. 1662 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, 

Mr. E. R. HOAR. I wish to move an amendment to section 4194. 

The section was as follows: 

SEc. 4194. Vessels registered pursuant t~ law, and no others, except such as shall 

be duly qualified · accoriling to law, for carrying on the coasting trade and fisheries, or one of them, shall be deemecl vessels of the Uniteu States, and entitled to the 

b enefits and privileges appertaining to such vessels; but they shall not enjoy the same longer than tliey shall continue to be wholly owned by citizens and to be 

commanded by a citizen of the United States. 

Mr. E-. R. HOAR. I move to amend by inserting at the end of the 

section the following : . 

And officers of vessels of the United States shall in all cases be citizens of the 

United States. 

The amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. E. R. HOAR. The next amendment is to strike out "presumptive," and insert "prirn.a fame," in section 4330; so that the section 

will ),'ead as follows : · 

SEc. 4330. The collector of the customs, at any port at which any vessel so em- ployed shall arrive, or from which any such vessel shall be about to depart, shall 

appoint and direct one or more of the inspectors of the cnstoms for such port to examine such vessel, and report in writing to him whether the requirements of lnw 

1mve been complied with in respect to such vessel; and if such report shall state such compliance, and shall be approved by such collector, it shall be deemed prima 

facie evidence thereof. 

The amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. E. R. HOAR. I have also an amendment to section 4285, an amendment of considerable length, and which I do not know that I 

need explain, though there is a very curious explanation. 

The section was as follows : 

SEC. 4285. Upon vessels which shall be entered at any custom-house in the United 

States, from any foreign port or place, there shall be paid the respective duties followinu : On ve sels of the United States, the officers of which are citizens of the 

Unite'a States, thirty cents a ton: on vessels of the United States, the officers of 

which are not citizens of the United States, eighty cents a ton; on vessels built 

within the United States, but belonging wholly or in part to subJects of foreign powers, sixty cents p er ton; on forei~ vessels entered in the Umted States from any forei!!Il port to and with which vessels of the United States are not ordinarily permitted' t.o enter and trade, $2.80 per ton ; on other vessels, eighty cents per ton : Provided, That nothing in this section shall impair any rights or privileges which 

have been or may be :w.q_nired by any foreign nation, under the laws and treaties of 

the United States, relative to the duty of tonnage on vessels. 

Mr. E. R. HOAR. I move the following amendments: 

In line 4 strike out the words "the officers of which are citizens of the United 

States;" strike out from the word "on," in line 5, to the word "ton," inclusive, in line 

6; in lines 11 and 12 strike out "eighty" and insert ''thirty;" and after the word " ton," in line 12, insert the following : Provided, That the President of the United States shall be satiafied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of any foreign nation to which such vessels lon~r, _so 'far as they operate to the disadvantage of the United States, have been 

abolished; otherwise 80 cents per ton and. 

lli3 a curious specimen of the way in which aets of Congress are sometimes expres ed, it may, perhaps, be interesting to some gentle- men to know the length of time that it took the committee to find 

out what the duty should be under this section. The commissioners 

to revise the laws gave one rate of duty; the revisiqn as here reported 

gave another and totally different one; and it was impossible to discover, without a very long comparison of statutes, how they came to 

differ or whence this one was derived. At length we found the differ- ence arose from a very curious use of language in one of the statutes, 

to which the acute lawyer who revised the work gave one construction, and to which the commissioners gave another. 

The statute provided certain discriminating duties in favor of one class of vessels should be repealed, while the practice of the Government was discrimination against the other should be repealed and 

the whole duties should be stricken out. It has been uniformly the 

construction since the time the statute was passed. It was capable 

of both constructions, and the revising lawyer took the other. The 

committee found out at last what it meant. I believe they have got 

it now conformably to the practice as well as to what we thought was the true meaning of the statute. 

The motion was agreed to. 

And then, on motion of Mr. POLAND (at five minutes to nine 

o'clock, p.m.,) the House adjourned. 

PETmONS, ETC. 

The fQllowing memorials, petitions, and other papers were presented 

at the Clerk's desk under the rule, and referred as stated: 

By Mr. ARCHER: The petition of Caroline Sturtz, for a pension, 

to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By Mr. BASS : The petition of Anna 1\f. Kopf, for a pension, to the 

Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By 1\Ir. BLA.INE: The petition of Charles C. Gould, of Augusta, 

:Maine, to be reimbursed for moneys advanced and food and clothing 

furnished Union prisoners in rebel prisons, to the Committee on vVar 

Claims. 

By Mr. CHIPl\L~N: The petition of Thomas Galloway, of Baltimore, Maryland, for a pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

Also, the memorial of theW omen's Christian Association of th~ District of Columbia, presenting their fourth annual report, and asking an appropriation from Congress of 25,000, to the Committee on Appro- priations. 

By 1\lr. COBB, of North Carolina: The petition of citizens of Pitt 

and Greene Counties, North Carolina~ for the establishment of a postroute between Snow Hill and Greenville, North Carolina, via Willow 

Green and Ballard's Store, to the Committee on the Pest-Office and PostRoads. 

Also, the petition of citizens of Tyrrell· and Wa hington Counties, 

North Carolina, for an appropriation for the improvement of the Scuppernong River, to the Committee on Commerce. 

By 1\lr. COX: The memorial of William Radde, of New York, relative to the return to specie payments and the redemption of legaltender and national-bank notes in coin, to the Committee on Banking and Currency. . Also, the memorial of the Washington Branch of the Amalgamated . Society of Carpenters and Joiners, relative to alleged infractions 

of the eight-hour law, to the Committee on Public Buildings and 

Grounds. · By Mr. FARWELL: The petition of merchants of Chicago, Dlinois, deprecating the issue of any more legal-tender notes, and asking 

the withdrawal as soon as possible of those already is ued out of the 

so-called reserve, to the Committee on Banking and Currency. 

By 1\fr. FIELD: The petition of Oliver Lumphrey, late first lieutenant :First New York Lincoln Cavalry, that his muste:t date from 

the reception of his commission and that he receive pay from that 

date, to the Committee on l\.lilitary Affairs. 

By Mr. GARFIELD: The petition of citizens of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania., for an appropriation of $SO,OOO for the improvement of Ashtabula Harbor, in the State of Ohio, to the Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. HOOPER: The remonstrance of the selectmen and other 

citizens of Swampscott, Massachusetts, against discontinuing the 

custom-house at Marblehead, to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

By 1\fr. HUBBELL: The petition of citizens of Charlevoix County, 

Michigan, for appropriation for the improvement of Pine River, to t.he 

Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. KELLEY: The petition of bankers, merchant-s, and others, • of Philadelphia, deprecating an increase of currency and praying for a speedy return to specie payments, to the Committee on Banking 

and Currency. 

By 1\fr. LEWIS: Papers relating to the claim of Robert and Isaac 

Quinn, for destruction of property during the late war, to the Committee on War Claims. 

By Mr. LOFLAND: The petition of citizens of Sussex County, 

Delaware, for an appropriation to remove obstructions in Nanticoke 

River, tothe Committee on Commerce. 

By Mr. LOWJ\"'DES: The petition of William F. Keirle, of Bc1ltitimore, Mary land, for the refunding of a fine paid by him to the 

United States, to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

By 1\Ir. NESMITH: The petition of George A. Miller, of Eugene 

City, Oregon, for relief, to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

By 1\fr. ROSS: The petition of citizens of Lawrenceville, 'J'ioga 

County, Pennsylvania, for the repeal of the second section of the act 

of June 6, 1872, which made a reduction of 10 per cent. in certain 

duties, to the Committee on Ways and Means. 

By 1\fr. SHELDON : The petition of Absalom Baird, for the passa.ge 

of an act to authorize the President to nominate and promote Mm to 

be lieutenant-colonel and assistant inspector-~eneral, to dat~ from 

June 13, 1867, to the Committee on l\filitary Affairs. 

By Mr. S~ITTH, of Virginia: The petition of Peter K. Morgan, for 

land bounty and a pension for services in the war of 1812, to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions and War of 1812. 

By Mr. SPRAGUE : The petition of R. R. Hudson, for the purchase 

of the Louisville and Portland Canal by the Goverument, to the Committee on Commerce. 

Also, the petition of Henry Raymond and Abraham Dally, in behalf of the veterans of the war ol 1812, for certain modifications of 

the pension laws, to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions and 

War of 1812. 

By Mr. WILLARD, of Vermont: The petition of Cordelia Wilkins, 

for a pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

By 1\Ir. --: The petition of members of the North Alabama Bar 

for the extension of the jurisdiction of tha circuit court of the 

United States for the fifth circuit over the northern district of Alabama, and for holding terms of the court at Huntsville, Montgomery, 

and Mobile, to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

IN SENATE. 

FRIDAY, February 20, 1874. 

Prayer by Rev. E. D. OWEN, of Washington. 

The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

HOUSE BILLS REFERRED. 

The bill (H. R. No. 447) extending the time for the completion of 

the Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay and Lake Mich1gan Ship-Canal, in 

the State of Michigan, was read twice by its title and refe1Ted to the 

Committee on Public Lamls. 

The bill (H. R.No. 8 6) to provide for the election of Congressmen 

at large for the State of Alabama was read twice by its title and 

referred to the Committee on Privileges and E~ctions. 

The bill (H. R. No. 2080) to provide for deducting any debt due the 

United States from auy judgment recovered against the United States 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1663 

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

PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate the following 

message from the President of the United States; which was read: 

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I have the honor to transmit herewith a "memorial upon the cultivation of timber and the preservation of forests," and a draught of a joint ~~solution prl}pared by 

the "American .Association for the Advancement of SCience; together With a ~m

municationfrom the Commissioner of the General Land Office upon the same snb.1ect. U. S. Gr..ANT. EXECUTIVE MANSIOY, 

Washington, Feb-ruary 19, 1874. 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tmnpm·e. The message will lie on the table 

and be printed if there be no objection. . . . Mr. STEW ART. I suggest that the question of growmg t1mber ~s 

before the Committee on Public Lands, and it might be well for thlS 

communication to go to that committee. 

The PRESIDEN'r pro tmnpore. The message will bereferre~ to_the 

Committee on Public L~ds, and be printed, if there be no obJectwn. 

IMPORTATION OF FRUIT-PLA.!.~TS. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I desire to make a statement to the Senate in 

regard to a matter which not only a:fl'ects the Senate but affects other 

Departments of the Government, which has led already to the loss of 

half a million dollars of revenue, and may probably lead to reclamations of a larger amount. 

A good deal has been said in the newspapers, and in another place 

that I ~eed not refer to, in regard to an error that crept into the h~ w of two years ago in regard to fruits, an error which ~as led to adnntting oran(l'es, lemons, pomegranates, and all fresh fruits, duty free, at a lar(l'e sa~rifice to the Treasury. I was anxious, as indeed every one ouo-ht to be, to see where this error originated, and I am very glad to 

find that it did not originate here. I have taken pains to hunt up all 

the original papers. . The bill of the House of Representatives, No. 2322, (Forty-second 

Congress, second session,) entitlell "An act to reduce duties on imports 

and to reduce internal taxes, and for other purposes," was reported 

by the Committee on Finance of the Senate on the 24th of May, 1872, 

and it contained in the free list the following articles: 

Flowers, leaves, plants, roots, and seeds, (medicinal,) in a crude st.at.e, not otherwise provided for. 

On the 25th day of May, 1872, while the bill was pending, the then 

Senator from Florida (Mr. Osborn) gave notice of his intention to 

offer an amendment to include in the free list the words " plants, tropical and semi-tropical, for the purpose of propagation or cultivation." 

It seems, then, by the Globe that on the 30th of May following, the 

bill being under consideration, the Senator from Vermont made this 

1·emark : 

Mr. MoRRILL, of Vermont. Before that question is put, I ask consent to offer an amendment that the Senator from Florida, not now here, [Mr. GILBERT,] desired me to present. It is to insert on page 25, se.ction 5, after line 293- , Fruit-plants, tropical and serui-tropical, for the purpose of propagation and cul- tivation." 

I see no objection to it, and if the Senate does not, I ask to have it adopted. It is merely to allow them to b e put on the free list. • The amendment was agreed to. · 

This an1endment, then, was to admit "fruit-plants, tropical and 

semi-tropical, for the purpose of propagation and cultivation;" the 

word "fruit" being a word of limitation, confining the plants to be 

admitted free to those that bore fruit, and to exclude the idea of 

allowing all kinds of tropical fruits, which are articles of luxury and 

show, to be admitted duty free; clearly confining the free clause to 

fruit-plants. It was intended merely, as shown by the origin of the 

amendment of the two Senators from Florida, to enable them to get new varieties of orange and lemon trees duty free, and certainly not 

to admit lemons and oranges duty free. The amendment was agreed 

to in the Senat-e, and the bill was next sent to the House of Representatives with our amendments. There I find the bill, as printed in 

the House, to represent the Senate an1endment to be this : 

Frtrlts, plants, tropical and semi-tropical, for the purpose of propagation or cui. 

tivation. 

Instead of "fruit plants," as pat!sed in the Senate-and I have 

taken the pains to hunt np the ori~inal amendment offered by the 

Senator from Vermont, and there it 1s plainly written "fruit plant.," 

with no comma after the word "fruit," and no "s," but simply "fruit 

plant"-it was printed in the HonBe "F1·uits, plants, tropical and 

semi-tropical, for the purpose of propagation and cultivation," and 

finally appears to have been adopted in that form. But to show that 

it was not intended to allow all tropical fruits to come in duty free, 

I may mention that in the san1e act there were specific duties levied 

upon vaJ:ious tropical fruits, and the old duty levied by the previous 

act was not changed. The act of ·1870 put a specific duty of 20 per 

cent. ou oranges and other fruits of that kind. Mr. Heyl, who is 

a very careful compiler of the law, when the act finally passed, 

treated the word "fruit" or "fruits" as a limitation of the word _"plant," and in Heyl's Digest of Duties the word "fruit" is there 

used precisely as it was used here, as a word of limitation, and not a noun substantive, extending to a great variety of articles not con- templated by any one. · 

I am very sorry that this trouble occurred. It occuned in conse- quence of punctuation, by putting a comma after the word "fruit," 

which separated the two words, "fruit" and "pl~ts "-and that was done by somebody, I do not know whom, but I think some one oug~t 

to inquire after it-and adding the letter "s," so as to make 1t 

"fruits;" then after "fruits" a comma appears; and then the clause names the other immaterial articles. This little slip of the pen, occur- ring somewhere in the c?urse of engrossi?g or .enro~ng, has led to 

great difficulty. I find m the law published rn Little & Brown's 

edition that the word "fruit" is there correctly printed, without the 

letter "s," and undoubtedly as it passed the House; so that it reads 

"fruit plants, tropical and semi-tropical, for the purpose of propagation and cultivation." The interposition of a comma there changes 

the meaning according to the literal reading ; but it does seem to me that an officer construing this law, and especially if he would take 

the trouble to look into the course of the history of the proposition, 

would plainly see that the word "fruit" was used as a word of limitation-not at! a word of purchase, as the lawyers say, but as a word of 

limitation-and not as a noun substantive containing a new item to be 

added to the free list. I have no doubt, on the face of the law as it now stands, that oranges, lemons, and all these different articles, a~e 

subject to :tO per cent. duty, and that that duty was not affected m the slightest degree by adding to the free list fruit-plants intended for 

propagation in Plorida. . This is the whole history there is in the debates of Congress on this 

matter. · Ai3 a good deal of remark has been made about this matter 

in the House and in the country, and some controversy has occurred as to where that letter "s" was inserted, I have felt it my duty to show 

to the Senate that so far as the action of the Senate is concerned the 

words are plain and simple and the meaning clear. 

Mr. CONKLING. I ask the Senator to allow me to call his attention to one thing, which may perhaps remove the .groun_d fo:r: suspicion of intentional wrong that there would otherwise be m this case. Mr. SHERMAN. I do not think there was any intentional wrong. 

Mr. CONKLING. I did not understand the Senator to imply that; 

but there has been a grea-t deal of comment on this matter. It has 

been a very unfortunate thing certainly; and I confess, from what I saw about it, it seemed to me at first that there was hardly room to 

doubt that some intentional impropriety had occurred somewhere. I 

have here the original amendment, not in the handwriting of the 

Senator from Vermont, but in another handwriting, and I wish to 

call the attention of the Senate to the fact that the amendment seems originally to have been "plant& tropical and semi-tropical," and there 

is no punctuation, no comma whatever, between any of these words. 

Afterward the word "fruit" was interlined, at! any Senator will see by lookinO' at it, and still it stood without punctuation anywhere; so that, omitting all punctuation, it reads "fruit plants tropi?al and 

semi-tropical." Had there been a hyphen between '' frrut" and 

"plants," so as to make it a compound word, it would have been clear. 

Had there been a comma after "plants," so that it would have read 

"fruit plants"-- .Mr. SUMNER. In what stage of the bill was that f 

Mr. CONKLING. That was the :first amendment here which the 

Senator from Ohio has been adverting to, and my purpose is merely 

to ask t.he attention of the Senate to the fact that I am glad to find room here to suppose that there may have been an honest mistake rather than an intentional perversion. 

The amendment stands in the bill before me without any punctuation, without a hyphen, without a comma anywhere; simply these 

words succeeding each other: "Fruit plants tropical or semi-tropical 

for the purpose of propagation.'' Had it been coiTectly written or copied, I take it it would have stood thus: "Fruit-plants," with a hyphen between, and then a comma; then followed by the definition 

"tropical or semi-tropical." The fact remains undoubtedly, to which ' 

the Senator has called attention, that an "s" was added here; and yet 

I an1 inclined to think that if Senators would put their eye upon this 

manuscript they would see even as to that that there may be a_n 

explanation without a fraud. In short, it will be observeu "plants" 1s 

in the plural, so that as it stands here it would read "fruit plants," 

and if the person who copied it assumed that "fruit" was a substantive word and "plants" a substantive, I can see how a copyist, in 

order to have it symmetrical and grammatical, may have supposed 

that as the plural was used in pne case the plural was intendecl to be 

UBed in the other. In other words, all I mean to do is to express my own satisfaction at finding that there is some opportunity to hope, if 

not to believe, that whoever made this engrossment fell into an error in place of perpetrating a fraud. It has led to very unfortunate 

results, and I am very glau the Senator from Ohio has told ns of it. :Mr. SHERMAN. The Senator will perceivethattheGlobe, in making up the rE\eord, has adopted the true construction undoubtedly. It 

reads, "Fruit plants," then a comma., "tropical and semi-tropical," 

&c., so that the printer has made no mistake. There it is punctuated properly. . Mr. CONKLING. That is quite right, e:s:cept that even the Globe 

omits the compound word; there is no dash, there is no hyphen, there 

is nothing to connect it; but it is ''fruit plants/' 

1\ir. MORRILL, of Vermont. I desire merely to say that the proof 

copy of this bill was sent, I think, to the Committee on Finance, and 

it wa-s there coiTected where-ver it needed correction, and, so far as the Senate copy was conce1ned, when printed it was correct, and of 
]664 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, 

eourse it was correct so far as the officers of the Senate are concerned, 

for the bill finally had to be enrolled by the officers of the House. 

Mr. CAMERON. I cannot agree exactly with the Senator_from New 

York that there is not some degree of suspicion connected with this 

matter. It has not been stated here, but I believe it is a fact, that in 

New York only were the duties paid under protest. In aU the other 

ports throu()'hout the country-and there are ports at which a greater 

amount of fruit is imported into the country than at New York-the 

duties were paid without a word, they understanding the law as the 

Senate underst.ood it very well; but in New York there was a protest and nothin_g was paid there, and the decision of the Secretary, as i understand. it., relieved them from the payment of all duties 

there. I remember the discussion on this subject in the Senate very 

well. There was some little conversation between the Senator from 

Massachusetts and myself on the subject of plants. It would be well 

for the Senate to look back at the debate at that time. Every one will remember it was only plants of which we were speaking. There was not a word said about fruits, but it was ornamental plants and 

flowers, and things of t~t sort. It 'Yas very well understood, ~d it 

excited so much attentiOn at that time that even the transcnbers mu t have understood it. Then there is the interposition of a comma at a place just to suit a :t>erson who wante~ ~o make a wr~mg interpretation of the law; which looks very suspicious to my mrnd. 

Mr. ANTHONY. Mr. President, this raises a question which I have 

for some time desired to bring to the attention of the Senate, and that 

is that the engrossed bills should be passed from one House to the 

other in print, and not in manuscript. It can be done as easily in print as in manuscript. It is so done in the British Parliament, and it is a very great security for authenticity, and against error; and if it shall 

occasionally compel a little delay in the transaction of our important 

business, there will be no harm in that. 

Mr. SUMNER. Mr. President, this is rather a serious business, for 

thus far it has cost the country, if I may jud~e from the newspapers, a million or two of dollars. Now, on the exhibition that the Senator 

from New York has made, it is easy t-o see how at least the error might 

have originated. I do not say that it did, but it is easy to see how it 

might have originated, especiaUy if one takes into con~ideration an old 

usage, if not rule, in the construction of statutes, which was to disregard punctuation. I remember years a.go bein~ astonished to hear a very able judge of the Supreme Court of the Urn ted States, in conver- sation with me here in Washington, state that he never regarded punctuation in the interpretation of a statute. I take it, however, that 

rule will hardly be accepted in its latitude, but still it serves to explain this error. But I should like to get something pmctical out of this incident, 

and I can make no suggestion better than to follow in the steps of 

myfriendfromRhodeisland, [Mr.ANTHONY,]who,indeed,anticipated me in what I was about to say. The Congress of the United States 

and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are the only two legislative 

bodies, I believe, now in the world that adhere to the old system of 

parchment in the last stage of a bill. We borrowed it from England; 

but the English have seen that it was not advisable to trust their 

statutes to a written roll, as they had done for generations; and now, 

at the last stage, and when the measure receives the assent of the 

Crown, it is always in print; and I believe I may say it U! so in every 

legislative body of our country except Massachusetts, where the old 

parchment roll has prevailed, borrowed from England, precisely as it 

has prevailed in Congress borrowed from England. It does not prevail in France. Everything there is on paper, and if not Wiitten it 

is printed; and I, myself, visited their archives, especially with a view 

to ascertain how their records were made. I found no parchment ; it was always paper. Then in England, as I have already said, very 

recently this whole subject was considered, and the British Parliament 

concluded, on the report of a very able committee, that the bills in 

their final stages, and when submitted to the Crown, should be in print. Now I think It would be well for Congress to follow in that channel. 

We followed it originally in a.O.opting parchment; I would follow it 

now in adopting print. 

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. 

Mr. BUCKINGHAM presented the petition of the members and 

congregation of the Williston church, of Portland, Maine, signed by 

the pastor, Rev. Burke F. Leavitt, praying for the appointment of a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic, its relations to pauperism, crime, the public health, and general welfare ; 

which was ordered to lie on the table. · He also presented the memorial of delegates from the Indian Territory, explaining the understanding of the Indians of their treaties of 

1866, and in that connection protesting agains the establishment of a United States territorial government in the Indian Territory without their consent; which was referred to the Committee on Indian 

Affairs, and ordered to be printed. Mr. SCOTT presented the petition of citizens of Alexandria, Huntingdon Cm.mty, Pennsylvania, deprecating the restoration of duties on tea and coffee, or a revival or increase of internal taxes,. and praying for the repeal of the second section of the act of J nne 6, 1872; 

which was referred to the Committee on Finance. 

He also presented the petition of Peter P. G. Hall, of Pennsylvania, 

late a. ·paymaster in the Army, asking that he may be refunded 

money which be was obliged to pay in consequence of embezzlement 

by a clerk; which was refened to ~he Committee on Military Afihlrs. 

Mr. ~C:OTT . I pr.esent a l?emor~al of bankers, manufacturers, and o~h r C:It.IZens of Philadelphia, sa y~ng that they view with alarm the 

propositions before Congre s for mcreasing the volume of United 

States ~otes, and ~tating that they believ~ most earnestly that a ~esump~on of spE?Cle payments, a~ the earliest practicable time, is llll:J?erative~y reqrured by the true mterests of the nation, and deprecatmg the ISSue of ~y more legal-tender notes, and praying that the 

greenbacks already Is ned out of the so-called reserve shall be withdrawn as speedily as po sible. I move the reference of this memorial 

to the Committee on Finance. 

