to come before this House at its nex.t 

session. I desire to notice some extraordinary aspersions, some extraordinary :;rrguments,_some.extraordinar.y pe_r on_al rema~ks tha.t were made dunng that discussiOn; and I thmk It wtll be qmte as proper, as that subject is Btill alive, to speak to it as to spend two hour in 

talking about dead issues. My speech would relate to the Geneva 

award, and I ask unanimous consent to print my remarks upon that 

subject. 

ltir. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. You sha.ll not have mine, sir. 

Mr. TREMAIN. Amen. You will hea,r from me at Philippi. We 

will meet there. 

Mr. llUTLER, of 1\Ia,ssachusetts. Now, 1\fr. Speaker, I have to ask 

from the House a little indulgence. :Mr. TREMAIN. · I rise to a point of order. Has the gentleman 

from Ma ' a,chusetts the right to speak twice on the samo subject 'i 

Mr. BUTLER, of Ma sachusetts. I a,m going to speak upon an en- til·ely different subje.ct. I am going to speak upon the gentleman 

from New York, who is an entirely new and different subject. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman ha~ a right to speak again unless some other gentleman desires to occupy the tloor. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from 

New York [Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS] tried to quote Shakespeare in ridicule of my sickness ; thus one member of the Committee on Ways and 

Means ridicules my eyes, and another ridicules my sickness. I am grieved that I am not always well. I am sorry that I cannot alway~ 

be equal in health and good looks to the- majocity of the Committee on Ways and Means. Hut the most remarkable exhibition has been 

that of t.he gentleman from New York, [Mr. TREMAIN,] who told us when he first came upon this floor that he represented the whole State 

of New York, and that he had thirty-two Representatives from that 

State as his constituents, and he tried also to quote Shakespeare. Let me try if I cannot quote Shakespeare too, and see if I cannot do a little better : 

The little dogs and all, 

Tra.y, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at mo. 

Mr. E.LLIS H. ROBERTS. And bite. 

Mr. BUTLER, of :Massachusetts. Ah, yes; but only timid persons 

get the hydrophobia from the bite of very little dogs. 

nut, 1.1r. Speaker, let us be serious about this business. I want no better witne than the gentleman from New York, [1.1r. TREMAIN.] 

He comes here and tells the Honse and the country, in addition t.o what I endeavored to say, that I did not think all merchants were honest. If he is to be believed they are all dishonest. Why, sir, we put a duty on lead to protect our western mines, but allowed "old 

lead" to come in at a very small rate of duty, and long years ago the 

merchants of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore evaded 

the law by tearing off the leaden roofs from houses of London and importing them into this country as old lead so as to evade our tariff. 

I call that swindling. I may not understand New York morality, but 

according to the New Testament, which tells you that you should do 

unto others as you would have them do unto you, that is swindlin~. 

Well, Congre s patched up that law and stopped that leak ; but It 

could not foresee all the rascality that was possible on the part of 

merchants. This was just after the war of 1812, and Congress passed a law providing that no lead should come in without the payment of 

duty, except bullets. Well, sir, these merchants, these honest men, 

the praying men, cast all their lead into bullets and brought them in 

free of duty. I should say that that was another swindle. It was cheating the Government under the forms of law, getting aroull(:l the 

law, evadin~ the law, using the law to enrich themselves at the ex- pense of therrcountry, That is what I call swindling. I am obliged 

to the gontleman for the facts he states. One of the house of Phelps, 

Dodge & Co. was in those· fra,uds he admits. 

Tho gentleman avers that I should not dare charge this firm of 

Phelp , Douge & Co. with swindling and defrauding the Government were I not protected from suit, because I am protooted from suit for 

what I ay here in this House. 

Now I want, once for all, to say to the gentleman from New York 

that I will claim no privilege, I will shield myself by no privilege. I 

will stand out on t.he common here at any hom· he may name, and in 

the presence of a.s many reporters a he can bring there I will make 

these statements over again, al\d he may sue me for slander, and I 

will endeavor tore pond to t-he judgment of the court after he gets a verdict of any honest jury against me. 

Congre s a.lso allowed lead to come in free as clock-weights; that was in favor of Connecticut, where they make clocks, and thereupon 

those merchants, he says, brought in all this lead free of duty in that 

form, and thus cheated the revenue. Congress stopped that fraud by a 

new law, and Connecticut could have no more clock weights unless 

she paid duty on them. What did t he merchants do thent I am only 

commenting ·ou th testimony of my witness [Mr. 'I'P.El\IAIN] bore from New York. Wha.t was the next thing they did'? They looked 

around, and tbey found that statuary aml busts came in free of duty, 

and thon thoy ca t all the pig-lead imported int o statu.a.ry, :1nd thus 

brought it in free of duty; and when the GoverllDlent undertook to 

stop that fraud, they got Daniel Webster to defend them, and he con- ' 

vinced a. jury that they had a right to 'import statuary free of duty, 

and so they succeeded in swindling the Government in that way. ·Now, sir, this is the honesty of the mercantile community on the testimony of their defenderwhovolunteers here in tl;leir behalf. 

Now, I undertake to say that there is not a man in this House whCI 

professes honesty that can look a.n honest man in the face and say 

that that is either just, or proper, or right, this taking advantage of 

the law to swindle the co:nntry. But does not the gentleman's statement cover exactly what I told you oH I said that it was notorious 

that for years and years the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., whatever 

members may have composed it, had been talnng all manner of 

technical advantages to swindle the country. If I had not proved it 

before it is proved now; here is the witp.ess, their advocate, putting 

in their defense. 

The gentleman says I brought this charge of importing lead as statuary, which he aillnits to be true, out of the gutter. Let us see where I brought it from. I took it from the congressional reports; 

I had it read at the desk of your Clerk from the Congressional Globe. 

Sflnator MoRRILL was one of the debaters; Mr. ELDREDGE of this 

House was another; Thaddeus Stevens was another, and he charged 

it as a swindle upon the revenue by Phelp , Dodge & Co. 

And then upon this question of cheating in tin plates. The gentle- man says why sho'uld they not, if they could only get a ruling of the 

Department to enable them to bring in these tin p1'ttes at too low 

duty because they w~re not "galvanized tin plate ," and thus defraud 

the nation. Ay, why noU Why should they not cheatT .I lmow of 

but one reason why they should not f Because it is dishonest to 

cheat; that is all, that is the only reason; that may not be a good reason in New York, but elsewhere it is; because it is not doing an honest thing, it is not doing an upright thing, and it is not doing 

the thing that ought to be done. I may be all wrong; I may be one of 

those that have not proper moral conceptions. But I would here declare that I would rather defend Sanborn and Jayne and everybody 

else I have heard of on the other side of this transaction, than to 

defend a merchant who undertakes to cheat his country in time of 

war, when her soldiers were bleeding upon the field of battle, by frauds 

and tricks cheat her out of millions of dollars each year, as these 

merchant princes, Phelps, Dodge & Co., did. That is all; and I dismiss them forever. If them is any man here who chooses now to defend them, be it so. After this exhibition of their case by the gentle- man from New York, if there is any man here who wants to say that 

theirs is good morality to inculcate in his children, that this is a good 

thing to do, that the law ought to be made and tariffs :fixed for such 

men, then be it so. That ~ what your committee has done. 

The gentleman from New York says that we should not atitack 

absent men. Why, then; does he denounce. a man by name, Mr. 

Jayne, who is ab ent'? I have never said anything here about Mr. 

Jayne, good or bad. What has Mr. Jayne done As a special agent 

of the Treasury Department it was his duty when frauds were brought 

to his notice to inform the proper officers and have them punisheu. 

He did so; and of forty-nine cases he convicte-d forty-eight in court 

by the plea of guilty, and he brought into the Treasury in two years 

3,000,000 fines and penalties, as that book shows. That is all he has 

done. , 

Mr. DAWES. That is not all; he took half of it out. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massaehusetts. No, sir, he did not; that is a simple mistake that both you and others have made. 

Mr. DAWES. He and his friends about him did. 

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. No, sir; pardon me aga.in. 

1\Ir. DAWES. They divided it up. 

!ir. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. Wait a minute, don't hurry; be a little careful now. He put$3,000,000 into the Trea nry for lines and 

penalties within two years, he and others, independent of what they 

took out. Look at the record. That is as I understand it. They did 

according to the law of the land, and they did it by the judgment of 

the court. That is the beginning and the end of their offending. 

Mr. DAWES. I think my colleague is mistaken about the sum. But if he is not mistaken, they took out 2,000,000, or more. lli. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. I do not care if they took out 

10,000,000; they took out no more than the law allowed them aa part of what they put in. 

Mr. DAWES. The report shows they took out two or three million 

dollars. 

1.fr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. We have the report here. I do 

not care to go into tho figures at this hour of the night. Let us turn 

to another pal"t of this case. The gentleman from New York, who 

visited Europe last yeat [1\!r. Ems H. ROBERTS] and who came back 

just in season to pay his back sal:1ryinto the Treasury, upon which I 

doubt not he spent his time very pleasantly in Europe-the gentleman 

from New York has had the kindness to have read at the Clerk's desk 

extraets from the evidence to show that I knew about this case be- cause I was corm el. Why, sir, as it came out before his committee 

and without my fault, as I do not willingly disclose my clients' business, I will tell the whole of it now, especinlly as great pains have been 

taken that the statement should not appear in the r eport. I never ha·d anything to do with fixing the penalty Phelps, Dodge & Co. should 

pay; they were all :fixed before I came into the matter. But the informer brought to Mr. Jayne a bundle of letters which compromised some of the first women in New York quite as much in their conduct 
.5238 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JuNE 19, 

with the younger members of that ·firm as the firm were compromised 

with the United States; and the question was with Mr. Jayne, what 

should be done with those letters f The informer who brought them 

to J.Hr. Jayne said to him, "You must use those letters to get more money." Jayne said, "I will not." Then it was replied," If you do 

not I will complain to the Secretary of tbe Treasury." Mr. Jayne came to me and said, "Ought I to use those letters for any such purpose Y'' 

I said to him, "Not by any manner of means." Mr. Jayne then called 

young Mr. Phelps before him and put those letters into the fire; and 

young Phelps took him by the hand and thanked him for so doing. I 

went with Mr. Jayne and explained the transaction to the Secretary 

of the Treasury, who said to Mr. Jayne, "You did right; you acted 

like an honorable man." 

The only thing I ever had to do with this question of penalty was when two of Phelps, Dodge & Co.'s lawyers came into my office here 

in Washington and said, " Will you not go to the Secretary of the 

Treasury and advise him to take t.his 270,000 anu settle this caseY" 

I said, "J will not go and advise him, because it would do more harm 

than good; he understands his own matters perfectly; I cannot be of 

service to you in the matter." My connection with the case was be- cause of a private transa-ction which the Government had n thing to 

do with; and but for the gentleman from Ohio, who in the course of 

the te timonyover and over a.gain pressed it out, picked it out, drew 

it out, hammered it out, and got it out, it would never have come out 

here at all. I did nothing in that matter more than I would do when 

the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. FosTER] is attacked and comes to me for counsel, a,s he will I doubt not. I do not know but that I .;would 

defenu even tho gentleman from New York, [Mr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS,] 

provided' my fees were large enough. For these rea.sons I have nothing 

to apologize for or retract upon that matter. . But why drag in the e_matters of personn.lity except as they show 

that this investigation in the Sanborn case was, upon the testimony o:( 

the gentleman from Ohio, got up, not by -the Committee on Ways and 

Means, but by himself and the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. 

BECK;] the object being on the part of the latter, properly and rightly 

from his political point of view, to break down the Administration; 

and the object of the gentleman from Ohio being to break me down 

to get even with me. My whole offense (as has crept out in the statement of the gentleman from New York, who is acting under my colleague's inspiration,) was th11t it wa,a necessary that gubernatorial 

honors should not be allowed to anybodyin my State except to a chosen 

few of high respectability, such men as import lead bullets against the 

law, and tear off lead roofs in London in order to cheat the revenue- " highly r espectable merchants!" 

