House of Representatives.

Treasury Note Bill.

The Speaker stated the question in order to be the consideration of the amendments of the Senate to House bill No. 240, to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States;  on which the main question had been ordered.

Mr. Stevens.  I ask the unanimous consent of the House to repeat the amendment which I offered yesterday, after the word "interest," in the seventh amendment of the Senate.  It is necessary, in order to make the bill homogeneous.

Mr. Roscoe Conkling.  I object.

Mr. Stevens.  If allowed to remain as it now is, the bill will be incongruous.

Mr. Roscoe Conkling.  If the gentleman will permit me to state the reason of my objection, and I find I am wrong, I will then withdraw it.

Mr. Stevens.  The gentleman is entitled to make his objection.

Mr. Roscoe Conkling.  I think the object of the amendment is to defeat the interest clause.

Mr. Stevens.  I understand that the gentleman from Massachusetts desires to submit some remarks on this subject, and I yield to him for that purpose.

The Speaker.  The chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means is entitled to an hour under the rules to close the debate;  and if there be no objection, he can yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. Hooper.  I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, with the present large expenditures of the Government, and while the banks throughout the country are acting under a suspension of specie payments, it is an absurdity to insist on the strict enforcement of the existing laws, which require all Government receipts and payments to be made in coin.  It is absurd, in my opinion, because it is impossible;  and it is also absurd because it is useless.  What private corporations or individuals in this country receive and pay coin in the conduct of their business ?  There are none.  Nearly all the ordinary receipts and payments throughout the country are made in bank notes, bank checks, or credit in some other form;  and coin is only required occasionally for a very small per cent. of those receipts and payments, which in amount extend, in the course of a single year, to thousands of millions of dollars.

The object of this Treasury note bill is to furnish a substantial and uniform currency that will aid the Government and enable it to receive its dues and make its payments, like all others, with credits.  This bill declares that, for all dues to the Government and for all payments by the Government, these notes shall be received "the same as coin."  One way to make them "the same as coin" would be to make them at all times convertible into coin.  Another is to use them, so far as possible, for all the purposes for which coin is used;  and in this latter mode their value will be the same as coin, unless the amount that is issued exceeds the amount needed for such uses.

At the end of twelve months from this time the receipts of the Government and the payments by the Government, amounting to many hundred millions of dollars, will be found to be nearly equal;  that is, the Government during that time will have received about the same amount that it will have paid;  and if these "Government notes" are, in part, paid out by the Government, as it is proposed they shall be, in anticipation of the receipts for taxes and loans, they must all come back again in the course of the year, when those taxes and loans are paid for.  The people may find a portion of these notes more convenient for other uses, and may therefore prefer to make their payments to the Government partly in coin.  Unless, therefore, the Government is to be broken down, by the refusal to furnish the means in the form of taxes and loans to carry it on, these notes cannot depreciate to any extent, because they will be needed, and probably a large amount of coin in addition, to pay into the Treasury for the loans and taxes;  they will be received by the Government the same as coin, and therefore must be for this purpose and all others the equivalent of coin, unless they are imprudently issued in excess of the requirements for such purposes.

I am opposed to this amendment of the Senate which requires the interest on Government notes and bonds to be absolutely paid in coin, because its effect will be to depreciate these notes as compared with coin, by declaring them in advance to be so depreciated.  It creates a necessity for the Government to obtain a large amount of coin by purchase, if it is not received in payment of taxes and loans, which hold out an inducement to speculate on the necessity of the Government, by collecting and hoarding the coin against the time that it will be required by the Government to pay its interest;  and because it is an unnecessary inconvenience to require the whole amount of the interest to be paid in coin, when only the small amount is necessary that is to be remitted to foreign holders of bonds;  which could easily be obtained at small cost, if the effect of the issue of the Government notes should be what the friends of this bill expect.

It appears to me the opponents of the bill, if their arguments have any force, prove too much.  I am not surprised that members who openly avow themselves as opponents of the Administration should object to a measure that is recommended as a necessity by the Administration to which they are opposed.  But I was astonished yesterday to hear my friend from Vermont express his want of confidence and his distrust, and denounce those notes, issued by the Government, as the "meanest paper trash."  Others, arguing to the same effect, have expressed the opinion that they were no better than the notes that have been is sued by the so-called confederate government, and have predicted that, like those notes, they would depreciate to thirty, forty, and fifty per cent. discount.  This has gone forth to the country as the deliberate and grave conviction of my friend from Vermont, and my friend from New York, and others who have voted with them on this question.

I entertain an entirely different opinion of the credit and responsibility of the Government, and of the value of any obligations it may see fit to issue, under any Administration, and particularly so under its present Republican Administration.  The friends of this measure favor it as fraught with benefit to the country in its present condition.  They have advocated the issue of these notes as useful to the Government in relieving its temporary necessities, and essential to the people as a means of supplying them with a substantial currency in which to pay the proposed taxes and the loans that will be required.