The motion was agreed to. 

l\.fr. BOUTWELL presented the memorial of Emerson Stafford & 

Co., th~ memorial of the. Lawrence Manufacturing Comp~ny, and the 

memonal o.f James L. Little & Co.~ mercha~ts, of Boston, Massachusetts, relative to the .Alabama. claims; which were referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary. 

Mr. MERRIMON pre ented the petition of Arcadia ·w. Mastins and 

the m~morial.of L. J. Lab.ar~e, heir at .law of Lewis Leroy, prdying 

to be mdemnified for spoliations committed by the French prior to 

the year 1801; which were ordered to lie on the taLle. 

~u:. ~~INER presented t~e petition of William H. Rawlings a.nd 

other citizens of Gloucester City, New Jersey, praying for the appointment o~ a co~mission of iD:quiry .concerning the alcoholic liquor 

traffic, Its relations to paupensm, crrme, the public health and general welfare ; which was ordered to lie on the table. ' . Mr. SUMNER. I also present a petition from Matilda Hindman of 

Arkansas, agent of the Pennsylvania Women's Suffrage Association 

in which she protests at length against "a bill to aid in the executio~ of the laws in the Tenitory of Utah, and for other purposes"' which was read twice and ordered to be printed. The reasons adverse to 

that bill, particularly as it rega~ ds the suffrage of women are set 

forth at length. I move the reference of the petition to the Committee on the Judiciary. The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. SillfNER. I also offer a brief petition from the Massachusetts 

Medical. So~iety, d~y signed ?Y ~heir presi~1ent, George C. Shattuck, 

and therr VIce-president, BenJamrn E. Cottmg, and their corresponding secretary, Charles W. Swan, and their recording secretary F. W. 

Draper, attes.ted '?Y. their seal,~ ~hich they respectfully lay'before 

Congress theiT opnnon and conVIctiOn that the act of 1869 in respect 

to the Medical Corps of the Army ought to be repealed and such an improvement made in the rank of the Medical Corps as' shall assin'rilate their position to that of other staff officers, and secure to officers 

and soldiers the medical advice and attention of well-educated and 

skillful surgeons. 

Inclosed in this are resolutions of a similar purport from the Suffolk District Medical Society, and also from the Essex North Medical 

Society. I move their reference to the Committee on 1tlilitary Affairs. 

The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. LOGAN presented the petition of the First Presbyterian church 

o.f Pestone, Illinois, signed by the pastor, Rev. W. F. Wood, and by 

the elders and other officers, praying for the appointment of a com- mission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic, its relations 

to pauperism, crime; the public health, and general welfare; which was ordered to lie on the table. 

He also presented the petition of J. H. Tankersly, of Mount Vernon 

Jefferson Conno/, ~ois, asking ~or the passage of a special act of 

Congress allowmg hrm compensation for loss of property during the 

war; which was referred to the Committee on Claims. 

Mr. FENTON presented the petition of William H. Little and other 

citizens of Waldoborough, in the State of Maine, praying for the appointment of a commission of inqrury concemm()'the alcoholicliquor 

traffic, its relations to pauperism, crime, the publlc health, and general welfare; which was ordered to lie on the table. ' 

Mr. WRIGHT. I present a concurrent resolution of the General 

Assembly of the State of Iowa, instructing their Senators, and re- questing their Representatives, to use their effortstosecurethe enactment of a law compelling all railway companies to receive and transmit to any points on their several lines all shipments without the same being compelled to pass through and pay tribute to the ware- house boards of Chicago. I was about to move that this resolution 

be referred to the Commi+.tee on Railwa,ys, but it is suggested to me that it should go to the Committee on Transportation Routes to the 

Sea-board; .and I therefore move its reference to that committee. 

The motion was agreed to. 

Mr .. COOPER presented the petition of citizens of Tennessee, praying an amendment to the Army appropriation bill relative to c.ertain 

claims; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriatioua. 

Mr. MORRILL, of 1\faine, presented the petition of members and 

congregation of the Second Paris4 church of Portland, Maine, signed 

by the pastor, Rev. J. J. Carruthers, praying for the appointment of a commission of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic its 

relations to panpe1ism, crime, the public health, and general welf:U.e; 

which was ordered to lie on the table. 

Mr. HAl\!LIN presented the petition of the members and congregation ?f the Methodist ~piscopal church of. Pi?e stre~t, P~rtland, Maine, 

praymg for the appomtment of a commission of mqrury concerning 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1665 

the alcoholic liquor traffic, its relatio~ to pauperism, crime1 the public health, and general welf:1re; whlCh was ordered to lie on the 

table. 

:Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN presented the petition of L. H. Street and 

other citizens of Gloucester City, New Jersey, prayin~ for the appointment of a commission of inquiry concerning the alconolic liquor traffic its relations to pauperism, crime, the public health, and · general 

w~lfare; which was oruered to lie on the table. 

.Mr. CONKLING presented the petition of the South Second. Street 

Methodist Episcopal church, Brooklyn, o~ the New York East Conference, signed by th~ pastor, Rev. John ~· ~oche, .and ~ll the o:ffic~rs, 

praying for the appomtment .of a con;muss1on of mq1?l'Y co~cernmg 

the alcoholic liquor traffic, 1ts relations to paupen.sm, crrme, the 

public health, and general welfare ; which was ordered to lie on the 

table. 

Mr. JOHNSTON presented the petition of 1\fatilcla Barnett and her 

sisters asking compensation for their property seizeu by the United 

States' troops during the late war; which was referred to the Committee on Claims. 

Mr. HARVEY yresented resolutions of the Legisla;ture of. Kans~s, 

in favor of the enactment of a illw to compel the Umon Pamfic Railroad Company to afford. the same facilitie.s for the transporta~on of 

freight and passengers m regar~ to rate,, tul?_e,,and. transp.o~ati?n, as is contemplated by law, and Without discrumnation or lDJUStiCe to 

the Kansas Pacific Railroad; which were referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary. · Mr. H.A.}ULTON. of, Maryland, presented the petition of Joseph 

O'Neal, Elie Wade, and other citizens of Wa-shingt?n County,, Maryland, praying that no law may be passed transferrrng the cla1ms for 

quarterma-ster stores to the claims commission; which was referred 

to the Committee on Claims; 

Mr. MITCHELL. I presented a memorial yesterday in relation to 

the Portland, Dalles andSaltLakeRailroad, which was ina-dvertently 

referred to the Committee on Public Lands, when it should have been 

referred to-the Committee on Railroads. I move that the Cominittee on Public Lands be discharged from its further consideration, and 

that it be referred to the Committee on Railroads. 

The motion was agreed to. 

1\lr. SHERMAN. I presented the other day the petition of Mrs. 

Susan Vincent, which I find was referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. I intended to have it referred-to the Committee on Claims. I a-sk that the correction be made. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. That change of reference will be 

made, if there be no objection. 

PAPERS WITHDRAWN AND REFERRED. 

On motion of Mr. MERRL\10N, it "\'\ras 

Ord11red, That the petition and papers of Deliah Kelly be taken from the files 

and referred to the Committee on Military .A.ft'airs. 

On·motion of 1\Ir. WEST, it wus 

Ordered, That the petition and pa.pe.rs of Henry A. Green be taken from the files 

ancl referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. · 

ltEPORTS OF CO'MMITTEES. 

:Mr. OGLESBY, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom wa; 

referred the petition of Benjrunin C. Skinner, praying for a pension, 

submitted n.report, accompanied by a bill (S. No. 518) granting a pensian to Benjamin C. Skinner. 

The bill was read and passed to a second reading, and the report wns ordered to be printed. · Mr. MITCHELL, from the Committee on Claims, to whom were referred the petition and papers of J. :Milton Best, submitted a report, 

accompanied by a bill (S. No. 519) for the relief of J. :Milton Best. 

The bill was read n.rid passed to a second reading, and the report was ordered to be printed. . Mr. PRATT, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred 

the bill (H. R. No. 1402) grantiug a pension to John A. Fisher, reported 

it without amendment, and submitted. a report; which was ordered 

to be printed. 

:Mr . .ANTHONY, from the Committee on Nava-l Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 170) for the relief of certain officers of the 

Navy who were ch·opped. fmloughed, or retired, under the n.ct of February 28, 1855, reported it without amendment. 

Mr . .ANTHONY. In tbi.s case the report made at the las11 session 

has been adopted by the committee, so t-hat no WTitten report is now submitted, and there is no occasion for reprinting the report of la-st 

year. 

Mr. CRAGIN, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 141) for the relief of certain .contractors for 

the construction of vessels of war and steam machinery, reported it 

wit:b. an amendment, and submitted a report; which was ordered to be 

printed. 

1\Ir. CLAYTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom 

was referred the bill (S. No. 249) authorizing and direct.ing the Secretary of War to give to George A. Armes, late captain Tenth United 

States Cavalry, an honorable discharge, to date from the 7th day of 

June, li::i'70, reported it without. amendment, and submitted a ·report; which was ordered to be printed. 

1:r. BUCKINGHAM, from the Committee on Indian .Affairs, to 

whom was referred the bill (H. R. No.l930), to secure to the Episcopal 

105 

Board of 1\fissions the land in the White Earth Indian reservation, in 

1\Iimlesota, on which are situated their church and other buililingti, 

reported it without amendment. 

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

(S. No. 380) to secure to the Episcopal Board of Missions the land in 

the White Earth Indian reservation, in Minnesota, asked to be discharged from its further consideration; which was agreed to, and the 

bill was postponed indefinitely . 

REPORT OF Sl\IITHSONIA.l.~ INSTITUTION. 

~Ir. ANTHO:t\TY. The Committee on Printing, to whom was re- ferred a resolution· to print extra copies of the report of the Smithso:c._ian Institution, have directed me to report it back with amendment$, and to ask for its present consideration. 

The Senate proceeded to consider the following resolution, submitted by !1r. HAlm.IN, on the 13th instant: 

Resolved, (the House of Representatives concttrrin.g,) That twelve thousaml O\~ hundred additional copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution for the 3·ear 

1873 be printed; twenty-fiv-e hundrecl of which shall be for the use of the Senate, 

fi,e thousand for the use of the House, aml five thous..'lnd for the use of tho Institution : Provided, That the a~g:r·egate number of pages of said report shall not exceed 

four huniliecl and fifty, ru1d mat there shall be no illustrations except those furnished 

by the Smithsonir.u Institution. 

·The Committee on Printing proposed to amend the resolution, so as 

to make it read: 

llesolved1 (the House of P.epresentatives concttrring,) That seven thousand five hun· 

dreu additional copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution for tho year 1873 

be printed, five hundred of which shall be for the use of the Senate, one thousand 

for the use of the House, and six thousand for the use of the Institution. 

l1r. ANTHONY. The customary pnulication of this document has b~en twelve thousand copies; five thousand for the nse of the Smithsonian Institution, twenty-five hundred. for the nse of the Senate, and 

five thousand for the nse of the Honse of Representatives. We now have reported to increase the number to the Institution from five thou8a.nd to six thousand, to reduce the number for the Senate from twentyfive h1mdred to five hundred, and to reduce the number for the House 

from five thousand to one thousand. If the immber for Congress is 

reduced so mnch, the Institution will require a little more-so the 

Regents think. This, I believe, is the first resolution that the Committee on Printing have reported at this session for printing any additional documents. The number is exceedirigly small, and it is the 

intention of those who are best acquainted with the Institution, espe~ 

cially of those who have been charged on the part of Congress with participation in its management, that there should be some extrr. copies, · and in deference to them we have made the recommendation. 

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I should like to inquire of the Senat,or 

from Rhode Island whether he is aware of the fact th~t Congress, in 

the early part of the session, passed a resolution suspending the publication of documents, and whether this is in harmony with the expression of Congress f 

Mr. ANTHONY. That has not passed the House. 

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. It passed the Senate. 

Mr. ANTHONY. If the Senator a-sks my judgQlent, I think tlris is 

not in confonnity with that. _ 

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I should think that nntil the Senate 

reconsider that proposition we ought to adhere to it . . Yester9,ay some proposition came from the Committee on Printing of a similar kind. 

Mr. ANTHONY. What onef 

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Recommending the publication of some document. 

1\Ir. ANTHONY. That was for the use of the proper· Department, 

not for the use of Congress. It was only five hundred copi~s of a medical report that was thought to be valuable for scientific purposes, 

and they are to be distributed entirely by the Department. 

:Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I think we ought not to go into retail 

in printing when in wholesale we have resolved not to print; aml I 

do think it is wise to adhere to the resolution that we passed, at least 

until some full understanding as to the publication and distribution 

docuof ments is had. . · 

Mr. ANTHONY. I do not think we are bound by a proposition that 

has only passed one House of Congress; but I am not a lawyer, and 

I will leave that to the Senat-or from Maine. 

lllr. :MORRILL, of Maine. I think we should have a little respect 

for our own a-ction, whether the House chooses to concur or not. 

Mr. HAMLIN. I wish to state a fact. I may say in behalf of the 

Smithsonian Institution that I think this is entirely distinct from the 

documents which we publish sent to u~ f-rom the Depa.rtmcnts, or which emanate from our committees. This is purely a scientific work. 

It is the annual report of the Smithsonian Institution, made in pur~ 

suance of law to this body. To myself it may seem of very much 

less value than to many others; but I think no man can ever examine a .single report of that Institution without being impressed with its 

great value. These reports a.re for the general reader perhaps of little use, being somewhat technical and scientific; but yet they are of 

immense value to the world, and they are -q-ansmitted all over the 

world, ancl we receive back in exchange the scientific reports of different societies and.different governments. I think this stands entirely 

distinct from the documents ordinarily printed by Congress; and I 

do not think the law or resolution to which my colleague refer.s ought 

to apply to this report, if it does technically; and if it does, thio has 

got to pass the o1·deal of the House, and it must be by a concurrent 
1666 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, 

. vote, which will express their opinion that this stands distinct from 

other matters, as well as our own. I h.ope the resolution will be con- curred in . . Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Only one word. Early in this session we determined to arrest the publication of public documents, and I 

think properly. I am not going to say whether it is true or not, for on that I have my own opinions, and they may not be in harmony 

with the public sense on that subject; but one thing is clear, that from one consideration or another, withi-n the last few years, a very general 

impression or sentiment or conviction ha.s come to obtain in the public mind that the publication of documents by t~e Congress of the 

United States had become a very great abuse. It took a variety of 

forms. It was an abuse under the franking privilege, which over- loaded the mails. It wa.s an expense in many ways, and it was a corruption in itself. That is a deep seated and thorough conviction 

:i.n the public mind, right or wrong, and I think the Senate of the 

United States wa.s wi e when at tho beginning of this session it said 

it would pause in the publication and distribution of documents, for 

the present at lea.st, until some wise determination could be come at. 

Now, it may be that the views of my colleague render this an ex- ceptional case; and it ia a proper thing, possibly, to publish the reports 

of the Smithsonian Instittition, being of. a scientific character, so far as relates to itself; but this resolution provides for their publication 

for distribution, and certainly it ought not to apply to that. We do 

not want these reports for distribution. We have no means of distributing them. At any rate, to that extent I su'Qmit to my colleague 

that this is certainly within the inhibition of the resolution of the 

Senate. If there is no special o bjsction, therefore, I should like to 

have this resolution lie over until to-morrow. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I wish to say a word on this subject. 

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I withdraw the motion to allow the Senator to do so. Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I have only a word to say. I shall vote 

for the resolution to print this report; and I will vote for any resolu--

tion to print the proceedings of Congress. I think this idea of i olating the Congress of the United States from the people is a very foolish one. As to economy, I think it is an illustration of that wise saying 

that ''there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 

poverty." The people of my State write to me every day for copies of 

the Agricultural Report, which contains most valun,ble information 

to the farmers of the country, and they cannot. be obtained. The 

books are ready to be printed, but their printing is stopped; and we- are keeping the proceedings of Congress.here as a close corporation 

from the people. I introduced a bill providing that these public documents should be circulated ; the postage in no event to be more than 

twenty-five cents a volume, and not requiring prepayment, and au- thorizing the documents to be sold if they were not called for within 

ten days. That bill has not been reported from the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads. 

Mr .. RAMSEY. I will say to the Senator that the committee have 

it under consideration. · Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I hope Congress will adopt some measure by which that which transpires here may be circulated and disseminated among the pe?ple. At a large expen e we print every day a record of the proceedings of Congress. What good does it do¥ The 

people do not get it. No provision is made for its circulation. 

Now, as to the ide:1 that the people are opposed to this, I was very 

much struck by a remark which was made-I do not know but that 

it was in one of the articles which were read :here yesterday-that a million of people mi~ht petition Congress, but we must remember there are thirty-nine millions that are not heard from. I believe the people 

want inforiOQtion as to what transpires here, and it is their right to 

have it, and it is our duty to give them the opportunity to know what 

wedo. · l\1r. ANTHONY.- I believe when this report was pre ented the usual 

number was ordered to be printed. If not, I will make that motion. 

That number ought to be printed at any rate. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempm:e. It was so ordered. The Chair understands objection to be made to the further consideration of the resolution. 

1\Ir. 1\IORRILL, of 1\bine. Yes, sir. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempor-e. The resolution will lie over. 

IMPORTATION OF FRUIT-PLA!<.J'S. 

Mr. :MORRILL, of Vermont. I desire to say a wor.d in reO'ard to 

the matter which wa.s brought to our notice this morning by th~ Senator from Ohio. I find on I'eference to the enrolled bill that the mistake ·in puttu~~ .a comma after "fruit," was made in the Senate. I 

wish to state tllis in justice to all parties. There is a comma placed 

after" frn.it" in the engrossed copy of the Senate amendment. 

ir. CONKLING. Is it in the singular or plural t 

Mr. MORRILL, of Vel'I!lont. _ Singular, and I have no question that 

it is an honest comma. It is made with the same pen and ink that all 

the other comma.s appear to have been made with, anil. it was an honest mist:1ke. • Mr. WEST. As this subject has been opened a.gain, it enables me to 

say to the Senate that I dissent from the proposition that this error whether intentional or unintentional, has cost tlle country$2 000 ooo: 

1\fr. SHERMAN. I said half a million. ' ' 

Mr. WEST. It has not cost the country ~ cent. I understood the 

Senator from Massachusetts [:1\Ir. Su:t\ll\'ER] to say that it had cost tlle 

country about two millions. 

Mr. SUMNER. By "the country" I meant the revenue. . 1\lr. WEST. The fact is, 1\lr. President., that the Treasury of tlie 

United States has simply collected . 2,000,000 le s from the people, and 

the people have saved 2,000,000 by the error. lr.l\fORRIL.L, of Vermont. Half a million. 

:Mr. WEST. Well, whatever the amount is; it has not cost the 

country a cent. 

PERSONAL EXPLANATION. 

1\1!. LOGAN. Yester~ay mo~g a petition was presentecl by tlle 

charrman of the CoiDIDlttee on Finance from the city of Chicao-o in 

reference to the contraction of the United States leo-al-tender ~otes. In an wer to that I said that I had noticed in tl;le papers some of the names that were attached to that petition, and they were persons 

who ha{]. closed their banks and p~id off their deposit{)rs by paper 

that they held. I stated the fact that I had noticed the names in 

different newspapers of bankers in Chicago who were making this 

request, and supposing the petition contained the names of tho e men- t~oned in the newspapers, ! made ~he remark. Desiring not to do injus- .tiCe to any one, I went this mo:rnmg to the room of the Committ-ee on Finance and examined the petition carefully. I find that the names of the bankers that I had noticed published in the newspapers and 

to which I had r~ference, :1r~ left of!' the pe~ition, or at ~east th~y :1re 

not attached to I~. They either did not s1gn t~e petition, or they were represented ill the newspapers as h:1vmg signed it when they ~ad not done so. I make this statement f9r the purpose of correctmg the statement I made, so that no injustice may be done to any one. On examining the petition I find the signers to be, as the presumption is, respect:1ble ~entlemen, and gentlemen that I would not ma~e any such remarks ill regard to. The names th:1t I referred to are not there at all. 

BILLS INTRODUCED. 

~r. CHANDLER asked, and by unanimous consent obtained leave 

to introduce a bill (S.No. 520) authorizing the Second National' Bank 

?f L.ansing, Michigan, to change i~s name; which was read twice by 

1ts title, and referFed to the Committee on Finance. 

Mr. CHANDLER. I ask unanimous consent to introduce and put on its passage now a joint resolution releasin a the members of tho 

Fitz John Porter court-martial from the oblig~tion of their oaths to 

not disclose the vote or opinion of any particular member of smd 

court. ~ the first place I will ask that it be read for information. 

The Chief Clerk read the proposed joint resolution. 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tempm·e. Is there objection to the introduction of the joint resolution¥ 

Mr. FERHY, of Connecticut. I object. 

:Mr. CHANDLER. Then I give notice that I will present it and 

call it up to-monow. -

1\Ir. GOLDTHWAITE asked, and by unanimous con ent obtained 

leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 521) for the relief of the heirs of 

Henry Fulenweider, deceased; which was read twice by its title and 

referred to the Committee on Claims. ' 

•Mr. WINDO:~f (by request) asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 522) for the relief of Nathaniel r· :S:arben, of Whitefield County, ~eorgia; which was read twice by Its title, and refcned to the CoiDIDlttee on Claims. 

. Mr. JOHNSTON asked, anclbyunanimous consent obtained, leave tO 

illtroduce a bill (S. No. 523) to remove the disabilities of Thomas 1\I. 

Jones, of V~.rginia; :which was read twice by ~ts title, and, with the accompany:m[~t1tion, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Mr. SPRAGU.I!J asked, and by unanimous consent obtained leave to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 524) to protect timber l:1nds of the Unit~d States 

Goverlll:llent I'e ervations and lands purchased for the United States· 

which wa.s rea:d twice by its title. ' 

1\Ir. SPRAGUE. I de ire to state that this bill emanates from the 

district attorney at Louisville, Kentucky, was received by the United 

States Attorney-General, and forwarded to me. I move that it be 

referred to the Committee on Public Lands and printed. The motion was agreed to. 

1\fr. SCOTT askep_, and by unanim'tms consent obtained leave t{) 

introduce a bill(~. No. 525) for the relief of Peter P. G. H~ll, a paymaster q,f the Umted States Army; which was read twice by its title 

and referred to the Committee on Military Affair~. · ' 

Mr. CONKLING asked, and by unanimous consent obtaineclleave 

to introduce a bill (S. No. 526) to amend the act entitled "ln. act 

to amend an act approved May 31, 1870, entitled 'An a.ot to enforce 

the rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several 

States of the Union, and for other purpose ,"' approved February 28, 

~871, and the .acts 3:mend~tory thereof or snpylementary thereto, and ~e :1ct of whteh rud act IS amendatory; which was read twice by it~:~ 

title, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

ADJOURNMENT TO 1\IOJ\'D.A. Y. 

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I move that when the Sen~te adjourns to-clay it be to meet on Monday next. _ Mr. SHERMAN. I hope the Senator will withhold that motion 

until later .in the .day. I think the pending bill ought to be out of the 

way. 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD . . 1667 / 

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. We can get tha.t out of the way 

beyond all question. · . . Mr. SHERMAN. I shall have to enter a motion to reconsider if this 

is agreed to now. • · The PRESIDENT p1·o tempm·e. Does the Senn.tor from Maryland 

withdraw his motion f . ·Mr. HAMILTON of Ma.ryland. No, sir. 

The PRESIDENT pro ternpore. The Senator from Ma.ryland moves that when the Senate adjourns to-day it be to meet on Monday next. 

The motion was agreed to. 

ENROLLING OF BILLS. 

Mr. SUMNER. I offer the following resolution for adoption : 

Resolved, That the 'Committee on Enrolled Bills be instructed to consider the 

expediency of superseding the present system of enrolling bills 1Jy writing on parchment, and providing that the same when submitted to the President shall be printed 

and so preserved in the Department of State. 

Mr. SARGENT. I think it should be considered by the committee 

that as, under our system of limited sessions, at a given moment on the 

4th of March of every alternate year Congress abruptly terminates, a large amount of the business perfected by Congress durin~ the last 

three or four days of a session under this resolution would be lost. 

Sometimes the most important appropriation bills are uot pa.ssed until 

the very last night of the session. '!'here is scarcely an opp·ortunity 

to enable them to be engrossed and enrolled under the present system. 

