45th Congress, 2nd Session
Birchard Hayes, President
Almon Wheeler, vice-president
John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury

Coinage of Silver Dollars.

The Presiding Officer [Mr. Hoar in the Chair].  On the amendment proposed by the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Cameron] he demands the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. Thurman.  Mr. President, no man denies that before the demonetization of silver, whether that took place in 1874 or in 1873, every man who promised to pay money, promised to pay in gold dollars of 25.8 grains, or silver dollars of 412.5 grains, or greenbacks.  The proposition of the Senator from Wisconsin is that those who promised to pay 412½ grains of silver shall be compelled to pay 420 grains.  It is the same as if a man had promised to pay one bushel of wheat and Congress should enact that he should pay one bushel and a peck.  Now, Mr. President, I know of no right that we have to impose any such additionall burden upon the debtor class of this country.

Mr. Christiancy.  Mr. President, I agree with the Senator from Ohio in what he has several times asserted, that the depreciation of silver since 1873 or 1874, as he pleases to fix it, is mainly, if not entirely, owing to its demonetization.  But that is a fallacious statement of the question.  To state the question fairly, he should have stated it as the Senator from Wisconsin stated it a few moments since, that the demonetization was not only in this country, but it was in Germany;  it was in effect in the Latin union by restricting their coinage of silver;  it was in the Scandinavian states;  it was in Holland;  it was in Spain, and is so to-day;  and what is the logic which contends that when that depreciation has been caused by six or seven causes the removal of one of them will bring it back to where it was before ?

I have listened with the greatest care to hear from the Senator from Ohio (because I may say without flattering that gentleman there is no man here to whose reasoning I pay more attention than I do to his, and if an answer could have been given to the proposition I should have expected it to have been given by him;  but, so far from its being given by him, it has not been even intimated or alluded to by him or by any other Senator on this floor) any answer to the proposition which I have just stated.  But in lieu of that, we are asked to take it all upon faith.  They say still and keep repeating:  "It was the demonetization of silver that produced its depreciation;  remonetization will cure it."  Yes, if all those nations who have demonetized it join in remonetizing it, then the reasoning is correct.  Till then it is false and fallacious, whoever may use it, in my estimation.  I do not mean that it is so intended, but in my estimation it is so and I want an answer to that proposition before I can give my vote based upon mere faith without works.

Now further, Mr. President, I have looked into this question very carefully and endeavored to apportion the effect of these causes as well as I could and have come to the conclusion, as I indicated in the speech I first made here the other day, at 434 grains.  Since that time, I have carefully gone over the whole subject and have come to the conclusion that about 430 grains might answer the purpose.  I wish to be as liberal as my conscience will allow me to be.  I prefer to err in favor of silver.  I am in favor of silver coinage.  I prefer, therefore, when I err at all to err in favor of the silver coinage;  and hence I now say that the amendment which I introduced here the other day, providing for a dollar of 434 grains I shall propose to amend by making it 429 grains.  I should readily vote for the amendment proposed by the Senator from Wisconsin if I thought his calculation was high enough.  I do not think it is.  But I wish to say further that any attempt we may make here by an arbitary act of Congress to fix at the present time what shall be the relative value of gold and silver is but a mere guess after all.  We shall not hit it;  it is not likely that we shall hit it.  There is not one chance in a hundred that we shall hit within 2 or 3 per cent.

Mr. Ferry.  I should like, if my colleague will allow me, to put a question to him.

The Presiding Officer.  The time of the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Christiancy] has expired.

Mr. Ferry.  Then his colleague will take the floor.

Mr. Christiancy.  What time, Mr. President ?

The Presiding Officer.  The five minutes to which debate was limited by the order of the Senate.

Mr. Christiancy.  I did not understand such a rule was adopted.  There was no unanimous consent to my certain knowledge.  I objected to it myself.

Mr. Conkling.  I beg the Senator's pardon, there was nnanimous consent.  A Senator on his feet [Mr. Paddock] rose to object, and I suggested that it was too late, and he acquiesced, the Chair having announced the decision.

Mr. Christiancy.  I objected to that in a very audible tone, and so did the Senator from Nebraska, and I certainly did not understand that there was any limitation of debate here to five minutes.

The Presiding Officer.  The Chair paused upon the request for unanimous consent for some time.

Mr. Christiancy.  And I objected.

The Presiding Officer.  The Chair paused and with great deliberation announced in a tone which must have been heard by all Senators in their seats who were giving their attention, that no objection being made the order was made.

Mr. Anthony.  I submit that it did not require unanimous consent;  a vote of the Senate was sufficient to pass the order.

Mr. Ferry.  Then I am entitled to five minutes.

The Presiding Officer.  The Senator from Michigan.

Mr. Ferry.  And I will give my colleague the remainder of my five minutes after putting a question.  My colleague said he had failed to hear from the Senator from Ohio an a.nswer to the proposition that inasmuch as there were several causes leading to the depreciation of silver in which the demonetization by the United States was one, by the remonetization by the United States silver could not be restored to its original standard of value.  I ask my colleague why upon the demonetization of Germany in 1871 silver stood at 3 per cent. premium up to 1873 when the United States demonetized it ?

Mr. Christiancy.  I will say to my colleague that I never before heard that Germany had demonetized silver in 1871.  It did not really take its effect until 1873.

Mr. ALLISON.  It has not taken its effect yet.

Mr. Christiancy.  Oh, yes.

Mr. Ferry.  That is the trouble, it has not taken effect;  it has not depreciated so rapidly by other influences as it has by demonetization by tbe United States.

Mr. Christiancy.  I have the authority of the honorable Senator from Nevada, [Mr. Jones] who has made a very elaborate report of the silver commission here, who states it as taking effect in 1873.

Mr. Ferry.  I yield my time to my colleague.

Mr. DORSEY. I call the att.ention of the Chair to the fact that ono Senator cannot yield his time to another. . l\!r. F..t.:RRY. If that point is made, I will state in behalf of my colleague that he did object in my bearing, but my colleague did not persist, and whon he rose to address remarks to the Senator from Ohio I supposed then he was going to insist upon his objection to unanimous consent. The Presiding Officer. The Chair trusts nuder the circumstances that no objection will be made to the Senator from Michigan (Mr. CIIRISTIANCY] proceeding. Mr. Ferry. Under the circumstances I hope the Senator from Arkansas will not object to my yielding to my colleague. l\fr. DORSEY. I make no objection. Mr. Conkling. I want to say a word about this rna er as one of the voting and non-speaking members in this debate; and I wish to say, if I may do it without offense, that when the Senate nnanimous1y, as it did-I happened to be absent myself at the momentagreed that on a day, which day has already passed by more than an hour, a vote should be taken on this bill and on all amendments pending, that agreement followed by such a. proceeding as we have had gives a right at least to me and to others who have occupied no time to inquire how it is that now a quarter of one o'clock in the morning of the next day we are waiting here for this vote. I am not going to deny that it ll\ay be suggested that it meant the parliamentary day, and tilat if we should ($0 on until next Christmas as the J onrnal would bo made up all the tlme as of yesterday that would fulfill the agreement; but we did not so understand it and a good many members of this body have been put to serious and mortifying annoyance in respect to other engagements by being kept here toni~ ht. Now, I humbly submit for one, without wishing to be disobliging to anybody, that aa the Senate has IIDanimously agreed in the present instance that the debate shall proceed hereafter in speeches not to exceed five minutes, at~ that agreement was made in the hearing of tho whole Senate and annonncea by the Chair, we ought to abide by it. I am free to say that I want a vote to be taken on this bill some time or other, and a-s one member of the Senate I want to be released and allowed to go home, in place of being compelled to stay here and hear (if I may say it without disrespect) many, many times 1·epeated over, arguments l"ith which the Chamber has resounded for weeks. The Presiding Officer. The Chair will inform the Senate that the Senator from :Micbigan states that he objected. His objection did not reach the Chair, and of course cannot now prevail; but t.he Senator from Michigan has addressed the Senate under the understanding tbat tho order had not been made. The Chair failed to hear his objection. l\lr. CHRISTI.ANCY. The Cbair will allow me to state one thing. I objected in a very andiblo tone and loud enough to be heard ariyw here, as I thought. The Senators all around me will bear testimony to the fact. Then the Senator from Nebraska on my right (Mr. PADDOCK] also, after I had made the objection and taken my seat, rose and ol>jected, and I did not know and did not hear the Chair declare that unanimous consent had been given. The PRESIDING OFI'ICER. The Senator from Nebraska did object, as the Senator from Michigan states. Thereupon he was appealed to by a number of Senators to withdraw his objection. He made no further statement, and the Chair again inquired for o. bjection. Objecf. ion wa-s not renewed and the Chair announced unanimous consent. Mr. PADDOCK. I desire to state, as my name has been mentioned in connection with this matter, that as I rose to make the objection I found the sentiment of the Senate so strongly in favor of tho mle proposed that I thought it my duty to subside, and I did so subside. Mr. HAl\!LIN. l\!r. President, I want to supplement one word as to tho action of the Chair, because I .think it material and due to the Chair. I did not (and I was listening Cfi!efully) hear the objection made by the Senator from Michigan. .He made it certainly, as he says so; but I did not hear it. After the Chair announced ''there is no objection," the Chair paused a second of time before he said" it will bo so ordered," giving t-o every Senator ample time to ha\e interposed an objection after the Chair had said ''the Chair hears .no objection, and it will be so ordered;" and after the time elapsin(J' when the Chair made that announcement, if there was then no o~ jcction, the body is, I think, fairly bound by it. Mr. THURMAN. I understand what occurred precisely as the S?nn.tor from Maino un~erstands it; but as my friend from Michigan did not so understand It I move that he bo allowed fifteen minutes. Mr. Christiancy. I decline the privilege. I did not wish to occupy the time of the Senate another moment; but I know there are some others who may wish to speak more than five minutes, that are not now in the Senate; but I did object, and I supposed my objection was heard. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment offered by the Senator from Wisconsin, [Mr. CAl\lERON,] upon which the yeas and nays have been ordered. ·

Mr. BLAINE. I do not want to lose the only chance to get a vote on my amendment. I move to amend the amendment of tho Senator from Wisconsin by inserting ''425" instead of "420."

The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Maine to the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin. Mr. WHYTE. I call for the yeas and nays on that. Tho yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. EATON. Is an amendment to that amendment in order! The Presiding Officer. The amendment of the Senator from Maine is in order. Mr. EATON. Would an amendment to that amendment be in orderf The Presiding Officer. No further amendment is in order. Mr. EATON. I thought I might save time by offering one now. The Presiding Officer. An amendment in the second degree is already pending. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Maine to the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin. The Secretary proceeded to call the roll. Mr. Christiancy, (when his name was called.) As a choice between evils I vote for the amendment of the Senator from Maine. The result was announced-yeas 23, nays 46, as follows: Anthony, :Barnum, Bayard, Blaine, Burnside, Butler, Allison, Armstrong, Bailey, Book, Booth, Bruce, Cameron of Pa., Cameron of W ie., Chafiee, Uockrell, Coko, DaYis of lllinois, Christiancy, Conkling, Conover, Dawes, Eaton, Hamlin, YEAS-23. Hoar, Kernan, Lamar, McPherson, Mirohe-11, lloiTill, NAYS--46. Den1'is, Kellogg, Dorsey, · KirkwOod Eustis, McCreery; Ferry, McDorud~ Garlan~ McMillan, Gordon, Matthews, Grover, Maxey, Hereford, Merrimon, Howo, Mor~an, Ingalls, O~lesby, Johnston, Paldock, JonM of Florida, Plumb, .ABSENT-7. Randolph, Rollins, Sargent, Wadleigh, Whyte. Ransom, Saulsbury, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Thurman, Voorhees, Wallace, Windom, Withers. Da.Tis of W.Va., Ha.nie, Jones of Nevada, Sharon. Edmunds, Hill, Patterson,

So the amendment to the amendment was rejected.

Tho Presiding Officer. The qnestion recurs on the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin, [Mr. CAMERO~,] upon which the yeas and nays havo been ordered. Mr. EATON. My amendment was to make this dollar 440 grains, as the RECORD will show. I move to strike out "twenty" and insert "forty." Tho Presiding Officer. Does the Senator from Connecticutoffer that amendment l Mr. EATON. I understand tha.t my amendment was read. The Presiding Officer. The pending question is on the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin, to amend the bill by striking out" 412t" and inserting" 420." Does the Senator from Connecticut move to amend that amendment f Mr. EATON. I move to amend the amendment by maJllng ~he amount 440. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Connecticut moves to amend the amendment by striking out ''420" and inserting "440." Mr. EATON. I will not detain the Senate over the five minutes. I have no idea that this amendment which I have offered will prevail, but I have offered it in goocl faith. I am no believer in the fact that thero can be a bimetallic standard. I have said all I could say on that subject. There has not been a double standard in any civilized natmn in the world in point of fa~t, and yet I am perfectly willing to go so far as I can with those gentlemen who think that silver and gold may be brought together. Four hundred and fifty-four and three-fourths ~rains aro required to-day to make a silver dollar efJual to the gold dollar. I put it at 440 grains. My friend from Ohio [Mr. THuRMAN] asks me why I do not put it clear up. He puts it not only clear up, but clear over. Mr. THURMAN. Why not cut the gold dollar down to the silver dollarf · Mr. EATON. I know this, and my friend knows it or ought to know it, that the Government stamp appreciates anything that it is put on. He thinks it appreciates it 30 grains. I think it apprecin.tee it 14-t grains. Therefore I move my amendment. But I desire to go before the country not as the opponent of silver. That charge has been made over and o>er again here, and I deny it; and any man that makes it ought not to make it on this floor. I am for a silver dollar worth one hundred cents, not ninety cents. It will not do for any man to stand on the floor of this Senate :md talk to me as an eastern man that I am opposed to silver. I am for silver if you will. put enough of it into a dollar to make it one hundrecl c-ents; otherWJse I aru not in favor of silver; and therflfore I ask that the yeas and nays be taken on my amendment for 440 grains honest money; an honest dollar for the workinl!men of the country. Tho Presiding Officer. The Senator from Connecticut asks for the yeas and nayM on his amendment to-the amendment. The yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. THURMAN. I believo there is nobody against silver in this Chamber; but a wor~ in answer. to what my friend from Con~e~ticut has said-and thoro 1s no man rn the Senate for whose opmwns I bave moreresoect. He says he is in fa"\" or of silver if you put enougl1 grains in it to make it equal to the gold dollar. I only want to say that I am in favor of the gold dollar if you will not put any more grains in it than are equal to a silver dollar. The question beingtakcn by yeas and nays, resolted-yeaa 18, nays 49; as follows: .Anthony, Barnum, Bayard, Bmnside, Dutler, Alli'lon, Armstrong, Bailey, Deck, Blaine, Booth, Bruce, Cameron of Penn., Cameron of Wis., Cbaffeo, Christillncy, Cockrell, Coke, Eilimmds, llarris, Hill, YEAS-18. Conkling, Dawes, Eaton, Hamlin, Hoar, Kernan, McPherson, Mit~ hell, Morrill, r..andolph, NAY~49. Cono\er, Davis of Til., Davis of _W.Va., Dennis, Dorsey, Eustis, Ferry, Garland, Gordon, Grover, Hereford, Howe, Ingalls, Johnston, Jones of Florida, Kellogg, Kirkwood, McGreerv, McDonafd, McMillan, Matthews, Maxey, Merrimon, Morgan, Oglesby, Paddock, ABSENT-9. Jones of Nevada, Lamar, Patterson, Ransom, Sa.rgent~ Waf1leigh, Whyte. Plumb, Saulsbury, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Thurman, Voorhees, Wallace, Windom, Withers. Rollins, Sharon.

So the amendment to the amendment was rejected.

The Presiding Officer. Tho question recurs on the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin, upon which the yeas ancl nays have been ordered. The Secretary proceeded to call the roll. Mr. GORDON, (when Mr. IIILL's name was called.) On this question my colleague [Mr. HILL] is paired with the Senator from 'l'enne see, [Mr. HARRIS.] My colleague, if present, would vote " yea." The result was announced-yeas 25, nays 44; as follows: Anthony, Barn run, Bayard, Blaine, 13nrnside, 13utlcr, Cameron of Wis., Allison, Armstrong, Bailey, Beck, :Booth, :Bruco, Cameron of Pa., Cbnffee, Cockrell, Coke, Con"ver, Christla.ncy, Dawes, Edmunds, Hamlin, Hoar, Kernan, Lamar, YEAS-25. McMilla.n, McPherson, Mitchell, Morrill, Pall dock, Randolph, r.ollins, NAYS-44. Davis of lllinois, Davis of W. Va., Dennis, Ingalls, Johnston, Jones of Florida, Jones of Ne"\'ada, Kellogg, KirkWood, McCreery McDonalii, Matthews, Maxey, Merrimon, Dorsey, Eustis, Ferry, Garland, Gordon, Grover, Hereford, Howe, ABSENT-7. Sargent, Wailleigb, Whyte, Windom. :Morgan, Oglesby, Plumb, Saulsbury, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Thurman, Voorhees, Wallace, Withers. Conkling, Harris, Patterson, Sharon. Eaton, Hill, llansom,

So the amendment to the amendment was rejected.

Mr. WHYTE. Although it is manifest that the Senate is not likely to adopt many amendments to the bill, still there is no reason why we should lose the value of the wisdom of the p!lSt, and, at qJl events, present propositions to the Sena.to which contain some of that wisdom. Lord Liverpool, who was the master of the mint, and one of the most distinguished fina.noiers of his day, considered that the most perfect system#of coinage which made silver a legal tender for the highest gold piece coined by the government. With a view of bringing about that perfection of coinage in this country, I propose to insert in line 11 on page 2, after the word "private " and before the word "except," the words "to the amount of $20 in any one payment;" so as to read: Shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues, public and }Jri-vate, to the amount of i20 in any one payment, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from .Maryland. Mr. WHYTE. I ask for the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 20, nays 46 ; as follows: Anthony, Barnum, Bayarcl, Burnside, Dutler, .Allison, Armstrong, Bailey, neck, Booth, Bruce, Cameron of ra., Cameron of Wis., Chaffee, Colio, GODO\OT, Dans of Dlinois, maine, Cockrell, Gro-vor, YEAS-20. Christiancy, llamlin, Conkling, Hoar, Dawes, Kernan, Eaton, McPherson, Edmunds, Morrill, NAYS--46. Da-vis o~. Va., Jones of Ne\ada, Dennis, Kellogg, Dorsey, KirkwOod, Eustis, Matthews, Ferry, McCreery,~ Garland, McDonald, Gordon. McMillan, Hereford, Maxey, Howe, Merrimon, Ingalls, Mitchell, Johnston, Morgan, Jones of Florida, Oglesby, Harris, Hill, Lamar, .ABSEYT-10. Pattorson, Ransom, Sharon, Randolph, Rollins, Sargent, WAdleigh, Whyte. Paddock, Plumb, Saulsbury, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Voorhees, Wallaco, Windom, Withers. Thurman.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. Burnside.  I move to insert after the word "private," in line 11, "amounting to sums over $500."

The Presiding Officer.  The amendment will be reported.

The Chief Clerk.  It is proposed to insert the words "amounting to sums over $500," in line 11, after the word except;  so as to read:

Shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues, public and private, amounting to sums over $500, except where otherwise stipulated in the contract.

Mr. Burnside.  Mr. President, I said the other day, when I introduced this amendment, that it was in the interests of the workingmen.  I should have said that it is in the interests of all men, women, and children, who are dependent for their living upon their wages, salaries, fees, or incomes.  It is evident to me that, if this bill is to become a law of the land, it should be amended as I propose.  The effect of this amendment, if adopted, will be to make silver or gold a legal tender for all sums above $500, and only gold a legal tender for all sums between five and five hundred dollars.  I would be glad to have the present law making silver a legal tender for the sum of $5 and under changed so as to make it a legal tender for all sums under $1.  In this way the Government would establish a gold standard for all sums from one to five hundred dollars, which limit would embrace nearly all the ordinary transactions of life.  In other words, it would free people who ordinarily deal in sums of less than $500 from the embarrassment corsequent upon fluctuations in the relative value of gold and silver.

Men and women of the classes named are not as a rule, skilled in finance beyond the point which enables them to so calculate as to live within their means;  and if accident, good fortune, or industry and economy make it necessary for them to deal in larger sums, they can by study become sufficiently skilled in finance or seek the advice and aid of those who are.  Large merchants, bankers, and moneyed institutions would be able to meet all the evils which I think would be engendered by the passage of this bill, and in a very large degree turn them to their own pecuniary profit;  but as the commissions and margins which can only be understood and handled by them will come from the pockets of the people, it will be well to have them attach to as few transactions as possible.

Take one of the many instances in which this amendment would be valuable, the small trader or merchant of the agricultural districts of the West or the manufacturing districts of New England who goes to one of the commercial centers to purchase his goods and wares.  He is required to either pay cash or give his notes for the goods, which be sells to his customers either for cash or on credit.  Now, there is a lapse of time in any event;  that is, whether he sells for cash or on credit, between his payment for the goods and the time at which he receives his pay for them;  and whether be agrees to pay by one of the two standards or has the option to pay by either one, he will always act to his selling price a margin of profit large enough to cover any probable fluctuations, but he will not be likely to mark his goods down so as to meet a probable fall in the standard by which he is to pay.  This same course of reasoning can be applied to all the smaller financial transactions of life where either an irredeemable currency or unrestricted bimetallic standard is used.

Let us have our system of finance so arranged that the classes of whom I speak can always know the exact value of the money they receive.  Let the farmer who sells his hundred bushel of wheat know that the $5 or $100 or whatever he receives for it, is sound money, not subject to fluctuations, and that no more has been deducted from the price than is necessary to cover legitimate business expenses.  Let the mechanic, the day-laborer, and the salaried man feel when they receive their money on pay-day that they put sound money in their pockets.  The only way this can be done is to establish for them the best known standard, and a currency suitable for their wants based upon that standard.

Sir, a great deal has been said about the creditor class.  Senators seem to have lost sight of the fact that the classes in whose interest I am now speaking are great creditor classes.  Few of them owe anything, but they all at the end of the week, the month, or the quarter are creditors, and the sums total due them at these periods amount to millions.  They are large creditors in another way.  Their savings are invested in our Government securities.  But, sir, I forbear to touch upon this subject.

The attacks upon our Government securities have been bravely met and exposed upon this floor, and no feeble words of mine will add to the force of the arguments presented here against that feature of this unwise, unjust, and dangerous bill.  The bill will doubtless pass this body.  We can only seek to strip it of its worst features before it reaches its final passage.  The Senate has just done a good work in that direction by stripping from it the free-coinage characteristic, which would enable (were it a law) the silver-owners to put the margin of profit in their own pockets, instead of covering it into the Treasury of the United States:  and another good work by inserting in the bill a proviso substantially limiting the amount of coinage.  Well would it be for this country, in my estimation, if we could go further and defeat the bill.  Could it be defeated and the country let alone for two years, specie payments would be resumed, confidence would be restored, and the country would be started upon an era of substantial prosperity.  Some financial distress would be experienced in getting to a sound basis, but the whole would result in good health and spirits to the body politic.

The PRESIDING OFFICE:Jl. The Senator's time has expired. :M·r. BURNSIDE. I now move that the bill be indefinitely postponed. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Rhodo Island moves that the bill be indefinitely postponed. Mr. BURNSIDE. This country for a long period-Mr. DORSEY. Mr. President- .Mr. BURNSIDE. I am speaking to the motion just made and I desire to economize my time as much as possible. Mr. President, this country for a long period indulged in a financial debauch. As long as the exciting causes were indulged in the spirits of the people were kept up and the dangers ahead were unseen or unheeded. As wit)l individuals and communities, so with a great people, there must be an end, and a sad end, to all debaucheries; the extent of sadness is measured by the time the indulgence is allowed to exist. If it is stopped sufficiently early, recovery from its effects may occur. This great country of ours, sir, is suffering from this debauch; it has been bloated by inflation, which stole upon it at a time when its very existence as a nation was in peril, and when it felt willing to submit to anything to sustain itself. The people were seized by a spirit of speculation, and great intellect and labor were directed in that channel which should ha"e been given to agricultural and other industrial pursuits; but notwithstanding all this the crelit of the nation has been maintained. We havo made great sacrifices in getting back to the position we now occupy. We are just on the eve of I'esumption. A few more short months without further financial legis· lation will. accomplish the work. Shall we take a step backward now f Shall we, like the timid debauchee, just on the eve of final reformation, ask for the one stimulant to aid in the final trial with the almost abso· lute certainty that the taking of that one will necessitate the indulgence in more, or shall we spurn the temptation and courageously declare that we will persist in doing right. If this bill becomes a law it will not produce the effect tho people anticipate, and they will be in danger of being led still further. Greenbacks will be called for without limit. Mr. President, if I wanted to answer this call under the semblance of law and with a view to creating temporary relief-for it can only be temporary-! would introduce a bill making appropriations t-o the extent of a thousand millions of dollars and providing for the issue of greenbacks with a view to a system of internal improvements throughout the whole country. But, sir, tho people of the United States do not want this; neither would they want this silver bill if the issue could be prolonged and fairly presented to them. They would not ask us to indulge in legislation which would only afford temporary relief, and leave to those who come after us the burdan of responsibilities that now restnpon us. Mr. President, I know not if it is right to refer to any action which the Chief Magistrate may see fit to take on this bill; but I have the example of the distinguished and senior Senator from Wisconsin before me who so referred to him, and I do not hesitate to follow him. I say, sir, that our hope is in the President. He may be inclined and able to prevent this bill becoming a law. I know not. We all remember, sir, the predictions and sayings of the inflationists when our late President, General Grant, vetoed the inflation bill in 1875. I will venture to say that a large number of those who voted for that bill will now say that he acted wisely in vetoing it ; a.nd I will also venture to say that the Senator from Wisconsin, who is so distinguished for integrity of purpose, industry, and wisdom, will, if he lives as long asl hope he will, pronounce the project presented by this bill a bad one. :Mr. President, my constituents, who are an honest, intelligent, and thrifty people, are almost unanimous in their opposition to this bilL Their General Assembly has requested me to vote against it, and the Board of Trade of the city of Providence, our great commercial center, has made a like request. I now.beg to present the resolutions of those two bodies, and to say that I approve of every sentiment oxpressed by them, and am glad to obey their wishes:

STA.TE OF RHODE lsiuU.-n, &c., L.~ G~"ERAL AssiWDLY, January Sesrion, A. D. 18713. Resolution in regard to the resumption of specie payments anll other subjects. Resolved, (the ho11orable senate concurring herein,) That our Senators and Representatives in Congress he requested to continue to use their best enlleavors to pro· mote any and all measures looking toward the resumption of specie payments by the United States at tho earliest moment possible, antl to resist any attempt torepeal the law known as the resumption act of 1875, and in particular t(} oppose the so-called Bland silver bill now penilin~ in the Senate of tbo United States, or any other measure by which silver coinage may bo made legal tender to an unlimited extent, and that tlle secretary of state be, and he hereby is, direct~d to send copies of this resolution to the several Senators and Representatives aforesaid thl'Ough the mail. I certify the foregoin~ to be a trne copy of a resolution passed by the General As.sembly of the State of Rhode Island, &c., January :u, A. D. 1878. In testimony whereof I hnve hereunto set my hand and affixed the soal of tlle State aforesaid, this 31st day of January, A. D, 1tn8. [SEAL.] JOSHUA M. ADDEMAN, Secretary o,f State. Whereas the national House of RepresentatiYes, on November 5, 1877, passed an act known as the Bland silver bill, providing for the remonetization of silver an.d the unlimited coinage of tlle four-hundred-and-twelve-and-one-half-grain silver dollar; and Whereas the relative value of golll to silver bas been materially changed dur. ing the past few years by tbe depreciation of silver, and on July 13 1876, was as 1 is to 20.17, the lowest value on record of 11ilver, which also tluctuat~d in value dur. ing J8761rom $1.0248 to $1.2824 per ounce, ana is now worth $1.1~7 per ounce, a. change t>q uiva.lent to a variation in the p:old value of the four-hundred-and-twelve. and-one-half.p:rain silver dollar from i9.2G cents to 99.19 cents, and makes its pres. ent value 91.55 cents; and · Whereas the effort to remonetize silver bas in a. measure stopped the fundin.r at 4 per cent. of United States bonds, satisfaJtorily proceeding, and which would, if successfuL save annually in interest on i]le public debt e25,800,000, a sum thd yearly con>erted into a sinking fund, with interest a.t 4 per cent. would pay the national funded debt in a little over thirty years ; and Whcreaa United States Treasw·y notes are within about 2 per cent. of gold and there is every prospect that tlle Government can resume specie pa.vmeuts on or before January 1, 1879, if the Bland silver bill does not become a law: Therefore, Be it resolved, That the Providence Board of Trade and the bankers and business men of Rhode Island hero assembled emphatically protest against the enactment of any law remonetizing silver, proYiding for its unlimited coinage, or for its use as money for any purpose, except as subsidiary coin witll gold as the standaru of value; aud Be it resolved further, That a fluctuation of silver, causing the gold value of the four-hundred-and-twelYe-and.one.ha1f-grain silYer dollar to vary nearly 20 per cent. in a single year, renders the bimetallic standard impossible; tllat the attempt in the present circumstances to maintain it would ~rease the premium on gold; that one hundred pounds of silYer being worth less than $1,500, its bulk alone un.fits it for use a.~ a standard; that the coin of a great commercial nation should be as far as possihle of fixed value; that of all Illilterials suitable for use as money, gold pos· sesses this quality in the highest de~ee; that it is fast becoming the standard of value fort he wm:ld, and that every consideration of puhlic credit, of national prosperity, an!l of national honor demands that it be retained as the standard of value for the United-8ta.tes; and Be it resolvedfv:rther, That the Government should make every effort to fund the national debt at tho lowestpossiblt) rate of interest, every dollar of interest-money paid beina so much added to the principal of the debt; that the only obstacle to funding t~e debt at 4 per cent. is thellland silver bill, which autllor1zes the payment of (' nited States bonds in coin worth to-day in the markets of the world M to 10 per cent. less than its face value, thereby destroying the credit and dishonoring the name of tho nation; and

Be it resolved further, That we denounce the inflation element of the Bland silver bill as an unjustifiable attempt to violate correct financial laws that will inevitably retard the country's return to prosperity; that the encouragement of the nation's fast-increasing foreign trade and the welfare of all its industries demand the resumption of specie payments, as fixed by law, January 1, 1879, an event anticipated with pride by every honest and intelligent business man in the land; and

Be it resolved further, That in view of the assertion often repeated, thatt.he South and the West are unanimously in fa>or of the remonetization of silver, we havo learned witll unqualified pleasure of the action of the banks composing the clear. ing associations of New Orleans and of Chicago, denouncing the :ma.nd silver bill; that we send w-eeting to our friends the business men, opposing remonetization, of the largest city of the South and of the great grain center of the West, and join with them in their efforts to preserve the m'Cdit and maintain the integrity of tho nation ; anl Be it resolved further, That a copy of tllese resolutions, signed by the president ant] secretary of this Board of Trade, be forwarded to the clearin~ associations of New Orleans and of Chicago, and to each member of the delegation in Congress froru Rhode Island, and that the State delegation in Con!ITess be, and they hereby are. requested to use their earnest effort-s to defeat the Bbnd silver bill and to prevent any measures tending to inflation from becoming a law.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr . .MORRILL. I renew the amendment I offered a little while ago as a proviso to come in at t.he end oi line 27 after the word" dollars~" .Ana pro'Uided further, That for any :unount of silver dollars which may be issued Mr. SARGENT. Put it in that form. Mr. MORRILL. I should like to inquire of the Senator from Texas while the Government is compelled to receive these certificates for all taxes, what is the Government to ha.ve when it is required to pay out money for the expenses of the Government f He does not make the certificates a. legal tender, and yet the Government is to uecome indebted for all that may be paid in so far as taxes and debts due to the Government are concerned. The Secretary is to absorb a.ll the receipts of the Government and yet have nothing to pay out. Mr. COKE. I will answer the Senator that the certificates are issued only upon the deposit of coin or of bullion that can be converted at the pleasure of the Government into coin and that will be legal tender. Mr. SARGENT. I wish to modify a suggestion I made. Nine hundred and twenty-five is the English staudard of bullion, but th" standard of American coin is nine hundred. I wish it modified so as to say "nino hundred fine." Mr. COKE. Sa,y " bullion nine-tenths fine." .Mr. CHAFFEE. I offer the following as a substitute for the amendment of the Senator from Texas: That the Secretary .of the 'l'reasury is hereby authorized to recaive deposits of sil\'er bullion with the Treasurer or any a.ssi tnnt treasurer of the United States in sums of not less than $10, and to issue cert.Uicates therefor in denominations of not less tban $10 eaeh, correbponding with the denomination of the Unit~l Stateg notes. The said certificates representing the bullion deposited sbnll IJe issued at the rate of tho silver dollar herein authorized to be coiueu and sll.all ue { \ 1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. ~1103 redcemn.ble in silver coin one year after date, or in silver bullion or fmesilver bars upon dcmaml, compnted at tho rate of silver coin. Raill certiticates shall be rect'inlble ll.t par for all dues to tho United States, including duties upon imports, and when so received may be rei:.;sued. Mr. BOOTH. Mr. President, some days ago I gave notice that I would offer an amendment to the pending bill, in the following word::!: SEc.-. That any holder of tho coin :mthorizetl by this act may lcposit the same with -the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than $10, and receive therefor certificates of not less than SJO each, correspomling with the denominations of the United States notes. 'l'he coin deposited for or representing the c-ertificates shall be retainrul in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivaule for custom5, t.axes, and all public dues, a-nd when so received may be reissued. If I unclerstand the amendment offered by the Senator from Texas and tlle substitute Qffered by the Senator from Colorado, it simply changes my amendment by allowing bullion as well as coin to be deposited and certificates issued thereon. Is that correcU Mr. CHAFFER Yes, sir. .Mr. BOOTH. While that amendment may be perfectly consistent with the bill as it camo from the House, in my jnugment it is incon-sistent with the amendments that have been adopted by the Senate. Is that the view of the Senator from Iowa. Mr. ALLISON. It is. · lli. BOOTH. The amendments that have been adopted by the Senate provide that all the profit or the seigniorage that accrues by the coinage of silver shall belong to the Government of the-United States. Now, if certificates are to be issued upon bullion as well as coin, the t·esult will be that there willbo no silver coined of any amount, but silver bullion will be deposited with the subtreasurers of the United States and certificates issued thereon which will circulate as silver. That is perfectly consistent with the Bland bill, bnt entirely inconsistent with the bill which is now before tile Senate; and I concur with a remark that was made by my friend the Senator from Vermont, that the result will be that these bullion certificates will find their way into the Treasury of the United States to the exclusion of other collections, and when the holders of coupons present their claims to the Treasury there will be only the certificates of bullion to pay them with. They will have the right to demand coin. It is perfectly true that if they knew coin was there they wonld prefer the certificates, but knowing that it wna not there, they would have a. right to demand gold coin. :Mr. CilAFFEE. Can they not. have fine silver bars f Mr. BOOTH. · No, because their contract is coin. Therefore I believe that with the bill as it is before tho Senate, as it has been perfected by the amendments ~ich have been adopted, this will destroy tho efficacy of the bill as it is now presented to us, while it would bo consistent with the Bland bill, though I confess for a year it would be inoperative. Whlle I am on the floor I may" as well say that a sear hence, when we shall bave silver coin in abundance flowing out through all the channels of business and flowing into tho Treasury from all tllc channels of business, that amendment would be perfectly proper. Nay, moro; then an amendment to the section of the Revised Statutes which makes certificates i5Snable upon gold bullion and certificates for 20 p~r cent. more than gold bullion deposited in the Treasury ought to be mn.de applying it also to silver. Then it will be perfectly practicable to place gold and silver upon the same exact level. While theoretically we may desire to do so w-day. I do not think it is practicable ~t this time. Therefore, I prefer my amendment; and so preferring it, I shall vote against the substitute in hope that my amendment may be accepted by the friends of the bill. }fr. ALLISON. I only desire to say one word. Of course if the all!endment proposed by the Senator from Texas is adopted, or even tho substitute of my friend from Colorado, all the amendments t.hns far agreed to by the Senate are nullified absolutely, because uncler the proposition of the Senator from Texns this silver bullion so deposited is t{) be coined into money as rapidly as it can be coined. 'fherefore, as a matter of course, tho profit, tllo seigniorage, whatever it may be, ou coin, will go directly to the holders of the bullion; i!O that it is in efl:'ect nullifying what we have already agreed to with reference to t.his bill, namely, a coinage the profits upon which shall inure to the benefit of the Government and not to the holUcrs of bullion. Mr. MORRILL. Let me call attention to another thing. While the ·amendment proposed by the Senator from Ca.lif6rnia [.Mr. BooTH] is unque.rtionably an improvement upon the proposition of the Senator from Texas, [Mr. Coxrn,] yet it will be seen that we are to have three linfls of paper currency, one of United States notes, one of nationalbank notes, and now these certificates of deposits. Mr. ALLISON. We shall have four, let me remind my friend, for we still have the gold certificates also. . Mr. MORRILL. Say four. I think we have qnito enough paper currency author~ed vrithout inaugurating anything that is new on the present occaswn. Mr. COKE. So far as the certificat-es are concerned provided for by tho amendment offered by the Senator from Colorailo, or that offere.d by myself, there can be no safer currency afloat than they would be. 'l'hcy would be based upon the actual deposit of coin in the Treasury, which would be payable on demand. The Senator from Iowa says either tho amendment or the substitute will nnllify the provisions of the bill as already adopted. I grant that so mnch of tho administration of tho Mint as would come under either the substitute or the amendment-, if adopted, would not come nndor that clause of the bill a,lready adopted, which provides that seigniorage shall be p&il upon th"' coinage of silver. I grant that. So far as I am concerned it is not objectionable to me for that reason. Mr. ALLISON. I know it is. Mr. COKE. I believe that tbo tax upon the coinage of the silver dollar is going to hang upon it liko a millstone. It will keep it down and llelp to verify the predictions that have been made by the enemies of remonetization that it will be a cheap, depreciated dollar. I believe the dollar that will be secured through this process nntaxed will not be depreciated in the same way. There is no real conflict between either the substitute of the Senator from Colorado or the amendment offered by myself and tile other provisions of the hill. It is simply a different and another mode of gettiug silver into circulation. 'l'hat is all. The first mode already adopted pays the tax upon the coinage. The mode that is suggested by my amendment, or by the substitute of the Senator from Colorado, does not pay the tax; it is a deposit of bullion for which tho parties do not receive coin when they deposit it. The issuance of certificates would add another safe element to our diminished circulation, which would add materially to the prosperity of the country and would be a material stimulus to all its enterprises. Mr. CHAFFEE. I did not intend to offer this amendment until the Senator from Texas offered his, and I offered it thinking it would perfect l1is idea better than tho one he offered himself, fo.r the reason that the substitute I offered provides that the Secret.ary of the Treasury shall have one year in which to pay the silver coin for the bullion deposited. If the certificate ia presented within the year he has a right to pay it in bullion, and the computation is made upon the basis of 412t grains to a dollar. Mr. COKE. I am willing to accept the substitute of the Senator from Colorado. The Presiding Officer. The question then is on the amendment as proposed by the Senator from Colorado. Mr. CHAFFEE. I am in favor of the proposition of the Senator from California. to deposit coin and receive certificates, and I can perceive no re:l8on why bullion should not bo deposited, giving the Secretary of the Tre:lBury a year to prepare the coin to redeem the certificates if demanded in coin; bnt if demanded in bullion be ht:ts the bullion to pay, and if he pays in fine t.ilver bars the computation can be made upon the basis of the dollar of coin. Air. BOOTH. I understand the Senator from Texas accepts the substitute of the Senator from Colorado so that that is the amendment now pending. I now movo mine as a substitute for his. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from California moves to amend the amendment by snbstitnting what is printed on the ei~hth page of the bill. - Mr. ED)1UNDS. Let ns hear it read. The CHIEF CLERK. The proposed amendment is to strike ont aU after the word "that" in the first line of the amendment and to insert: An.v holllcr of the coin authorized by this net may deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assisl;a.nt treasurer of the Unit&l States. in sumli not le5s than SlO, aml rccei>e therefor certificates of not less than $10 each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin deposited forO!' representing tho certificates shall be retained in the 'l'rea~ury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivable for customs,·taxes, and all public dues. and when so received may be reissued. The Presiding Officer. .The question is on the amendment of the Senator from California to the amendment of the Senator from Texas, as modified by accepting the amendment of the Senator from Colorado. Tho amendmen~ to the amendment was agreed to. The Presiding Officer. The question recurs on the amendment as amended. Mr. SARGENT. lask for the yea-s and nays. 1\Ir. ANTHONY. I hope we shall not have the yeas and nays. Mr. SAHGENT. It is a very important amendment. Mr. ANTHONY. We have all put ourselves on record a. doz.en times. The yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. WHYTE. I should ]ike to ask wha.t there is in this amendment except to make the United States Treasury a. sa.fc-doposit company without pay. The Presiding Officer. The amendment will be reported before debate proceeds further. Ur. ED~IUNDS. I suggest to the Senator from Maryland tha,t there is no security given, so that the loss will fall on the holder. Tlle CHIEF CLERK. The amendment is. in the following words: ·SEc. -. That any holder of the coin authorizel by this act may deposit the same with tbo 'l'reasurer or any asaistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than $l0, and receive therefor certi.ficates of not leas than 510 each, corrBsponding with tho dt uominations of tho United States notes. The coin deposited for or representing the certificates shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the samo on dema-nd. Said certificates shall be roceiTaule for customs, tAxes, and all public dues, and, when so received, muy be reissued. Mr. COKE. That-is not the amendment offered by myself. It is the substitute offered by the Senator from California. 'l'ho Presiding Officer. The Chair will inform the Senator from Texas thn.t the voto was taken, and the substitute adopted; and the question now is on the amendment as amended, on which question the yeas and nays have been ordered. Mr. GORDON. I should like to ask the Senator from California what the specific advantage of that proposition is, if we should adopt it f I do not see that it would increase the circulation any. We can have the same number of paper dollars we should have of silver dollars. Mr. BOOTH. 'fhe specific and the only advantage is in this: It is constantly objected that silver is .not a proper material of which to make money because it is too cumbersome; but certificates of deposit for silver will circulate just as freely as certificates of deposit for gold and just as easily. And in reply to the suggestion of ~he Se!lat~r from Maryland, [Mr. WHYTE,] allow me to say that this sectiOn lB copied substantially from the section of the existing law which allows deposits of gold and makes the United States the safe depositary for gold upon the same terms that this proposes to make it for silver, except that in addition to gold coin the Treasurer and assistant treasurers of the United States now receive gold bullion and issue certificates for bullion, and besides can issue 20 per cent. moro of certificates for the payment of interest than the Treasury of the United States contains. Mr. EDMUNDS. May I ask the Senator from California if the existing law makes these gold certificates a tender for public dues f Mr. DOOTH. It ma-kes them a tender for customs. Mr. EDMUNDS. For any other public dues f Mr. BOOTH. I think not. Mr. EDMUNDS. Now, will the Senator be kind enough to tell the Senate how it happens that t.he people who passed the la.w to which he bas referred, the law-making power of the United States, limited those deposits t.o gold before the demonetization of silverf Mr. BOOTH. The Senatorwasamemberof theSenateatthattime; he may be able to say. Mr. CHAFFEE. They are receivable for interest on the public deiJt. Mr. BOOTH. Of course we cannot compel the holders of the pnblic debts to take them. If the Senator from Vermont desires to go back and argue this thing from the foundation-- Mr. EDMUNDS. Not at all. I do not want to argue anything. I only ask the question. The Senator says the law now, passed before the act of 1873, says gold may be deposited there, and so I ask him to tell us why the people of that day did not provide for silver also f Mr. BOOTH. I have not said it was passed before 1873. Mr. EDMUNDS. But it was. Mr. BOOTH. That may be; but it is the Senator's statement. Mr. EDMUNDS. Does not the Senator know it to be the fact f :Mr. BOOTH. I do not know anything about it. Mr. EDMUNDS. Then, I will prove that presently. Mr. BOOTH. I do not dispute it. The Senator aaks an argumentative question for the purpose of going to the root of this whole matter. I do not propose to do any such thing. Mr. SARGENT. The act was passed March 3, 186.1, and amended March :~, 1869. · Mr. BOOTH. I found it in the Revised Statutes and copied it substantially from them. Mr. EDMUNDS. Then, Mr. President, it 3ppeci.rsMr. BOOTH. I have the floor. The Presiding Officer. The Chair understood the Senator from California to have yielded the floor. Mr. BOOTH. I am willing to yield for 3 question. Now I am waiting for a question. Mr. EDMUNDS. I have put the question. Mr~ BOOTH. What was the question f Mr. EDMUNDS. I have stated it twice. I ask the Senator if be will be kind enough to point out the policy of the legislation, before the act of 1873 turning out the silver dollar, which conftned these deposits and certificates to gold coin and bullion instead of silver. Mr. BOOTH. I do not feel called upon to do any snob thing. If the Senator from Vermont-- Mr. EDMUNDS. Yon are called upon. Whether you will do it is another thing. Mr. BOOTH. I do not propose to reply to the call. Mr. EDMUNDS.' That is another thing. Mr . .BOOTH. I do not propose to go into this question from the root up. If it has not been sufficiently discussed to enlighten the Senator from Vermont at least as to the position the friends of this measure maintain, it is certainly out of my power to enlighten him. I can shed no additional light on his mind in regard to the position we maintain which he has not already received. The Presiding Officer. The time of the Senator from California has expired. Mr. BOOTH. I am glad to hear it. Mr. EDMUNDS. Have we a five-minute rulef Mr. ALLISON. We have had it for two hours. Mr. EDMUNDS. Now, Mr. President, I will begin on the five minutes. The Senator from California says he does not wish to enlighten anybody; that all that has gone by. There are a great many people in the country besides the seventy-six Senators who are here present, or w bo are supposed to be here present, who would like to be enlightened. It affects their iuterests. Now, the Senator says he will not go to the root. I do not blame him for that, although I believe / there is an old Latin maxim that he is much more familiar with than I am, which seems to say 'llteliull est JJetere fontes quam sectari. rivulos; but if he likes to drink out of the dirty stream rather than go to the fountain of this thing undoubtedly it is better for him because you can hang a delusion on the llranches of a tree that never grew out of its roots. In the acts of 1862 and 1863, as enacted when the silver dollar by statute was a legal tender, the United States of America declared deliberately that in res~ect of the very uses to which the Senator now proposes to put this silver bullion, &c., it was not wise or expedient to do it, and that gold was the true standard for deposits out of which very gold the debts of the United States were to be paid in terms to the extent of 75 per cent. of the deposits. Now the Senator wakes np and says let us put silver in, for that is just as good as gold. That is the very question that time must determine. That it is not as good as gold now everybody admits. You are to go to sea without 3 sail or n. rudder or a. compass, trusting to the chance of tho tiat of Congress to carry it up 10 per cent. That is the proposition of the Senator. Why not add iron f Iron is a more nseful commodity than silver is, much more useful. Mr. ALLISON. Or gold either, except for money. Mr. EDMUNDS. That is the Senator's opinion. Mr. ALLISON. Is it not yours T Mr. EDMUNDS. Well, Mr. President, I will answer the Senator when he gets up and interrupts me in the regular way. As he has a five-minute rule be must not take it out of me. Mr. BOOTH. Mr. President- Mr. EDMUNDS. I beg pardon, I am not to be interrupted, as I have only five minutes. Mr. BOOTH. The Senator can have all the time. Mr. EDMUNDS. I appeal to the Chair to protect me against this unlawful interference with my rights. :Mr . .ALLISON. I hope the Chair will do it. - The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Vermont will proceed under the. protection of the Chair. [Lo.uHhter.] Mr. EDMUNDS. Then I hope the Chair will sit down the other Senators. Time is running against me all the while. Mr. ALLISON. I am a little tired of sitting. I have been sitting here all the evening. I thought I would stand awhile. Mr. EDMUNDS. I am surprised that the Senator was tired. He will be retired if he follows on this line for a few years. [Laughter.] Mr. ALLISON. Very likely. Mr. EDMUNDS. As onward and as popular as this breeze may be now, the tide will set the other way when" the sober second thought" returns. Mr. President, t.he real fact is that this is a mere method for kiting an inflation of paper to take the place of silver because silyer is inadequate and improper to the purposes which this bill undertakes to assign it to. That is the upshot of the business; and to carry out the theory, aa this is only a step to paper which will cut off the root, even this silver root, when you take t.be next step and have paper alone, I think the friends of the billl had better go it. Mr . .ALLISON. Mr. President- Yr. EDMUNDS. The Senator I believe has spoken once five minutes. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Iowa has not spoken on the pending amendment. Mr • .ALLISON. I have not spoken for some Ume and do not propose to speak now. I only wanted to inquire of the Senator what possible utility there could ho in the metal called gold that would compare with the metal known as iron if you leave out of the question the money uses of gold f Mr. EDMUNDS. If the Senatewill give me fiveminntes I will tell the Senator.

Mr. BLAINE. I ask only one minute. I do not see that tho question is involved here which is stated lly the Senator from Vermont, whether silver is as good as gold. It is simply whether the certificate of 100 deposited, that yon may take up any day when you return the certificate, is not just as good as the $100. That is all there is about it. This proposes to deposit one hundred silver dollars and issue certificates for them, when you can get the 100 on demand. It seems to me if yon are going to have a. silver dollar of any kind, it would be a convenience to uso it in that way. I am opposed to tl.le bill as it is now pending and likely to be passed, but I do not think this feature of it is going to make it any worse, but would somewnt ameliomte it. Mr. MORRILL. May I aak the Senator from Maine if be does not consider it a confession that silver is a cumbrous and inconvenient article to carry and that this is a mode of obviating it f Mr. BLAINE. Not at all. Mr. MORRILL. A mode of getting paper insteacl f Mr. BLAINE. No more than it is as to gold. You do that for gold to-day. You give exactly the same certificate for gold. Mr. MORRILL. Oh, no. Mr. BLAINE. Yes; certainly. Mr. MORRILL. Not exactly. Mr. BLAINE. It is tantru:nount. I am not talking about words. Mr. BOOTH. It is seldom I intrude on the Senate; !Jut the juuior Senator from Vermont, [.Mr. MoRRILL,] if I am right, is in favor of a very heavy silver dollar. Be is in favor of a dollar of 454 grains. Th~ Presiding Officer. The Senator from California pro- I I 1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 1105 ceeds by unanimous consent only. He has already spoken five minutes. • Mr. EDMID-4""DS. I object. We must have equal rights here. Mr. BOOTH. The Senator from Vermont [Mr. EDMUNDS] always commands my homa,ge and obedience. _ The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment moved by the Senator from California, which has been already read, upon which the yeas and nays have been ordered. Mr. EDMUNDS. If my friend from California wishes to address the Senate, I withdraw any objection with pleasure. The Presiding Officer. The yeas and nays have been ordered on the amendment. The Secretary proceded to call the roll. Mr. EDMUNDS, (when his name was called.) On this question I am paired with the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. THuRMAN.] The roll-call having been concluded the result was announcedyeas 49, nays 15; as follows: Allison. Anthony, Armstrong, Bailey, Beck, Blaine, Bodth, Cameron of Pa., Cameron of Wis., Chafl'ee, Christiancy, Cockrell, Conkling, Barnum, Bayard Burnside, Butler, YEAS-49. Davis of Tilinois, Johnston, Davis of West V a., Jones of Florida, Dennis, Jones of Nevada, Dorsey, Kellogg, Eustis, KirkwOod, Ferry, McCreery:, Gordon, McDonald, Grover, McMillan, Hamlin, Matthews, Hereford, Maxey, Hoar, Merriman, Howe, Morgan, Ingalls, Oglesby, Coke, Dawes, Garland, Kernan, N.A.YS-15. McPherson, Mitchell, Morrill, Sargent, ABSENT-12. Paddock. Plumb, Rollins, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Voorhees, Wallace, Windom, With61'8. Saulsb~, Wadleigh, Whytl. Brnce, Edmunds, Lamar, Ransom, Conover, Harris, Patterson, Sharon, Eaton, Hill, Randolph, Thtll'IDlWl.

So the amendment was agreed to.

M.r. Christiancy. I offer the amendment which I send to the Chair. The Presiding Officer. The amendment will be read. The CHIEF CLERK. At the end of section 1 it is moved to insert: And the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation for that purpose, in any sum not less than flOO, redeem such dollars in the gold coin of the United States, and shall also redeem any of the gold coins of the United States, when pre. sen ted for that purpose, in any sum not less than '100, in such silver dollars; both such silvl".r dollars and such gold coins to be reckoned at their nominal standard value. And no gold or silver shall be coined at any of the mints of the United States for private parties. And said Seer~, for the purpose of such redemption, shall bo authorized to use any of the coin m the Treasury, whether coustitntillg part of the sinking fund or held for the purpose of paying interest on the public debt, and any other coin in the Treasurynototherwiseappropriated, replacing the same by the coin thus redeemed. Mr. Christiancy. It will be seen by the amendment that I am willing to go for a dollar of 41Zf grains on condition that the Government makes it worth a dollar in gold; in other words, that they make both par, so that they will circulate together; and this plan does it. I propose to show how. This propos1tion could not be adopted without some loss to the Go,·ernment if the Senate amendments striking out the free-coinage portion of the House bill had not been adopted. Bnt now, as all the coinage is to be on the account of the Government, whatever profit tbo Government makes by purchasing silver at the market value and coining it into dollars of 412t grains will be exactly balanced by redeeming such dollars in gold, and by such redemption these silver dollars can be kept exactly at par with gold in this country, and justice will be done to all creditors and debtors alike. It is true, the dollar when sent out of the country would not have all this additional value, so as to make it par with gold, yet it would have much of that auditional value because of ita power to command redemption in gold when returned here for that purpose. And if the friends of this bill believe what they profess to believe, as I am bound to presume they do, that this dollar will be at par with gold when remonetized, then I shall of course expect them to sustain this amendment. And if they do not believe that its remonetization will bring it up to a par with gold, then this amendment will be sure to bring it up to par and keep it there, so tha.t in either event I have a right to suppose that all the friends of this bill will support this amendment. I cannot see bow they can oppose it unless they really wish to have a depreciated dollar which must have the effect to expel all gold from circulation and leave us with an exclusive silver standard. But this amendment also provides for the other alternative of gold becoming comparatively the cheaper metal, and require8 the Treasury to redeem the gold coin in silver dollars at the option of the bolder, 80 that all fluctuations are provided for, justice is done to all parti~, and we secure the people tbe circulation of both metals and save them from all the evils of a. depreciated currency, and specie resumption will be hastened without a pang, but on the other hand increasing the volume of the currency. Mr. President, it seems to me a manifest duty, if we pnt forth a dollar whi~h is not now worth its face in gold, that we shoald adopt VII-70 some measure by which it can be made equal to gold, by which the two can circulate together, one not expelling the other; and the plan which I propose results in this : that what the Government makes by coining silver bullion into dollars of 412t grains, which will he a considera. ble amount, they will only be paying out just so much in making it par with gold and keeping it there. The Presiding Officer, (Mr. Merrimon in the chair.) Under the rule the Senator's time has expired. M.r. MORRILL. I am inclined to support the proposition of the Senator from Michigan; b~t I should like to ask him how he proposes to avoid this difficulty: Snppose that in Belgium a silver dollar, an exact fac ~timile of the United States dollar, was made and should come here, how is the Government to know whether that is the coin of ihe United States or a surreptitious coin, and why would they not be compelled to redeem these imitations as much as their own coin if they could not be detected f Mr. EDMUNDS. You may say that of all false coinage. Mr. Christiancy. I have never heard of one nation counterfeiting by national authority the coin of another, and I have not the slightest fear that anything of that kind will take place. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from Michigan. M.r. Christiancy and Mr. EDMUNDS called for the yeas and nays, anu they were ordered. Mr. SARGENT. I wish to say one single word. The amendment prohibits the coinage for private parties of gold or silver. In other wordi, it prohibits the coinage of ~old coin because the Government has no gold of its own to coin. Pnvate parties ha.ve it and the Mint is shut to them. They cannot under any circumstances, no matter how much they are willing to pay for it, get their gold coined. Mr. Christiancy. The Treasury has now over $100,000,000 of gold, which is more than would be coined of silverforthe next three years. Mr. SARGENT. One hundred millions of coin f Mr. Christiancy. Of gold coin. M.r. SARGENT. Bot this prohibits private parties from having gold coined. The Government has no bullion. The Government owns no gold bullion. M.r. Christiancy. The Government has of gold coin now over $100,000,000. Mr. SARGENT. IdonotthinktheSenatorseesmypoint. I object on behalf of a constituency who annually take out 12,000,000of gold. What are they to do with it if they cannot get it coined f Mr. PADDOCK. AB I understand the point made by the Senator from California, !t is that the Government has no authority to buy gold bullion. · .Mr. SARGENT. None at all. Mr. PAD DOCK. If that is correct, then the proposition is not sound. ~ Mr. Christiancy. The proposition is sound to the ext.ent of what we have on hand. I do not pretend that it may not need further provision. The Presiding Officer. The Senator's time. has expired under the rule. M.r. BAYARD. Mr. President, it is perfectly obvious that this amendment and this bill make no provision for the purchase of gold bnllion by the United States Government. If it did, I think it would be very impracticable. But the result of the Senator's aruendment is very plain. It simply stops the coinage of gold in toto. Mr. PAD DOCK. That will not do. Mr. BAYARD. It strikes me as being the most silvery of all silvery amendments. Mr. Christiancy. I have stated that we have already over $100,000,000 of gold in the Treasury. This makes provision tha.t tha.t may be used. Mr. BAYARD. Why, sir, the Government of the United States is not the owner of an ounce of bnllion. It only can become so by purchasing as any other purchaser. When underthepresent law you provide for coinage on Government account, yon provide for the purchase by the Secretary of the Treasury of bnllion that he may have it coined and you have by the amendments thus far adopted prevented the coinage for private account; but in the present case by shu'fting up the Mintfromcoiniug goldcoins for private account yon stop it. Mr. Christiancy. The Senator has not the whole amendment before him. The PRESIDING OFl"ICER. Upon the amendment proposed by the Senator from Michigan the yeM and nays have been ordered. Mr. EDMID-4""DS. I move to strike out the last clause in the amendment of the Senator from Michigan. Mr. PADDOCK. Let it be reported. Mr. EDMUNDS. Certainly, let it be reported. The Presiding Officer. The Se!!.ator from Vermont moves to strike out the last clall66 of the amendment of the Senator from Michigan. · Mr. SARGENT. Let the clause be read. The Presiding Officer. The Clerk will report the words to be stricken out. The CHIEF CLERK. The last clause is in the following wo~~; Replacing the Bai!l~ by ~e po~ thU!! redeemed. 1106 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 15~ Mr. Christiancy. I call for the reading of the amendment. Mr. EDMUNDS. In the amendment as it is in print before me the last clause is : And no gold or silver shall be coined at any of the mints of the United States for private parties. The CHIEF CLERK. ThQ laat clat18e commencing after that period is: And no gold or silver shall be coined at any of the mints of the United States for prln.te parties. Mr. EDMUNDS. Those are the words I wish to strike out to meet the views that have been suggested. . The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Vermont to the amendment of the Senator from Michigan. The amendment to the amendment waa agreed to. The Presiding Officer. The question recUI'R on the amendment proposed by the Senator from Michigan as amended. Mr. BUTLER. Upon that I ask for the yeas and nays. The Presiding Officer. The yeas and nays have already been ordered. . Mr. BAILEY. I ask that the amendment be read. The CmEF CLERK. The amendment is to insert at the end of section 1 the following : And the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation for that purpose, in any sum not less than f100, redeem such dollars in the ~old coin of the United States, and shall also redeem any of the gold coins of the United States, when presentee! for that purpose, in auy sum not less than 1100, in such silver dollars; both such silver dollars and such gold coins to be reckoned at their nominal standard value. And the said Secretary, for the purpose of said redemption, shall be authorized to use any of the coin in the Treasm·y, whether constitutin..,. part of the sinking fund or held for the purpose of paying the interest on the l>u6li:c debt, and any other coin in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, replacmg the same by the coin thus redeemed. Mr. SAULSBURY. I am opposed to this amendment. Nobody can go to the Treasury and get this exchange of silver for gold but wen who have $100. More than two-thirds of the people in this country can never take any benefit under that. 'l'he poor man who has $5 or $10 of silver cannot go and get it exchanged into gold. IL is an amendment that will work in its effect for the benefit of the rich people of the country, and the poor people of the country can take no advantage of it. I am opposed to any such proposition. The Secretary proceed to em! the roll. Mr. EDMUNDS, (after voting in the affirmative.) .I forgot at the moment I answered to my name that I was paired with the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. THURMAN] and I withdraw my vote. The·tesult was announced-yeas 14, nays 46; as follows: .Anthony, Barnum, Burnside, Butler, Allison, Armstrong, Bailey, Beck, Booth, Bruce, Cameron of Pa., f;baffee, Cockrdl, Coke, Conkling, Conover, YEAS-14. Cameron of Wis., McPherson, Christiancy, Randolph, Dawes, Rollins, Hamlin, Saunders, NAYS-46. Davis of Dlinois, Davis of W.Va. Dennis, Dorsey, Eustis, Ferry, Garland, Glrdon, Grover, Hereford, In ~taUs, Johnston, Jones of Florida, Jones of Nevada, Kellogg, KirkwOod, McCreery, McDonald, McMillan, Matthews, Maxe7, ·Merrunon, Mitchell, Morgan, ABSENT-16. Bayard. Hill,~ Kernan, Blaine, LlllllM', E~~n, Hoar, Mon~ Edmunda. Howe, Paddock. Wadleigh, Windom. Oglesby, Plumb, Sargent, Saulsbury. Spencer, Teller, Voorhees, Wallace, Whyte, Withers. Patterson, Ransom, Sharon, Thurman.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. BUTLER. I offer'the following amendment, to be inserted at the end of the first section: And the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation for that purpose in any snm of not less than flO, redeem such dollars in the gold coin of the United States, and shall also redeem in the gold coins of the United States, when presented for that purpose, in any sum not less than $10 any such silver dollars, snob silver do1lars and such gold coin to be reokoned at their nominal standard value. I ask for the yeas and nays. Several SENATORS. Oh, no. The Presiding Officer. Upon this question the yeas and nayi have been demanded. . The yeas and nays were ordered ; and the Secretary proceeded to call the roll. Mr. EDMUNDS, (when his name was called.) On this question I am paired with the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. THuRMAN.] The result was announced-yeas 18, nays .40 ; as follows : Anthony, Barnum, B:lvard. Burnside, Butler, Christia.ncy, Dawes, Hamlin, llOJir, MPf4erson, YEAS-IS. Mitchell. Paddock, :Randolph, Rollins ~de~ Wadleigh, Whyte, Windom. Allison, Armstrong. ·Bailey, Beck, Booth, Brnce, Cameron of Pa., Cameron of Wis.1 Cha~~.. .. CocKI"tlUo NAYS--40. Coke, Davis of Dlinois, Davis of W.Va., Dennis, Dorsey, Ferry, Garlimd, (;()rdon, Grover, Hereford, Ingalls, Jolinston, Jones of Florida, Jones of Nevada, Kellogg, KirkWood, McCreery McDonald, McMillan, Maxey, ABSENT-IS. Blaine, Eustis, Lamar, Conkling, Harris, Matthews, Conover, Hill, Morrill, Eaton, Howe, Oglesby Edmunds, Kernan, Pattewn, Merrimon, Morgan, Plumb, Sargent, Saulsbury. Spencer, Teller, Voorhees, W:illa.ce, Withers. Ransom, Sharon, Thurman.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. Christiancy. Mr. President, I have one more amendment ~offer, but no speech to make. I wish, however, to fill up a blank m the amendment on page 10 of the printed bill and amendments. The first blank, in line 9. I propose to fill with " two," the section with "five;" in line 5 of sectton 2, to insert "first" before "day" and after the word "of" to insert "April." Then I ask that the ~endment be read, stating that it is the same one presented by me on the 7th of February and which has been already explained. The Presiding Officer, (Mr. HoAR in the chair.) The amendment of the Senator from Michigan will be read. Mr. WHYTE. I suggest . to thA Senator from Michigan, as his amendment seems to be a substitute for the entire bill after the ~nacting clause, that we go on with the bill in ita original form, makmg amendments that are deemed necessary, and that he offer his proposition as a final substitute for the whole bill. Mr. CITRISTIANCY. I have no objection to tl.tat course. The Presiding Officer. That would be the course required by the rule. Mr. MORRILL. I have an amendment which I desire to offer to the original bill, and I hope it will receive the approval of the Senator who has the bill in charge. I think he must feel that I have had rather poor luck in my amendments, and I hope he will fu.vor this one, for I am sure if he does not it will stand no cbauce in this body. I propose to fix the time when this act shall take effect, which I think must ha\e been inadvertently omitted. It seems to me that it is eminently proper that a time should be fixed so as to give a little notice when the act is to go into effect and also to give the Treasury an opportunity to get some ol these coins on hand. Before the word "all" in line 1 of the socond section of the bill as reported from the committee, I move to insert : ''This act shall take effect on and after the 30th day of J nne, 1878; and;" so as to read : This act shall take effect on and after the 30th day of June, 1878: and all acts and parts of sots inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. ¥r· ALLISON. I.do not think ~ncb an amendment is necessary. This act of course will take effect w1th the approval of the President which I hope we shall have in a very few days, and I think that will be all that will be necessary. Mr. WHYTE. I had prepared an amendment precisely similar to the amendment now proposed by the Senator from Vermont naming the very same day. 'fhe fathers, whose dollars we are abo~t to resurrect, ge_nerally provided in that way !or bills changing the coinage or the tar1ff. They knew that the Amencan people could adjust themselves to aun~st any condition of affairs, but they always thought it was well to g1ve them a little notice. I observe th~ bill which was proposed by the Committ.ee on Coins and Coinage in 1832 had just such a clause in it, as follows: That this act shall be in force from and after the 31st day of December A. D. 1832. ' Their bill was proposed in March, 1832. We have had the report ?f that committee referred t_o in this debate freq u~ntly. They thought m March that the proper t1me to fix the operatiOn of the act was in the following December. I hope the amendment of the Senator from Vermont will prevail. . The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Vermont, [Mr. MORRILL.] Mr. MORRILL. I ask for the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were not ordered. The amendment was rejected. Mr. SARGENT. I offer an amendment, which I think will be adopted by the Senate. I move to insert at the end of the first section the following proviso : A.nd pr01Jided. furlJier, That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the payment in silver of certificates of deposit issued under the provisions of sec. tion 254 of the Revised Statutes. . The certificates issued under section 254 are certificates which are iss_n~d on the deposit ?f coin and gold bullion in the Treasury. The pnvtlege of those c~rtifica~s was tbat they should be received at par m payment for dut1es on Imports. Of course, as we are now by this act to allow duties on imports to be paid in silver, it will reduce the value of those certificates to silver, whatever that may be. These dep~its were in the _nature of a s~ecial deposit of gold coin or gold bullion, and the certificates were Issued for them. In conversation with quite a number of Senators who voted for the amendment of the Senator from Indiana., [Mr. MQDONALD,] I am t-oll by them that I ~ I ,l ) I l j 1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 1107 they do not desire to ha.ve anything equivocal in this legislation, nor is it their desire to have these certificates paid in silver. To obviate that objection, (and it obviates much of the ob,jeotion which I had to the amendment of the Senator from Indiana,) I ofter thi~ amendment, which distinctly provides that these certificates issued by the· Government for deposits in gold coin and gold bullion shall not be redeemed in silver. Mr. ALLISON. If there is any doubt on that question, certainly this amendment ought to be adopted. Mr. SARGENT. There is very serioWI doubt upon it in the mind of certain Senators. Mr. BOOTH. I hope the amendment will be adopted. The amendment was agreed to. Mr. GORDON. In line 22, after the word "dollars," I move to insert: And there shall not be less than tllirty·five million of such dollars coined in any one year. The Presiding Officer. The Chair will inform the Senator from Georgia that the amendment which he offers is an amendment to words already inserted in the text of the bill by a vote of the Senate, and that those words cannot now be added to by a vote in Committee of the Whole; so that it is not in order for him to move the amendment. :Mr. GORDON. Will it be in order when the bill is in the Senate! The Presiding Officer. It will be in order when the bill is reported to the Senate. If there are no further amendments to the bill the question will now be stated on the substitute proposed by the Senator from Michigan, [Mr. Christiancy.] The Secretary will report the substitute. The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed to strike out all after the enacting clause of the bill and insert : That there shall be coined at the mints of the United States silver dollars of the weight of 412j grains each, nine-tenths pure silver and one-tenth alloy, with the devices and superscriptions provided by the act of Con~ss of January 18, 1837. Thfl amount of such coinage shall not be less than two millions nor more than five miUions per month. SEc. 2. That the gold coinage of the United States shall remain as at present a standard and measure of value, and a legal tender in payment of all debts, publio and private, at its nominal standard value; but that from and after the 1st aay of April, in the year 1878, the subsidiary silver coins of the United States, of all denominations less than one dollar, shall be a legal tender for-allsoms 'not exceeding $10 in any one payment, except as hereinafter provided; and from and after the date last aforesaid, the silver dollars hereinabove provided for, togetherwith the sob- . siliary silver coiLs now authorized by law, and silver bnJlion in bars duly ttt.'lmped at any of the United States mints, ot· at the United States assay office in New York, with a stamp showing their wei~bt and flnE>ness, as hereiriafter provided, together with the trade-dollar, so called, shall be a. legal tender in payment of all debts, according to the market value, as ascertained and declared in the manner hereinafter provided, of such silver coins and bnllion as compared with gold at its standard value. SI;C. 3. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, tho Treasurer of the United States, and t)le Director of the Mint. not more tban five nor less than three days before the beginning of each calendar month, to determine aud declare the value of such silver coins and bullion, which shall be taken as the >aloe t-hereof forsnch next calendar month, accordin~ to such market value, which shall be according to the market value of bullion, mth the cost of coinage added in the case of coins, but not in the caae of stamped bullion. And in determining such market value, they shall, upon the best information ther can obtain, nrlo-pt 1he average market value as compared with gold at London, Paris, and Berlin, 1n Europe, and at New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, in the United StateS; and upon such determination, they · shall forthwith transmit to every assistant treasurer of the United States, and to each collector of customs and of internal revenue, and every receiver of public moneys of the Unite4 States such determination, giving, according oo such value, the valne of each of the silver coins, in cents and mills, (rejecting fractions of a mill,) and of the value of bullion, per otwce troy. And they may use the telegraph for such transmission of their determination, and shall do so when more than two days would be required for transmission by the regu.la.r course of mail. And they shall also cause such determination to be -published in at least one of the daily newspapers in the city of WMhington, and m a daily newspaper, if any, and if not, then in some tri-weekly, semi-weekly, or weekly newspaper in the principal commercial city of each of the States and Territories. And such determination of such value shall be conclusive evidence of such value as between all private person11 or parties, as well as between the United States and any ot,ber parties. And all officers and persons authorized by law to receive money on tho part of the United States shall, for the calendar month next ensuing, receive such silver coin and stamped bullion at the value so determined. They shall also keep a record of all its determinations ; and a certified copy of such record for any month, signed by any one of them, and authenticated by the seal of the Treasury Department, which they are hereby required oo giYe upon request, shall be conclusive etidence of such value. SEc. 4. That the Secret.Hry of the Treasury is hereby authorized to exchange, at the option of any holder, in sums not less than $100, any of the silver coins hereinabove made a legal tender, at their nominal value, for any equal amount of United States notes at their nominal value; which notes shall be retained and canceled and not again replaced by other notes. And all UnitedStatesnotesredeemed und~ tltis act sliiill beheld to be part of the sinking funtl provided for by the existing law; the interest to be computed thereon as in the case of bondll redeemed under tho act relating to the sinking fund. SEc. 5. That any owner of silver bullion may deposit the same at the mints to be taken at ita market value as ascertained and publicly announced from tim~ to time as aforesaid, oo be paid for either in silver dollars, oringoltlcoin, orin Unitetl States notes; or bullion for the coinage of such silver dollars may be procurer! in the mode provided for as to .other silver coins by section 3526 of ihe Revised Statutes of the United States. SEc. 6. That it shall be lawful for the mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Carson, and the United States assay office in New York, to issue to depositors of sHver lmllion certi1lcatea therefor, which certificates shall be payable at the place of issue, to the depositor or his order, in fine silver bars, bearing the stamp of the mint or assay ottice issuing the same, the fiuenf'ss of the bullion and its wein-ht in troy ounces, as well as its value, as last ascertained, as hereinabove protided. l3ut no certificate shall be issued for less than one hundred ounces; and any difference or fractious shall be settled for in silver coin, at such rate as may be determined from time to time as aforesaid. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the an;tendment of the Senator from Michigan, [Mr. CHRISTIA.NCY,] which has just been reported. Mr. Christiancy. I ask for the yeas and nays upon it. · The yeas and nays were not ordered. The amendment waa rejected. The Presiding Officer. Are there further amendments to the bill in committee!

Mr. BLAINE. There was an amendment which I submitted. Mr. GORDON. If the Senator will allow me, I have an amendment to offer when the bill is reported to the Senate.

Mr. Blaine. I merely want to withdraw my amendment. The first section of my proposition provided for a dollar of 425 grains, and that was voted down. The second and third sections give the profits of the coinage to the Government, and they are included in the bill. The fourth section I would only offer to apply to a dollar of 425 grains, not to one of 412.5 grains. Therefore I withdraw the whole proposition.

The Presiding Officer. No further amendments being offered the bill will be reported to the Senate as amended. The bill was reported to the Senate as amended. · The Presiding Officer. Unless objection is made the question will be put on all the amendments at once. The amendments made as in Committee of f.he Whole were concurred in. Mr. GORDON. I now move to amend the bill in line 22, of section 1, after the word "dollars," by inserting the words "and there shall not be less than thirty-five million of such dollars coined in any one year." Mr. ALLISON. I submit to my friend from Georgia that it is hardly worth while to insert such a provision. I think under the bill as it is now more than $35,000,000 a year will be coined. The bill will undoubtedly be carried out in good faith by the officers of the Treasury and they will coin up to the full capacity of the mints. Mr. GORDON. Then the amendment, I will state to my friend, can do no possible hartiJ. Mr. ALLI~ON. It will not. M~. GORDON. Very well. Then I should like to have it adopted. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Georgia, [Mr. GoRDON.] The question being put, a division was called for; and the ayes were 20 and the noes 26. Mr. Merrimon. I a.sk f8r the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were not ordered. The amendment was rejected. Mr. ALLISON. I wish to make a verbal amendment to cure a suggested defect in the bill. I propose to strike out in lines 17 and 18 certain words and reinsert them in a little different form, after the word" dollars" in line 22. It is a merely a change of the language with reference to the appropriation of money nec~ary to carry out the bill. Mr. Conkling. .The Senator can do that by unanimous consent, but cannot do it otherwise. Mr. HAMLIN. It is merely transposing the language; that is all. Mr. ALLISON. And adding one or two words. I trust there will be no objection to it. Mr. EDMUNDS. Let '118 hear it reported that we may see. Mr. ALLISON. I do not think there will be any objection to it. The Presiding Officer. The amendment will be reported. The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed to strike out in lines 17 and 18 the words "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.'' and after the word "dollars" in line 22 to insert: "Aud a sum sufficient to carry out the provisions of this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not othocwise appropriated;" so as to make the clause read : And the Secretary of the T1 easory is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bnJlion, at the market price thereof, not less than two million dollars' worth per month, nor more than four million dollars' worth per month, and cause tho same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars~ and a sum sufficient to caiTy out the provision of this act is hereby appropriatea. out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Mr. EDMUNDS. What does the phrase "provision of this act" mean f If yon mean the foregoing provision for the purcha.se let us understand that, bnt there are various other provisions in the bill. Mr. ALLISON. What other provision could the appropriation affect f Mr. SARGENT. The cost of the coinage of this coin, for instance. I suppose that to be met .under the ordinary appropriation for the support of the mints. Mr. Conkling. Why not say "f.he foregoing provision T" Mr. ED~IUNDS. Say ''foregoing provision," so that it will be a mere transposition. Mr. ALLISON. Very well. I will agree to accept that, so as to read: And a sum sufficient to carry out the foregoing provision of this net ·is hereby appropriated out of any money in tho Treasury not otherwise appropriated, Mr. SARGENT. I should like to inquire of the Senator who has charge of this bill if he considers this a permanent appropriation or an annual appropriation. . Mr. EDMUNDS. · It~~ :perQJ.aJlent a:pp~opria.tion, Mr. ALLISON. I consider it an appropriation which will go on as long as this coinage continues. Mr. SARGENT. Then it is a permanent appropriation, for this measure is for all time. Mr. Conkling. As long as grass grows and silver runs. Mr. ALLISON. Yes, sir. The Presiding Officer. Is there objection to the amendment! Mr. EDMUNDS. Let it be put to a vote. I do not wish to assent to it. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Iowa, [Mr. ALLISON.] The amendment was agreed to. Mr. Merrimon. I move to strike out in line 20 before the word "million" the word "two" and insert "three," so as to read: Not less than $3,000,000 per month. Mr. Conkling. That is not in order, I submit. The Presiding Officer. The point of order is well taken. The bill baa been amended by inserting the clause in italics on the second page, and by striking out words above, and no other amend· ment to that portion of the bill is in order. · Mr. EDMUNDS. The Senator can reach his object by moving to reconsider the vote by which this amendment was agreed to. Mr. Merrimon. At the time I proposed the amendment I did not understand that the Senate had concurred in the amendments made aa in Committee of the Whole. I concede if that is true I am out of order. The Presiding Officer. The Senate baa so concurred. Mr. KERNAN. Is it in order to move an amendment at the end of the matter in the first section which was inserted in Committee of the Wholef The Presiding Officer. Such an amendment is in order. Mr. KERNAN. Before the first word in the proviso, in line 25, I move to insert: And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue the silver dollars coined by virtue of this act in exchange at par for legal-tender Treasnry notes of the denoniination of one and two dollars, when the same are presented at the office of the assistant treasurer, in the city of New York, in snms not less than $50 at any one time; and Treasury notes so received in exchange shall be c.mceled. The Presiding Officer. The Chair will state to the Sel)ator from New York that it will be in order to move to insert that language at the end of the section in the twenty-seventh line, but not at the place where he proposes to insert it. Mr. KERNAN. Very well. That will answer the same purpose. Mr. SAULSBURY. I rise to a point of order. If this amendment was reserved in committee to be offered in the Senate, it may be in order, but as it was not offered in Committee of the Whole I ask if it is in order to offer it in the Senate. Mr. KERNAN. I understand in this body we do not have to offer an amendment in committee in order to have it considered when the bill is in the Senate. The Presiding Officer. Any amendment is in order in the Senate. Mr. Conkling. Which does not displace any part of the text. Mr. KERNAN. I submit the amendment with a view to aid in the return to specie payment. We may properly authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, at the option of any one who presents these small legal-tender notes, to give in exchange for them silver dollars, and cancel the notes, and thus make the ail ver dollar a. currency in place of the one and two dollar notes. The PRESIDING OFFICE.R. The question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from New York. Mr. KERNAN. I ask for the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. SARGENT. I should like to ask the Senator from New York w by he limits this to the office of the assistant treasurer at New York. Mr. KERNAN. I drew the amendment hastily, and am quite willing to have the provision apply elsewhere. Mr. SARGENT. I suggest to the Senator to say'' presented at the offices of the assistant treasurers of the United States." Mr. KERNAN. Very well; that will be satisfactory. Mr. Ferry. I move to strike out the word" canceled" and to insert "reissued; " so aa to read : And the Treasury notes so received in exchange shaJ.l be reissued. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment of the Senator froQ:t Michigan [Mr. Ferry] to the amendment of the Senator from New York, [Mr. KER...~AN.] Mr. KERNAN. I trust the amendment to the amendment will not be adopted. If we do this at all, it should be done with a view of coming back to specie payments and not to have t.he notes reissued. Mr. Ferry. If this silver money is to be at par I cannot see how there can be any objection to the greenbacks being reissued. The object of the Senator from New York is to curtail the volume of greenbacks now in circulation. If they are at par, why not have them as the basis of the currency just aa well then as now, and they are better if they are at par. Therefore! I hope the notes will be reissued. Mr. KERNAN. My object is that we shall begin to get back to a specie basis. I think we had better give the people holding small notes this dollar if they wish it, at least it is at tbeir option, and give them the silver dollar and not bave this .P~per currency" forever out. The Presiding Officer. The question is on the amendment to the amendment. Several SENATORS. Let it be reported. The Presiding Officer. The amendment will be reported. The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed in the amendment of Mr. KERNAN to strike out the word" canceled" and insert" reissued;" so as to read: And the Treasnry notes so received in exchange shall be reissued. The Presiding Officer put the question upon the amendment · to the amendment and declared that the noes appeared to prevail. Mr. Ferry. I ask for a division, Mr. President. Mr. JONES, of Nevad~. Let the amendment be read. The Presiding Officer. Senators in favor of the amendment to the amendment will rise and stand until they are counted. Mr. PADDOCK. The amendment of the Senator from .Michigan is a requirement absolutely that the notes shall be reissued. If he proposes to make such an arrangement, I suggest that it should be within the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Ferry. That would be done. The amendment only p110vides for the reissue. Of course they will not be reissued without an equivalent. Mr. BLAINE. Would not the Senator reach the same ol)ject by defeating the amendment to which he has offered his amendment T Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I ask that the amendment be read. The Presiding Officer. Debate is out of order while the Senate is dividing. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I asked before the call that the amendment be read. Mr. HAMLIN. I object to the reading. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Nevada not having made the request until after the division was being taken, the amendment cannot now be read. The result of the division was announced-ayes 38, noes 20. Mr. KERNAN and Mr. EDMUNDS called for the yeas and nays; and they were ordered. Mr. EDMUNDS. Now I rise t~ debate the question. I should like to have the thing read, which seems to be impossible. I think we can do it now. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I object to the reading now. Mr. EDMUNDS. I ask that it be read. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Vermoqt is entitled to have the amendment read. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I object to the reading. I tried to have it read but could not have it done, and I object now to the reading. The Presiding Officer. The Chair overrules the objection. Mr. JO:NES, of Nevada. I should like to ask the Chair why the objection is overruled in this case. The Presiding Officer. The Chair will inform the Senator-- Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I a.sked before the division was taken to have the amendment read and my request was denied. The Presiding Officer. 'l'he Chait· will inform the Senator that in t.he judgment of the Chair the Senator is mistaken as to the time he made the req nest. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. I made the request before a single Senator rose in response to the call for a division. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Nevada will permit the Chair to complete his statement without interruption. The division began. Several Senators had risen on one side when a brief colloquy, which wa.s out of order but not objected to, took place between the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. PADDOCK] and the Senator from Michigan, [Mr. Ferry.] After that colloquy began the Senator from Nevada made his demand. He was misled in thinking that the division had not begun because of that colloquy, in the opinion of the Chair. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. The Senator from Nevada does not often need information aa to what is read at the desk. It is about the first time he ever made a request of that kind; but the Senator from Nevada would like when he does make such a request to have it complied with. He asked, before a Senator rose upon the division, that the amendment should be read, but an objection to the reading made the demand out of order; yet now he finds that it is in order when a request is made that the amendment shall be read, to which the Senator from Nevada objects. The Presiding Officer. The Chafr overrules the objection. Mr. PAD DOCK. I desire to state within my personal knowledge that when the Senator from Nevada made his request Senators were upon the floor standing to be counLed . . Mr. JONES, of Nevada. It frequently occurs that a gentleman is mistaken in his personal knowledge. I have known the gentJeman from Nebraska himself to be mistaken in that respect. Mr. PADDOCK. Then it is ~he personal knowledge of one Senator against the personal knowledge of another Senator. The Presiding Officer. The Chair would regret exceedingly to have been in the least degre~ discourteous to the Senator from Nevada; and if any discourtesy occurred it was in consequence of a misunderstanding of the fact. · Mr. INGALLS. I understand any Senator has the right to object to the Teading of a paper, and if such objection is made it must be decided by the Senate without debate, under the rules. I ( I I 1878. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 1109 Mr. HAMLIN. After it has been once read. Mr. INGALLS. The Chair bas no right to overrule the objection made by the Senator from Nevada, but the question should be submitted to the Senate under the rule. The Presiding Officer. The Chair understands that the rule applies to the reading of papers, but not to the reading of matter to be voted on by the Senate. Mr. INGALLS. I should like to have the rule read. The Presiding Officer. As a matter of right any Senator may require the reading of any amendment or other proposition upon which a. vote is to be taken once before any vote be taken. Mr. PAD DOCK. This was not a. document to be read, but a. proposition to be voted upon. The Presiding Officer. So t.he Chair understands, and the Chair rules that the Senator from Vermont who now requests the reading is entitled to have it read. Any Senator of course can appeal from the ruling of the Chair. Mr. Conkling. Rising to a point of order, I beg to make an inquiry. This paper has been read three times on the call of Senators. When the Senator from Nevada entirely in order as I understand, if the Senator f1·om Vermont is in order now, called for the reading of this paper, he was encountered by an objection made by the Senll>tor from Maine, and as I understood, the Chair, at least silently, acquiesced in the validity of that objection. Now, as one member of the Senate I want to inquire how many times a single Senator can have a paper read without a vote of the Senate, even if it is a paper in judgment before the Senate f The Presiding Officer. The Cha,ir understands the practice to be that before every vote, as for instance if there be a division called, or an order for the yeas and nays, whenever a vote is about to be taken, any single Senator bas a right to have the bill or the proposition in the nature of an amendment read, and that reading is a simple mode of stating to the Senate the proposition upon whicn it is about to vote. The Senator from Nevada bad a perfect right to have the matter read, if, as he understands he did, (and the Chair certainly does not wish to put his own recollection against that of any Senator,) he made the request before the division had commenced. The Chair understood that the division had commenced whf:ln the honorable Senator from Nevada made his request, and sustained the objection solely npon that ground. But the Chair understands that the reading of a bill or an amendment moved when a. vote is about to be taken on it is a simple mode of stating to the body the question, and that such a reading may be called for whenever any vote is to be ta,ken. Mr. Conkling. I have no doubt the Chair is entirely right. I do not wish to be understood as takin~ issue with the Chair; but I do insist that when as in this case three tunes over the amendment bad been read upon the request of Senators coming into the Chamber who happened not to be here when the paper had been read, the Senator from Nevada had a right to do a.A be bas done now, and that is to object to the further reading of the paper i and then I conceive, objection being made, the Chair bas no right to nave it read unless by a vote of the Senate. You must put an end to it somewherb, and if it can be read four times it can be read four-score times. Mr. PAD DOCK. If any motion is required in order to have the paper read-- Mr. EDMUNDS. The Chair bas overruled the objection; let us have the thing read, unless somebody appeals. The Presiding Officer The Chair rules that the Senator requesting it is entitled to have the paper read. Mr. DORSEY. I supposed I had the floor. The PRESIDl~G OFFICER. The Chair supposes the Senator from Arkansas to urise to a point of order; he will see for what purpose. Mr. DORSEY. I rose some time ago to sustain what the Senator from Nevada said. He came in from the cloak-room, and before anybody had risen at all, and before a division had been called for, he called the attention of the Chair two or three times to the fact that he desired to have the amendment read. He then passed through here [indicating] and stepped over there, and asked again that the amendment be read, and at that time the division had begun, and some Senators had risen when the Senator from Maine [Mr. HAMLIN] objected to the reading. The Senator from Nevada was quite right in stating that he asked to have the amendment read before any division whatever was commenced. The Presiding Officer. The request to which the Senator from Arkansa-s alludes, which he says was made before the division, did not reach the ear of the Chair. Mr. DORSEY. That does not change the fact, if the Chair please. The Senators all around me bear witness to the truth of what I have said. The Presiding Officer. It makes the rule of parliamentary Jaw in reference to the fact. The Secretary will read the proposition. The CHIEF CLERK. It iB proposed to insert at the end of the first section of the bill : And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue the silver dollars, coined by virtue of this act, in exchange at par for legal.tender Treasurv notes of the denominations of one and two dollal'8 when the same are presented at the office of the assistant treasurer in the city of New York in sums not less than $50 at any one time; and Treasury notes so received in exchange sha.ll be canceled. It is moved to amend the awendment by striking out the last word, "canceled " and inserting "reissued." Mr. KERNAN. On the suggestion of the Senator from California, I have agreed to insert the words "any assistant treasurer of the United States." :Mr. SARGENT. At the office of any assistant treasurer of the United States. Mr. ALLISON. Suppose they have only one and two dollar notes. Mr. KERNAN. They will not present them, I suppose. Mr. BLAINE. The real point of this would be reached, I suppose, just as well if the Senator from Michigan did not move his amendment, but voted against the original amendment. The point involved is the abolition of one and two dollar bills. I do not believe the people of the United States will ever agree to that, specie payment or no specie payment, silver or go1d. They want the one and t.wo dollar bills. They are a great convenience, and I do not believe they will ever be dispensed. with. Mr. WALLACE. There is another point, which is that the exchange of the silver dollars into legal-tender notes will enable the silver dollars to ~et into circulation, and then the small notes may be again reissued. Perhaps that is as desirable as the other thin~. .Mr. BLAINE. You can get the silver dollars into circulation by making them exchangeable for any notes, tens, twenties, fifties, or one hundreds. Mr. KERNAN. In answer to the suggestion of the Senator from Maine, I will say that if the people prefer the one and two dollar notes, they will not exchange them. The exchange is not obligatory; but is merely at their option. Mr. BLAINE. But those that are exchanged will be retired t Mr. KERNAN. Certainly. Mr. BLAINE. I am opposed to retiring any of these bills. Mr. Ferry. · I do not wish it lost sight of-- . Mr. EDMUNDS. Has not the Senator from Michigan spoken once on this amendment f The Presiding Officer. The Senator has- not spoken five minutes. Mr. Ferry. I want to reply to the Senator from Maine by saying that there is one met.hod by which the greenbackscan be retired, and that is upon the issue of nati.;nal-bank notes. Here is a proposition to add to that retirement of the United States notes, the greenbacks as they are called. I wish the vote of the Senate, and the yeas and nays have been ordered, upon the question whether those notes, when retired, shall ue again issued or not. The proposition now is to reissue them, and not further retire such greenbacks in circulation. Mr. SARGENT. We have b~n told all along that the object of the silver-dollar currency was to furnish the country with a cheap and convenient money. It seems to me that that promise or that assertion should be carried out. The greenback was issued in the form of a. promise of the United States to pay one dollar, and two dollars, and ten dollars, &c. By payment of a silver dollar for it, we are told that this promise is fulfilled. I am willing to concede it. The promise then being fulfilled, the dollar being paid, it being redeemed,! should like to inquire of my friends who are strict constructionists of the Constitution what power there is to reissue it! Several SENATORS. There is none. Mr. SARGENT. There is no power whatever to reissue it and make it continue a. legal tender. It has performed its full functions, it has been completely canceled by the fulfillment of the promise. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. How did it get out in the first place f Mr. SARGENT. In a condition of war t-o meet a great emergency, and it was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States for that reason. Mr. Ferry. I should like to ask the Senator from California if a portion of the $44,000 000 at one time retired was not reissued f Mr. SARGENT. I do not think they ever should have been reissued. Mr. Ferry. But the fact exists that they were reissued. Mr. SARGENT. The promise never has been 'kept in any instance so far as the greenbacks are concerned. Now, there is a provision made by which it shall be kept by a. dollar in silver coin being put in the place of it. That brings the notes into the Treasury of the United States in entire fulfillment of the contract, and if they were ever constitutionally issued, which perhaps will not be denied by those who are in favor of their reissue, they were issued to float nntilsuch time as the promise was fulfilled. Certainly the payment of them in coin fulfills that promise and their constitutional existence ceases. :Mr. BAILEY. Will the Senator from California permit me to interrupt him f Mr. SARGENT. I only have five minutes, and I want to make another point.

Mr. Bailey. I wish to interrupt the Senator precisely on the point he is now on. I do not propose to make a speech. Suppose, instead of being redeemed, the Government should simply exchange the silver for them ?

Mr. SARGENT. That is simply a change of phrases. It amounts to the same thing. The practical effect is they are redeemed and have discharged their functions. As to the question of convenience, it is not proposed by this bill certainly to abolish the issue of one~dollar and two-dollar notes. They will still circulate among the people, and instead of being re· 1'110 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 15, q uired to redeem tl1em by legal-t(lnder notes of large denomination, tbey can be redeemed by silver coin, so that all the purposes of finance will be gained and there is not any object whatever in reissuiu~ r greenbacks except for the veriest purposes of inflation. I say it is unconstitutional after the Government has fulfilled th~ promise and paid thorn in coin, and it is simply inflation. It is a departure from the purpose we have insisted upon from the start in all the legislation upon this subject to give the people a wholesome currency, It is simply to drown the country in a flood of unnecessary money.

Mr. Jones, of Nevada. When the Government of the United States pays a silver dollar for a greenback it does not give for it nearly as much value as when the Government gave the services of the Senator from California as a Senator on this floor. It has redeemed a great many dollars in greenbacks with the valuable services of that gentleman, and with the valuable services of the gentleman in the chair, and of the judges of the Supreme Court. It is no more a redemption to give a silver dollar for a greenback. than to give anything else for it. The Government has been redeeming them for fifteen years all the time, and what is a most astonishing thing everybody wants to get them. Almost everybody wants to redeem them. I have never found anybody who did not want to redeem a greenback. There were only three million men in this country when we achieved our independence, and there are more people now than there were at the time this country fought for its liberties who are wandering about the country hunting for the chance to redeem some of them, waiting and watching for a chance to redeem a greenback.

1\fr. OGLESBY. Especially a one-dollar greenback. Mr. JONES, of Nevada. A one-dollar greenback is what they want to redeem above all things, and ii they could redeem a twodollar legal-tender greenback it would make them entirely happy. Mr. Conkling. To redeem them T Mr. JONES, of Nevada. Yes, and they want to give a whole day's work to redeem the greenback. They tell us in the West of their condition. I had a letter the other day from one of them. Ho says : My God, it costs me now thirty cents to get a pound of ho~'s meat. D9 not make the dollar any laraer. We never have known in this part of the country what, greenbacks were tbat they pro:{losed to redeem, but everybody in the country is anxious and waiting and watching t~ get them. Why, Mr. President, l never heard of such a thing as this before. Mr. SARGENT. .kre they more anxious for the greenbP .. ck than they are for the silver dollar ?

Mr. Jones, of Nevada. They are anxious for any kind of a dollar. This gentleman says "some of them want us to make a dollar so large that nobody who has it will take it out of his pocket." It stays there and corrodes; it stagnates; no man will spend it; he knows he can buy more for it in six months from now, and lets it lie there. It is like an arctic winter coming in and stagnating all the streams and all the waters of the country. Money alone is going up. Money alone is advancing in value. Nobody wants to spend a cent, and yet men wonder that business does not revive. They wonder that laborers are not employed. They wonder that there is a hundred million dollars of spare money in the banks of New York. Who is going to spend his money and who is going to hire labor when he knows that the product of that labor in six months or two months from now will not bring him the money that he has paid for it ? It simply means that labor is being crucified and those who hold evidences of indebtedness are being enriched. It means that the people of the country are idle because those who have money will not employ labor or buy property or do anything else with it except hoard it.

Talk to me about redeeming a greenback ! There are five millions of idle laborers in this country anxious to redeem them with their labor, and that is the only way to redeem money. Your boot-blacks, your boarding-boose-masters, the people who have nothing, everywhere want to redeem this money. They are anxious to redeem it, and yet the Senator from California says that the Government has given a silver dollar and so the greenback is to be redeemed.

Mr. SARGENT. What else does it mean when the Government says we will pay a dollar for that piece of paper t Mr. JONES, of Nevada. It :has paid it when it gave the valuable services of the Senator from California to the Government. Mr. SARGEJ..~T. Gave my services to the Government!

Mr. Jones, of Nevada. The Government gave it when you were elected, and that paid it. That is what it pays it with. It is paid for the services the Government renders. The Government gave the services of my colleagues, and gave the services of the courts, and gave all the services that the Government performs, and it is redeeming this money all the time, and it needs no other redemption. The people of this country do not call for any other redemption, they do not want any other redemption, and I hope that no other redemption will be had.

Mr. Jones, of Nevada. I have a tolerably lively imagination, but I never thought of a printing press. I know nothing of a printing press, and said nothing of a printing press. I simply said that the money that was in existence when the bargain had been made should not now be destroyed; that there were too many peoplo in this country who wanted to redeem the greenbacks with their labor. I do not think I said anything about a printing press. If I did, I desire to take it back.

So the amendment to the amendment was agreed to.

The Presiding Officer. The question recurs on the amendment proposed by the Senator from New York, as amended, upon which the yeas and nays have been oruered. 1\fr. EDMUNDS. The adoption of this amendment as amended is one definite step in the direct repeal of the existing law providing for the resumption of specie payments and the retirement of the legal· tender notes of the U~ted States, and the Senate ought to vote upon that question with its eyes wide open and not be tolfl hereafter that it did not understand what it was about. I wish to put in my humb1e and very brief protest against this act of folly which human experience has proved in other nations as well as our own, and in our own over and over again in our fathers' times, in the confederacy in our own times, that inflation is only the intoxicating draught that drives us mad and kills us at la.st.

Mr. Ferry.  The Senator from Vermont has alluded to the resumption act.  I beg the indulgence of the Senate for one moment to state that I know somethins specially of that act because I was a member of the committee that helped frame it.  I am not divulging anything that occurred then, because it occurred on the floor of the Senate when the question came up what should be done with the greenbacks under the word "redeemed," whether they were to be canceled or not.  That senators differed upon it was stated, and the committee did not decide the question;  but when the bill was reported to the Senate, the then Senator Schurz, now Secretary of the Interior, put the question to the chairman of the Committee on Finance who made the report, What will be the construction of the word "redeemed" ?  Will the United States notes be canceled under that word "redeemed" ?  And the then Senator from Ohio, now Secretary of the Treasury, said that the committee were unable to determine, but that that question was left to future legislation.  Now the opportune moment has occured to-night, when the Senate has pronounced by a large majority that no more contraction of the greenbacks shall take place in the judgment of the Senate;  and for that reason and that alone I offered the amendment for the purpose of settling the question;  and this is the very future legislation to which the then Senator from Ohio alluded;  and the Senate has decided, as far as this branch of the Government is concerned, that there shall be no more contraction of the greenbacks in the manner proposed.

Mr. KERN AN. Mr. President, I think that the amendment adopted by the Senate certainly frustrates what I suppose would be beneficial in the original amendment, because I am in favor of redeeming in coin these pt·omises and I am opposed to putting them in circulation after they are redeemed. If it does mean, as the gentleman says, and it is the sense of the Senate that there shall be no redemption to free the country from this currency, I make no complaint. I offered the original amendment with a view to have a step in the other direction. Mr. EDMUNDS. The Senator from Michigan is in my opinion-Mr. BOOTH. I rise to a point of order. Mr. EDMUNDS. I hope the point of order will not be taken ont of my time. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from California will state llis point of order. Mr. BOOTH. My point of order is that the Senator from Vermont has addressed the Senate once upon this question. Mr. EDMUNDS. That is true, but the point of order has been ·overruled once made in the same way. I have not occupied my five minutes nor a quarter of the time. Mr. BOOTH. I make the point of order that the Senator has no right to speak more than once on this question. Am I right or wrong f The Presiding Officer. The Chair understands that under the rule adopted for our government this evening no Senator can speak over five minutes on any one question. lli. BOOTH. Is he entitled to speak as often as he pleasesf The Presiding Officer. Underthegeneralruleofthe Senate any Senator is prohibited from speaking more than twice on the same subject. As the Senator from Vermont has but two minutes of his time remainin~ perhaps the Senator from California will hardly regard the questiOn of order as very important. Mr. EDMUNDS. Now do my two minutes begin f The PRESIDll~G OFFICER. Yes, sir. Mr. EDMUNDS. I wish to state simply upon this open and manifest step to go backward instead of forward, that the Senator from Michigan is vastly mistaken in what he states as to what took place in the Senate, according to my recollection. The Senator from Ohio did not state anything of the kind, that that was to be left to future legislation. He said it was to be left to the due construction of the law as it was passed; but what that construction was there were no . two lawyers or statesmen in the committee or anywhere else who differed at all. Now my time is up, sir.· Mr. JONES, of Nevada. Mr. President, I voted on this question certainly with the idea that the Senator from New York had introduced this proposition for the purpose of testing it. No one on the other side had introduced such a proposition, and I supposed that he desired to make a test concerning any more contraction of the currency. I am certain he would not have introduced it if it was not for that purpose. I could see no other, and why he should make any complaint now that the Senate has decided it I am unable to see. So far as the remarks of the Secretary of the Treasury are concerned tha.t have just been quoted by the Senator from Vermont, whether correctly or not I will not say, as I n-qderatood it the Secretary of the Treasury said that the Senate did not understand it, and he himself, aa chairman of the Finance Committee, did not understand it, and that the Finance Committee itself did not understand it, and that the House of Representatives did not understand it, and last of all that the people of the country knew 110thing whateyer about jt, I suppose that on account of the perfect darkness that had been shed upon the subject the Senator from New York desired to have an expression of opinion on the part of the Senate, and having had it I supposed he would be satisfied, as I am. Mr . .ALLISON. Mr. President- Yr. KERN AN. Allow me one moment. Mr. ALLISON. I will yield a moment. Mr. KERNAN. I certainly made no complaint of the vote. I understood it to be- Mr. BOOTH. I raise the point of order. Mr. KERNAN. Because giving a silver dollar for a greenback dollar does not contract the volume of currency; it leaves it just as it was. Mr . .ALLISON. I cannot yield any further to my friend from New York. Mr. CHAFFEE. I object to all this. Mr. ALLISON. Mr. President, it seems now, at twenty minutes of five o'clock in the morning, by the action of the Senator from New York we have had thrust upon this bill not only the question of the remonetization of silver, but the whole question of the resumption of specie payments and the volume of the paper circulating medium. If that question is to be opened up again and added to this bill, I think the motion of my friend ·from Vermont [Mr. MoRRILL] would be quite opportune, namely, that this bill should take effect on the 1st of July, 1878, because we shall not probably finish it until about that time. Therefore I beg tlle friends of this bill not to lumber it up with questions of paper money. Let us settle the silver question now and the question of paper issues afterward. Several SENATORS. Let us have a vote. The Presiding Officer. The ·question is on the amendment, as amended, on which the yeas and nays have been ordered. Mr. KERNAN. I did not understand that they were ordered. Mr. CHAFFEE. I object to the Senator from New York speaking further. The Presiding Officer. The Chair understands ~he yeas and nays were ordered on the amendment of the Senator from New York before the amendment of the Senator. from Michigan was moved. Mr. KERNAN. Very well. The Secretary proceeded to call the rolL Mr. EDMUNDS, (when his name was called.) I am paired on these questions generally with the Senator from Ohio, [Ur. THURMAN,] as I have stated. I should certainly vote against this; I am not authoriied to say that the Senator from Ohio would vote for it; but I think it right to him to withhold my vote, as I do not know how he would vote. The result was announced-yeas 10, nays 54; as follows: YEA&-10. Bailey, Ferry, Merrimon, Cockrell, Jones of Nevada, Oglesby-, Coke, McCreery, Paddock, NAYS-54. .Allison, Christiancy I In~alls, Anthony, Conkling, Jo nston. Armstrong, Conover, Jones of Florida, Barnum, Davis of illinois, Kellogg, Bayard, Davis of West Va., Kernan, .Beck, Dawes, Kirkwood, Blaine, Dol'!ley, McDonald, Booth, Eustis, MoMillan, Broce, Garland, McPherson, Burnside, Grover, Matthews, Butler, Hamlin, Maxey, Cameron of Pa., Hereford, Mitchell, Cameron of Wis., Hoar, Morgan, Chaffee, Howe, Plumb, ABSENT-12. Denni8, Gordon, Lamar, Eaton, Harris, Monill, Edmunds, Hill, Pattal'80n, Spencer. Rannolph:, Rollins, Sa~en~ · Sa ' bury, Saunders, Teller, Voorhees, Wadleigh, Wallace, Whyte, Windom, Withers. Ransom, Sharon, Thurman.

So the amendment, as amended, was rejected.

Mr. Merrimon.  I offer an amendment, to come in at the end of the first section:

And not less than thirty-six million of such dollars shall be coined annually.

Mr. Conkling.  I submit that amendment is not in order.

Mr. Merrimon.  What is the objection raised ?

Mr. Conkling.  That is not in order.

The Presiding Officer.  The Senator from New York will state the point of order.

Mr. Conkling.  It has been voted down.

Mr. Merrimon.  This amendment was not offered in the Senate.

Mr. Conkling.  This amendment was offered in Committee of the Whole and voted down.

Mr. Merrimon.  That was for thirty-five million.

Mr. Conkling.  Not by the Senator himself, but by another Senator, and that Senator was the Senator from Georgia.

Mr. Merrimon.  The Senator from Georgia offered a proposition for thirty-five million.

Mr. Conkling.  I thought this was the same.  I beg pardon.

Mr. Merrimon.  I submit that it is important this amendment should be adopted; because, as the bill now stands, the Secretary of the Treaanry is not required to have coined more than $2,000,000 a month, and I take it, from what I have heard said here on all sides, that he will not be inclined to have coined any more than the law requires him to have coined.

The Presiding Officer.  The Chair understands that the amendment is in order, and the question is on the amendment of the Senator from North Carolina.

The amendment was rejected.

The amendments were ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read a third time.

The bill was read the third time by its title.

Mr. Conkling.  Now, let us have the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. Windom.  Mr. President, at the close of this long and weary session, I can presume to say but a very few words in explanation of the vote I am about to give.  I have voted for various amendments which I thought would greatly improve the pending bill. Some of them have been agreed to, but in the main they have been defeated. We are now brought face to face with the question whether we shall have the double or the single standard.  I favor the former.  I believe in the remonetization of silver, but most deeply regret that the Senate is unwilling to make a dollar of 420 grains or at least to give to the country some assurance that if 412½ grains will not make a dollar worth one hundred cents it shall be made so by future legislation.  On this point, however, I think we may trust our successors or ourselves when it shall be demonstrated that 412½ grains is not enough to constitute a full equivalent to the gold dollar of the commercial world.

Mr. President, I am thoroughly convinced that this measure as we are about to pass it, will prove a disappointment to both friend and foe.  It is not freighted with a tithe of the blessings anticipated by its advocates, nor of the evils prophesied by its enemies.  It is in my judgment neither the panacea for all our financial troubles, nor a Pandora's box from which should spring unnumbered and immeaurable ills.  I fear it will not give life and vigor to our prostrate industries, nor employment and food to the unemployed and hungry.  But I am hopeful it will neither tarnish our national honor, nor further paralyze our national energies.

In my judgment the most important question is how can we most speedily dispose of the question in such way as will give the country financial rest and quiet.  I firmly believe that had this silver agitation never occurred, our greenback and bank-note currency would have been at par with gold to-day, and that the hoarded gold in the country would by this time have been unlocked and flowing freely into the channels of business. But this could not be.  The question has assumed such importance before the American people that, in my judgment, there can be but one result.  The measure must and will be tried.  The people are suffering from an almost unprecedented prostration of business.  The unemployed and suffering poor are counted by hundreds of thousands, if not by millions.  To millions more the past is full of sorrow and the future well-nigh hopeless.  They have been told that by the demonetization of silver one-half the metallic money of the country was stricken down, and hence all their woes;  that this act was done in the interest of capital for the purpose of enhancing its power and value by depressing labor and all other property;  that it was accomplished by a conspiracy of capitalists, and clandestinely carried through Congress.  All of these charges have been most triumphantly refuted, but they continue to be repeated all the same.

From the causes just mentioned and many others a public sentiment has been created which will only be satisfied with the trial of the thing it demands.  It will continue to demand this measure or something like it until it has been fairly tested and, as I fear, "found wanting."

If this bill be defeated now, the question will be carried into the fall elections, and for another year more doubt and uncertainty will hang over our own financial affairs, causing even wider distress and ruin than we have already expenenced. I can see no evils even in the House bill, at all comparable to those which would follow from another year of agitation. For myself, I do not intend that any act of mine shall contribute to such deplorable results.  It is evident that the bill will pass the Senate by an overwhelming majority.  If it shall have a two-thirds vote the whole country will regard the question as settled for the present at least, and will at once begin to adjust its business to the new order of things.

With no very sanguine expectations as to the measure itself in its present form, but hoping that I may contribute something toward the settlement of this question, I shall vote for the bill.

Mr. Booth.  Mr. President, after the very able argument of the Senator from Minnesota in favor of this bill, I think it ought to receive a unammous vote.

The Presiding Officer. The question is on the passage of the bill, on which the yeas and nays have been ordered;

The Secretary proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. Butler, (when his name was called.) On the main question I am paired with my colleague, [Mr. Patterson.] If he were here he would vote "yea" and I should vote "nay."

Mr. Gordon, (when Mr. Hill's name was called.) I wish to state that my colleague [Mr. Hill] is paired with the absent Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. Harris.]  My colleague, if here, would vote "nay."

Mr. Bailey.  In that connection I would state that if my colleague [Mr. Harris] were here he would vote "yea."  I wish to state that he has been confined for some days to a bed of sickness and is unable to be here.

Mr. Merrimon, (when Mr. Ransom's name was called.) I wish to state that my colleague [Mr. Ransom] is too ill to-night to be here. He had to leave the Chamber. If present, he would vote "yea."

The result was announced--- yeas 48, nays 21;  as follows:

Yeas--- Allison, Armstrong, Bailey, Beck, Booth, Bruce, Cameron of Pa., Cameron of Wis., Chaffee, Cockrell, Coke, Conover, Davis of Illinois, Davis of W.Va., Dennis, Dorsey, Eustis, Ferry, Garland, Gordon, Grover, Hereford, Howe, Ingalls, Johnston, Jones of Florida, Jones of Nevada, Kellog, Kirkwood, McCreery, McDonald, McMillan, Matthews, Maxey, Merrimon, Morgan, Oglesby, Paddock, Plumb, Saulsbury, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Thurman, Voorhees, Wallace, Windom, Whithers.

Nays--- Anthony, Barnum, Bayard, Blaine, Burnside, Christiancy, Roscoe Conkling, Dawes, Edmunds, Hamlin, Hoar, Kernan, Lamar, McPherson, Mitchell, Morrill, Randolph, Rollins, Sargent, Wadleigh, Whyte.

Absent--- Buttler, Eaton, Harris, Hill, Patterson, Ransom, Sharon.

So the bill was passed.

Mr. Allison.  I move to amend the title of the bill by striking out the word "free;"  so as to make it correspond to the amendments in the body of the bill.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. Conover.  I move that the Senate adjourn.

The motion was agreed to;  and (at four o'clock and fifty-eight minutes a.m., Saturday, February 16,) the Senate adjourned.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That there shall be coined, at the several mints of the United States, silver dollars of the weight of four hundred and twelve and a half (412½) grains Troy of standard silver, as provided in the act of January eighteenth, eighteen hundred thirty-seven, on which shall be the devices and superscriptions provided by said act;  which coins together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States, of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract.  And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than two million dollars worth per month, nor more than four million dollars worth per month, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars;  and a sum sufficient to carry out the foregoing provision of this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.  And any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing laws relative to the subsidiary coinage:  Provided, That the amount of money at any one time invested in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting coin, shall not exceed five million dollars:  And provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the payment in silver of certificates of deposit issued under the provisions of section two hundred and fifty-four of the Revised Statutes.

Sec. 2.  That immediately after the passage of this act, the President shall invite the governments of the countries composing the Latin Union, so-called, and of such other European nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver, for the purpose of establishing, internationally, the use of bi-metallic money, and securing fixity of relative value between those metals;  such conference to be held at such place, in Europe or in the United States, at such time within six months, as may be mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments joining in the same, whenever the governments so invited, or any three of them, shall have signified their willingness to unite in the same.

The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint three commissioners, who shall attend such conference on behalf of the United States, and shall report the doings thereof to the President, who shall transmit the same to Congress.

Said commissioners shall each receive the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars and their reasonable expenses, to be approved by the Secretary of State;  and the amount necessary to pay such compensation and expenses is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Sec. 3.  That any holder of the coin authorized by this act may deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than ten dollars, and receive therefor certificates of not less than ten dollars each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin deposited for or reprerenting the certificates shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and, when so received, may be reissued.

Sec. 4.  All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

Samuel J. Randall
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

W.A. Wheeler
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate

The President of the United States having returned to the House of Representatives, in which it originated the bill, entitled "An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore its legal-tender character," with his objections thereto;  the House of Representatives proceeded in pursuance of the Constitution to reconsider the same;  and

Resolved, That the said bill pass, two thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.

Attest:
Geo. M Adams Clerk
by Green Adams Chief Clerk

The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore its legal-tender character," returned to the House of Representatives by the President of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate with the message of the President returning the bill;

Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeing to pass the same.

Attest:
George Congdon Gorham [1832-1909, N.Y. R.] Secretary of the Senate