New-York tribune., 1868-07-27
ARE UNITED STATES RONDS PaYABLE IN
COIN or "LAEFUL MONEY!

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,, Wednesday, July 2
Mr.. GARFIELD Of OhiO-l ask unanimous con-
sent to make personal explanation Tor hiteeh
minutes.
No objection was made, and leave was granted.
Mr.. GARTIELD-I will first ask the Clerk TO
read some remarks made by the gentlemen from
Pennsylvania Mr. Stevens on FRIDAY, inc Inh
inst, so that the statements to which ] desire
TO reply may be recalled TO the recollection ol
members. lie was speaking OF the payment OF
the tiye-tWcnty bonds.
The Clerk read as follows: .,
Z" Mr. STEVENS OF peunsy yaua--I want 20 say tl0l u
this lean to be pad according 10 the iniinajLo4
the gentleman from Illinois tNr Rossl II Enew lin lin
any parry an thl5 country WONu 70 lod PSI PSc, If one
th9t Wh,c Is payable in money hus enhlgi&l,S @ & de-
termination this day the part of any party, SOno %
vote for the other SIDE Frank Blair ana an W"lu W.
would vote for mo- snch speculation in favor OF the large
bOudhOdcrs, the mli0naTes, VINO TOOK aIN vi o
dccIarcEwe il is hard to say itbut il even Frank Blair
stood upon Tie platform paying the D9ds acGoIaIg % 10
the platform of paying boaed spectators twice the
Tor Frank Blair even worse man than Seymour headed
the tclst That Is al want to say"
A few days afterward, / expressed my sur
prise at these statements of the gentleman from
PENNSYLVANIA [Mr. Stevensl and referred to
the fact that in the debate of 1862, on the pas
sage of the bill authorizing the Five-Twenty
bonds, the gentleman distinctly declared that
these bonds were payable in gold, and that
such WAS the unanimous opinion and intention
OF Congress at that time.
Yesterday, the gentleman read from manu-
script the following.
"Bir sIEyENs of Pennsylvania, rising to personal
planaton, said: desire 90 say few words relating 10
Gen Garfield and others with regard to what said in
debate on the passage of the yetweny bill lnd that
1t is all taken from The report Of Secretary McCulloch
which lad never read lam therefore free to presume
that which those gentcmcn quoted, rather than said as
total pcrycsion OF the truth Had not been introduced
respectable quarter in this House it would not
be harsh. there presented, to call it an absolute
falsehOOd do not know that should nave taken any
notice of what various papers are repeating, some OF
them bali Secession, and more Of tem suppose IN the
pay OF the bOldloldels, slau not now uiueIiahC ~
explain the whole OF this matter, am TOO TecDei Du
shall take occasion hereafter TO expose the Vllay oil
those VINO charge me win having sau, on t 90 i
the fvetwCnty bill. that its bonds were payable IN com
remarks which they cited, were made upon an entirely
different bin, might be seen ly observing that speak
only OF the payment of gold after twenty years when the
bill was speaking Of as well as al the aoues were
payable IN COIN as no one doubted me reSupl0H M Ol
ducOn Of the legatender bill, which the interest for
having he interest IN gold arose till some time after
when the hin had been passed by the House. sent to the
Senate returned, and went to committee OF conference,
where, for the first time the godbearing question was
nrOduced and yet all that these wise ana thOughtiul
gentlemen have quoted rom me took pace III @ Geu"1C W
some weeks before the gold question: either principal or
interest had arisen in the House only now want 10
caution the public against putting faith IN the puDc
tons of demagOgueS and they will find that every word
which have asserted with regard 10 myself is true TO the
Now Mr. Speaker I can permit no such
denial of the truth of my statement, and par
ticulaTy no such personal attack, to go un-
On the 22d day of January 1862, the Hon.
L. G.. Spaulding of New York, from the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, reported House
bill No 240-a bill to authorize the issue Of
United States notes, and for the redemption or
funding thereof, and for funding the floating
debt of the United States. 1t consisted OF
three sections. The first authorized the issue
of S10000O,0OO legal-tender notes; the second
authorized the issue of S500,000000 of six per
cent twenty-year bonds, with which to fund
the legal-tender notes and other floating debt
of the United States; the third was mainly
administrative. (See copy of original bill,
Globe, vol. XVII, p. 522.) This bill, with but
few important changes became the act of
February 2j 1862. On the day of its intro
duction, it printed and made the special
order for January % when searching debate
on its provisions began, and continued, with
an interruption of but one legislative day, TO
and including the 9th of February.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania took no
active part in the debate until the day OF ITS
passage; when, after general debate on the bill
in Committee of the Whole was closed by order
of the House. the Hon. L. G.. Spaulding yielded
to Mr.. Stevens most of the hour to which he
was entitled, and then the gentleman Nlr'
Stevens) made vigorous and ncislve speech,
as he always did, attacking the several suOstl-
tutes that had been offered, and defending the
bill of the Committee of Ways and Means.
One substitute had been offered by MI. Val
landigham OF Ohio, another by Mr.. Roscoe
COnkling ,Of New York, another by MIR. Morrill,
of Vermont, and another by Nh Horton of
OnlO WllCn embldCCu lne lcdulnS ltdIulcS Ol
all the Others and was finally selected as the
one to be voted on in opposition to the bill OF
the Committee. This substitute did not make
United States notes legal-tender for private
debts and tins was the chief issue between the
advocates and opponents OF the bill OF the
Committee.
A large part of the speech of the gentleman
from Pennsylvania [Stevensl was devoted to
the defense of the legal-tender clause of the
bill. He held that, without the legal tender
provision, the notes would deprecate; with it,
they would remain at par He quoted long
passage from the English wrltOr McCulloch to
show that paper money which Is a legal-tendeT
will always be at par so long as the amount
issued is not in excess of the wants OF the
country. At that point question was asked
him by Judge Thomas of Massachusetts,.
quote from The Globe of Feb. 6, 1862, page 6eS:
>" Mr.. THOMAsI desire TO ask the gentleman question
In connection with that passage. McCull0ch laid down
the doctrine that the paper is limited TO the amount
Pennsylvania whether he expects in managing these
financial matters, limit the amount Of these notes TO
$15OOC00O0f Is that his expectauoni .
8Ir. sTEvENs-It is. Iexpect that is the maximum
amount 10 be issued -.--
Mr.. STEyENS-NO, Sir; DO not
The gentleman then proceeded to show that
these lpgal-tendeT notes would soon be used TO
buy the bonds authorized in the second section,
and that the bonds would be good invest
ment He said: ~
the capitalists and banks, who must take thcm But the
instinct Of gain-pcrhaps may call IT aVaIlcc-WOud
allow them to keep 1t long unprOductye dollar ID
mser's safe unproduetiye is sore disturbance Where
could he invest it In United states loans at six per
cent, fe9ecmaJe m gold Ia t1renty years, the best and
most valuable permanent investment that could be de-
sired. Government would thus again possess such
have no doubt that the S5O0OO0OO OF bonds author
zed would be absorbed in less time than would be needed
by the Government and thus SI5OOOJOOO would DO the
work Of &5000OO,000 Of bonds.
''When further loans were wanted you need only