And if bills like those and the many hundreds of bills which are con- sidered in the last hours of the session under our syste"{.Il. are required 

to go to the printing office to be printed and returned, with the delays 

which that will cause, very much of the legislation which we perfect 

will be lost. · I do not say that this is an absolute objection, but the committee in considering this resolution must provide that there shall be no bill passed by Congress within two days of the close of the session, or within such reasonable time as will allow the mass of bills to be 

printed. If this proposition becomes a law, as it must in order to be 

binding, because a mere 1·esolution of the Senate will not reach the 

matter, or a mere resolution of the HonseMr. SUMNER. A joint rule of the 'two Houses probably will. . Mr. SARGENT. If it becomes a law or a joint rule of the two 

Houses, it cannot be set aside for the convenience or by the consent 

of a single body; and the result will be, unless it goes farther and 

provides for limiting legislation within two days of the close of· the 

session, it will become so operative that much of pur legislation will 

be lost. I do not say that I am opposed to this method of enrolling 

bills; but I do say that coupled with it there must be some provision 

by which legislation shall cease for the last two days of the session. 

Mr. SUMNER. The objection of my frierid goes simply to the last 

two or three days of the session. It does not go against the propositio.n itself. I think that a committee taking this matter in charge 

would very easily arrange to meet the difficulty mentioned by the 

Senator. . Mr. SARGENT. I only wished to call their attention to that dif- ~~ . . 

Mr. SUMNER. I cannot think that the difficulty which the Senator has stated so strongly can be a source of any real trouble. I 

believe it can be ~t. How is it met in other legislative bodies' 

How is it met in our State Legislatures Y How is it met in the British 

Parliament, which, on the last day of the session, is crowded vrecisely a.s we are f There everything is printed, or if it is not printed, there 

is some provision for sue~ an incident; but I feel sure that everythtrig 

is printed, and I do not doubt that it can be with us. But whether 

it can be on the last day of the session, or the last two days of the 

,.session, let the committee consider. As my friend from Missouri [Mr. 

SCiiuRZ] suggests we might have a small printing establishment 

here at the Capitoi expressly for service during the la t night of the 

session. It would not cost so much as we now pay for parchment and 

em·olling clerks. _ Mr. ANTHONY. It seems to me the difficulty which my friend 

from California suggests migftt be obviated by applying to this rulewhich will. be ajoint rule I s9-ppose, not a l:twof Congress-the same provision that we have with regard to the sixteenth and seventeenth 

joint rules, that a motion to suspend the.r;n shall always be in order, 

and be immedia.tely considered and decided without debate. But it 

would be a very great advantage if, after all the business of the 

Congress wa.s completed, we were obliged to remain here two days 

without liberty to init.iate any new business, but only to perfect that 

which had been transacted, and to prevent such errors a.s have been 

exposed to-day. 1\fr. SARGENT. That I believe to be the practical reform to be 

brought about; and if that could be coupled with this, I believe it 

would be a grea.t advantage. 

Mr. ANTHONY. This resolution, I understand, is only one of 

inquiry. . • . 

Mr. SUMNER. One of inquiry. I hope, however,.it will end in 

something. · Mr. STOCKTON. One momentMr. SHERMAN. If this is going to give rise to debate I must cn.ll 

for the regular order. 

1\fr. STOCKTON. I do not desire to consume time. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Does the Senator oppose the resolution Y 

Mr. STOCKTON. No; I am not going _to oppose it. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Verywell. · l\lr. STOCKTON. I do not rise to oppose the resolution, because it 

is simply a resolution of inquiry and is.very proper; but I ri e to make a suggestion. The Senator from Massachusetts, speaking of the course in the Sta.te Legislatures, I think made a mistake in reference at least· to some. The bills are printed, as they are printed here, in the Legislatures, but in some States at least the bills passed, when enrolled, are enrolled in manuscript, and are signed by the governors of the States 

in manuscript, and the evidence of those laws is an exemplified copy -taken from the manuscript which is filed in the office of the secretary 

of state. · That I know to be true in reference to some States. The difficulty which occurred to my mind, and which I simply rose to suggest, that the committee might consider it with the other suggestions which have been made is that bills are amended just before 

they pass; and, perhaps, in the last moments, a bill which is very 

imperfect, which could not po sibly receive the assent of the Senate, 

by an amendment p~t in, is changed and passed. . Before the Senate 

adjourns there is not time to have that amendment printed. It may 

be agreed to· at the la t moment. Therefore, the committee sliould 

consider how arriendments in such cases are to be printed. Bills before 

State Legislatures are often put through in an amended form, so thu.u 

the engrossing clerk can hardly make out from the alterations and 

the amendinents made what it is that he is to engross; and then they 

go to the committee on engrossed bills, and are reported as correctly 

engrossed before the governor· signs them. Therefore, it becomes 

absolutely necessary that legislation should stop and that time should 

elapse in order that the amendments may be properly enrolled, and 

if printed the printer should have time to do it. I simplyro e to make 

this suggestion to the committee in considering the proposition, which 

is right in itself, that they may see if they cannot avoid this difficulty. 

The PRESIDENT JYI'O tempm·e. The question is on the resolution. 

The resolution w~s agreed to. -

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. 

A message from the House of Representn.tives, by 1\fr. McPHERSON, 

its Clerk, announced that the House had passed the following bills, 

in which the concurrence of the Senate was requested: 

A bill (H. R. No. 780) requiring thE> United States marshals and 

clerks of the United States circuit ::tnd district courts who have re- ceived fees and emoluments in excess of their legal compensation 

to de})osit. the same with the TI·easurer of the United States; 

A bill (H. R. No. 2084) to .provide for the appointment of clerks for 

the circuit and district courts of the United States held at New Albany and Evansville, in the district of Indiana ; n.nd 

A bill (H. R. No. 1273) to regulate proceedings in mandanitts. The message also announced that the House had passed the bill (S. No. 493) to establish certain post-routes in th~ State of .Arkansas . . 

· ENROLLED BILLS SIG:NED. 

The message further announced that the Speaker of the House 

had signed the following enrolled bills; and they were thereupon 

signed by the Pre ident pro tempore : A bill (S. No. 438) to withhold from sale the site of the old Nyatt 

Point light-house; 

A bill (S. No. 269) to change the titles of certain naval officers, ancl 

for other purposes; ancl 

A bill (H. R. No. 1906) to dredge and protect the navigable channel 

at the month of Buffalo River against the sand-bar formed by the 

gale of December, 1873. 

ILLICIT DISTILLERIES SUPPRESSED. 

Mr. FLANAGAN submitted the following resolution; which was considered by una.nimons consent, and a.greed to: 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to inform the Senate 

the number of illicit distilleries that have been snppres ed· by the officers of the 

Government in the last six months, and the daily capacity for production, with the 

locality of the same. · · 

N~TIO~AL-BANK CffiCULATIO~. 

The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the bill (S. No. 432) to amend the act entitled "An act to pro- - vide for the redemption of the 3 per cent. temporary-loan certificates, 

and for an increase of national-bank notes," the pending question 

being on the motion of Mr. ll.lERRIMON to reconsider the vote by 

which the Senate yesterday adopted the amendment of Mr. COOPER 

to the instructions proposed by Mr. l\IERRil\10~ as an amendment ·to 

the motion of Mr. BucrrnmHAM to recommit the bill to the Committee on Finance. · Mr. BUCKINGHAl\I. Was not the proposition of the Senator from 

Tennessee a substitute for the amendment of the Senator from North 

Carolina f I thought it was. The PRESIDENT p1'0 tempore. It was. a substitute, the Chair understood. Mr. ANTHONY. I wish to make a suggestion that possibly may lead 

to the termination of this debate. "\Ve have had several votes on the 

question of instructions and they have all been voted down but one, 

and that is ~~ain pending on a motion to reconsider. Is it not probable, after au the debate w have had, that the Senate will refuse to 

give any instructions whatever, so that we shall go on voting down one character of instructions after another' · Is it not better first-to 

try the question whether there sha.ll be any instructions, and if that 
1668 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20,-

shall be decided in the affirmative, then we can go on as to the char- acter of the instruction . I confess that for my own part I would 

prefer to see the bill recommitted \Vitbout instructions. This debate 

has developed a great variety of opinions upon the most important 

points, and the Senate is so equally divided that iastructions would 

have very little value, becausethemajority that may vote any special 

in ti·uctions would doubtless be divided somewhat as to the details 

of the bill which the committee might bring in in accordance there- with. I do not wish to see a bill upon this subject pass by a majority 

of two or three in this body. I do not wish to see a bill passed that 

shall not meet the pretty general sense of the Senate. Holding, as I 

do, very decidedly to the opiniQ.Us ·that I have expressed, I cannot lle 

positive when men of such ability and such information as those who are upon the other side differ with me; and perh:ws I would not 

adhere to them at all were they not enforced with equal ability and 

equal information by those who do ag'i'ee with me. But I hope that 

the Commi~e on Fina.nce may be able to draw up a bill that will 

meet, if not the gen~ral a sent, at least the opinion of the great body 

of the Senate that it is aa good a bill as can be adopted; ancl in order 

to vote for such a llill I would go a great way, I would be willing to 

give up a great deal. I should not want to have a bill pa sed here on this subject that went entirely against the views of my friend 

from Indiana, who has illustrated this subject with so much ability 

and with so much information, but I should like to have a bill on which the Senator from Indiana and the Senator from Ohio would 

sub tantially agree, and also the Senator from Vermont, as about the 

best bill that we could get through the Senate for the benefit. of the 

country. 

Now, let us in the first place see if we mean to have any instructions at all, and if that is so voted we can decide as to the character · of the instructions. If, therefore, the Senator from Nort.h Ca.rolina, 

will withdraw the motion now pending, and allow the vote to be 

taken upon recommitting the bill without instl'Uctions, we shall be 

able to decide whether there is any use in carrying on this debate 

further. · :Mr. FERRY, of Michigan. I wish to suggest, in connection with 

that, to the Senator from Rhode Island that the Senn.te has not ex- pressed itself by vote upon the question of increa e; and that is 

simply what is proposed to the Senate by the original motion of 

the Senator from North Carolina. If the suggestion of the Senat.or from Rhode Island should be adopted by the Senator from Tenne ee, an~ should extend to a test of the question whetheT there shall be an increase upon the proposition submitted by the Senator from North 

Carolina, then when the Senate shall have expressed itself upon that 

question it would seem fair to all the interests represented here, as revealed by the expressions of Senators, to submit the general proposition that the committee should not be instructed; but until the 

Senate has expressed i~elf on the simple question of the increase of 

the currency, it would seem hardly fair, to a moiety at least, if not a majority, of the Senate who appear to be in favor of some increase, 

to get rid.of all instructions. In illustration of that, I would tate that 1 have heard from different Senators that they voted against 

free banking lest proper restrictions might not be put on, and those same Senators are in favor of an increase of the cunency. Now, I 

ask the Senator from Rhode Island and the Senator from Tenne see to allow the Senate to take a vote on the propo~ition of the Senator 

from North Carolina, and then we shall have all the phase of the 

proposition presented to the jn<'4-,oment of the Senate, so that the com- mittee, if the matter is sent back to them without instructions, will 

at least have received the judgment of the Senate upon all these 

features. 

}.lx. MORTON. I beg leave to suggest to my friend from Rhode 

Island that as the matter stands now the committee is instructed.. 

There is,-howcver: a motion pending tO-reconsider. 1\Ir . .ANTHONY. The Senator is correct; and in accordance with 

the suggestion I made that vote should be reconsidered. I desire the 

bill to be seut to the committee without any instructions whatever. 

Mr. MORTON. The fu'St thino- will be the reconsideration. . }.fr. BOREM.A.N. The last vote taken yester<lay evening, as I nndm·-

stand, was upon the proposition of the Senator from Te1messee [~Ir 

CooPER] to instruct the Committee on Finance to report a bill providing for the convertibility of nited States Treasury notes into 

gold coin or 5 per cent. bonds of t he United State , an<l also for free 

ba.nking under the provisions of the national-bank act. That is a proposition to incorporate into one bill free banking and the convertibility of United States notes without their distribution; simply the . proposition which has been· heretofore reported by the Committee on Finance, as I understand. It seems to me that it is hardly worth 

while to go through the form of instructing that committee to report a bill which they have aJ.ready reported for our action. We might as well take up that bill and pa-ss it. 

But, sir, this proposition, I ·apprehend, was offered for the purpose 

of defeating the other one which lies behincl it; that is, the increase 

of banking circulation; and the friends of that increa-se ought now to see that if this motion to recon ider does not prevail, there is the 

end, as settled by the vote of tbe Senate, of any increase of ciicula- tion. It would be regarded as decisive after the vote that was taken 

here ye terday. My opinion is that the people of this country and the business interests of this cmmtry demand that there shall be some increa e in the 

circnlating medium of the country. It is believed to be neces ary for 

the bu inc of. the cotmtry and for its fair transaction, and it seems to me that it is reasonable. Some time since, in 1870 I believe, we increased the banking circtuation ,..4,000,000. It has now been nearly 

four years ince that was authorized, an<l we have een no eli astTous 

o1I'ects fi·om it. It has been taken up gradually, and is not entirely 

exbau ted yet, as I believe. The country has not been damaged by 

it ; on the contTary, I think prosperity a.ttended the business of the 

cotmtry until the recent panic, which I presume no one attributes 

to the law passed in l K?O. While it is an increase of banking circulation, yet it does not 

increa e that thing which is to be used in the redemption of the banking circulation. We do not, by t.he proposition of the Senator from 

North Carolina, [Mr. :MERRIMON]..increase that which is to redeem 

the banking circulation. We m01·ely afford t he people of this co1mh·y 

extended facilities for the transaction of their business. The greenhack circulation-the United States notes-1·emains at what it is at 

present ; it is not inflated. The means of ;redemption remains as it is. Free banking has been in existence in many States of this Union for 

years past, and according to the views of some gentlemen here who are opposing all sorts of inflation no damage has resulted to tile '8 

State by having a system of free banking, where everybody coul<l 

bank who complied with the rules and regulations of their laws. 

Now, 1\Ir. President, it seems to me that the friends of an incrca ·e of currency ought to regard this as a test vote. The question yesterday, I apprehend, could not have been regarded as a test. The proposition of the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. CA IERON] was one to 

throw the doors wide open; there wa no limit. But here we have a propo ition lying behind this, to be voted on if this motion to recon- sider prevails, which limits the increase of banking circulation, ::m<l 

which it seems to me, after a good deal of considemtion, may be better 

than that of the Senator from Pennsylvania. That might have been 

attended with damage to the intere ts bf the business of the corm try. The per ons who are opposed to an increase of circulation might ha, e 

been nlarmed; it might have affected the bnsines of the country to 

a d~maging extent. But if we pass the propo ition of the Senator 

from North Carolina, they knt>w then precisely what can be douo 

under the law. It is not unlimited; bounds are set to it. You cn n go to the extent of $46,000,000 of additional paper cnnency ; but yon can go no further. That ~ needed., in my judgment; and I tru t t'bnt 

the friends of an increase of circulation will see to it now that this 

vote is reconsidered, and that we get back to that proposition where we can have a test vote, and then let it rest. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (1\Ir. A...N"THONY in the chair.) TlJe 

que tion is on the motion to reconsider the vote by which the amendment of the Senator from Tennessee was adopted. . Mr. UERRIMON. :Mr. President, I beg the in<l~gence of the Senate for a short while this morning. It was not my purpose to adtl a. 

single word to this debate; but the discussion has taken such a wide 

range, and so many propositions have been brought forwa~·d-and 

some of them voted upon-that I deem it <lue to myself and perhaps 

to others, if not to the propo ition now pending, of which I aru tile 

author, to a-dd something to what I have already said. 

I felt constrained to vote against the proposition of the venerable 

Senator from Pennsylvania, [}.Ir. CAMERON,] an<llikewise that of tile 

Senator from Georgia, [?!Jr. GoRDO-,] and also, for the same 1·ea on , against the proposition of the Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. COOPER. J 

In order to make myself understood, it is necessa.ry that I houltl 

advert at the outset to some fact and principle with which tbe S n- ate ·are familiar, and to restate the position that I occupy in reference 

to the general subject of the currency before the Senate. 

We have lleen correctly told that moneyi a medium of exchange; 

in its true sense it implies only a medium of exchange. Its purpose 

is to effect exchanges; and that is its only legitimate purpo e. By 

the common consent of mankind, when any country is in a normal 

state, the purest, truest medium of exchange i gold and silver· of a fixed fineness. The purpo e of money being only to effect exch::rng s, 

the quantity of it necessary to answer !he purposes of the country is 

exactly o much as is neces ary to make such exchanges, and no more. If, on the one hand, a country ha6 mor than is nece.,sary for that 

pnrpo e, then there is redundancy, a u ele and a worse than useless quantity in the country; and the result is an unnatural stimulus to industry and enterprise, :;t:nd the people engage in reckless extravagance and in speculative adventmes, which Tesult in panics and mone- tary evils of all sorts throughout the land. On the other band, if 

there is not a sufficient. quantity of money to make such exchauges 

in an orderly and legitimate way, then the country is afflicted with 

what is called contraction; and industry, enterprise, and commerce langui h. 

It i , therefore, a matter ?f the highest moment to ascertain exactly 

what volume of currency IS necessai'Y to make the exchanges of tbe 

counti-y. Experience shows that it is impossible to ascertain exactly 

what the volume ought to be; and, indeed, the circumstances of a country make it greater at one time th.a,n another; and tilercfore it 

i that statesmen and business men in determining this question can only appToximate to the true standard. 

As I have said, a country in its normal state bas for its medium of 

exchange gold and silver, and only these; not by virtue simply of a 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORDo 1669 

statute or any constitutional provision, but by virtue of the universal 

laws of commerce that no country can deny or put aside but at·the 

expense of its best economical interests. 

The constitutional currency of this country is gold and silver. It 

is written in effect in our Constitution that that shall be the medium 

of measuring our exchanges, and i1p to the breaking out of the late -war that was the currency we had the benefit, of, and in that we were upon a common level with all the nations of the civilized world. 

By reason of the exigencies of the war, that system of currency was put aside and a new one adopted; an abnormal one, growing out of 

the disordered condition of the country and the suddenly increased 

wants of the Government. In lieu of the gold an<l silver medium, 

the country adopted a purely credit system of money to make its 

exchanges. That system consists of what are commonly called "greenback ," and also national-bank currency. It is a pmely credit cur- rency, and this is the poore t currency known in thi or any other 

country; not because it is mean, as some have aid; not because it is 

false, as some have said; but in its very nature it is less valuable, it 

is less uniform, it answers t.he purpose for which it is intended less sncce sfully; it. is more change:1ble than any other currency that is 

known in the busiuess world. This appears from the uniform experi- ence of all civilized nations. 

By reason of the exigencies of the late war, a purely credit currency 

and the inflation that neces arily grew out of the condition of the 

country during the war, we realize<l ·a serious evil that has beset the 

country ever since that time ; the country has had none other than 

this credit currency. Whrtt effect did it producef Depreciation in value, uncertainty in 

the tandard of value, an unnatural stimulation of enterprise in some localities, hazardous speculation, luxurious living; not only speculation in real things, but s~eculation in ima-ginary things-stock-jobbing, trading in fancy stocks, and imaginary things that had no exist- ence whatever. All sorts of extravagances have been practiced, and 

continue in soltle measure to thi day. · Unnatural, improper, illegitimate enterprises have swelled the volume of business of the country, 

and the result has been what might have been anticipa,ted by our observing statesmen-money panics, frequent stringency in the money 

market, and sometimes universal distres , verging upon absolute 

de tmction, as in c!se of the p:mic of September last, not yet entirely 

pa ed away. 

Our statesmen seeing all this, an~ honestly and patrotically desiring to better the condition of the country, undertook-! think not in 

the wisest manner-to control this matter and tog t the country 

back to a legitimate system of exchanges. In doing thi , there was wonderful and systematic contraction. Notwithstanding the vast.ly 

increased volume of business, timuln,ted by this very species of cur- rency, the multiplied indnst.ries; and the increase of our population 

and enterpri:se, this contraction went on until the whole volume, 

consisting, first, of greenback currency-the legal-tender notes as they are called; secondly, the national-bank currency; thirtUy, the 

fractional currency, was reduced to $760,000,000, and the whole of it 

pmely credit in its character, it being entirely iuconvertible and resting alone on the faith ·of the country. The pmctical question now before the Senate is, is that volume of 

currency sufficient to make iu an orderly and legitimate way the 

business exchange of this country' If so, then we have money 

enongh; if not, we have not enough; and the Senate are divided 

solely upon that question. · In my judgment that volume is not sufficient. In the first place, 

at least $:lOO,OOO,OOO of that volume of currency is unemployecl. Under our national-banking laws at least 30 per cent. of the amount of banking capital is kept locked up in the banks for the pmp<>se of redeeming the notes of the banks of issue and for the purpose of paying their 

deposits. In the next place, there is a large amotmt of this greenback 

cuiTency that is hoarded. There are oj.her considemble amounts that are in tmnsitn, and there are other ways that might b suggested in 

hich large amounts of it are unemployed. I think therefore it is safe 

to say that at least 200,000,000 of the present volume of currency in 

the country is not iu circulation; so that the gross volume of cuiTency 

in the country in circulation is less than $600,000,000, and it is safe to sa.v. it does not exceed that amount. 

Mr. SCHURZ. If ImayinterrnpttheSenator from North Carolina, 

he says that a very large amount of our cuiTency is hoarued, and is 

therefore not in circulation; it is withdrawn from the active pursuits 

of business. Can he tell us why it is hoarded; why it is not used to 

e:tfect the necessary tran actions of business in the country Y 

Mr. MERRIMON. I will answer the question, and I think success- fully, and in order to make the answer I will resort to my own obser- va ·on. In my State I could mention the names of half a dozen plant- ers who annually put by from one to :live thousand dollars. Credit is 

uncertain; they have no ready means of investment.; they are not 

acquainted with the business world; they are afraid even of the 

national bonds; and when they get this money, instead of investing 

it, as they might do, or employing it in some enterprise, they put it in 

their chests, lock it up, where it remains indefinitely, and until some happy bargain shaH present itself, when they buy a piece of land or some article of property which they think will be valuable to them. Mr. SCHURZ. Do the Senator think there are a great many per- sons in the· United States who hom·d money simply because they do 

not know how to invest it 7 

Mr. MERRIMON. I have no doubt of it in many sections. 

Mr. SCHURZ. I must confess that, according to my observation, 

the number of such people is exceedingly small. The Senator from 

South Carolina [Mr. ROBERTSON] suggests to me that tho e who 

know how to make money geuemlly know also how to invest it. 

But there is a probability that a good many of them keep back their 

money because they have not any confidence in the present statu~:~ of 

business. 

Mr. MERRIMON. I have no doubt about the correctness of my 

suggestion. Business is so uncertain, faith is so ill kept, they prefer, 

in thousands of instances, to hold what they have. I only suggested 

that, however, as one means by which a very considerable amount of 

the cmrency of the country was kept out of circulation. I say-and 

I believe that the facts sustain me-that the actual amount of paper 

money in circulation in this country now does not exceed 600,000,000. 

And, in my judgment, the volume of currency in circulation is not 

sufficiently great to answer the legitimate wants of the country, and 

t.herefore it is that I am in favor of what I conceive to be a reasonable 

increa,se of it in order to meet this legitimate demand. It is pos ible 

that I err; I do not think I do. If I do I am sme I do so honestly. I 

have no desire or motive to do otherwise than consult the general good. · 

Mr. SCHURZ. I do not wish to interrupt the Selfator, but as he is 

discussing a general point, I think it appropriate to put a question 

right here. He assumes that there is not national cuiTency enough 

in the country to effect the legitimate exchanges of busine s. May 

I ask him what e.vidence he has of that fact Y 

Mr. MERRIMON. I am going to state it now. That i the next 

matter in the order of what I wish to say. Without going into a. detailed discussion. of the various points that I am going to suggestr--

and I am going to ·suggest them in a very summary way, and there are others that. I will not take time even to suggestr--I arrive at this 

conclusion by a consideration of the volume of the currency, and 

which was specie currency, that this country had anterior to thelate 

war; and when I consider that; when I consider the efiect of the 

bloated cniTency that the exigencies of the war forced upon the coun- try; when I consider the increase of exchanges growing out of the war and the enterprise stimulated by it; when I consider the increase 

of our population; when I consider the amount of money that has 

been in circulation from time to time since the close of the war; when 

I consider the panics that have been produced by the contraction in 

the cuiTency which h~s taken place within thelasteightyears; when 

I consider that the Eastern Sta,tes have an excess of the quantity of 

the currency to which they are entitled underthecuiTencylaw oftbe 

United States of over$ 0,000,000; when I consider that they have not 

there now more than they need, a their bankers and busine s men say; when I consider that the whole West is without a sufficient 

amount of money, and is not only without it now but has been without it, so that the industrial population there have had to pay from 

1 to lt and 2 per cent. a month for interest; when I consider the 

wants of the South, and particularly of my own State, of which I am personally cognizant; when I consider the circulation per capita in 

that great commercial country, England, and that other great com- mercial country, France, and compare the circulation there with thG 

circulation per capita of this cotmtry; when I consider other facts and 

circumstances, to which I have not time now to advert, I am con- strained to come to the conclusion that the volume of currency in this 

country is not sufficient to make easily the exchanges that the legitimate demands of business require. My judgment is that the volume ou~ht to be increased to such an extent as that the maximum circulatiOn of greenbacks should be 400,000,000-the maximum circulation of national-bank cuiTency should be . 400,000,000, and the gross 

volume of currency, including the 0,000,000 of fractional currency, 

should be $850,000,000. Then·assumingthat $200,000,000 of that sum would not be in active operation, we would have in active circulation 650,000,000. I do not believe that is too great a sum, and therefore it is that I offered the sub titute for the bill reported by the 

Finance Committee, to increase the bank circulation $46,000,000. 