As I said before;  if the opponents of this bill have proved anything they have proved too much in reference to the question now before the House, which is to make a distinction in favor of the holders of Government securities, and pay what may be due to them in coined money, while all other creditors of the Government shall be paid in what they have denounced to the country from the high places they occupy here as the meanest paper trash.

Mr. Lovejoy.  How does the gentleman propose to supply the means to the people to pay these taxes ?  He does not mean to give them to the people.  I suppose, therefore, the people will have to get them in exchange for those notes.  If those notes are as good as gold, why, then, is there a necessity for what is proposed ?

Mr. Hooper.  There is not enough of gold.  The returns of the banks will show that there are about sixty-two millions of dollars in gold in their possession and under their control.  I know of no way by which the Government can get that, unless it takes it from the banks.

Mr. Lovejoy.  Is there not as much gold in the country as there ever has been ?

Mr. Hooper.  The demands of the Government are much larger than they ever have been in any previous year.

I now yield the floor, again thanking the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his courtesy.

Mr. Stevens.
---[this is the speech, often quoted in the following decades, yet never really read in full; Thaddeus is crying his crocodile tears over the fact that his legislative trickery was stopped in the Senate; Oh how he protested in 1837 that all he wanted to do was to reduce Pennsylvania's debt and to obtain the largest possible bonus from the new Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania; oh how he belittled the Democrats (December 18, 1837) who wanted to repeal the Bank's charter, ye of "Punic Faith" in "one of the loftiest, most spirit stirring, patriotic and eloquent appeals ever uttered [on behalf of a bank and permanent State debt] in the Legislative Halls of Pennsylvania."]
  Mr. Speaker, I have a very few words to say.  I approach the subject with more depression of spirits than I ever before approached any question.  No personal motive or feeling influences me.  I hope not, at least.  I have a melancholy foreboding that we are about to consummate a cunningly devised scheme, which will carry great injury and great loss to all classes of the people throughout this Union, except one.  With my colleague, I believe that no act of legislation of this Government was ever hailed with as much delight throughout the whole length and breadth of this Union, by every class of people, without any exception, as the bill which we passed and sent to the Senate.  Congratulations from all classes—merchants, traders, manufacturers, mechanics and laborers—poured in upon us from all quarters.  The Boards of Trade from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee, approved its provisions, and urged its passage as it was.

I have a dispatch from the Chamber of Commerce of Cincinnati, sent to the Secretary of the Treasury, and by him to me, urging the speedy passage of the bill as it passed the House.  It is true there was a doleful sound came up from the caverns of bullion brokers, and from the saloons of the associated banks.  Their cashiers and agents were soon on the ground, and persuaded the Senate, with but little deliberation, to mangle and destroy what it had cost the House months to digest, consider and pass.  They fell upon the bill in hot haste, and so disfigured and deformed it, that its very father would not know it.  [Laughter.]  Instead of being a beneficent and invigorating measure ;  it is now positively mischievous.  It has all the bad qualities which its enemies charged on the original bill, and none of its benefits.  It now creates money, and by its very terms declares it a depreciated currency.  It makes two classes of money — one for the banks and brokers, and another for the people.  It discriminates between the rights of different classes of creditors, allowing the rich capitalist to demand gold, and compelling the ordinary lender of money on individual security to receive notes which the Government had purposely discredited.

Let us examine the principal amendments separately, and see their effect.  The first important one (being the fifth,) makes the notes issued under the laws of July 17, a legal tender, equally with those authorized by this bill.  There can be but little wisdom in putting these two classes on an equality.  The notes of July bear seven and three-tenths per cent. interest, and are payable in three years.  This gives them a sufficient advantage over notes bearing no interest and payable virtually in twenty years bonds, with six per cent. interest.  Why give them this additional advantage ?  Simply because the $100,000,000 issued are all held by the associated banks, and this is their amended bill.  They would displace $100,000,000 of this money in the circulation, and render it impossible to use any considerable amount of these United States notes as a currency.  These notes have served their purpose.  Why allow them to block up the market against further relief to the Government ?

The banks took $50,000,000 of six per cent. bonds, and shaved the Government $5,500,000 on them, and now ask to shave the Government fifteen or twenty per cent. half yearly, to pay themselves the interest on these very bonds.  They paid for the $50,000,000 in demand notes, not specie, and now demand the specie for them.  Yet gentlemen talk about our making other loans in these times.  They are crazy or sleeping, one or the other, I do not know which.

When this question was discussed before, the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Crittenden) asked me whether it was the intention or expectation of the House to go on and issue more than one hundred and fifty millions of dollars of legal tender notes—a pertinent question, which I saw the whole force of at the time.  I told him that it was my expectation that no more would be issued by the Government;  that they would be received and funded in the twenty year bonds.

Mr. Lovejoy.  I ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania whether $150,000,000 of gold could not be put into circulation as well as $150,000,000 of Treasury notes ?