To my colleague, [Mr. E. R. HoAR,] who with such solemnity asks me whether I hone tlythink he would do an unjust thing toward me, 

I answer in the same candor with which he puts the question, that if 

he knew it I do not believe he would. But I think the bent of his 

mind is so bitter that he does not know when he does a thin~ which 

he ought not to do against a ma.n whom he does not like Is lle satisfied with the answer Y I am. 

:Mr. TOWNSEND obtained the :floor and said: I yield fifteen minutes to the gentleman from New York, [Ml·. TREMAIN,] after which I 

will yield five minutes to the gentleman from Florida, [Mr. PURMAN.] 

:Mr. TREMAIN. Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to tell which most to 

admire, the high-toned senRe of honor n.nd morality of the gentleman 

from Massachusetts, who sees so much fraud in the conduct of men who have been vindicat-ed and sustained by the a-ction of a court a-nd 

j my, or his lo~ic in finding in my argument a sufficient ground to con- demn Phelps, Dodge & Co. Sir, I have stated distinctly, n.nd the gen- ·tleman knows it well, that Phelps & Peck, who were the fum in exist- ence when the statuary was imported some forty or fifty years ago, 

had no agency whatever in its importation. They hacl no more con- nection with it than had the gentleman from Massachusetts, and yet, 

forsooth, he finds in my remarks sufficient to sustain his charges 

against Phelps, Douge & Co., and proceeds to indulge in a general 

tirade of abuse against the merchants of this country-merchants 

whose names are ynonyms for honor, for patriotism, and for integrity, and who would not thank me for vindicn.ting them against the 

frivolous and unfotmded aspersions of the gentleman from Massachusetts. 

Again, he asks why did I denounce Jayne Y I denounced the system with which Jayne and Sanborn were a sociated. I exonerate 

the officers of the law, for they are honorable officials in the city of 

New York, who no doubt did what honorable men should have done m exMnting the law. I woulu not be understood as criticising in any manner the action of the revonue officers of New York, for all of whom 

I eutert~1in the high st respect and esteem. But it was the system I 

denounced, and I I'ejoice that it has been condemned and forever 

exploded. 

The gentleman ays we drag in personalitie . A singular complaint 

from such a source! Who but he bas introduced personalities into 

this House¥ Who but he in _the Geneva award debate, which he now objects to my an woring, introduced personalities Y I send to the 

Clerk a passage I desire to have read in regard to per onalities. I 

ask the Clerk to rea-d that portion which is marked. The-gentle- man's speech is withheld from the RECORD, and hence I send up Harper's Weekly, which contains the newspaper version of the transaction. 

The Clerk rea-d as follows: 

In the further course of Mr. BuTLER's argument, Mr. TREMAIN asked him if ho 

would allow him to put a. question. Mr. BuTLER, of Massachusetts. Yes, if you will keep quiet afterward. Mr. TREMAJN. That depends upon whether you tell the truth or not. Mr. BUTLER, of MassachusettB. If that is a. good reason, you will keep quiet all 

;tour life, and die with your tongue dumb; but the difficulty is that Tweed was convicted, and the lawyer who convicted him cannot keep quiet ever sinoo. Mr. TP..EMAJN. And you sympathize with him 1 

Mr. BuTLER, of Ma.ssachusetm. I do, with such a. conn el as was against him. 

(Laughter.) 

Mr. TREMAIN. Undoubtedly there is a. bond of sympathy between you. Mr. BUTLER, of Massa{}husettB. I think that such a. man should be hunted by 

!ioU:, and not by jackals. [Laughter.) Do you see the disadvantage of interrupt;. 

mfk. TREMAIN. None whatever. 

Mr. TREMAIN. Now, Mr. Speaker, let me recall to this Hou e tho 

circumstances under which that violation of the rules of this Honse was perpetrated. Three speeches had been made on the part of the ch~mpions of the war premiums, without any opportunity to reply, 

under the management of the gentleman from Ma aohusett . No 

answerwasallowed to the question which! propo ed to put to one of 

his field-marshals, the gentleman from 1\Ialne, [lli. FRYE,] a gentle- man for whom I entertain the highest regard. When clo ing the dobate the gentleman from Massachusetts stated that Jnd<Te POLAND's 

bill declared insurance companies should be paid, a st~tement that was utterly unfounded in fact, and I asked, in accordance with the 

courtesy and usages of the House, if he would permit me to put a question. You have the answer before you. Sh·, the time ha been 

when I was younger than I am, and had as I think a more imperfect 

view of my duty, when wift and certain punishment would have followed the application of that language to me. 

But, sir, I trust I never hall \forget that solemn declaration that 

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." I h:we too much 

self-respect and too high a regard for the honor of this House torespond in the same coin, no matter how copious and abundant may be 

the wealth of ma,terial available at my command. Nor, ir, do I believe the gootl people of this country will believe me to be a jackal nor complain of my agency in convicting the notorious 'l'weed. N~ such language as I have quoted nor any other from the same source can insult me. I believe rather, sir, that the hone t judgment of the 

t.hinking, sensible people of this country, as they read at then· break- fast tables that extraordinary exhibition on the :floor of the House of 

Representa1.ives, would be, "What else can you expect than n. com- parison drawn from tho animal creation when that comparison comes from the mouth of"-I forbear from finishing the entence. 

The gentleman has q noted Shakespeare. Let me al o q note Shakespeare as applicable to him. On tho Geneva-award debate thi Hall 

rang during three hours with charges, when no opportunity wa given 

to answer; when even fifteen minutes were refused to the gentleman 

from Kentucky [1\Ir. BECK] to ay a few words in favor of insurance 

companies, though the pledge had been given when con ent to clo ·e the debate at three o'clock was obtaineu from us that we should have one-half the time-I say the Hall rang with all sorts of charges, among 

which were charges against Mr. Evarts, ex-Attorney-General of the 

United States, a man standing, if not at the head, at lea tin the front 

rank of his profe sion in New York and in the country, with chaJ.'O'C 

a,gainst every lawyer who did not speak against the insurance com- _ panies as having been bought, not directly, not in a manly way, but 

in that insinuating, ambi~uous form which the gentlemen know how 

to employ without violatrng the rule which prohibits personalities, 

and yet carrying the impression to the groundlings that every man who stood up here in favor of what he supposed to be the claims of 

justice and right was paid by the insurance companies. The very 

able gentleman from Maine, the field-m:.n hal of the commander-inchief-! will not put him down so low iu rank a to call him a lieutenant or adjutant-the gentleman from Iaine [Mr. HALE] said," Do 

not put this case into the comts, for there the in urance companies are sure to win." 

But the gentleman from l\Iaine says do not put this case into the 

courts, be.cause there the insurance companies are sure to win. It is a well-settled principle of equity that the insurance companie were subrogated to the rights of the assured. And so it went on for the 

benefit of the wru·-premium claimant , and the ten millions were to 

be taken out of the Treasury and distributed among the men that were not entitled to it. 

Now, there is a de cription of such another crusade that I find in 

Shakespeare's second rart of King Henry VI. Shakespeare has d - scribed all sorts of people in aucitmt and modern times, and he gives 

Jack Cade's language to Dick the butcher1 Smith the weu.ver, ancl 

others of a similar stripe, who mllied around him, in these words: 

CADE. Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. Thoro shall be, in England, even half-penny loaves sold for a. penny: the three-hooped pot 

shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer; all the realm 

shall be in common and in Chea.pside shall my palfry go to grass. And, when..! am king, (as king I will be,)- ALL. Gocl save your majesty! 

CADE. I thank yon, good people :- there sball be no money; all shall e.'l.t and drink on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, tha.t they m.l.Y agree like· brothers, and worship mo their lord. DICK. The first thing wo rlo let's kill all the lawyers. 

CADE. Nay, that I mean t.o cio. Is not this a. lamentable thing, that of the skin 

of an innocent lamb should be made parchment1 that parchment, being scribbled 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5239 

o'er, should undo a. man 7 . Some sa.y, the bee sting;s: but! say,·~ the bee's wax; for 

I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mme own man smce. 

The difference between the ancient Jack Cade and the modern is 

that instead of sayino- there should be no money, the modern Ja-ck 

Cade says, "You shal1 have your pockets full of money, all glittering 

in bright greenbacks, bearing the stamp of the Government." 

MESSAGE FROl\1 THE SENATE. 

.A message from the Senate, by Mr. SYMPSON, one of its clerks, informed the House that the Senate insisted on it.s amendments to the 

bill (H. R. No. 3094) making appropriations for the service of the 

Post-Office Department for the year ending June 30, 1875, and for 

otbor purpose , disagreed to by the House of Representatives, disagreed to the amendments of the House to other amendments of the 

Senate, and agreed ·to the conference asked by the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon; and ha,cl appointed 11-Ir. 

WET, Mr. RAMSEY, and Mr. SHERMAN to be the conferees on the 

part of the Senate. 

The message further announced that the Senate ha,d passed without 

amendment the joint resolution (H. R. No. 112) directing the Public 

Printer to keep an account o ' all expenditures for printing, mailing, 

and binding the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, &c. 

The message further announced that the Senate agreed to the con- current resolution of the House of Representatives directing the distribution of the three thousand copies of the Statistical .Atlas of the 

United States ba eel on the results of the ninth census, now being 

compiled by Francis .A. Walker, the publication of which is provided 

for by the act of March 3, 1873. 

RECOGNITION OF CUBA. 

Mr. PURM.AN. Mr. Speaker, the first cry of freedom in Cuba, though 

in a difterent language from ours, sobbing across the narrow Gulf 

Stream, received a ready response and re-echo in the chivalric hearts 

of Florida. Florida, once a sister with Cuba in the family of the once great Spanish nation, cannot be oblivious to the struggling condition 

of her less fortunate relation. The blood of a historical consanguinity 

yet courses through the veins and memory of our people. · It was the good fortune of our State to have been first plucked from 

tho grasp of Spanish dominion by the reckle s gallantry of a cavalier 

general and in violation of all international law, and the jewel of 

.American liberty was set upon her brow in the similitude of a captive 

beauty crowned by her conquering and conquered knight. She es- caped the penalty "of a bloody revol,ution paid by all her other sisters as the price of their liberty :;tnd independence. 

Severed so early by a most happy fate from the mother family and 

bles eel like ~ beautiful dameel of poor estate wedded by a mighty 

king, she ha.s not grown selfish in her happiness nor haughty in her 

superi.or station, but like a true sister comes to the rescue with all the 

power of tears and prayers-tears to beseech propitiation from Heaven, 

and prayers to beseech mercy and recognition from this United States 

Congress. 

In the sessioL of 1870 theLegislature of our State spoko as follows 

by the adoption of the resolution introduced by myself: 

ReMlved by the people of the State of Flm'idf!-1 represented in senate and assembly, 

That we are not and cannot be imliiferent to me eventful history which our neigh· bors a.re ena.ctin~on the island of. Cuba in their patriotic endeavors for freedom and 

intlependence. That by our proximity of country, by the comity that has a.lways so happily prevailed between our resl?ective people by our own love of liberty, anrl 

by tho promptings of our own politica.l religion, that all nations should be free and enjoy the blessings of popular institutions, we exteml our heartfelt sympathies and 

hopes to the stru~gling patriots of Cuba, and with them unite our invoc..'ttions for 

their speedy delivera.nce from oppre sion and their victorious establishment of a free government, which is the only rightful authority on earth to which universal man should acknowledge obedience; and that our expressions of fellowship in 

feeling and prayer may carry with them at least the power of a moral support and 

encouragement, we hereby request our Representatives and Senators in tho Con- ~ess of the United States to respond to thGstrongpopular sentiment of the whole 

country, and at once accord by t.he sovereign voice of Congress those belligerent ri~hts and protection to the cause of free Cuba which a common justice, kmdreu 

prmciples, and an enlightened humanity demand, and which are sanctioned by the 

usage and laws of nations. 