I desired to say at the time, but I would not trouble the Senate to 

say it, that I did not offer the substitute for ::m increase of bank cur- rency because I prefeiTed thn,tspeciesof currency. I said on a former 

occasion that I was opposed to the present national bankin~ sy tern 

of the country; and I gave some reasons why I oppo ed It. I am especially opposed to that feature of it which implies, and practically 

operate , as a monopoly in the business of banking ; but knowing 

that the national currency law ha been in existence since the close 

of the war, that the business men of the country, the bankers of the 

cmmtry, the legal profession and the judges of the country, understanu it, and it has been expounded and judicially settled in many 

respects, and believing that as my proposition will not derange the busi- ness of the country, will not create a new law to be tried, to be investigated, .to be subjected to judicial determination, an<l de iring to 

put forward a plain proposition thn,t the whole country eould understand, one so plain that the simplest mind could comprehend it.! I 

tb.ought it best under the circum tances, as a present measure of relief 

to the country, that the bank currency should be increa ed 46,000,000, 

which would make t.he gro s volume of that currency in the country $400,000,000. These are the consi1.erations that prompted me to 

adopt this course rather than another; that would be attended with more or less complication, and I did it the more readily because the 
1670 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY . 20, 

difference in point of value between the greenback currency :tnd the 

national-bank cuiTency is nominal. 

I said a moment ago that I proposed this measure as· a mea ure of 

present relief, because I believe that the wants of the country demand this much increa e, and only for_ that purpose. That done, I 

insist that this Congress at the present session shall go on and do 

what ought to have been done immediately after the close of the war, 

devise and establish a new monetary system for the country ba ed upon 

gold and silver, to go into operation gradually and absolutely on a clay certain in the future, making that day as near as may be to the ·present time, having due regard to the necessities and circumstances 

of the country and its business. I want the time between now and 

the day when this suggested new system shall go into operation and 

specie payments shall prevail in this country again·, to be sufficiently lon~ to allow the business of the country to adapt itself to it. 

Su·, I am a-s warmly and as strongly in favor of a specie basis for 

the finances of this country as any gentleman present; but I must 

take into consideration the circumstances of the country, and I think we ought to devise such a plan as will enable us to get ba-ck to it without materially interfering with the material prosperity of the country, 

and in such a way as to disturb the business relations of tho country as little as possible. This cannot be done immediately or suddenly. 

Now, let me state briefly my position. It is, first, that we grant the 

simple relief that the country needs and demands now, and has 

peremptorily demanded for the last six or eight months, by increasing the bank circulation for the South and West, nnder existing laws 

which are settled, 46,000,000, so as to make the gro s volume of bank 

circulation 400,000,000. Having passed that simple measure, then let us go to work, cautiously consulting every authority and every 

interest, and devise a monetary system for the country based upon 

gold and silver, to go into operation on the 4th of:July, 1876, or some other day farther off than that, as the wisdom of Congress may desig- ~~ . . That is the position I occupy. I want some increa e of circulation. 

I do not want inflation. I deny that I desire inflation. I deny the 

effect of my action is to produce inflation. It is only to increa e the 

circulation to that lawful extent that the interest of the country 

demand. The difficulty, and that is the sole practical difficulty we have, is to ascertain what that reasonable volume is. We find, on the one hand, the creditor classes of the country saying it is too great now. How natural that is! A man who has got money to lend wants 

to make money as scarce as possible, so that he can got the highest 

rate of iiJ_terest for his; and he is the man who, to use a common phrase, wants "dear money." On the other hand, there is another 

cla-ss who are always wanting to borrow money\ who use it for a multiplicity of purposes, and they are the class who want wliat is popularly called "cheap money." They not only want the le~?itimate 

demands of the country supplied, but they want the currency mflated, 

to the end that they may get it cheap-they are tho e who cry "cheap 

money!" My judgment is that Congress ought not to yield to the 

clamor of either of these classes. W o ought not to yield to the demand of those who say we must make money dear by contraction; we ought not to yield to the clamor of tho e who want to borrow 

money, who want "cheap money," because they are the larf{er class. 

Our action ought to be judicious and conservative. We ought to a-s- certain, a-s nearly as we can, what volume of currency is required by 

the best interests of the ·country, and to provide for it. 

Various propositions have been offered a,s a sullstitnte for the pending one offered by myself, and many efforts have been maue, as it seems to me-and I say so with all proper r espect-to avoid a cortaining the deliberat.e judgment of the Senate as to whether there shall 

be an increa-se of currency or not. On the one hand, the contractionists-1 use that word in no offensive sene-insist that so far from 

having too little inoney, we have too much; and on the other hand 

there is another class, who say we have not enonrrh; t.hat we ought 

to have $1,000,000,000; we ought to have $1,200,000,000 I I do not go 

with either side. I want to ascertain, I repeat, the volumewhich the 

best interests of the country demand, ?Tid to grant that., and to grant. no more. I have indicated the amount I think nece. ary; for that I 

will vote; I cannot vote for less; I do not think it w1se to vote "for more. · 

Propositions have been offered here avowedly to get ri(l of the 

monopoly feature in the national-banking law, an1l they are called 

propositions to establish" free banltin~." ·with all re poet to the honorable gentlemen who have offered tnese various mea ur , I undertake to say that no one to establish free bankin&" has been presented 

during this discussion. I undertake to say, whether you take the proposition of the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania, [Mr. CAl\1-

ERON,] the proposition of the honorable Senator from Georgia, [Mr. 

GoRDON,] or the proposition of the honorable Senator from Tcnnes ee, 

[Mr. COOPER,] each one of these proposition , while it involve a limitation that retains the monopoly feature of the present banking ystem, provides, if we ta:Ke one view, for an amount of inflation (and I use that term in no offensive sense) that would prove <lisa trous to 

the best interests of the country, or, if we take another view, will pro- duce a contraction of the currency which _cannot be tolerated but at 

the hazard of general disaster. Now, let us see if I am correct in these po ·itions. 

llfr. GORDON. I should like the Senator from North C:u-olina to 

show how the plan proposed by me looks to contraction. 

.Mr. MERRIMON. That is exactly what I am goi_ng to proceed to 

show t he honorable Senator and the Senate. 

The ftrst proposition was made by the honorable Senator from P enn- sylvania, [Mr. CAt>rnRON.] He proposed to strike out of the existiug 

currency law that provision which limited the volume of bank ciJ:-

culation. That wa-s the sole effect of his propo ition. That would 

enable the authorities of the Government -to allow the creation of 

national banks, according to the existing banking law, with a limita.-

tion that happens in this wise; and I beg to call attention to it, for 

it is material to understand it in order to see the force of what I am going to s~y. 

The present banking law requires that every national bank in cer- tain cities shall keep on deposit in its vaults a reserve fund in green- backs of 25 per cent. of its circulation and 25 per cent. of its deposits. 

All other banks are required to keep on 'deposit in their vaults 151)er cent. of their circulation and 15 per cent. of their deposits. This reserve is to be k ept there perpetually for the purpose of redeeming - their notes when they shall be required to do it, and for the purpo e of 

paying their depositors. The volume of greenbacks is 356,000,000. 

The a.uthori tie of the Government, if the amendment of the honorable 

Senator from Pennsylvania had prevailed, could have gone on and increased the number of national banks in the countryuntil this whole 

volume of greenbacks would have been exhausted for the purpose of reserve . How much would that have allowed Y The greate t volume 

of greenbacks, ineluding the reserve in the Trea-sury, is 400,000,000. 

It was said here but the other day-and I concur in the statementthat the avera.ge of greenback currency which· is required upon an average to be kept in bank to redeem this currency mid to pay its 

deposit is ;_,3 per cent.; so that you might issue three dollars of bauk 

currency for one dollar in greenbacks. What volume of currency 

then would $400,000,000 of greenbacks a-s a reserve allow to go out as bank currency in the whole countryY Just 1,200,000,000. That 

is the effect of it, if you take the first view suggested, and use the 

greenbacks only as reserve to secure bank currency. · Now let us take the other view. Suppo e one half of the reserve kept in the banks should be devoted to the redemption of the banks' own cunency and the other half should be r~tained for the purpose of paying the deposits, then what will the whole volume of bank 

currency bet Manifestly, 600,000,000. If you take one view of this 

banking law and. the free-banking proposition that the gentlemen have endeavored to get the Senate to adopt, it would increa ·e the circulation to twelve hundred millions, and if yon take another view it 

contra-cts it until the volume of currency in the country will only be 

six hundred millions. If we had twelve hundred millions of tlris 

national currency turned loose on the country, for a little while busi- ness would flourish, bnt enterprise, stock-gambling, speculation, and 

luxurious living would increase until that currency would become a stench in the nostrils of the people. It would produce, in my jnd~­

ment, universal ruin, and would not only ruin the country, but 1t 

would ingulf tho e gentlemen who imposed it upon the count).·y. On . the other hand, if the other view should be taken, it would produce 

contraction that woulrl reduce the volume of circula.tion in this coun- try to six hundred millions, and thus cripple all industrial intere ts. 

These would be theprob11>bleeffects of the pl:1n proposed by the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania. 

Now, sir, what is the plan of the Senator from Georgiat It is the 

very same plan except he proposes that the committee shall report a bill "providing for the convertibility of the United States Treasury 

notes into low-interest bonds or golrl. coin, at the option of the Government, and the bonds convertible into United States Treasury notes 

at the option of the holder." That is free banking ju t. as was provided by the honomble Senator from Pennsylvania, except that it 

adds thi , that. the greenbacks may be converted into a bond bearing a low rate of interest. That is the sole distinction between the two. 

Mr. GORDON. What does the Senator from North Carolina think 

of the last clause of that prov!sion t 

Mr. MERRlMON. ''Convertible into United States Treasury notes· at the option of the holder¥" 

Mr. GORDON. Does not that mean something! 

Mr. UERRThlON. It does; but it does not increase the volume of 

greenbacks; it does not reduce the volume of greenba-ck . I cannot so understand it. I have looked at it with great care. I repeat~ the 

sole di. tinctiqn between the gentleman'~ proposition and the proposition of the Senator from Penn~ylvania. is that his provides thn.ttbe 

greenback cmrency of ,the country may be converted into a bond 

be:u:'ing a low rate of interest. 

Then take next the proposition of the honorable Senator from Tonnessee, [Mr. CoorER.] What does he propose t He propo es "fTee banking," as he calls it, upon the very same principle as does the 

Senator from Pennsylvania, and then his other propo ition is in substance the same as that of the Senator from Georgia. What is that t 

It is to make greenbacks convertible into gold, or into a Government 

bond bearing a low rate of interest. That is the effect of his proposition. 

The only difference, therefore, in all these propositions that have 

been submitted, an(l upon which the Senate has vot d, con. ists in 

the fact that that of the Senator from Georgia and that of t be 

Senator from Tennes ee provide for converting the gre nbacks into 

gold or into a Government bontl bearing a small rate of inter t; :md 

the effect of a.dopting any one of those measures would be to increase 
' 

• 

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1671 

the bn.nk circulation; if the speculators of the country should so 

desire, if you. take one ~iew, to twel.ve hundred J?-i~lions, or to con- tract it if another view lB taken, to SlX hundred millions. .And here _ I wish the Senate to keep in view that there is in these "free-banking" propositions, so called, that. same. feature of ~onopoly, except 

that it is in ·one view enlarO'ed a little, m another VIew contracted a little which exists in the p~·esent banking law. It is limited by the volUI~e of greenbacks, and in the way and manner that I have described. , But it is said that the Government is responsible for this money. 

What -good does'that do when you have a redundancy and the Government does not pay gold' Such a volume could not be properly . employed; it could ~ot go into for~ign co~tries like specie; it would 

die and become an rntolerable nuiBance; It would cease to make ex- changes at all, and having had the effect to ~ive gold and silver out 

of the country, it would leave the country Wlth~ut money, prostrate 

and ruined pecuniarily, and there ':ould be uruversal b:mkruptcy. 

.All experience proves the truth of this stateme!lt, .and I will I~;Ot be a party in bringing upon my country such evils if I know It. To 

increase the volume of our currency as these gentlemen propose-to 

throw out so vast a volume of purely credit currency-is to legislate 

redundancy and ruin into the country, and this will app~ar most 

manifest when we make proper note of the volume of .exchange'S. 

But one gentleman. has said that there is not capital ~n the cc;mntry 

to organize these national banks, so as to throw out this vast crrculation that I say would be the natural consequence of the proposed 

system-that there is not money enough in the country to do it; they 

couhl not buy the nn.tional bonds. T.tiere is a great fallacy in. that, 

and let me show it, and I think I can do it successfully ; a.nd it i,s well 

to look into this matter, for it is one of great practical moment. Here, 

for illustra.tion, is a person who has $500,000 in greenbacks, and he 

wants to engage in the business of banking. He goes into the mar- ket and he buys 500,000 of Government bonds. Having bought them, 

hetakesthem totheTreasuryofthe United State ,andhavingcomplied 

with the law there, he is entitled to receive from the Co!llptroller of the 

Currency 90 per cent. in bank -notes of his balf a million dollars of bonds. 

He puts those notes afloat in the country. Then, a O'ain, here are three 

other men who have not got a dollar of money in the world, but they 

have chara~ter a.nd credit. They want to establish :1 bank, and to do so they go to the banker who has organized his bank, ·as just sug- gested, and having made a paper th:ot he is Willing to a{}cept, he loans 

them, upon their credit and such securities as they offer, 300,000. 

Having borrowed that much money, not having a dollar of their own, 

except as they have thus borrowed it, they go into the ma.rkets and 

buy $~00,000 of Government bonds. They then go to the Treasury 

of the United States and deposit them there according to law. Thereupon they have a right to demand and receive 90 per cent. in bank 

currency upon those bonds, a..s free bankers. Having got their bank 

into operation, they take the very currency they received from the 

Comptroller and p'ay off their debt, and go on with their banking 

enterprise. In that case, instead of having 450,000 of currency put 

in circula.tion in the country upon actual capital, you have the addition of 90 per cent. of 300,000 put into circulation upon the very same ca.pitaJ. 

Ur. ROBERTSON. I beg to remind my friend from North Carolina that the $500,000 in greenbacks· in the case he supposes would not 

buy 500,000 of bonds, nor would the $300,000 of green backs buy 

$300,000 of bonds. 

Mr. MERRIMON. Tha.t is very true; I was cognizant of what the 

Senator states. I was only stating the general view to show the oper- ation of tho principle involved in this matter. They would have to 

have a fraction more tha.n $500,000 to get $500,000 of bonds; there is no doubt about tha.t; but I am endeavoring to show the Senate wha.t 

is involved in the suppo ed transactions which ma.y be r alized if the 

law should be as suggested. Not only one instance might arise in 

which a bank, therefore, coUld be CI~ated -upon no capital at a.ll ex- cept the naked credit of the ma.n who desired to engage in it, but it 

might be done in repeated instance.-;. Two, three, six, twenty banks 

might be organized virtually upon the capital that organized the first one. N"ow let us see how it would be likely to operate as business is 

stimulated in an unnatm·aJ way throughout the country by this inflation. Let us take _a ma.n la.rgelyengaged rn bus:iness. He is building a Pacific railroad; he is cutting an immense canal clown South ; 

he is engaged largely in merchandise ; he i5 speculating in fancy 

stock:R in New York; he is doing a. hundred other things that require a va t amount of money; he is reputed throughout the nation to be a great moneyed nian, and very rich. How many banks could he c tabli h in this way, ju t on his naked creditY One in New York, one in Boston, one in Philadelphia, one in Washington, one in Cincinnati, one in Chicago, one in Saint Louis, one in New Orleans, one in Mobile, one in Savannah, another in Charleston, another in Raleigh; 

a!ld in that way men would go on and build up uch banks all over the land until the whole amount of cmTency that this proposed legislation would allow would be put out upon the country, and the whole 

land flooded with it. I need not tell the Senate, I need not tell even those gentlemen who have insisted upon this policy of infia.tion, ( 3nd ·I repeat that I use that word in no offensive sense,) that imch an ex- pan ion of currency would result in general ruin and the country 

would not tolerate it; nor will they indorse a propo it ion of that sort, 

in my judgment. The limitation in the volume of our credit cur- rency i~:~ e sential to its life and usefulne-ss. 

On the other hand, I do not believe that the great majority of tl1e 

people in this country who need money to carr.y on tbeir business transactions, t.o make the exchanges of the count1·y in a legitimate 

way, will sustain those gentlemen who insist; now that we shall h ave contraction, w hioh, in my judgment, can only operate to promote the 

interests of the money-lenders of the country. What do we see here Y 

We see the money-lenders to a man almost oppo ed to the propo ed 

increase of bank circulation. We see the money borrowers, on the 

oth_er hand, not o~y 'Yanting the reasonable demands of the c9untry 

satisfied, but they lUSISt_ that the whole land shall be filled with a deprecia,te~ currency, ·which, in my judgment, I repeat, would bring general rum. · 

It is therefore, Mr. President, that I have felt constrained to vote 

against the several propositions offered that I have commented upon 

and it is therefore, also, that I desire to see the Senate adopt a meas~ ure something like that which I have proposed mysel! I am not 

anxious about that particular proposition. .All I desire to see is that 

the circulation shall be increased in substa.nce in the way and man- ner that I have indicated. 

I desire to say a word or two by way of set-off to the trade reports 

read by tbe Senator from l\fis ouri [Mr. SCHURZ] the other day. He 

took that as an evidence that there was plenty of money in New 

York and Chica.go. I have no doubt that there is plenty of money in 

New York and in the Eastern States; that it can be gotten there 

"upon call" at from 4 to 5 per cent. I have no doubt that it could 

be borrowed for a given time at a reasonable rate, if collaterals were put up as good as the money itself. But, sir, we know that, notwithstanding this plethora that gentlemen talk about in the New England ~tates to~da.y, enterprise, industry, and every interest languishes, 

notw1tbstandrng they have over 0,000,000 in excess of that distribution of t.he currency provided by the national banking law. If that 

is so in tho e States, what must it be in the Soutli and West T W(! 

know in those sections that iutere t since the war has mnged from 1 

to lt and 2 per cent. a month. It has even gone higher than that in 

my own ection, and I may say throughout the South. I have known 

25 per cent. paid for money in North Carolina, and under circumstances that were absolutely distressing. · 

I beg to read, as other gentlemen· have done so and I trust it will 

not detract from the dignity of this place to do so, an extract from a letter I have just received from one of the most successful, practical, 

and sensible men iu North Carolinar-a cotton ma,nnfacttuer there. 

He is not one of those who want to borrow money, such as the Senator from ·Missouri suggested the other da.y. He does not want to 

borrow money. He has money enough, and ca.pital enough, to answer ·his purposes; but he is an ob erving, practical man, a cotton manu- facturer, and he knows the condition of the country, and his opinion 

is worth a thousand opinions given by those who simply speculate 

upon money subjects. After making some allusion to a speech which 

I had the honor to deliver in the Senate some days ago, he says this: 

I hope some pln,n may be adopted that will throw out money enough to carry on the busin!Mls of the country, for thero is not a. sufficient amount in circula.tion now to move the products. The scarcity of money up the country is terrible. Interest 

is from 1 to 2 per cent. pei:.month with all the money-lenders. The panicisoverin the 

cities, but ~c bl!ck co~ try is a~ ti~ht to-day as it was in Oc!ober or November last. 

Not a. bank 1s discounting, and if mey were at 18 per cent. 1t would give only tem- por:~ry relief. Unless something is done, the business of the country South must suffer greatly the coming season. 

Thn.t opinion from such a. man is worth, I repea.t, a. thousand 

opinions from those who speculate a.bout this matter and do not un- derstand· the practical opemtion of business and the demands in the 

country away from the thoroughfares. .And I ma,y add further, ...... that t.his ma.n comes from a section of country where the people are very active a.nd thinking. . Let me say a word now, Mr. Presiclent). in reference to the proposed 

recommittal of this bill. I say to the tsena.te frankly that I am opposed to rec(Jinmitting the bill, a.nd I ~ opposed to it for these rea ons : 

In the first place, we know the opinions of the committee. We 

know that the committee, with one or two exceptions, are opposed 

to any increase of currency, for we have heard their declarations 

upon the floor of the Sena.te to that effect. In the strongest and most 

peremptory terms they have said that they are opposed to anyincrea e of the currency_ circulation of the country. I ~ay, therefore, that it 

would be unwise to recommit this bill to a committee who entertain 

tho e views. 

But, in the next place, what is the object of a reference f It is to 

get some information that the Senate as a. body cannot reach, or to 

reconcile conflicting views and interests upon a propo ition. In 

neither of those views is it necessary to make such reference. 

The proposition contained in the bill reported by the committee is so plain and simple that the plainest mind in th_e Senate can understand 

it and comprehend it. It simply proposes to withdra.w from the East- ern States 25,000,000 of the banking currency capitat that they have 

received in excess of what they were allowed to have by la.w, and to 

redistribute it to the South and to the West. That is a very simple 

propo ition. We have h eard it discussed in all its pl;tases. In my 

judgment, if we were to recommit it and it were to remain with the 

committee for twenty years, they could not give us any more information about it than wo ha.v a.lroady got. It has been discu secl by 
1672 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBUU.ARY 20, 

nearly every gentleman in the Senate . . vVe understand the views of 

each ; we have compared views ; it has been thoroughly and com- pletely debated; and-they can give us no light upon it further; no one pretends to suggest that thoy can. Then, what is the other proposition Y It is one thatJs simpler still 

in its character; one that proposes, under existing law, well settled, 

defined, settled by the business of the country, settled by the courts 

of the country, simply to increase the circulation of the banks of the 

country '46,060,000; and that proposition presents the naked issue, 

the single issue, shall we have an increase of the currency, or shall we allow it to remain at what it is nowf 

What further light can that committee give us 7 We have heard 

the opinions, I believe, of every member of that committee. We have 

either beard their opinions by a general expression of their views, Qr . we have ascertained them by the vote of every Senator present, as to 

whether he favors an increa~e of the circulation or not. To what end, 

then, shall we recommit this bill but for the purpose of allowing it 

to remain ~ the hands of the committee for an indefinite period, 

thereby continuing the evil that the colllitry is suffering for want of 

this increased circulation, or to have the committee report a bill, as gentlemen suggested yesterday evening, full of complications, con- taining all sorts of details that would require a discussion here that 

would last during the whole session, and we should adjourn leaving 

the country in its present condition Y That would be the effect of 

it-of such recommittaL 

I insist, and I so say to those who desire an increase of the circuln.-

tion, that, in my jud~PD;ent, it is their solemn duty to vote against a recommittal; that it IS their duty to vote for a reconsideration of the 

pending question, and then let us vote, in the first place, to sustain 

my proposition, or one substantially like that which I have submitted, amend the motion to refer in that way, so that if the Senate shall 

be of opinion that the bill ought to be referred, the committee wilL 

have nothing to do but to rep01·t that proposition. Or, if we still 

defeat the reference, as I trust we may, then we can take a square 

vote upon the proposition which I have submitted to increase the 

currency $46,000,000, to be distributed to the South and West, a.nd 

thus give that immediate relief which I had hoped the people would 

have received at t.he hands of Congress before the holidays. I have deemed it necessn,ry, Mr. President, to give thit:J explana,tion 

of my views and my course in reference to the various propositions 

that have been brought before the Senate. I trust that I am un- derstood. I am not ultra on one side or the other. I desire to be 

conservative. :My people are conservative, and I am sure they will 

susta,in me when I give conservative votes, such as that I propose t-o 

give in this insta,nce, in their interests, and the interests ~qually of 

the whole country. The PRESIDING OFFICER, (1\fr. ANTHONY in the cha,ir.) The 

question is on the-motion to reconsider. . · 1\fr. SCHURZ. I wish to have the question rest.ated once more, in 

order to ascertain exactly what the effect of our votes will be. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion under ·consideration is 

to reconsider the vote by which the amendment offered by the Sena- tor from Tennessee [1\Ir. COOPER] was adopted to the amendment 

offered by the Senator from North Carolina, [Mr. MER1u WN.] 