Mr. Stevens.  If this $150,000,000 would come out of the banker’s and miser’s hands;  but they have suspended specie payment, and would not give out a dollar.  They say pay us a discount, and then when these notes are made a legal tender we will be again in the clutches of these harpies.  I do not want to use hard names.  I suppose these men act from instinct.  If I were now to answer the question of the gentleman from Kentucky, I would not give that answer.  I do not expect one dollar of the $150,000,000 of legal tender notes ever to be invested in the twenty years bonds.  I infer from the amendment that before we adjourn $150,000,000 will be asked for, which will never be funded in those bonds, and so on, as they are needed, as no bonds will be funded until our circulation will become frightfully inflated.

The notes, by another amendment, are authorized to be invested in notes or bonds payable in two years, and bearing an interest of seven and three tenths.  One of the great objects of the bill was to induce capitalists to invest in six per cent. bonds or lose their interest, and thus to furnish a continually recurring currency by the sale of these six per cent. bonds.  This provision would effectually prevent the funding a dollar in those bonds.  They would all go in preference into seven and three tenths bonds, due in two years, when no one believes we can pay them.

But this is not the worst.  The tenth amendment provides that any holder of the United States legal tender notes, if he have $100 and upwards, shall draw five or six per cent. interest on them until he chooses to use them.  The poor who have less than $100 shall draw no interest.  It is plain that, by these two contrivances, not one dollar of these United States notes will ever be funded in six per cent. bonds.

But now comes the main clause.  All classes of people shall take these legal tender notes at par for every article of trade or contract, unless they have money enough to buy United States bonds, and then they shall be paid in gold.  Who is that favored class ?  The banks and brokers, and nobody else.  They have already $250,000,000 of State debt, and their commissioners would soon take all the rest that might be issued.

But how is this gold to be raised ?  The duties and public lands are to be paid for in United States notes, and they or bonds are to be put up at auction to get coin for these very brokers, who would furnish the coin to pay themselves, by getting twenty per cent. discount on the notes thus bought.

Now, in less than a year, taking the public debt at what my colleague makes it --I make it more-- $1,200,000,000, what will the interest be upon it at seven and three tenth per cent., for it will all center in that rate of interest ?  It will be $87,000,000, and one half of that amount, $43,500,000, must be raised every six months for the paying of this interest, and it is to be raised in coin, which nobody holds but the large capitalists.  Does anybody suppose that they are going to give that coin for such notes as we are now about to issue, at par ?  They will sell the gold for what their consciences will allow, and they will compel the Government to give anything they choose, unless the Government consents to become dishonored.  The first purchase of gold by the Government will fix the value of these notes which we issue and declare to be a legal tender.  That sale will fix their value at ten, fifteen, or twenty-five per cent. discount, and then every poor man, when he buys his beef, his pork, and his supplies, must submit to this fifteen or twenty-five per cent. discount, because you have said that that shall be the value of the very notes which you have made a legal tender to him, but not a legal tender to those who fix the value of these very notes.  Does any one believe that anybody but bankers and brokers fixes the depreciation of currency ?  So you will thus have fixed the market value of your notes at seventy-five or eighty per cent., and yet they are a legal tender to the poor of the country, while they are no legal tender to those who hold the coin of the country.

By the original bill the Secretary of the Treasury was allowed to sell these bonds at their value for lawful money -- that is, for these legal tender notes.  But now, by the provisions of this bill, after the market value has been fixed and they are depreciated, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to go into the market and sell them for coin, not at par, but at the market value therefor.  Was there ever a more convenient contrivance got up, into which blind mice run, to catch them ?  Was ever before such a machine got up for swindling the Government and making the fortunes of the gold bullionists in one single year ?

But as if this accumulated folly were not quite enough, another amendment provides that these notes, when presented in sums not less than $100, may be transferred into seven and three tenths notes payable in two years.  Parties may buy these notes at a discount and put them into notes payable in bullion at two years, at seven and three tenths interest, for that is part of the whole system.

Now, sir, does any man here believe that, not withstanding the victories we are gaining, the Government will be able to redeem these notes in two years ?  If not, they will be shoved upon the market and sold for coin at whatever discount may be demanded.

I have proposed an amendment to the Senate amendment upon the principle of legitimate parliamentary rules, that you may make as palatable as you can an amendment which you do not like, before the vote is taken upon it.  My amendment is offered for the purpose of curing a little the evils and hardships of the original amendment of the Senate.  And though it may be adopted, I shall vote against the whole as amended.  My amendment is to except from the operation of the legal tender clause the officers and soldiers of the army and navy, and those who supply them with provisions, and thus put them upon the same footing with the Government creditors who hold their bonds.  I hope they will not be thought less meritorious than the money-changers.  I trust it will be adopted as an amendment to the Senate amendment, so that if this pernicious system is to be adopted, if the beauty of the original bill is to be entirely impaired, those who are fighting our battles, and the widows and children of those who are lying in their graves in every part of the country, killed in defense of the Government, may be placed upon no worse footing than those who hold the bonds of the Government and the coin of the country.

Mr. Lovejoy.  Will the gentleman allow me---

Mr. Stevens.  I know the gentleman does not rise for information;  and I have no hope what ever of converting him.

