2960 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20,
By Mr. KELLEY: A bill (H. R.13685) to repeal that partofthena By M.r. McCREARY: Petition of Mary A. Graybeal for a }Jension tional-bank act that requires national banks to purchase United States to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. bt>nds-to the Committee on Banking and Currency. By M.r. OSBORNE: Resolution of Wilkes-Barre Council, No. 487, By Mr. RUSSELL: A joint resol~tion (H. Res. 288) providing for Junior Order United American Mechanics; also, of Shickshinny Coun printing the Sixth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor-to the cil, No. 203, same organization, Pennsylvania, favoring restrictionof Committee on Printing. immigration-to the Select Committee on Immigration and Naturaliza By Mr. KE~NEDY: A joint resolution (H. Res. 239) to supply bound tion. copies of public documents to newspaper correspondents whose names By Mr. RAY: Memorial of Grange No. 153, Patrons of Husbandry, and addresses are in the Congressional Directory-to the Committee on of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, asking for therestorationofsilver Printing. as a money metal-to the Committee on Coinage, .W~ights, and Meas- ures. i Also, resolutions adopted by the Producers' Protective Association, PRIVATE BILLS, ETC. at Warren, Pa., for the passage of certain amendments to the inter Uuder clause 1 of Rule XXII, private bills of the following title3 state-commerce law-to the Committee on Commerce. were pr~sen/ed and referred as indicated below: By Mr. TOWNSEND, of Pennsylvania: Memorial of officers and By Mr. BOUTELLE: A bill (H. R. 13686) granting a pension to members of Grange No 463, Mercer County, Pennsylvania~ for the free Georgie Ann Porter-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. coinaJ,?;e of silver-to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. By Mr. CHEADLE: A bill (H. R. 13687) granting a pension to Liz By Mr. WILLIAMS, of Illinois: Affidavits in support of pension zie A. Haskett, a volunteer army nurse withoc.t pay-to the Commit claim of Sarah Brooks-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. tee on In valid Pensions. By Mr. WRIGHT: Memorial of Grange No. 101, Patrons of Hus By Mr. WRIGHT: A bill (H. R.13688) granting a pension to John b.mdry, Susquehanna County; also, of Grange876, same organi~ation, B. Angel, father of James C. Angel, late of Company G, Fifth Regiment of Tioga. County, Pennsylvania, in favor of increased circulation-to Pennsylvania Cavalry-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.
PETITIONS, ETC. SENATE4 Under clause 1 of Rule XXII, the following petitions and papers were placed on the Clerk's desk and referred as follows: FRIDAY, February 20, 1891. By Mr. BAKER: Petition of J.M. Campbell and others, of Ohio, to The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. regulate immigration-to the Select Committee on Immigration and Prayer b.v the Chaplain, Rev. J. G. Brr'ILER, D. D. Naturalization. The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. By Mr. BURTON: Memorial of the Board of Trade of Cleveland, Mr. VEST. Mr. President, there is no quorum present. Ohio, in favor of an appropriation for lighthouses on the Great Lakes The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Missouri raisin,g the to the Committee on Commerce. question of the presence of a q uornm, the Secretary will call the roll. By Mr. CALDWELL: Petition ofCatherineBratt, widow of Cyrenus The Secretary called the roll; and the following Senators answered Bratt., to remove charge of d'3sertion-to the Committee on Military to their names: Affairs. Allen, Edmunds, McMillan, Stewart, Ry Mr. CRAIG: Resolution of Rural Valley Council: Junior Order llison, Farwell, McPherson, Stockbridge, United American Mechanics; also, of Worthington Council, of the same Barbour, Frye, Manderson, Turpie, organization, Pennsylvania., favoring restriction of immigration-to the Bate, Gorman, Mitchell, Vance, Berry, Hale, Morgan, Vest, Select Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. Blackburn, Harris, Morrill, Walthall. Also, memorialofGra.ngeNo. 915, Armstrong County; also, ofPaint Cameron, Hawley, Paddock, Washburn, erville Grange, No. 921, Westmoreland County; also, of Grange No. Casey, Higgins, Pettigrew, Wilson of Iowa, Chandler, Hiscock, Platt, Wilson of Md. 421, Indiana County, Pennsylvania., for financial legislation-to the Cockrell, Hoar. Reagan, Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. Davis, Ingalls, Sawyer, By Mr. FUNSTON: Petition of the United Presbyterian Church of Dawes, Jones of Arkansas, Shoup, Lecompton, Kans.; also, tbe '\\T oman's Christian Temperance Union of Mr. PETTIGREW. I was requested to state that the Senator from the same city, against opening on Sunday any exposition where appro :Montana [M:r. SANDERS] is absent on account of illness. priations of the United States are expended-to the Select Committee 'fhe VICE PRESIDENT.