:Mr. SCHURZ. Is not the amendment offered by the Senator from 

Tennessee in the uature of a, substitute f 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. It is. 

Mr. SCHURZ. So that we have to choose by our votes whether we would not rather put the proposition of the Senator from Tennessee 

in the place of the proposition of the Senator from North Carolina. 

That is the state of the case, is it not f 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. If the vote shall ndt be reconsidered 

and the amendment of the Senator from Tennessee shall be susta,ined, 

then it will be substituted for the amendment of the Senator from 

North Carolina, and the question will be upon that amendment as 21mended by the substitution. 

1\Ir. SCHURZ. _ Precisely. ·In connection with this I will say, that 

although I do not agree exactly with the proposition made bf the 

Senator from Tennessee, yet preferring it to the proposition coming 

from the Senator from North Carolina, I shall vote against the recon- sideration. 

Mr. :MORTON. I simply want to sa,y a, word in regard to the proposition of the Senator from Tennessee. It is a proposition authorizing 

the conversion of greenbacks or legal-tender notes into 5 per cent. 

bonds. The object of that is at once to return to specie payments by 

that method. The Senat or from Ohio [~Ir. SHERMAN]- ! beg the 

attention of the Senate, for I do not intend to speak long-said last 

night, just at the conclusion of the debate, :QJ. speakingof this propo- sition of the Senator from Tennessee, which he is in fa,vo~ of: 

Bnt the money could be used in the payment of bonds. Suppose the 5 per cent. bonds are worth, as they are to-day, ninety-nine and a. half cents on the dollar, 

these notes may be converted into 5 per cent. bonds; that makes the notes eq11!1l to bonds worth ninety-nine and a. half nt ~ on the dollar. As a matter of course the 

law would provide some means by 'lhich these notes might be applied to the pur- chase of 6 per cent. bonds ; but, as tho Senator properly says, the 6 per cent. bonds can only·be purcha-sed at par in gold. But we have a right by law now tO pay off $12 0~/>00 000 of 6 per cents at par in gold. Consequently the only loss there would 

be to m e Government would be the aiifer ence between the value of 5 p er cent. bonds a.t 991; or ,99 and par in gold; mother words, the effect of it woultl be that the 

Government could use this money to buy gold with which to pay the bonds that 

would be called in. · 

In other words, ·this brings the Senate right b~k to the old proposition of a return to specie payments. 'l'he Senator's bill fixes it at 

the 1st of January, 1875, less than a year hence. I do not know 

what time he will put in the new bill; perhaps he will put it at a shorter time tha,n that; but it contemplates a. return to specie pa,yments by bringing the greenba,cks up to par a.t once, by authorizing 

them to be converted at par into a. 5 per cent; bond that is worth pn.r 

in gold. If the scheme works, it will bring about the I"esumptwn of 

specie payment in less than twelve months. or in whatever time the 

committee thinks this operation should begin. In the biU the Sena- tor from Ohio offered to the Senate some days ago he fixes the time at 

the 1st day of Janua!l'y, 1875, about t en months hence. Then it woultl 

be to I"eturn to specie payments in a little more than ten months, and 

in that time to overcome the difference of 10 per cent. in the value of 

the currency- a change of values of 10 per cent. in less than one year, which would undoubtedly produce the greatest disasters to the 

business of the country, increasing the volume of every man's debt 

to the amount of 10 per cent., increasing the value of everydebt held 

by a creditor to the amount of 10 per cent. So that is involved in this 

proposition of the question of an immedia,te return to specie payment, or within a few months, provided the scheme works that t.he 

Senator from Ohio has so. long been in fa.vor of. He says that to 

authorize these notes to be converted into a bond that is at par in gold 

is to make the notes at par in gold, and at the same time it brings 

about a change of 10 per cent. in the value of the c.urrency. A change so sudden, in my opinion, would be disastrous to the country. 

I simply make these remarks for the purpose of stating what there 

is involved in this proposition. 

1\!r. ANTHONY. I should very ·willingly vote against this proposition, and against every proposition to instruct, if Senators on the 

other side would do the same ; bnt if we must have some sort of instructions, I shall vote for those that I think are the best. 

Mr. CONKLING. 1\Ir. President, the Senator from Indiana, professing to inform the rest bf us of the meaning of that instruction 

which we are now asked to reconsider, has placed upon it, I think, an utterly erroneous meaning, and I think he has fullen into thn.t 

largely by making some rema.rks of the Scna,tor from Ohio the basis 

of his speech, instead of considering the proposition itself; and 

although I do not mean to be led to answer everything from which I 

dissent, althoughJ cannot suppose tha,t I am called upon to answer every proposition which I oppose or every Senator whose views are opposed to mine, I feel reluctant, after the Senator from Ohio has 

stated his view of this matter, to proceed to vote, leaving it to be ·understood. from silence that ta,cit a-ssent is given by e.verybody to 

what he says. · The Senator from Indiana affirniS tha.t this is a proposition looh--ing to 

specie payments, and going into 1some a,rithmetic or ca,lculation upon 

words which have fa.llen from the Senator from Ollio, he undertakes to 

tell us the day and almost the hour when under this proposition spec.ie 

payments are to be resumed, or something is to occur equivalent to 

that. Now, ~Ir. Pre ident, I ask a,ll Senators to observe that the 

argument of the Senator from·Indiana, and any other argument applied to this propo ition to prove tha,t it means specie pa.yments, pro- ceeds not upon ·what is said in this instruction, but upon that which 

is wholly omitted. I ask every Senator to observe that this instruction comes as near as anything- which ordinacy ingenuity can suggest to no instruction at all. Why¥ Because it dir cts the commit- tee to do that which the committee can do as fully and as exa,ctly 

legislating in the direction of expansion, as it can legislating in the 

direction of contraction. It directs the committee "to report a bill 

providing for the convertibility of United States Treasury notes into 

gold coin or 5 per cent. bonds of the United States, a,nd also for free 

banking." It will be seen that contraction or expansion under the 

bill there dtlmanded must depend entirely upon wha.t iS to become 

in the end of the United Sta.tes notes. In that respect the instruction 

is wholly silent. • I feel, Mr. President, that it is rather an act of a sumption for me to 

attempt to explain this to the other Senators. I do not mean my re- marks in that view; but as we voted upon this a,mendment yesterday 

from simply hearin~ it reacl- a,s it is not yet, I believe, in print unless as it has gone intotneREcoRD- Itrustlmaybeforgivenforoccupying a moment in asking the attention of the Senate to this point. 

United States notes nuder this instruction are to be converted into 

5 per cent. bonds. What does that first step meanT Manifestly that 

bonds are to be issued or sold to the holders of United States notes in 

exchange for t~ose notes. Does it not T Thus the United Sta.tes notes are to reach the Treasury in lieu of bonds which the Treasury is to 

give for them. Stopping there a moment, does any Senator see con- traction in that T Stopping there, does any Senator see expansion in 

tha,t T Certainly not. Why 7 Because we must proceed to the next 

step in order to ascertain the question of expansion or conti·action. 

If these notes which have now, under the transaction I have supposecl, 

reached the Treasury, are to remain forever in the Treasury, if they are never to be reissued, if they are to be canceled or burnt, it does 

not require the aid of my eloquent friend from Indiana to tell us that 

that looks to contraction. Why T Because you have substituted 

bonds for a portion of the legal-tender circulation, ancl yon have blotted that legal-t ender circulation out of existence. Then, nnless you issue some equivalent circula,tion, manifestly you have coutru.ction; 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1673 

and if you issue national-bank note circulation, not for the face of the greenbacks, not for the face of the bonds given in exch ange for the 

greenbacks, but for the face of the bonds less 10 per cent., I think we all can see, stopping there, that the contraction in the transaction 

amounts to 10 per cent. My friend by my side [Mr. HAMLIN] r eminds me of an additional diminution growing out of other things, and I 

know he is right about that, although for simplicity I do not stop to 

speak of anything but the one matter of 10 per cent. between the face of 

the bonds and the volume of bank circulation which can be gained by 

hypothecating them at the Treasury Department. I think so much 

must be plain. · On the other hand, if in place of perpetually retaining the United 

States note , or canceling or burning them, the Treasury is to hold 

them subject to the come arid go of the day's necessities, we all see, 

first, that those notes are liable again to return to circulation; I think we can n.U see that they are certain to return to circulation ; and I 

think that few Senators will be able to agree with the Senator from 

Indiana in seeing tb,at they are t.o be used in the ultimate destiny 

and chance of things merely to buy bonds, and for nothing else. 

What special quality is to attach to these particular United States 

notes acquired by the Treasury in exchange for bonds T Unless they are to be canceled, do they not go into the general fund t Do they 

not go into the balance which the Trea ury possesses wherewith to 

pay obligations upon the Treasury f And if they do, then they become 

fused and merged with all the circulation and cash on hand, liable, 

just like the residue of it, to payment out upon every occasion. Thus 

they are to be paid for current expenses; thus they are to be used as portion of the balance and volume of money in the Treasury. In that 

view, what ·becomes the nature of the transaction f It ismerelythis: 

The Treasury has first emitted bonds, for what purpose t That 90 per 

cent. of them may be the basis of new bank circulation, and that has 

gone. In return for the bonds the Treasury has received United 

States notes, which it is to turn right arolmd and pay out whenever 

the emergency arises. Can :my'Senator say that that means contraction ; that that means a resumption of specie payments; that that means any-tendency toward specie payment Y 

) submit, Mr. Pre ident, that whether it means contraction or ex- pansion depends wholly upon the provision which is to be made for 

the United States notes in the end; and in respect of that this instruction is wholly silent. Should it go to th~ Committee on Finance, to 

the expansionists upon the committee, it means expansion ; to the 

contmctionists upon the committee, it means contraction. In other 

words, the Senatehas instructed the committee to report a hill which 

shall provide one thing or provide the other thing, a-s t.he committee 

shall ~hoose; both things being entirely consistent with the whole 

gm·vamen of this instruction. My friend from Maine [Mr. H.Al\fL:rn] 

suggests that that might make an elastic cmrency. It certainly 

makes an elastic instruction. It is a sort of automatic, self-adjusting 

in'struction, certainly containing an element of adaptation and elasticity which if it could be infused into the cmTency, would make 

e-verything fit everything else, so that everybody would be pleased, 

and I hope everybody would be prospe1·ous. 

This being my view of this proposition, I thought it well to interpose my dissent to the construction upon which my friend from Indi- ana was about to have us vote, and also well to say that I shall not 

vote to reconsider the vote of ~he Senate by which this instruction was adopted, and that for the reason that I am in favor of committing this subject to the committee, and ffiaving the committee free to 

bring in the best bill it can ; and inasmuch as this instruction is so near nothing that it is in its effect virtually nothing, I see no object in 

reconsidering the vote, to the end that we may try new experiments 

in advising or directing the committee what it shall do. I prefer to 

leave it where it is, an instruction in favor of free banking, leaving 

the committee to surround that measure, when they report it, wl.th 

such safeguardsi such restrictions, such provisions of· wisdom as the 

committee is abe to devise. I think the rest of the ihstruction is 

blank paper, and by as much as it is blank it is the best instx:uction 

that we can give. 

Mr. MORTON. Mr. President, it so happens that I did not say anything at all about expansion or contraction. I said that this proposition looked to a· return to specie payment as the only thing about 

which it was definite. The Senator says it does not look to that; that 

it is not necessarily to have the effect of bringing these notes up to 

par value, and in that way returning to specie pa;yments. Now, if it 

does not mean contraction, and if it does not mean expansion, and it 

does not mean a return to specie payments, what does it mean f It 

simply means to add something to the bonded debt, on which we shall 

pay 5 per cent. interest~ without any object or without any purpose. 

The Senator from New York makes it entirely purposeless. He says 

it does not look to resumption. Has he heard my friend from Ohio 

argue from time to time here upon a similar proposition, that this 

would bring legal-tender notes up to par value, and that in that way we should return to specie payn;~ents without first providing gold to 

redeem them Y Does not everybody know but my friend from New 

York that this is the object of redeeming the legal-tender notes in 5 

per cent. bonds, in that way to bring them up to par value Y 

Mr. CONKLING. If the Senator wishes an answer, I will say to 

him that he discusses some other proposition, some bill of many sec- tions, such· as that introduced at a previous session by the Senator from Ohio. The bill is not before ffie ; it is not before the Senate; I 

make no observation in regard to it. When, however, he affirms that 

t hese two or three lines of instruction now lying before him mean all in general and in particular that the other long bill which he has ~eans, I deny that as a matter of fact, and I say to him that he bases h1s argument on that which is not before us, instead of confining it 

to the few words which are before us. Mr. MORTON. In view of the bills Gn our table and of the discussions that have taken place here for the last two or three months, it 

is extraordin:try to me that anybody can profess not to understand 

the object of this instruction. The Senator from Ohio understood it 

last night at once, and he gave words to it, and I read what those 

words were, that the effect of it was to bring the notes up to the same value with a 5 per cent. bond-ninety-nine and one-half or one hundred cents on the dollar; and then, when the notes are called in by 

the 5 per cent. bonds, that those notes can be used not to buy the 6 

per cent. bonds at a premium in the market, but to pay them by simply adding in gold the t per cent. or the 1 per cent. necessary to make a par value. 

Now, there is one thing definite about these instructions, if there is 

nothing else definite, and that is that the committee shall bring in a bill "providing for the convertibility of United States Treasury notes 

into gold coin or 5 per cent .. bonds of the United State , and also for 

free banking under the provisions of the national-bank act." True, as the Senator has said, it leaves the committee free to cancel the e notes a-s they come in or to pay them out agam, as the Senator from 

Ohio pro-vides in his bill introduced a few days ago. It leaves the 

committee free upon that point either to produce contraction, or, as the Senator from New York says, to produce expansion. He cannot 

show the expansion, however. But jt is definite upon the point of 

reporting a bill for a 5 per cent. bond into which the legal-tender 

notes shall be converted; and if the purpose of that is not return to 

specie payments, then it is to create a bonded debt without object. 

Butwe know,at least I supposed we did know, that the onlyobject 

in providing for the conversion of legal-tender notes into 5 per cent. 

bonds was to give them a par value, and in that way return to what 

is called specie payment. That is what this thing means. The Senator from Ohio understood it so last night, and so said in substance, 

and I read his remarks. If it does not mean that, it does not mean anything-. But in view of the bills on our table, the arguments, and 

the ineVItable purpose of the thing, it seems to me very strange to hear 

it said that this does not look toward specie payments. It does look 

to it, and it looks to it speedily; and looks to it so suddenly as likely, 

in my judgment, to produce disastrous consequences in the country: 

Mr. SHERMAN. My friend from Indiana is determined to have 

the la-st word, and I will let him have it. He is making a reply to a speecn I made a year ago. . Mr. CONKLING. On another bill. 

Mr. SHERMAN. On .another bill. 

Mr. MORTON. I read the Senator's remarks of last night in regard 

to this very instruction, in which he denned the effect of this instruction to be to report a bill that brings the greenback up to ninet.ynine and a half cents qr to par in gold. Does the Senator say that 

that was made a year ago f 

:Mr. CONKLING. I wish to ask my honorable friend from Indiana 

whether he thinks we ought to vote upon what the Senator fi·om 

Ohio says he understands a thing to be or upon the thing it elfT The 

Senator from Indiana argues that the Senator from Ohio said at some time that he understood a certain thing. Now we have here three or four lines of instruction before us. 'rhey aire in plain English. It 

is upon that that we are to vote, and I supposed· in voting upon it we were to take the langun,ge and see what it meant, and not resort to 

the REcoRn· to see what a Senato~: had said he thought it might mean. Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I merely desire to say that I shall 

vote against the reconsidera.tion of this instruction, but I do not mean thereby to commit myself that I shall vote in favor of any bill that 

may be reported by the Finance Committee under it, as there is so much latitude that I can foresee that a bill might very possibly be 

reported here that I could not support. 

Mr. CAMERON. 1\Ir. President, I shall vote for reconsidering the 

amendment of. the Senator fi·om Tennessee, because I think it presents to the country a false h<,lpe. It pretends to give to the country 

relief when there is no ~uch relief in it. It sends to a committee, acl- verse to what I believe is the interest of the country just now, a proposition for their consideration, in which we give to them the 

authority of their high position to place before the cotmtry their own opinions in contradistinction to what I believe to be the interest of 

the country just now. The country needs help. The panic is not over. Money is said to be plenty in New York. It may b~ plenty 

among the money-changers, who just use their money for the moment 

and for their own momentary benefit; but it is not plenty in the coun- try among the business men, among the farmers, among the ·men who toil for their living, who want help, who have no capital but their 

labor, and who want the assistance of money, or the representative of 

money, to enable them to bring their labor into useful operation. I 

predict that if this Con~ess adjourns without adopting some measure of relief, there will be distre s ten times greater than there was last 

autmnn. The practical evidence to my mind that the country needs 

money is that it is plentiful in New York, ready to be loaned daily for a profit , apparently a small per centage, but a great profit to tho. e people who ate upon money. ' 
1674 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, 

I believe t!.:~ proposition which I presented the ?ther day. would, if 

adopted, be of great service t the country ; I believe so still ; but I am willing to unite with any gentleman in any measure which in my 

judgment will t~nd t<? convince the conntry th_at_ Congress ~s ~~g 

to relieve them rn therr trouiJles. I am not willing to have 1t rud 

that I am in favor of a measure which will embarrass the industry of 

the country for the benefit o~ the speculators of the country; as I am sure this measure will. • The proposition-and it is the same as presented the ot.her day by 

the SQn a tor from Olp.o-is to compel specie payments immediately1 and 

when I say immediately I mean within a year or two. I am desrrous 

that the resumption of specie payments shall come certainly, but that 

it shall come when the country is prepared for it. We are not prepared for it. now ; we are not ready for it now ; and we do not need it. 

Specie is the mere measure of the currency of t.he country. For the 

present we need help, we need assistance t.o the laborer and the miner, 

the manufacturer and the farmer, and the business men ~enerally. 

This brings no relief, but it pretends to relieve those whom 1t is going 

to destroy. 

An immediate resumption of specie payments will enrich the speculator, will still further .enrich the rich man, and will impoverish 

the poor man; and it will make the enterprising man sink _down, and 

instead of his being enterprising it will destroy all his energies and 

impoverish him. Therefore I am not in favor of any such measure as this, and I cannot ·see how an American Senate, legislating for the 

people of the country, can be induced to go into a speculative measure which must, in my jud~ent, and I think in the judgment of every 

busineSR man, destroy the business of the country. 

1\fr. LOGAN. I desired to prE>sent this morning, but did not have 

the opportunity, a petition on this subject, and I now ask permission 

of the Senate to present a petition from oitizens of Chicago. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempm·e. The Senator from Illinois asks leave, 

out of order, to present a petition from citizens of Chicago. Is there 

objection t The Chair hears none. Mr. LOGAN. This petition is signed by 1,090 citizens of Chicago, of 

all classes, except the large bankers-signed by mechanics, by mer- chants, by manufacturers, and by citizens of. Chicago generally. It 

is not signed by the large bankers. There are 1,090 names of respectable people to this petition asking for an increase of the currency. 

While I am up I desire to call the attention of the Senate to one point in the proposition pending, and I shall detain the S~nate but for a moment. I noticed last night that there was quite a disposition on the part of some gentlemen to oppose this measure, thinking it was inflation and expansion, and so many other things that we could not 

tell anything about it. Thoce are reasons tha,t always govern our judgment and that induce us sometimes to chn,nge our previous 

opinions. I have not chn,nged mine, however, in reference to thio 

proposition. If I understand the proposition, it is an instruction to 

the Committee on Finance to report a bill for free banking with this 

condition, that it shall be established upon the theory that a redemption 

of the United States notes shall be commenced with a 5 per cent. 

United States bond, or with gold, at the·pleasure of the Secretary of 

the Treasury. That is what I understand to be the purport and 

meaning of this instruction. These 5 per cent. bonds of course must 

in future be-issued. There is not to be redemption in any other way, as I understand, unless by the Government creating an indebtedness 

which will redeem this currency. That is my understanding of it, 

and the understanding of the Senn.tor who pres~nted it, I think. 

What is the effect of that f. We have now out$400,000,000 of United Stat~ currency drawing no interest whatever. We are entitled to 

bank on the bonds a,h·ea-dy issued by the Government clrawing interest, 

and which draw no more interest whep. used as a banking basis than 

when in the ha,nds of individunJs. We issue 5 per cent. bonds and 

with them redeem United States notes drawing no.interest. Then by 

giving athousand-dollarbondfor 1,000in UnitedSta,tesnotes, the Government pa,ys fifty dollars interest on that for one year. The person who 

receives tha,t bond can redeposit it in the Treasury of the United 

States and receive 90 per cent. in cu.rrenc . On that currency he 

receives, say, 6 per cent. interest. There is 104 interest paid to him, 

of which the Government pays fifty . . That is the whole thing. 

We are advocating, if we advocate this, a proposition causing the 

Government to pay 5 per cent. gold interest on the United Stat-es 

currency upon which we do not now pay a cent. That is all there is 

of it except what has been sa,id by others in reference to the immedia,te J;eturn to specie payments. I merely wished to ca_,ll the attention of the Senate to the fact that we are crea.ting a loan of the Government on which we pay interest to redeem tliat upon which we pay no interest. We- only pay interest now on the bonds that are the ba is 

of the banking currency, but this is to pay interest on tho basis of 

redemption-a very different proposition. 

:Mr. FERRY, of Michigan. I hall vote for reconsideration, if for no other reason than that the proposed instructions, under the interpretation given by the Senator from N w York, are no instructions to the committee. It will be remembered that this bill, if it 

should now go back to the committee, becomes in its present form the 

substantial response to there olution which came to the Senate as an invitation from the committee for some expression of the Senate. 

Now I s.11y, under tho interpretation given by the Senn,tor from New 

York, uywhich the einstructionsmeaneitherexpansionorcontraction, 

auclueither one nor the other, it is left entirely to tpo construction of 

the committee, and will inevitably be left to the major judgment of . tha,t committee. The Senate will understand that the committee were divided when they were considering the question of :finn,uce, 

and becn,use they could not agree they came to the enate for instruc- tions; and now we have the peculiar pos_ition befor us, under the 

interpretation of the S n~tor from New York, that the pending instructions send the matter back without any judgment whatever of 

the Senate. 

Now, I ask the Senator from New York and Senators whether justice to the committee does not require a vote upon expan ion a well as contraction. The Senate has pronounced its judgment upon the 

question of free banking adversely. Certain Senators who ru·e in 

bvor of an increase of the currency are a little afraid of too much 

inflation, and have defeated the proposition for free banking. Is it 

not a fairer course to meet the request of the committee and let the 

Senate, :1fter a reconsideration of this vote, pass another judgment 

upon it; and if the former one be reversed, then vote upon the simple 

issue, will the Senate advise an increase or notf No test of the Senat e has been taken on an expansion of the currency. It cannot be n,rgued 

that it has under the form of free banking. Some he itate to vote 

for an unrestricted measure of this kind, and have not been willing 

to support it. With all the restrictions of re erved cn,pital, the :Jrpprehen ions of redemption, and the actual capit:J,l dema,nded to organize 

banks, I have no fear of free banking based upon 90 p r cent. of Government bonds worth more than par in gold. If it is good for a monopoly it should be as beneficial for the populace. A fr e government should legislate for equality to all of its citizens. . The amendment of the Senator from North Carolina is simply an increase of forty-six miJ..4ons of national currency. The very reso- lution introduced by the chairman of the Committee on Fin_ance asking the judgment of the Senate was in form of an amendment proposed by myself, the question of a moderate increase of the currency. 