.Again, in the session of 1874, upon the resolution introduced by 

enator.Howe, of Key vVest: 

Whereas the people of the island of Cuba have been and are still stru_ggling for 

their national existence and are trying to establish a free government for them. 

selves and their children; and whereas the wa,r waged by the Spanish government has no parallel for its inhumanity in modern times, and should not be permitted by 

any civilized nation : Therefore, · Be it resolved by the people of the State of Florida, represented in senate and assem- bly, That the Congress of the United Statos is reque ted to adopt such leg:islation as may be necessary to enable the national Government to extend such aiu to the 

people of Cuba as becomes a grea.t republic, whose people so ardently sympatltize with a.n oppressed natinn. And be it further resolved, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress are requested to present theso resolutions to their respective bodies as expressive of 

the sense of the people of Florida. 

.Again, through the voice of her chief executive, who sent the following telegram greeting to President Grant upon the apprehension 

of diflicultiP,s n,rising from the capture of the Virginius and the assassination of portion of the crew : 

u. S.GRANT, 

STATE OJ;' FLORIDA, 

Executive Office, Tallahassee, Florida, November 20, 1873. 

President of the United States, Washington, D. 0.: 

In case of serious ilifficulty with Spanish authorities in Cuba Florida will do its duty; and as we hold the front po ition geo~ra pbicaJ.ly, so we will claim the front rank in th~ cause of national honor and human liberty. 

:M. L . STEARNS, Governor. 

This tender to the President meant indignation at the insult offered our flag, earnestness for the vindication of its honor; for it was written by a. governor with his left hand, having already lost his 

right arm in defense of his country's flag. 

Thus has our State spoken in the most solemn and authorized ma.n- ner known to our constitution; and were I, from a.ny possibility, to 

remain silent upon this floor upon this stirring question of a. people 

who are are our neighbors by geography, political aspirations, antl 

reciprqcal interests, fighting and dymg for liberty and "independence, 

I would be recreant to my own convictions of duty and to the most 

sanguine sentiments of my constituents. 

Sir, I give my most cordial support of heart and hand and vote to 

the resolution ef the gentleman from Vermont [Mr. POL.Al\"D] for the 

recognition of the independence of Cuba. 

If the principles and facts enunciated in the four propositions of 

the preamble to the resolution are correct, then every unbiased mind 

cannot fail to see in the logical deduction independence, and independence only. 

The first proposition isIt is the clear and undoubted right of any American colony to sever its connec- tion with the mother colony, and establish itself as an independent nation, when- ever t.he good of its people requires it. 

Is this proposition as a political principle correct, and sanctioned by 

the proudest pages in the history of our own country Y 

The grandest monument to the wisdom and patriotism of our revo- lutionary sires is the immortal declaration o£ our own independence as Colonies from the kingdom of Great Britain. They decla.recllife, 

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the fundamental and inalienable rights of man, having been endowed with these rights not by 

any ancient parental monarchy or free constitution, but by their own Creator; that only for the purpose of seeming these rights were governments instituted among men, and the powers of such governments are alone derived from the expressed will of the majority of the governed; that whenever any·form of government becomes destructive 

of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and 

institute a new government for their better safety and happiness. 

Such was the new political doctrine adopted by our colonial fathers 

in the New World; and after another declaration that the colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent, they mutually pledged 

to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for the 

support of their new doctrine, and the Rubicon was crossed forever. 

What degenerate son will deny a single principle baptized in the 

blood of our own Revolution, or deface a single stone bright with our own glory in this temple of liberty reared for us by our forefathers . "Whenever the good of its people requires it!" Sir, God and the 

enlightened world know that the good of the 677,951 white people, 

and· the good of the 605,461 colored peeple in Cuba, over a quarter 

of a million of the latter being bound in abject slavery, require as 

speedily as the pen of fate can write the event the fullest abolishment of the last vestige of Spanish domination over the island. 

What nameless oppressions for centuries have been endured by the 

devoted people of this beautiful island the Christian world never could fully know. 

The Spanish tyrant repressed all general education, prevented 

the free introduction of knowledge among the people, suppressed all 

societies for the promotion of any useful or popular purpose, and un- .der such a never-ceasing system of suppression the Cuban's history, as apart from the unreliable information furnished by the tyrant 

himself, remains unwritten, and preserved only in cherished tradition. From the day the nativl} Indian chief Hatuey was burned at the 

stake, exclaiming with his dying breath, "I pre:ftlr hell to heaven if 

there are Spaniards in heaven," to the hour when the late President 

Cespedes, discovered by a Spanish detachment in the Sierra Maestra 

fountains, fired the contents of his last revolver at them and cast 

himself headlong over the rocky precipice, preferring a sublime suicide to Spanish capture, this island ha.s been the scene of such tyranny 

and crimes as to shock all Christendom and cause the very heavens to 

weep. 

Hear but a ha.sty recital of the wrongs that have crushed generations after generations, and ask yourselves the question whether the 

.American people have no sympathy for these heroic patriots, and 

whether our recognition of their independence, not by enthusiastic 

declamation, but by the passage of this resolution, is not our solemn 

duty in the interest of an exalted and prophetic patriotism, and in 

the light of that Christianity which teaches us to love our neighbor 

as ourself. 

Hear the wrongs, hoary with age and to-day dripping with the blood 

of the oppressor and the oppressed. 

The island has been under martial law since 1825 • Cuba is permitted no rep:re entation in the Cortes or Congress of 

Spain. 

The natives of the island are excluded entirely from the army, the 

judiciary, the treasury, and the customs. . 

The military government assumes tho charge of the schools, and 

the inhabitants are forbidden to send their sons to the United States 

for educat.ional purposes and only one child out of eighteen is allowed 

to be taught to read and write. 

The press is under the vilest censorship and newspapers from abroad 

with few exceptions are contraband, while letters passing through 

the po~t are opened and purged of their contents before delivery. 
5240 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 'JUNE 19, 

Cuhans are deprived of all arms, and a.re not allowed to carry even a fruit-knife under a penalty of imprisonment for six years, and ·are :fined five paso (dollars) for carrying canes of a larger size than can be easily introduced into a gun-barrel. 

.A. Cuban mu t pntchase a license before he can invite a few friends 

to take a cup of tea at his board, and no person can remove from one house to another without first pay:i ng for a government permit. Farmers are compelled to pay 10 per cent. on all their harve ts as soon as gathered except sugar, and on that article 2t per cent. 

Upon every specie of property sold the sum of 10 per cent. on the 

purchase price must be paid to the government. 

The grazing of cattle is taxed exorbitantly, and no goods either in or out of lloors c~tn be sold without a licen e. They have no right of trial by jury, no liberty of speech or of the 

pres , and aTe not permitted to as emble them elves to the number 

of three without boing ilispen;ed. 

Stamped pape1· must be used for all contracts, costing eight dollars 

per sheet; flour is taxed ten dollars and fifty cents per barrel from 

the United States and two dollars and fifty cents from Spain, and the 

rich only can eat flour while the poor eat ca ava-root. The cultm·e of wheat, which grows luxuriantly, is restricted. Breadstuffs from the United States are excluded or burdened with heavy 

duties for the benefit of Spani h producers. Ice is monopolizecl by the government and fishing on the coast is 

forbidden, being also a government monopoly. The captain-general and his stewards levy taxes and contributions 

at their pleasure, amoWlting now to inore than sixty million per 

annUIJ1. With this revenue the government keeps an army of fifty 

thousand Spanish or Peninsula troops on the islanll, pays a vast num- ber of officials, part of the clergy, half the entire Spanish navy, and 

many officials of ra.nk at homo in the mother country, and the surplus, 

if any, is remitted to Spain and expended on matters entirely fol'eign 

to the interests of the island. Is it Wlnatural that a social gulf, deep as an unfathomable abyss 

in the Alps, has for ages divided the Cuban from the Spaniard 'I What an Iliad of woes in this richest territory on tho face of ·the globe-a 

paradise by nature made a hell by the Spaniard. Was ever the oppression of the American colonies by the British government equaled 

by one hundredth of the oppression inflicted for centuries upon the 

uufortuna.te colony of Cuba. 7 The forms at least of civil govern- ment prevailed in our Colonies, and the protection of life and prop- erty were at lea t asserted in· the equal laws of Parliament. In Cuba 

the only government is a military despotism, wheTe the fate Of 3Jl 

life and property ever hangs in the uncerta.in balance of an arbitrary 

will and from who e decree there is no earthly a.ppeal. Upon re- mon trance the British Pu.rliament alleviated the taxation of our Colonie, until the duty on tea alone remained the most obnoxious impo itiou. In Cnba everything is t;ued, without precedent or propriety, and the burden of the imposition is only graduated by the ability 

of the subject to pay the extortion, with no cortes Ol' parliament to 

appeal to for even temporary justice or alleviation. 

The principle that taxation and representation are inseparable in 

any just government impelled our fathers into a revolution by formal 

decl:1ration on the 4th of J nly, 1776. Impelled by the arne conviction that taxation aud repxe entation are inseparable, and goa-ded by 

the iron of tyranny piercing their flesh at every turn, the patriots of 

Cuba declared their independence from the thralldom of ~pa.in on the 

l oth of October, 1 68, at Manzanillo, and submitted to the God of 

their conscience, and all civilized nations, the asseverations of their 

patriotic purpose. 

Who can declare in he face of this free nation that dates its liberty from the rebellion of its fatherst and without doing violence to 

the truth of our own history, that the peop~ of Cuba have ale s righteous cause for freedom and independence than wo had in 1776¥ 

Sir, any change from a military despotism will be for the good of a people so mysteriously cu~:sed in this omnipotent toleration by a common Creator, and the generous American- people have fot years 

been convincecl that the independence of Cuba will alone secure the 

nniveral diseuthrallment of this island :1nd relieve the Unitetl States 

from a constantly threatening danger of collision with Spain herself. 

The second proposition in tne preamble is capable of incontrovertible establishment : 

The people of Cuba. have declared themaelve free and independent of the govern· ment of Spain, ha.ve establishe<l a government for them elves and abolished n gro slavery, and for more than ftye years have succes fnlly resisted all the efforts of 

Spain to re.dnce them to submis ion and re-establish the condition of negro slavery in that inland. 

The revolutionists, headed by Carlos Manuel de Ce p lles, an able 

lawyer and wealthy plant r, raised the standard of revolt on the lOth 

of October, 1868, aJ;J.d issued their declaration of the justice anll de- termination of their cause. 

A few extmcts from the memorable instrument I beg the House to 

hear:. 

I n arming ourselves a.~tthe tyrannicalgovermnentof Spain we must, accord-

~p~ll~~d:.~:e~h~~ s~':P~~X~~~ lffk~i~ ~n fill~~:~~·~h\;~'t:b~!~:! upon'th pres nt, will i.n,qure the happiness o.f the futuro. 