· Forty-five Senators have responded to on the World's Fair. . tceir names. A quorum is present. By l'tlr. GEAR: Petition of P. J. Henness, pastor of Methodist Epis CREDENTI.A LS. copal Church of Danville, Iowa; also, of George H. Mix, secretary of The VICE PRESIDENT presented the credentials of LELAND STAN the Congregational Church of the same place; also, of the Baptist FORD, chosen by the Legislature of California a Senator from that Church of the same place, praying for the passage of a bill to prohibit State for the term beginning March 4, 1891; which were read, and the opening on Sunday of any exposition which is aided by the Gov ordered to be filed. ernment-to the Select Committee on the World's Fair. IRRIGATION INVESTIGATION. Also, petition of Sarah .A. Thompson, for a pension-to the Com mittee on Invalid Pensions. The VICE PRESIDENT laid before the Senate a communication from Also, petition of J. L. Matthews and others, for the passa2e of a bill the Acting Secretary of Agriculture, transmitting, as a part of the in to remove the charge of desertion against W. H. Carlisle-to the Com formation called for by Senate resolution of December 8, 1890, the mittee on Military Affairs. report of progress work for November and December, with map, pro Also, affidavits in case of Levi Loar-to the Committee on Invalid files, and appendix, showing surface elevations and the water plane Pensions. beneath, prepared by Edwin S. Nettleton, chief engineer of artesian By Mr. KELLEY: Resolutions of Big Creek Farmers' Alliance and and underflow investi~ation, and by W. W. Follett, the assistant en Industrial Union, No. 2725, of Coffey County, Kansas, asking for the gineer; which was referred to the Select Committee on Irrigation and passage of the bill (H. R. 5353) defining options and futures a.nd im Reclamation of Arid Lands, and ordered to be printed. posing special taxes on dealers therein-to the Committee on Agricul PETITIONS AND l\IElIORIALS. ture. The VICE PRESIDENT presented a memorial of the General As Ey Mr. McCORMICK: Petition of 20 ex-soldiers of Pennsylvania, sembly of Colorado, remonstrating against. the passage of the Conger farnring House bill 8287 giving preference to soldiers in appoint lard bill and praying for the passage of the Paddock pure-food bill; menm-to the Select Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. which was ordered to lie on the table. Also, resolution of 58 citizens of :Montoursville; also, of citizens of He also presented the petition of Lawrence Grace, contractor, and Elimsport, Pa., to restrict immigration-to the Select Committee on 14 other contractors and builders, praying for the passage of the Torrey Immigration and Naturalization. bankruptcy bill; which was ordered to lie on the table. Also, resolutions by Producers' Protective Association, McKean He also presented petitions of sundry citizens of Maryland, Ohio, County, Pennsylrnnia, for amendments to the interstate-commerce and Pennsylvania, praying for the adoption of measures looking to the Jaw-to the Committee on Commerce. opening of negotiations to secure increased trade relations with Canada; Also, resolutions and petitions or Swingate Farmers' Alliance, favor which were referred to the select Committee on Relations with Canada. ing House bill 5353-to the Committee on Agriculture. He also presented a petition of the Boston (Mass.) Indian citizen Also, memorial of the officers and members of Grange No. 363, of ship committee, praying for the immediate extension of the ordinary Tioga County; also, of Grange No. 365, Sullivan County; also, of laws of the land over the Indian reservations; which was referred to Grange No. 929, of Tioga County; also, of Grange No. 454, of the same the Committee on Indian Affairs. county; also, of Grange No. 334, of Clinton County; also, of Grange He also presented the following petitions, praying for the passage of No. 274, of the same county; also, of Grange No. 989, of Tioga County, the Torrey bankruptcy bill; which were ordered to lie on the table: Pennsylvania, for the restoration of silver as a money metal-to the The petition of H. D. Wagner and other business men of Hinckley, Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. Ill. j
' · lfoH. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2961