That is the pending one on that resolution, but you have a propo ition 

that by priority suppln,nts it now, in the nature of instructions to your 

committee, which for the present ets that aside. . Now I ask Senators if it is not simple fairnes that you should 

declare the judgment of the Senat.e explicitly, and not, by fine e .of 

construction, deprive the Senate of the expression of that judgment 

upon really the vital question of an increase or not. The Senate has 

not yet been given an opp~rtunity to expre s itself upon thi , n.nd the 

country awaits with solicitude the determina,tion whether the Senate 

is. in favor of expansion or contraction. That has not yet been settled; and I ask in behalf of the minority of the committee, speaki_ng 

for none else than myself, and not even for those who accord w1th 

me, ! -entreat for an nnequivoca.l expression, yea or nay, tha,t I may 

be instructed as to the will of the Senate, so that when these Instructions come for consideration before the committee I mav know 

whether the ela ticity cha,racterized by the Senator from New York 

applies toward increase, or whether it applies toward contraction.' I am opposed to contraction. I believe it imperils the intere ts of the 

c01mtry, and will be prejudicial to the commer~ial and industrin,l 

relation of the nation. Believing that in committee, believing that 

in my seat now, I shall act in committee again as my judgment leads me to speak now, unlel' the direct instructions of the enate control me otherwise. If instructed to contract, I shall roll the re ponsibility upon the Senate; but if the interpretation suggested p1·ev~1>ils, n,nd 

it is understood that the instructions rea,lly mean nothing, I go bn,ck 

to the committee-room with my own convictions upon expansion; 

and the honorable chairman of the committee, and t.l}e majority, f?O 

back with their unchanged views of contraction, so that the comDllttee will :find itself beyond the possibility of a~ ement. 

So I say, Mr. Pre idont, in all fairne s,. let this vote be i·econsidered ; 

let the question be retaken on the proposition of the Senator from 

Te'D.nessee, and if that is reversed, -then let a vote follow upon the 

proposition of the Senator from North Carolina; a,nd wheth 1· carried or r ejected the committee can then act, and carry out the will of the 

Senn,te. · 

Anxious as I am to reach this determination, and put the country at 

rest upon the policy of Congre s, I forbear consuming more time upon this question. · . Mr. WEST. Mr. President, before voting on this subject 1 should 

like to ask the chairffiall of the Committee on Finance the practical 

opemtion of the amendment that has been offered by the Senator from 

Tmmessee, and which we now propode to reconside1·. Assuming thn.t 

there is not over-and I merely ta,ke the round sum for the purpose of 

argnment-$300,000,000 of greenbacks in circulatiQD, will they not be 

presented to the Treasury of the United States UDder this propo ·ition 

if you pass a bill to that effect; and willuot the Trea ury of the United 

States, in clefault of coiu, be compelled to issue the bonds of the United 

St&tes bearing 5 per cent. in lieu of them\' I ask that question. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I am surprised at the question. Thi in truction 

contains two simple idea,s. One is, that banking _shall L>e free; that 

what is called monopoly shall be Ivoken up. The other is, that the 

Government of the United States will take some st ps toward re- deeming its promi e, either in coin or bonds. As to th det..'lil , of 

which my frie~d inquires of ~e, I do not want to commit my elf pro or con. My friend from Indiana holds me responsible for a speech 

made a year ago-and I believe in that; but-I expect to give and 

take :1 great. deal before thi. great controversy is settled. I would 

desire very much to accomplish these two ideas. l\fy opinion£ a1·e t he 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1675 

same now that they were then; but I expect, as a matter of course, 

to yielu my opinions somewhat to those of others. ·when the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. COOPER] offered this proposition yesterday, I could see that it was very general and dependent on the details that mi~ht be added to it; and therefore when -my 

friend from Louisiana [Mr. WEST] asks me what would be the effect 

of this particular proposition, I simply say the effect of it is that if 

the Senate recommit this matter with this instroction, it will have 

advanced two simple ideas, one that banking shall be free, and the 

other that we shall take some step toward the appreciation of our notes either in·coin or bonds. 

:Mr. WEST. Well, Mr. President, if the Senator deems it inexpedient to answer the question that I propounded to him, let me state to 

the Senate what is the answer that suggests itself to me in connection 

with it. Here aro 300,000,000 of the national currency, greenbacks, 

in existence. Under this provision the first impulse of everyman 

who holds them will be to present them to the Treasury of the United 

States :md to cn,ll for their redemption in 5 per cent. bonds. The 

bankers who have them all over the country will bring th'!m in, and 

in lien of them they will get the bonds of the United States bearing 

5 per cent. interest., which cost the Government annually in conse- quence thereof $15,000,000. They will take tho 'e very same bonds 

and ~o back to the Treasury of the .United Stn,tes, under the freebanking clause, and demand 90 per cent., or 270,000,000 of nationalbank currency. Consequently in calling in your notes you subject 

your Government to the chn.rge of $15,000,000 annual interest, and 

you have only curtailed your currency 10 per. cent. That is all there 

is of it. The natural inclination of every man will be, following out the 

invitation offered by the Senator from illinois in the statement of his 

$1,000 note, to bring 'it in and get fifty dollars a year from the Treasury, and toon take the currency and loan it out at 6 per 5}ent. and 

get fifty-four dollars more, whereas now he only can get 6 per cent. on his 1,000, or sixty dollars. Consequently by this proposition you are going to put it into the power of the national banking institutions of the country to get $104 a year interest for a thousand, wher now they only get sixty dollars, an!'! of that the Government of -the 

United States has got to pay fifty dollars, if I understand the bnguage .of the instruction. I shall vote for its reconsideration. 

Mr. ALLISON. Mr. President, I thought last evening when this 

instruction wa-s read that I understood very clearly what it meant; 

but I have been rather confused this morniu~ by the statement ma.de 

by the honorable Senator from New York, Llli. Co4 KLL.~G,] that it 

meant one of two things. But, notwithstanding his statement, on further looking at the amendment, I am perfectly clear that it can mean but one thing, which 'is a contraction of the present volume of 

the curren0y; and although the honorable chairman of the Committee on Finance cru.-efully avoids answering that question, yet, when we look at the condition of the currency to-day a-s compared with 5 per . cont. bond , what is the inevitabl~ effect of this amendment f Five 

per cent. bonds y.e terday were worth in the New York market 114 in 

currency, when gold was worth but 112. Therefore, there is a difference to-clay between greenbacks and these 5 per cent. bonds of 14 

per cent; in favor of the bonds. Is it not apparent to every Senat or that under this proposition every man who holds a greenback dollar 

ovill take it to the Trea nry for the 5 per cent. bond m order to make 

that 14 per cent. immediately f Is there anything plainer than th. t 

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. Is it probable that the Secretary of 

the Treasury, by any law that wo~d be proposed by the Committee on Finance, would offer the bonds in exchange to the holders of notes 

without offering them in market and getting :ill the advantage there wa f 

Mr. ALLISON. I am speaking of this instruction. It is a bill providing for the "convertibility," not the sa] e. Therefore every man who holds a greenba-ck is entitled, under the instruction, to go to the 

Secretary of the Treasury and say, "I want the coin or a 5 per cent. 

bond." There is nothing plainer than that; and therefore I am amazed at any Senator saying that there is a confusion in reference 

to this instruction. . It is, in effect, substantially the measure proposed 

by the chairman of the Committee on Finance, which, he has told us (}Ver and over again, means resumption of specie payments or an effort 

in that direction. And wh:v does he make that statement It is be- cause he expects to reduce the volume of the greenback currency by 

this convertibility into 5 per cent. bonds. Therefore every proposition that has been presented by the chairman of the Committee on Finance looks to the conversion of the gre~back into a bond of the 

United States; 1'hich means, in other words, that there shall be a- r eduction of its volume, ~nd under this instruction every greenback 

that is issueu can be converted into a 5 per cent. bond, at the option 

of the hol<ler of that greenback. There is nothing plainer. Therefore 

there is substance in tbis instruction, and such sub tance as will lead me to vote for a reconsideration). so that the Committee on Finance 

shall know whether or not the ~enate propo es a reduction, immediate, without limit, of the volum.e of the-greenback currency. Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Mr . .PJ.-esident, I did not suppo e that I 

could be persuaded to utter another word upon this subject in it 

present condition, and I do not mean any offense when I say that it 

strikes me that this matter is anomalous in its character. I doubt 

whether the Senat e of the United States ever in its history exhibited 

it e1f in a character o Cl_uesticnahle in J1 pa-rliamentary sense as it has 

since this propositiou has been uefore it. Now, sir, what .is the position of the Senate of the United States f On a simple proposition 

which everybody desh-es, which ev ·ybody in the Senate for the e 

four years has desired, simply to execute a meas1.rre for tl.J e redistribution and equalization of the currency inaugurn,ted in 1 70, w e insist 

upon airing our opinions upon the whole subject of finance ; and gen- tlemen, day after day, week after week, month after month, to the 

exclusion of other busine s, iterate and reiterate, repeat, affirm, and 

reaffirm, their conscientious conviction in their several theories- all 

of them theories pretty much- very little fact anyway. I have sat 

here quietly listening to these things until my brain is in such a muddle upon this whole question called finance that I pray God to be re- lieved some how or other of any further cliscussion upon this subject. 

[Laughter, and indications of applause in the ~a,lleries.] 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tentpore. Approbl;l,tion 1s out of order. 

1\Ir. MORRILL, of 1\Iaine. Well, it is very embarrassing, to say the 

least of it. My honorable friend who hns just ~aken his seat [Mr. 

ALLISON]- and he knows my admiration of him is such that I could 

not do :m offense under any circumstances- goes into a rhapsody over this question· of inflation every time he has an opportunity. He 

wants us to understand that under any circumstances and in any 

situation of life he is for inflation, or I believe he denominated it as expansion. on· the other hand, there are others who take the other 

extreme and say that they are for contraction. I believe my honorable friend from Michigan [1\Ir. FERRY] began with the assertion that 

he was for moderate expansion. But, 1\Ir. Pre iclent, here, at tho end 

of two months, what astonishes me is that when all this contrariety 

of opinion has been disclosed-and if we see anything clear we must see that nothing can be reached here- we hesitate to send the bill to a committee who can consider it and return to the Senate some plan, some proposition which shall form the nucleus at lea-st of rational 

and intelligent discussion. Gentlemen agonize on this floor as if some great advantage was to be gained by orne vote in favor of inflation or in favor of contraction;· as if it would be a, wise and important thing to establish a fact of that sort before the hill goes 

back to the committee ; that unless the committee are hampered, or, 

in other words, unless the committee are enlightened by some vote 

that may be taken on this subject, when the votes are running so close, as are exhibited by the RECORD .of yesterday, there is fear tha.t 

this committee will not be inspired with orne wholesome views upon 

the whole subject of finance. Is it not clear to-day, after these two 

months' discussion, that nothing is to be gn,ined by the continuance 

of this discussion further¥ Is there anythin~ c1earer than that if we intend an intelligent consideration of thiS whole question we must commit it to a committee sooner or later¥ And what is to be 

gained by proc~n.stinating this debate f 

My honorable friend from Michigan insists upon it thn.t he will 

know for his own benefit, if he can, what i the sene of the Senate 

upon expansion. Well, sir, if he ~ad been an intelligent observer of 

the votes that were taken yesterday he might guess what the sense of the Senate is upon the question of an inclefillite issue of irredeemable paper, to Ray the least of it. Let us see. There was a distinct 

propo ition before the Senate upon that subject, free banking, free 

issue of irredeemable pa,per; and I hn,ve before me the vote of the 

Senate. What are the inferences to be drawn from that¥ Clearly 

that th.e Senate of the United States is not preyared to launch upon an illimitable sea of irredeemable currency, call it expansion, call it 

inflation, ca,ll it what you please; set it down that the Senate of the 

United States, if the vot.e means anything, means that we he itat-e 

to enter upon that sea. Further, a vo~e was taken upon the question 

of in tructing the committee "to report a bill for 'free banking and 

providing for the convertibility of the United States Treasury notes 

into ]ow-interest bonds or gold coin." Is there any significance in that 

vote' If so, which way does it t.endf I do not undertake to assert 

here; but it shows a contrariety of opinion which cannot be harmo- nized on this floor; and it is idle, in my judgment, to talk about it. 

Now, sir, I do not care a penny for the instructions of your votes to 

this committee. What we want i8 some information, some plan, some proposition from this org;i,n of the Senn,te, growing out of the ex- perience or information which they have obtained from this clis- cussion; and, in my judgment, the propriety of the whole thing is to 

let this subject go back to them without being hampered one way or the other. They- can probably fprm their own judgment a1:1 to what 

the Senate will be likely to do ·on any proposition they may submit 

from what ha-s taken place since this di cussion began. And, in my 

jud"ment, they will be feelingly alive to the best intere ts of the 

cOlmtry, and also they will regard the fact which ha.ve been developed 

here, and we shall be much more likely to get a proposition which 

will be satisfactory to the whole country than we shall if we under- ta,ke to hamper this committee by a vote which may be an expTe ·sion one way or the other, and which may fuil to be an expres ion ·by a sin(l'le member or a half-dozen members b ing out of their seats. 1\h. President, I rose·to appeal to Senators to cease to struggle any 

longer upon the questidn of inflation or the que tion of contraction, 

but to allow tbis whole subject of finance rai ed upon this bill, which 

involves the simple question of the equalization of the circulation by a reclistributiou, to go back to the committee unhampered, and, pray, 

let us take the vote at the pre ent time. Mr. GORDON. Mr. President, I shall detain the Senate bnt a very 

few moments. Verily, sir, we have made some strn,nge discoveric in 

the progress of this discussion. I do not think we are la.uoring in vain. 
1676 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20; 

The honorable Senator from Maine [Mr. MORRILL] who hus ju t taken 

his seat has made the· discovery that the old adage that "there is 

safety in the multitude of council" i fal e; that we ought not to 

deliberate, but refer the question without instruction to the committee; that it is afer to trust this que tion, which is of more vital interest 

to the people than any which has or can be brought before us, to a half-dozen Senators, four out of six of whom agree with him in opinion, 

than to trust it to the whole body of the representatives of the people. 

Sir, I take issue with the honorable Senator. There is wisdom m consultation. I am unwilling to commit-without instructions. I am a firm believer in the old adage that in the multitude of council 

there is safety. I am also as firmly convinced that the Committee on Finance neither represents the wi bes nor the best interests of this 

country. On examination of this committee I find t.hat there are but 

two who favor any increase of the currency; and we are asked to 

recommit this whole· question to that committee without any instructions whatever. Who is not able to predict in advance the cbara{}ter 

of the bill which will come from the committee T 

But the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. MERRllfON] has also made 

a discovery. He tells us there is no difference between the proposition submitted by myself and that submitted by the honorable Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. COOPER,] although the latter provides for 

carrying money into the Treasury without any provision "for bringing it again into circulation, which ·is contraction; while the other, 

which I bad the honor to submit, provides for both carrying inoney 

into the Treasury, by allowing conversion of ~eenbacks· into lowinterest bonds, and for bringing currency again mto circulation when 

needed by providing for the reconversion of the bonds into greenbacks at the option of the holder; yet the honorable Senator from 

North CaroJ.ina. can see no difference between the two. Both are modifications of the proposition of the Senator from Pennsylvania 

for free b::mking. Y~ the hono:r;able Senator from North Carolina 

refuses to vote either for the proposition of the Senator from Pennsylvania for free banking without modification, or for the proposition 

of the Senator from Tennessee for free banking with the provision 

which would limit it.s operations; or for the proposition submitted 

by myself, which provides for free banking with the privilege of con- verting greenbacks into bonds when currency was redundant and 

bonds into greenbacks when currency was scarce and interest exorbitant or pamc prevailed. Still the Senator can see no difference in 

them, :1Jd refuses his support to either. He prefe!'B to let the mo- nopoly stand, and grant a limited· inc.rease to its power in the bands 

of the few and trust to legisbtion hereafter. He thns refuses, when 

the opporttmity is afforded, to strike down the monopoly under which· his own people now suffer, and which h:tS well-nigh ground them to 

powder. 

I confess to have witnessed with pain and amazement the course of 

the honorable Senator from my sister State in this tr:y"ing emergency. 

When the great question of all other questions involved in this con- troversy is presented, as to whether this monopoly wns to be perpetuated in this country, that the Senator who had stood beside ns heretofore should be found now in the ranks of the oppo ition fills me with pain and amazement. Sir, I commend him to his constituency. 

I know not how he will be able to answer them; and w bile he assures me that he welcomes the responsibility, let me say that I rejoice that 

that responsibility is his and not mine. Sir, rather than give a vote on this rloor to fasten upon the necks of my people the yoke which 

they now wear-the burden of this monopoly weighing us down 

with 25 per cent. money-! would see this right hand wither at my 

side. I must be pardoned for saying that I do not believe any of the 

producers from my section agree with the Senator from North Carolina.. Let me say to him that they dread far more the power of money 

in the hands of the few than any disasters which- could follow a redundancy of circulation. 

But let that be a it may, if the honorable Senator will not join us in striking down this great monster, I am glad to say that I shall join 

him in accomplishing a much less. good-the increase of currency 

under the monopoly. I shall go to him to secure the less if he will not 

join me in securing the greater good. With all my respect for the 

honorable Senator I must be pernntted to say that I was deeply pained 

to find that in the very hour of our trial and of our triumph, wheJ;J. we lacked but two v-otes of carrying th~ greatest proposition we have had 

before us, which would have secured the absolute redemption of our people, we should. lose those two votes from those who had hitherto 

stood by our side. · But let us now look at the position we occupy before the country. 

We refuse to the people a. free-banking law, witbr~demption of greenbacks in low-interest bonds, and have voted them free banking only 

upon conditions so burdensome to the tax-payers as to destroy its 

value to tho people. The amendment we have voted provides that 

greenbacks may be returned to the Treasury by the· holders-the 

bankers-who shall receive for them bonds which the honorable Senator from Iowa bas just shown are worth more than gold to-d'lly in the 

market. In other words, it is an actual, immediate resumpti9n of 

specie payment· and putting our greenbacks above par g,t a fearful 

cost to the people. That is the effect of it ru1questionably; and I 

defy any Senator on this floor to meet that fact. If the hold r of $100 

in greenbacks can o-o to the Treasury, at the other end of this a enue, 

an<l clcpo it it and' receiYe a bond therefor of '100, and carry that 

bond to Now Xork and sell it for more than 100 in.gold, have we not 

instituted more than resumption here in a single day V Have we not, instead of giving relief, don bled the burdens of the people V 

But Senators eem to ha.v-emaden,nother singuL'rr discovery, namely, 

that the way to rid us of our troubles i to ask the banker bow to 

get out. I have been surprised at the pre ent..'ttion of petition after 

petition, memorial after memorial, from the bankers of tho country 

who eek to f,rnide ns out of our trouble . Sirr when British power 

sought to crush thE5 liberties of the Colonies, when they gro~ncd b -

neath the heel of British tyranny, bow is it that our fathers di<l not 

discover that they must fly to British authority for the means of es- cape from that power f That, I humbly conceive, would have be n quite as rational a course as the one pm-sued in asking the moneypower to liberate us. The bankers, who secure their 25 per cent. per annum; the bank rs, 

wh_o number less, probably, tba.n 2,000,000 of the 42,000,000 of this 

people; the bankers, who do not number one-tenth, scarcely one- twentieth, of our population, yet who furnish its entire cmTency, and 

out of the sweat and the toil of the laborer, grow rich, while the producer grows poor-these are the men who flood this Chamber with 

their memorials. To these we are asked to lend an ear, while concen- trated capital clutches by the throat and stranglea the industries of 

the people. . Monopoly! It is a great monopoly, Mr. President, in my judgment, 

when a few men have the power of forcing the large number who 

produce the wealth to pay such rates of interest as destroy all p1·os- ~~ . But we are told by the honorable Senator from Ohio, the chairman 

of the Finance Committee, that the adoption of the proposition ubmitted by the Senator from Pennsylvania is the death-knell of the 

national banks. I am unable to see how it is the death-knell of the 

national banks; but I h~ve this to add, that I would rather it were the 

death-knell of the power which b. crushed ue than the death-knell of 

theproductionswhicbsupport us. Ifoneistoperish,letmonopolyperish, and in God's name let it perish first. I readily admit that the 

passage of that measure would be the death-knell of monopoly in tho 

money of the country. It would be the death-knell of 25 per cent. 

interest. But; sir, the same knell that tolled its death would also announce a new birth to the productive energies of the people which now languish in this country. 

But the honorable Senator from New York [Mr. CoNKLING] has 

also made the discovery that to increase our irredeemn,ble pap r would be, to use his figure and his ow;n eloquent language, "to launch 

this country on a. sea without shore or bottom." I have omething to 

say in this connection. For my part I would rather that it shonlU 

be launched on a sea that ha(l no bottom and no shore than on the sea upon which the productive interests of this country are now launched-a sea. that has neither depth of water nor breadth of water on which to float a solitary indu try of thi nation. We are already 

launched on a ea, and it is a mo t disastrous sea, a the statistic of . failures wip abundantly prove. It is a most disastrous sea,- as the 

memorial introduced by the honorable Senator from Illinois but a few 

.moments ago will show. It is a most disastrous ea, as we learn from 

every section, with the exception of the moneyed East. It is a ea where breakers are thick, where the shores are narrow, where the 

water is shallow. It is a sea upon which the good ship of our -prosperity has already been stranded. It lies there now, with ito sails all 

rent and its masts all riven; and every effort to remantle it is defeated 

by this monopoly which controls it. 

But to drop the figure suggested by the eloquent Senator from 

New York, [Mr. CoNKLING,] let me repeat what I have said before, 

that in a new and. growing country and a country burdened with 

debt there is infinitely greater disaster to follow insufficiency of 

money than an abundant supply. 

Before I close, I desire to admonish Senators who turn a deaf ear to 

the producing classes that they mistake if they suppose this question can be settled against the demands of the people in this Congress. 

No, sir; the laboring clas es, the producing cla ses, have drawn the 

sword on this question, and I trust they will throw away the scab bard 

and never sheathe it until we have sect)Ied a currency which shall not 

belong to a few, but which shall make the phrase "equal rights," 

not a mockery as it is now, but a tangible reality. Sir, money is a great power. I know what I confront when in my place here I ven- ture to assail it. I know what it has accomplished in the legishttion 

of this country heretofore. I know what it seeks to accomplish today; but the people will triumph in the encl. The old feudal power was strong; but it was broken; and as sure as the feudal power was vanquished, as sure as the serfs were emancipated from that sy tern, so sure, year after year, at the recurring elections in the North, in tho 

'\Vest, and in the South, the producing clas es of this conntry will 

unite as one man, and, despisi:rig party politics, will rise in th ir m~je ty and demand that this monopoly shall no longer exist. 

But, sir, I have said more than I intended. I trust this motion to 

reconsider will prevail. 

Mr. FERRY, of Connecticut. Mr. President, I do not rise to enter 

into this di cussion at all, but to endeavor to bring the discussion to a clo e. Early in the se ion the Committee on Finance introduced 

into the Senate resolutions embodying the views of the different mem- bers of that committee, upon which, by their chairman, they asked an expre ion of the opinion of the Senate. While those re olutiooA were pending the committee brought in a bill for a specific object, and 
. , 

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RE·OORD. 1677 

upon that bill the discus ion which they asked for upon their reso- lutions has gone on till the present time, and until that discussion, in 

my judgment, is entirely exhausted. It has also, I think, become 

apparent that if the discus ion is permitted to proceed the bill upon 

which the discus :ion is nominally going on cannot pass, and as all the 

enlightenment which the committee <1e ired when they introduced 

their resolution must now have been obtu.ined, and as it is apparent 

that the specific bill before us cannot pass, and· as I believe that every 

Senator here desires that this discusSion shall be brought to an end, and 

as, if it is brought to an end, the general subject of finance will be 

in the hands of the committee precisely the sa.me as if the bill were recommitted without instructions, I now move that the bill and the 

amendments be laid upon the table. 

Mr. MERRIMON. On that motion I demand the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

Mr. WEST. I should like to ask what the effect of · the vote 

will be. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. BOREMAN in the chair.) The 

motion is to lay the bill, with the amendments, on the table. It will 

carry everything with it, in the opinion of the Chair. 

The Chief Clerk proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. FLANAGAN. I am Pll>ired on this question with the Senator 

from :Mississippi, .Mr. ALcor..N. If he were here he would vote 

"nay," and I should vote" yea." 

Mr. HAMILTON, of Texa.s. I presume my pair with the Senator 

from Kansas, "Mr. I TGALLS, extends to this question. If he. were pre ent, I suppose he would vote against the motion; I should vote 

in favor of it. 

