Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-03-26
XXXIxth CONGRESS- First Sessl WI
WASHINGTON, March "a, 1915.
HOUJSE,

And provided that the bonds which may he dis
posed Of elsewhere than in the United States NAV
made payable both principal aud interest, with col
or currency of the country in which they are mad
payable but shall not bear rate Of interest exceed
| ing 3 per cent. per annum.
| The above clause was not in the bill as it wa
passed, ,-REP0RTER.1
The House met as if in committee of the Whole
the only business in order being general debate Ol
the Presidents annual MESA !e. The attendance
both on the fnnr and IN toe galleries. was very slim
Mr.. BROOKS 70 o to u personal explanation II
referenc to the Globe report Ot the discussion be
tween himself and the gentleman from Ohi0(AlT Gar
feldl on Thursday last. He stated that remarks pur
Por ing TO- have been mad by Mr. Garfield we're no
heard by him (Mr Brooks). and were, rs he under
stood them, Incorrectly reported, although IT was no
for him to say how or where the misreportng Oc
Cured. 1t was to him matter OF comparatiyel'
little Importance, except that he wished TO stanC
right upnnthe record Referring to the report made
by Mr. Garfield last Congress, from the select com
mittee to Investigate into the management Of tho
Currency Printing Bureau, he found that although
il was not signed, 1t commenced by stating thai
Garfield, from the committee, made the following
Mr. Brooksj and Messrs. Stewart, Steele and Daw.
son. He had letter read from Mr.. Gordon, Solicit
to- to the Treasury to Mr. Chase, stating the result
against j. NJ. Clarke, an entire nvctiOn that the
most material Of the statements made were trne.
Mr.. GARflELD said that he was obliged to the
gentleman from New York for the correction he had
made. 1t was the universal custom for member,
authorized by commi tee, to make the report, and
that had been done in this case. He had been au-
NAN
report. Ii he had been so authorized surely some
one Of the four members associated with him, Mr..
Davis of Maryland, Mr.. Wilson of Iowa, Mr.. Jencks
of Rhode Island, and Mr.. FentOn Of New York,
would have male correction at the time The con-
clusiOn of the report which he had made was in
"ReSolOed, That the policy of printing public
money il the Treasury has resulted in great saving
Of expense to the Goyernment and security against
fraud, and that the affairs of the Printing Bureau
have been ministered with marked ability and in
tegrity."
Ia addition to this there was report from Gov.
FentOn expressly stating that he concurred with the
report of the committee in everything except a re-
Election on the New York Bank Note Company.
Mr.. WILSON. Of Iowa, said that he had not con-
CURED in the conclu.o of the committee and that
the report had been pre- sented tOlhim for his sigma
, ture he would not have signed it.
MIR. GARFIELD stated that this was the first notice
that the gentleman from Iowa ds.ented from the re-
port of the majority. The majority had authorized
him (Garfeld) to make the report, and he had made
Mr.. WILSON said that he hal beon asked by Mr..
Henry w inter Davis, member of the committee.
whether he was willing to sign the report, and had
replied that he was not, as he did not agree with the
committee in its OncIusions set forth in the
port and in the resolution accompanying it. Here
the matter dropped.
Mr.. N JUL10N, of Illinois, in discussion of re-
construction, argued that the public faith an1
rity required, first, that the Government shall be ab-
soutely protected from the repetition Of secession
treason second, that the freedman will be- secured
an absolute equality with the white man before the
law, snail ne endowed with every political ght
necessary to maintain that equality; third that rep
resentatiOn in Congress shall be founded on and in
proportion to numbers emit led to suffrage; fourth,
hat the rebel debt shall be absolute repudiated
and fifth, that civil rights sh'll be guaranteed tu all
with the means to enforce them. He held
that these rights and conditions should be
secured by proper amendments tn the COnsti
utiOn, and now was the time to inaugurate
these amendments. In relation 10 the President,
ne said that until re iently he had confied in the
Union party, ard no honorable man could have be-
eved he would desert the party which had defended
him against the assaults traitor, and had elected
him to the position he held. Ingratitude had been
ever regarded as a crime of the most damning char
tcer but YET, in his opinion, johnson would go
1Own to pOstcrity not only as the betrayer of his
party, but in2rate ina in all time TO come
10 all honorable mon. All the instincts Of Andrew
johnson, he said, ere intensely Southern. II
hated Northern men as intensely as did Davis or
Bcaureg-rd or Lee. This the southern peop @ knew:
hence their confidence in johnson. In his (Hr.
MaultOns) opinion it was, t) say the lea t. unfnrtu
nate that any man with intense Southern feelings
and Instincts should At this time be at the heal of
this Government The perncious consequences
# itmsht require the work of ages to correct and
overcome.
Mr.. MEYERS, Of Penn, next addressed the
House. taking strong ground against the Presidents
policy of reconstruction. He held that none of the
rebelous States should be admitted to representa-
tOn until they have been cnnfurmed by the Cnnsti-
tuition and laws to the change in political relations
brought about by the war; As to the suggestion that
districts 10 States should be admitted to representa-
ton, he showed w absurd that was, becau,e it is
TO- send Senators to Congress- and it is the state to
which republican form Of government must be
guaranteed lie hoped the time Wns near when that
guarantee and recognition should be given to Ten
nessee. The Ot her rebel States, he showed had no
right TO complain of d. lay. But even as TO them he
would look upon it as prodigy when their rehab-
itaton should be complete Slavery being dead it
the duty Of Congress to alter the re presentation
based upon it, He would not demand of the South
policy which his own State had not adopted, but
he would ask, for North and South, that p pula-
tion excluded from voting should not avail in any
Sta Q tnr tho purDnses of representation.
MIR "A Avf nd al kh,H
He said that the people we're coming very impa-
tent at the delay in reconstruction, and did not un
derstand why Congress had not adopted some definite
PLAN He held that the people OF State, finding
themselves, from anv cause, without a government,
might organize government and exercise its func-
tions without the assent of Congress; but he did
not think that representation should be admitted
from Tennessee or any of the rebel States without
the concurrent or joint action of both branches
of Congress. He deprecated the warfare waged
against the President. The people did not
believe that Mr.. johnson was about to prove re-
creant to the eat trust in him. and they would stand
by him regardless of attacks from any quarter He
dlsapprOvei Of the assaults made upon the Presi-
dent and thought they we're uncalled for and ont of
place. He did not follow the chairman Of the Re-
the plan of reconstructing the rebellOus States 1t
seemed to him it it was the policy to get a bad
state of feeling between the President and Congress-
and to destroy the confidence of loyal people in the
President, He would not be party to any such
warfare. If he were sure that the rights of
loyal whites and freed linen would he respected and
day to restore those States t. practical relations
with the Government, without requiring more than
a single amendment to the Constitution, and that
would be on the subject of appOrtOning representa-
tion. His0wn opinion was that represent liOn should
be fOund5l sole upon voters. He was very anxious
that 'asdres should he devised that would a'isfy
the people, both South and North so that they might
again meet together in cordial friendship on terms
Of perfect equality and vita mutual respect. He
hoped before TINS Congress adjourns, such measures
would he opted.
Mr.. HART. of New York, next addressed the
House on the same question of Reconstruction
taking ground that the people of the South were not
in condition TO be intrusted with full powers in
Government. In support of that position he quoted
extensively from testimony taken before the Recon
structiOn committee,
Mr.. LAWRENCE, of Ohio, spoke at length on
the constitutional amendment prohibiting Congress
or the States from making payment on account of
the emancipation Of the slaves. There was now in
the Unitei States Treasury part of the nine mil
lions Of dollars applicable to payment of slaves
enlisted. This was provided for by law. IL
was not proposed, he said to disturb that He
then proceeded to argue in favor of the general
amendment to the Constitution. Slaves were not
property at common law, and none of the States
which in our past hstor, abolished slavery eves
made compensation for them. There was no obliga-
tiOn on the part Of the Government to make com
pensaton for the slaves emancipaed. Our National
debt was now near three thousand million. and it
would require us to increase that debt one hundred
and twenty million of dollars to pay for the slaves
five would avoid reputation we must forever pro-
hibit the possibility OF this. Ii was important that
the question should be finally settled.
He exhibited a statistical table showing that IL
would require one fourth of all the taxable property
of the slave States to pay for the slaves If we did
not prohibit this the Northern Democracy wouid
unite with the South in the scheme Of making paw
meht He read extracts. from the message Of the |
so-called Governor Of South Carolina, and from |
General Schurz's report, that the South were now
making the demand, and the Virginia Legislature
had recently proposed to take inventory Of all the
slaves of the State with view to payment, Let us