Petition of the Pacific Coast Board of Commerce, of San Francisco, Memorial of 34 members of Local Union No. 3063 of the Farmers Cal.; and Laborers' Union, of Pettis County, Missouri; Petition of over 100 of the prominent mercantile firms and business Memorial of 46 members of Local Union No. 2534 of the Farmers men of New Orleans, La.; and Laborers' Union, of Phelps County, Missouri; Petition of the Board of Trade of the city of Lynchburgh, Va. ; Memorial of 23 members of Local Union No. 346 of the Farmers Petition of James A. Kirkpatrick and 64 other citizens of Spart.a, and Laborers' Union, of Pike County, Missouri. Ill.; Memorial of 17 members of Local Union No. 2704 of the Farmers Petition of the Foster Stove Company, of Ironton, Ohio; and Laborers' Union, of Pike County, Missouri; Petition of the Shreveport Board of Trade, Shreveport, La.; Memorial of 31 members of Local Union No. 592 of the Farmers Petition of the Brewers' Association, Buffalo, N. Y.; and Laborers' Union, of Pike County, Missouri; Petition of the Chamber of Commerce of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; Memorial of 39 members of Local Union No. 768 of the Farmers Petition of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New Orleans, and Laborers' Union, of Pike County, Missouri; La.; . Memorial of 14 membera of Local Union No. 3219 of the Farmers Petition of F. W. Harding and 22 other leading business men of and Laborers' Union, of Platte County, Missouri; Monmouth, Ill. ; Memorial of 24 members of Local Union No. 2677 of the Farmers Petition of ....IcCormick & Spence and other leading business men and and Laborers' Union, of Saline County, Missouri; citizens of Dallas, Tex. ; and Memorial of 22 members of Local Union No. 3407 of the Farmers Petition of the Madison Stove Company, of Madison, Ind. and Laborers' Union, of Swtland County, Missouri; Mr. REAGAN presented the petition of C. Emanuel and 33 other Memorial of 27 members of Local Union No. 2050 of the Farmers citizens of Jacksonville, Tex., praying for the passa~e of the Torrey and Laborers' Union, of Texas County, Missouri; bankrnP.tcy bill; which was ordered to lie on the table. .Memorial of 58 mem hers of Local Union of the Farmers and Laborers' • Mr. ]{EAGAN. I present a petition of the Producers' Protective Union of the State of Missouri; Association, of Bradford, Pa., praying, :first, that in pt:nalties for con Memorial of 77 members of Local Union No. 390 of the Farmers victions under the interstate-commerce law the fines shorrld go to the and Laborers' Union, of Carroll County, Missouri; and prosecutor; second, that carriers of refined oil or turpentine should .Memorial ot 36 members of Local Union No. 44 of the Farmers charge no more for carriage in tanks than in wooden packages or barrels and Laborers' Union, of McDonald County, Missouri. in carloads; third, remonstrating against any change or abridgment of .Mr. WASHBURN presented a petition of numerous citizens of Min the fifth section of the interstate·commerce law; and, fourth, stating nesota and other Northwestern States, praying for unrestricted reci that the Interstate Commerce Commission has proved inadequate to procity with Canada; which was referred to the Select Committee on prevent discriminations. Relations with Canada. I move that the petition be referred to the Committee on Interstate He also presented a memorial of the Board of Trade of .Minneapolis, Commerce. ?ilinn., remonstrating against the passage of a free coinage bill; which The motion was agreed to. was ordered to lie on the table. :Mr. FRYE presented the petition of George W. Hilton, Mrs. M. l\Ir. WILSON, of Iowa, presented a petition of 189 members of the Davis, and 24 other citizens of Bremen, Me., praying for the passage Baptist Church of Waverly, Iowa, praying for the passage of a bill of the bill providing for the appointment of a commission on the suh prohibiting the opening of any exposition on Sunday where appropri ject of social vice; which was referred to the Committee on Education tions of the United States are expended; which was referred to the and Labor. Committee on the Quadro-Centennial (Select). Mr. COCKlmLL presented the following memorials, remonstrating Mr. PAD DOCK presented the petition of I. S. Tracy and 28 other against the passage of the Conger lard bill and prayinl? for the pas citizens of Buffalo County, Nebraska, praying for the passage of the sage of the Paddock pure-food bill; which were ordered to lie on the Conger lard bill; which was ordered to lie on the table. table: He also presented a petition of the Producers' Protective Associa Memorial of 21 members of Local Union No. 1905 of the Farmers tion, producers of petroleum, praying for amendments to the inter and Laborers' Union, of Cole County, Missouri; state-commerce law as affecting petroleum, remonstrating against any Memorial of 57 members of Local Union No. 2952 of the Farmers amendmeut.s affecting the pooling of freights, praying for government and Laborers' Union, of Franklin County, Missouri; control of all transportation lines, and expressing opposition to cor Memorial of 20 members of Local Union No. 1997 of the Farmers porate oppression; which was reforred to the Committee on Interstate nnd Laborers' Union, of Gasconade County, Missouri; Commerce. Memorial of 45 members of Local Union No. 632 of the Farmers He also presented a petition of the legislative committee of the Na nnd Laborers' Union, of Henry County, Missouri; tional Farmers' Alliance, praying for the report from committee of Memorial of 27 members of Local Union