Mr. SAULSBURY. I am paired with the Senator from North Carolina, Mr. RANSOM. If he were here he would vote "nay," and I 

should vote "yea." . The result was then announced-yeas 17, nays 36; as follows: 

YEA&-Messrs. Anthony, Boutwell, Buckingham, Chandler, Conkling, Ferry of 

Connecticut, Frelingbnysen, Hamlin, Howe, .Tones, Kelly, Sargent, Schurz, Stewart, 

Stockton, Sumner, and·Wadleigh-17. NAY&-Messrs. Allison, Bogy, Boreman, Cameron, Carpenter, Clayton, Conover, 

Davis, Fenton, Ferry of Michigan, Goldthwaite, Gordon, Hager, Harvey, Hitchcock, .T ohnston, Logan, McCreery, Merrimon, Mitchell, Morrill of Maine, Morrill 

of Vermont, Morton, Norwood. Oglesby, Patterson, Pease, Pratt, Ramsey, Robert- son, Scott, Sherman, Spencer, St.flvenson, West, and Wright--36. ABSENT-Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard, Brownlow, Cooper, Cragin, Dennis, Dorsey, Edmunds, Flana~an, Gilbert, Hamilton of Maryland, Hamilton of Texas, Ingalls, Lewis, R:msom, >::laulsbnry, Sprogue, Thurman, Tipton, and Windom- 20. 

So t.he motion to lay on the ta.ble was not agreed to. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on the motion 

to reconsider the instructions moved by the Senator from Tennessee, 

[Mr. COOPER.] 

Mr. STEvVART. Mr. President, I do not wish to prolong this debate; but as the discussion has gone on, there have been so many 

appeals in behalf of poor men a.nd in favor of expansion, that I can- not but call the attention of the Senate for one moment to this resolution of instruction: 

And that the Committee on Finance be, :md t-hey are hereby, instructed to report n. bill providing for the convertibility of United States Treasury notes into gold coin or 5 per cent. bonds of the United States. 

Now, I want to know if there is anything dishonest or wrong in 

that proposition, t-aken by itself 'f The United States have agreed to 

do thlli very thing; and their agreement has stood repudiated for the 

last twelve years, and it has been the principal thing tbatha,g brought 

repro'1ch upon the country. It is the only instance in the last forty 

years. 

Mr. CAMERON. I wish the Senator would yield to me a moment. 

Mr. STEW ART. I decline to be interrupted. Mr. CAMERON. Will not the Senator a.llow nie to ask him a questionY • Mr. STEWART. I prefer to go on. I simply rose to say a few 

words, and shall be through very soon. I sa.y the Unlted States have agreed to do this, and it is the only 

solemn agreement that the United States has made for many, many 

yea,rs that it has repudiated for this length of time ; and it is the one thing that affects the credit of the United States inore than anything 

else. This proposition simply proposes as a matter of honesty and 

fairness t-o pay this debt as we agreed to do, and to take up thiS irredeemable stu1f. There is .nothing very dishonest in that. It is simply a question of honesty or dishonesty, whether the Government of the 

Unitea States intends to pay its debts as it ha.s agreed to do. What 

is the next proposition 

And nJso for free banking, under the provisions of the national-b:mk act. 

Is there 'l1Ilything very monstrous in that proposjtion T I heard the 

Senator from Georgia a moment ago delivering himself of a most eloquent oration. H!3 appeaJ.ell to the people against this monster, the 

national-ba.nk system, because it was a monopoly, anll he called upon 

the people to array themselves against this monopoly. This re olution proposes to destroy the monopoly feature of that system and to 

open it to everybody. Is there anything ve1·y wrong' a.bout thaU 

Mr. LOGAN. That is what we have been trying' to do. 

Mr. STEW ~R~. This resoh~tion prol!oses to do that very thing. 

Senators say 1t w1ll cost something to do 1t. It costs sometbin cr to be 

honest; it always costs something to pay your debts ;• but it is 0better 

for the United States to pay its debts t:han to lo e its honor. Of course it will cost something, but it will not cost the lr.boriHg man a 

cent. It will give him money that has a purchasing power ; so that 

he can buy clothing for his children arid for himself. It will cost the 

speculator something who runs up prices on this irredeemable trash; 

it. will bring him down to the bed-rock; but it will give the money 

that the laboring man receives for his hire a purcha.sing power, so that 

he can live and bnv his bread. 

But Senators say this is contraction. I doubt very much whether 

it would be contraction. At all events, under it we can have a.ll the 

money that we can earn and pay for; there is no limitation and no monopoly. If by means of this process greenbacks are funded it will 

be because they are worth less than 5 per cent. per annum in the hands 

of the people, for if t bey are worth more than 5 per cent. per annum they will never go into these bonds. If they are worth in their hands more than 5 per cent. per annum, they will keep them. But if it is 

really true that this money is not worth 5 per cent. per annum in the 

hands of the people, let us exchange it for something that is worth more. Then these greenba-cks will be delivered up if they are worth 

less than 5 per cent. per annum, and not otherwise. 

Wha.t will be done with the capital that goes into the bonds f You can depo it those bonds and establish a national bank anywhere you 

please. Delivering them up will not destroy your ca.pital. With it 

you buy bonds, and with those bonds you cane tablish national banks. 

By this process the Government of the United States will redeem a pledge which it ha solemnly made, in which its honor is involved. 

By this process the greenb::wks, if they are worth less than f> per cent. , per annum, will be delivered up. By this process the monopoly of na- tional banks will be disposed of, and we shall have free banking open 

to everybody. By this process we shall come to a specie basis, and 

when the laboring man receives a dollar it will have the purchasing 

power of a dollar, and he will not be called upon to do what is impossible for him or for the producing classes to do, fi~:,rure upon the ex- changes, figure upon the fluctuations, figure upon the gambling in 

New York; but he will know what his money is worth. Gold is the 

universal standard of the world. Everybody knows what a dollar 

in gold is worth. 

This experiment of issuing irredeemable paper has been tried by 

almost every nation and in almost every age, and it has been con- demlled as often as it has been tried. Do you think th;ot this gener!ltion is wiser than all tha.t have gone before, or that this nation is wiser 

than all the other nations of the earth t Certainly not. You cannot 

pay your debts with paper; you must pay them with value. Anyone can see that you might inflate and print more money, and continue 

to do it. and .lessen its purchasing pow.er until you demngell all the 

industries of the country; and you might go so far that printing upon 

your paper would depreciate its value rat.her than increase it. That 

has been the case. France went so far that the . paper after it was printed was not worth so much a.s it was before. That may be done by us if we are as wild and as crazy a.s they were. In a time of profound peace, with the ability to redeem onr pledge, we hesitate whether we will accept of the universal standard of value 

established by all civilized nations. We hesitate whether we will give 

the la.boring man a dollar which has purchasing power enough to 

support him.- We hesitate whether we will stop the speculatlon in 

gold in New York. We hesitate whether we will take out. of the 

hands of middle-men the capacity to eat up the wealth of the coun- try. We hesitate-whether the profits of thisla.nd shall all concen- trate in the commercial centers, where money.is the object of trade, 

where organizatiollil are formed for the purpose of getting rlch on your depreciated currency and robbing the producer. We hesitate 

whether we shall be honest and fair; the Senate hesitates; aml the 

Senators appeal to the people in speeches, and call upon them to throttle the banks, to throttle the monopoly, to bring down the rate of intere.'3t. This proposition is the. very thing that throttles dishonesty, 

and it is the very thing that we want. We want a proposition against 

dishonesty; we want the nation to redeem its pledge, and we want 

banks established on a ba is of value that the world understands; 

that the humblest laboring man can understand. 

Whatever we may do here to-day, whatever changes may be wrought 

in this matter, we shall ultimately come back to specie payments ; but 

whenever we do come back to specie payments, we shall come with a strug_s:le. There never will be a time when we can do it better than now. Eipand to-day, and you encourage speculation; and when you · try to pay your debts, there will be an effort to resist it then as now. You never will get nearer to it unless you walk in that direction. 

Mr. LOGAN. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question 'f 

Mr. STEWART . .. Yes, sir. 

Mr. LOGAN. The Sena-tor says he is i:n favor of spee:ie payments. 

If he is in favor of specie payments, why does he wiSh to insert a redemption by bonds in this bill! Why not redeem in specie 'f 

Mr. STEWART. I wish to do it, because we have agreed to pay 

this debt in specie, but we have not got the gold to pay it. · l\Ir. LOGAN. Then JVe have no gold to pay for the bonds. 

Mr. STEW ART. If we have not got the gold to pay it, let us give our note bearing interest. Let us not repudiate our debt because we have got poor, because we have not the money; but let us adopt the 

alternative, and give our note bearing intere t. If a man who cannot 

pay his debt when called upon to do so should refuse also to pay 

interest to his cre.ditor, he would soon lose his character in the com- mercial world as an honest man; he could not sustain his credit for an hour . 
1678 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, -

Mr. LOGAN. The Senator says he is in favor of specie payments, 

but he does not go for that now, because we have not got the specie. 

Now he proposes to redeem in bonds. Let me ask him what he propose to pa,y the bond with f . · Ir. STEW ART. I do not propose to pay the bond by starting a printing press; I do not propose to pay the bond by issuing irredeemable currency; I propose to pay the bond with value; I propose to 

pay it in gold, from the earnings and taxation of the people; and thu,t 

is the only way it can be paid. I repudiate the idea of repudiation 

here. The bonds can be only paid in one way, and every honest man knows it. I would say to the man who holds this dishonored p3lper, 

"I will pay you in gold if I have got it; the Secretary is authorized 

by this measure to pay you in gold if he has got it; but if he has not, 

I will stand by the pledge so far as I can; I will give you my note 

bearing intere t." And that is honest . .Mr. President, I did not intend to occupy the attention of the Senate so long as I have; but I could not forbear saying this much in re- sponse to this appeal of Senators for an unlimited or a limited, or a modera,te or a great amount of irredeemable currency to further distract the country, to further encourage speculation, to fmther oppress 

the poor, to fmther eat up the resources of this country, to invite more panics. I do protest against a fmther repudiation of the promises of 

the Government. I do protest a,gainst any attempt to pay debts with 

irredeema,ble paper, because it is false in theory, false in fact, false in ' principle . . It has been tried a thousa,nd times, and has always left a black mark upon the nation tha,t tried it--:-a mark always to be regretted. We have nowthe powerto keep our obligation; it is a time 

of profound peace. And let me say to Senators that I believe if you 

will invite gold here by making it a commodity that can be used, if 

you will redeem your greenbacks, if yon will allow any company to 

bank that will comply with the banking laws and put up the proper 

securities, forty million people will get the gold. Eighty million dollp,rs is produced annually from your mines: vVe have resources abundant to get the gold. Forty million people can furnish all the money 

that is necessary. Theywill get it. vVhen gold is in-yited ton, coun- try like this, with such an industrious people as we hav~, with our industry and our resomces, I say there will b~ no difficulty about getting sufficient gold. 

Why, sir, everything yon have got is measured by gold. Your 

greenbacks are measmed by gold. But your contrivance is so uncer- tain, tha,t the middle-man reaps :ill the reward, while the producer is 

robbed continuously. Under this proposition you will have ju~t as much money in the country, and more, because gold will then be 

worth something; gold will not be excluded. Of course, if you treat 

it as a commodity and export it' from the country, you are not going 

to have gold. If you are going to have gold in this country, you 

must make a demand for gold by using it. Do not treat it unkindly 

in this way. In every country where gold has been treated unkindly, 

whe1·e the government has favored a depreciated currency, gold has 

left the country. G-old left France at the time she undertook this same experiment. Gold left England when she allowed irredeemable paper to be circulated, and she had to go back to the regular 

standard before she could get it back. G-old left Holland· in the same way. Gold will leave n,ny country where it is made to a-s ociate with 

rags that are irredeemable. You have legislated gold out of your 

country. Invite it back, and forty million people will get you all 

the gold you want. Then with paper issued by the Government of 

the United States, redeemable in the first instance by the banks, you 

will have a currency tha.t is better than any you ever ha-d before. You 

will have all the gold you need as a regulator, a-s a basis for your cur- rency, and it will come very shortly. Then we sh::ill. have pro~perity 

ba-sed upon a certainty. But do not ~et us ~o any further in the direction of repudiation; do not let us go any turther in the direction of 

dishonesty; but let uscome backtohonesty now a-owe have the capacity and ability to do. :Mr. CAMERON. :Mr. President, the Senator from Nevada refused, 

probably very correctly, to allow me to interrupt him in his speech to 

ask him·a question. I proposed to ask him a very plain question, 

which would not have taken more than a moment to answer. He 

said that our currency was the reproach of the country. I wanted 

to know from the Senator where was the reproach. Was the issuing 

of our greenbacks, and <tfterward the establishment of our national 

banks, a reproach when it saved the country from the hand of the 

spoilerf Was it a reproach when this Government of ours, which I 

and other men believe the most beneficent Government in the world, was saved from destruction and the cotrntry from dismemberment "I 

Was that a reproach 'f I think not. Without our banking system, 

without om greenbacks, we should have been severed long ago. The 

great consummation of the war, which destroyed so much capital and so many v;tluable lives, was saved to us and to the world and to future 

generations by the currency which the wisdom of Congress gave to 

the people. I think there wa no reproach in that. 

Then again the Senator said, what I do not believe is true, that it 

costs something to be honest. J\Iy teaching has always been that 

honesty is the best policy. In my judgment it is always profitable to 

be honest. The man w.ho only looks for pecuniary profit is a fool, 

because he always suffers. Just and honest acts of individuals, and 

wiso andju t acts of leg:tslators, always produce benefits, not only for 

those for whom they legislate, but for themselves. The man in this 

Senate who will protect the laborer and the producer will alwa,ys re- ceive honor anti profit. He will derive no lo s from that. 

Mr. STE\VART. Did I understand the Senator to ask me where 

the reproach was 'I 

. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Pennsy 1 vania. 

yield to the Senator from Nevada 

Mr. CAMERON. Yes, sir; I will be more civil to him than he_was tome. 

Mr. STEW ART. In time of need we made the promise; and I do 

not question the honesty of it, if you propose to discuss that que tion; 

but the reproach comes now, when we have got the ability to redeem 

that promise, that we will not do it. It is no reproach to a poor man to get illto debt, but when he gets rich and is able to pay, then it is a reproach if he attempts to put his property out of his hands and 

go into bankruptcy to avoid pa,ying his debt. 

1\!r. CAMERON. :Mr. President, the Senator from Nevada; or any 

other man who owns a silver mine producing a million or two a yeru·, can talk about the time having come; but the poor manufacturer in 

my State who builds railroad-cars, or who manufactures pig-iron, can- not afford to pay his honest debts just now. Neither can the farmer 

of my State, nor the farmer of Illinois, nor the cultivator of the soil 

anywhere. · The only man I am surprised at in this connection is my friend on my left, [:Mr. GILBERT.] He, a man who has made his fortune by ihe 

increase of property- pmcha ed by his toil, is against us. Now, on this great question of the money-lenders against the money-bon-ow- . ers-for that is the only question really before us-the men who have 

got fortunes beyond their wants1 who· can make money out of the nece sities of the poor, are all agamst any increase of that life-giving 

article ca,lled cmrency in the country. The enterprising men everywhere, a,nd the men who rely upon the enterprising men whether they 

have fortunes or not, are willing to do all they can to relieve the 

people; and I am SlJlPrised that a few Senators here, who owe all that 

they have, as I do, to their own toil and their own ability and their own industry, are now unwilling to give to those who are struggling as they have struggled the benefits of such a currency as will give 

life and prosperity to the business of the country. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. President, I shall vote against recon- sidering the vote taken yesterday, for two reasons: not becau e I like 

the measure adopted, but beca,use it is indefinite; and because if we adopt anything else I am afraid we shall get something worse. . It seems to me tha,t this is a most anomalous proceeding. I do not 

say that it is unparliamentary, but it is very near it .. We are violating the customs of legislation. A bill is introduced by a committee. 

It is read once; it is read the second time; it is read the third time; 

it is-put upon its passage. Every time we vote we feel the responsibility of our vote; we are making laws. What are we doing now 7 

This is a very respeebble debate, but the result amounts to nothing. 

Does any one ask I(le whether it is an unusual thing to give in truetiona to a committee' I say, yes. I say it is wit.hout any precedent 

in legislation, as far as I am informed a,nd a I believe, on a complex, 

intrica,te question, where the legisbtive body is equally divided, in 

that state of things to instruct a committee how they sha,ll perform 

their work. 

:Mr. J\IORTON. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question 'I 

1\Ir. FRELINGHUYSEN. Certainly. . :Mr. MORTON. In view of that statement, I a k why it i thu,t he 

wants to bold on to an instruction that was adopted by le s than h..<tlf 

the Senate, an inadvertent vote, when certainly one half the Senate 

dicl not vote at allY The Senator says he will vote against reconsidering it. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSE;N.. I will answer my friend. I will vote for 

any motion that is made to lay this whole subject on the table, as I · ha,ve done. I will vote, after more vote are taken, for that motion 

at any time, or to recommit the bill without any instructions at all, atany~e. 

Mr. President, I think I have learned something by this debate. 

My impres ion is that I have gathered the sense of the Senate, and I 

shall be guilty of the temerity of stating it. I believe the average sense of the Senate is a bill something like this: 

It shall provide in the :first section, that the Secretary of the Treasr 

ury be authorized to a~cumulate gold from time to time, as the market 

will permit him, with a view at some time of resuming specie payments by the G-overnment of the United St.~ttes. 

- In the second section, that$70,000,000 be issued of a,dditional nationalb:mk-note. currency for the accommodation of·those States that have 

not their distributive share; that a like amount of greenbacks be re- tired; that the remaining · 300,000,000 of greenbacks be rendered con- vertible and kept convertible by the Trea my of the United States. 

I believe that is the average sense of the Senate, although it does 

not suit, perhaps, any one of us exactly; and I. think that is about the 

point that we shall come to if we refer this subject to the committee. 

Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, since the inotion was made in the Senu,te to amencl the motion made by the Senator from Connecticut [1\fr. 

BucKINGHAJ\I] by instructing the committee, I have been hoping and waitin~, being one of that committee which was to be instructed by the action of the Senate. I was rejoiced for a moment to suppose thu,t 

the learning to ·which we ha-d been listening for several weeks wa.s likely to be condensed into instructions which the committee could 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD . . 1679 

follow, and hat very docile, wa.itingfortho einstructions. When they 

finally came, the first thing that developed itself in the Senate was that 

the teacher quarreledoverthe .lesson tha.thad ueengiven to the pupil, - aml the question was, wha.t did the instructions meanT \Ve went on for some time with this eli cussion, e:wh Senator putting ills own-on a motion to recon ider- interpretation upon the instructioM which 

hn.n aJready been given. Finally a. motion c:.tme from the other Senator irom Connecticut [Mr. FERRY] to by the whole 'que tion upon 

the table; but the Senate holds on to the whole question, a.nd we have it here yet. Now, 1\Ir. President, as a member of. thn.t committee, I rise for the 

purpose of seeing whether, after all this discussion ~~d the refus;t~ to 

lay upon the table, we cn,nnot get back to the ongmn,l propoSitiOn 

which the committee reported to t.he Senate. There are other meas- ures pending upon which all the questions that haye been raised upon 

this bill can be determined. They can be determmed upon the re o- lution which was reported from the committee. They can ue determinetl upon other bills which have been reported t? ~he Se_nate. In 

my desire to see whether we ca:n.get back to t?-e on~al bill, I _have 

been induced to. look up the ongm of the sectwn which gave nse to 

this bill which has been so prolific in suggesting other questions of 

::finance to the Senate. Let us see how it got )lere, who introduced it, 

tho discussion t ha.t occurred upon it, and whether there is this neces- sity for n,ll these measures to be incorporated upon it, when t.he time 

has n,rrived which was predicted in the discussion for its enforcement. Senate bill No. 378 of the Forty-:fiist Congress, second session, came into the Senate, in the session of 1870, without the provision in it 

which has g iven rise to this bill, and after the discussion had pro- gressed upon it some time, on the 26th of Jan nary, 1870, a notice was given, as follows, by the Senator from Indi:1na, [~fr. MORTON.] I 

read from the Globe, aecond session Forty-first .Congress, part 1, page 

786: 

Mr. MORTON. I desire to submit two amendments, or to give notice ef them, 

that they may be considered by the Senate. In line 3 of the :l'irst section I dcsiro to strike out "$45,000,000" and to insert "$52,000,000." It will hke $52,000,000 to give 4'i,OOO,OOO of:actual circulation. 

The VICE PTIESIDEN'l'. The Chair will st.•ite that tha~ amendment is now in order 

and will take precedence of the pending amendment. The amendmen t of tho Sen- ator from Massachusetts is to strike out the first two sections of t.he !Jill, and any 

amendment to perfect those sections is in order before the question is taken on striking them out. · 

I now -read what follows by the Senator from Indiana, to show that. he is the author of the bill to carry out which the pending bill was reported, and to show, moreover, that when he offered that proposition in the Senate, instean of asking for 25,000,000 to be distributed among the Southern and Western States, he was content with 

13,000,000, and said that would be enough : 

Mr. MORTO~. Then I move to insert "~2,000,000" instead of" 1.'>.000,000" in 

the third line of the first section, as it will take $52,000,000 to give 45,000,000 of 

actual circulation, the issue requirin~. 7,000,000 of greenbacks to be withdrawn. I shall further offer, as additiou:1l sections, two sections taken from the bill th.1.t 

pa se£1 the Senate last spring, providing for a rerlistribution of the currency, and amending: them so that they will take but 13,000,000 from t.he States in exce s, to 

b~ distributed to the States that have not their share; these 13,000,000 not to be 

t..'l.ken, however, until tho $52,000,000 provided for by the other amendment shall 

have been exhausted, providing that after the $52,000,000 provided by the first S'!C· 

tion have been exhausted, then 13,000,000 ·may be withdrawn from the States in exce s in accordance with the provisions contained in the amemlment. This will make 65,000,000 provided for altogether, which I think will be sufficient for tlle wants of the West and the South. · 

That was on the 26th of J anua.ry. The discussion proceeded, and 

upon several occa-sions, whe:Q. the questions wa-s before the Senate, 

the Senator from Indiana made remarks of :1 similar character. On the 27th he s::iid : • 

My amendments only propose to take $1.3,000,000 from the Eagtern States in ex. cess, and these $1:i,OOO,OOO are not to be taken until after the $52,000,000 provided 

for in the first section shall have been exhausted. Why, sir, if we do not oxha.ust 

the 52,000,000, and do not n6111d any more, then not one dollar is taken irom the Eaatern St..'ttes. 

Again: 

But the Senator from Kentucky seems unwillinrr to t..'tke 45,000,000 hy way of 

taking up the 3 per cents, and wants tiO,OOO,OOO to \)e taken entirely from the :East. Then whaot is he going to do with the 4:'i,OOO,OOO of 3 per cents~ lie admits, anrl so tloes the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. TRURMAN,] that the S45,000,000 ou~ht to be taken 

up; that we are paying interest on currency when we ought not to ao so; but they seem to be unwilling to get ~5,000,000 for the West by t.'tking up the $45,000,000 

of 3 per cents, and insist upon redistribution t.o the actual amonnt of 60,000,000. I do not sympathize with that feellng at all. We ought to have $65,000,000, and I am perfect!y v.illing to take forty-five or fifty. two millions of that amount, not by 

way of taking It from New England, but by way of taking up the 3 per cent. cer- tificates; and then if we need 13,000,000 more we shall ask our friends in the East to ~ve us from. their ab?-~dance; and I think they ought to come forward unitedly ana. support this proposition. 