It is well known that Spain ~ovorns the island of Cuba with an iron and bloocl· 

stnined hand. The former hold~ the latter deprived of political, civil, and religious 

liberty. lienee U10 unfortunate Cn hans be in~ illegally 1 rosccut rl :md thrown into 

e>..ile, Ol" oxecut()jl by ruililary wmmiosions iu limes of pea ; hence their l.wing 

k ept fl'om puhlicmtJut.in , antl .Corbilltlen to spt:ak or write ou ali'u.irs of state; h nee 

their' remonstrances against the evils that afilict them4 being looked upon as the 

proceedings of rebels, from the fact th.'l.t they are bonn a to keep silence and ob y · 

hence .~e never.ending plague of hungrY officia!-s from Spain_ to .devour tho product of therr mdu try and labor; hence therr exclusiOn from public stations and want of op~ortun.it:v: "t? skill t~em e~ves in th_e art ?f gove!'llllent; hence the restrictions to which public mstruction With them 18 subJected, m order to keep them o i!!'llorant ll.S not t{) be able to know :md enforce thm.r rights in any shape or form wh';to,-er . hence the navy and standing army which a.ru li:opt upon their country at an nm·: mons expenditure from thoir ewn wealth, t{) make them bend their knee and sub· 

mit their ~ecks to the iron yolo:o _that clisgr::tces them; ltc>nce the grinding taxation 

under which they labor, and which would make them :ill perish in miserv Lmt for the marvelous fertility of their soil On the other hand, Cuba cannot prosper as she ought to, because w.hite immigration, that snits her be t, is artfnlly kept from her shores by the pam h g~vernm~t. And ~ p~ ha many a tim promi.· d ns, Cubans, to respect our ngh , Without bavmg hitherto :fulfii1ed her prorui ('R. 

as she continues to t.·tx us heavily, and by so doing is likely to destroy our wealth: as Wf? are in d_ang~r of losing our property, our lives, and our honor nndor fmthm: 

Sparu .h dommation; as we have. rea.clied a depth of degr::tdation unutterably r~volting to manbood; as grea~ nations have sprung from revolt- ~ainRt a siru ilal" 

disgrace after t::xbau ted pleading for ~elief; 3:-" we elm pai.r.of justice from Spailt 

through reasomng and cannot longer live depn \00 of t.he n"'ht.S which othnr pi'O· 

ple enjoy, we are constrained to app al to arms to a sert our rights in the llatt.Jo. field, cherishing the hope that om· grievances will be a sufficiente en e for this la»t resort to redre them and eenre our futuro welL'll"e. To the God of our con cicnce a.nd to all civiliz-ed nations we submit the sincerity 

of our purpo. e. Vengeance does not mislead u , nor is ambition our guide. w·o only want to be free, and s e all men with ns equally fre , a the Creator intendetl 

mankind to be. Om earnest belief is that all men ar brethren. lienee onr Joyo 

of toleration,, o~er, an~ just:?-ce in every t:espec~. We desir the gradnal allolitiou 

of sla:ery With mdemni.lication; we ad'ml!e. uruvers:\1 uffrage, as it insur~s tho sovcr H!nty of the people; we demand a religiOns regard for the ina.lienai.Jle ri "'hts of man as the basis of freedom and national greatne s. "' 

Dnt?-ng the .fu·st month of the war a provisional government was . orgaruzed a~ Bayamo, and on the l Oth of A~ril, 18G9, a convention 

met at Gua1maro of the delegates of t.he diffel'ent section of tho 

island, where a constitution was con iclered and aclopted. Their con- stitution is similar in all essential features to any of the free con- stitutions of our State , and by article 24 slavery is forever abolished 

and all the inhabitants of the republic of Cuba are declared abso~ lutely and forever free. 

For more than five years the Cubans have successfully re isted all t~e power of Spain to reduce them to submi ion, and more than five 

hunm:ed. and sixty-eiO'ht enga_gements. have .been fought, many of 

them 1t IS true of sm;Ji proport.Jons and mcons1demble damaO'e while 

again scores of battles have been fought where from 100 to BoO wero loft de.ad upon the field . . At the battle of Cubitas 300 Spaniards were killed and 500 wounded, and 160 Cubans killed and wouncled. 

At Guantanamo 1,200 Spaniards and 135 Cubans were killed and 

wounded. In March, 18i4, the Spansh General .Arminan was defeated 

at Guasinias by General Maximo Gomez in snch tt elisa trou mann r that he fell back to Puerto Principe with scarcely a single man of 

his column five thousand strong. 

Th~ constit?-tion and laws pa ed by the house of repre entatives, 

notWltb tanding all the contrary statement by the en mies of free 

Cuba, continue to rule 8oS regularly as can be expected from an infant 

republic who e twofold difficulties simultaneously are the in titution 

of itself and the fighting of it opponent , and the late t information sho-w that the Cubans hold their own from Santia(l'o de Cuba 

to the district of Cinco Villa , over ~ore than half the t erritory of 

the i land. Wherever the pa,triot soldiers sweep they leave terror 

and destructio:Q. behind them. To the Spaniard's plantation they 

carry irretrievable eleva tation, whil.e to their slaves they carry the 

invitation to freedom which is as instantly embraced, for freedom even in the camp and danger of the lib rators is far dearer than 

that brutal bondage in which there is no emancipation save in wel- come death. · 

The white and colored soldiers in the p'1triot army fight side by 

side for ~berty, are not divided off into colored and white regiments, 

stand shoulder to shoulder in the same r<<nks, and in the number of 

commissioned officers s,re as many colored as white. One of tbe brave t and most succe fnl generals in tho Cuban army is a colored 

man, General Policarpo Rustan, called the " Hero of the E, t." 

With 605,461 colored people on the i land, 37!>,523 of them held as slav , and this battle of fro dom raging around them, t.he very 

flame and smoke of which ofrer them their only hope of tlelivemncn the bloody tn1ggle must inevitably keep on increasing in toad of 

diminishing, anu all efforts of Spain to l'e-e tabliah slavery on tl.w 

old foundations once destroyed by the patriots must indeed fail, 

and. unspeakable ca~ties ~ follow ea-ch uns_ncce sfnl attempt, 

until that day, whether liDIDediate or remote, (for t1me work no interference with the providences of God,) when the shout of' libel'ation 

shall arise all over the island and tho chon1s reaching our shores 

shall go swelling through the South like an army of angel makiuo· music with their wings. The third pl'eam ble is so sn c ptible of direct proof, that I shall colitent my elf with a few references only and extracts from official documents: 

The war between Spain an.d Cnba. has been aJld is now being comlucted with a degree of barbarity shocking to all Clu·istondom, and there is no rea:;onableprospect that Spain will ever be able to rs.establish dominion over the people of Cuba. 

The history of Spanish rule ha.s ever been one of rapnoity ::mil 

cruelty in all her colouial po e ions. Her p ace is filled with iolence. and her wars with barbarity. From the treacherous murder of 

Inca and Montezuma to the la t d.'tstardly a as ination of aptain 

Fry and hi::~ companions, herr cord is one of continual blood and in-' 

hwnanity. She col.O.Dlenced on one liue of policy in 11-350 with the 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL ·RECORD: 5241 

wholesn.~ execution of Lopez and Crittenden and their followers, and 

has not swel'Yed from it to the present day. Cubans taken prisoners are butchered on the battle-field, and Americans or foreigners cn.ptured 

in actual or constructive hostility are summarily executed a-s pirates, 

in violation of all civilized rules and international law. In January, 

1869 the Spanish soldiers inaugurated a reign of terror in Havana1 

ass~sinatin(J' at theater , in coffee-houses, and in the streets men, 

women, anl" children. 1!1 March three hundred persons of the best 

Cuban families were exiled to the island of Fernando Po, where more than half of them perished £rom cruelty and privation. In February, 

1870 in Santia~TO de Cuba, eighteen prominent, rich, aged, and peaceful persons we~ executed without trial. During the year 1870 it is 

estimated that ten thousand unarmed and peaceful Cub:ms were shot 

bv the Spaniards. In January, 1871, Colonel Alvear's Spanish troops 

murdered the ladies and children of the distinguished Mola family, 

whom they fonnd on a plantation. In November the military authorities arrested and executed eight boys and condemue{l others to the 

chain-cranrr for the alleged offense of desecrating the grave of Casta- non whil.e""as meilical students they were playing in the cemetery. The civilized world stood aghast at this incredible inhumanity. Behold the horrid picture, as drawn by Senator Benot in the Spanish 

Cortes itself: 

:Most of you, my lords, are fathers. _Pict~ to yourselv~s in your mind's eye your sons being absent from the umvers1ty of Havana. ill consequence _of the 

absence of a. professor, ~oin~ in a spiri~ o~ boyish light.heartedn~s to a nmghbor- in" cemetery to play. Irnagme for this rrreverence, and a certain want _of confide'nce that existed in the authorities, a ferocious and riotous mob t-aking your 1:1ons prisoners subjecting them to a council of war, accusing them ful ely of 

injuring the to~bs . Imagine a~ain the council of war acouittin.,. them anll this 

sava"'e rabble, worked up to a p1tch of paro),._--ysm at hru;nan-blood 'being denie~ it., 

subjecting your innocent sons, af!Jer they had. been acqmtted, to another council of wru.· and thero, at the :point of the bayonet and under the fears inspired by the ho~ls of these blol'd-thu· ty h.vena~<>, there con.demning ei ~ht of your sons to death 

and the rest to tho chain-gang I The children numbered ~orty-four, and the seco~d 

council of war ordered tliem to draw lots who should· die. Among the others It fell to the lot of two brothers, and the stony hearts of the judges even thinkin..,. it 

hard to deprive a father at one blow of both of his sons pardoned one of them ; 'but 

in order that the number should remain correct the.v substituted for the pardoned 

boy another bec-ause he happened to be somewhat older than the rest, without see- in.,. or carin:,. that they were brooking the heart of another father by murdering his ~ocent. so:f-so innocent indeed that he had not even been in Havana on tho day 

of tho alle.,.ed demolition of the tombs. What should you say, 0 upright senators, 

who have ~own gray in the administration of justice, if one of your sons had been condenm~ to death and shot like a<!$ for the fearful crime of being a little oltler 

than his unfortunate companions 7 would to God that the bitter tale were hidden 

from all the nations of tho earth I . 

In January, 1872, Captain-General Valmaseda issued a proclamation that every male peTson found away from his .home should be 

shot, the women, if white, be put in prison and banished, :mrl, if colored, to be condemned to the chain-gang for four years. In April 

Colonel Morales c::t.ptured a place where twenty-five women, ten chilclren, and six old men were living peacefully, and executerl them a,ll. 

Durin(J' the yem· 1872 it is estimated that four thousand unarmed 

person° were shot by the Spaniards. In November, 1S73, the Ameri- can ship Vil:ginius, with one hundred and fifty-six men on boar~ was captured by the. Spaniards. O~t of this number four wer~ instant~y 

shot without tnal, and forty-mne more after a mock tnal, :md m utter ·violation of our treaty with Spain, were shot within a little more th:m one week after their unlawful capture on the high seas. Persons are tried and· sentenced to death while absent or out of the 

country, children are immolated, judgment is passed upon the dead, 

the innocent suffer for the guilty, human ears are fried and eaten, 

and the only power is that of brute force in the lawless service of 

tyranny and plunder. , Here is another scene of barbarity, shocking to all Christendom: 

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Nove~ 15, 1873. 

MY DEAR FRIEND .AND BROTHER r I know you will pardon me for not answering your lett-er of last April, in which you desire "full information in re~ard to the massacre of tho Grand. Loduo of Santiago de Cuba and the present condition of their 

widows and Ol"JJh::ms." When yom· letter was receive(} it had tho appearance of 

having boon opened.. This fact and the contonts of the letter convin?Od ~e tJ;tat if 

the rooeption of t-he letter by me wa.s known by the ~overnor, my hfe, m SJ!Ite of my high official positdon, would not be worth a moment's purchase. I immedi..'ttely 

burned the letter, anlli beyond my usual correspondence en busine s-matters, ha.vo not thought it advisab e to touch on matters and things of our unhappy island, much as I should have desired you to have the horrible fa{lts to present them to the Grand- Lodge of New York a.t their ~a t sitti;n:r. But this, vou know, was impos iblo,,;as every mail was searched, and life here IS held of no vaiue whatever. But the aff:urs 

of the la.st few days and the avage acts of the volunteers have comJ>Olled many to le..'l.ve her secretly, as there is no knowing where this will all end, and by this mode 

I senti this letter, though when it will reacl1 you, God only knows. 

The Grand Lodge in 1869 met here, as was their custom since their organization. 

They had never been disturbed by the govornme~thalthough their ti.J;ne a.ncl pl3:ce of meeting were wcll1rnown to all of us. Tho mg t before the meeting I was lll· 

formed that the arrest was to be made, and tha.~ shoultl there be anyresist.ance on the 

part of the tyler to the free entrance_..£ t.he omcers, the troops were to fire into the 

building and .burn it, with all ti.Jose within. I per onall.r informed the Gr:uul Lodgo 

of these intentions~ and the noA't morning learned that tboy intended to holtl their 

session with open uoors. 'l'hey did so, and w rearrested anll that night confined 

iu the jail. The next morning they were _informed that they shonl~l be taken. to Hayana for trial; lJut t-hree 1wurs after sunr1so they were all taken outside of the mty 

aud shot. ThiH act created consitlerable excitement at the ti.mo, but, as it wa.s im· 

prisonrrent to speak of it., it was soon hushed up. The fanu lies of those men thu shot were p1'lced on trial for the act of the heads 

of tho e familiM. aml, as a result, their property was confi, catecl; they were decL'lreu, paup rs, 2J.1d at the sam~ time the po]mJace was forbiuden, tmder pain of imprison. 

ment, to renuer any of them aJJy a l:!i. ta.nce. Thus, bein()' deprived of home anll 

shelter, food and the moans of obt..'l.i.ni.ng it, forbidden to 'leave t.?-e jurisdiction of 

Santiago de Cubtt, the o 11oor, h elpll's creatur s sought sholtor ill tho woods near b et· , and became one uommon fmuily. . But the inllwnaniti · , cruultics, aulllmrbaritius which theso women and c l.uldr n 

ha.ve been subjected to pru;sed the belief of a civilized being. I could not describe 

what I have seen and been unable to prevent. .All robberies aro laiu to their doo1~ 

and even suppo ed robberies were gotten up, so that the cha e of the blood-hounn 

might be witnessed by the rabble, and the suffering of some one of the poor beings 

added to their thirst for morbid depravity. It was not two months after the execu- tions that I saw one of the women, who was about to become a mother, placed be- tween two boards, upon which sat a heavy, burly savage~ urronndecl by a dozen 

oldiers and several officers, wl.Jo were tr.ving to compel this helpless boing to con- fess a crime of robbery which I bad previouslyinve tigated, and could find nothing 

that warranted the belief of a. roobery having been committed. Her dead body was left there, and, four days after, wben the stench compelled its burial, it was found to have been partly devoured by dogs. Since that tim~ ~ the present the ? poor creatures have been sub.iected to outra{!es beyond descnption or comprehensiOn by 

the people of a. community such aa you live in. 

ONLY A FRW LEFT. 

There a.re now but few living, perhaps thirty to forty souls, though in 1869 they 

numberetl in all over three hundred. Some died from starvation, others from cx- posure, while the maJority of them were killed by blood-hounfls, for it is uno of the 

sports of theso brutes to hunt these poor :people as game. I have seen bodies of 

tho e thus killed whose sex could not be disbnguishcd by reason of mutilation. .An attempt to exterminate them wa made a few days ago by: the volunteers allll some of the crew of the Tornado. When the Vrrginius was brought into tho harbor it was made the occasion of great festivities, and liquor flowed freely. Towa.rrl. 

midnight a party of three men, with hounds to hunt their victims, started for the 

woods. Noone dared to prevent what it was known would follow. Then xtmoru- ing they boasted in the street of what had taken place, and related with pride and 

pleasure the violence to which they had subjected these women and girls, some of 

the latter being only ten years old. 

BURYING NINE VICTIMS. 

With an associate official, wethatafternoon proceeded into the woods, and order d 

tho burial of nine whom we foun(l dead. Seven were suffering from violence tltat I cannot describe; one was black in the face, she having been choked t.o death, 

while another had her entire breast bitten off. I returned, sick at heart, unable to render the slight-est assistance, though I had been compelled to look on with ap- parent indifference. 

By means of negroes we render them what assistance we can. Clothing we can- not send, as this mi..,.ht be identified, but food and medicines we have so far been able safely to send tl;ough sla.ves, who have more pity for these beings tha.n they 

who once shared the bounty and hospitality of those they now persecute. I need not ask you to keep my name to yourself. You know where all the proof can be had of this and other matters. I have not gone into the matter in th"' full 

detail that the case deserves. If the people in the United States should petition 

their Government to give the moral influence of some kind of protection, the monoy could easily be ha.d to either w.ko them out of the country or provide for them with- out any expense to the community. In God's name, do what you can for humanity. 

The Secretary of State, in a dispatch to the Spanish Ininister, October 13, 1 69, says that the civil war in Cuba has continned for a. year; battle after battle has been fought, thousands of lives have 

been sacrificed, and the result is still in suspense; and the minister · is -reminded of the frequ~ncy with which, in the interest of humanity, he has been obliged to remonstrate against the atrocities and cru- elties which have attended the conflict in Cuba for the last year. 

The principle of neutrality has controlled the proceedings of the 

Administration, be says, with regard to the war in Cuba; but he can- not admit the indefinite protraction of a conflict such as has existed 

for the past year in that island, a conflict marked with cruelties, 

destruction, and devastation without parallel in modern civilized war- fare. 

The American minister at Madrid reminded the Spanish minister 

of state that this Government had before remonstrated against cer- tain proclamations of the captain-general of C11ba that threaten a mode of warfare at variance with the recognized customs of civil .. ized na,tions; and be protests with all solemnity, in the name of the 

President of the United States, against the deplorable exce e which 

have thus far chanwterized the war in Cuba, and insist , in the name of humanity, while hostilities are prolonged, that the war shall be 

conducted in a manner more in a-ccordance with the humane and 

Christian sentiments :of the age. For nearly a year the insurgents. have maintain~(} themselves again t all the forces which Spain and 

the Catalan volunteers have beeu able to put into the field against 

them. In the .. judgment of the President, in which the whole civilized world will coincide, the time has come, he says, when this struggle shall be carried on in a more humane way. To shoot prisoners 

of war simply because they a,re taken with arms in their hands is not 

in accordance with the custom of the Christian world. We have a right on our part to insist that Spain shall carry on this war hereafter 

in a manner more in acconlauoe with the humane and Christian sen- timents of the age. .A.nd the Secretary of State, :Mr. Fi h, in hi 

ill patch of November 12, 1873, to our minister, Mr. Sickles, decL.'U'cs 

that such wholesale butchery and murder are almo t increclible; tha,t 

it would be wholly incredible but for the bloody and vengeful deeds 

of which Cuba has .been the theater, and that no government de- serves to exist which can tolerate such crimes. 

The fourth and last preamble of the resolution is as follows : 

In consequence of the proximity of tho seat of war to the United States the war has been and is injurious to the interests of the people of the United State , and it is 

oviclcnt that a prolongation of the contest will result only in g-reat sutreril1_g aml 

bloollshecl, to be followed by the ultimate recognition of the indopenllenco of Cuba 

by Spain herself. . . · 

The proximity of the islaml of Cuba to our own country, comm:mding as it does the approach to the Gulf of Mexico and barrin~ the en- trance to the Mississippi River, which drains half of the N ort.h .A.meri- can continent and is the great highway of commerce of the Western 

States of this Union, forces the que tion of its conclition and destin 

upon our most serious consideration and invests this question with 

interests peculiarly American. 

This island keeps watch at the door-way of all our fissis ippi, Gnlf, 

California, and Bouth Am rican commerce, and nature and nuc~s~:;ity 
524~ CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JuNE 19; 

will ever demand that it shall be the friend and ally of the United 

States, ancl its· enemy never. The prolonged war in this impo1·tant and neighboring island has 

been and is injurious to the interests of the people of the United 

States, and its indefinite prolongation, with all its destruction of productive industries, its horrors and barbarities, must be :firmly discountenanced, for the potent voices of hllii.ln.nity and commerce demand 

it. What greater agencies controll the destiny of nations than the 

Christian sentiments born of a common humanity, and the interests 

of trade which marshals the money of the world Y Under the present war of extermination and ruin, as it draws its bloody lePg-th along from 

year to year, with neither conquest on the one side nor independence on the other, no nearer success than five years ago, American citizens are suffering in life and property, and the treaty obligations to this cotm try are violated with daily defiance and thus far with impunity. We desire no ho tile attitude between the United States and Spain, and only 

from a sincere regard for the mutual interests of peace do we desire a speedy termination of hostilities in this unhappy island, and in the 

light of tbe pa t experience and the unconquemble difficulties in the 

future it would eem that the Spanish Cortes itself must see that this wvr can only be a fearful waste of blood and treasure for a time, to 

end at last with exhaustion and the expulsion of its flag from this 

Gem of the .Antilles. 

Torn by civil war and contending armies, with no established form 

of government or fixed rule at home, how can Spain have any rea on- able hope to ubdue this revolution in Cuba Y Can it be expected 

that tho republican governments in this hemisphere will have more regard for the pride of a decayed .monarchy or an insincere and inse- cn.ro republican dictatorship in Europe than for their own sense of 

justice and political ::mel commercial interests 'f 

All nations teer their policy by the compass of national interest. 

European diplomacy is nothing but a network of self-interest, frequently torn by mighty wars but quickly repaired by the oft-renewed 

treaty, and th ns t1·eatios, intri~ues, and wars hold their perpetuaJ suc- ces ions, like the rotations of the seasons. Our hemisphere has no such network of international dangers. With a simplicity and uniformity of government in every portion of it, and entangling alli- ances with no European systems, our national existence mv.y ever be 

characterized by the succe sful study and fruition of the highest happine s attainable by the science of government. 

But can the United States be indifterent to an inde:fi.riite protraction 

of this contest in Cuba 'f Ha its continuance for five ye:trs been injurious to the interests of th-e United States Y In. the state man ship 

of every country two questions are always prominent, and cannot be 

exceeded by any other considerations, that of na,tional sa,fet-;y and na- tional revenue. The pre erva,tion of our institutions, and the extension and protection of our trade a,re the vita,l organs in the body of our country's welfare itself, and these being more directly under the 

guardian hip of the representatives of the people demand our first 

solicitude and mature t reflection. 

The interests of a country consist not aJone in the profits of bu iness, and the collection n.nd di bursement of it revenue , but also in 

the contentment of it people, in the uncompromising protection of 

their right abroad, in the undoubted power and dispo ition of its 

government, and in the respect and invioL1.bility of its flag upon ::ill 

the waters of the globe. 

All of these interests of the United Sta,tes have suffered most injuri.ou ly, and must continue to until the conclusion of this mad con- test in the very pathway of our commerce and on the very threshold 

of our bordering ea of the south. · The danger confronting us is an outburst of hostility at any moment 

between the United States a.nd Spain, and all on account of complications ari.si ng out of the present condition of Cuba and our inseparable re- lations with that island. To avert this dn.nger, which is not appalling 

to our power, only discordn.nt to ou.r cherished policy of peace, the 

early tranquillity of this island is n. question for our serious contemplation. As lovers of our country, we will n.t least not hesitate to 

initiate the process of pn.cification, or, better still, the peaceful proce s of independence in Cuba before we our elves n.re drawn unwillingly 

into the vortex of war. But shall this pacification be secured by the 

defeat of liberty m· the expulsion of despoiism; by the triumph of 

the patriot or the victory of the ineffable tyrant Y 

Our obligations of amity and treaty have ever been scrupulously 

observed toward Spain through every administration of the Government to the present. Spanisn citizens hn.ve not been molested nor their property disturbed; but so freely have they mingled in the en- joyments and rights of our institutions that their distinct presence has 

not even attracted our attention. If any complaint could be made it 

could only be at the excessive regard generally shown to the side of 

the Spaniard at the expense of our own citizens. So intense has 

always been our desire for amity n.nd peace that in all differences between our citizens and the government of Spain since 1850, she re- ceived invariably the benefit of our indifference or our silent discrimination in her favor. 

Charity flows from libern.lity, and magnani~ity :hom strength, but 

there are moments in the life of nations a well a in individuals when 

charitable virtue must c ase, and the preservation of vital interests can be no longer deferred. This I solemnly believe is the decisive 

moment in our relMions with the Spanish government in the i land of 

Cuba, when we should act in a spirit of no nnkinclness but firmness 

and fidelity for the security of om own safety and commercial interests. 

This constant war and irritation in Cuba unfits the captain-general and 

his myrmidons from the calm consideration of all questions relating 

to the United States. Irresponsible as is this military despot, he suddenly aggresses upon our rights, violates our treaties, a a inate out" 

citizens, and then plea<:ls hiswantofpower for reparation, and serenely 

refers the nations demanding redress to another hemisphere, to < disrupted goveTnment that may or may not at the time have a temporary 

head at Madrid. The captain-generaJ ha unlimited power for good or etil, but none for restitution, and theanswertoalljustcompl::linl :l 

from the home government are onlytherepetition of excusesrend reel 

by iillerior officials to their superiors. · It ever has been, on the pa,rt of Spain, a disregard of justice to a.ll 

friendly nn.tions, to provide her representative in Cuba, with such extl::-•-

ordinary powers, and in case of injuries to make no provision for 

prorupt redress. 

In 1851 nearly four hundred American citizens landed upon the 

shores of Cuba, under the leadership of Lopez, to assist the oppressecl 

Cubans in an uprising for liberty. Their unfortunate fate is well 

1..-nown, having been captured and summ..'lrily executed. General 

Crittenden with a number of his companions, was also about the saDie 

time captured-not a soldiers, but unarmed-on the island of Contoy, belonging to Mexico, and after a mock trial before a military 

tribunal. were basely murdered; and the gallant Crittenden, when 

ordered by the Spanish executioner to kneel down, exclaimed with 

indignation, "I kneel to none bnt my God." 

Following close upon these outrages two American vessels, the 

Susan Loud and the Georgiana, were seized upon by the Spanish 

authorities while lying off the coast of Yucatn.n, and the officers and crew subjected to the most ignominious and inhuman treatment upon 

the suspicion that they were concernecl in ·the Lopez expedition. 

Next, the Falcon, a United States mail-steamer, was :fired into by a, 

Spanish vessel without even a specious pretext. United States mailbags were next forced open by the Spanish authorities, the ma.i.l 

overhauled and examined for the avowed purpose of preventing the 

reception n.nd tr:msmission of any communication or news except 

only such as the captain-general should deem proper. About the sn.me time the United States steamer Crescent City was refu eel a landing at Havana with her pa engers. and mails because tho 

purser of the boat was obnoxious to the Spa,nish a,uthorities, by which 

act our postal and commercial arrangements were interrupted and our private citizens deeply injured. The United States Steamer Black 

Warrior was next fired upon by a Spanish war-steamer, the ve sel 

siezed, and tho property of our citizens for a time confiscated. 

In this way from time to time has our flag been insulted and our confidence and friendship abused by a weak Spanish neighbor, toward 

whom we were ever just and indulgent in all our intercour e. The consul-general at Santin.go de Cuba, informed the Secretary of ·State in June, 1869, that three American citizens were publicly shot 

without trial, having been taken prisoners at Ramon. 

Speakman, a native of Pennsylvania,, a perfectly innocentma,n, was cruelly murdered after the formality of a trial that amounted only to a farce. Mr. Cohner, the well-known American artist, was assa inated in the streets of Havana, in 1 69, only in pursuance of that 

Spanish habit of insulting, plundering, and killing our citizens. The 

brutal butchery of Greenwn.ld, because he was thought to be an American, and the treatment his dead body received, as well as the attempted assa illation of other American citizens who were his com- panions, are yet well remembered by the country. In March, 1869, 

the American brig Ma,ry Lowell was captured and condemned as a Spanish ptize. This act was more in contravention of internatioual 

law than even the eizure of the Virginius. 

More ·recently the American steamer Aspinwall was seized by a Spa,nish war-ves el on the high sea,s upon the suspicion that she had arms and n.mmunition for the Cubans. She had no contraband goods on board, and wa,s accordingly released n.fter having been taken to 

Ha,vann.; but no reparation has yet been made, in answer to the 

demands of this government, for the wrong done to our commerce and the national flag. 

And more recently the capture of the steamer Virginius on the high 

seas, carryin~ American papers and the American flag as evidence of 

her nationality, by the Spani.c>h war steamer Tornado, and the ha ty 

murder of fifty-three of her passengers andcrewforno crime actually 

committed or known to international law, is still fresh in the minds 

of the people, and needs but this allusion n.t my hands. 

Bnt a few months ago a prominent citizen of my own State set foot on the island of Cuba in pursuit of his legal business, having been em- ployed to n.ttencl to some embargoed interests belonging to his countr.v- men. Crossing through the island from Havana he reported him elf 

at the office of the American consular agent at Nuevitas; whereupon 

both he and our agent were arrested by the Spanish ~overnor, although 

the agent was ub equently relea eel. But the undignified treatment 

of American officL'll repre entatives in Cuba is not an unusuaJ thing. 

Only two years ago the American vice-consul v.t Santiago wa com- pelled to seek safety from pei. onal violence by seeking refuge on board of a French frigate, and the American con 'Ul-gen~ral at Ha,vana received about the arne time from the Briti h naval officer tho assurance of their protection and the offer of a file of marines to protect him whenever it beca,me nece ary to seek his safety on board a British man-of-war. A stn.te of affairs in which such outrage can po ibly occur is ind eel but a smoldering magazine from which the 

explo ion of war may come upon us at any hour in the day. 
1874.· CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5243 

'l'h:is maltreatment of our consuls and inhuman murder of our citi- zens is not only a wan ton indignity to our Gover?-men~, hut is wholly 

in willful violation of the most solemn treaty st1pulat10ns. 

Article 8 of the treaty of 1795 with Spain is as follows: 

And in all cases of seizure · detention, or arrest for debts contra-cted, or offenses 

committed by ::tny citizen or ;ubject of the one party within the jurisdiction of the 

other, the same shall be made and prosecuted by oraer a.n';l authority of la.w o~,v:. 

and according to the rej!Ular course of proceec1.iilgs usual ill such ca es. The ~~!i· 

zens and subjects of both parties shall be allowed to employ ~uch adv<!cates,_ solicitors, notaries, agents, and factors as they may judge proper ill all th ~r affairs, and 

in all their trials at law in which they maybe con011rned before the tr1bunals of the 

other party ; and such agents shall have fre~ acc~s to be pr_csent at t~e proceedings in such cases, and at the taking of :ill exammation and eVIdence which may be ex- hibit~d at the said trials. 

No language could be clearer or more comprehensive: 

In aJl case of offenses committed by any citizen within the jurisdictipn of the 

other, the s8.me hall be p_rosecuted J;IY 8.uthority of law only, and according to the 

regular course of proceedings usn8ol :..n such cases. 

Need I say that our countrymen so ruthlessly slain in Cuba. were for the most part captured on the high seas, without arms in their 

hands, and outside of the limits of Spanish jurisdiction; and when 

carried on land often no trial was had, no charges wero preferred; 

while at others no examination or evidence was had, and the con- demned were never permitted even to see the unusu~ and extraor~ary 

tribunals that pa edjudgment upon them Y In this way ha Amencan 

blood been wantonly shed in contempt of our flag and in foul treachery to the requirements of a mutual treaty. To-day the fate of F. A. Dockray, an able, :wc?mpl!-she?, and gap ant 

citizen of my ~tate, who ~as arrested at ~ue~ta~, IS s_till undecided, one military tribunal havmg condemned him m v10lat10n of the safeguards of the treaty, though through the energetic interpo ition of 

our Government he will be accorded another trial, which I pray may 

result in his acquittal, for the prayers of a strick~nfather and ag~miz

ing mother are ascending hourly to Heaven for the preservation of 

their only child to comfort them in their old aO'e, . Sir it is not in hu.m::m for~sight to see how Yong thUI country and Spa~ can maintain peaceful relations with suchat.rainof outrageous occurrennes passing between them. It calls for th~ wi~dom of bot_h 

nations to devise a speedy reme<ly ~or?' mutual extn~'tti~m from ~his 

threatenin 0' dilemma. OUI' remedy lies m the passage of this re olu twn. Wisdom ~nd forbearance can devise nothing better. To this com" 

plexion it must come at last, and it were better that the American 

Congre snow rise in moml grande~ and determination equal to the 

exigency, rather than that the commg year shall see another hecatomb of our citizens slaughtered in cold blood, shall behold om com- merce crippled and ourfla~ still more disgra:ced, only to b~ confronted 

at the next session by an mexorable necessitY: t? take this ~ery st~p . 

Our commercial interests must suffer great IDJury by the mdefinite 

continuation of this struggle in Cuba. Liberty and commerce pre- serve the life of the nation, as freedom and circulation the healthy 

life of the individual. 

The best evidence of the progress of a nation is to be seen in the 

st.Cady extension of its commerce, and its first signs of decadence in 

its shrinkage. The commercial pm·suits of this country have been steadily proO'ressing, as seen by our gradual increa e of American tonnage from 

i,368,127 tons in 1815 to 5,353,86 tons in 1860, w~e during the war, 

for obvious causes, our tonnage decreased; but smce the close of _the 

rebellion we are again in the line of recoverinO' our former proport10n. 

Our forei!!ll commerce has always been on the increase, and the loss 

of nation~l tonnage did not retard the constantly increasing value of our exports and imports. In 1850 the value of this commerce was $330 037 038 ; in 1860, $762,28 ,550; and in 1873, over 1,300,594,864. 

With the exception of Great Britain the most important and valuable 

of our commercial exchanges is with the inexhaustible island of Cuba. 

Our trade for 1873, excepting again Great B1·itain, with seven of 

the principal commercial countries; as rated by their exchange of 

products with the United States, represents their relative importance as follows: 

~~\j-\ ::~::~jm~\:\~\\\\\\\mm·~j> -:\j: ::~ __ ::\:H\\\~~~ 1 Fll ~ 

The United States imported from Cuba in 1873 1,454,124,259 pounds 

of raw sugar, valued at '77,953,470; also 43,533,909 gallons o~ molasses, valued at 9,901,051; also 113 670,~29 pOtmds of melada valued at 4,722,165; total, $921500,000; and imported fro~ all t~e rest of the 

world 19 072 920 of slwar n,ud molasses. Amencan ships alone car- ried 795,000 t~ns of thi~ freight, and at the usu?>l rate of five doll?>r~ per ton our shipping earned nearly $4,000,000 rn the tJ;ansportatwn. 

of this one product of traffic between these two countnes. 

In 187.3 the United States exports to Cuba amounted to more than 

$15 000 000 and estimating the inhabitants at about 1,200,000, tho rat~ w~s o~er twelve dollars to each one of her population. 

Our exports to Germany with it 45,000,000 of people were 61,767,997, or at the rate of one dollar and thirty-eight cents per head, ancl 

to France with her 38,000,000 of people our exports amounted to 

$33,000,000, or at the rate of less than one dollar per head. . The magnitude of our trade with <;Ju.ba may hav~ escape~ at~entwn 

in onr more eager gaze at the brilliant enterpnse of brrngmg the 

fabulous wealth of the Orient through the golden ga~es of. S~n l!'ral~­

cisco, and yet ,the figures prove that our _traffic w1th this Isla!ldis more than twice as valuable as that of China and Japan combmed. 

Other nations, as wi e an(l enlightened as we are, do not scruple to 

engage in war for no other purpo ethan really t? ope~ new av~nne 

for commerce and to drain the source of new nches mto thmr national coffers, and yet the United Stat~s Goverrunent hesi~at~s . to · exten'd ~ven the hand of moral fellowship to a people who mclnndually are of more importance to this country in a. commercial cal?nlation than either the Chine e, Spanish, Germans, or Fren~h _combmed. The English embark in war in Asia to compel an ~Willmg people 

to become opium-eaters for the b~nefits of the En~hsh treaslll'J:• ~n(l 

yet we, who an~ no be~ter Chri tums, and n?t h~ a-s good pohti_cal 

economi ts as our cousms across the Atlantic, shrrnk from speaking one word of recognition and encourage~en~ to a brave p~ople from 

whom we receive three-fourths of that mdiSpensablo article, sugar, 

consumed in this conntry, aud who are self-sacrificing devotees to our own republican form of gover?-illen~. - . Shall this Government stand by m stoic unconcern and witness the sure and gradual destruction of its importaa;tt and e. ential. com- mercial interests in Cuba, or shall we pass this re olution, a srmple, 

peaceful act in itself, usual and rightful between nations, without cause for offense on the part of Spain, but which act will become an event and will herald the not distant independence of Cnba as the 

stimclating sunshine of spring heralds the glorious harvest of the summer Om peace and vital interests require protection, but not by interference. The simple pa sage of this resolution will hedge our inter- est~ with all t.ho potency they require, and develop others to a great- ness unthouO'ht of before. Our policy is peace and protection. What 

the course of the British government would be under the like circumstances now surounding us may be easily inferred from their position 

held in 1 21, and announced to the allied powe~s of Europe. They 

said no government was more ~repared than therr ?W? to upho~d the 

right of any state or states to mterfere where then: own secunty or essential interests were seriously endangered by the mternal trans~ctions of another state. 

Again, it can easily be demonstrated that it is not among the posibilities of Spain, with all her superiority of arms and discipline and 

navy to cru h this spirit of independence in Cnba, or to subdue the 

prese'nt military opposition to her authority. . The decrepitude and nnstability of Spain her elf is the strongest 

proof in support of this as ertion. With imp~~:;tlism and den;wcra.cy 

at war in the mother-co1mtry, and all probabilities so nncertam even that no rea onable prediction can be ventured upon the ia:sue, where are the material and strength to come from for the ultnnate subjugation of this heroic people' Ultimate even, for time brings legions 

ancl strength to the Cuban and weakness to the Spaniard. Said Senor Garrido in the Cortes over a year ago : 

The Cubans have the same right to administer their island as we have to govern and administer our provinces and loc.'ll interests. Against tyranny there is always the right of rebellion, and we who for fifty years were always risl.ng against des- potism cannot deny the right of rising to those whom we ourselves oppress. You 

say you want twelve thousand more men to crush the Cuban insurrection; but this 

insUrrection has already existed four ye.'trs, and now yon come and tell us that you want twelve thousand men to subdue1t, besides the :fifty thousand or more that you have sent already. I can tell you that the question of buba. is for you an insoluble one· yon may send your twelve thousand men there as you have sent many times 

TotaL.--------·-------·--- --·-----·-·---·--------·--·---··--·----· 91,785,808 tweive thousand already during the last four years, but you will not settle the Cuban trade .. __ .. __ .. --··--· __ ... ·--. ____ ·----. __ .-----·._ ..... ___ .. _. 107,500,000 question for all that. 

In a commercial point of view, then, our tude with Cuba alone is 

$5,714,19'2 greater than that of the six other of our best customers 

combined. 

Said Senor Eduardo Benot, in the Spanish senate: 

Wo have lost in the Antilles thousands and thousands of brave soldiers; Cuba is the tomb of the Spanish youth, tho grave of the Spanish army. What have we gained after all by wr~ting from the Cubans th~ir inborn. rights which, try as we may must still be therrs ~ We ha.ve won. the nght of beillg held up as the most 

inllu'man people in all civilization. 

The follo·wing official table serves to show to what extent Olll' ship- ping is engaged in the carrying trade of Cuba-more than double that 

of Spain, and more than fourfold that of England and France : In 1 69 General Prim stated to the Cortes that Spain had sent 

34,500 men to re-enforce the army and navy in Cuba, and the whole 

Spanish forces employed in Cuba since the commencement of the 

Entrance. Clearance. revolution number over 107,400, from their own e timates. The 

Entrance and cleamnce of vessels. in tlw ports of Ouba during 1847. 

Countries. 

United States------.---... ----·.--.. -- .. ···-·-----·---- .. Svain. _ .. _ 00 ___ • ______ • ___ ••• ____ • • _______ • 00 • 00 _ •• _____ • 

England .. _. ·----- ----- _ ·---......... _ ... ---·--- .. . ... --- France. __ ___ ---- .. ---- ...... ·-- ........ ·-00 •••• ·-..:. ·-·-•• 

2,012 819 

563 

99 

Cubans commenced with a body of 147 ar!fied men, and to-day have 

17 250 well-ru·med men under an able and successful commander~in1, 72'2 chief General Maximo Gomez, 3,000 of whom are an efficient and for- ~g~ mida.ble cavalry, whom the Spanish soldiers desctibe as H men on 81 horseback, without guns, fighting like devils." 

In 1870, when the revolutwn was weaker than to-day, and when 

\ 
5244 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. JUNE 19, 

Spn:i!-1 had an established government and peace at home, Mr. Sickles, our minister at .Madrid, informed our Government that the Span.ish 

campaign in Cuba had failed, and that their great reliance was then on the t.hirty gun-boats lately built for Spain in the United States. 

What has become of these 107,400 Spanish troops 7 The captaingeneral in hi official report of 1869 accounts for 14,000 as having 

been lost by disease and battle durin()' that year. In the ab ence of 

further official reports from this military functionary upon the subject, it may not be unreasonable to conclude that 14,000 at lea t followed each year in the same wake, which for the years 1870, 1871, 

1872, and 1873 would amount to 56,000 more as mustered out by battle and disease. . When is it po ible for Spain, disrupted in government and dishonored in credit, to end out 107,400 soldiers more for the conquast of tlis- case and the patriots 'f Will it be when Don Carlos and Marshal 

Sen-ano shall meet in armistice and each contribute his quota of 

troops for the expedition · Captain-General Jovellar lately resigned his po ition as governor 

of the island, being convinced that Spain cannot nQ,_w, and I a sort never can, furnish the requisite men and money to maintain her sovereignty in Cuba. 

Sir, a people whose cause is just, once baptized in the blood of 

liberty, are ever invincible, anu tyrants from all ages and nations can bear unwilling testimony to this truth. For seven years our fathers 

persevered amid the varying fortunes of war for the boon of liberty 

we, their clescendant, now enjoy, and who will say thatthe devotion 

to independence is less intense in Cuba than it was in our Colonies, 

with aJl their superadded suffering and political degradation to nerve 

them on to victory or death ' 

It is not in Spanish power to again en lave this people, six hunilred thousand white and six hundred thousand colored, who fight 

with such pe1·sistent de peration, whose commissary is the bountiful 

fruitage of a tropical clime, who have uch inapproachable fastnesse 

for safe retreat and as a constant basis for renewing operations, and 

who e faithful ally in the destruction of their una.cclimated enemies 

is that fearful scourge of the tropics, the yellow-fever. The future of poor Cuba may yet be darkened for years with more blood and anarchy, which merciful Heaven forbid! but the :final 

ble sing upon all thi martyrdom must come at last as certain as that 

immutable justice is an attribute of God. 

Sir, the natural'right of revolution is recognized by all international 

jurisprudence, ancl no cause for revolt more just than that of Cuba 

stands recorded in tho annals of the world. If there ever was an occa- sion that justified a revolution, that called upon a people to recur to 

first principles :md eek relief from the abuse of power by an appeal 

to arms, this was one. The spirit of resistance was not evoked by any 

que tion of abstract rights, but from actual suffering and grievous 

oppression in the admini tration of justice, in agriculture, in com- merce, and ill every pmsuit of happiness. 

Wars were formerly fought for families and dynasties, for the rights 

of thrones and the prerogatives of crowns; now men fight for written 

constitutions, for the rights of men and the preroga.tives of nations, 

and fighting learn to govern for themselves. 

Shall this brave people of both races who for nearly six years have 

been fighting for the creation of a new nation, and who in their :final 

triumph will cease to be Spaniards as well a.s slaves, continue yet 

another year without one word of sympathy from us, simply because we brook the spontaneous expressions of our own hearts and judgments in most unnatural deference to the opinions of European monarchies f 

The very fact that such powers are the enemies of-liberty everywhere is the very reason why our great nation should be its friend. Uonarchies are always swift in the reco()'nition of new governments 

in political affinity with their own, regarclle of the question of their · birth, whether by statecraft, as Amadeus of Spain, by usurpation a Napoleon ill of France, or by inva ion and attempted conquest 

of a sister republic as Maximilian in Jtfex:ico. Shall we, from ·fear of 

European criticism or for want of moral stamina in the exercise of our prerogative, turn a deaf ear for another year to the crying ap- peals of liberty in Cuba, or shall we rather, imbued, as I know we are, 

express the same noble sentiments as uttered by the l!,ather of his 

Country on the presentation of the French flag to our Government in 

1796 : llorn in a land of libort:y, mv anxions recollection, my sympathetic feelings, and 

my best wi~hos are irresl8tib)y oxcitod whensoever, in any country, I 80!3 an oppressed· nation unfurl tho banners of freedom. 

Why hesitate in this act of justice to a struggling nation who for 

six years have been fighting for thoir own liberty and for the freedom 

of over a quarter of a million slaves f 

Who doubts that if France or Pro sia or Holland had treated our 

revolutionary fathers with the same indifference and delay in the 

acknow ledgme.nt of their independence a.s tho Congress of the 

United tates has shown toward Cuba that George Washington and 

his illustrious comp ers would have died JO'nominiously as traitors 

upon the scaffold, and their marble statues that now honor this Capitol would be nnhown blocks in the quany and their monuments, 

like that of the adored Emmett, would yet he un culptured and nn- epitaphed 

Benjamin Franklin, tleclining to receive back a nm of money which 

he had loaned to a poor and worthy man, upon tender of its payment 

exclaimed, "I do not need it; pass it ro~d among other· poor and 

worthy people who are in distress." 

What was our condition and pro pect of success before the sun of 

foreign recognition rose above the horizon of our Colonies Says Hildreth, the historian : 

November, 1776.-Wa hin~n's army wa§ by this time greatly reduced. The term of s rvice of the militia wa.s fast oxpinng. The whole trying camp soon claimed their discha.r~ , and no inducement could procur a. moment's delay. Some 

of tho New York militia. refus d to do duty. Howo, they sa.id1 offered peace, liberty, and safety; so-they understood his proclamation and wnat more could be a lied 1 The Continentais were enlisting for a year, ana their term of ervice was fa t drawing to a. clo e; nor did they always wait to complete it, desertions being 

very numerous. Exclu ive of the divisions of the highL'lnds, and the corps under Lee on the eru~t ide of the Hudson, Washington's army did not exceed four thousandmen. 

In December Washington made the memorable retreat across the 

Delaware, while the principal cities of the country were one 11fter tho 

other falling into the hands of the enemy; and at the expiration of the 

year the same historian de cribes the following ituation: 

Tho llowes issued a new proclamation. The speedy ttiumphof themother-oountry seemed certain, and many persons, those especially of lar,ge prop rty, including 

several who had taken an active part in tho Revolution, nast nnd to ma.ko tho 

required submis ion. 

1.'urkey, president of the late Now .Jersey convention, which had sanctioned the 

Declaration of Independence. and formed tho State constitution, now abandoned 

his country's cause and took a British protection. So did Allen and Galloway late 