Mr. Lovejoy.  The gentleman has alluded to my want of confidence in the operations of the Government.

Mr. Stevens.  Not at all.  I said unless he would repudiate them, which I think he never will do.  So that is a sufficient explanation.

Mr. Lovejoy.  If the gentleman will allow me, I want---

Mr. Stevens.  No, sir; I think I have taken away everything offensive.

Mr. Speaker, if this disaster must come upon us I am free from responsibility in reference to it.  I say, with all candor, that I would much prefer that the whole bill should fail and that some system like that of my friend from Vermont, [Mr. Morrill] or that of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Roscoe Conkling], or any other you may choose to desire, which shall secure a uniform currency, however depreciated, and which shall be equally just to all interests of the country, should be introduced and passed.  I look upon the passage of this bill as deplorable, and permanently injurious to all classes of the community except those I have excepted.

Mr. Spaulding.  I wish to say to the gentleman that there are now $37,000,000 of the notes under the bill of last July upon which the Secretary of the Treasury is unable to realize.  They have been upon the market for the last three months, and the Secretary cannot get them taken.

Mr. Stevens.  I know that, but if my friend will refer the Secretary to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Lovejoy] he will tell him where to get the gold. [Laughter.]

Mr. Sheffield.  The gentleman says we cannot get the coin with which to pay the interest, and yet he proposes to pay the officers and soldiers in coin.  I would like to know where he would get coin for that purpose ?

Mr. Stevens.  The gentleman assumes what I did not say.  I said you could not get the gold with which to pay interest, without selling, at a large sacrifice, the bonds in the market overt.  I think if you can get the coin in that way to pay the interest, in the same way you can get the gold to pay to the soldiers.

Mr. Sheffield.  Would not that require a larger sacrifice ?

Mr. Stevens.  And ought not a larger sacrifice be made in favor of that class ?

Mr. Diven.  I want to ask the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means whether it is not claimed that the original bill will furnish a greater relief to the Government than to place $150,000,000 of coin in the vaults of the Government ?

Mr. Stevens.  I think that if the Government had $150,000,000 of coin, and they could circulate it in such a way that it would come back in payment of new bonds, the gold would be just as good as of that $150,000,000 par notes, except gold would be more inconvenient. [Laughter.]

Mr. Stevens.  I think we had better proceed with the Treasury note bill now.

Mr. Washburne.  Before the House takes a vote upon the motion of the gentleman from New York, I wish to make a statement in reference to the subsistence department of the Army, especially as it relates to the immediate necessity of an appropriation to feed the soldiers.

Mr. Stevens.  I wish the gentleman would postpone it until we get through with this bill.

Mr. Washburne.  I desire merely to make this statement---

The Speaker.  The gentleman must first obtain leave of the House.  Is there any objection ?

Mr. Stevens.  I object to anything else being done until this bill is disposed of.

Mr. Washburne.  I wish the gentleman and the House would hear me.  It is not in regard to this bill, but in regard to a matter that is of the utmost importance to the army in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Speaker.  Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania withdraw his objection ?

Mr. Stevens.  I do not think five minutes will make any difference with him.

The Speaker.  Then the gentleman insists on his objection ?

Mr. Washburne.  No, sir; I understand him to say that five minutes will make no difference to him.

Mr. Bingham.  I object.

Mr. Washburne.  Surely the gentleman does not object to hearing the condition of the army.

The Speaker.  The gentleman is not in order, objection being made.

The House then resumed the consideration of the amendments of the Senate to the Treasury note bill.

First amendment:

Lines three, four, and five, strike out the words:  "To meet the necessities of the Treasury of the United States, and to provide a currency receivable for the public dues."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Second amendment:

Lines six and seven, strike out the words "and fifty;"  so that the clause will read:  "$100,000,000 of United States notes."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment was non-concurred in.

Third amendment:

Line nine, strike out the words "at Washington or New York."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Fourth amendment:

Beginning at line eleven, strike out the following proviso:
Provided, however, That $50,000,000 of said notes shall be in lieu of the demand Treasury notes authorized to be issued by the act of July 17, 1861;  which said demand notes shall be taken up as rapidly as practicable, and the notes herein provided for substituted for them:  And provided further, That the amount of the two kinds of notes together shall at no time exceed the sum of $150,000,000.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment was non-concurred in.

Fifth amendment:

In the clause "and such notes herein authorized, and the notes authorized by the act of July 17, 1861, shall be receivable in payment of all taxes, duties, imposts, excises, debts, and demands of every kind due to the United States," strike out the words, "and the notes authorized by the act of July 17, 1861."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment was non-concurred in.

Sixth amendment:

Immediately after the clause last quoted, strike out the words, "and for all salaries, debts, and demands owing by the United States to individuals, corporations, and associations within the United States," and insert, "and of all kind claims and demands against the United States of every kind whatsoever, except for interest upon bonds and notes, which shall be paid in coin."

To this amendment Mr. Stevens moved an amendment to insert, after the word "notes," the following:

And payments to be made to officers, soldiers, and sailors in the Army and Navy of the United States, and for all supplies purchased for the said Government.

Mr. White, of Indiana.  I appeal to the gentleman from Pennsylvania to withdraw that amendment.  It was only intended to illustrate an absurdity, and I hope he will withdraw it.

Mr. Stevens.  No, sir;  I cannot withdraw it.

Mr. Bingham.  I demand the yeas and nays on the amendment to the amendment.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. Baker.  I should like to ask the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means a question.

The Speaker.  No debate is in order at this time.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-- yeas 67, nays 72;  as follows:

Yeas-- Messrs. Aldrich Ancona, Babbitt, Joseph Baily, Baker, Biddle, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Jacob B. Blair, Samuel S. Blair, George H. Browne, Buffinton, Campbell, Chamberlin, Clark, Cobb, Davis, Diven, Edwards, Ely, Fenton, Fessenden, Fisher, Franchot, Frank, Gooch, Granger, Hale, Hanchett, Harrison, Holman, Hooper, Johnson, Julian, William Kellogg, Killinger, Lehman, McPherson, Martson, Maynard, Mitchell, Anson P. Morrill, Noell, Odell, Olin, Perry, John H. Rice, James S. Rollins, Shanks, Sherman, Shiel, Sloan, Spaulding, William G. Steele, Stevens, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Verree, Voorhees, Wall, Wallace, Ward, Albert S. White, Wilson, Windom, Woodruff, and Worcester --67.
NAYS-- Messrs. Alley, Arnold, Ashley, Baxter, Blake, William G. Brown, Burnham, Clavert, Clements, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Cox, Cravens, Crittenden, Dawes, Duell, Dunlap, Dunn, Eliot, English, Goodwin, Grider, Gurley, Haight, Hall, Harding, Hickman, Horton, Kelley, Knapp, Law, Leary, Loomis, Lovejoy, McKnight, Mallory, Justin S. May, Menzies, Moorhead, Morrill, Nixon, Noble, Norton, Nugen, Patton, Timothy G. Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Alexander H. Rice, Riddle, Robinson, Sargent, Sedgwick, Sheffield, Smith, John B. Steele, Stratton, Benjamin F. Thomas, Francis Thomas, Train, Trimble, Trowbridge, Vallandigham, Charles W. Walton, E.P. Walton, Washburne, Webster, Wheeler, Wickliffe, arid Wright --72.

So the amendment to the amendment was disagreed to.

During the roll-call, Mr. Alley (when his name was called) said: I am opposed to paying anybody in specie unless we pay everybody.  I therefore vote "no."

The Speaker.  The gentleman is out of order.  The Chair desires here to announce that if gentlemen persist an interrupting the roll-call with remarks, he will feel it to be his duty to order them into custody.

Mr. Shellabarger stated that he had paired off with Mr. Corning.

Mr. Hutchins said: I have paired off upon the Senate amendments with Mr. Colfax, who is absent on account of the illness of his wife, and inasmuch as this amendment may affect the Senate amendment, I withdraw my vote.

Mr. Pendleton (who was not within the bar when his name was called) asked leave to vote.

Mr. Olin objected.

The result of the vote having been announced as above recorded, Mr. Washburne moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendment to the amendment was rejected;  and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

The question recurred upon agreeing to the sixth amendment of the Senate.

The question being upon agreeing to the sixth amendment of the Senate, in which the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence, Mr. Roscoe Conkling demanded the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the affirmative-- yeas 88, nays 56; as follows:

YEAS-- Messrs. Ancona, Arnold, Ashley, Baxter, Beaman, Biddle, Jacob B. Blair, George H. Browne, William G. Brown, Burnham, Calvert, Clements, Cobb, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Covode, Cox, Cravens, Crittenden, Diven, Dunlap, Dunn, Eliot, English, Goodwin, Grider, Gurley, Haight, Hill, Harding, Holman, Horton, Johnson, Kelley, Knapp, Law, Leary, Lehman, Loomis, Lovejoy, McKnight, Mallory, May, Menzies, Justin S. Morrill, Nixon, Noble, Norton, Nugen, Odell, Patton, Pendleton, Perry, Timothy G. Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, Alexander H. Rice, Riddle, Robinson, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, Sargent, Sedgwick, Sheffield, Sherman, Shiel, Smith, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stratton, Benjamin F. Thomas. Francis Thomas, Train, Trimble, Vallandigham, Vibbard, Voorhees, Charles W. Walton, E.P. Walton, Ward, Washburne, Webster, Wheeler, Wickliffe, Woodruff, and Wright-- 88.
NAYS-- Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Babbitt, Joseph Bally, Baker, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Samuel S. Blair, Blake, Buffington, Campbell, Chamberlin, Clark, Davis, Dawes, Duell, Edwards, Ely, Fenton, Fessenden, Fisher, Franchot, Frank, Granger, Hale, Hanchett, Harrison, Hickman, Hooper, Julian, William Kellogg, Killinger, Lansing, McPherson, Marston, Maynard, Moorhead, Anson P. Morrill, Noell, Olin, John H. Rice, Shanks, Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Trowbridge, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Verree, Wall, Wallace, Whaley, Albert S. White, Wilson, Windom, and Worcester --56.

During the roll-call, Mr. Shellabarger stated that if he had not been paired off with Mr. Corning, he should have voted against the amendment.

Mr. Pendleton stated that his colleagues, Messrs. Morris and White, were detained from the House necessarily.

Mr. Bailey, of Massachusetts, not having been within the bar when his name was called, asked leave to vote.

Mr. Webster objected.

The result of the vote having been announced as above recorded, Mr. Roscoe Conkling moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to;  and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

Seventh amendment:

Strike out the words "except interest as aforesaid," in the clause "and shall also be lawful money and a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States, except interest as aforesaid."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Eighth amendment:

Line forty, strike out the words "at the Treasury or sub-Treasuries of the United States."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Ninth amendment:

Strike out the words " five years, and payable," in the clause "and redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from the date thereof."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment was non-concurred in.

Tenth amendment:

In line forty-three strike out, "that the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation of said certificates of deposit, issue to the holder thereof, at his option, and instead of the bonds already described, an equal amount of bonds of the United States, coupon or registered, as may by said holder be desired, bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, and redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years from the date thereof," and insert in lieu thereof:

Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon of the notes mentioned in the presentation preceding part of this section, in sums of not less than $100, issue to the holder thereof, at his option, and instead of the bonds already described, an equal amount of Treasury notes or coupons or registered bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, at any time after two years, bearing interest at the rate of seven and three tenths per cent. per annum, and payable semi-annually.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment, was non-concurred in.

Eleventh amendment:

Commencing at the line sixty-four, strike out the following:
There shall be printed on the back of the United States notes, which may be issued under the provisions of this act, the following words:  "The within note is a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, and is exchangeable for bonds of the United States bearing six per cent. interest, at twenty years, or in seven per cent. bonds at five years."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Twelfth amendment:

In line six, section two, strike out the word "and."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Thirteenth amendment:

In line seven of the same section, strike out the word "Government," and insert in lieu thereof "United States."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Fourteenth amendment:

After the word "after," in the same line, insert, "five years, and payable;"  so that the clause will read:

That to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to fund the Treasury notes and floating debt of the United States, he is hereby authorized to issue, on the credit of the United States, coupon bonds, or registered bonds, to an amount not exceeding $500,000,000, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from date, and bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually.  And the bonds herein authorized shall be of such denominations, not less than fifty dollars, as may be determined upon by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

The amendment was non-concurred in.

Fifteenth amendment:

In line thirteen, second section, after the word "time," insert, "at the market value thereof;"  so that the clause will read:

And the Secretary of the Treasury may dispose of such bonds at any time at the market value thereof.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

Mr. Horton asked for a division.

Mr. Washburne demanded tellers.

Tellers were appointed.

Mr. Chamberlin called for the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the affirmative-- yeas 72, nays 66; as follows:

YEAS-- Messrs. Ancona, Goldsmith F. Bailey, Baxter, Beaman, Biddle, George H. Browne, William G. Brown, Calvert, Clark, Cobb, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Covode, Cravens, Crittenden, Cutler, Dunlap, Drum, Eliot, English, Goodwin, Grider, Hall, Harding, Holman, Lovejoy, Holman, Horton, Johnson, Kelley, Knapp, Law, Leary, Justin S. Morrill, Nixon, Menzies, Noble, Norton, Nugen, Odell, Patton, Pendleton, Perry, Pike, Pomeroy, Porter, Alexander H. Rice, Riddle, Robinson, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, Sargent, Sedgwick, Sheffield, Shiel, Smith, William G. Steele, Stratton, Benjamin F. Thomas, Francis Thomas, Train, Trimble, Verree, Vibbard, Voorhees, Charles W. Walton, E.P. Walton, Washburne, Wheeler, Woodruff, and Wright ---72.
NAYS-- Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Ashley, Babbitt, Joseph Baily, Baker, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Jacob B. Blair, Samuel S. Blair, Blake, Buffinton, Campbell, Chamberlin, Clements, Cox, Davis, Dawes, Diven, Edgerton, Edwards, Ely, Fenton, Fessenden, Fisher, Franchot, Frank, Granger, Haight, Hale, Hanchett, Harrison, Hickman, Hooper, Hutchinson, Julian, Killinger, Lansing, Lehman, Loomis, McPherson, Marston, Maynard, Moorhead, Anson P. Morrill, Noell, Olin, Potter, John H. Rice, Shanks, Sherman, Sloan, Spauldiug, John B. Steele, Stevens, Trowbridge, Vallandigham, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Wall, Wallace, Albert S. White, Wickliffe, Wilson, Windom, and Worcester --66.

So the amendment was concurred in.

Sixteenth amendment:

In line fourteen, second section, strike out the words "lawful money," and insert in lieu thereof "the coin."

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Seventeenth amendment:

In line twenty-one, second section, strike out the words "any State or county," and in lieu thereof insert "or under State authority;"  so that the clause will read:

And all stocks, bonds, and other securities of the United States, held by individuals, corporations, or associations within the United States, shall be exempt from taxation by or under State authority.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence.

The amendment was concurred in.

Eighteenth amendment:

Insert the following as an additional section:

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may receive from any person or persons, or any corporation, United States notes on deposit for not less than thirty days, in sums of not less than $100, with any of the Assistant Treasurers or designated depositaries of the United States authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive them, who shall issue therefor certificates of deposits, made in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, and said certificate of deposit shall bear interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum;  and any amount of United States notes so deposited may be withdrawn from deposit at any time, after ten days' notice, on the return of said certificates:  Provided, That the interest on all such deposits shall cease and determine at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury:  And provided further, That the aggregate of such deposits shall at no time exeed the amount of $25,000,000.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended concurrence in the amendment, with the following amendment:

After the word "notes," in the third line, add the words "or coin," and after the words "rate," in the tenth line, strike out the words "of five," and insert "which the Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, prescribe, not exceeding six," and after the word "notes," in the eleventh line, insert the words "or coin;"  so that the section will read:

Sec 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may receive from any person or persons, or any corporation, United States notes or coin on deposit for not less than thirty days, in sums of not less than $100, with any of the Assistant Treasurers or designated depositaries of the United States authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive them, who shall issue therefor certificates of deposit, made in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, and said certificates of deposit shall bear interest at the rate which the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, prescribe, not exceeding six per cent. per annum;  and any amount of United States notes or coin so deposited may be withdrawn from deposit at any time after ten days' notice on the return of said certificates: Provided, That the interest on all such deposits shall cease and determine at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury:  And provided further, That the aggregate of such deposits shall at no time exceed the amount of $25,000,000.

Mr. Hooper.  I consider the adoption of the fifteenth amendment of the Senate, which authorizes the Treasurer to sell the bonds at the market price, as an invitation to the public to depreciate their value, and so entirely contrary to the principle of the bill, that I move to lay the bill, with the amendments, on the table.

Mr. Washburne.  The bill is not before the House.

The Speaker.  A motion to lay a single amendment on the table carries the bill with it.

Mr. Hooper.  I move to lay this amendment on the table; and demand the yeas and nays on that motion.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-- yeas 21, nays 110; as follows:

YEAS-- Messrs. Baker, Samuel S. Blair, Diven, Eliot, Fisher, Granger, Hickman, Hooper, Anson P. Morrill, Justin S. Morrill, Norton, Olin, Pendleton, Sedgwick, Sheffield, Shiel, Sloan, Steven, Benjamin F. Thomas, Train, and Vallandigham --21.
NAYS-- Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Ancona, Ashley, Babbitt, Goldsmith F. Bailey, Joseph Baily, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Jacob B. Blair, Blake, William G. Brown, Buffinton, Calvert, Campbell, Chamberlin, Clark, Clements, Cobb, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Cox, Cravens, Cutler, Davis, Dawes, Dunlap, Dunn, Edwards, Ely, English, Fenton, Fessenden, Franchot, Frank, Goodwin, Grider, Gurley, Haight, Hale, Hanchett, Harding, Harrison, Holman, Hutchins, Johnson, Julian, Kelley, Killinger, Knapp, Law, Leary, Lehman, Loomis, Lovejoy, McKnight, McPherson, Mallory, Marston, Maynard, Menzies, Moorhead, Nixon, Noble, Noell, Nugen, Patton, Perry, Pike, Pomeroy, Porter, Potter, Price, John H. Rice, Richardson, Riddle, Sargent, Shanks, Shellabarger, Sherman, Smith, Spaulding, John B. Steele, William G. Stcele, Stratton, Francis Thomas, Trimble, Trowbridge, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Verree, Vibbard, Voorhees, Wallace, Charles W. Walton, E.P. Walton, Ward, Washburne, Webster, Wheeler, Whaley, Albert S. White, Wickliffe, Wilson, Windom, Woodruff, Worcester, and Wright --110.

So the House refused to lay the amendment on the table.

During the vote, Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, stated that he had paired off, on this vote, with Mr. Horton.

The amendment as amended was agreed to; and the amendment as amended was concurred in.

Nineteenth amendment:

Add the following as an additional section to the bill:

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That all duties on imported goods, the proceeds of the sale of the public lands, and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States as the property of rebels, shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied as follows:  First.  To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.  Second. To the purchase or payment of one per cent. of the entire debt of the United States, to be made within each fiscal year after the 1st day of July, 1862, which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the interest of which shall in like manner be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt as the Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time to time, direct.  Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

The Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union recommended non-concurrence.

Mr. Wickliffe demanded the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were not ordered.

Mr. Calvert demanded tellers.

Tellers were ordered; and Messrs. Rice, of Maine, and Eliot, were appointed.

The House divided; and the tellers reported ayes 51, noes 52.

So the amendment was non-concurred in.

The remainder of the amendments, being merely verbal, were read, voted on in gross, and severally concurred in.

United States Senate

Issue of United States Notes

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Morris, Chief Clerk, announced that the House had agreed to some and disagreed to other amendments of the Senate to the bill of the House (No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States;  and that it had agreed to other amendments of the Senate to the said bill with amendments, in which the concurrence of the Senate was requested.

Mr. Fessenden.  I move to take up the Treasury note bill, just returned to us from the House of Representatives.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to consider the action of the House of Representatives on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States.

The Secretary proceeded to read the action of the House on the Senate amendments.

Mr. Fessenden.  I suggest that only the amendments non-concurred in by the House be read.

The Presiding Officer.  That course will be pursued if there be no objection.

The Secretary read them.  The House non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate, in line five of section one, to strike out the words "and fifty," reducing the issue of notes to $100,000,000.

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate to strike out, in section one, all after the word "each" in the tenth line to the word "dollars," inclusive, in the eighteenth line, in the following words:

Provided, however, That $ 50,000,000 of said notes shall be in lieu of the demand Treasury notes authorized to be issued by the act of July 17, 1861;  which said demand notes shall be taken up as rapidly as practicable, and the notes herein provided for substituted for them:  And provided, further, That the amount of the two kinds of notes together shall at no time exceed the sum of $150,000,000.

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate to insert after the word "authorized," in the nineteenth line of the first section, in the clause making these notes receivable in payment of all public dues, the words:  "and the notes authorized by the act of July 17, 1861."

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate, in the forty-second line of the first section to insert after the word "after" the words "five years, and payable," so as to make the bonds issued redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from the date thereof.

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate, to strike out in section one the following proviso:

Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation of said certificates of deposit, issue to the holder thereof, at his option, and instead of the bonds already described, an equal amount of bonds of the United States, coupon or registered, as may by said holder be desired, bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, and redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years from the date thereof;  and to insert, in lieu thereof, the following:

Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon presentation of the notes mentioned in the preceding part of this section, in sums of not less than $100, issue to the holder thereof at his option, and instead of the bonds already described, an equal amount of Treasury notes or coupons or registered bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States at any time after two years, bearing interest at the rate of seven and three tenths per cent. per annum, and payable semi-annually.

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate to insert in line seven of section two, after the word "after" the words "five years, and payable," so as to make the bonds issued redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from date.

The House also non-concurred in the amendment of the Senate, to insert, as section five, the following:

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That all duties on imported goods, the proceeds of the sale of the public lands, and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States as the property of rebels, shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied as follows:  First.  To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.  Second. To the purchase or payment of one per cent. of the entire debt of the United States, to be made within each fiscal year after the 1st day of July, 1862, which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the interest of which shall, in like manner, be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt as the Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time to time, direct.  Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

The House concurred in the eighteenth amendment of the Senate with amendments -- to insert in the third line of the amendment after the word "notes" the words "or coin;"  in the tenth line, strike out the words "of five," and insert "which the Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, prescribe, not exceeding six;"  and after the word "notes" in the eleventh line, to insert the words "or coin."

Mr. King.  I ask that that amendment of the Senate may be read as it will stand with the amendments inserted by the House, so that we may understand it.

The Secretary read it, as amended, as follows:

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may receive from any person or persons, or any corporation, United States notes or coin, on deposit for not less than thirty days in sums of not less than $100, with any of the Assistant Treasurers or designated depositaries of the United States authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive them, who shall issue therefor certificates of deposit, made in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, and said certificates of deposit shall bear interest at the rate which the Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, prescribe, not exceeding six per cent. per annum;  and any amount of United States notes or coin so deposited may be withdrawn from deposit at any time after ten days' notice, on the return of said certificates:  Provided, That the interest on all such deposits shall cease and determine at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury:  And provided further, That the aggregate of such deposits shall at no time exceed the amount of $25,000,000.

Mr. Fessenden.  I hardly know what course it is best to take on this subject.  I shall be governed by my associates on the committee with reference to that matter.  There are one or two amendments of the Senate which have been disagreed to by the House which I think rather important to the bill;  and as I understand the House has adjourned until to-morrow, I am willing to let the bill lie over, and be considered then by the Senate;  or disagree to them now, and have a committee of conference appointed at once.  I am afraid if we have a committee of conference it may be difficult to get through with it to-morrow, and it will be important to dispose of it then.

Mr. Sherman.  My impression is that by having a committee of conference you will have the matter always within your control;  you can introduce it at any time in either House, it being a privileged question, and always dispose of it;  and I think a committee of conference would improve the bill.  There are some amendments of the Senate disagreed to by the House which I think very important.

Mr. Fessenden.  Then I will move, as I understand the House has adjourned until to-morrow, that the Senate insist on its amendments disagreed to by the House of Representatives, and disagree to the amendments of the House to the amendments of the Senate, and ask for a committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses.

The motion was agreed to.

The Presiding Officer.  How shall the committee be appointed ?

Mr. Fessenden.  By the Chair.

The motion was agreed to;  and Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Carlile were appointed.

Mr. Wade.  I move that the Senate do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to;  and the Senate adjourned.