Again, on page 817 of the same volume of the Globe, another phase 

of the. subject came up; but before pa sing to that I wish to call 

attentiOn to the bet, not for the purpose of su!Y"gestincr to the Senator from Indiana that he occupies a different position no0

w in oppo in cr 

this bill from that which he occupied at the time that was under dis~ 

cussion, but to call the attention of the Senate to the fact that we l:J.ave just arrived at the time when the necessity-arises for the enforcement of thi~ law, the 52,000,000 having just been taken up. We ar.e at that pomt when we propose to redistribute "'25,000,000, the point 

when the Senator fr<;>m Indiana said, in 1870, 13,000,000 would bo 

enough. · 

· I now come t o n.nother point which has been developed in this dis- cussion, and to show t hat we do not at all times take the same view 

of the effect of the same measure. That is very natural. It is no reproach, and I do not quote it as a reproach to the Senator from Indiana. But a few days ago my colleague offered an amendment for free bn.nking, and one of the arguments to sustain that proposition was that jt would retire so many of the green backs as a reserve as to 

bring our paper up to pa.r. That wa the argument. It would make 

it better: I trust I do not m.liistate it. I think it W4t-s contended both 

·by my colleague and by the Senator from Indiana that it wa a wise measure and that this would be the effect of it. Now, sir, in the oourse of that discussion-! l'ead from page 817- the Senator from 

Indiana s~icl this : 

Now, wllat will be the offect if you retire all your legal-tenders~ Will you thereby bring yom· n.'l.ti.ona.l-b::mk notes nearer to par 1 No, sir; they will be farther 

from it ; !Jut I will tell you one chan.(!e that will take place. When your legal· tender not.os n.ro all retired thou golcT becomes par. Gold is n(}w at a premium 

and your legal-teml<}r notes aro the p:n· ; but when they are nll gone then golu 

becomes :-he par and yom· IY.ttion:ll-bank notes :Jre at a discount. 

Mr. CAMERON. Will my colleague aJlow me to inter~·upt him for a momentf 

1\fr. SCOTT. If my colleigue will permit me to finish the quota- tion, I will t-hen cheerfully hear the question he wishes to put. I am in the midst of a quotation ; but I will hear the question now if ho 

desrre it. 

J\fr. CAMERON. 0, no; I will wait. 

1\Ir. SCOTT. The Senator from Indiana proceeded : 

You say now that your national-bank notes are at par. So they are; and you say 

that gold is at a. premium of 20 per cent. as compared with them; but sh·ike out tlie legal-tenders and gold becomes the pn.r and your national-bank notes are worth soYent·r or seventy-five or ei_;hty cents on the dollar, just as the case may be, and 

that. isJall you have accomplished oy it. So far from the r etiring of greenbacks 

being t.he means of bringing about specie paymel!ts, I have always ~ooked ~pon it 

the other way: that <!reenbacka were to be the :mstrument by which speo1e pay- ments were to bo brought about. . That was my opinion a year aao ; and it is my opinion now that when the Gov- ernment, brings it.s groonbacks up to par by any process, by fixing a futm·e tim~:~ to redeem them, or in some other way that may- devised, the whole body of the cur- r ency will be at par along with the greenbacks, bec..1.use the rest of the currency is 

recleemn.ble in greenbackS. 

I will now hear the question of my colleague. Mr. CAMERON. My colleague was hardly just in his reference to 

my remarks, in which he said that my plan of a general banking bw 

under the law of re ·erve would ultimately bring specie payments, and as I believed at a very early day. My colleague, of course uninten- tionally, misrepresents me by saying it would bring specie payments 

immediately. I do not want specie payment to-day, nor to-morrow, nor any other day until the colll].try is ready for it; and that seems to 

be the difference between my colleague's argument and my own opin- ion. I want the country to rise up to the condition of gold payments. I do not think it is in that condition now. I think by tl.Je amend- ment of th(l Senator from Tennessee, which is a mere emanation from 

the Committee on Fj.nance, or following that, you would be compelled 

to pay specie inlmediately. By making the greenba-cks redeemable 

in.. 5 11er cent. bonds, you would bring them up to a greater value 

than the boncls themselves, and· of course they would ha.ve to be re- deemed at once. I have aid repeatedly, and I am surprised that I 

hn.ve not been understood, that one of the great advantages to be 

obtained by my proposition is to have specie payments in a short time, 

not now. My desire is to relieve the industry of the country and to 

prevent a panic, which I believe has only been prevented thus far by 

the belief that Congress would do something to relieve the industry 

of the cotmtry. 1.fr. SCOTT. 1\Iy colleague misapprehended the tenor of my remarks 

entirely. I was not quoting him nor his project with reference to its 

effect as to the time when it would bring about specie payments, but 

I quoted his propo ed amendment, sho,ving the effect which I sup- po.sed he thought it would have in retiring the legal-tenders, for the 

purpo e of showing that the argument of the Senator from Indiana 

in 1870 was, that.if that were successful, then the national-bank 

notes would fall below par. Now, on the subject of specie payments, while I do not wish to be 

diverted for the purpose of discussing that question, my colleague 

equally misa.pprehends my position. I am not only not in favor of 

the immecliate resumption of specie payments, but I do not think it 

possible for us to resume specie payments immediately, nor at any 

time in the very near :future. He and I, I think, agree on that sub- ject. I go further, and sn.y that after we have resumed, it is not pos- sible that we should keep up that resumption during all time, and 

especially clnring panics. , Mr. CAMERON. Then I am glad to say that my colle:.tgue and 

myself agree in the s:1me obj ect, but differ in_the mode ·by which it 

is to be produced. . . Mr. SCOTT. lrh·. President, my purpose was to show that there 

ought to be no difficulty about enforcing the bill which we origi.nn.lly 

reported ; that it wa..s a bill that commancled the assent of the Senn,te; that it pn.rticuln.rly commanded the a..ssent of thos~ who are now desirous of making this bill the medium of testing the sense of the 

Senate upon all pos ible questions. Going further on in this discussion, I ::find that :fiua.lly the Senator 

from Indiana, on page 944 of the same volume of the Gloue, offered 

the amenumcnt of which he ga.ve notice, and which contained the 

amount of 13,000,000 f01: redistribution among the States that then 

had a deficiency, aftflr having on several occasions stated his belief 

that $13,000,000 would be sufficient. That bill passed. . 

.. 
• 

1680 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. FEBRUARY 20, 

Upon following its history I find that its provisions were the' subject 

of so much controversy between the Senate and the House that the 

first conference committee upon it was discharged and a second con- ference committee appointed, and upon that conference committee was the Senator from India.na.1 and he was one of the two Senators . who signed the conference report upon which the bill finally became a L.1>w. So that if there is any one to whom this bill ought to be 

a.cceptable, it ought to be acceptable to the Sena.tor from Indiana, 

especially when·it :finally took the form of giving nearly 100 per cent. more of currency for redistribution among the Southern and Western 

States tha.n he originally demanded, and said he believed it was sufficient. 

Now, sir, having given this brief history of the bill, showing that 

the authorship of the provisions which we are now seeking to en- force came from the West, I ask, after this discussion has progressed 

for more than a week upon a single bill, after amendments have been 

voted upon testing the Senate upon a multitude of other questions, 

after the Senate has refused to lay that bill and the pending amendments on the table, is it rea ona.ble .to ask that this ·discussion shall 

go on ad libitum, forever upon every phase of the financial question, 

when there will be abundance of time and opportunity to present every one of those questions in a practical form Y Why can we not get back 

to this bill, and by a vote of the Senate determine it yea or na.yf If 

there is a majority of the Senate against giving this $25,000,000, let us say so. If there is a majority for it, let us say so. It will not interfere with our subsequent legislation. No man here will feel himself trammeled by it. I shall not. If it be found that theW est and 

South are entitled to more, I will not permit this to stand in the way; 

but I do think that we ought not to permit every other project that 

anybody sees proper to fasten upon this bill to stand in the way of 

getting the sense of the Senate upon it. 

Now, Mr. Pre ident, I have said about all that I rose to say on this 

question. The pending question ef instruction, "as I have already 

said, I think it has been shown is inexpedient. I am not unwilling 

to be instructed; but if we are to renew the same kind of discussion 

th:l>t we have had for the last twelve hours in passing first an instruction and then getting into a wrangle over what the instruction means, 

I submit that the pupils who are to be instructed would be rather 

confused than enlightened. 

I hope, sir, that we sh·1ll get b:l>ck to the original bill, and get 3> 

v.ote npon it before we adjourn, and then in due process of time meet 

all these other questions when our views caR have pra.ctical effect, 

when they shall be incorporated in a bill regulating this whole subiect, if the committee shall ever be :l>ble to agree .upon one. 1\fr. MORTON. .Mr. President, I did not intend to say another 

word, but I must regard the speech of my friend from Pennsylvania 

[Mr. ScoTT] as a little extraordinary in several respects. · His effort 

is to place me in a.n inconsistent position. 

Mr. SCOTT. I did not mean that. 

Mr. MORTON. If it did not mean that, I do not know exactly 

what it did mean. But I submit the remark that my friend has failed. 

What I said at that time was in consideration of the circumstances 

in which we were placed. I thought at that time, I have no doubt, 

(for I always express the thoughts I hn.Ye at the time, and whenever 

I think they are wrong I do not hesitate to take them back or to ex- press others,) that sixty-five millions of currency would be sufficient 

to meet the wants of the West and South. That was· in January, 

1870, before the census of 1870 was t.aken. When that census was taken, it showed thn.t upon the basis of the act of 1865, in addition 

to the fifty-four millions of- currency provided for in the act of 1870, 

it would require forty millions more to equalize the currency bet ween the States. I read from the report of the Comptroller of the Currency: 

The final distribution of the $54,000,000 will still leave a deficiency of 40,000,000 

in different St:ttes of the -p-nion, which will require to be filled before the propor- tion among the several States will be equalized on the basis of wealth and popula.-

tion. 

Tha.t was shown, the census of 1870 proving that the twenty-five 

millions came entirely short; and now, sir, four years after, four years 

of unprecedented growth and prosperity, the twenty-five millions, the 

forty millions, the sixty millions, come short of making that equalization; but ·of what I said and what the Senate voted in 1870, we a.re a-sked .to be held to it. Why, 1\ir. President, I have had occasion to 

change my views with the changing circumst2.nce-s and condi ions by 

which I have been surrounded. Will my friend admit that he has not 

changed since that time; that he ha learned nothing! I think not. 

1\fr. SCOTT. 0, no; I cannot say that. • · Mr. MORTON. I see Senators sitting around me who were in Congress iu 1862, when the legal-tender act was passed authorizing the 

first legal-tender notes. They denounced it as unconstitutional and 

wicked, and one of them went so far a to say that these legal-tender 

notes, the greenbacks, would go out to the world as lepers and vagabonds upon the face of the earth, and that their issue would mark a. carnival of fraud, a saturna.lia of crime. Those Senators would not 

like to repeat those remn.rks in view of what bas since happened. 

We have all been instructed by the events of the war. But the inconsist ency of which my friend accuses me is that I 

thought $~5,000, 0 were enough in January, 1870, and now I think it 

will require more than double that amount. I am satisfied that it 

will. If there is anything to be made by pursuing this line of remark, 

I presume· that equal industry and· research on my parl, which I h ave not, would enable me to find that a number of Senators around me have had occasion to change their views on the subject of finance, have had occasion to change their theories as well as amounts and 

conditions to meet existing wn.nts and conditions. I find no fault 

with them. Wh-en"':'l. man changes his theory from the convictions of 

his judgment, I give him credit for it; and so far as any change is 

concerned there, there is, I think, nothing that I need be ashamed of. 

I have said all the time in this debate that I am for returning to 

specie pa.yments. I thought in 1868 it was the time to begin, an infinitely better time than now, and I proposed my little plan; but 

that was not considered. Those who are now so anxious to have 

specie payment, if I remember correctly, were not then so much in 

favor of it; men who M"e anxious to resume upon a pa.nic were not 

willing to begin then upon good times. They have changed their 

views. I find no fault with them ; I accuse them of no inconsistency; 

if I had occasion to hunt up their records it is very likely that I could; 

but I see them all around me, and I remember what they said and 

what they did. I think it is the wea.kest of all argumonts ; I should 

hesitate now to assail their views in that way; but if any one thinks 

he can make a point ou me in that way, he is certainly welcome to 

do it. 

Mr. SCOTT. My friend seems to be unnecessarily sensitive on this 

point; for with all the disavow:l>l that I could make of intending to 

quote this for the purpose of showing his inconsistency, he seems inclined to construe my remarks into somewhat of a personal nature 

against himself. Now, sir, I need not again repeat that I have said 

my object in quoting this was not to pl..'tce the Senator in an inconsistent position, but to show that opposition should not come from him 

when the Finance Committee seek to give effect to a law of which he 

is the author; and th:lit that opposition ought not to come in the form 

of an possible theories and plans that have no connection with giving 

effect to the amendment of which he was the author. Cortainly the 

Senator cannot so far misapprehend my motives as to suppose that 

I .could think a mere personal inconsistency would amount to an argument addressed to the Senate upon a question of thm character. I . have quoted it, n.s I have said, for the purpose of showing that this 

opposition ought not to come from that quarter, and that this bill, 

intended to give relief to the Senator's section, ought, as the time has 

arrived when the 25,000,000 provision ought to be given effect, to be 

passed without embarrassing it with the other amendments which have 

been offered here. 

1\ir. BOREMAN. J move that the Senate proceed to the considera- 'tion of executive business. 

1\Ir. SHERMAN. I call for the y~as and nays, and I give notice 

that I shall call for the yeas and nays on every proposition until this 

matter is disposed of. 

Mr. BOREMAN. In an~wer to the Senator from Ohio, I would say 

that I deem it necessary to have a short executive session this even- ing. I do not make the motion in opposition to the bill, or to a vote. 

I am ready for a vote. 

Mr. CAl\fERON. If the Senate will agree to take the vote on this 

reconsideration, let us have it. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I am ready. 

1\!r. BOREMAN. If we can vote, I will withdraw the motion. 

1\lr. SHERMAN. I want to have this matter disposed of. 

:?!ir. BOREl\IAN. I withdraw the motion. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (1\ir. FERRY, of Michigan, in the chair,) 

The question is on reconsidering the vote on the amendment of the 

Senator from Tennessee, upon which the yeas and nays have been 

otdered.. 

The Secretary proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. COOPER, (when Mr. BROWNLOW's name was called.) My colleague is paired with the Senator from ~aryland, 1\lr. !LuiTLTO?f. 

If my colleague were here he would vote "yea," and the Senator irom 

Maryland would vote "nay." 

Mr. FLANAGAN, (when his name was called.) I am paired with 

the Sen:l>tor from Mississippi, Mr. ALcoRN. I suppose our pair includes this proposition. I presume he would vote " yea," and •I should 

vote "nay." · Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, (when his name wa-s called.) On this proposition I am paired with the Senator from Wisconsin, 1\lr. CARPEN- TER. If he were here he would vote "yea," and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, (when his name was called.) On this 

question I am paired with the Senator from Iowa, 1\lr. WRIGHT. I 

suppose he would vote "yea" if he were pre ent, and I should vote· "nay." · . Mr. SAULSBURY. On this question I am paired with the Senator 

from North Carolina, Mr. RANsoM. If he were here I presume ho 

would vot.e "yea/' and I should vote "nay." 

The result was announced-yeas 30, nays 23; as follows: 

YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Bogy, Boreman, Boutwell, Cameron, Clayton, Conover, F erry of Michigan, Goldthwa1te, Gordon , Harvey, Hitchcock , Howe, Johnston, Logan, McCr eery, Merrimon, Mitch oil, Morton, Norwood, O,e:lesby, Patterson, P ease, Pratt, Ra.msey, Rober tson , Spencer, Sprague, Tipton anu \ Vest-30. 

NAYS-Messrs . .Anthon y, Bor.kingham, Chandler. Conkling, Cooper, Cracin 

Davis, l!'enton, Ferry of Connecticut, Gilbert, IIa.mlin, Jones, Kelly, Morrill of Maine, Sargent, Schurz, Sc , Shennan, Stevenson, S(!ewa.rt, Stockton, Sumner, and 

\V rulleigh-23. · ABSE.XT-Messrs . .Alcorn, Bayard, Brownlow, Carpen)or, Dennis, D orsey , E d- munds, .Flanagan, Frclinghuysen, Hager, lla.milton of Maryland, IIamilton of 'Iexas, 
1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. '1681 

In~s, Lewis, Morrill of Vermont, Ransom, Sa.ulsbury, Thlll'ID.lLn, Windom, and 

Wiight-20. 

So the motion to reconsider was agreed to. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on the adoption 

of t~ amendment propuaed by the Senator from •.rennessee [Mr. 

COOPER] to the instructiens moved by the Senator from North Carolina, [1\.!r. MERRIMO.~: • ] 

Mr. BORE~IAN. Now I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I should like to have this question determined. 

Mr. BOREMAN. Very well; I withdraw the motion. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amendment 

proposed by the Senator from Tennessee to the amendment of the 

Senator from North Carolina. 

The amendment to the amendment was rejected .. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on the instructions proposed by the Senator from North Carolina as an amendment 

to the motion to recommit. 

Mr. MORTON. On that I ask for the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nayt:J were ordered. 

Mr. CONKLING. What is the amendment on which we are now to 

voteY 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be read. 

The CHIEF CLERK. Theamendmentistoadd tothemotiontorecommit the bill to the Committee on Finance the following instruction: 

And that the Committee on Finance be, and they are hereby, instructed to report., as soon as practic.'l>ble, a. bill providing for the increa e of the national-bank circnl..'l.-

tion, dO that the whole volume thereof shn.ll not exceeu $400,000,000. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this question ihe yeas and nays 

have been ordered. 

The Secretary proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. FLANAGAN, (when his name was called.) I am paired off with 

the Senator from Mississippi, Mr. ALcoRN. If he were here he would 

vote "yea," and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, (when his name was called.) I am paired 

with the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. CARPENTER. If present, he 

would vote" yea," and I should vote" nay." . . Mr. GORDON, (when his name was called.) On this questiOn I am paired with the Senator from Delaware, Mr. BAYARD. If he were h ere he would vote "nay," and I should vote" yea." 

Mr. HAMILTON, of Texas, (when his name was called.) I am paired with the Senator from Kansas, Mr. L~GALLS. If present he 

would vote" yea," and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, (when his name was called.) On this 

question I am paired with the Senator from Iowa, l\Ir. WRIGHT. I am told he would vote "yen.'' if present;" and I should vote "nay." 

Mr. SAULSBURY, (when his name was called.) On this question 

I am paired with the Senator from Nortb Carolina, Mr. RANSOM. 

The result was announced-yea-s 28, nays 25; as follows: 

YEAS-Messrs.·Allison, Bogy, Borem.a.n, Cameron, Clayton, Conover, Ferry of 

Michigan, Goldthwaite, Harvey, Hit-chcock, Howe, Johnston, Logan, McCreery, Men·imon, Mitchell, Morton, N<_>rwood, Oglesby, Patterson, Pease, Pratt, Ramsey, Robertson, Spencer, Sprague, Tipton, and West-28. 

NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Boutwell, Buckingham, Chandler, Conkling, Cooper, Cragin, Davis, Fenton, Ferrl of Connecticut, Gilbert, Hager, Hamlin, Jones, Kelly, MoiTill of Maine~.Sargent, :Schurz, Scott, Sherman, Stevenson, Stewart, Stockton, 

Sumner, and Warueigh-25. ABSENT-Messra. Alcorn, B:tyM"d, Brownlow, Carpenter, Dennis, Dorsey, Edmunds, Flanagan, Frelinghnysen, Gordon, Hamilton of :Maryland, Hamilton of 

Toxas, In~alls, Lewis, Morrill of Vermont, Ransom, Saulsbury, Thurn'lan, Windom, 

a.nd Wrignt-20. 

So the amendment was agreed to. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on recommitting the bill, with the instructions just acted upon. ~Ir. GORDON. I wish to offer an amendment to the instructions 

just adopted, by adding the following: 

To be distributed among the States which have not their quota of currency, and !fu~M~~ers, and in the ~tio of snch deficiency on the basis o~ popnl..'l.tion and pro-

["No!" ""Noi"J 

If there is any discussion I will withdraw it. It is simplyoto distribute among the States that have not their quota. 

Several SENATORS. ·withdraw it. 

1\Ir. GORDON. I withdraw it. 

Mr. DAVIS. I have an amendment t-o propose, to add to the instructions already adopted the following : -

.Also for free banking under the present national banking law. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amendment 

of the Senator from West Yirginia. 

Mr. BUCKINGHAM. Is that in addition to the proposition of the 

Senator 'from Georgia Y 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The proposition of the Senator from 

Georgia is withdrawn. 

Mr. DAVIS. It is to be add,ed to the proposition of the Senator 

from North Caxolina. · 

Tho PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amendment 

of the Senator from West Virginia, [1\Ir. DAVIS.] 

The a:r,pendment was rejected. . 

Mr. BOREMAN. I renew my motion that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. · 

106 

Mr. SHERMAN. I hope not. 

Mr. CAMERON. I hope we shall go into executive session. 

1\Ir. SHERMAN. I call for the yeaB and nays. 

1\'Ir. CAMERON. Very well; the yeas :md nays have no terror for me . 

. Mr. SHERMAN. I do not w:mt to be responsible for the continu- ance of the matter. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 

lli. SHERMAN. On that motion I call for the yeas and nays. 

The yea and nays were ordered. 

1\Ir. BOREMAN. I hope this motion will be voted down. I desire an executive session for a short time. ~Ir. MORRILL, of. Vermont. On this question I shall venture to 

vote, because I do not suppose the pair with Mr. WRIGHT reaches to a question of adjournment. . The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted-yeas 16, nays 

33; aB follows : 

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Boutwell, Cameron, Fenton, Goldthwaite, Hamlin, 

Johnston, · Jones, McCreery, Pratt, Ramsey, Saulsbury, Schurz, Scott, Stockton, 

and Snm.ner-16. 

NAYS-Messrs. Allison, Boreman, Buckingham, Chandler, Conover, Cooper, 

Ferry of Connecticut, Ferry of ::Mlchigan, Flan~~an, Frelinghnysen, Hager, Harvey, Row , Kelly, Logan, Merrimon, Mitchell, .Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Norwood, Oglesby, Patterson, Pease, Robertson, Sargent, Sherman, 

Spencer. Spra~e, Stevenson, Stewart, Tipton, and Wadleigh---33. . ABSENT-.Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard, Bogy; Brownlow, Carpenter, Clayton, Conkling, Cragin, Davis, Dennis, Dorsey, Edmunds, Gilbert, Gordon, Hamilton of Mary- lana, Hariillton of Texas, HitchcocK, Ingalls, Lewis, Ransom, Thurman, West, Windom, and Wright-24. 

So the Senate refused to adjourn. 

Mr. SCHURZ. I desire to speak on the question of financo at 

lenO"th. 

~fr:. ANTHONY. If the Senator would allow me, I should be .delighted to hear anybody on finance at this time, especially my frieml 

from Missouri; but if he will consent to postpone it to Monday, I will move an executive session. ~Ir. SCHURZ. I yield for that purpose. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question now recurs on the 

motion of the Senator from West Virginia [l'r!r. BOREMAN] to proceed to the consideration of executive business, upon which there can be no debate. 

The motion was agreed to. 

HOUSE BILLS REFERRED. 

The following bills from the House of Representatives were sever- ally read twice by their titles, and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary : A bill(H. R. No. 780)requiring the UnitedStatesmarshals and clerks 

of the United States circuit and district courts who have received 

fees and emoluments in excess of their legal compensation, to deposit 

the same with the Treasurer of the United States; 

A bill (H. R. No. 1273)to regulate proceedings in mandamus; and 

A bill (H. R. No~ 2084) to provide for the appointment of clerks for 

the circuit and district courts of the United States held at New .Albany 

and Evansville, in the district of Indiana. -

EXECUTIVE SESSION. 

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business 

After seven minutes spent in executive session the doors were reopened, 

and (at five o'clock and twelve minutes p.m.) the Senate adjourned. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

FRIDAY, Febtt·uary 20, 1874. 

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

J. G. BUTLER, D. D. 

The Journal of yesterday waB read and approved. 

PERSONAL EXPLANATION. · 

Mr. BECK. Mr. Speaker, I ask the unaD.imous consent of the House 

to make a brief personal explanation of not over five minutes, and I 

think not over three minutes. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. BECK. Mr. Speaker, in the course of debate on yesterday, I 

made some remarks which my colleague [Mr. CROSSLAND] thought 

reflected on him and did him injustice. As neither of us had the floor 

in our own right at the time, it was impossible for me to exphiin 

either to him or the House, what I now assure both was the fact, that 

I had not the slightest idea either of wounding his feelings or of 

reflecting on him in the slightest degree. I have too high a regard 

for him to do either. If in the heat and hurry of debate I did or said 

anything which either my colleague or any other person construed 

into any imputation on him as a gentlemanoraRepresentative,I wish 

here and now to retract it. 

I believe now that I made a mistake in referring at all to what 

took place between my colleague and myself some "}Veeks ago, but l assure the House and the gentleman that I did not intend to do it in an offensive way. My only thought was, that as I had pointed out 

to the gep.tleman ~om lowa [Mr. ~SOlif] the large ~cr~a13e of ex-: