2652 CONGRESSIONAL· REOORD. MARCH 31,

pose the Secretary paid for those 6 per cent. bonds at that timeT One would think if the price of bonds was to be me&.sured by the want of the country for circulating notes, bonds would have been worth about twelve shillings a bushel, for there probably never was a time when the community, from one ocea,n to the other, was so hungry, so eager for notes, as it was last fall. Six per cent. bonds before that crash came were worth about 115t cents on the dollar with the coupons on. The Secretary bought the same bonds for just about 111 cents, paying the interest in coin. How much that depreciation was I cannot now state in cents, but every Senator will seo it was a mere trifle. The fact was that the men who had the bonds to sell were not the men who wanted notes. They used their bonds to make the most out of them, and so I think it will always happen.

]')fr. GORDON. I simply want to say, inasmuch-as I had the ho_nor of offering a proposition simila.r. to this some weeks ago, that I am in favor of the principle of it. I simply wish to put myself on record. I am in favor of the principle of the interchangeability of the bonds and United States notes, as contained in the amendment offered by the Senator from Connecticut; but inasmuch as his amendment_ pro­vides for 5 per cent. bonds, which are now far above par, I am satis- · fied that it does not accomplisl.t the object the Senator has in view, and I shall therefore be compelled to vote against it while I approve of the principle. .

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Connecticut to the amendment of the Senator from · Georgi a, which was accepted by the Senator from Illinois ; and on this question the yeas and nays have been ordered. .

]')fr. SCOTT. I am paired on this question with my colleague, [Mr. CAMERON.] I would vote for this amendment and he would vote against it.

Mr. WAD LEIGH. On this question I am paired with the Sena,­tor from Indiana, Mr. PRATT. If he were present he would vote against the amendment and I should vote for it.

The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted-yea-s 7, nays 39 ; as follows :.

YEAS-Messrs. Buckingh:un, Cooper, Cragin, Morrill of Maine, SaTgent, Sher· man, and Stewart-7.

NAYS-Messrs . .Allison, Bayard, Bogy, Boreman. Carpenter, ChamUer, Conover, Davis, Dennis, Fenton, Ferry of Michigan, Gol~thwaite, Gordon, llamilt?n of Maryland, Hitchcock, Howe, Johnston, Jones, LeWis, Logan. McCreery, Me=on, Mitcl1ell Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Norwood, Oglesby, Patterson, Pense. Robert­son, Sauisbury, Schurz, Spencer, Sprague, StocktOn., Thurman, Tipton, West, and Winrlom-39. .

.A.BSEN'J'-Messrs. Alcorn, Anthony, Boutwell, Brownlow, Cameron, Clayton, Conkling Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry of Connecticut, Fla.na,gan, Frelinghuysen, Gil­bert Ha~er, Hainilton of Texa-s, Hamlin, Harvey, IngaJlS, Kelly, Pratt, Ramsey, Ra~oin, 'Scott, Stevenson, Wadleigh, and Wrigh~26.

So the amendment to the amendment was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on the amend­

ment of the Senator from illinois [Mr. LOGA.i~] as modified at the suggestion of the Senator from Georgia, [¥r· GORDON.] .

1\lr. BUCKINGH.A.l\1. I offer the· folloWlllg amendment, to strike out a before and insert:

On and after the 1st dc'~>y of January, 1875, United States legal-tender notes in sums of $1 000 and its multiple shall, on demand by the holder thereof, be redeemed by the Tr~asurer of the United Stat-es, either with coin or with United States bonds at par as he shall elect. The principal of such bonds shall be payable in coin in ten years from the 1st day of January, in the year in which they may be issued, and shall bear interest payable semi-annually in coin at the rate of 5 per cent., and shall be free from State and municipal taxation.

That is only a part of the previous amendment. It leaves out entirely that which wa-s ooject.ed to by the Sena,toF from 1\Iissonri, and which appears to liave been objected to by many other Senators. It provides for the redemption of legal-tender notes in United States bonds or in coin on demand by the holder, but it leaves entirely out the· other side of the proposition which I had .in my own mind, making bonds convertible into legal-tender notes. It is merely one side of the question.

Mr. MORTON. The effect of this amendment is to authorize the couversion of all the legal-tender notes into a 5 per cent ten-year bond. There is no provision for theU: being paid out in any way whatever. It only involves the conversion, and contraction to the extent of the ·conversion.

Mr. SARGENT. I move that the Senate do now adjourn. Mr. GORDON. I hope the Senator will withdraw that motion and

let us get through with the bill. Mr. LOGAN. I hope we shall get through with the bill to-night. Mr. SARGENT. I am willing to withdraw the motion for the pur­

pose of voting on the pending amendment; but we certainly cannot sit here all night.

1\ir. MORTON. Let us go on as far as we can. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from California

withdraw his motion T Mr. SARGENT: I will for the purpose of this vote, if Senators

wish to vote on the pending proposition. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Then the question is on the amend­

ment offered by the Senator fromConne,cticut, [Mr. BucKINGHAM,]to strike out all of the amendment offered by the Senator from Georgia, after the first word, 11 That," and insert the matter read by the Clerk.

Mr. SCHURZ. Is that a substitute.for the amendment of the Sen­ator from Georgia f

Tho PRESIDING OFFICER. It is.

Mr. SHERMAN. As the Senator from Connecticut ·is out of the Chamber at present, I will call for the yea-s and nays upon it.

The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 21, nuys 30 ; a-s follows :

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony1 Bayard, Buckingham; Chandler, Conkling, Cooper, Cra«in, Davis, Fenton, Fre'Ungbuysen, Hamilton 01 Maryland, HamiltQn of Texas, Ha~in, HQwe, JQnes, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Sargent, Schurz, Sher­man, and Stockton- 21.

NAYS-Messrs. Allison, Bogy, Boreman, Conover, Dennis, Ferry of Michi.,.an, Goldthwaite, Gordon, Harvey, Hitchcock, Ingalls, Johnston, Lewis, Loaan, Me· Croery, Merrimon, Mitchell, Morton, Norwood, Oglesby, Patterson, P ease,'liansom, Robert.<Jon, Spencer, Sprague, Thurman, Tipton, West, and Windom-30.

ABSENT-Messrs. AlcoTD, Boutwell, l3Townlow, Cameron, Carpent()r, Clayton, Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry of Connecticut, Flanag-an. Gilbert, H~er, Kelly, Pra.tt, Ramsey, Saulsbury, Scott, Stevenson, Stewart, Wadleigh, and wrigh~21.

So the amendment to · the amendment was rejected. Mr. SARGENT. I move that the Senate do now adjomn. lli. MORTON. I hope not. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is not debatable. Mr. MORTON and lli. ROBERTSON. I call for the yeas and nays. The yeas and n.:1>ys were ordered. The Chief Clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. SHERMAN. Before the vote is announced, I desire to state

that, for one, so far as I am concerned, I wish to see this matter closed to-morrow.

]')1r. MORTON. Mr. President-Mr. CONKLING. This is all out of order. Announce the vote. The result was announced_:yeas 27, nays 26; as follows : YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Chandler, CoopeT, C..:ragin, Davis. F enton,

Flanagan, Frelinghuysen, Hager, Hainilton of Maryland., Hamilton ofTexa , Ham­lin, Howe, Jones, McCreery, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Sargent. Sauls­bury, Schurz, Scott, Sherman, Stockton, Thnrman, Tipton, ancl "\Vindom-27.

NAYS-Messrs. Bogy, "Boreman, Carpenter, Conkling, Conover, Dennis, Ferry of Michil!an, Goldthwaite, Gordon, Harvey, Hitchcock, lngallR, Johnston, L ewis, .Logan, Morrimon, Mi~hell, Morton, .Norwood, Oglesby, Pease, Ransom, Roberlson, Spencer, Spra!!Ue, and West-26.

AnSENT- llessTs. Alcorn, .Allison, Boutwell, Brownlow, Buckingham, Cam· eron, Clayton, Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry of Counecticut, Gilbert, Kelly, Patterson Pratt, Ramsey, Stevenson •. Stewart, Wadleigh. and Wright-19. ·

So the motion was agreed to ; and (at four o'clock and forty-seven minutes p.m.) the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES .

TUESD.A.~, Ma-rch 31, 1874. The Honse met at twelve o'clock m. Prayer by Rev. W. E. PARSONS,

of Howard University, Wa-shington. . The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

PETITION OF TAX-PAYERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Mr. D.A. WES. I ask nn:illimons consent to present the petition of the tax-payers' convention of South Carolina, for such relief as Con­gress can grant from burdens arising fl:om alleged frauds a,nd mis­nue in that State; that it may be printed, and referred to the Com­mittee on the Judiciary. .

This petition, Mr. Speaker, is signed by gentlemen of -such character as precludes the idea that it is frivolous or without any such fonndar­tion as would justify an investigation. Of course previous to a,n in­vestigation no gentleman should assert the fact of the existence of such frauds or misrule. The prayer of the petition is that it may be referred to the Judiciary Committee for investigation; that it may be printed, and that the committee may have power to send for per­sons and papers in that investigation.

Mr. RANDALL. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him a ques-tion? .

Mr. D.A. WES. Certainly. ]')fr. RANDALL. I wish to ask the gentleman what this Cmigress

has to do with taxation in the State of South Carolina 't Mr. D.A. WES. I do not know if there is any remedy in Congress

for what these petitioners pray to be relieved from. They pray in gen­eral that, if there be any relief within the constitutional power of Congress to grant, Congress should grant it.

Mr. R.A.l~ALL. I thought the gentleman ·might perhaps be able to point to the authority in the Constitution of the United States.

Mr. D.A. WES. I confess myself that I do not see exactly the way to sec me the relief in that regard from taxation which they pray for. Thero may be, however, som~ relief within the power of Congress ; and if the investigation of the committee should show there is, Con­gress may grant it.

Ml'. RANDALL. I have only to say that I should be glad to see the people of South Carolina have relief in that respect. But I think the source of relief is within themselves, a,nd solely within them­selves; and for one I deprecate any such proceeding as this, which could be cited hereafter as a precedent. We have enough perhaps of this centralization, and are moving rapidly enough in that direc­tion.

Mr. D.A. WES. If I may be allowed to add a word, I would say that I have been careful not to a-ssert any foundation for this complaint. I have merely stated to the House that this comes in the name of gentlemen from ~h.:1.t State of such character as would justify an

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2653

investigation only. These gentlemen in respectful language petition Congress and present their complaints. I think it is the duty of Congress to hear them fairly, and to see whether there may be ·any remedy or not. And I would say, in reply t o t he gent leman from P ennsylvania, that the manner in which this is presented and this prayer is :W.dres ed to Congre s is such that it can be mado a prece­dent for no other case; because there is no assertion, in simply pre­senting this petition, of any power on the part of Congress; but that general relief is prayed for which this Congress may find in their power to grant.

I agree with the gentleman from P nnsylvania that centralization is an evil to be guarded against, and that the rights of States should be protected as sedulously and as carefully as the gentleman from Pennsylvania could wish for. At the same time no citizen of the United States who present-s his prayer to Congress in proper language should be turned away from the doors of Congress without a fair and candid and just hearing at its hands.

Mr. RANDALL. I am as fully and as largely in favor of the right of petition as any man can be; perhaps I should have agreed with Ml'. Adams had I beenhereatthattime. I certainly think that what he did was in the right direction and was ~ell done ; but while I would give to this petition, for it is in the nature of a petit ion, a proper reference for investigation, I want also at the same time to warn th e petitioners that the mo t dangerous power that can be invoked from the Federal authority is that which they l_)etition for, the inter­ference of the Federal Government in the internal affairs of their State. I would like to know what would be thought at this time if Congress should undertake to act in reference to the taxation of my own State Y

Mr. DAWES. That may be wise and proper enough as a caution, but it is altogether premature before the petitioners have b~en heard or the House can know officially from the proper authority what it is they desire.

Mr. RANDALL. What they desire is a matter of public notoriety, and therefore I had a right to speak of it.

Mr. MAYNARD. Why is the petition presented in this manner and not under the rules, and referred in the usual way 'i

Mr. DAWES. For the reason that you cannot present a petition under the rules and have it printed, and have authority given to the committee to send for persons and papers. I call the previous ques­tion on my motion.

Mr. YOUNG, of Georgia. I demand the regular order. Mr. MAYNARD. If the committee deem it necessary that they

have power to send for persons and pA.pers they will say so. I object· to granting them that power now if it requires unanimous consent.

Mr. COX. The objection of the .gentleman from Tennessee comes with an ill grace from him. ·

Mr. WALLACE. I hope the gentlern.an from Georgia will waive the demand for the regular order for a moment. I was absent from the House on a committee when this petition was presented.

Mr. MAYNARD. I "\\ill say in reply to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] that I was engaged in t.he investigation of the Ku­Klux outrages, and know something about the condition of affairs in the Southern States. He says the objection comes with an ill grace from me. That is a matter of taste between him and myself.

Mr. DA. WES. As the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. W AL­LACE] desires to be heard, I will withdraw the demand for the pre­vious question.

Mr. W ALLA.CE. I have been absent on a committee and know nothing at all about this matter.

Mr. WHITELEY. I ask that the indorsement on the petition be again read for inform'lotion.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Massachusetts has presented a petition, of which the Clerk will again read the title.

The Clerk read as follows: . The petition of the tax-payers' cpnvention of South Carolina., for such relief as

Congress cangrantfrom burdens arising from alleged fraud and misrule in that State.

The SPEAKER. The motion of the gentleman from Massachu­setts is that the petition he referred to the Committeo•on the Judi­ciary and printed, and that, in regard to the prayer of the petitioners! the committee shall have aright to investigate it, with power to sena for persons a,nd papers.

Mr. MAYNARD. Is the latter part of that motion in orderf The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks that the latter part· of the mo­

tion requires unanimous consent. Mr. MAYNARD. I object. Mr. DAWES. Then I move that the petition be referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary, and printed. The SPEAKER. The Chair t.hinks that is the better course. Mr. W ALLAC~. I have no objection to that. The question was taken on the motion of Mr. DAWES; and it was

agreed to. Mr. DA. WES moved to reconsider the vote by which the petition

was referred and ordered to be printed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to. CHESAPEAKE AND OIDO CANAL.

Mr. LOWNDES, by unanimous consent, submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to furnish this House with the

r eport of surveys for the extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, made under the a.ct approved March 3, 1873, entitled "An oot making appropriations for there pair, pr eservation, and completion of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes."

CHANGE OF REFERENCE. On motion of Mr. STOWELL, by unanimous consent, the Commit­

t ee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads were discharged from the fur­ther consideration of the following petitions, and the same were re­ferred t o the Committee on Claims :

The petition of C. H. Hale, assignee of Hale, Windsor, Crosby & Co., for ·compensation for extra services rendered in carrying the mails from the years 1 66 to 1870 inclusive; and

The petition of Benjamin Best. BIDS FOR MAIL CONTRACT.

Mr. STOWELL, by unanimous consent, presented a communication from the Postmaster-General, in relation to bids for contracts for . carrying the mails; which was referred to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, and ordered to be printed.

COMJ\fiSSIOJSERE! TO VIENNA EXPOSJ;TION. Mr. MYERS, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. No.

2780) for the relief of the commissioners to the Vienna exposition; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

YELLOWSTONE PARK. Mr. DUNNELL, by unanimous consent, from the Committee on the

Public Lands, reported (as a substitute for House bill No. 2177) a bill (H. R. No. 2781) amendatory of and supplemental to the a-ct ent i­tled "An act to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the head­waters of the Yellowstone River as a public park," approved March 1, 1872; which was read a first and second time, ordered to be printed, and recommitted to the committee, not to be brought back by a mo­tion to reconsider.

RELIEF OF NAVAL CONSTRUCTORS. Mr. HOLMAN, by unanimous consent, submitted the views of the

minority of the Committee on War Claims in regard to House bill No. 217, for the relief of naval constructors of vessels of war; which was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar, and ordered to be printed.

SWAMP LANDS IN MISSOURI. Mr. BLAND, by unanimous consent, presented a memorial of the

county court of Laclede County, Missouri, asking that the title to · swamp lands situate in said State be confirmed; which was referred to the Committee on the Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.

IMPROVEMENT OF MOUTH OF MISSISSIPPI. Mr. STONE. I ask unanimous consent that House bill No. 2342, for

the improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi River1 which was reported ba.ck by the Committee on Railways and CanalS and com­mitted to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, be taken from the Committee of the Whole and made a special order for consideration in the House on Tuesday, April21, 1R74, at the hour of half-pa tone o'clock p.m., and that at four o'clock of the next day, the 22d, the previous question shall be operative. ·

The SPEAKER. That requires unanimous consent. Mr. HALE, of Maine. I ask the gentleman to except the regular

appropriatipn bills. · Mr; STONE. I will do that. Mr. NEGLEY. And also except the bill for the protection of life

and property on vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam. Mr. STONE. I am asking for but two days for the consideration

of this bill. Mr. NEGLEY. And another suggestion: this bill comes from a

committee which never before had this subject under consideration. It should have been referred to the Committee· on Commerce ; that is the proper committee to consider it, not the Committee on Rail­ways and Canals.

Mr. STONE. The bill was referred by this House to the Com­mittee on Railways -and Canals, and. that committee has devoted the last four months to the consideration of this subject. It wa reported back un:.mimously from the committee, and now we ask that a day be fixed for its consideration. As to the question whether it should have been referred to the Committee on Commerce, I do not under­take to say. It was referred to the Committee on Railways and Canals, and that committee has oonsidered it.

Mr. NEGLEY. The House must understand how difficult it is-­The SPEAKER. It is too late to discuss the question now as to what

committee should have considered this subject. The referen~e of the matter was made four months ago.

Mr. SMITH, of New York. I ask the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. STONE] to make an exception of reports from the Committee on Elections.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. If the committee have determined upon a policy to be adopted in regard to the mouth of the Mississippi River, I will not object to this being made a special order. If they have not so determined, I must object. ·

Mr. NEGLEY. At the earnest request of the gentleman, agreeing as I do with him as to the importance of this work, I will withdraw my objection.

2654 CONGRE~SIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

Mr. LOWE. Does this proposition include the morning hour¥ The SPEAKER. It does not. But the Chair would suggest that if

the previous q nestion is ordered at four o'clock on the second day, the bill will be very apt to go over to the third day. ·

.Mr. STONE. I have no objection .to making the previous. question operative ou the first day at four o'clock.

The SPEAKER. With that modification is there objection to the proposition of the gentleman from Missouri¥ .

No objection was made, and it was so ordered. CEMETERY AT SALT LAKE CITY.

Mr. COBURN, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported back, with a substitute, Senate bill No. 347, granting a portion oi the United States military reservation at Salt Lake City for cemetery pmposes; -which subst itute wa.s ordered to be printed, and recommitted to the Committee on l\Iilitary Afi'airs, not to be brought back into the House on a motion t.o reconsider . .

PONTON BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI.

Mr. NEGLEY. I am instructed by the Committee onComme1·ceto report back House bill No. 2538, to legalize and establish a ponton railroad bridge across the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien, and ask that it be put upon its pa sage now. The bill baa been very care­fully considered, an4 it contains all the provisions and restrictions

. hitherto agreed to by the House in connection with such bills. Mr. POTTER. I object. ·

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

Mr. CONGER. I am instructed by the Committee on Commerce to report a bill which they are authorized to report at any time.

Mr. KILLINGER. I call for the regular order. l\Ir. CONGER. I suppose this is the regular order, as the commit­

tee were aut.horized to report at any t ime. The SPEAKER. It would be the regular order, except for the fact

that the previous question is operating on the Portland and Louis­ville Canal bill, which comes np for consideration.

lfr. CONGER. This is a very important bill; it is for the appoint­ment of an agent to examine the fur-seal fisheries of Alaska.

Mr. KILLINGER. I insist upon the_ re6rular order. LOUISVILLE A...'l"J? PORTLAND CANAL COMPANY.

The SPEAKER. The regular order being called for, the House now resumes t he consideration of Senate bill No. 350, providing for the payment of the bonds of the Louisville and Portland Canal Company,

. ·on which, the previous question having been ordered, the gentleman from New York, the chairman of the Uommittee on Commerce, [:Mr. ·WHEELER,] is entitled to one hour to close the debat13.

Mr. WHEELER. 1\Ir. Speaker, aside from the large and indefinite appropriation of money made by this bill it involves questions of as gnw e if not graver moment than any upon which this Congress has yet been called to act; among others, the delicate one of how far the 11 ational Government may exercise alleged rights in a sovereign State. The whole bill demands, anti I trust will receive, the careful and de­liberate consideration of the House.

At the commencement of the discu!'sion I may be pardoned one word in relation t~ my personal attitude toward the measure. Some gentle­man, unknown to me, has placed upon my desk an extract from some newspaper which purports to conta,in a telegram to the Inter-Ocean at Chicago, from some correspondent here, in which I am charged with duplici ty in relation to this bill. Now, sir, I desire to say, once for all, that I am here to find no fault with the newspaper men . . It is their right, as it is their duty, to search public men" as \vith a lighted c<1ildle ;" and it is our bult if they take anything by the search. I accord to these men the full liberty to criticise my public acts and my public motives; and I shall never find any fault with them for so doing. If they do me a temporary injustice, time will surely right me. If they do me simple justice and I am in the wrong, then the fault is my own. In this ·matter, this correspondent, whoever he may be, is simply mistaken as to the fact. I call upon the gentleman from Indiana [.Mr. HOL~AN] who has championed this measure in the House to confirm the truth of what I say-that I have never opposed this a,ppropriation of money; that I have been entirely content that this entii·e amount of a million and a quarter of ascertained indebt­eclness and an unknown amount of unascertained indebtedness, with $114,000 of taxes assessed by the city of Louisville, shall be pa.id to carry out the purposes of this bill. I have never objected, in com­mittee or out of it, to the amount of money involved in the bill. I have placed my opposition from the ·outset simply upon the question of cession of jurisdiction.

1\Ir. HOLl\I.A.N. With the permission of the gentleman from New York, [Mr. WHEELER,] I wish to say that while I have not seen the article referred to, I understand the fa-ct to be that the gentleman, as chairman of the Committee on Commerce, has from the beginning raised no question npon this bill except to insist that, before any money shall be paid, the State of Kentucky should make a new and llllequivocal surrender of jurisdiction over the canal. The gentle­man from New York I think macle that suggestion at the outset of t he discussion before the C<>mmittee on Commerce, and I understand that to be his position now. . •

Mr. CONGER. As the same report charges me with opposition to the bill, I wish its specialchampion[l\Ir. Hour~] would say whether I have not always duringthelast two years favored thegeneralcourse

of action which this bill prescribes~ making my objections solely on the question of jurisdiction. ·

Mr. HOLMAN. I have always . understood the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Co "GER] to favor the_ passage of this bill. I know that he has discussed the question of jurisdiction; but I was not aware np to this time that he has ever said or done anything in oppo-sition to the measure. ·

Mr. CONGER. I speak of it because I am charged in the same article with hostility to the measure.

M.r. HOLMAN. The gentleman from Michigan has always shown a disposition to act with entire fairness toward the commercial inter­ests of the Ohio Valley, _and I hope will still.

1\.Ir. WHEELER. Now, Mr. Speaker, so much for this point. This article further charges that I have placed myself in hostility to the commerc~ of the Ohio Valley. In this connection, whatever short­comings I may have as a public man,· (and they are perhaps not few,) I think this House will give me credit for one thing

1 and that

is for frankness. I never engage in any controversy in which I do ·not intend to carry my flag out, so that it may be ·seen by all men. I never intend in debate, or in other positions here, to occupy an equivocal position. I deny, sir, that I am oppo ed to the commerce of the Ohio Valley, or the commerce of my country anywhere. I am an American, sir, loving and desiring the interests of my whole coun­try, and longing for t.he time when this anomaly of a boundless country overflowing with every element of wealth, but yet a giant with its financial muscles paralyzed, shall cease; when this giant with renewed strength shall put forth ail its power, ·not only for the purpose of improving existing channels of commerce, but for multi­plying n ew ones for the common benefit of the whole country. So much for my personal position.