No. 3122 of the Farmers Senate bills Nos. 280ff and 2876, embodying what is known as the sub and Laborers' Union, of Jackson County,. Missouri; treasury plan; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. Memorial of 34 members of Local Union No. 1312 of the Farmer.:i He also presented a petition of sundry citizens of Maryland, pray· and Laborers' Union, of Jasper County, Missouri; ing that when Canada evinces a desire to enter into such commercial Memorial of 16 members of Local Union No. 1939 of the Farmers relations with the United States as to result in the partial or complete and Laborers' Union, of Laclede· county, Missouri; removal of all duties, the President shall be empowered to appoint .Memorial of 38 members of Local Union No. 3129 of the Farmers commissioners to meet those from Canada in furtherance of the proj and Laborers' Union, of Lafayette county, Missouri; ect; which was referred to the Select Committee on Relations with Memorial of :?O members of Local Union No. 1972 of the Farmers Canada. and Laborers' Union, of Lewis County, Missouri; l\ir. DAVIS presented petitions of citizens of Ferg11S Falls, Grove Memorial of 13 members of Local Union No. 45 of the Farmers City, Lyle, and Long Prairie, in the State of Minnesota, praying for and Laborers' Union, of Livingston County, Missouri; the passage of a Jaw giving to the several States authority to control Memorial of 18 members of Local Union No. 1692 of the Farmers the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, etc.; which were referred and Laborers' Union, of McDonald County, Missouri; t-0 the Commit.tee on Agriculture and Forestry. Memorial of 50 members of Local Union No. 740 of the Farmers He also presented a petition of Perry Farmers' Alliance, No. 601, of and Laborers' Union, of Macon County, Missouri; Perry, Lac-qui-Parle County, Minnesota, praying for the passage of .Memorial of 36 member.s of Local Union No. 860 of the Farmers the Conger lard bill; which was ordered to lie on the table. and Laborers' Union, of Maries County, Missouri; Mr. BLACKBURN presented a petition of sundry citizens of Ken Memorial of 20 members of Local Union No. 455 of the Farmers tucky, praying for the passag;e of the Torrey bantruptcy bill; which and Laborers' Union, of Marion County, Missouri; was ordered to lie on the table. Memorial of 14 members of Local Union No. 966 of the Farmers Mr. VEST presented a petition of Claiborne & Son and other citi and Laborer.s' Union, of Moniteau County, Missouri; zens of Pulaski County, Missouri; a petition of the St. Louis (Mo.) Memorial of 16 members of Local Union No. 1702 of the Farmers Coffin Company; and a petition of Benton White and other citizens of and Laborers' Union, of Montgomery County, Missouri; Boone County, l\Iissouri, praying for the passage of the Torrey bank Memorial of 19 members of Local Union No. 2932 of the Farmers ruptcy bill; which were ordered to lie on the t.able. and La.borers' Uniou, of Montgomery County, Missouri; Mr. ALLEN. I present a memorial of the senate of the State of .Memorial of 31 membar.s of Local Union No. 2506 of the Farmers Washington, setting forth somewhat in detail tho quantity of public and Laborers' Union, of Monroe County, Missouri; lands generom:ly granted by the United States to that State upon its Memorial of 30 members of Local Union No. 930 of the Farmers admission into the Union; and further stating that by reason of the and Laborers' Union, of l\Ionroe County, Missouri; rapid settlement upon and absorption of the public domain the pub Memorial of 49 members of Local Union No. 98 of the Farmers lic surveys are anticipated, so that as rapid1yas surveyed they are ap and Laborers' Union, of Monroe County, .Missouri; propriated by the actual settlers, and no opportunity of selection is left Memorial c,f 32 members of Local Union No. 2602 of the Farmers the Rtate; and that in order to enable the St.'l.te to avail itself of the and Laborers' Union, of Monroe County, Missouri; generosity of the Government, reservations of the public lands must be l\lemorial of 3:2 members of Local Union No.1000 of the Farmers made out of which such selections can, upon survey, be made. and Laborers' Union, of Oregon County, Missouri; To accomplish this object, a proposed bill to be enacted ~y Congress XXII-186 ·, 2962 CONGRESSIONAL REOORD-SENA':rE. F~BRUARY 20,