delegates from Pennsrfvania to tho Continental Congr s. }'or ten da~s affu~ the 

~~~n~ath.tho proclama -on two or throe hundred persons came in every da.y to take 

At this critical juncture in our liberty's history the opportune recognition and friendship of France alone saved na from disintegratioll, 

defeat, and the ignomy of death on the scaffold. 

Pass the blessing of liberty round through the hemispheres and the 

islands, wherever a gallant and worthy people trike and ask for it. 

Liberty sped from Franne to our shores upon the wino-s of their 

recognition of om·independence. Let us speed liberty t<' Cuba upon 

the wings of the pa sage of this re olutiou, :mel the stars that thi 

night keep watch over that bleedinO' 1sland will sing the song of 

salvation in the morning, as the morning stars sang together over the birth of a Saviour at Bethlehem. 

We, as a nation, are the beneficiaries of Providence, as was he to 

Franklin, who received a valuable fayor at hls hands. To have pocketed the money and been indifferent to worthy and distre sed neighbors, would have stamped him with the moral crim~s of theft and 

ingratitude. To enjoy our freedom in arroo-ance and be indifferent to the distre ed republic of Cuba when by this simple r cognition of their 

independence we could biess them aa France and the other nations 

bles ed us, would it not be nnde ervetUy stamping this country as guilty of b"senes and ingratitude without parallel in the ahnals of 

the Christian world Y 

No American colony ever achieved its in(lepenclence without the 

friencUy assistance of other nations. 

Greece received material aid in armies and ships, even more than 

the simple recognition that Cuba pleads for, from the allied powers 

in Europe a~ainst Turkey. And this interfer nee, not recoo-nition 

only, is jnstined by our most authoritative commentators upo~ intt3rnationallaw. . · . . 

The assistance that England gave to the United Netherlands when they wore strugjlling against Spain, anu the a sistancoFrance gavo to this country dunn a the war of o~ ~volution, we~ ju tifiable act , fonndeu in wisdom and policy. And 

equally Justifiable wa.s the mterforence of the European powers of France, Gr at Britain, and Rus ia, in favor of the Greeks ar:rainst the Ottoman Porte, by the 

treaty for the pacification of Greece conclud;i' by tho e three Christian power in 1827, and by means of which a ferocious and destructive war was terminateu by 

the independence of the Greek state a.s a new kingdom, and a recognition of that 

independence by th Ott{)man Porte in 1832. So, a.I o, there wa.s a succe sful interference in 1840 of four of the European powers, Anstria, Great Britain, Pros ia, 

and Rn sia, in tho civil war betwnen tho Ottoman Porte and Mollemet Ali tho 

Pa.sha. of Egypt. And lastly, th re wa the memorable intelference of the' five great European powers in tho B l~ revolution of 1830, which nded in tho eparation of Bel¢um from llolland1 anu the establishment of the same a.s an indop nd- ent state.-Kent's Oommumtan.es, volume 2, page 23. 

The South A.rtlorican Spani h coloni s.for y ars before their independence was even recognized by Congre.$87 received such assistance 

from the United States as was obtainable undor the following instructions issued by Pre ident l\fadison on the 3cl of July, 1815. 

Cuba will be content 'vith the arne assistance and her independence would be assured under similar presidential in tructions n.t 

this time, though I believe it is the imperative dnty of Congre to 

accept the responsibility of thi.s questio·n and to inaugurate a new policy in our relations with Cuba which the Executive of the Government would faithfully cany out as the expre sion of the will of 

the people: 

There is no principle of th law of nation which r quires us to exclnde from our ports the subjects of a foreign power in a state of insnrr ction against their own government. It i n t incumb nt upon ns to take notice of crim and offen PS 

whlch are committed against the :municipal laws of another country, whether they are clas ed in the high t grade of treason or in the low st grade of mi demeanor. 

Piracy is an offens against the law of nations, and every ciVilized govemmcnt un- dertakes to punish the pirate when brou{!ht withln its jul'i diction ; but ::111 act of v_olt,,n.r P.lli~na ain a,. ?ver eig:n, m11 stnot he oon_fotmded with au act of piracy, whlch 1s ueno=.ated ho tiht v agalllst tile htun:m rae . Any merchant vos cl, t her efor'-, whtch ha not committ.ed an offense a$a.inst t.l1e 

law of nations, b ing freightecl with a lawful cargo and eonformin~ in au r e poet to the laws of the U nited Rtat s, is ontitlP.d to an entry at our en tom-llonses, wJmt- ever Jla.,!! sh may bear. ~ i:; alo:~o eu titloJ. to take ou board a return cargo and to dupart from the United States with tho usual clearance. 
• 

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 5245 

Tho President desires tha£ you will regulate your official conduct upon the principles that llavo been tatcd; butjf any extraordinary caae occurs, you will report it to this Department with all possible ruspatch. I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 

P. L. B. DUPLESSIS, Esq., (]ollector, New Orleans. 

. .A.. J. D.ALL.A.S, 

Secretary of the 'I'reaSttry. 

It may be asked what benefit will the passage of this resolution be 

to our struggling political brothers iu Cuba, and wherein is their 

independence so surely to follow Sir, ever inca this struggle our country ha-S been in the unmanly attitude of holding the Cuban down 

while the Spaniard is fighting him. We have long :felt the meanne s and unmanliness of our false position; but they say it is our treaty 

obligation to Spain that compels us ~o violate our consc~ence by opening our doors and stores to the Sparnsh slaveholder, while to the poor 

slave and the Cuban we must sell or give nothing, noli even a cup of 

cold water or kind expression of sympathy. Shameful attitude in 

the eyes of our own self-respect! How must we, the giant and paternal 

republic of the New ·world, appear in the estimation of the weak but 

chivalroUS" republics of Mexico and South America, who long ago 

recognized the belligerent rights of the infant republic of Cuba f 

Spain has all the privileges of trade and facilities in the ports of 

the United States, replenishes her war stores, and repairs her ships 

of war in American ports whenever necessity may demand; and with 

her thirty gun-boat , built but a few years ago for her in the ·United 

States, she has indeed every advantage, except in valor on an equal 

battle-field, over the Cuban.~, who are not allowed by the guardians 

of the law and the treaty to receive any instruments of warfare, 

either by purch~e or contribution, from liberty-loving friends and 

sympathizers. · But the most ridiculous posture in which diplomacy has placed us is, that while we are stooping over to hold the poor Cuban on his 

back, and all in zealous and delicate fulfillment of the treaty, the 

haughty captain-general kicks us in the back, while his Catalan volunteer sticks a knife between our shoulder, and then blusteringly 

refers us to Madrid for apology or redress ; and to Madrid we go only 

to find a government that stands more in awe of the captain-general 

than he does of it. 

Under such humiliating circumstances wha,t American does not admire the Roman spirit of that grand old Senator, Thomas H. Benton, 

who on the floor of the American Senate, in a debate upon the rev- olution for liberty in the Spanish South American provinces, said: 

In such a case I declare it to by my sentiment that treaties are nothin~, books are nothing, laws are nothing ; that the paramount law of God and nature 1s eyerything · and that the American soldier, hearing the cry of helplessness and weak- ness ~d rememberin~. only that he was a man born of woman and the father of 

chil;b;n, should fly to tue rescue, and strike to prevent the further perpetration of 

crimes that shook nll.ID1tnity and dishonor the a.ge I 

With ·the passage of this resolution will come the proclamation of 

equal privileges and advantages in all ports and pla~es within the 

United States. Impartial neutrality will then be observed by our Government between the Cuban and the Spanish belligerents, and 

equal liberties to pur ue the operations of war and purchase military stores will be accorded to both parties. With this reco~nition 

will also follow an observance of the rules of civilized wartare on the part of Spain, and her now unchecked barbarities would cease, or interference would be justifiable on the part of enlightened nations as in the case of Greece in her war of independence against Tmkey. 

This would be placing the oppressor and the oppressed upon an equal footing, and nerved by love of liberty and valor, and cheered 

by the certainty of fair play, how long would it be before the prowess 

of the Cubans and the hosts of their friends who would spring out of 

the earth like the mailed warriors that sprang from the sowing of the 

dragon's teeth would plant the flag of victory over every rood of that 

glorious isl~nd. . Did not Mr. Webster, the ablest lawyer and most learned diplomatist, as Secretary of State, declare to the British minister, lli. Fox, 

in 1841, as follows 7 • 

It is well known t.o Mr. Fox that authorities of the highest eminence in England 

living and dead, have maintained that the general law of nations does not forbid 

the citizens or subject-so£ one government from taking part in the civil commotions 

of another. 

But I am done. Whatever our a~tion may be upon this resolution, 

while its passage would be like the outburst of the sun upon the 

mariner laboring for safety in a mighty storm, nevertheless the fail- ure of its pa8Sage will not put out a single camp-fire of liberty on that devoted island. God and the American people will still keep 

watch over it, until the fullness of time shall bring it triumphantly 

into the family of nations. I believe this glorious time is not far distant, for the mills of the gods have ~ound slowly but surely for six 

years, and the upper and the nether mill stone will soon come together. 

Under no possible contingency, without involving the interests 

ancl safety of the United States in constant jeopardy, can our Government much longer subordinate its sympathy and recognition of 

independence to the haughty behests of diplomacy, for the impulses 

of political and human natme toward this kindred people in Cuba are stronger than the webs of heartle s diplomacy, and American 

patriotism stands ready to enthusiastically assume the responsibility. 

LEAVE TO PRINT. 

Mr. DAVIS, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to print some _ :remarks on the civil-rights bill. (See Appendix.) 

Mr. ROBINSON, of Ohio, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to 

print some remarks on the charge of bigamy against the Delegat-e from Utah. (See Appendix.) 

Mr. MERRIAM, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to print some remarks. (See Appendix.) 

Mr. HERNDON, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to print some remarks upon the republican party, it.~ mi ion ended without 

the necessary constituent elements for future succe . (See Appendix.) 

.And then, on motion of Mr. NILES, (at twelve o'clock and five 

minutes, a.m.,) the House adjourned. 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

The following memorials, petitions, and other papers were presented 

at the Clerk's desk, under the rule, and refeiTed as stated: 

By Mr. BUTLER, of Tennessee: The protest of Creek, Choctaw, 

and Cherokee delegates, against the allotment of thou: l::mds and apportionment of their national funds as p1·oposed in House bill No.' 

2143, to the Committee on Indian Affairs. 

By Mr. CLEMENTS: The petition of GrenvilleM. Weeks, of Wa-shington, District of Columbia, for the correction of an unjust and con- tradictory pravi.so in the peusion laws, to the Committee on Invalid 

Pensions. 

By Mr. CRUTCHFIELD : The petition of W. H. Mayett and others, 

for an appropriation to pay the amounts respectively due them for 

labor done on the Tenne ee River between Chattanooga and Kingston, Tennessee, to the Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. GARFIELD: The petition of working men of Mineral Ridge, 

Trumbull County, Ohio, for the restoration of the 10 per cent. duty on iron and steel and for free banking, to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

By Mr. PL..A.TT, of Virginia: The petition of James Shickler, late 

of Company K, First United States Infantry, for bounty money, to 

the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By Mr. SCUDDER, of New York : The petition of William Garratt, 

for arrears of pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

IN SENATE.· 

SATURDAY, June 20, 1874. 

The Senate met at eleven o'clock a.m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. 

On motion of Mr. SPENCER, and by unanimous consent, the reading of the Journal of yesterday'-s proceedings was dispensed with. 

SUSPENSION OF JOINT RULES. 

Mr. WEST. I offer a resolution concerning the order of business 

and ask its immediate consideration: · 

Resolved by the Se-nate, (the Home of Represtmtatives concu:rringt) That the sixteenth and seventeenth joint rules of the two Houses be suspendoo for tho residue 

of the present session. 

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

'l'he joint rules refened to are as follows : 

16. No bill that shall have passed one House shall be sent for concurrence to the 

other on either of the last tbiee days of the session. 17. No bill or resolution that sh II have pas ed the Honse of Representatives and 

tho Senate hall be presented to the President of the United States, for his appro- bation, on the last day of the session. 

W ABHINGTO~ CITY AND POINT LOOKOUT RAILROAD. 

Mr. IDTCHCOCK. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of House bill No. 3025. 

The motion wa-s agreed to; and the bill (H. R. No. 3025) supplementary to the act entitled ".An act to authorize the Washington City 

and Point Lookout Railroad Company to extend a railroad int-o and 

within the District of Columbia,"approvedJanuary2'2, 1873, was con- sidered as in Committee of the Whole. 

The bill had been r eported by the Committee on the District of 

Columbia with amendments. The first amendment was to strike out 

the following words from line 35 to line 42 : 

And that all the rights con£ rred by this act are to be exorcised and enjoyed by said company only npon the condition that said company shall first remove all the 

work it has done toward locating its track between the Insane Asylum and the Potoma-c River, and on the further condition that it shall never locate or operate said road, or any part thereof, between said asylum and thePotoma<: River. 

And in lieu thereof to insert: 

A.ndpovidedfurther, That said Washington Cit:v and Point Lookout Railroad 

Company shall construct il:.8 railroad in the county ofWa.alringtonherein authori,-;ed so that wherever it ohall cross any J?Ublic road l.t shall oro s ~he same by an over- grade or undergrade crossmg, by bndge or tunnel, so as not to rmpede public travel 

npon said roat:ls, and shall construct that part of said rnilrQad along Rock Creek, in 

the valley of said creek, passin,!! west of the P street bridge, by a tunnel through 

the hill west of said P street bridge; and said road crossings and said tunnel shall 

be located and constructed in accordance with plans and specifications to be first 

approved in writing by the engineer in charge of public buildings and grounds. 

Mr. EDl\-fUNDS. I do not lrnow anything abont this bill; but I 

tried yesterday morning to have the Senate go to the Calendar of unobjected cases in order that we might with justice to all dispo e of matters reported to which there is no objection. Now, in order to test tha