The Louisville and Portland Canal Company was incorporated by the State of Kentucky in the year 1826, for the purpose of building a canal around the Falls of the Ohio River, a distance of two miles. The Government of the United States first became interested in it in the year 1826, when by an act of Congress it subscribed one thou­sand shares of the ten thousand shares which made up the capital stock of that company. Iu 1827an additionalactofCongress author­ized the subscription of thirteen hundred and fifty more shares, making in all a money subscription of $235,000. Before the a-ct of 1842, to which I shall presently allude, ~nd under its operation, the United States had become the proprietor of five hundred and sixty­seven more shares. This made an aggregate of twenty-nine hundred and seventeen shares of the capital stock of this company. And, Mr . Speaker, I want to lay uown here the proposition that that is every dollar of money that the United States ever paid into that capital fund. I will demonstrate that before I get ·through, and if I fail to do it, it will be from lack of capacity and not from lack of correct­ness in the statement. I say, then, that if this c01-poration were dis­solved to-day by operation of law, for any purpose whatever, the Unite{l States would be simply ·entitled to take out of the assets the proportion of value which twenty-nine hundred and seventeen shares bear to the whole number of shares, and no more.

The fallacy of this bill rests in this, that the United States have become the proprietors of all the shares except fiye shares-a fact, Mr. Speaker, which has never been conceded by the Legislature of Kentucky, and a fact which bas been persistently, and I say legally denied by the Louisville and Portland Canal Company. ·

Mr. HOLMAN. Will my friend allow me to make one inquiry of himf

l\1r. WHEELER. The gentleman from Indiana will remember that I did not interrupt him or any other gentleman during this entire discussion yesterday, and I prefer to go on without interruption.

1\Ir. HOLMAN. But it is an inquiry pertinent to the gentleman's statement. When this whole ca-se was before Justice Miller, did he not decide that the Government of the United States was the exclu-sive owner of the Louisville and Portland Canal t , ·

Mr. WHEELER. Justice Miller decided no such thing. He de­cided only th~t the officers of the United States might go on to tho Louisville and Portland Canal for the purpose of expending an ap­propriation which this Government II).ade for the general improve­ment of that work as a part of the Ohio River-a similar appropri­ation to that made for the improvement of the numerous harbors of the c_oun try. Nothing more, nothing less, did Justice Miller decide. He said that the ·expenditure of that appropriation was not detri­mental to the bondholders, whose rights had accrued subsequently to this transaction of which I arri now speaking and subsequent to 1842 and 1844. He said they might go on and do anything which did not interfere with the security of those later creditors of this corporation. He did not undertake to decide this other questi~n. ·

This, Mr. Speaker, is one-third, not quite one-third, of the capital stock of this corporation. The Louisville and Portland Canal Com­pany have said to the United States, from the beginning down to this day, "You must content yourself with voting upon that stock. We will allow you under our Kentucky charter to come into our corporn,­tion meetings and participate in the election of directors. Nothing beyond that." They have limited the operations of the United States under the ownership of this stock to that one transaction; and that is the position of the canal company to-day.

This condition of things remained untill842, when it became evi­dent the commerce of the Ohio River demanded enlargement of the

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2655

canal. Let me look at this legislation of 1842 in view of this interest which had thus prung up for the improvement of this work. Let us see what its import is. I ask the Honse now to follow me carefully, because on this legislation of 1842 and the supplementa1·y legislation of 1844 turns this whole question. I say it is so clear, that a way­faring man, though a fool, need not err in its construction.

By an act of the Legislature of Kentucky, approved February 21, 1842, the board of president and directors of the canal company were authorized, whenever so directed by the stockholders thereof, to sell "the shares of stock owned by individuals in said canal to the United State , or the State of Kentucky, or the city of Louisville, for the purpo ·e of eventually making the said canal free of toll ; or, further to effect this object, the board of president and directors, when so auth01ized.as aforesaid," were clothed with "the privilege of appro­priating the net income arising from said canal to the purchase of said stock instead of making dividends therewith." .

The fourth section of this act provides-listen attentively-That the shares so purchased by s;1id board shall be held in trust by it for_ the

purposes herein decl:1re1l, and shall be voted on by them at all subsequent meetings and elections, until, by the operation of the provisions of this act, all the shares standing in the name of others than the Government of the United States shall have been purchased up ; and when the said shares shall have all been purchased, the same shall be transferred to the Government of the United States, on condition of said Government levyin"' tolls for the use of aid canal only sufficient to keep the sam in repair and pay a'll nece sary superintendence, custody, and expenses, and make aU necessary improvements so as fully to answer the purpose of its estab­lishment, and, further, to protect and guard the interests of commerce.

What is the import of this statute! Look at the nece ity which had arisen for the enlargemennt of this work, and which I could prove by the contemporary history of the enterprise, had I the timer had become an imperative demand all through the West,- expressed by public meetings and el ewhere-look at this proposition of the Le~islature of the State of Kentucky in 1842, by which it said to the Umted States, to the State of Kentucky, and to the city of Louisville: "If either of you will take this canal and make it free of toll"-and that is not all, that is but a minor part of it-" if you will enlarge it and make it meet the pre ent demnnds of commerce, you shall have it upon these conditions, and upon no other." This proffer to the United State , by which these tolls were to accrue and be applied to the pur­chase of the stock of others than the United-.States, and this promise to transfer this stock to the United States, were upon the simple, sole condition that the United States should accept this trust and enlarge thi canal.

Mr. Speaker, the United States never made response to this proffer, except, as I will hereafter show, to repeatedly decline it. They never paid one dollar toward this purpose. They never did one solitary act toward its performance; not one.

The history of this canal shows that from 11:!42 to 1B44 the United Sta.te occasionally interposed an objection that the cession of jmis­diction was not full enough. And in 1e44 the Legislature of Ken­tucky passed another act, which, as the directors of this company say in their printed reports, of which I have a volume here, in their judg­ment met the objection, that the c sion of jurisdiction was not com­plete, and s~ing that if the Government would take it, if the Gov­ernment would enlarge it, then the Government was entitled to it under the State act of 1842; but asserting all the way through that the Government of the United States could not take this property except in pursuance of the trust created by the act of 1842, not only to reduce the tolls, but to enlarge the canal so as to meet the demands of commerce.

Here is this act of 1 44. See how carefully it is guarded : " That in the event of the United States becoming the sole owner of the Louisville and Portland Canal "-a thing it coul"d only do by acecpt­ing this trust of improving the canal and making it as free as it could be, deducting only operating expenses; the United States could not take this stock purchased by surplus earnings, not a dollar of it, except by pmforrning that trnst in its entirety-it wa only in the event of the United States becoming the sole owner of the Louisville and Portland Canal under the trust created by the act of 1842, that the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Kentucky over si1id canal was to be yielded up to the Government of the United States.

Now, I ask the House to oboorve in this connection that it is upon this proposition that this bill proceeds. It is sought now to bind the State of Kentucky to the proposition that she made thirty-two years ago, and .which I will prove by and by she has clearly withdrawn. The gentleman from Iowa [Mr. KASSON] yesterday glanced alittle at the point I now proceed to discuss. This a.ct of 1844 went further than all this. It went so far a to provide that, even if the property were transferred to the United State~, the Commonwealth of Kentucky reserved the right to regulate the tolls upon this canal forever. And this has never been repealed, as the gentleman from Iowa well said yes­terday.

This act of 1844, after the propositions of 1842, amounted simply to this: "Take the C3tnal, enlarge it, perform the trust, and we will ex­cuse you from so inuch as compels you to make an annual report to the Commonwealth of Kentucky; holding in our h::~;nd.s, however,

· as a safeguard, it at any time you make the tolls too high, the power to reduce them." And this biH proposes to accept the canal with this condition. Is the Government of the United States, Mr. Speaker, to disburse this million and a quarter of known indebtedness and an in­definite amount of unknown indebtedness, and then to hold this prop-

erty subject to the Legislature of the State of Kentucky, for all com­ing time, to regulate the tolls upon the commerce of the Ohio Rived If so, it will be the first time the Government ever placed itself in a . strait-jacket of this chamcter.

I say, and if I am wrong in this legal proposition let some of Ken­tucky's eminent lawyers upon this floor contradict me-I say the State of Kentucky has never repealed this restriction of the act of 1842. It is in force to-day. And if the United States has to take this property under this biD, it has to take it subject to the right of the Legislature of the State of Kentucky to control the tolls upon it forever.

Now, :\h. Speaker, the a~ent of the United States was present at the meetinO"of the stockholders of this company at which this prop­osition of 1§42 was accepted. What did the United States declare by that act f "We are perfectly willing to forego dividend.s upon our stock and tha.t the surplus earnings shall be used in absorbing the out­standing shares." The Government of the United States has never performed any other act looking toward the exeeution of this trust; it ha,g·never paid a dollar of money, nor has it ever done one other thing in the matter of the enlargement and improvement of the canal.

Now, Mr. Speaker, under the provisions of the act of 1842, which aid that the dividends of this company, its profits, should go to the

purcha e of the stock other t.han that owned by the United States, this stock in 1855 had all been absorbed, with the exception of the five shares which are now held, at the instance and by the special request of the Gover1;1ment of the United States, by the gentlemen who operate this canal. Let us see what was the attitude of the Government at this time, n.fter this stock had all been purchased. The scrip itself is in the posse sion of the canal company, it has never been traJlBferred to the United States; it has never been authorized to be transferred by the Legislature of Kentucky ; and the position of this company to-day is that the United State can vote only on its original shares, with the small number which it acquired prior to 1842.

After 1842 and in the year 1855, when this stock through this pro­cess, under the operation of the act of 1842, had been acquired, as alleged by th~ friends of this measure, by the United States, these directors called upon the United States to take upon itself the fulfill­ment of the trust of 1842, and. what was the answer t · H~re is the answer of the President of the United States:

Let the improvements be made with the tolls, with the distinct understanding that the Government commits itself to nothing involving a material change in the capacity of the canal and locks; incidental expenses to be strictly withiri income at reduced tolls, as proposed.

FRANKLIN PIERCE. APRIL 21, 18.'i5.

The President said, further, that he would make a recommendation to Congress, and I will show you the subsequent action of Congress by and by. That wa the attitude of the Government of the United States. In the absence of Congress the President of the United States declared, in effect, that the canal must enlarge itself, that the Government would not undertake the trusts of 1842; but said to the directors, ''You must do it with your own means out of the revenues of the canal." ·

Now, I want to say once for all that this stock could only become the property of the United States by the accep~ance of the trust cre­a.ted byt4e act of the Legislature of Kentucky, of 1842; a t.hingwhich it has never done. No one will pretend that the Government of the United States can take possesion of this canal Without the consent of the State of Kentucky. The bill it elf goes upon that hypothe-sis and points to the act of 1844, carefully omitting . all reference to the act of 1842. The act of 1844 was simply amendatory of the act of 1842, and every provision of the act of·1842 stands to-day, except that which wa,g waived by the State of Kentucky in the act of 1844. This is a proposition made by the State of Kentucky thirty-two years ago. This doctrine of surrender which has been put forth upon this floor and in the bill, pointing only to the act of 1844, is proved very much as we prove our religious creeds. We select such passages from the Bible a sustain our views, and omit all the rest. Now, this bill pro­ceeds upon the a umption that it wa,g an absolute proffer on the part of Kentucky, without condition, to surrender this canal und~r the act of 1844. The material question jn the whole matter is, did the nited States ever a.ccept the proposition of the act of 1842~ If they did, the State of Kentucky is concluded; if they did not, she is not.

Let me now recall to the attention of the House once more the legislation of Kentucky of 1842, whereby the Legislature of Kentucky said, first, that Kentucky itself may do this if it sees proper, or the United States may do it, or the city of Louisville; but that if the United States took po session of the canal it must be upon the con­dition that she should enlarge and impro~~ it. The United States have never undertaken that trust, and hence have never owned a. dollar of the stock. . . ~h. ELDREDGE. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him where

the title to this acquired stock rests, and who is authorized, as the law now stands, to represent that stock f

Mr. WllliELER. It rests to-day in the Louisville and Portland Canal Company . . The officers of that company hold five shares abso­lutely in their own right, and they hold the rest under this trust.

Mr. ELDREDGE. I desire to ask a further question. I wish to -~uire whether the State of Kentucky could put a limitation upon the purchase of stock by any person who. should desire to purchase, that they must pay their money for it, and then hold it in trust f Is not that a limitation which the State could not impose 'I

2656 ' CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

Mr. WHEELER. The State of Kentucky said by 'the act of 1844, supplementary to that of 1842, that she would give full jurisdiction of this property to the United States if the United States would en­large and complete the cann.l and make i.f; free of toll. She has made that proffer, and it is the only one she ha.s ever made in that direc­tion. The directors acquired these shares by the permission of the Uuited States, not with the money of the Unit ed States, except o far as what its shares ea,rned under the act of 1842; but they hold these shares acquired by the revenues of the canal, and they hold them subject to the a-ct of 1842. They hold them under the e anomalous conditions.

Mr. ELDREDGE. Did not the canal belong to the stockholders~ Mr. WHEELER. It did; but they parted with their rights so far

as tttey sold their shares under the act of 1842. Mr. ELDREDGE. One other question. Mr. WHEELER. The gentleman must pardon me; he is taking

up too much of my hour and -drawing me away from my line ~f argu­ment.

.Mr. ELDREDGE. I only wish to understand this question; I was not criticising the gentleman's remarks.

:Mr. WHEELER. I understand that fully; but the gentleman will see that these interruptions disturb my line of argument.

Now, the history of this whole enterprise shows that the Govern­ment of the United States repeatedly refused to do anything by way of improvement of this canal. Let us see how the company itself regn.rded this matter in 1858, three years after this stock had all been absorbed, and after, as alleged by the gentlema,n from.' Indiana, the United States became the owner of all but the five shares. I ask the Clerk to read some extracts I have marked in an answer made by tho company in response to a letter from the Secretary of the Treas­ury claiming the right to control the canal.

The Clerk read as follows: The president and directors of the company cannot concede the correctness of

what appears to be the ba is-idea of your letter, to wit, that in the e::tisting status of the relations of the United States to the company the Secret..<trv of the Treas­ury possesses the controlling voice in the direction of the course aiid affairs of the comp:my. It will certainly bo the plcasu:re, as well as the a<lmitteU duty, of the presiuent :md directors so to direct the man:1$;ement of the affairs of the comp:my as to preserve the intere t of the Unite(l States in the property and in the av:Ws from its use. The expenditures which have been made since tll. e ab. orption of the shares of private stock, by virtue of the operations of the company under the act of the Kentucky Assembly dated 21st Feuruary, 1842, have all been made with the concurrent approval of the Secretary of the Treasury for the time being; and your letter of tho 26th of May la tis the first notification received uy the board of a chan.gc of disposition on tho part of the United States as to the management of tht» affri:irs of the company for the futuro. The pre ident and directors are but trustees of tho stock acquired under the operation of tho act of the 21st February, 1842, before referred to; but you will observe that, by reason of any thin~ which has thus far transpired, the United States are not proprietors of any stocK in tho company beyond the shares held absolutely on tho 21st day of February, 1842, and in the management of the affairs of the company are entitled legally to no further control than by the vote of said stock the;v can give to the company in the s lec­tion of its officers. The president and directors, as in duty bound, ha>e advised tho Government of the bu ine s of the oompany, and have awaited the plea-sure of Congress to make the appropriations, or to assume the obligation to make such ap­propriations, as would carry out the objecta of the trust declared by the act of the Kentucky Assembly dated February 21,1842. The United States canonlyacquire the prop1ietorsltip of the property in the whole canal upon the basis established by said a{)t; and, with all respect to Congress, it does seem to the undersigned that a reasonable period within which tho election might have been made has already tr-mspired. But as you observe in yours of the 26th of May last that it was your purpc. e to report t~ Congress all the facts in the case for its action, the unuer­sib'lled is .instructed to say that, until Congre s shall have again hat! a full oppor­tunity to act in the ].>remises and to legislate upon the facts, and to elect whether the United States will undertake the trust declared by the statu~ of Kentucky, or wiil devolve its execution upon the other parties in interest, as stated in the stat­ute, the president and directors will so conduct the affairs of the company as to observe with all fidelity the preservation of such surplus as shall represent the shares of the United States compared to the aggregate belonging to the whole stock of the companY..

~Ir. "WHEELER. Now that ought to be satisfactory to this House a~ to this point. This compa,ny sa,id in 1858, "We have repea,tedly called upon the Government of the United Sta,tes to accept a,nd per­form the trust under the act of 1842, and it has persistently refused." If I had time I could take the current history of the legislation of that period and show yon how, time after time, bills were introduced into Congress for the purpose of carrying out the trust of 1842, but received. no action. 'I say that Congress never did a,ccept that trust; and only by its accepta,nce could it cla,im the right of ownership in the canal and the control of it. Down to this da,y the Louisville aud Portland Canal Company recognizes the United States only as a voter to the extent of one-third of its stock, and in no other capacity. ·

Weary of del:ty in any plan for the enlargement of this canal, which was the main purpose of the legislation of Kentucky in 1842, in 1857 the State of Kentuoky took the ma,tter into its own hands. By a,n a,ct approved December 19, 1857, it was declared that the char­ter of 'the Louisville-and Portland Canal Compa,ny should be so amended as to authorize the said company to construct, with the rev­enues and on the credit of the corporation, a bra,nch canal sufficient to pass the largest class of steam-vessels na,vigating the Ohio River; and said company was vested with all the powers and authority to acquire and hold the nece sary lands for such branch canal, and to construct the sa.me, as were vested by the charter and. am.endments for the construction of the original canal ; and all the provision rf the origina,l charter and amendments were made as applicable to 'lhe branch as to the original canal. That is the legislation in 1857 of the State of Kentucky. Tired of t~e delay of t.he United States in under-

kking an enlargement of this canal, tho State of Kentucky thus set about doing it itself, or set the ma-chinery in motion: to do it; that is, authorizing the company to do it with its own revenues.

Now, let us see what was the action of the Government of the United States in relation to enlarging the canal upon the plan of this legislation of 1857. Pending this, let ns see how the compa,ny re­garded this matter in 1859. Here is the report of the company for the year 1859, in which occurs this statement: -

During the past year important movement.s have taken ]?lace at >ruious points in tho West in reference to the enlm-gement of the Louisville :md Portland Canal. Mectin~s of merchants, steam boat masters and owners

1 anu others intere ted in the

navigation of the Ohio River, have been held at Cincmnati, Madison, Louisville, and other places, and measures adopted to bring the subject before Congresa; and the board entertain the hope that during the present session Congress Will either authorize the Government to receive the work, or consent (a.s its ownership of 2 902 shares of the capital stock makes it desirable it should consent) that the board proceed to carry out the enlargement of the work as contemplated by the statute of Kentucky. - ·

Here is the declara,tion of this company in 1859. Now, let us see what the Government of the United States did in pursuance -of the act of the Kentucky Legislature of 1857. On the 24th ofl\fay, 1860, Congress passed there olution which I ask the Clerk to read.

The Clerk read as follows : _ Resolved by the s~nate and House of Representatives of the United States of America tn Congress a-ssembled, That the president and directors of the Louisville and Port­land. Canal Company be, and they are hereby, authorized, with the revenues and creilits of the company, to enlarge the said canal, and to construct a branch canal from a suitable point on the south side of the present canal to a point on the Ohio River, opposite Sand !Bland, sufficient to pass the largest cln.ss of steam-ve sels navigating the Ohio River: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall authorize said president or directors, directly or indirectly, to use or pledge the faith or credit of the United States for the said enlargem('nt or construction, it being hereby expre ly declared that the Government of the United States shall not be in any manner lia.blo for said enlargement or construction: Provided further, That when said canal is enlarged, and its branch canalis constructed, and the cost of said improvement paid for, no more tolls shall be collected than an amount sufficient to keep the canal in repair and pay for all nece sary superintendence and management.

Mr. HOLMAN. I trust the gentleman from New York will observe in this connection that at that time, in 1860, Congress had suspended entirely the making of appropriations for public works. That reso­lution was p~ed in consequence of the adoption of that policy at that time on the part of the Government.

Mr. WHEELER. That act was passed simply to meet the require­ments of tho Kentucky statute of 1857 . . What wa the attitude of the Government of the United States upon this matter in 1860 ~ It said, virtually, "We will not pay one clollar toward the enlargement of this canal. You may go on and enla,rge the work yourselves; but we will not be liable"-this is tho substantial language of the substi­tute-" for one dollar; you must do the work wholly at your own expense and with the revenues of the canal." Such was the legis­lation of 1860. Is this consonant with the idea that the United States had become the owner of this property under the Kentucky acts of 1842 and 1844; that they 'vere keeping the trust imposed by the legislation of 1842 to enlarge and improve this ca,nal so that it should meet tho demands of commerce f It is entirely at wa,r with any such idea,. ·

Under this legislation of 1860 sprang up a new class of rights. Let us see how the compa,ny regarded the matter after this act of 1860 was passed by Congress. Here is the declaration contained in their report for 1860 :

By this joint resolution-

Referring to the joint resolution I have just had read-it will be seen Congre s has in effoot ceded the stock of the United States to tho objects of the trust uecl..'U'ed by the statute of 1842.

And so it had. Tiie United States Government has now become a secondary proprietor in the LouisviJle and Portland. Canal. Under this provision of 1857 the company went on ; it issued bonds secured by mortgage upon the canal and its revenues for over 1,500,000. It did this with the knowledge and consent of the United States. This has all been done since the act of 1842 was pa sed by the State of Kentucky. What follows f The State of Kentucky haa authorized :1 new trust to be create<.l. Her laws and her honor are pledged for its strict fulfillment; and she is right when she comes in, as she does by the la,ter legislation of 1872, and says that she will not surrender this property until this new trust created under her laws and by her sanction is fulfilled. It is for her to say whether she will permit the United States to stop in and fulfill this trust for her, or whether she will carry it out herself.

I say that the a-spect of this question was entirely changed b,Y the legislation of the State of Kentucky in 1857 and by the legislation of Congress in 1860. Tho United States virtually said, "We will take our chances in this matter ; our interest, whatevet it may be, may be pledged with yours for the purpose of enlarging this canal. Go on ; enlarge the work yourselves; do what you can with your own rev­enue; but understand that the national Government provides ex­pressly that it will not be bound for one dollar of your liabilities." Strange and anoma,lous proceeding for the United States to take with a piece of its own property, which, according to the allegation of t.he gentleman from Indi:ma, they a-cquired in 1855.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to make this declaration, of which I chal­lenge contradiction. From that time down to this day the United States Government has never asserted by any solitary act the control of that property. Go to the archives of your Treasury Department,

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.

and you cannot find there, until within a year or two and since the project of this bHl began to be agitated, a solitary communication tha.t has pa ed between the Government of the United States and the Louisville and Portland Canal Company; not one. Strange and un­pl'eoodented treatment by the UnHed States of its own property.

Mr. HOLMAN. The gentleman from New York [1\ir. WHEELER] falls into an error. The Committee on Commerce in their report em­braced only one letter on the subject; but there has been an extended correspondence of the arne character since 1855.

Mr. WHEELER. I know the correspondence. It relates to an ap­pr~priation for this canal, as we approp1·iate money for rivers and harbors generally. I am saying that as to this peculiar relation alleged to exist between the Government of the United States and this canal company the United States have made no sign. You can­not :find any indication of it in the Treasury Department. The Gov­ernment of the United States has not to-day a solitary badge of owner hip in connection with this property. The Government can by her repre entatives attend the meetings of the company; she can vote upon her . original subscription of stock for directors; he can­not do anything else. The e directors manage the work under the laws of the State of Kentuck-y. The Government has no other right to-day, and can have none, except by permission of the State of Kentucky.

:Mr. Speaker, under circumstances like these, this bill contains the startling proposition that the Secretary of War-an officer never before recognized in connection with this work; for the Secretary of the Treasury has always had control of it so far as it has been con­trolled up to 1860; has managed all the correspondence, not by per­mission of the State of Kentucky, not by permission of the corpora­ation holding the property, not by permission of the courts-shall take posse sion of this property.

What, the Federal Government, through theW ar Department, enter into the domains of a sovereign State, and take po ession of its cor­porate property! Is this the modern doctrine of State rights . Sir, it is at war with my ideas of the rights of the Sta.tes, and I should be unworthy to represent the district of Sihis Wright if I failed to utter my protest. The Federal Government by power of arms to enter a sovereign State without its consent, and take forcible possession of one of its corporations! It is a proposition which should not be enter­tained for a moment by any one who has any reg:1rd for the rights of the States.

Why the Secretary of vV ar . Why not the Secretary of the Treas­ur~ 7 He bas always had the management of this canal. Sir, I have a ~ttle rega:d for law yet, and though during the eventful years which have JUSt passed we were compelled to do some thino·s whi h looked like a violation of the law and the Constitution, the time has come when we hould return to the old anchorage-ground.

Mr. Speaker, Kentucky says, by her own legislative action, she does not consider herself bound by this proposition of 1842. What means this proposition of 1872, if there be any force in the old law of Ken­tucky, which I say the United States' has repeatedly declined from the day of this proffer down to this bill, the Government never having performed a single act under that trust, not one single· act which haB entitled it to the possession of this property. What did the Legisla­ture of Kentucky do in 1872 . I ask the Clerk to read this resolution of. March 2 , 1872.

Mr. MELLISH. I should like to ask my colleague a question. Is be in favor of the bill as amended?

1\Ir. WHEELER. I am in favor of the bill as amended. I meant to state that in the outset. I will go in this matter of internal im­provement as far as he who goes farthest. I will do anythinO' within the limits of the Constitution and the Trea ury for the co~erce of this country, but I want all to be done under the forms and sanctions of law, with no violation of the rights of States or individuals. With this amendment I am in favor of the bill and shall vote for it. 1\ly position is this: when the Government of the United States pays a million and a quarter of ascertained indebtedness an<l the floating debt of this canal, she ought to be the owner and ought to control it without the consent of the State of Kentucky or of the city of Louis­ville. She ought to own it as she owns the other public buildings throughout the United Sta.tes. Look at the offer of Kentucky to sur­render this property, made in 1872.

The Clerk read a::; follows : Resolved by the General Assembly of Kenf:r.tcky, That the presitlent and directors of

the Louisville and Portland Canal Company are hereby authorized and directed to sn.rrender the said canal, and all the property connected therewith, to the Goyern­ment of the United States, upon tho following terms and condHions :

1. That the Government of the United States shall not levy tolls on said canal, except such as shall be necessary to keep the same in repair, pay all necessary superintendence, custody, and expense , and make all nece sa.ry improvements.

2. That tho city of Louisville shall have the right to throw briu_ges over the canal at such points as said city may doom proper: Provided always, That said. bridges shall be so located a· not to interfere with the use of the canal, and so coMtructed as not to interfere with its navigation.

3. That the title and possession of the United States of said, canal hall not inter­fere with the right of the State to serve criminal and civil proce ses, or with the State's general police power over the territ-ory covered by the said canal and its appendages.

4. And further that the city of Lonisville shall at all times have the Iiaht of drainage into said canal: Provided, That the connections between the dra~ and the canal shall be made upon the plan to keep out mud and garbage.

5. That the use of the water-power of the canal shall be guaranteed forever to the actual owners of the property contiguous to said canal, its branches and dams, sub­ject to such restrictions and regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the

167

Department of the United States Government which may haye cllarge of the said canal.. ·

6. That the Government of the United States shall, before such surrender, dis­charo-e all the debts due by said canal company, and purchase the stock of said ilirectors.

Mr. MELLISH. When were the e resolutions passed i Mr. WHEELER. In 1872. I sllall not stop to look at these resolu­

tions in detail. I wish the House to settle tho question whether they want to pay their money for the purpose of purchasing this property upon these conditions:

The city of Louisnlle shall have the right to throw brid~es over the canal at such points as said city may deem proper.

There is no recognition of any governmental superintendence here. You cannot build a bridge aero s the Ohio or the :Mississippi River unless it is put under superintendence of the Government. The city of Louisville is to be the judge of this.

Provided, always, That said bridges shall be so located as not to interfere wit.h the use of the canaL

Who is to be the judge~ That the title and posses ion of the United States of said canal shall not interfere

with the right of the State to serve criminal and chil processes-

That is right. It ought not to bo a harbor for thieves and other criminals. Now let us look a little further: or with the State's general police power over the territory coyered by the said canal and its appendage .

The United States cannot use it for anything that would interfere with the general police power. The State of Kentucky bas rescne<l to itself not only the right to serve criminal and civil proce ses, but to regulate the general police, which covers every detail of the man­agement of the canal. Doe the Government want it upon that con­dition an<l this large appropriation of money

Mr. HOLMAN. I ask if it is fair for the gentleman from New York to say that Does not his committee oppose recognizing this joint resolution of 1872, and are they not unwilling that the Government shoultl accept the control on the La is of that joint resolution¥

Mr. 'VHEELER. The gentleman did sayhewouldnot accept it on that. Bnt that is the only proffer of this property made by the State of Kentucky. .

Mr. HOLMAN. The bill itself, as reported to the House, says that the Government takes the work under the act of 1844, and not undel' the act of 1872. The committ ee unanimously agreed, except the chair­man, that we should not take it on the ba is of the act of 1872.

Mr. 'VHEELER. I will not allude to the action of the committee further than to say that the gentleman is mistaken about that. I might state the action of the committee if I would. We were a unit in favor of my policy at one time. 'Ve are divided now. But I will not follow out that proposition of 1872, because the gentleman says the Government should not and cannot accept the work llllder it.

l\Ir. HOLl\IA.t~. I did not say the Government cannot. But I say that before the passage of that joint resolution we had a sufficient surrender of juri diction over this work by Kentucky.

Mr. 'VHEELER. I pursue the argument, then, without reference to the proposition of 1 72. The State of Kentucky is perfectly right if she propo e to ay that this new trust created in 1857, for which her honor and her law are pledged, ball be carrietl out by her. She has the right to control this camtl until this debt is paid, as she stip­ulates she will do; and the debt does not mature, the last of it, till 1884. She has the right to control it, and she has taxed it repeatedly. Now, the advocates of the Lill say that the State of Kentu(lky has not asserte<l, and that it is not probable she will assert, this right of taxation. Let us see what the fact is. From 184(} to 1853 the tate of Kentucky taxed this property systematically, as I will show you. Let one instance suffice for all. Iu the report of the Cfl..nal compa.ny for 1846 this remark occurs: It will be noticed, by an item in this M'.count, that the State of Kentucky has

taxed the entire property and franchise of the canal; consequently no stockhohle.r can be holden to gi>e in the amount of his stock for taxation, and thus be subjected to a double tax.

1\Ir. HOLMAN. I would ask the gentleman whether be lai<l this information before the committee .

Ir. WHEELER. I did not. I ilid not have jt when the bill was in committee.

Mr. HOL~1AN. What document is the gentleman reading from, and where did it come from

1\Ir. WHEELER. It is a volume containing the reports of the company.

1\lr. HOL~lli~. Who fmnishecl i . 1\Ir. WHEELER. I beg to say to the gentleman that I have the

right to fortify myself in this d bate with such facts and arguments a are within my reach. I am responsibletotbeHouseforthe truth of my allegations. And I say that from 1846 to 1853 the State of Ken­tucky systematically taxed this canal, and the United States itself taxed it during the war. Look at the report for 186G, and you will find this asse:stiou substantiated .. Smely a strange proceeding, that the United States, having become owners of this property in 1855, as is claimed by the gentleman from Indiana, should tax it in Ul66. When before did the Government of the United States ever tax its own property

Mr. HOL¥AN. I hope the gentleman will explain bow these di-

2658 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. !fARCH 31,

rectors came to furnish him with this information. They have not so favored his committee.

Mr. ·wHEELER. I will with pleasure. I wrote to the city of Louisville to obtain it. When I speak upon this floor I mean to speak understandingly and to know what I am talking about. I do not mean to grope in the dark and take things on assurr1ption. And I claim that it is my right and my duty to inform myself when I ad­dress this House, and I claim the right to obtain information from whatever source obtainable.

[Here the hammer fell.] Mr. HOLMAN. I trust the House will extencl tile time of the gen­

tleman from New York, and allow us a few minutes for an answer. Mr. WHEELER. I will be satisfied if the House gives me as much

time as has been taken from me by interruptions. Mr. MAYNARD. I m h to address an inquiry to the Chair. Does

not the cmrency bill come up at this hom, half-past one o'clock' Mr. HOLMAN. I hope it is uuderstood that the gentleman from

New York [Mr. WHEELER] ha.s his time extended in order to com­l1lete his speech, and that we shall have a few minutes for an answer.

1\Ir. WHEELER. I asked repeatedly yesterdn.y that the time of the gentleman from Indiana shoul<l be exten<led without limit or con­dition.

.Mr. MAYNARD. Before the gentleman proceeds, will the Chair state what is the order of business~

The SPEAKER. Tb·e order of business is this: the gentleman from New York [Mr. 'V HEELER] took the floor under tb e previous question at twenty-tive minutes past twelve o'clock, and five minutes were lost by the co~ion in the House. He has now spoken one hour, and the regular order is to vote on the bill and amendments, but the gentleman asks a short eA.-tension of his time to make up for inter­ruptions.

Mr. KASSON. I ask that he be allowed ten minutes. Several MEMBERS. Give him aU the time he wants. :Mr. :MAYNARD. The point I make is whether at this hour the

special order, the currency bill, does not come up. The SPEAKER. Not while the previous question is operating. Mr. MA.YN.A.RD. Well, I will not interpo e any objection to the

extension of the time of the gentleman from New York. The SPEAKER. The Chair hears no objection to the .extension of

the gentleman's time. · Mr. WHEELER. All I desire isthattheHousesh:illh:wethefacts

before it. I have no personal intere t in this m:ttter, and hall mo t cheerfully acquiesce in the decision of the House whatever it may be; but I repeat that in the year 1866 the United States did what it never did before, if, as gentlemen claim, it·owns this property. Here is a precedent for the United States taxing its own property. I have here the report of the canal company for the year 1866, in which I find this concluding remark :

The taxes paid in those two years (1865 and 1866) were also unusually heavy, amount. ing in the former year to 11,698, of which 7,676 went to the Unitecl State , and in the latter to 10,430, of which $6,430 went to the United States.

It seems. that taxes to the amount of $ ,022 were also imposed by others besides the United States after, as it is claimeu, the State of Kentucky had surrendered its property to the United s·tates, and the United States had accepted it and become the owner.

Mr. HOLMAN. Inasmuch as we have never been able to get any part of this record, which the gentleman has read, before the Com­mittee on Commerce, I trust he will have the w·hole document printed.

~Ir. WHEELER. Sir, if the Representatives from the State of Kentucky sit here to-day and hear the names of Guthrie and Speed impugned in this way, I will vindicate them, and do it by warrant of an officer of the Government of the United States.

Mr. STANDEFORD. I asked the gentleman a few moments ago to allow me to make a brief explanation, and he would not.

:Mr. WHEELER. I say that the Government of the United States in 1 67 sent its own Treasmy agent there, and that that gentleman came back bearing testimony to the honesty and fidelity of tho gen­tlemen in charge of the canal.

Mr. HOLMAN. Acoording to the gentleman's own account--­~Ir. \VHEELER. The gentleman will please not interrupt me. ~Ir. HOLMAN. You have plenty of time. Mr. Guthrie, as Secre-

tary of the Trea~ury, showed that this canal was the property of the United States; his own reports showthat fact.

Mr. HALE, of New York. I call the gentlomun from Iniliana to order.

Mr. WHEELER. Now, in regard to thismatterof taxation, I sayt·his, and I challenge contradiction by the eminent lawyers on this floor from Kentucky, that under her laws the State is bound to a. ·e s this canal property for its State tax of forty-five cents on the dollar, and I say further that any tax-payer in the State .may compel, by man­dan~us, the assessing officers to put this property upon their lists if they neglect or refuse to do it. Every tax-payer has a right to ask that his own tax shall be lightened by the bnnlen which this canal com­pany ought to carry. Sir, tho suit brought by the city of Louisville against this company was opportunely withdmwn only last Wednes­day. A suit for $114,000 of unpaid taxes due by this canal company was withdrawn last Wednesday. The common council of Louisville dismissed the suit. What right had the common council of Louisville to dismiss a suit in which every tax-nayer in the city of Louisville

was intere ted¥ And what guarantee have we that when the United States shall have put its neck into this noose the suit will not be renewed . Ah! they have good lawyers in Louisville. I do not know the city attorney in Louisville, but I kno that he is a mo t adroit and capable lawyer. He knows what he is about, and the common council knew wha.t they were about.

Mr. STANDEFORD. Will the gentleman allow me to a k him a question

Mr. WHEELER. Not now. The common council of the city of Louisville are shrewd men. Here

is their resolution : Be it resolved by the general council of the city of Louisville, That the city attorney

be, and he is hereby, directed to suspend action in the suit now pendin~ a(J'aimst the Louisville and Portland Canal Company for taxes; and, in the event that said canal property should pass into the hands of the General Government, the city of Loui ville hereby relinquishes all right, title, and interest whatever she may have in any claim for t~'i:es against it.

I expect that the gentleman who drew that resolution bad read the Kentucky resolutions of 1872, where they expressly affirm the right to control this property until all its debts are paid, to wit, until1 4. And I expect that during the entire· interim the city of Louisville and the State of Kentucky will not only feel at liberty to as ess this tax, but I hold that anytax-payer in Kentucky can compel the a se s­;ment by a mandamus, and there is not a. lawyer on this floor who will contradict that proposition.

Here is the statute of Kentucky to which I would allude, in which is defined what property is taxable in the State of Kentucky; and this property is not excepted. It was said, to be sure, by some gen­tleman on the other side-I think the gentleman from the Louisvi.Jie district, [Mr. STANDEFORD ]-that in 1838 the State of Kentucky passed an act providing that the city of Louisville should except this prop­erty from a sessment. That is unquestionably true.

And right here I will say that there seems to be something wrong; but whether the State of Kentucky is at fault, or those who purchase our law-books) I cannot tell. But the fact is that you can :find but a few volumes of the statutes of Kentucky in our law library. And I am indebted to my friend from Kentucky, [Mr • .ARTHUR,] for this ~opy of the statutes of his State. I cannot find whether the provision of 1838 has been. repealed or not. In order to obtain information upon that point I telegmphed to the former Attorney-General of the United States, Hon. James Speed, asking him if under the laws of Kentucky, indepep.dent of the owner hip of the United States, this property was taxable by the State of Kentucky and the city of Louisville. Here is his response :

Independent of United States ownership the St{tte and city c.an tax the Louis. ville and Portland Canal.

We are to take this property, if at all, under the proposition of 1872; and as to taxation, we are to hold it at the peril of any tax-payer of Kentucky until the year 1884.

Mr. HOLMAN. Does not this bill expre ly declare, as amended by your committee, that this property shall be exempt from taxation by Kentucky or Louisville t

Mr. WHEELER. Ah, it does; that is just what it does; and I am coming to that pretty soon. The fact that the taxation has not been uniform and ystematic in this matter does not make against the right of the State to levy this tax. "Time does not run again t the king". is an old maxim; and it does not run agaim~t the State. They are a very good people in Kentucky if, when the Government takes this work and pays for jt, there is not one sharp tax-payer down there who will say that the Government shall pay taxes upon this canal pro11erty.

Nowicometotheproposition incorporated in this bill-a provision that none of this money shall be paid for taxes. But where does that lead us It leads us just here : these gentlemen in possession of this canal have refused to pay the tax. The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HOLMAN] by hi amendment says that the Government sbn.ll not pay it. "What is the result' When this property comes to.lle assessed it will be sold under the statut.es of Kentucky for non-pay­ment of taxes, and the Government of the United Stateswilllo e all its right, or it must come in and pay the taxes.

Here is another invasion of the rights of Kentuch.ry. Are yon pre­pared for this, that the Government of the United States by its armed power shall enter your domn.in, take forcible pos ession of your prop­erty, an<l set your tax laws at defiance' If there be no gentleman from that gallant ol<l Commonwealth tore ent this insult to her sov­ereignty she shall ha.ve the benefit of my feeble protest.

Will anybody pretend that this canal can be taken independent of the offer of Kentucky in 1 72 ~ And docs any one believe that these bonds are going to be presented for payment before due' The very moment the Government a umes the payment of them they will go to a pre ·urn of from 12 to 15percent. An<laretheyverdautenough in Kentueky, e en if they submit to this infraction of their State rights, to bring these bonds here, worth this premium, and present them to the Treasury for par payment, as tills bill providesf

So much for the legal n~pcct of this ca e. I want to come now to the policy of this bill. This bill in terms is a }lellll.anent, indefinite appropriation. Iu appropriates $100,000 a year ab olutely for the pay­ment of the debts of this company, without limit and without qualifi­cai;ion. That js a stl:etch of legislation in which this House ha never jn<lulged since I have been connected with it. I do not object to that;

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2659

so great is my desire that this canal shallue made as free as it may be independent of actual running expenses, that I am perfectly willing to vote for it. But when the precedent is e taulished, I give notice to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HOLMA.l ] that I shall come forward with a proposition, and call upon him to vote for it, for the national Government to take the Erie Canal and all the canals of the State of New York and pay their debts and make them free, providing only for the expense of their operation and maintenance.

Mr. HOLl\IAN. This is the property of the Government of the United States. We do not now propose to make an appropriation to bnild·a canal or to buy one. The proposition is, whether we shall take possession of our own property, or leave it in the hands of five irresponsible parties who are interested in keeping it within their own. control.

Mr. WHEELER. Not at all. ]'}lr. HOLMAN. The gentleman certainly--1\lr. WHEELER. I do not yield to the gentleman from Indiana. [Mr. HourA1 made some remark which was not audible uecause

of the Speaker's rapping with his gavel.] Mr. WHEELER. I had suppo eel that this was my speech. The SPEAKER. The gentleman is entitled to the floor. Mr. WHEELER. This bill violates a standing law and a stantiing

policy of this Government. And if it is good policy for the United States at large, it is good policy for the State of Kentucky. I ask the Clerk to r ead a statute of the United States which I send to his desk.

The Clerk read as follows : A joint r esolution making it the duty of the Attorney-General to examine into the

titles of the lands or sites for the purpose of erecting thereon armories ami. other public works and buildings, and for other purposes. Resolved by the Senate and HO"USe of R epresentatives o.f the United States of A m.erica

in Oong1'ess assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General of the United States to examine into the titles of ·all the lands or sites which have been purchased by the United States for the purpose of erecting thereon armories, ru:·se­nals, forts, fortifications, navy-yards, custom-houses, light-houses, or other public buildings of any kind whatever, and report his opinion as to the valiility of the title in each ca. e to the President of the United States.

2. Resolved, That it shall be the duty of a.ll the officers of the nitell Statl's hav­ing any of the title papers to the property aforesaid in their po ·session to furnish thorn forthwith to the Attorney-General, to aitl him in the investigation afore­said.

3. Resolved, That no public money shall be expended upon a.ny ite or land here­after to be purchased by the United States for the pmpo es aioresaid, rmtil the Wl'itten opinion of the Attorney-General shall be hall in favor of the valiility of the title, and also the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the land or site may be, shall be given to said purchaser. * * * *

Approved September 11, 1841.

Mr. WHEELER. Is that goocl policy for the country at large'? If it is good for the country at large it is goou for Kentucky. The Gov­ernment never uuys property except in the manner ref]_uired by that statute, the question of the validity of the title being referred to the Attorney-General. We are not in the habit of buying property the title of which is clouueu by a law-suit . In this case a suit is pending on the part of certain heirs for the recovery of this entire property. I do not undertake to pass upon the question of the title. The gentle­man who appeared before our committee made a very plausible and specious argument. Let us see what the Secretary of the Treasury thought of this matter. Tie refnseu to carry out the appropriation of last Congress for reasons which he thus assigns :

While this subject was under cousideration a communication was received from the president of the company, under date of .Jnly9, 1873, informing the D epru:tment that "the Louisville and Portland Canal Company bas been snetl in the Louisville chancery court by the devisees of Colonel .John Campbell, for nearly all the land owned by the company." ·

That suit is pending to-day in the court of chancery of the State of Kentucky. On acconnt of this suit, the Secretary of the Treasmy would not carry out the provisions of your legislation of last winter, but referred the question to Congress . .

The Secretary of the Treasury says further : This suit which is now pending, and is understood to in~olve the title to all or

nearly all the land through which the canal runs, has so changed the a.'!pect of afiilirs that I deemed it the part of prnclence, within the discretion intrusted to my judgment, to expend no money toward paying the tlebta of the company until these factashould be laid before Congress for its consideration and action thereon.

Now, sir, with a suit pending in eqnity for this whole property-a suit suspended, (I use the words of the common council of Louisville,) for 114,000 of taxes- hall we take this property with all its bur­dens '1 I ask simply that we take it as we take all other property.

We have been told in eloquent terms of the magnituue of the com­merce of the Ohio River. Iy colleague on the committee, the gen­tleman from P ennsylvania, [Mr. NEGLEY, ] who discussed tlllssubject yesterday, spoke in most glowing language of $~GO,OOO of annual tolls paid on this cn,nal. The gentleman's oratory got the better of his arithmetic. There is no truth whatever in that statement.

Mr. HOLMAN. The gentleman from New York has got no report on that subject, un1ess he got it from the canal company or some per­son acting under their eye.

1\fr. ·wHEELER. I have a report from the Chief of Engineers, General Humphreys, obtainetl by him by telegraph from the officer in charge of the enlargement of this work, Captain Adams, of the Unite(} States Army. •

Mr. HOLl\I.A.N. General Weitzel, I believe, has charge of the work. l\1r. ·wHEELER. I went to General Humphreys, in charge of the

Engineer Bm·eau, and followed his direction. He outained this in­formation for me; and I am not so suspicious as to believe that even

the cana.l directors would not give an honest statement of the opera-tions of that can.al for the last navigation year. .

Mr. HOL~IA..t.'T. Did the gentleman lay that information before his committee that they might act on it~

~Ir. WHEELER. I did not. I did not make this speech before the committee. I reserved to myself in committee the right. to offer this amendment in the House and to advocate it. I ha>e performed w ha.t I supposed to he my duty, according to my con-victions of right; and I am perfectly willing- to leave the resnlt to the House. I propose to attach to this bill a simple condition which we put on in the cH.se of every petty purchase by the United States of a site for a comt-house or a post -office; nothing more, nothing less.

One word as to this matter of tolls. The tolls of this canal last year were less than $200,000. For the commerce of the Ohio River I would tio as much as for the commerce of any other section. The Go>­ernment of the United States has since 1869 appropriated about one million and a quarter dollars to be expended upon this work. "-'T e are asked now to expend a million and a quarter more, making, with the floating debt, probably a million anti a half dollars-nearly one fomth of all you appropriatecllast year to the entire commerce of the United States, anti one-fourth of all we shall be able to give this year. In addition to that, we pay the interest on the bonds until1884. Is it any more than simple justice that when we pay this amount, when we shall have assumed all these risks, the State of Kentucky shall give us such a title as we expect to get for all other property that we purchase elsewhereV

It is saiU. that the Legislatme of. Kentucky meets bienninlly, ancl will not be in session again for two years. That is tme. Bnt that Legislature was in session this winter while this propo ition was peml­ing here, and might have taken action to make this cession of jnris­diction. Bnt, !llr. Speaker, if the commerce of the Ohio Ri ''Cr be so vitally important to Kentucky, let her convene a special session of her Legislatme. One Jay's sitting anti a bill of six lines will do the work. Then we shall have tbjs property free from entang ement; we shall take it as we take all other purchases; and with that I shall be content.

The SPEAKER. The first que tion i UllOn the amendment--1\Ir. IIOL::\IAN. I believe there is a motion pemling to reconsiuer

the vote ordering the previous question. Mr. CLYMER. I yesterday entered a motion to reconsider the vote

by which the l)revious question was ordered. Mr. HOLl\IA..t.'T. I ask the gentleman from New York [!ilr. WHEELER]

to hear an amendment which I desire to submit as an amentlment to his amendment, if the House should deciue to recousitier the previous question.

Ir. WHEELER. 'I have no quarrel atall·with the gentleman from Indiana in this matter; be knows well my desire ill the ca e. I can­not ue content with anything that stops short of what I ha>e been advocating. There is nobody that can transfer this property to the United States except the State of Kent ucky.

Mr. HOLl\fAN. All I a-sk is, that the power of these five men to control the work shall be extinguisheu by the Go\ernment, and that be work sltaU be placed under the controloftheEngineer Corps; that

no payment shall be made until this object is carried into effect. I want tho e :five shares of stock extinguisheu, so that those :five gentle­men who now hold them shall not control there enues ofthe cana.l; uut the. Government shall see that the revenues are applied to the purposes to which they ought to be applieti.

:Mr. CLY~fER. I have an amendment which I uesire to offer as a suustitute for the bill of the committee.

The SPEAKER. It will require unanimous consent to offer a further snustitute, because as many amendments are pentling as under the rules can ue consiuered and voted on by the House. The Chair will, however, point out to the gentleman. how the gentleman s purpose may be efl:'ected. Shoulu the House reconsiuer the vote by which the main qu&>tion has been ortiered on the uill and amendments,· it may then oruer the previous question on each amendment separately unt il the gentleman's suustitute would be in order.

Mr. CLYMER. I merely desire my amendment to be read for information.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Pennsylvania moves arecon­silleration for the purpose of offering an amendment, which will be reati at the Clerk's uesk.

1f.r. WHEELER. If the amendment of the gentleman from Penn­sylvania is offered. will it be dcuata,ble ¥

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks it woultl be debatable if the House were to reconsider the vote by which the main question was onlered.

1Ir. CLYMER. I wish to offer it as a snbstitutefor theamenclment of the gentleman from New York, [.1\Ir. WHEELER.] I ask that it be read at the Clerk's desk.

The Clerk read as follows: P rovided further, Tha.t if the State of Kenh1cky shall not cede to the Unitefl

States jurisiliction o\er the said canal, "\nth all its property, hereditaments, and appurtenance , and relinquish to the United States the right of said State to tax or iJI. any wa.y to assess said canal, its property, hereilitament , aml appurtenances, or t.he property of the Uni.tecl Stat.es that may be thereon, {luring the time that fue

nited State shall remain the owner ther-eof, at or durin"' the time of the fir:;t session of the Legislatur of the saicl State hehl after t he passage of this act, that then the United States shall levy and collect tolls on saill canal at the rate of tho existing tariff of tolls on said canal until the United States shall be reimlmrsedand repaid in full for all moneys paid aJHl e;~.'Jlendeu by virtutJ of this act and Wl il such ceslliOn is made_

2660 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARcH 31,

The SPEAKER. In r eply to the gentleman from Kentucky the Chair on further reflection doubts whether this amendment would be debatable under the peculiar circumstances of the case.

Mr. ·wHEELER. Then I must object to it, and I am sorryto do it. The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks not, and for this reason : This

subject comes over from Monday, where it was placed under a su pen­sion of the rules, and if the previous question had not been seconded last night the bill would not have come over as the unfinished busi­ness to-day.

Mr. MAYNARD. If the vote by which the main question was ordered be recon idered, will it not then go over to Monday next

The SPEAKER. The Chair would not so hold, but that it would bring the House to an immediate vote on ordering the main question again on the bill, including this amendment.

.Mr. CLYMER. I ask whether, in the event of the previous ques­twn Leiug reconsidered, the friends of my amendment can be heard

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks not. Mr. ELDREDGE. Would not the effect be to reconsider the vote

by which the main question was ordered, and then leave it open to debate¥

The SPEAKER. If left open to debate then this bill could hold the floor for the whole week. If the House shonl!l agree to recon ider, and divest itself of the previous question, the bill strictly would not then be before the Ron e. It only holds now against the speciaJ order at half-p'l.St one by virtue of the previous question operating upon it.

Mr. ELDREDGE. Butthe House could again determine to enforce the previous question, and thereby cut off debate after an hour's de-bate or debate for any given time. ·

The SPEAKER. The Chair would be compelled to give the floor immediately to the pecial order. It now only holds beyohd the hour of half-past one, when the speciaJ order comes up, by virtue of the maiu question having been ordered last evening.

M.r. ELDREDGE. The bill would then go Qver to Monday next. :Mr. HOLMAN. May it not be a condition agreed to by unanimous

consent that the reconsideration shall take place only for the purpose of allowing an amendment to be offered~

The SPEAKER. In that view the Chair would be willing to enter­tain the amendment if the House agreed by unanimous consent the vote should be taken immediately on seconding the demand for the previous question. The Chair hears no objection to that.

Mr. G. F . HO.A.R. Does the Chair hold, if the House should recon­sider this vote and the amendment should be offered, that amend­ment would necessarily be undebatable

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks so. Mr. G. F . HO.A.R. How can the amendment be undebatable when

the House never passed any order requiring the question to be at once taken without debate directly or indirectly¥

The SPEAKER. The gentleman is mistaken as to the fact. The House simply gave Monday for this subject. If the House had ad­journed without ordering the main question last night this bill would not have been before the House to-day. It is now here by virtue of the previous question; and strictly speaking, if the rules were con­strued according to line and plummet, the moment the House recon­sidered the vote whereby the main question was ordered and divested itself of the operation of the previous question then this bill would not be before the House. ·

Mr. WILLARD, of Vermont. Does the Chair rule that the motion to reconsider is not in order on such a question as this '

The SPEAKER. The Chair does not hold that; because the House might want to throw it over till :Monday next for further debate. The Chair cannot rule on motives of members in that way.

:Mr. WHEELER. The gentleman from Pennsylvania [·Ur. C-.:t.Yl\.IER] knows the affection I bear him; and I certainly would have admitted his amendment if I had hacl an opportunity of saying a few words upon it. But not having that opportunity, I must object to it.

The question being taken ou Mr. CLYMER'S motion to reconsider the vote by which the main question was ordered, there were-ayes 68, noes 84.

l\lr. HOL~IAN. I ask for tellers. Tellers were ordered; and Mr. WHEELER and Mr. CLTIIER were ap-

pointed. The House again divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 98, noes 76. So the motion to reconsider was agreed to. · The SPEAKER. The House having agreed to reconsider the vote

by which the main question was ordered, the question recurs on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [1\f.r. CLY­MER] as a substitute for the amendment of .the gentleman from New York, [Mr. WHEELER.] The Clerk will report the ::m:nendment offered by the gentleman from New York.

The Clerk read a follows: Add at the end of section 1 the following: P.rovidedjurther, That said Secretary shall pay no money under any of the pro­

visions of this act, nor shall the Secretary of "\Var take possession of said can~ as authorized bvthe next section, until the State of Kentucky shall cede to the Urn ted States jurisdiction over the said canal, with all its property, hereilitament , and appurtenance , and r elinquish to the United States the right w ta._'{, or in any way to asse s, said canal, its property, h ereditaments, and appurtenances, or the prop­ertvof the United. States that maybe thereon, during the time that the United States shill remain the owner thereof.

The SPEAKER. The Clerk will now report the amendment offered

by the gentleman from Pennsylvania as a substitute for the amen<l mont of the gentleman from New York.

The Clerk read as follows : Provided further, That if the State of K entucky shall not cede to the United

States jurisdiction over said canal, with all its property, hereditaments, and appur­tenance , and r elinquish to the United States the right of said State to tax or in any way assess said canal, its property, hereditaments, and appurtenance , or the property of the United State that may be thereon, during the time that the United State l shall remain owner thereof, at or during the time of the first session of t.he Legislature of said State held after the passafae of this act., that then the nited States shall levy and colloot tolls on said cana at the rate of the existing tariff of tolls on aid canal until the United States shall be reimbursed and repaid in full for all moneys paid and e.xp nded by virtue of this act and until such ession is made.

Mr. NEGLEY. I ask my colleague to add a proviso that the toll shall not exceed ten cents per ton .

Mr. WHEELER. I wish to ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. CLYJ\IER] one thing.

Mr. CLYMER. I call the previous question. The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered. Mr. WHEELER. I wish to say that this is a wilder proposition

than any involved in the bill. The bill permanently appropriate $100,000 to be paid for the next two years until the Legislature of Kentucky convenes, and then, if the State of Kentucky ne~lects or refuses to cede jurisdiction, the Government is to reimbur e 1tself Ly increa ing the canal tolls- a right which it cannot exercise, a it is simply a tenant in the canal by sufferance of the Kentucky Legi la­ture, and has no authority to fix to1.ls on the canal.

Mr. HUBBELL. I desire to inquire of the Chair whether the cur­rency bill is not now the special order.

The SPEAKER. The Chair stated that if the rule were strictlv enforced the cunency bill would come up a the special order; buut that not being insisted upon, the Chair announced that as conducing· to the progress of the bu iness of the House this measure would be brought to a vote without debate.

Mr. WHEELER. I call for the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The question was taken; and there were- yeas 105, nays 124, not

votjng 61 ; as follows : YEAS-Messrs. Adams, A lbert, Arthur, Atkins, :Banning, :Barrera, :Beck, :Begole,

:Bell~ :Berry, :Bland, :Bowen, :Bright, :Bromberg, :Buckner, :Bundy, Roderick R. Butler, Calawell, Cannon, Cason, Ces na, John B. Clark, jr., Clements, Clvmer, Clinton L. Cobb, Coburn, Comin~, Cook, Cotton, Cox, Creamer, Cro sland, Crutchfield, Ctu­tl , Dunnell, Durham, .ll;den, Fort, Garfield, Giddings, Hancock, Hem·y R. Harris, John T. Harris, Hatcher , H ereford, Herndon, Ho.liilan, Hnnter, Hunt~n, Hyne , Kellog_g, K endall, Knapp, Lamar, Lawrence, Loughridge, Luttrell, Ma&,~e, Mar­shall, McLean, McNnlta, Milliken, Mills, Mitchell, "Moore, .r eal, N egley, .Ne mith, Nunn, Orth, Packard, Parsons, Pelham, Perry, Read, Robbin , Rusk, Henry :B. Sayler, Milton Sayler, Sheats, Sheldon,~. Sherwood, los , J . Ambler Smith, .John Q. Smith, William A. Smith, outhard, l:)prague, Stanard, Standeford Stone, Tyner, Vance, Waddell, W ells, White, Whitehead, Whitthorne, Willie, .James Wilson, Wolfe, Wood, Woodford, .John D. Yonng, and Pierce M. :B. Young- 105.

NAYS-Messrs. Arr.her, Averill, Barber, :Barry, :Biery, .Blount, :Bradley, :Buffin­ton, :Burchard, :Burleigh, :Burrows, Cain, Amos Clark,jr., Clayton, Stephen A. Cobb, Conger, Crooke, Darrall, Dawes, De Witt, Dobbins, Donnan, Duell, Eames, Eldredg-e, Elliott, Farwell, Field, Freeman, Frye, Gooch, Hagans, Eugene Hale, RobertS. IIale, Harmer, Benjamin W. Harris, Ha.rrl.son, Hathorn, Havens, .John B. Hawley, Joseph R. Hawley, John W . Hazelton, E . Rockwood Hoar, George F . Hoar Hooper, Ho -kin.s, Houghton, Howe, Hubbell, Hurlbut, Hyde, Ka. on. Kelley, Killinger, Lan­sing, Lawson, Lowe, Lownde , Lynch, Martin, McCrary, .Alexander S. McDill, :Mac­Dougall, McJunkin, McKee, Mellish, Merriam, Monroe, Myers, Niles, O'Brien, 0 ' eill, Orr, Page, Ho ea W. Parker, Isaac C. Parker, Pendleton, Phelps, Phillips, Pierce, Pike, James H. Platt, jr., Thomas C. Platt, Pol..<lnd, Potter, Pratt, Rain y, Randall, Ransier, Rapier, Ray, Rice, Richmond, Ellis H. Robert , Ros , Sawyer, co­field, Henry J. Scudder, Saner, Sessions, Shanks, Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Sloan, H . Boardman Smith, Snyder, Speer, Storm, Stowell, Strait, Taylor, Christopher Y . Thoma , Thornburgh, Waldron, WallMe, Walls, Marcus L . Ward, Wheeler, White· ley, Charles W . Willard, George Willard, Charles G. Williams, William Williams, William B. Williams, and Woodworth- 124.

NOT VOTING- Me rs . .Albright, Ashe, :Barnum, :Bass, :Brown, :Benjamin F . Butler, Freeman Clarke, Corwin, Crittenden, Crocker Crounse, Danford, Davis, Foster, Glover, Gunckel, Hamilton, Hays, Gerry W. Hazelton, Henuee. H61 ey, Hodges, .Jewett, L~ on, ~amport, L ea-ch, Lewis, Lo~~nu, Maynard, .James "\V". McDill, Morey, Morr1 on, N1black, Packer, Pnrman, William R. Roberts, .Jam C. Robinson, .James W .Robinson, .John G. chumaker, I aacW. Scudder, Small, Smart, A. Herr mith, George L. Smith, Starkweather, Stephens, St . .John, tra.wbridge, Swann, Sypher, Charle R. Thomas, Todd, Townsend, Tremain, .Jasper D. War(l, Whitehou e, Wilber, .JohnM. S. Williams, Wilshire, Ephraim K. Wilson, and .Jere­miah M. Wilson- 61.

So the amendment was not agreed to. The SPEAKER. The que tion r curs on a~reeing to the amend-

ment of the gentleman from New York, [ ilr. ·WHEELER.] :Mr. HOLMAN. •ro that I desire to offer an amendment. :ur. WHEELER. I object. Mr. HOLMAN. Will the gentleman hear my amendment read' lr. WHEELER. I do not yield. Ir. HOL-:\fAN. I desire to ask the Chair, why, if it was in or<ler

to move a sub titute for the amendment of the gentleman from New York it is notal o in order"to mave to amend that amendment .

The PEAYillR. Why, the imple reason is that the amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania was offered before the previon question was operating and the gentleman from Indiana is trying to move one after the previous question is operating.

l\Ir. HOLMAN. If the ChaiT will permit me, the previous question was called only on the amendment of the gentleman from Pennsyl­vania.

The SPEA.KER. The Chair did not so understand it. ~lr. HOLMAN. That is the way the motion was ma<le, distinctly.

- The SPEAKER. The Chair did not so submit it to the House. The

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2661

gentleman from Pennsylvania had no ~ther ?bject ~han to get a vote on his amendment, and he got all he WJshed m havmg that vote. The Chair submitted the question as for the previous question upon all the amendments.

:Mr. WHEELER. If there is any misunderstanding about the mat-ter, I now demand the previous question on the bill and amendments.

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks there is no misunderstanding. M.r. WHEELER. I think there is none myself. Mr. HOLMAN. If the gentleman will admit a single amendment

it will be satisfactory to us. The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Indiana will observe that the

Chai.r stretched the ruling as far aB it would bear without cracking in favor of the side that he represents. [Laughter.]

Mi. HOLMAN. I trust the gentleman from New York will allow this amendment to be read.

Mr. WHEELER. I must decline. The question was put on Mr. WHEELER'S amendment; and on a

division there were-ayes 87, noes 74. bir. HOLMAN. I call for the yeaB and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. · The question was taken ; and there were-yeas 130, nays 95, not

voting 65; as follows : YEAS-Messrs . .Albert, Archer, Averill, Barber, Barry, Biery, Blount, Bradley,

Buffinton, Burchard, Burleigh, llmTows, Cain, Cessna; Amos Clark, jr., Clayton, Clymer, Stephen A. Cobb, Cong_er, Crooke, qrounse, Darrall1 Dawes, DeWitt, Dob­bins, Donnan, Duell, Eames, Eldredge, Elliott, Farwell, Field, Foster, ~e~man, Frye, Garfield, Gooch, Hagans, Eugene Hale, RobertS. Hale, Harmer, Ben.1amm W. Harris, Harrison, Hathorn, .John B. Hawley, .To ephR. Hawley, Gerr~W. Hazelton, .John W. Hazelton, E. Roc b.-wood Hoar, George F. Hoar, Hodges, Hoskins, Houghton, Hubbell, Hurlbut, Hyde, Kasson, Kelley, Killinger, Lansi!lg, Law~on, Lo~des, L:vnch, Magee, Martin, Maynard, MacDougall, McJunkin, Mellish, Mernam, :Mitchell Monroe, Myers, Nile , O'Brien, O'Neill, Packard, Page, Hosea W. Parker, Isaac c.' Parker, Pendleton, Phelp , Phillips, Pierce, Pike, .James H. Platt, jr., Thomas C. Platt, Potter, Pratt, Rainey, Randall, Ransier, Rapier, Ray, Rice, J?ch­mond, Robbins, Ellis H. Roberts, Ross, Sawyer, Scofield, ~enry .J. Scudder, Sesswns, Shanks Lazarus D. Shoemaker, Sloan, H. Boardman Sm1th, Snyder, Speer. Storm, Stowell' Strait, Taylor, Christopher Y. Thomas, Thornburgh, Waddell, Wal<lron, \Vallac~ 'Walls, Marcus L. Warcl, Wheeler, Whiteley. Whittliorne, Charles W. Wil­lard, George Willard, Charles G. Williams, William Williams, William B. Williams, Woodford, and Woodworth-130. ·

NAYS-Messrs. Adams, Arthur, Atkins, Banning, Barrera, Beck, Begole, Bell, Berry Bland, Bowen. Bright. Bromberg, Buckner, Bundy;.. Caldwell, Cannon, Cason, .John B. Clark, jr., Clements, Coburn, Comirigo, Cook, ~_;ox, Creamer, Cro sland, Crutchfield, Curtis, Dunnell, Durham, Eden, Fort, Giddings, Hancock, ll~nry R. Harris, .John T. Han·i.s, Hatcher, Hereford, Herndon, Holman, Howe, H1;mter, Hun­ton llynes .Jewett, Kellogg, Kenrlall, Knapp, Lamar, Lawrence, Loufm-

1\\:ge, Lowe,

Luttrell, Marshall, AlexanderS. McDill, McKe , McLean, Mr.Nulta, · · en, Mills, Neal, Negley, esmith, Nunn, Orth, Parsons, Perry, Read, Rusk, Henry B. Sayler, Mllton Sayler, Sener, Sheat~, Sheldon, Sherwood, Sloss . .J. Ambler SIDltb, .John Q. Smith, William A. Smith, Southard, Spra,.,uue, Stanard, Stone. Tyner Vance, Wells, White, Whitehead~ \Villie, .James Wilson . .Jeremiah M. Wilson, Wolfe, Wood, .John D. YOUil", ana Pierce M. B. Youn_g-95.

NOT VOTL.~G-Messrs. Albright, Ashe, Barnum, Bass, Brown, Benjamin F. But­ler, Roderick R. Butler, Freeman Clarke, Clinton L.Cobb, Corwin, Cotton, Crittenden, . Crocker, Danford, Davis, Glover, Gunckelt Hamilton,Havens, Hays,Hendee,Hers~y, Hooper, Lamison, Lamport, Leach, LeWis, Lofland, McCrary, .James W . McDill, Moore, Morey, Morrison, Niblack, Orr, Packer, Pelham. Poland, Purman, William R. Roberts, .James C. Robinson, .James W. Robmson, .John G. Schnmaker, Isaac W. Scudder Small, Smart, A.. HelT Smith, George L. Smith, Stan deford, Starkweather, Stephen~, St . .John, Strawbridge, Swann, Sypher, Charles R. Thomas, Todd, Town­send, Tremain, .J a.'lper D. vVard, Whitehouse, Wilber, .John M. S. Williams, Wilshire, and Ephraim K. Wilson--U5.

So the amendment waB agreed to. During the roll-call, Mr. HOLMAN said: My colleague, Mr. NIBLACK, has been called

·away from the House by booiness; if he were here he would vote "ho" on this proposition.

The result of the vote wa~ announced as above recorded. :Mr. ·wHEELER moved to reconsider the vote by which the amend­

ment was agreed to; and also moved that the motion to reconsiuer be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to. The question recurred on the following amendment offered by Mr.

WILLARD, of Vermont, to come in at the end of the third section of the substitute :

But no expenditure or contract for expenditure of money shall be made under the authority of this section in any one year, to an amount greater than the amount received during such year from tolls on said canal.

The amendment was agreed to. The question then recurred on agreeing to the substitute for t.he

Senate bill, reported by the Committee on Commerce, as amended. :Mr. HOL11fAN. I believe the previous question is exhausted on the

bill. The SPEAKER. It is not exhausted. The question rests on the

amendment reported by the Committee on Commerce in the nature of a substitute for the Senate bill. The votes thus far have been on perfecting that substitute.

The substitute, as al}lendeu, was agreed to. The question recurred upon ordering the bill, as amended, to .a

third reading. !\1r. HOLMAN. I desire to interpose a motion to recommit the bill. The SPEAKER. The Chair must recognize the chairman of the

Committee on Commerce, who has charge of the bill. If the House nega.tives the motion h e may submit, the Chair will then recognize tbe gentleman from Indiana.

The question was put upon ordering the bill to a. third reading; and on a division there were-ayes 117, noes 35. ·

So the bill, as amended, WD.S ordered to a third reading; and it was u.ccorilingly read the thi.rd time.

Mr. WHEELER moved to reconsider the vote last taken; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The btter motion was agreed to. Mr. WHEELER. I move the previous question on the passage of

the bill. The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered;

and under the operation thereof the bill was passed. Mr. WHEELER moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was

passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

GGRRENCY - FREE BA.l."'UCIXG.

Mr. MAYNARD. I now call for the regular order. The SPEAKER. The regular order being called for, the House now

resumes the consideration of the special order, being the bill (H. R . No. 1572) to amend the several acts providing a national currency, and to establish free banking, and for other purposes, reported from the Committee on Banking and Currency. The gentleman from fichlgan, [Mr. HUBBELL,] a member of the committee, is entitled to

the floor for one hour. 1\Ir. MAYNARD. Allow me to say, before the gentleman proceeds,

that besides the several gentlemen on the Committee on Banking and Currency who clesi.re to address the House, quite a number on both sides have expressed a wi.E)h to speak upon this bill for perhaps twenty minutes each; that is the time several gentlemen hu.ve indicated that they would like t.o be heard. I propose that after the members of the committee have addressed the House, the further debate upon this bill be continued under a twenty-minute rule.

Mr. ORTH. I hope the gentleman will not press that proposition. The SPEAKER. It requires unanimous consent. :Mr. COBURN and others objected. :Mr. HOL~IAN. I would ask unanimous consent that after one hour

of debate further debate be limited to twenty minutes for each speaker.

Mr. ORTH. I object to that. Ir. MAYNARD. I have no disposition to press this proposition

upon the House against the desire of gentlemen. I submitted it to the consideration of the House; if it does not meet the approval of members, I have discharged my duty and done all that I desire to do.

Mr. HOLMAN. Then I will ask unanimous consent that, after the members of the committee have been heard, the debate be then lim­ited to twent:v minutes each.

Mr. RANDALL. I object to tllat. Why should the members of the committee have any more rights than the other members of the House-?

The SPEAKER. Objection being made, the proposition is not agreed to. The gentleman from Michigan [Mr. HUBBELL] will pro­ceed.

M.r. HUBBELL. Mr. Speaker, the revenues, the finances, and the policy of our Government, are so intimately connected and depend so mnch one on the other, either for good or bad results, that~ dis­cussion of either seems almost of necessity to embrace the others; therefore I trust that I may be pardoned if in the time allowed me I speak somewhat of the question of taxation and of the policy which I think ought to be pursued, in connection with that other and ab­sorbing question, the finances of the country.

I have sat here in my seat and voted for abstract propositions, con­taining some things which I approved, many things which I did not approve, and perhaps inconsistent with what I may say, because, under a suspension of the rules, I was forced to go on the record one way or the other, without an opportunity for explanation. I now say to this House and to the country that I do not consider myself bolmd either politically or otherwise to the support of these propositions unless, after due consideration, they shall meet the approval of my judgment.

It occu.rs to me, that, at the present juncture in our affairs, it is a waste of both time and words to talk abont decreasing taxation ; whatever may be the desire of particular localities, and the views of particular gentlemen on this floor, in regard to this- question, all must candidly admit, that the wants of the Government in the pres­ent exigency are such, that from motives of patriotism alone, if for no other reason, no step should be taken to lessen taxation during the present session of Congress. Contenting myself, thei·efore, with a, simple statement of what I deem to be a necessity, I shall allow that statement to go forth with my vote against a repeal of any of the taxes set forth in the bills reported to this Hou e by the distingui h eu chai.rman of the Committee on W avs and Means.

It is not altogethe.r because of the late :financial scare that I am thus constrained to c~t my vote, for I believe if proper action had been taken in the early days of the session there would not be much left of that scare,· but because I consider, that even in any but the most favorable times, the revenues of the Government are quite too low to enable it to meet promptly its obligations, be at all times master of the situation, and able to respond to the just demands of tbe country in tbe way of appropriations. In my judgment, the 10 per cent. rmluction of the last Congress on import duties was not warranted uy the occ;tSion, Instcacl o:f m~ing such roou.ction, ]lad

2662 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

the republican party, while yielding to t he wishes of the people of the country, and granting comparatively large appropriations for public buildings, for rivers and harbors, and for other worthy purposes, insisted that such action forbade a reduction of the revenue, I be­lieve we should not now be requiTed to listen to so much of talk that savors more of the scare than it doea of sound, sober judgment · and perhaps we might have been saved a lectme on our ius, wicked­ne s, and short-comings geneTally.

In some of the battles of our late war we often noticed from there­ports that a few were killed, a few more were wounded, ancl that a great many were \ery badly scared. Now, sir, that illustration give a very good idea of the effect of the late flurry in the money maTket ; a few bold operators oT reckless specul ators were kille<l, some were wounded, more OT less severely, while the great mass of tho grand aTmy of men who ~ake up and rep!esent th!' activity, industry, and wealth of this nation, were only badly scared, and the result has shown that our currency, which has heretofore, by many, been deemed sufficient to carry on the legitimate bu ines of he country, was largely hoaTded by all cia ses of people. To illustrate how fooli hly this was done in some instances, one man bnTied his greenbacks in the ground, not even taking the precaution to select a dry place, and the rain descended, as it always <loes, on the just and· on the unjust, and the buried ·greenbacks were destroye<l by the mthless mildew that succeeds moisture.

I cannot subscribe to the opinion often ex:pres. ed, that there is great financial distress throughout the country from which will result w ide­spread ruin, but rather that this monetary disturbance and unusual condition of financial affaiTS results from the fact that the busine s of the country is now out of joint, :1nd that a oon a definite action is taken by Congre s and its financial policy fully nuder tood busine ·s will get int-o proper shape again much faster than one listening to the debates here would suppose. That the uncerta.iuty, and doubt in the public mind, as to what action Congres will take, touching financial matters, is to-day paralyzing our busine interests to a far greater orient than the financial flurry which occurred last September, i to my mind the statement of a proposition so clear and certain that words are but wasted in any attempt to elucidate it.

Nor do I believe in nostrums in the way of legislation, labeled " Bills to prevent financial panics," any more than I believe in bills to establish perpetual motion, to change human nature, or to eradi­cate original sin.

I regard the cause, the occurrence, and the cure, as beyond the scope of the wisest legislation; and so long as there exists among any con­siderable portion of the human family an inordinate gree<l for gain,a <lesire to amass wealth by some bold dash, or uncertain speculation, tru ting the result to the fickle goddess, Fortune, instead of having it come from the sweat and maxims of plodding business; so long a there are men who live in the world one generation too soon, so long will there be flurries, scares, and panics in the money markets, and nQ legislation can be devi ed to prevent them.

In considering our national monetary system we must not lose sight of the fact that, as a matter of n cessity, in the preservation of its integrity, and the uppres ion of the rebellion, in order to supply the sinews of war, tb.e Government was compelled to assume control of that ystem; and as this control still rests with Congress, the people are now looking to it, expecting, that, in view of the late disturbance, some definite action will be taken by it in relation to financial matters, but uncertain what that action will be. Owing to this fact-and no man can regret it more than I do- the money of the country, in­stead of being thoroughly distributed in obedience to the laws of trade throughout its ordinary channels, has accumulated largely in the vaults of its great moneyed institutions, and there is in operation a most rigid system of contraction, which is \\i.thdmwing from circula­tion the great body of the currency and placing it beyond the reach of the real business interest of the country.

Gentlemen tell us that money was never so plenty as now, and never so cheap as at the present time ; that the rate of interest was never lower than now; they a ume to say that he who asks for an improve­ment in the financial situation, who asks that money maybe restored to its normal business and commercial channels, is an inflat ionist.

For whom is there plenty .of money, by whom can it be obtaine<l cheaply~

It is a orry day for the fortunes of any people when money i beggin rr to be hired on call, with Government bonc.ls as collateral, at 3 per cent~ earne tly pleading for a piece of gilt-edged paper at sixty days, at 5t or 6 per cent., yet turns a cold shoulder to the business community at any price. It means that confidence in the legitimate bu iness of the eountry is gone. It means that industry mu::;t cea e, that laborer must be iclle and starve, that faith is gone, an<l hope almo t obsonre<l.

This, sir, is our condition to-day not so much because of the panic, lmt because timid capital is at a lo s to know what thi Congress will do with the finances. Money will continue to accumulate in the vaults of our great moneyed institutions and continue to grow cheaper to tho e who do not care to borrow until something is done to restore that confidence which is wanting by reason of delay in congres ional action. When such action is taken, let it be what it may, then the people will adapt themselves to the situation; then will money begin to flow in its accustomed channels; then 'vill indus­t,ry be again revived, and labor again in demand.

Gentletnen may talk of economy here until doomsday, and the longer

they talk the more timi<l capital will grow, and, eveTy time a sp<'ceh is made on the late financial panic and the distress of the country ca.use<l thereby, the money-lender will give hi money-bags a tighter grip, and the rate of interest on call with good collateral , or on gilt­edge<l paper, continually fall.

Gentlemen tell us that money is cheap, yet do they know, and can they tell who will loan it to the manufacturer, or bu iness man any­where, except on call, or gilt-edged paped

I have long since learned to look for breakers ahead when the e kin<l of cheap loans monopolize the money market. It is a very certain indication of general distrust and want of confidence, an<l he who does not heed such warning and put his house in order, is pretty sme to find that house tumbling down about his head. The wealth of the people is not enhanced by these kinds of loans. They are a sort of ln.xury that can be indulged in only by the capitalists. · Wealth is always evolved from the struggles, the labor, the hardship , and sometimes the failure , of men, and the proce mu t be a slow one: indeed, if not altogether stopped, nnle capital will consent to take rlliks, and not always demand gilt-edged paper, or Go ernmcnt bonds as collateral.

The bn ine intere ts of the country demand that Congres should promptly take some action in r elation to the question of finance, whether such action be of the wise t chamcter or not. .A,lmost any conceivable action, that may be accepted as <leci ive and as indicat­ing the volicy of the Government in this re pect, will be better than to further prolong this delay an<l uncertainty; for we :ll'e to-day l1I'ac­tically without circulation, not so much because of the late panic, so calle<l, but rather becau e of the timidity of capital. Our money is boarded, and will be until it is known what this Congress will do; therefore the question of taxation, of appropriations, and all others, sink into insignificance when compared with that of our monetary sy tern. Let us sot the wheels of industry in motion first, ancl then see what we can afford to do about these other matter . What sha.ll we do. Shall we make an earne t and busine -like effort to perfect onr present system, or hall we try some new experiment which ma.y latmch us on an unknown sea, aud thus force us to ]Jrovide against perils "which we know not on"

The theorist may indulge in new views and new systems, of finance, philosophy, economy, or oven of theology, until the ripe old age of four- core is reached, yet the practical world will jog on, guided by the light of experience and observation, without even feeling the presence or influence of disturbing element. . It i only when we attempt to let go of what we are certain, and try something new, that the jar comes, which may prove a disasteT.

Our present paper-money system is ba ed on the theory of an ulti­mate redemption in coin. Out of the great waT came the nece sity, which forced the Government to issue its legal-tenders, as a sub t itu te for that coin, with which tbe paper circubtion, i ned under our national banking act, is redeemed; -and, while I cannot cut my elf loose from the proposition that om whole system of finance is to ulti­mately rest on a specie ba is, yet I am not willing that the men, who met the brunt of the rebellion, shall in their busines uffer the shock of an immediate return to that basis.

Both of the e issues are now in circulation, and both are limited ; and, by this act of limitation, the Congre s of the United States has attempted to say expres ly just how much money the people of ·this country, pushing new enterpri e , diversifying industry, and devel­oping in a thou and ways and channels the resources of a magnifi­cent continent, actuaJJy need and can have.

Far be it from me to distrust either the patriotism or the wi dom of the Con~ress of the nited States; yet, I must be permitted to assert, that 1t has not the ability to determine just how much money circulation the people need, and the attempt to do it has been the can e· of much of the financial disquietude which has prevailed throughout the country. To crowd the bu iness of an active and growing people into an inflexible, ca t-iron money sy tern, is, to my mind, a absurd a it would be to force the matured man of forty-five into his t en year old breeches. It is undertaking an impossibility.

A.s I have already said, we have the two kinds of currency-the legal-tender, a substitute for coin, and the national-bank note, re­deemable in that legal-tender or coin- and the real conflict to-da i between these two kinds of paper money. A.ll side i sues aiel in this strife: and even he who argues that our present system of national banking is so far perfect that there is no ne~cl of its being either improved or expanded, or that we should now attempt to force upon the country specie payment , i doing more to aid the legal-tender side of the conilict than is the most aTdent aml out poken upporter of the scheme.

If we are to have only so much paper money, and both a re o nearly equal in value how lon(l" will it be before that, i ued direc ly by the Government, will assert it supremacy, to the ex:clu ion entire of the other, and new is:mes thereof will, from time to time, be put into cir · culatiou to meet the demands of the people-every su ceeding st-ress demanding and obtaining new issues-until all hop of ever reaching a specie ba is mu ·t be forever abandoned. The people say, and jn tly too, that our present national banking system is a monopoly, and tho o of us who believe in the ystem as in the main wisely devised and best suiteu to onr wants, must ri<l it of thi hateful feature, or elst~ it must go to the wall. There is no Inicldle grotmd on which to stand h ere, but a bold i ue is to be met.

1874. CONGRESSIONAL- RECORD. 2663 ·without cliscussing at length the various arguments pro and con,

either in favor of or against either sy tern, I will simply state tllat, with what light I now have on this subject, I can only support that system of a paper currency which is redeemable in legal-tender , (now, if you plea e,) but ultimately in coin and legal-tender, when they ~hall have appreciated to a par with coin, and which shall be so arranged that redemption shall not only be practicable but impera­tive. Redemption should not only be imperative, but the reserve should be held in the vaults of each banking institution, and always at command.

In other worcls, I would throw all proper safeguards around our pre ent banking system, by amending the several acts under which it eti t , :-tnd then I would make it popular, by making it free. I would legalize, a we have already done, the issue of the 44,000,~00_reserve, so called, or, in other words, declare the legal-tender limit to be $iOO,OOO,OOO.

I would have no more of the game of fast and loose at the Treasury end of our money system, nor of an ela tic currency, which allows one poor human will and jndO'ment to hold and control the elastic end. I would rather that the people, who are alone re ponsible, if let alone, for the management of the business interests of the country, should determine this whole matter of how much circulation they l'equire, either to move the cotton or other crop , than that one man should a ume to do this, be he never so. wise.

We owed this 44,000,000 to the people a an equivalent for the dam­age done to their interest by rea-son of our inaction on this qu.estion, and because they are justly entitled to a fair send-off in the spring trade, and thank God we have at last discharged the debt.

Mr. Speaker, if I saw in the bill under consideration the dangers to the business intere ts of the country which my distinguished col­leao-ue on the committee, the gentleman from Wisconsin, has with so much ability and credit both to himself and his constituents pointed out, I should not, a I do now with few exceptions, give it my hearty sup­port. But I must be permitted to remind the gentleman that, in my judgment, he be(J' the que tion when, in pointing out the danger of inflation under this bill, he compares the national-bank issues to the French assignats or to any unsecured i sue of paper money.

If the bill propo ed to allow the people of the country to mortgage, at their own valuation, their wild and unimproved lands, and to u e the e mortgages as a basis for the free issue of paper money, dollar for dollar, then indeed would there be great force in his argument; lmt the gentleman will pardon me for sngge ting that, in the present ca e, the basis of the two issues is just the difference between wild lands at an imaginary price and gold coin of the standard value.

I assume that the Government is both able and willing, and that it"intends in good faith, to pay both the principal and intere t of its bonded debt.

I a ume that our gold bonds available for banking purposes are worth at lea t par, thus o-iving him the percentage in .the argument, and that every corporation which may organize under the propo ed la,w can only obtain ninety dollars of circulation for 100 in gold, the purchase-price of the bond which is made a perpetual pledge under the law for the payment of the ninety dollars of circulation thus obtained; and then I wonder how there can be a depreciation!

The assignats became depreciated, worthless ; but does the gentleman claim that the national-bank notes to be issued .under the proposed law can by any possibility become so'

I do not hesitate to say for the gentleman, and that, too, without fear of being corrected by him, that were we at a pecie basis he would con ider a system of free banking, such as is now propo ed, a most desirable one for the prosperity of the country; and I give him credit for so much sagacity that I do not for a moment doubt that he is perfectly aware of the fact-a fact often lost sight of, I fear, in the <lisen sion of this que tion-that our national banking ystem i , so far as circulation i concerned, on a gold ba is to-day, and will be so under the propo ed law; and that there is no more probability of the pre ent or increased circulation becoming depreciate;l than there is of the Government becoming a bankrupt, and that the bill or note holder is -and will be as absolutely secured as he would be were we at a specie basis.

I listened with great attention to hi speech. It contains the whole anroment on that side of the question, and is the be t one I ever li tened to; but I will venture to assure the gentleman that neither he nor his children, nor his children's chilclren, will ever see the time nn<ler the proposed law, if it should be adopted and kept o long in force, when either he or they will be obliged to give a wheelbarrow­ful of national-bank notes, secured by gold bonds 10 per cent. in ex­ce of their value in gold, for a bushel of wheat.

There is, Mr. Speaker, no danger, under the proposed free-banking sy tern, of wheat going up to that measure of value unless the promise of " eed-time and harvest" is revoked.

For one, I believe in the stability and perpetuity of my Government, and rely on the promi es.

I tJ:lerefore prote t against confounding our present and well-secured national-bank i sues with the wild-cat issues which got loose under straw bail in other days, simply becau e the exigency re ulting from the rebellion ha been, and is such, that their redemption, for the pur­poses of trade and exchan~es is for the present made with the legal­tender notes; and I subrmt in all candor that the whole aro-ument on the question of a depreciated currency, if applicaule a.t all,~ solely

applicable to the legal-tender issue ; and that the national-bank llisues, instead of embarrassing the Government in its attempt to re­deem the legal-tenders in coin, aids it to do this by supplying the place of retired legal-tender notes, by taking up at home it bonds,· and by retaiuing the coin interest at home and for home use. '

The only argument which can be fairly urgecl against the measure is that it will stimulate trade, quicken industry, cure the dry-rot -which ha during the la t six months eaten into the very heart of the busines of the country; and that then we shall imperceptibly drift into the whirlpool of another panic, which will bring with it distress an<l resnlt in :financial ruin.

I admit that every active and commercial nation is just as liable to be taken with a panic as chiltlren are to be taken with the measles, and yet I believe, although we have got well past the middle of the nineteenth century, that there has not yet been discovered any sure preventive for either. I do not believe that my sagacious friend is at all afraid of being injured by a panic; nor that he feels competent to devise legislation which will be certain to prevent the occm·rence of one. Sam Johnson, when he wanted to enhance the value of \Vi dow Thrale 's brewery, then being sold at auction, spurred thereto by his love for the fair widow, said to the bidders at that sale, "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich lleyond the dreams of avarice." If Johnson could say this about a lot of unpoetic beer-vats and boilers, and a dusty old brewery, with how much greater force and power might the owner of a patent to prevent :financial panics use the same language while ~8' to dispose of the right for some commercial centerlikeNew York. il New York had held such a patent la t September, we should never have come so near losing, as we did then, the chance to legislate the $44,000,000 into circulation.

I must also take issue with the gentleman from Wisconsin on the fact a to whether our currency is exce ive in quantity, and I now wish to call attention to that part of his speech where he shows by a careful prepared table he amount per capita in 1850, 1860, and 1870. He says :

The following table will show at a glance the population, wealth, and circulation in the United States· in 1850, 1860, and 1870, and will completely set at rest ar:.y doubt as to whether our currency is excessive in quantity or not& · .

Year. !Population. .Asses ed Circulation. Per head. wealth.

1850 ....... ········· · 23,764,706 7, 135, 780, 228 { $150,000,000 notes. 100, 000, 000 coin. } 10 50

1860. ······· ......... 31,127,000 12, 0 4, 560, 000 { 200, 000, 000 notes. } 11 30 150, 000, 000 coin. ll:l70. ················ 3 '115, 641 14, 178, 986, 732 700, 000, 000 notes. 18 42

From the circulation of 1870, exclusively irredeemable paper, I make no deducl tion for so-called bank re erves, because tho e res rves, helu auain t depo its, form a necessary part of the circulation of the nation, and are doing~ in the coffers of the banks, duty as such equally with currency in the pocket of the citiz n .

From this it appear that circulation has been increased out of all dtle proportion to both our population and wealth.

I a k the attention of the House to that part of his statement re­lating to the year H360 as having a tendency to mislead gentlemen on this subject.

He gives the population of 1860 at 31,127,000, the assessed wealth at 12,084,560,000, and the total of circulation at $350,000,000, includ­ing coin and notes; while in fact the amount of notes in circulation at that time, as appears from the report of the Secretary of the Treas­ury, was S207,102,477, and the amount of coin in the cotmtry at that time, as appears from the report of the Director of the Mint, was, at a lowe timate, $275,000,000. This makes a grand total of $4 2,102,477;

In this 31,127,000· population in 1860 are included 4,000,000 slaves~ who were mere chattels and not holders of money, but who in 187u were citizens and held our money largely. Therefore the :figures for 1860 should stand as follows: Population holding money, 27,127,000; asse sed wealth, $12,0 4,560,000; circulation, 482,102,477; circula­tion per capita $17.44 instead of $11.30, as given in the table before referred to.

Besides it must be remembered that the calculation for the year 1870, from which he makes it appear that we had 1 ~42 per capi,ta, does not make any allowance for the large amount of lost and de­stroyed notes, which .if allowed would in my judgment retluce the amount per capita to very near the amotmt held in 1 60.

I therefore submit whether from this revi eel statement "it appears that our circulation has been increased over all due proportion to both our population and om· weal h."

Mr. Speaker, I was in great tribulation about the fate of this bill. The gentleman from New York [Mr. l\lELLISH] who intends, as I am creclibly informed, to make a speech on :finance before the close of the pre ent se sion, bas told the House that it was "a bill of abom­ination ."

When he made that assertion I was sorely troubled about its fare, and not a little bothered about the question as to whether or not the Committee on Banking and Commerce would go into history with its reputation questioned by the very hin-llest contemporary authority. But imagine my BUI]Jrise and deli!Jht

0

when, on consuUing the REc­ono, I tourtcl t4is a ertio:q o "Qe1 ~ot t4e r .nlt of the distinguis4e<1

2664. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

gentleman's own well-matured reflections, but only a repetition of what some one had told him.

For myself, I care nothing; but I cannot help congratulating the eminent gentlemen with whom I am associated on that committee, on their narrow escape, and contenting myself with the reflection that it is yet at least an open question whether you, Mr. Speaker, in naming that committee have exerci ed that sound sense and judg-· ment for which you have hitherto been so eminent.

Let us hope that when the gentleman from New York makes his speech he will set this matter entirely at rest.

Now, Mr. Speaker, while I claim the people have the right to increase the quantity of the paper circulation, yet I deem it fully as important that we, as legislators, are bound to see to it that its quality be not de­preciated, but rather increased in value. If a paper currency is re­deemaule in anything, its value, of course, for the purposes of trade and exchange, depends on the value of the thing with w hie~ that redemption is made; and, inasmuch as our redemption of the nahona,l­bank notes must for some time be made with the legal-tender notes of t.he Government, it logically follows that, if such reuemptions are made imperative, whenever there is a redundancy, anything, which enhances the value of the legal-tender, must also enhance the value of the national-bank note.

How then can this be accomplished Y Most clearly any provision of law, which practically retires any portion of the legal-tender notes, 1nust enhance the value of the outstanding portion thereof.

The committee's bill, now under consideration, provides, in section 3, th tall associations organized under its provisions shall at all times keep and have on deposit in the Treasury of the United States, in lawful money-i.· e., legal-tenders for the present-5 per cent. of· its circulation, to be held and used only for the redemption thereof, as provided in the bill; but I think this section onght to be so amended as to provide for such redemption at any sub-treasury of the United States, instead of being limited, as it is in the bill, to the assistant treasurer in New York or the Trea.surerin Washington. And section 5 provides, that every such association hall keep its lawful money reserves within its own vaults.

Therefore the effect of the provisions of the sections, above re­ferred to, practically retires the amount of legal-tenders which go to make up the 5 per cent. for redemption purpo es and the lawful reserves, to which must be added the average amount at all times in the hands of the people1 and not available for banking purposes.

It occurs to me that, m this way alone, the value of the legal-tenders will be sufficiently enhanced to cause them to be sought after, and })referred by the people; and, as soon as that point is reached, the qual­i ty of our currency has commenced to improve. But, in order that there may be no mistake about thi , and while I cannot, for obvious reasons, support the last section of the committee's bill, which pro­viues for the hoarding of coin by the Trea ury, yet I am in favor of, and as soon as the business of the country once gets into shape again, a gradual 1·etirement of the legal-tenders, in some just ratio to the increased volume of national-bank notes, until they shall have been reduced bY. at least $100,000,000.

By this ~ethod the value of the legal-tenders would gradually ap­preciate, and eventually become equal to that of gold. Two c::~>uses would tend to produce this result: first, the clecrea e of the volume of the legal-tenders; and, seoondly, the increasing demand for them for the purpose of redeeming the increased issue of national-bank notes. If this is inflation, then I am an inflationist j for it will give us a mone­tary system well adapted to the condition of the country and the sub­stantial business wants of the people. It gives-iihe people all the cir­culation they choose to take and pay for, and it gives them no more than they can pay for.

It neither increa es the debt of the Government nor of individuals. It enables the people to supply themselve with an amply secured currency, always increasing in value, whenever and wherever most needed, by removing monopolizing restrictitms, without removing those required by prudence and safety; and in the not distant future it will enable the Government to fund its legal-tender notes and retu·e from the banking business, a consummation that the eX:perience of the last five months demonstrates is to be most devoutly wished for.

But, sir, the East, ever mindful of the wants o:f; the great South and West, and ever anxious to provide for them in their owri. wise and beneficent w:cy, tell us of those benighted regions that we do not want more circulation; that we do not need more banking facilities; that we are not yet far enough advanced to own and control these insti­tutions; and that wh~n we want accommodations we should apply to them. All the reply I have to make to this lrind of talk is that we know we are poor ; our rough-and-tumble struggle with nature enables us to be told of it without losing our temper. \Ve trust we are honest, and we hope to be some day blessed with a more bountiful supply of this world's goods than we now control, and yet we think we are now able to avail ourselves to some extent of a system of free banking, if we can only be permitt,ed to do so.

I know something of this people, of their resources, their industry and rapi.dly increasing wealth; and while I do not now claim that they ha,ve the ready money with which to buy as much circulation as the East is able to take up, yet they are both willing anu ready to organize and start na.tional banks with a limited capital, in nearly every well-settled county. You, of the East, know well enough that your bank-ing capital, available for business purposes, is not repre entetl

by your circulation, but rather by your deposits, and we, of the newer sections of the country, have begun to appreciate the fact, and to know the importance of a national bank to every business community; not so much because of the circulation which it a:ftords, although that is valuable, a-s because of the fact that it forms a nucleus about which will gather almost the entire idle money 'of a community, and make it available for business uses, so that the business man, with his neighbor's indorsement, can make a piece of paper desirable in the locality, but which you men of the eastern cities would not be will­ing to do at any price.

The national bank would have this effect always, because that class · of people who hold the bulk of the idle money in any of om· commn­nitiesrhave confidence -in the system, and will keep it on deposit. \Ve know well enough that the money of the West and South is hoarded by the laboririg classes, that it is idle and cannot be made available for busines uses; and we ought to know that each national bank with a capital of 50,000 will, if well managed, draw to it a very large amount of this kind of depo its, and that then the planter, the farmer, and the man of small means, instead of being crippled for the want of money, and obliged to sell his crop, or his property, could get accom­modations which would enable him to avoid a sacrifice.

You of the East can never supply our home demand. Then why not let us supply ourselves'

1\fr. Speaker, the district, which I have the honor to represent on this floor, contains an area of about twenty-five thou and quare miles. Besides yielding largely in all 1rinds of agricultural prod­ucts and fruits common to the State, its fisheries yielcl annually over $1,000,000, it produces annually one-half of the entire lumber, shingle , laths, and staves, manufactured in that State, and of the value, according to the last census, of $15,973,198, and the value of it iron and copper protluced for the year 1873 amounts, in round num­bers, to $15,000,000, these three items alone aggregating 31,973,198; a,nd yet in that vast district, equal in extent to an empire, with all the clements of great and lasting wealt.h, and with a hardy popular tion constantly increasing and actively engaged in many and varied channels of industry, there are only 366,840 of national-bank circu­lat ion, or a fraction over three dollars pm· capita. Prior to the pas­sage of the national-bank act we had no bank in my own town, and if its business men wanted to borrow money they were obliged to run about and pick it up in mall amounts, and on all sorts of contracts, thereby advising everybody of the stress in which they were, but mostly obliged to continually want it. Our money wa nearly all in the hands of our laboring men and idle. Well, my people establi bed a national bank with a capital which gave us $144,000 of circulation, and the result was that, on the 1st day of la t September, our bank had a deposit account of nearly $500,000 available for busine s purpo cs.

We want more circulation to-day. Three institutions are now ready to take it, and are urging me to devise some way by which it can be obt.aincd.

I thought, when the chairman of the Committee on Finance, at tlle other end of the Capitol, brought in his bill for a redistribution of the national-bank circulation, that the auspicious time was coming, and that I should soon be able to comply with the demands of my constituents; but to my surprise and consternation the people from the State of Rhode I la,nd, who have only the small sum of sixty dol­lars per capita, confronted the honorable Senator from Ohio with a protest against such' action, in which it wa-s claimed that the busi­ness men of Rhode Island could not spare any portion of their im­men e circulation without injury to their interests, and, lo, my hopes vani bed. Is it not just po sible, :Mr. Speaker, that the e business people of Rhodelsland, always so noted for their succes and pros­perity, are right in this matter, and that gentlemen, who are con ~ stantly trying, by every device which their ingenuity can invent, to so bend, and shape this cast-iron system that it will fit the business of the country, are wrong'/ Is it not just pos ible that there are defects in our present financial system, and that they can be remediect by 'vise action here, in such a way, that it may be open to all, and, at the same time be hedged about with such sure and certain safeguards, that an increase in the quantity of our paper money will not be in~ compatible with an enhancement of its value' Are not activity, in­dustry, real growth, true development, and solid wealth the basis of our whole financial system, and is not a return to specie payments po sible on that basis ?

There never was a greater trill m enunciated t.han that uttered by the veteran Senator of :Michigan when he said on the floor of the Sen­ate, "What we want is, more money and better money ;" but I appeal to the sense of the country whether this want cannot be safely and securely supplied without forcing the country to. undergo the shock of a forced resumption of specie payments.

Sil;, it requires something more heroic than an act of Congress to place the country on a real and permanent specje ba is. The prob­lem can only be solved by elin:i.inating the annual coin intere t of about ,. 100,000,000, which we pay on our bonded debt. Between the present paper-money era and a specie-basis era looms up, and always corlfronts us, this $100,000,000 of annual coin interest, :which no act of Congress can per se honestly wipe out, but which must be decreased before we cau reach that new era. . ·

It cannot ue reached by re olving to resume, but it can be through toil amllabor, and taxation honestly applied to the reduction of our bonded debt.

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORDo 2665

Then1_give the people prosperity and the Government revenues and we sh all r each a specie basis which will be permanent and lusting without an act of Congress.

This is the busines tatement of the whole qne tion, and the mpid­ity with which we shall move thitherwu,nl is onJy a matter of policy and expediency.

Entertaining as I do these views, I am not at all surprised at the position taken by gentlemen on the opposite side of the House when they say they are unwilling to vote either for increased taxation or for adding one dollar to the public debt, and that the expendi­tures must be cut down to meet the revenues, no matter what may hap­pen. But I am fearful that this side of the Honse will too long yjeld to this demand, content itself witp. a do-not hing policy­spending its energies in attempting to cover unexpended balance's into the Treasury- and in the pursuit of such a course, under the guise of economy will not only entirely satisfy the opposition, but convince the people of the country by constantly parrng down the appropriations,· all the while forgetting that the revenues will de­crease and decrease until bankruptcy must ensue, that the nation is still laboring under the throes of a financial panic so severe, terri­ble, and devastating as to entirely overcome its recuperative energies. I a,m, perhaps, not wise in statesmanship, but I do know that it is not for the interest of any party in power, and responsible for the con­duct of the Government, to tlo ju t that thing which the opposition desire should be done, but that it should rather auopt some true and wise line of policy and follow it out, in spite of what the opposition may ay or do. A party without a policy is an anomaly.

Do we understand what economy is as applie(l to the affairs of a grea.t nation like ours' .Are we .not apt to theorize a little and talk foolishly about this matter , forgetting the true bu iness principles underlying the whole question' Is it ec·onomy to ay or do anything which has the lea t tendency to increase that loss of confidence occa­sion ell by the bte financial panic to destroy that only thing now need d to quicken the energies of the people; to increase that only thing left of the panic Is it econoJ:IW to proclaim here in these Halls imply because the business interests of our country are, more through

our ne~lect and inaction than by reason of the late panic, for a mo­ment cnecked, and consequently the revenues below the immediate demanus of the Government, that everything must come to a dead­lock, and that appropriations must be cnt down below the real wants and demands of the momout 1 I it true that gen lemon on this floor are still talking anu act.ing tmder impre sions received before they left their homes to attend this Congress, and that the world and its bnsine s have not movecl since tbeu ~ Let me ask gentlemen to re­flect before they suuseribe to such a view. Let me beseech them to consider this propo ·ition, in the light of experience, and of their bu iue , eclucu,tion, before they give it their unqualified assent.

I hold it to be an axiom that, in times like these, a trno governmental policy of economy uemands that everything in reason be done that can be clone to restore, u,nd strengthen confidence in bru:iness and in u,Ulegitimate undertakings, that we shoulu make all legitimate appro­priations for the wanlis of the Government, reu,lly necessary to be nuule, even though it costs more money to carry ou the work than the revenues now seem to promise. It is, sir, no time now to cut down appropriations. It i no. time to suspend work on either the public bniluings or harbors where the work has aheady been commenced u,ncl carried forward to such an extent that, either loss will arise from its f3USpension, or commerce will suffer thereby. It is the proper time, however, to see to i t that all such appropriations are carefully u,nd prudently expendetl, that no extravagance or wa te eats up the J1eople's money and prevenlis it from doing the work et apart for it to tlo. nut gentlemen will ask, "Where is the money to come from with ·which to meet these appropriations f" I answer, it will come from the increased revenues of the country, and that, if in the judgment of Congress, this increa e seems to be insufficient, then I woulcl in­crease the revenues, either by direct taxation or by import, duties. I tell you, the people are not opposed to taxation for the lecritimate w::mts of the Government. They are only opposed to extravagance and wa te in expenditures, to ubsidizing monopolies and the de poiling of the public domain, by extravagant gifts and grants thereof, and to having their industrie crippleu by the delay u,nd uucertu,inty of congressional action.

I would not borrow a dollar to meet a single ordinary demand of the Government, and I do not believe that, nuder the present circum­stances, any rarty can survive, that either does it, or attempts to do it. Tho gentleman from New York, who had charge of the Army bill, told the country thu,t western enterprise must be contracted; that the hartly pioneers mu t return to the more den ely settled communi­tie , and tha.t the Government, in view of the late panic- of which nothing is now left but a little want of confidence- is unable to take care of them, unless they will hndille themselves together, and, like lost beep, return to his fo ld .

Let it be r ecorded, ir, that here, in the Halls of the Forty-third Congress, that motto, which has for almost a century filled e\ery young h art in this broad land w ith ambition and enterprise, ''West­wartl the course of empire takes it wu,y," is but a mere piece of buncombe, only intended. for the Fourth of July; and that this great American Government, owing to a little flurry in the money market, which caused the downfall of a few bold operators, bot which checked only temporarily the real business interests of the country, is no long r

financially able to protect its own cit.izens within its own domain. That proposition is to my mill(l as humiliating as would bo one to sell off to some foreign power thaf portion of onr vublio domain not now really reqnirccl for actual occupation and settlement.

I fear, ·ir, that we are O\erestimatiug the late panic, both as to its effect on the people, the business of the country and the Government, believing it to be the near crrnse of certain re ults not at all attribu­table to it; and when I h ear the other side roll well-turned sentences upon it "like a sweet mor el under their tongues," and ee their faces glarlflen with uelight when distinguished gentlemen on this side of the House let themselyes loose on this fruitful theme, I cannot help asking my elf, "\'\'bose hands are pulling the chf'stnuts out of the :fire and for whose benefit are they being pulled out ?"

If the pre ent session of Congress can only be frittered away in this kind of work, and if we cu,n only be convinced that this kind of economy, which now seems to be the rage- an economy which is op­l)Osed to the investment of a single dollar, under any circum tances, in any of the permu,nent improvements of the country- is the best policy to be pursued, I for one fear that the people will consider us derelict in duty in not securing them the relief, u,nd wise reforms now needed, and that "the pla.ce which now knows us will soon know us no more forever." I tell gentlemen that when they say from this · high place that, either this Government, or this people are bankrupt, and unable to meet all appropriations necessary and proper t be made, they are adly mi'3taken.

I am, sir, in the eyes of my confiding constituents, the peer of any man on this floor; and therefore at their behe t, but with fea,r ancl trembling, I here assert and maintain that di stinguished gentlemen holding leading positions on this floor are doing not only them, but the whole people, great harm and injury every time they ·ay or do things, which tend to check that ·growtb of confidence, which only needs now to be a little trengtbened to cause busine to be again revived and wealth accumulated all over this land.

I have saiu that I would not borrow one sincrle dolbr to meet or defray the current demands of the Trea ury, but that I would, if neces­sary, impo e additional taxes on the people to meet these demu,nds, trusting their intelligence and patriotism to meet the emergency, in the same way in which they now meet every busine. engagement. There is no danger about the people's misunderstanding a business proposition, but there is danger of their becoming di gnsted with a masterly inactivity- a frittering away of money and time on little things, while great interests, vital to their progress u,nd welfare, are neglected and ignored.

Mr. Speaker, crowding i tself on our attention, and jostling for precedence with this all-important subject of finances, comes another question for consideration. The cry has gone forth from every farm­house, shop, and cabin all over this broad laud for cheaper transporta­tion. The loud voice of the people has been heard on this subject, and it gives no uncertain sound. The appeal is made to us to take such wise action as shall in some certain sense answer this eu,rnest demand of the people ; not so much by legislation unfriendly to the great highways of ·traffic affonled by our railroad sy tern, but by opening up and improving the great water-lines of communication between the North and South, the Ea.st and West, connecting the Missi sippi with the East by canals, improving the navigaliion of that stream to it mouth, making the gTeat lakes as one for all purpo es of commerce, by improving t he Saint Clair Flat , the Saint :Mary's River and Canal, and doing everything, really need ell in the way of improve­ment of harbors and rivers, that will tend to secure safety in transit, cheapen the rates of freight, and bring the producer and consumer nearer together.

:For these great undertakings I am in favor of pledging the faith and credit of this Government even now, and in what some gentle­men may call dark days. These are the great natural arteries of this continent, anu the people demand that they shall be improved and connected together by can&ls. Sir, I have but few, if any, gran­gers in my district; but it requires neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet to see what will be the results of this demu,nd of the people. I t must be wisely and well met, not only becu,nse it is demanded, but because it is right, and has in it the germs of development and wealth so mighty, powerful, and great, that they can hardly be foretold.

We must now either meet these issues wisely and bravely, or else we must give way and let om places be filled by others, who will catch the inspiration of the times, and be eqnal to the emergency.

Far be it from me to either find fault with public men or to indulge in doubt and uncertainty as to the future.

The signs of the times ha,ve for me no gloomy a pect. The grand old party, which natched a dying Government from the

hands of its enemie , saved it, and made it progressive, powarful, and great, is yet true to its mis ion. Through it, a in time pa t, will come all needed reforms; and around it, when the supreme hour arrives, will rally the hosts of freemen.

I r . SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, my con tituents need more bank­ing facilities and more money, aud my convictions are they ought to have both.

First, let me say, I regartl the obligation of the Government to re­ueem the greenback as biuiling, and I 'viU vote for no mea ure to either depreciu,te the value of the greenback or impa.ir the Govern­menu credit.

Cougre s, in 1869, after t he hue and cry of the western democmts

2666 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

for repudiation had somewhat subsided, passed an act to strengthen the public credit. This act binds the Government to redeem the green­backs at the earliest moment practicable.

At present specie redemption is not practicable. It is not even po sible. The people, who own the greenbacks, and who are t he ole judo·es of the question of practicability, do not denwncl it now. The gregnback is more popular than ever before, and it holds its value unimpaired amid all the clamors of nll its detractors.

pon all questions affectinrr the value of money legislation should be conservative. All legislation which distmbs existing values is immoral. '

Resumption means contraction, with an inevitable depre sion of all values. This, at a time of general depre ion, would be scarcely le s than criminal. It would banlrrupt one.-half the bu. iness men of the \Vest and work outrageous injustice to the entire debtor class of the country. I represent that debtor class. lilly legislation in the line of contraction appreciates the value of the dollars we have agreed

·to pay and decreases our chances of earning them. Scarce money and high intere twill ruin us. We wa.nt cheap interest and easy credits. This stimulates industry, improves the opportunities of those who labor, and hardens our lm ines muscle.

I represent a peop~e who e wealth is to be realized, not by loaning acquired capital, but by developing our resources ; a large agricul­tural constituency that ha not yet reached its maximum develop­ment, and a commercial city (Toledo) of wonderful activity. We have all the elements of wealth. We want low ta.xes and cheap credits.

'fhe Government can carry our obligations for 5 and 6 per cent. We cannot a sume our share of these obligations less than 10 and 12 per cent. Our policy, therefoF , i to let the Gov rnment carry our obli­gations until we become stronger, and given the benefit of this 4 and 5 per cent. profit. We have tried to pay our debt too rapidly. The people of all sections need re t.

LIMITED FREE BAl\-:Kn'G RECO~IEXDEU.

In providing for increased circulation to accommodate the West and South, I am willing to vote for a clan-e in. this bill fixing a maxi mum for national-bank circulation, and also to limit said increase to sections lacking their quota of circulat ion.

The Reprc ontativesof the We. t, I am confident, would consent to make some Eastern State-New York, for instance- the standard for national-bank circulation. If free banking is limited to sections hav­ing le s than the New York standard, eastern capital seeking profitable investment will be largely drawn tothe W est and South and invested in banks. I am therefore under conviction that such a mea ure would afford as prompt and satisfactory relief to the West and South as un­limited free banking. The East, being abundantly supplied with banks, capital, and currency, fears an era of unwholesome speculation from unlimited free banking. l:,or one, I am willing to concede some­thing to thi conviction, and will, if opportunity is offered, vote to place such restriction in the bill now under consideration. But with tho e Repre ·entatives who advocate contraction and specie payments as a solution of our ills I take direct issue.

THE !:'<JUSTICE OF CONTRACTION ILLU TRATED.

Let me illustrate the injustice of contraction. In May, 1 69, I borrow of a money-lender in Hartford, Connecticut,

one thousand greenback dollars, payable in five years, at 10 per cent. interest. This so-called 1,000 was worth the clay it was borrowed ..,689 in gold. Specie payments are r e lillled, and in May, 1874, when my note is due, the value of the dollars I borrowed have increased 45 per cent., and be ide paying my 10 per cent. interest in gold or its equivalent, I am also compelled to pay this Connecticut money­lender 311, in gold, for which I have received no value whatever. Do I pay thi money justly, or am I cheated by a trick in legisla­tion Or say that a greenback dollar is worth 90 cents in gold to­day, and I borrow one thousand of these dollar , receiving rune hun­dred gold dollars in value, payable in one year, at 10 per cent. In the mean time pecie payments are resumed, and next April, when my note is due, I am compelled to pay '1,100 in gold value for the use of rune hundred one year. I am thus swindled out of one hundred, principal, and 10 interest. That i , I ha;ve paid $200 for the use of $DOO one year, or over 22 per cent.

These ca es illustrate the injustice the contractionist would per­petrate upon the entire debtor class of the country There is no sys­tem of busine moral or political economy that can successfully de­fend such a policy. It will not answer now to argue in justification that the credit cla was robbed by the legnl-teuder act when the law was 11a ed. That was a law ofnecessity, and only defended a a war mea ·ure. There is no code of ethics by which the borrower of a gold dollar discharge his moral obligations by paying in a greenback worth 50 cent . The credit cla was robbed in 1832, 1 63, 1 64, and 1865, through the nece itie of war, but what can bathe preten e to rob the debtor class in 1 74, 1 75, and 1876

Nearly e\ery city, town, and corporation in Ohio have contracted debts and negotiated bonds upon a depr eciated currency. To elevate the standard of value now is to largely increase these obligations.

l\Ieasured by its effects; eleva,ting a depreciated currency is more immoral than depreciating it, because the loss in the first in tance falls upon those able to bear it, while in the latter case i t strike down the struggling clas es, and by paralyzing trade and manufac­ture, causes su1fering to the laboring poor. The rights of both cla ses,

dt~btor and credit, are sacred ; and Congress has no moral right to increa-se the obligations of one or impair the obligations of the other.

FREE BANKING ITDORBEU.

A national free-banking law, with p;oper guard and checks, cannot depreciate the value of the greenbacks. The Government deut is not increaseu, nor are additional obligations incuneu, by the issue of cur­rency ba ed upon Government bonds already sold.

Again, the money circulation of this country should be divorced as far as po sible from the control of a political majority in Cougres .

The question of the value of a dollar should not be debated on the stump and decided anew with every ballot. The bill-holder being secured and the value of a doller fixed, the money supply should be regulateu by the immutable laws of trade. Agriculture, commerce, and manufacture should each be the sole judges of its moneyed nece -sities.

THE GREEXllACK THEORY DISCUSSED.

Many practical a.nd experienced financjers are of opiruon that the Government should avail it elf of the profits of circulation, and that the popular greenback should supplant the national-bank note, makiDrr one uniform currency. This is a fascinating theory. It i propo eJ to take up the three hundred a.nd fifty-four million national-bank notes, is ue an equal amount of leo·al-tenders, and with the e notesp;o into the market and buy Government bonds. This, it is claimed, will reduce the interest on our public debt eighteen millions per ~·car . This apparent saving, however, is somewhat delusive.

The pre ent tax on the circulation of the national banks of 1 per cent. and t of 1 per cent. on deposits, and t of 1 per cent. on capital tock not invested in Government IJonds, realize the Government

about $7,000,000 yearly, and tate taxation, not far from ten millions more, or an aggregate of nearly if not quite seventeen million . If there are inequalities in the pre ent system, let us regulate that bv legislation. But I am thoroughly fortified in the conviction that it is better economy to allow the bankers of the country to do the uauking for the people than to establish a monopoly of banking at he m1r­t ional capital. I believe sections now demanding more currency can be better accommodated locally by banks than by a central system; and the amount of currency needed can be better determined and more safely r egulated by the demands of bu ine than by a political majority in Congress.

OUR MONETARY SYSTE:\f DISCUSSED.

Much is read and said here by those who desire a contraction of tho currency about onr gr os violation of the laws of political economy. Let us examine thi matter with due deference.

The Government of the Uruted States has undertaken the ritical duty of supplying the moneyed necessities of the people. It ha by impo ing exce sive taxes upon State banks, dri ven them out of exi t ­ence, and to-day the money supply of this country is a monopoly.

For the pa t five years we have been increa ing and extending the business of the country with marvelous rapidity; at the same time we have been withdrawing our money supply. This precipitatecl a paillc, with immense loss of property and general paralyzation of trade.

Now, what is the remedy I believe it lie iu upplying the Je­ment, the lack of which produced the panic. Others aTgue that a con­tinuance of the cause which produced the panic will work its cur .

Here we join i ue. Bleeding is not pre criiJeu by physicians for debility in the patient caused by the loss of blood. The money circnla­tion of a country is like the blood circulation of the individ11al. I n order to promote a whole orne life and a healthful activity, it mnst not only be sufficient in quality and quantity, but it must permeaie and penetrate the remotest extremities of being.

THE FUNCTlO:XS OF MONEY.

What is this vital element called money, and what are it fnuc­tion ¥ Money is but a generalized agent for the exchange of Y::tlne . I ts potentia l requisites are : first, absolute solvency; second, uni,·el·­sal recogilltion of its value. Our. pre ent currency is olveut. It ha the complete confidence of the entire bn ine s world; but it is not equitably diffused, nor is it sufficient in volume to perform all i ts functions.

IXEQUALITillS OF OUR SYST~l.

Look at our condition in the West. Ohio is not the worst sufferN·, and yet the lack of currency there is mo t seriou ly felt. We have credit, capital, magnificent agricultural re ources, immense mineral deposits of coal and iron central location, with market in every cli­rection, yet we ha\e not adequate banking facilities. Our tate banks are taxed out of existence. The General Government declines to aid u , and we are in the gra p of a money monopoly.

I have now letters from parties in Toledo, a city that is in need of more banks, asking me to secure them currency for a national bank. Tbe Government bonds are ready to depo it. The e bonds are worth more than their face value in gold in all the markets of this country ancl Europe, and yet this currency cannot be supplied even at the rate of 90 per cent. I applied to the Comptroller of the Cnrrency to secure om cnrrency from national bank that have wountl up; butthi cuTrcncy cannot be had. It is in the bands of New York brokers, and is offered at 5 per cent. premium. ·

Now, suppose my Toledo friends, having read the able arguments d -livered here upon the evils of our pre ent system de ire to bank on a gold ba is. They therefore sell their bonds for gold, and attempt to bank under tho State laws of Ohio. Here come your 10 }>er c nt

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2667

tax and drives them out of the field. My constituents are therefore practically prohibited from banking under either State or national laws. Their only privilege is to borrow money of easteru money­lenders at exorbitant rates of interest, which they are now tloing. They are compelled to contribute a large share of the profits of their busine s to eastern capitalist .

There is no defense for such a system as this. It lli an outrageous oppression. The Eastern States have an exce"' of circulation of national-bank currency of over 0,000,000. Ohio has a deficiency of '1,509,456, and Illinois a deficiency of 6,331,221 ; Mas achnsetts alone llas an exces of $40,000,000; and even the little State of Rhode Island has an exce s of 10,635,79~. The city of Providence, Rhode Island, llas a national-bank circulation of $9,483,710; while the city of Toledo, Ohio, a city with an immense jobbing trade anu a great commercial mart, has but$1,337,400. Hartford, Connecticut, a :finished to·wn, u-ith :~7,180 inhabitants, owns. 4,435,700 of national-bank circulation; while Milwaukee, the metropolis of Wisconsin, with ov-er 71,000 population, bas only 611,500. The little town of Fall River, Ma. aclmsetts, ha nearly two millions of this circulation, while Lawrence, Kansa , has but $151 500.

Take two States, Ohio and Connecticut. Ohio i only authorized to is sue $39,818,983 of this currency, Conuecticu t issues 33,04 7 ,G32; and yet Ohio has three times the property and five times the population of \..Jonnecticut. I submit a comparison, a hown by the cen us of 1 70:

Items. I Connecticut. I Ohio.

i~~~~~0i~; ~~i~~~~- :.~~~~~:: :::~:: :~:~::~:~::~~: Iu trade. and tr:an po_rtation ... . . . ....... . ......... . Mechanical and m=g .... ... ..... . .... .... . . .... . Pl'ofessional and personal ... .... . .... ...... ...... . . Valuation of property .... ... ... ... . . ..... ... . ..... . .raxation .............. .. ............... ... ........ .

537,454 43, 663 24,720

6, 344 38,704

747, 631, 524 $6,061,843

2, 665,260 397,024 7 '547

197, 010 168,308

2, 2'25, 430, 300 ~.526,548

The six New England State , with a population of 3,41:!7,924, with a property valuation of $4,009,875,247, have a circulation of $110,4 9,90G, while the twenty-three Western and Southern States, with a popula­tion of 24,217,341, with a property valuation of $12,770,112,6 3, have a circulation of only $111,409,156.

The Representatives of western con tituencies who advocate the eC]_uitable rights of their ection are denounced as repudiators, or as too ignorant to comprehend the complex science of finance.

PUBLIC SE:XTDfEXT Dl OillO.

It is claimed also that public sentiment, even in the West, is against more currency. I venture the opinion that four-fifths of all the active bu iness men of Ohio favor more currency. I am confident such is theca e in Northwestern Ohio, my own section.

During the progress of this debate all hist.ory has been ransacked by contractionists for eviuence to fortify their po itions. All the ob cure pamphleteers of the last century, whose works have clrifteu clown through cheap auctions to the Congressional Library have been du tecl out and doctored, and brought to the front. I have no objec­tion to this re urrection of these dead voices; but in the light of the experience, knowledge, genius, and practical statesmanship of to-day, why should we seek oracles of obsmue tombstones'

We have learned something of transportation since Moses·tr:weled for forty years in the wildernes . We have learned something of electricity since Franklin touched the womb of the lightning, and I believe we have learned something of government and finance since ·George III ancl Auam Smith. ·

McCullough, in his able contribution to the Encyclopreclia Britan­nica, in speaking of Adam Smith, and other \\Titers so often quoted here, says :

The opinions and theories of the eminent professors who have written on politi­cal economy have impeded the progre s of the science, and created a popular dill trust in its establi hed conclusions.

Serene in the consciousness of this di trust, I desire to pre ent he views of some living practical financiers of my own State.

Fir t, I nbmit a letter from one of the mot succe sful.business men in Ohio, a gentleman who has done more than any other man to develop the iron and coal industries of the State; a gentleman who ha never read Ricardo or Adam Smith, but who ha absorbed some very sountl political economy in a long anu successful business career :

YOUXGSTOWX, OHIO, March 7, 1874. DEAR SIR: I think common sense anrl busines principle will apply to the man­

agement of the national affair as it would to a man' own busint'l s operation . -In the first place, the pre ent generation have been t.'txed heavily to put down the

rch ilion; they shonld not be taxed to pay the present debt. Let the Government fund the debt long loan fift.v to sixty years at 4 to 5percent.,

pftV it when we h r ve increa ed in population to an extent that I dare not name. Gi\-e us a fr e-bankin.., law. The people are conf;tantly talking about railroad monopolie ; there are no monopolies in this country equal to the present banking monopoly.

What 'have the special few done that the Government shoulrl bestow extraor­dinary privileges upon them, receive their bonds, keep them safe, pay them the interest upon them, and then give them 90 per cent. of circulation to loan the busl­nes community at high interest~ :lroney is too scarce and dear for business pur­po e . Money shoulu not be worth more th.'Ul G to 7 per cent. We want cheap money instead of pauper labor.

Jf i can make more or am lltJtter satisfied to bank than to mine coal or make pig-

iron, I want the Gov ernment to extend to me theprirucge they do to my neighbors, on the same terms and with the same rcsb'iction .

I l.Jelieve the low rate of intr r est bonds convertible when the holder wanted to m;e money for a . pecinl pm1Jose, woultl work well.

The onth had none of our mol.!ey in l 64. Since then four million negroes have been freeu, and have to l>e paid for their labor, aml large aruotmts of money ~e required to do their busine. s operntions.

We have seventy thou and miles of railroad as again. t twenty thousand a few years ago. population incr eased ten to fifteen millions ·within a f ew years, are min­ing four times as much coal, aml making four time as mnch iron.

The e-venty thou antl mile of railroatl are alive with people with a large amolmt of money in their pockets to pa,v traveling expenses. .

Now, what are we a kell to do ~ Simply tbi ' : with large increa e and growing businl' s , to manage proportionately with less than one-half the mon y we had a f ew year. a!!O. It is ~:>imply r-idiculous, and is not govcrneu by any bu iness prin­ciples. \V s hou.lu have money in ]H'oportion to growth of l>usiness and population.

Money may be plenty in Kew York, buL it is not in Ohio. Our manufactures and mining are paralyzed.

G i vo us less taxes and more mone,r. and our own market, that we may live within ourselves for a few years, aml we will be able to pay the uebt and not feel it.

Yours, very respectfully,

General Ln. SHERWOOD, Washington, D. C.

C. H . A~DREWS.

Also, a letter from the editor of the Western Reser\e Chronicle, one of the oldest and ablest pa.pers of the Connecticut Reser•e of Ohio, supplemented with some comments by the Cleveland llerald. I do this for two rea ons : first, to indicate popular feeling in the richest and mo t densely populatetl region of the State; secondly, to show Connecticut theoTists how their brothers "to the manor born" expand antl develop and liberalize when transplanted to the broad hill-tops and inviting valleys of Ohio:

W .A.RRE~. Omo, February 14, 1874. DEAR Fum~--n: I hear of no one clem:.mdingordcsiring re umption, save bankers,

bondholder , and perhaps person. of lar$e cash means, wiJO hope, of course, to en· large the purchasingpower of their minct by the shrinkag of values re. ulting from resumption and contraction. I think the general desire of the producing, manu­bctur.mg, mercantile, and ordinary business clas cs is for more rather than less of the greenback currency. I believe the article inclosed, copied into and favorably co=ented on by the Cleveland Herald of a recent date, r eflects the sentiment of this region. I submit it to you as giving in my opinion a fair reflex of the mind of a large majority of tlie people of Ohio.

• WILLIAM RITEZEL. Ron. I. R. SHERWOOD,

Washington, D. 0.

The following is the article from the Cleveland Herald, referred to by Mr. Ritezel :

'Ihe Speci~ Houby.-Under that head the Warren (Trumbull County) Chronicle holds a very sensible editorial talk with its readers ; a. talk that should be o:ver­heard by Congressmen. Great commercial centers, so called have more influence at Washington than their relative importance entitles them to, and much more in­fluence than tbeir measure of sound; practical, business common ense entitles them to. The men at these (7eat centers are enabled to concentrate in ta.ntly an amotmt of strength that is demed the country, while the visions of such men are -,ery nar­row and their ideas of cause antl effect extend only to the curb-stone of their own stock market. The Chroniele says :

"Senators and Re:pre entatives with whom specie payment is a pecialty mi ap prebend public sentiment, if in their efforts to contract our circulating medium they in1agine that the people are in the least out of patience because Congress does not proceed 'to fulfill their promises to the people to make b'Teenbacks redeemable in o-old.' It is surprising to observe with what desperate t enacity ome of our law­makers cling to financial theories exploded by the test of practical experience, These gentlemen ap.Pear to think that there i some occult. omnipotent virtue in a specie dollar for which the people are hungering and thirsting, and, if not ftu·nished soon, will die of pecuni~ starvation. Probab1y if Congressmen minglecl more with the masses, to learn their views and ascertain the poptila.r demands and nece sities, in­steacl of consulting almost exclusively with bankers and bonuholders, and importers of foreign manufactures, they woulrl more truly represent their const ituencies on this important question than they do."

The Chronicle then briefly reviews the last dozen years, and points to the fact of our unparalleled prosperity under the lcga1-tender issue ; how that feature of finance was a sailed, how triumphantly it demonstrated its benefits. .And the Chronicle goes on thus :

"The fact is that the pe{)pleareperfectlysatisfied with the present currency, and do not demand a resumption of specie pa.)Jllents or a contraction of circulating medium. \Ve aver without fear of sncce sful contradiction that a petition in favor of a reasonable increa e of currency or greenback can be circnlatecl throu~h General G.A.RFIRLD's congressional district, ana through all the di trict north of the national road- upposed to be more especially r epresented by Senator SHE.RM.A....'I­ancl ninety-nine hundredths of the people will/etition for more greenbacks. * * We believe we speak right from the mouth an hearts of the people, and reflect the news of the manufacturin~r, trading, and producing cla es generally, who are the bone and sinew of the cotmtry."

ELEMENTS TO BE COSSIDERED I~ FIXISG VOUillE OF CURRE."'CY.

The demands of currency are regulated, fir t, by the character and amount of business tran action ; secondly, by the average earnings per cctpita of the producing classes ; tbirilly, lJy the solidity OT density of population.

To the first proposition it can be pleacl that the people of this country in proportion to population average more general employ­ment than those of either l''rance Germany, or England. We hav-e fe-wer paupers, fewer criminals, fewer non-protlucers, and no large stantling armie . The average earnings per oopita are more than dou­ble those of either England, France, or the German Empire. In density of population we have an a\erage of bnt two hundred and e enty­two pci ons to the sC]_uare mile, while En~land hn about fi•e thou-and, the German Empire over four thousand, and France over three

thousand. I t is evident that spar ely settled regions an<l sections re­mote from banks need more currency per capita than regions den ely populated. This is a self-evident proposition.

The statement that our currency is excessive as compared with other leafling nations is found to be erroneous. . The following table, showing the total culTency volume in England,

2668 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 1\fARCH 31,

Germany, France, and the United States, throws a :flood of light upon this statement : Total currency volume of the United States. . .. ............. . . . .... 69, 000, 000 Less gold and paper reserves .... ........ . .... ---- ........ . . - .... -.- 200, 000,000

Tobl a.ctnal circulation .. ............. - .. ------ .. - .. ----- .. --... 669,000, 000 Circulation per capita ... .. .... .• ... ... -- .....••... ---.- •. . --.---. .. 16 72

===== Total currency volume of England.-- .. - - ....... . --.--- . • ... -...... 884,943,000 Less reserves . ............... .•.. -- .-- .....•..... --- ....... -- ... ---. 112,259,000

Total actual circulation . ..... · . ........•........................ Circulation per capita .... ........... - ..•. - . . .... ....•.. . ...........

772, 684, 000 2428

Total currency volume of Germany ... -- ..........•.......... - ... - . 1, 296. 000, 000 Le s reserve .....•...................... - -.. ... ......... - .... - - .... - 205, 000, 000

Total actual circulation .......... .. ............. . ..... - . - . . . . . . 1, 091, 000, 000 Circulation per capita .........•• - . - . -•... - .. -- -•..•.•.•.. - . . . . • . . • • . 26 0

Total currency volume of France ................•................. - 1,650, 000,000 Le s gold and silver reserve in bank . .. --- .............. ... ... ------ 540,000,000

Total actual circulation..... ..... . .................. .. ... . ..... 1, 250,000,000 Circnlationpe~·capita..... ......... ..... . . .. . .... . .................. 34 72

It is seen that our currency is eight dollars per capita less than Eng­land, ten dollars les than Germany, and eighteen dollars less than France.

RE6Ul\1PTIOX NOT PRACTICABLE NOW.

I desire to caU the attention of the contractionists who think crold is now cheap enough to resume to an editorial in the London Economist of October lust. When this article was written gold was a,t a, premium of 10 per cent.

W e know by experience how that premium may be effaced. If no more green­backs are iss'ued, the augmenting trade of the country will of itself raise the >alue of the paper; but thls is a se,ore and painful process. Conductinll,' a large trauc with an identical currency is the same as conducting an e<l.ual trade with a diminished currency. In both cases there is dear money ; that 1s, a high rate of interest aml a lowered scale of llrices; people have to pay more for wbat they borrow and r ecei>e kss for what t.hey. ell, and the consequent suffering to trade is always con i1lerable. It. can be borne by .America, we lrnow, for she has already lJorne it; she has already reduced tho premilllll. on golu by a much larger amount than t hat which remains to lle r educed, but thoeftort has been great, and this panic is in g1·eat part in con ·equcnce o.f it. "or aro our second or third conditions satis­fied. · The store of gold now held by the American Go,ernmenti altogether inade­quate to the resumption of cash payments, and the premium on gold must in our j uclgment ue still fmther r educed before specie payments can oe safely recom-mendeu. ·

Let our book economists who fortify themselves with English au­thority in finance dige t the three objections just presented. Let t.hese impractica bles st.ndy the situation 7.t8 it is rather than as it ought to be, and thoy will discover tl.ln,t their theories have no application now, and that their principles ha,ve neither Lasis nor vitality. Tho gTeeuback must remain our only currency until increased prosperity and renewed national life wilih enlarged re"\' ennes sha,llhave enabled us to cancel our foreign indebtedness, and the :flow of the precious metals shall be to us aud not from us. This is the work of time under the most prosperous da,y and wholesome laws. ..A.t present, with our iu<lu tries crippled, our trade para,lyzed, and. so much labor unem­ployed, the first business should be to restore confidence.

THE FARMERS' INTERE T .

Ron. Amasa Walker has sent orne Boston logic to the president of the illinois Sta,te grange, repeating the oft-exploded theory that it is the farmers of the West who are suffering most by the so-called in.fla,ted or depreciated currency. 1\fr. Walker recapitul::Ltes how the farmers suffer, as follows :

First. From the low or gold prices of their own products, and the high or cur­rency products of all other commodi ti s.

Second. By the lar~er profits and higher taxes they are compelled to pay. For all these there 1s no remeuy but the restoration of the tandard of va1ne by a

return to specie payments. This Massachusetts book economist is completely refuted by the

practical Massachusetts financier who now occupies a seat in the Senate. I quote from Mr. BOUTWELL'S speech on finance deliverecl in the Senate J anuary 22, 1874 :

I me:m to say, that if the currency of the country be so clepreciated, and if it be h eld at a particular point for so lona a time that the business of the country, the prices of labor, and the products of fabor shall have become accommodated to the existing condition of things, then there are no substanstial evil . * * * The proposition is, that in consequence of a depreciated currency, the farmers of the \Vest, wliose products in whole or in part aro exported to foreign countrie . where the currency is coin, are in a worse conililion relatively than they would lle if the cur­rency of this countrv were coin. * * * If, as an example, you COI;J. ider wheat, which is a great proauct of the W est, you may as ume, a-s a fundam ptal proposi­tion in reg;ard to its price, that it can never be l ss at any point in this country tllan its price in Liverpool, less the cost-s ::md profits of transportation. If that be so, then the price of a bushel of wheat at Saint Louis. mea ureu in cflin, the currency of Englanu, is le s than the prica measured in coin at Liverpool by the cost of transportation there. and only by that, an·l that entirely intlependent of the fact as to the depreciation of our own cniTency. For our own present purpose we deal in the curreney of the world, and if wheat be worth fifty pence a bu ;hel at Liverpool, and the co t of tran porting it there, profit aml all, be ten pence, it is worth forty pence in coin in Saint, Louis; ancl it is worth that because a party in Saint Loui can send ~ii] ~~;:~~ ~~~ing:!:tf~~i~~~;;:n;~~b~~~ after payin~ all expenses he

·ow, if this person wishes to !my sng;ar or coffee in retnrn, be can buy his su.-.ar or his coffee with coin in tho markets of exportation; ancl if the cost of a pound of sugar in coin laid down in Saillt Lotti., brought from Jlavana and paid for in coin, is t en cents, he has estahlishcd the r elation between his product ro..t>ortcd and the necessaries of life importerl, and that upon a coin h:tsis. * * * 'l'o what the man sells, mea ured in coin, is adtlcd in currency the difference between coin and cur-.

rency in commercial value, and to what he buys is added the dUference be VC'C'n coin and cm-reucy in their commercial value ; and he neither loses nor gains by the process.

The argument of the erudite Walker can be answered briefly. If the farmer sells his grain for gold on a gold basis, of cour ·e be real­izes gold or goltl a,lue. · If he buys his goods for depreciated paper at an enha,nced price because of the depreciated pa.per, he realizes the difference iu price by the premium on his gold. before he ma,kes his purchases.

By the argument of the so-called political economists we are led to believe that the legitimate market for the surplus products of the western farmer i England, and that he is dependent for his articles of consumption upon the importers. It can be demonstrated that a, comparatively small portion of the grain crop of the West finds its way to English months, and articles imported are principally luxuries not consumed by western farmers.

Statistics show that Great Britain raises five-eighth of all the cereals she consumes, leaving hree-eighths to be drawn from foreign soil. What proportion of this three-eighths is supplied by the United States' It is stated by competent authority that our grain export for 1872 was the largest in the decade. In that year we exported to Great Britain in whea,t, rye, oats, antl barley 26,343,951 bushels. Tho shortage of the grain crop in Great Britain that year was 1 G,OOO,OOO bushels. Thus it will be seen that we supplied England with about 14 per cent. of her shortage.

The grain crop of Ohio in 1872 was over 150 000,000 bushels, or suffi­cient to supply the entire export tra<le to Great Britain for si.s: years ; and Ohio is not the greatest grain-producing State.

The aggregate grain crop of the grain-growing tates in 1 72 was 1,7i7,847,600 bushels. But 26,000,000 of this immense product was sold for the coveted British gold, or less tha,n 1! per cent. When we consider these statistics we a.re bett-er prepared. to estimate the au­dacity of the assumption that the farmers of the We tare depend­ent upon Great Britain, either to make a, market or fix the market price of their products.

If the price of wheat in the W est is regulated by the price in Liv­erpool, as the book economists all t-each us, how is it tpat last August, when wheat in Chicago from the 6th to the 26th of Septem­ber f.ell 30 cents per bushel, the price of wheat in Liverpool adva,nce<l cluring the same period, to wit, from lls. lOd. to 12s. 6d. per hnndre<l­weight, September 6 to 12s. 7d. to 12s. 9(l. per hundred-weight ep­tember 26.

..A.s the e stati tics drawn from the market reports, bil to fortify the theory of the book economists, I may be allowed to sa,y that it was probably owing to the bet tha,t the greenback, which ser>es the admirable purpose of moving the crops, was locked up in the vaults of the panic-stricken banks o£ New York. It was owi~g to our ca t­iron system of finance, that could not convert a gold bond into a cur­rency promise, even to save the nation from bankruptcy.

By the failure to ecure green backs to move the crops to ma,r ket be foro close of navigation the farmers of theW est suffered a loss greater than the value of the entire grain export to Grca,t Britain. The bulk of the western gmin crop of 1873 wa markotell below the cost of pro­duction. The high rates of interest paid. yearly by we1stern grain buy­ers to eastern banks for currency i so much deducted from the price of grain. This is the farmer's forced. contribution to the ea tern monopoly of money.

Here I desire to qnote from a petition sent to the Senate and Honse by 200 busines men of Kew York, aud presented. in the S<>nate by Senator LOGA.....~ on the 17th of March :

The experience of the last few years, e pe.cially in the fall, when the agricultu­ral products of the year must be marketed, has demonstrated that there is jnsuf­ficient currency to do the legitimate business of the . country. H(:)nce t-l..tere has been increasing stringency in the mark t , causing great di tre aml tdmm, by which monoy-lcnllers lh'1ve been able to profit for weeks and month to the extent of ! to! of 1 per cent. per day, and in extreme ca e even as high as 2por cent. pet· day, or from 45 to 700 per cent. p~r annum, and this in the money c uter of the continent. This has enalJ1ed a f nw men at such times, by lockjng up monev, to aggra>ate the difi.lculty, and thus command their own terms, not a f ew of w'hom are now asking your honorable body to contract the currency that they may more effectually ply their infamous traffic.

These causes produced the late ilisastrous and ruinous panjc, which will un­doubtedly be r eproduced with still more prostrating effects unless relief be afforded.

Your petitioners tllereforc re pectfully a k that the volume of the cuiTency be increased e pecially the legal-tentler , ancl that provision of elasticity be made, s.o that l.Jusine s may again be safely resumed. •

Western farmers will not be humbugged with the idea that con­traction and more squeezing is what they need. Neither will they be delnuerl by the ingeniollS sophistries of those learned economists, on the beauties of selling high at home and buying cheap abroad.

POLITICAL E CONOlliSTS REVIEWED.

If we admit that the eminent cholar and patrons of English nobility, who have fortified the English y tern with their specula,­tions, t}:10roughly understood the subject of finance, we have but one duty to perform : bend all the energies of legislation to secure enough of the gold of King Solomon to say to ever~ emaciated green­back "Thy redeemer liveth."

Tint while recognizing the fact that politioa,l economy is a science, we iio not thereby admit that the celebrated. Englishmen thoroughly understood. it. Political economy is the science of the laws that regu­late the prodnction, distribution and. consumption of the product.'3 of industry, ca,lled wealth. Political economy is not the c\ence ot

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2669 speculation, but of fact and experiment. The political economy of the books a umes tha.t no mellium for the exchange of commodities or values i competent to produce wealth, but some substance which of it elf has value. It is argued that the greenback is a mere promise to pay money ; t·hat it only represents debt.

A distinguished Senator defines a greenback to be

.A. mendicant, which the Government quarters upon i credirors in times of peace, simply by assming them that when they meet a creditor they may in turn transfer tho menilicant upon him.

John Stuart :Mill ays : Paper cnrrency is not money, because it is not a legal tender a.ncl does not close

tr:msaction . The same author, in the same chapter, ays: Bills of exchange and checks circulate as money and perform all the functions of

money. The e are remarkable distinction without a difference. The paper currency de cribed by Mill is based upon the assumption

that the holder of the note can obtain the gold by presenting it at the bank of issue; the bill of exchange assumes that the holder may obtain the gold by pre enting it where payable. And yet, according to fill, the one performs all the functions of money, and the other does not .

Amasa W alker, in his Wealth of Nations, says : Our legal-tender money transfers debts, but cannot pay them. The creditor may

accept the promises of the Government in place of that of an individual, but he receives no value.

l\fann, in his admirable work on Paper Money, says this statement is erroneom;, in not recognizing the vital fact that" such notes are as much money in the United States as gold in other countries."

l\Ioney derives its force from common consent. If men or govern­ment choo~e to coin credits instead of gold, a,nd this credit performs nJ.l the functions of money, it is as potent to discharge debt and to produce wealth as coined gold. The same remarkable Walker, just referred to, puts a perfect nightmare of statistics into column to prove that when money is plenty interest is high. Consequently scarce money mea.ns cheap inlierest. On this theory a short apple crop means cheap cider, and the hog cholera is the forerunner of cheap hams. If the grangers can only be made to see it, the true solution of the cheap tmnsportation problem is t~ make a bonfire of about half the freight-cars on our railroads, thereby reducing the freight tariff 50 per cent.

"\Vhether we denmmce the greenba-ck as a mendicant or renounce it as a dishonored promi e, it was a, potent element in war, and is to-tlay the great mainspring moving all the machinery of Govern­ment. As au element of civilization it has taught us that there are other elements than gold and silver by which the affairs of, men and nations may be conuucteu. And it is bound to stay with us in defi­a,nce of all the economies of all the Englishmen. Om own conntry, in war a,nd peace, for the past ten years has been conducted in defi­ance of every principle of military strategy and political economy laid clown by the books. In war the most successful arid brilliant military a,chievements were in direct violation of all military book stra,tegy. Gmnt's campaign again t Vicksbmgh, and Sherman's cam­paign from Rocky Face to Savannah, were both in opposition to mil­itary precedents. In peace we have been operating under an exclu­sively paper currency, and depreciated at that. This, according to the books, is fata.l. We have been operating under a protective tariff, which, according to the English economies, is fatal; and yet we have ilomisheu nnder both.

After Grant had taken Vicksbnrgh, and "Sherma,n had marched to the sea," after the n·on-clad Monitor had met the Merrimac in Hamp­ton Roads, what were all th~ books on military and na,val strategy worthY And to-day, after ten years of substantial and healthful growth in invention, in manufactures, in material wea,lth, in popula­t ion, in moral grandeur, what do n.ll the books of all the Englishmen ~o~tfu. .

The Declaration of Independence wa not written in accordance with Engli h precedent; and when the yotmgRepublic was started, as a, feeble contribution to a new system of political economy, there was no celebrated Englishman to give it a send-off, or a god-send, with a book. And to-day, with nearly a century of suc-cessful history behintl us- a centmy born the year Adam Smith sent into the world his 'Vealth of Nation -how marvelous it is that not one English­man has fortified the Republic with a book. And yet we have not seriously felt the lo s.

IXCONSISTENCY OF THE CONTRACTIO:NISTS.

By the way, how is it that the political economists on this floor and elsewhere, who are for nothing but gold dollars, are also for a protective tariff The C?ele"?rated Englishmen who have furnished so man:1 ready-made econom1es are mnch clearer a,nd stronger on the free-tra<le doctrine than on the functions of money and the science of finance. How is it that this concentration of English bra4J_ for one hundred years, demonstrating the fallacy of protect ion has failed to carry conviction, while the many loose and disjointed dissertations on the science of finance have made such an overwhelming convic­tion Y It seems to me the argument for contraction is only fortified by t.he interest of a ection, and does not embrace the theory of the greatest good for all sections.

WHAT PAPER MO.NEY BAS DO 'E.

The past ten years, duriri.g which we have violated so much politi­cal economy, has been the most prosperous decade in om· brief century of hi tory. In these ten years-nearly one-bali of which were deso­late with the havoc of ci'vil Wlll'-the aggregate wealth of the country ha . almost don bled.

By the Federal census of 1860 we were worth in round numbers a trifle over $16,000 000,000; in 1 70 we were worth over '"0,000,000,000. In the decade om export trade increased over 60 per cent., our manu­facturing capital over lOQ per cent., and the value of manufactured articles over 140 per cent. All this, notwith tanding the immense destruction of property by civil war, valued at eightthousand millionR, slave property valued at twelve hundred millions, the killing and maiming of a million men, the payment for an average period of three years of over one million men-not to produce wealth, but to destroy it-the payment of immen 'e bounties and pensions, paying the iiiter­e t on our bonded debt, paying over three hundred and :fifty millions of the principal, and sustaining taxation as no new nation was ever taxed before. The result is as marvelous as it is magnificent.

What is the secret of this, the grandest contribution thus far in the history of civilization to that great science of political economy ·. The secret is this. We are a nation of immense r esources. The Gov­ernment has extended to all her children her generous credit. With this credit the genius, the wonderful activity, and the in-..dncible energy of the American people have had full swing. With this credit we have dng coal, smelted iron ores, fashioned the metals, fabricated the machines, built towns and cities, and gemmed the land wit.h thriv­ing and busy industries. With this credit we have corduroyed the land with railroads, made populous States of pmiries and forests, and empires of States. This progre s has been healthful, this uevelop­ment has been ubstantial, this wealth is tangible. It has been an era of universal prosperity. And yet we have not had, except in the Pacific Sta,tes, a dollar of gold, the so-called currency of the world, in circulation. The greenback, now so fiercely uenounced upon this floor and elsewhere, was our only cunency. .

How could we grow so in defiance of all the theories of all the Englishmen who have incubated so laboriously so many · political economies 1 How dare we prosper so in tho face of the great fact that gold, the only measure of value, had left t he young Republic like a coward, and hid its face for an entire decade among the monarchiesV

All the political economists say that paper currency always depre­ciates in valne, and yet our currency is worth more to-day in the midst of a panic than ever before. All the political economists say t hat a paper currency once is ned, the tendency to inflation cannot be re­stored; and yet inc.e 1865 we have reduced the volume of our cur­rency over four hundred millions.

PAPER MO~"EY OF REVOLUTIOXARY GOVER~"J.'S.

The French assignats, the continental money ot the Revolution, and confeclera.te scrip, are cited as evidence that money issued upon credit must eventually collapse. The French assignats, issned upon the confiscated property of the church, were the offspring of the French revolution. They depreciated when the Austrian and Prus­sian veterans prepared to cross the French frontier; and when Eng­land joined the alliance, of conrse they went down. The continental money of the American Revolution was born of necessity, and utterly failed because it was fortified with no central government, and rep­resented no property. The confederate money never promised to pay anything until six months after the treaty of peace, and the treaty of peace has not yet been signed.

The John Law schemes and the Sonth Sea, Island bubbles that are injected into this discussion to illustrate the ultimate collapse of onr greenback currency, are not even respectable scarecrows.

The greenback is fortified by all the powers of a strong central Government, ancl its r edemption is pledged by the nniteu property a,nd resources of forty million people with over thirty billions of realized weal . The greenback has been the most potent element in the march of empire, and the voice that eeks to dishonor i t is inspired by the sordid greed of those who woulu specula,te upon the misfortunes of their countrymen.

The abuses to which paper money has been subjecteu in times past by revolutionary and nnstable governments is brought forwa,ru now as an argument against the greenback. Beca,use the i sue of pa,per money is liable to abuse, is not a, wholesome objection to our ystem. The power of the people to make laws through Congre s often len.ds to unwholesome legislation; yet this is no valid argument against n. republic.

l\10XEY P A!\""ICS COXSIDERED.

If there had never been a, money panic before the advent of the "greenback" the present howl a,nd scowl of the book economists . would be better heeded.

Adam Smith, in his Wealth of :Nations, in commending a system of banking based upon go!<!, says of the Bank of .A.msterd.a.m, which failed soon after the book was published:

.A.t Amsterdam no point of faith is better established than that for every guil!ler circulated as bank money there is a corresponiling guilder of goltl or silver to be found in the treasures of the bank.

When Adam Smith wrote this the bank which he commended, and whose system of politicru economy he indorsed, had been in a bank-

2670 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. MARCH 31,

rupt condition for fifty years. The deposits of the bank in 1775, four years before it failed, and at the time Adam Smith wrote, amounted to thirty-five millions and its annual busine ' s was four thousand million .

If Adam Smith were living in this age of newspaper audacity, and had ever commended J ay Cooke's system of banks, who e failure ltas not entailed a tithe of the loss and suffering can eel by the failure of the Bank of Amsterdam, he would now be quoted as a profound scoun­drel rather than as a profound thinker or political economist. There were more bank failure iu this country under the old system baseq upon gold than bank-note reporter could record, and the power to uetect wild-cat anu counterfeit money wa an important feature in a busine s man's education ; and there was never a decaue without a p:1nic.

E.~GLA.."'D'S SYSTEM DISCUSSED.

The English system of fin::mce is held up here by the contmctionists as n. model. Anu yet England had panics in 1784, in 1793 in 1 10 in 1::319, in 1825, in 1 37, in 1847, in 1857, in 1862, and in 1 6G. Still it is no fair criterion to compare this nation with Eno·land. Eno'land is a credit nation; we are a debtor nation. The we~lth of En6?land is realized; our is hidden in soil and mine, anu is to be de~ eloped. EnO'land. ha been full of gold for two centuries, and i con tautly augmenting her supply from Australia, outh America, and the United

tate ; we are constantly pa,rting with our already meager supply to pay our debts.

ntil recently England made iron for half the world, antl for nearly a century she enjoyed almost a monopoly in manufactuTe. During all the period of her war ·with ~1:ance, fr~m 1797 to 1 ~5, England pr.e crveu the _ma-stery of the se~s, and durmg all that tune she sup­plied the continent of Europe w1th her manufactured article . We must not forget that about this time science and enO'ineeriiw were j!}st coming to the front , with the steam-engine, the spinninoo~enny and the power-loom. These invent~ons, so successfully appli~d, gav~ England a rna tery over all the natwns of the Continent that defied both fate and fortune. She had within her reach the raw cotton of America, .the flax of Russia, the sugar and coffee of the West Indies, and the nch commerce of the exhaustless Eat. She ha<l her Ameri­can, her African, her Australian, her Asiatic empires all coutributin(J' t o lwr wealth, all pouring golLl and treasures into hdr lap.

0

Mark th~ contrast between England in 1819 and our own country now. Dunng the la t U.ecade our gold supply has beon rapidly depre­ciating. Dming the decade from 1 63 to 1872 we h:1ve exported

3 6,752,273 in gold and silver, and imported but 160,709,492. With seven hundred and fifty millions of paper money and about one hun­dred an?- fo.rty millions of gold in the country, the proposition to resume 1n t1me of general confidence would be impolitic. To at­tempt it in time of a panic, is criminal folly. . The ~e men f the East who are for specie payments now or noth­rng, cl:nm that a demand for gold here will draw gold from other nations, and that, if necessary, we can realize gold from the sale of Government bonds. Two bills have been introduced in the Senate proposing that tho Government borrow gold in the markets of th~ world to redeem our greenbacks. The advo ates o£ this remarkable chome are reminded by Senator BOUTWELL that it is entii:oly imprac­

ticable. I ouote from a late S!Jeech of that Senator : Wh~n the negotiations were going on in London for the sale of the largest amount

of mted States bonds that has ever been sold there at one time it was foreseen by the Bank of En,.lanu that a. quantity of coin would :wcumula~ as the proceeds of the e bonds to the credit of the United tates. As a matter of fact there was an accumulation of about $21,000,000. The Bank of Enaland foreseeing that there woulu be au accumulation of coin to the credit of the United States which mi«ht !Je taken a w~y bodily in specie, gave notice to ~e o~cru:s of the Treasury Department of the Umtecl State that the power of that mstiLution woulu be arrayed again. t the whole proceeding nnle . we gave a pleu,!!;e that the coin shoultl not oe remo\ed auLl thatwewoulu reinvest it in the bonds of the United States as they were offered in the markets of London. We were compelled to do it . ,. * ,. TherA are in the nine great banks of Europe only $600,000,000 in specie. That specie is held as a reserve with r ference to their local business and with referencq, to the great trans­a.cJ;io~s that take pl:we. hetwee~ the CO"!ffitries of the continent of Europe anu Great BI'ltam. I may say, Without di paragrng the authors of these propositions that it is useles~ for Congress to waste time upon legislation looking in that direction.

There 1s another fact, known to all. We recovered at Geneva an award a!!'ainst Grea~ Britain of :;113,500,000.. !Vl?en this claim was maturing the bankin."" ana' com­mer~JLal classes of Great Bntam muuced the govemment to rnterpose, an:l by cliplo­matw arrangements through the S~te DepartJ?~nt here, operating upon the 1'reas­ur.v Department sccureu the transfer of secUI'lties anu thus avoicleu the transfer of coin. In the pre enoe of these facts, is it to be a sumeu for a moment that we can go ill to the markets of the world and purcha e coin with which we can redeem one two, three, or four million outstanding legal-tender notes~ '

The object~ons so clearly _and forcibly presented by the la.te Secre­tary of the Treasury are msurmountable. The proposition is not worthy of serious consideration.

THE EFFECT OF PECIE RESUMPTIO~ IN ENGiuU."D.

'Vhat was the result of specie resumption in Eno·land · notwith­standing her ample preparation for the event and her

0

abundauttrea -nres of the precious metals . I reatl from ~oubleday's Financial History of England : . The currency bil~ of 1819 (Peel's bill to restore ca.sh payments) was pa, sl:'d at the ~nstance of a comnnttee among whon;t were all the pru:liaJ?entary dabblers in polit­IC~ economy, of whom Peel ~as ~hairman . Horner, cb:iU"man of the lmlliun com­nnttee of.1810, was de~d; but ill his tead they had Ricardo, a rich Jew stuck-jobber, who haVlllg marl~ an mmwn~e fortune by the worst S}Jecies of gaml>lin;:, ball also contnved to obtai? a reputatwn by- ~he publication of some books on political econ­omy. Peel was Pl.~hed upon for this unfortunate service mainly uecauso he was a young 1ll<'tn of aspll'rng pretensions aml vast wealth.

Let us inquire how England was affected by re umption of pecie payments. I quote from Doubleday's Financial History of En.crlan(l in de cribing the ituation the year after specie payments we~e re­sumed :

The distres , ruin, ancl bankruptcy which now took pla-ee were uni>er al, affrc . in, both the great interests of lanil and trade. In lmn<lr ds of ca , from tho tremendous reduction in the price o£ land, the e tate barely olu for as much n would pay off the mortga~es, ancl hence the owner' were tripped of all aml mat1e beggar . The tables of ooth house of Parliament were loaded with petition detailing scenes of hardship and de titution appalling in the extreme. ' It wa an era of suffering, de titution, and crime, and the whole land wa one

seene of confu ion, dismay, and bankruptcy. The price of grain went on slowly and prO.!!I'el ively falling for a decade when ,

in 1833, wheat wa elling for four shillings a tin beL Prices were, upon the' w holu, lower than they hall been for half a r,entury before, anu agricultural distre s per­vaded the land from one end to the other.

From the effects of thi first decade of destitution and suffering ~hich the atte~pt a.t spec i~ resumption precipitated in 1821, the labor~ mg and struggling classes rn England hav neveT recovered. Her in­dustJ:ial cia es have been kept always on the verge of want. Pau­per~s~ and ~rime have . incre~ eel_, and are increasing with appalJ iug r::tp1d1ty, while wealth IS rolling rn huge rna ses controlled by a few. W e see the nn,me of yeoman forgotten in England, and instead of :1 land of diffused wealth, it has been metamorpho eel into a land of criininal and discontented pauper , lorc.led over by gigantic moneyell aristocrats. Thirty thou and people own all the land of Engla1111, n,nd one hunc.lred and fifty men and women own half.

Ruskin, in one of his la.te lectures, says : Though ~n.,.land is ?-eaf~ne~ with spinning-wheels, her people have not clothes;

thon~h she 1s 'b1:1ek With dizo-m~ of fuel, her people die of cold· though she bus sold her soul for gain, yet th~ey ilie of hunger. '

Before we tako England for illustration let us look further into the statistic .

The Bap.k of England !'e umed specie payments in May, 1821, under the act of 1819, (Peel's b1ll.) One yeru.' before specie payments were re umed the Bank of England notes were only depreciated about 2t per: cent .. The bank held in it' vaul~s £ 111869,000 in gold to re<leem a circ.nlntion o£ £22, 4,000. Yet w1th thiS 50 per cent. of gold to redeem its no!e ·, at a tiiD:e, t.oo, wh~n thorewas no speculation in goltl a a commodity as a.t thL time, this amount was found insufficient; for in 1825 tbe ba~ was drained of its specie. A elisa trous panic was the result. Th1s was only sta,yed by the Bank of England issuing £G,OOO,OOO (cCJnal to 25,000,000) of bank-notes in exce s of i ts charter allowance. McLeod, in hi work on Banking, says :

Ha-d not this policy bcl:'n pursued an entire uestruction of commercial credits woulLl ha\e been the result.

Our own (lisastrous panic could don btless have been averted by the issuo of even one-half the forty-four million reser ve ; but I am not iliscu sing tha.t que tion now. ·

Again, in England in 18:37, after President J ackson h a-d refused to sign the charter for the renewal of the Unit ed States Bank and laws ~ere enacted for cash banking by the States, there was a dra in of c_m~ from the v:aults .of the Bank of England, which caused a pamc m England, m which all the great commercial houses in trade with the United States were s·wept away. The drain of the precious metals was not only felt in England but all over the Continent. I n 183~ ant11 39 this clra.in was so aggravated in England, that she was compelled to borrow money from the Bn,nk of France. This a lone saved the bank from utter ruin · and it was only the fact that the weak condition of the bank wa not known tha.t i t was saved at all. The bank :1vcrages of bullion for the la t four months, ending with 1 3D, were less than £3,000 000. I n thi c.ountry, in t his age of day­light awl tolegra ph and newspaper inquisitions, such a concern would not stand for tlillty hours.

HOW rAXICS ARE RELillV.ED IY E..'<GLAYD.

It seems strange that the coutractionists•a.re making wru.' upon the ~ecretary of the Treasury fori ·suing a portion of the forty-fom mil­lion re erve, when the Bank of England h as always adopted a similar policy to avert a crisis in Great Britain.

In the panic of 1 57 the Bank of England increased lts loans in Yio­lation of i ts charter in a very few days to the amount of $60,000 000 ; and during the panic of 1 66 to the amount of $75,000,000. A~ the Secretary of the Treasury has only imitated in a sma.U way the policy of the Bank of England, it is contemptible in the b ook economists to denounce him.

The Bank of England, when Sllecie payments were resumed beltl in its vault 50 per ueJ.~ . of gold to redeem it crrcnlation; and yet, in order to maintain it, uhe bank was compelled t o reduce its circulation in one year £7,000,000, and its discounts to merchants from nine to four million pounds, or over 50 per cent. A like contraction of creclits in this country would bankrupt half t he business men, E ast as well a Wet. If Engh~d's trade and industry were paralyzed for two entrre dec­

ades by this policy after her ample preparation, clo t h e political econ­mnists think this country, with n o preparation and no ac.lequate gold supply, should imitate England's example n ow'

A monarchy may crush out the laboring and industrial cl asse , but a reptlblic clare not and annot. Th~ notes of t he Bank of France are slightly depreciated, n otwith­

standin~ the fact t hat less t h an 600,000,000 of t hese notes are in circulatwn, and the other important fact th at sh e h as $800,000,000 of gold coin.

1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 2671

In this countTy there has never been a time when we had 20 per cP.nt. of gold and silver to circulation. The percentage of specie to circulatiun in 1 59, two years after the disastrous panic of 1 57, was Je. s than 15 per cent. ; and the percentage of specie to circnl:::Ltion tbat year exceecleu that of any year since 1842.

Since 1859 t.he legitimate demand for money has almost tripled, and our golcl supply has fallen off one hundred and fifty millions. Specie payments are impossible; contraction is ruin.

COl'ICLCSION.

Let us put aside as unworthy of consideration the threadbare as­·ertion that a wholesome money supply will demoralize the people by engendering speculation. . This argument is based npo~ the ~heory that the bm;iness men of this country cannot be trusted w1th theu own business.

Currency is credit. This credit Webster defined as the vital air of moclern commerce. The \Vest to-day, with untold wealth to be de­veloped, stands pleaillng for this credit. With this credit confidence will be restored, trade will revive, industry will start again .her b~y lingers, and the car of progress roll onward as before. W1thon~ It, the solemn proclamation must go forth that we have reached the high­est limit of our development.

E)."'ROLLED BILL SIG)."ED. Mr. HARRIS, of Georgia, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills,

rcporteu that they had examined and found truly enrolleu a bill of the following ti+le; when the Speakersignecl the same :

An act (II. R. No. 2213) granting a pension toUrs. Cynthia McPher­son, mother of the late General James B. 1\IcPherson.

WYO~IIXG A.i~D TA KIANG.

Mr. 1\fYERS, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, by unanimous con ent, submitted a report to accompany the bill (H. R. No. 782) for the relief of the officers and crew of the United States ship ·w yoming and the Ta Kiang; and the same was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the Private Calendar. ·

LA.."'\D CLAL\IS L.~ NEW l\IEXICO.

The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting, in compliance with t he act of July 22, 1854, reports of the surveyor-gen­eral of rew Mexico on private land claims in that Territory; which was referred to the Committee on Private Land Claims, and ordered to be printed.

SAINT LOUIS A..."'W ILLI;-;-OIS BRIDGE ACROSS TIIE 1\fiSSISSIPPI. The SPEAKER also, by unanimous consent, laid before the H ouse

a communication from the Secretary of \Var, transmittin~ a report on the construction of the Saint Louis and Illinois bridge across the Mississippi River; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. _

REPORTS FRO~ THE POSDIASTER-GE::-..""ERAL. The SPEAKER also, by unanimous consent, laid before the llouse

a communication from the Postmaster-General, transmitting, in com­pliance with the act of June 8, 1 72, to revise, con olidate, and amend the statutes relating to the Post-Office Department, certain reports; which was re.ferreu to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post­Roads, with leave to print ii tbe committee should.so decide.

SEITLERS 0~ DES MOD"ES RIVER LA...~DS .

:Mr. ORR, by unanimous consent, presented a report from the Com­mittee on the Public L ands upon the bill (H. R. No. 1142) in relation to settler on the Des l\loines River lands; which was ordered to be printeu and recommitted.

DIPROVE:\IE~T OF OA..JrLfu\TD IU.RBOR1 CALIFORNIA. fr. PAGE, by unanimou!i consent, presentetl a memorial of the

common council of the city of Oakland, Californ:ia, relative to the improvement of the harbor of that city for commercial purposes ; 'vhich was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed in the REcoRD, as follows:

CITY Com<CIL Ca.illnE&, CITY HALL, Oakland, Calijorn'ia., Jannary 19, 1874.

The common council of tho city of Oaklancl duly convened for official business tllis l Dth day of January, A. D. 1874-tho president and all tho members beino­presont-on motion of Councilman Spaulding, secomled by COtmcilroan W arner, it is r esolved to memorialize the honorable Congress of the Uuiteu States upon the importance of improving the harbor of Oakland for commercial purposes, anu for the r easons which the following reci tal of facts "\Till show :

First. The commer ce of the United States, in traffic an<l travel, ai\connooted with the Pacific coast and the great continental roads, is now anll has o een for several years carried on over the water-front of tho city of Oakland, in the State of Cali­fornia.

econ1l. That while this commercial business is rapidly increMing, it had already attained in 1 72-'73 the aggregate of four hundred an<l :fifty thousand ton of gen­eral freight; anu in the year ending July 1, 187a, no less than one hundred and ten ships were loaded at the Oakland wharf with California wheat, amounting to one bun!lred aml sll.rty-one thousand tons, to be di tributed to the markets of tbe world.

Third. The transit of p as engers from Asiatic an(l other foreign ports, from San Francisco and n ·om the cities east of the R ocky Mountains, arriving and departing at Oakland bv the great overland railroads, amo1.mt.ed to an aggregate of sixty­seven thons:uiu oul>! ior the year ending January 31, 1873; the loCal travel by ferry­boa t between Oakl.·mtl anu San Francisco shows a rapid yearly increase, and now

require the constant use of half-hourly boats and_ trains, carr~g _a daily average of five thousaml persons, equal to a yearly total of nearly two Dllllion passengers. Dm-ino- the year 1873 the treasure from all sources in the interior of the State of Califu~ia and from tlH~ Nevaua mines, r eaching the Oaklanu clock, amounted to no les than 31,000.000 in value. The two staples of the P acific sl~pe, wheat aml bullion find realliest a-ccess to d eep water upon the Oakland water-front. The locatio~ of the eity of Oakland relative to the range of mountains known as the Coast Range of California, and the great Bay of San Francisco, is s uch as to make the Oakland water-front t he n earest practicable railroad approach to deep water in the bay alike a!lj:tcent to the c ity of San ]francisco alHl the Pacific Ocean.

And ~herea the present wharf, although erecterl by the raill'oad companies at a cost of nearly Sl ,OOO,OOO, can only be regarded as a t em porary structure, and entirely inadeq nate to the present and pro>!pect!-ve demm;llls of commerc~ : Now, therefor~,

B eit?·e-solved, That thecommou counmlof thec1tyof Oakland, m the State of Cali­fornia, do h~>reby mo>!t respectfnlly call the attention of Congre s to the above plain r ecital of fa<Jts, and a k that a suitable appropriation may be made for the improve­ment of the estuary of San Antonio, the harbor of Oakland, in accorclance with such plans as may'be r ooommemled or consiuered expedient by the board of en­gineers for the Pacific coa t, and the Chief of Engineers, nited States Army.

MACK WEBBER, P resident of Council.

AttesL : W. WILLEBR.A..<'W, Oity Clerk.

ADJOURIDIE~T.

Ir. RAl~DALL. I move that the House adjourn. Mr. MAYNARD. I desire to say- and I say it at this time that it

may go in the RECORD- that I have been asked by several members whether I would recommenu to the House a session for debate tills evening, and I have invariably replied that I would ask for such a session, could I be assured there would be any one to speak. I have received no a surance of that kind, and therefore I do not feel a.t lib­erty to ask for such a session.

The motion of Mr. RANDALL was agreed to ; and accordingly (at :five o'clock and :fifteen minntes p.m.) the H ouse adjourned.

PETITIO~S, ETC. The following memorials, petitions, and other papers were presented

at the Clerk's desk, under the rule, and referred as follows : By :Mr. BARRERE : The petition of 400 citizens of Elmwood, P eoria

County, illinois, asking for increase of currency and free banking, to the Committee on Banking and Currency.

Also, the petition of citizens of Summum, Fulton County, Illinois, praying for an increase of currency and remonstrating against con­tract ion, to the same committee.

By Mr. BROMBERG : Petit ion of the Boaru of Trade of Columbus, Mississippi, relative to refnnuing the cotton tax, to t he Committee on wa.ys and .Means.

By 1-Ir. BUTLER, of Tennessee : Papers r elative to the claim of 1\I. B. Salton, of Grainger County, Tennessee, to the Committee on ' Var Claims.

By Mr. CLAYTON: Resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, requesting their Representatives in Congress to u e their influence to procure t h e abolition of the tariff on quicksilver, to the Committee on Ways and l\Iean .

Also, resolution of the Legislatme, relative to the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the 1fissouri River to the Pacific Ocean, to the Committee on the Public L ands.

Also, resolution of the Legislatme, relative to the establishment of a mail-route from Reno, in the State of Nevalla, to Quincy, in the county of Plumas, in the State of California, to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. COBB, of North Carolina: P etition for a post-route from Kinston, North Carolina, via Belle Ferry, J ohnson Mills, and Daw­son's Store, to Swift Creek, North Carolina, to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. CURTIS: P etition of citizens of Erie, Penn ylvania, pray­ing for an appropriation for the removal of the bar in Saginaw River, to the Committee on Commerce.

By 1\Ir. DUELL: The petition of citizens of Onondaga County, New York, asking that a post-route be established from Amber, via Iari­etta, to Marcellus, New York, to the Committee on the Post -Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. HARRIS, of Georgia : The petition of citizens of Georcia., praying for a post-route from H ogansville, via Harrisonville ~nd Owensbyville, to Houston, Georgia., to the ComniP!itee on the Post­Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. McJUNKI.L : The petition of citizens of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, in opposition to t he r estoration of the duty on tea anu coffee, to the Committee on \Vays and Means.

By 1\Ir. SCUDDER, of New York: The petition of the Methodist Episcopal church of H empstead, New York, signed by the pastor, Rev. George Lansing Taylor, and other officers, asking for a commis­sion of inquiry concerning the alcoholic liquor traffic, to the Com­mittee on the Judiciary.

By 1\Ir. S:lli TH, of Ohio : The petition of citizens of Ohio, asking for a commis ion of inquiry on the subject of the liquor traffic, to the Committee on the J uuiciary.

By 1\lr. SPRAGUE : The petit ion of citizens of Athens, Ohio, a kinrr for a commission of inquiry into the liquor traffic, to the Committe~ on the Judiciary.

By 1\Ir. WHITEHEAD : Petition and papers for the relief of cer­tain citizens of Lynchbmg1~, Virginia, to the Committee on Claims.