is incorporated in the memorial. I ask that this memorial be referred ~ended to be proposed by him to the Indian appropriation bil1, reported to the Committee on Public Lands. it favorably, and moved its reference to the Committee on Appropria The motion was agreed to. tions, and that it be printed; which was agreed to. Mr. WOLCOTT presented a memorial of the Legislature of Colorado, Mr. MORRILL, from the Committee on Public Buildings and remonstrating against the passage of the Conger lard bill and praying G:r~unds, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. Res. 98) pro for the passage of the Paddock pure.food bill; which was ordered to viding for the greater security of the public buildings in the District lie on the table. of Columbia and their contents from destruction or damage by fire re- Mr. PLA.TT. I present the petition of S. P. Gregory and 22 other ported it with an amendment. ' citizens of Hartford County, Connecticut, praying for the passage of 1\Ir. HIGGINS, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to the Conger lard bill. whom was referred the bill (S. 5013) to amend the charter of the Rock I ob&erve that the petition follows what I will now read: Creek Railway Company, of the District of Columbia, reported. it with an amendment. LEGISLATIVE COIDlllTTEE OF THE VmGTh"'IA. STATE GRANGE. l\Ir. DOLPH, from the Committee on Coast Defenses, reported an DEAR. Sm: By direction of the State Grange of Virginia. we herewith hand you blank petitions. Please circulate; get as many signatures as._possible, and amendment intended to be proposed by him to the legislative, execu forward to the undersigned. tive, and judicial appropriation bill; which was referred to the Com A personal Jett.er from each person in your neighborhood to their Congress mittee on Appropriations. men and Senators asking a. hearty support of this measure will be much more effective. BILLS rnTRODUCED. When petition is sigaed te!l.r off above dotted line. Write names on both sides, and add paper if needed. Mr. DA WES introduced a bill (S. 5111) to establish a free public ALEX. ;J. WEDDERBURN, and departmental library and reading room; which was read twice by &crelary Legislative Committee, P. 0. Boz 33, Washington, D. C. its title, and referred to the Committee on the Library.
It appears that they failed to tear off what was above the dotted lines. Al\IEND~NTS TO APPROPRIATION BILLS. I move that the petition lie on the table. The motion was agreed to. Mr. DOLPH. I present an amendment intended to be proposed to the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill; which I Mr. FARWELL presented the following petitions1 praying for the speedy passage of the Conger lard bill; which were ordered to lie on move be referred to the Committee to Audit and Control the Cpntin the table: gent Expenses of the Senate, without printing, as I think it will be Petition of Fred. Gangloff and 28 other citizens of Jersey County, reported upon at once, and it can be printed afterwards, of course. Illinois; and The motion was agreed to. Resolutions, Lodge No. 3809, of Jersey County, Illinoll:i. IVIr: T_URP~. I ~ubmit,_ on b~hal.f of my colleague [Mr. V ~ORHEES ], Mr. PAYNE. I move to reconsider the vote by which the petition who IS ill at his residence m thIS city, an amendment which he in I presented yesterday, signed by a lar~e number of prominent and lead tends to propose to the deficiency appropriation bill. I move the amend ing business men and firms of New York and New Jersey, and also a ment be referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and printed. petition signed by 387 business men, firms, aud corporations ef Ohio The motion was agreed to. and Pennsylvania, and in the principal cities on the lakes, praying for Mr. HARRIS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed the passage of a resolution providing for the appointment of a commis by him to the deficiency appropriation bill; which was referred to the sion t-0 consider the best methods of extending the trade relations Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. betwean the United States and Canada was referred to the Select U~. MORGAN ~ubo:iitted an a.mendme1?-t i!l~nded to be proposed Committee on Relations with Canada, and that it be referred to the by him to the legIBlat1ve, executive, and JUd1cial appropriation bill; Committee on Foreign Relations. The motion made yesterday was which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered submitted under a misapprehension. to be printed. The motion to reconsider was agreed to; and the petition was re . M:r. CALL submi_tt~d two a~en_dmer:i-ts inte!lded to be proposed by ferred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. him to the sundry civil appropriation bill; which were reforred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. REPORTS OF COlIMITTEES. He also submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him Mr. McMILLAN, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to the sundry civil appropriation bill; which was referred to the Com to whom was referred an amendment, submitted. by himself· February mittee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 13, intended to be proposed to the sundry civil appropriation bill, re- Mr. STOCKBRIDGE submitted an amendment intended to be pro. ported it favorably, and moved its reference to the Committee on Ap- posed by ~im to the I~dian aRpropriation bill; which. was referred ta propria.tions; which was agreed to. the Committee on Ind~an Affaus, and orde~ed to be pnnted. :Mr. MANDERSON, from the Committee on l\Iilltary Affairs, to whom . Mr. DA.NIEL sub_m_1tted an ru;ne~dme!lt mte1_lded to be proposed by was referred the bill (H. R. 4:i76) for the relief of Washington L. Par-1 him to. the sundry c1vD: appropnat10n bill; which ~as referred to the vin and Henry A. Greene, reported it without amendment, and sub- Committee on ~ppropr1at1ons, and o~dered to be pnnted. mitted a report thereon. He also submitted an amendmentmtended to be proposed by him to He also from the same committee to whom was referred the bill thegeneraldeficiencya.ppropriation bill; which wasreferred to the Com (S. 1234)f~r the relief of Washi~ton L. Parvin and Henry A. Greene, mittee on Claims, and o~dered to be printed.. reported adversely thereon; and the bill waa postponed indefinitely. l\I~. SPOONER sub~i~ted an am_en~men~ mten~ed to be proposed He also from the same committee to whom was referred the bill by him to the sundry civil appropriation bill; which was referred to (H. R. 5860) for the relief of Andre..,; J. Blackstone, reported it with the Committee on Commerce. an amendment, and submitted a report thereon. 1\I~. CHANDLE.R s~bmitted a~ amendlll:en~ i!ltended to 'J;le~roposed He also from the same committee to whom was referred the bill by him to the legIBlative, executive, and Judicial appropriation bill· (H. R. 58Bl) for the reliefofGeorgeFa;walt, reported it without amend· which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered ment, and submitted a report thereon. to be printed. . . Mr. CAMERON., from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom 11,fJ;. INGALLS subm1tt~d an amend_m~nt ir:i-tende~ to be proposed was referred the bill (H. R. 3573) to remove the charO'e of desertion by him to the general deficiency appropriation bill; which was referred from the military record of Bernhard Stueber, reported it with amend- to the Committee on Appropriation~, and order~d to be printed. ment, and submitted a report thereon. . 1\Ir. PADDOCK, from the Committee to Audit and Control the Con- Mr. EDMUNDS. From the Committee on the Judiciary I report tingex;i.t Expenses of the Senate, to whom was referred an amendment back a memorial of ex-soldiers and marines of Kentucky, respecting Sl?-~IIlltted th~ d._ay b:y: l\fr. DOLPH .to the legislative, execu~ive, and ja civil-service appointments, etc., which, under some misapprehension, dic1alappropr:at1on bill, repor~d ~tfavorably, an~ moved_ its referei;ice was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. It should go to the to the Committee on Appropriations, and that it be pnnted; which Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment. We ask to be dis- was agreed to. charged, and that the memorial be referred to that committee. MESSAGE FRO:U: THE nous~. The report was agreed to. A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McPHERSON Mr. STEWART, from the Committee on :Military Affairs, reported its Clerk, announced that the Ilouse bad disagreed to the amendmen~ an amendment intended to be proposed to the deficiency appropdation of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 11736) to regulate the granting of leases bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and at Hot Springs, Ark., and for other purposes, agreed to the confer ordered to be printed. ence asked by the Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses Mr. BATE, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was thereon, and had appointed Mr. PAYSON, .Mr. HALL, and Mr. McRAE referred the bill (H. R. 6019) for the relief of Lather M. Blackman, re managers at the conference on the part of the House. ported it without amendment, and submitted a report thereon. Mr. BL.A.IR, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED. the bill (H. R. 9496) for the relief of Martha D. Gunnison, reported it The message also announced that the Speaker of the House had without amendment, and submitted a report thereon. signed the following enrolled bills; and they were thereupon signed Mr. DAWES, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was by the Vice President: referred an amendment submitted by Mr. WOLCOTT February 16, in- A bill (S. 557) for the relief of H. J. Cheney; ~ ... '!'_·-;·· ... _ ~.• :
1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2963
A bill (S. 3770) to incorporate the Washington and Arlington Rail sidered as in Committ£e of the Whole. It proposes to place on the way Company of the District of Columbia.; and pension roll the name of Hannah Hurst, widow of William Green, who A bill (H . .R. 12242) for the relief of Mrs. Eliza.beth C. Custer. was a soldier in Company I, of the Illinois Mollllted Volunteers in the CONSIDERATION OF PENSION BJ:LLS. Mexican war, and to pay her a pension at $9 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to Mr. EDMUNDS. If there are no resolutions, I ' wish to ask the a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Senate to proceed to the consideration of the bill (S. 4897) to provide for the inspection of vessels carrying export cattle from the United EUGENE .A.. OSBORN. • States to foreign countries, and for other 'Purposes. The bill (H. R.11311) granting an increase of pension to Eugene A. The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there further morning business? If Osborn was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes there is no farther morning business that order is closed, and the Cal to increase the pension of Eugene A. Osborn, late a private in Com endar under Rule VIII is in order. pany A, of theThird Regiment of Ohio Cavalry Volunteers, to$60per Mr. DAVIS. I rose to ask unanimous consent that the Senate pro month; but if he shall become t-0tally blind his pension is to be rated ceed for half an hour to the consideration of private pension bills un in accordance with the provisions of general laws. objected to. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Vermont has just a third reading! read the third time, and passed. asked unanimous consent to proceed to the consideration of the bill SUSAN WOOD. indicated by him. The bill (H. R. 12647) grantin~ a pension to Susan Wood was con Mr. EDMUNDS. I wished to make a motion to proceed to the con sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the name sideration of a bill of much interest to the cattle and farming inter of Susan Wood, a dependent sister of the late Isaac J. Wood, a private \ ests of the country, but I have no right, I think, to insist upon it I in Company C, One hundred and fifteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer against the request of my friend from Minnesota, and I yield the floor. Infantry, on the pension roll. Mr. DAVIS. I thinkit very important that the private pension bills The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to should be disposed of to-day. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection to the request of the Senator from Minnesota to proceed to the consideration of pension bills JANE BRANIGAN. on the Calendar unobjected to? The Chair hears none, and the first The bill (H. R. 11877) for the relief of Jane Branigan was consid bill of this class on the Calendar will be stated. ered a.s in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon the pen HEN.RY .A.. KING. sion roll, at $12 per month, the name of Jane Branigan, widow of John The bill (H. R. 3952) for the relief of Henry A. King was consid B. l\IaxweU, late private of Company G, of the Thirtieth Regiment of ered as in Committee of the Whole. It propose to place on the pen Ohio Volunteer Infantry, she having been remarried to Arthur Brani sion roll of the United States the name of Henry A. King, late private gan, who subsequently died, leaving her without any means of support. of the Clay County (West Virginia) Independent Scouts. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. MATILDA M. HARRIMAN. IR.A. AGAN. The bill (H. R. 10294) granting a pension to Matilda. M. Harriman The bill (H. R. 10i27) granting a pension to Ira Agan was considered was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to put the name of Ira the pension roll the name of Matilda M. Harriman, widow of William Agan, late a corporal Company C, Second Regiment United States Dra Harriman, late of Company F," One hundred and seventieth Regiment goons, on the pension rolls. of Ohio Volunteers. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. SARAH H. PHILP. .A.N~A HORRELL, The bill (H. R.11243) granting a pension to Sarah H. Philp was The bill (H. R. 9034) granting a pension to Anna Horrell was con considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to put the name sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the name of Sarah H. Philp, widow of Thomas Kinrade, late a member of Com of Anna Horrell, daughter of Robert Horrell, late captain of Company pany K, Second Ohio Cavalry, on the pension roll. A, Eighty-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania. Volunteers, on the pension l\Ir. COCKRELL. Let the report be read in that case. roll at $20 per month. The VICE PRESIDENT. The report will be read as indicated. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The Chief Clerk read the following report, submitted by Mr. SAW- a third reading, read the third time, and passed. YER January 31, 1891: HENRY H. KNOPP. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R.11243) ~rant· inir a pension to Sarah H. Philp, have examined the same and report: The bill (H. R. 1804) granting a pension to Henry H. Knopp was The report on which this bill was passed by the House is concurred in, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the is as follows: pension roll the name of Henry H.Knopp, late a member of the Ohio "The Commit.tee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 11243) gra.nti ng a pension to Sarah H. Philp, submit thP. following report: Militia, called into active service during the rebellion. · "Sarah H. Philp was the wife of Thomas Kinrade, a member of Company K, The bill was reported to the Benate without amendment, ordered to Second Ohio Cavalry, and who died from injuries received in line of duty April a third reading, read the third time, and passed. 3, 1862. She was granted a pension by certificate 5631, which was paid to her until l\Iarch 9, 1861, when she married William Philp, with whom she lived un ANN A. S. SHUMAN. til his death several years a20, since which time she has remained a. widow, nod has supported herself by teaching. She has no other means of support, and is The bill (H. R.11641) granting a pension to Anna S. Shuman was now advanced ii\ yea.rs. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon "Your committee therefore recommend that her name be restored to the pen the pension rolls the name of Anna S. Shuman, late a nurse in the war l'lion roll, subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws." The bill is reported favorably, with a recommendation that it do pass. of the rebellion, and to pay her a. pension of$12 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. MARY .A. R. MARTIN". ALEXANDER EVANS. The bill (H. R. 9724) granting a pension to Mary A. R. Martin was The bill (H. R. 9072) increasing the pension of Alexander Evans was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to pay Alexan pension roll the name of Mary A. R. :Martin, widow of John Martin der Evans, of Louisville, Ky., a soldier of the Mexican war, the sum of a soldier of the war of 1812, and to pay her a pension of :S20 pe~ $25 n. month, in lieu of the pension now paid to him. month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading: read the third time, and passed. ' MARGARET RA WKINS. NANCY J. KNETS.A.R. The bill (H. R. 8119) to grant a pension to Margaret Hawkins was The bill (H. R. 13080) to grant a pension to Nancy J. Knetsar of considered as in Committee of the Wh~le. It proposes to place on the pension roll the name of Margaret Hawkins, widow of William Haw Moline, Ill., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. ' kins, who was a private in Capt. Alexander M. Houston's company of The bill was reported from the Committee on Pensions with au Illinois Mounted Volunteers in the Bhck Hawk war, and to pay her amend men ti in lines, aft.er the words" rate of," to strike out :'twentv" a pension of $20 per month. and insert "twelve;" so as t.o make the bill read: ~ Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby au The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to thorized aJ?-d directed to place upon the pension roll the name of Nancy jane a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Knetsnr, ~1dow of James ~netsar, who was a. soldier in Capt. Daniel Powell's company, m the First Regiment, commanded by Col. Hosea. Pierce in the Black HANNAH HURST. Hawk war, and pay her a pension at the rate of812 per month. ' The bill (H. R 5895) to grant a pension to Hannah Hurst was con- The amendment was agreed t.o. 2964 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20,
The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendment Mr. BLAIR. There was a Senate bill for the relief of the same per was concurred in. son, which was reported by the committee and was earlier on the Cal The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read endar. This bill has been passed by the Houge, and it appears on the a third time. Calendar, as in other cases where a Senate bill ha.s been reported on the The bill was read the third time, and passed. same subject, without .the House bill having been referred formally to JOEL HEXDRICKS . the committee. The Senator from Kansas [Mr. ING.ALLS] bas taken • special interest in this case, and is personally informed as to the facts. The bill (H. R. 929:3) granting a pension to Joel Hendricks was con He has the papers in the case, but he is not present. I mentioned it sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pen to him the other day. · sion roll tho name of Joel Hendricks, who was enrolled July 2, 18 : ~2, l\Ir. SA WYER. Let the bill be passed over without prejudice. in Capt. James Orr's company of cavalry of Indiana Militia, in the Black Mr. BLAIR. Yes, let it be passed over without prejudice. Hawk war, and mustered out of service with that company August 12, l\fr. COCKRELL. I do not want this bill to be considered as passed 1_832, and to pay him a pension of $8 per month. ornr without prejudice. This is an effort to pension the son of a man The bill was reported to the Senatewithoutamendment, ordered to who was in the war of 1812, and tha.t was all. Heisanold man, and a third reading, read the third time, and passed. I do not think he is entitled to a pension sitDply because he is poor. TIIO:U.AS CRAW FORD. He was not in the service directly or indirectly himself, and I want to The bill (H. R. 8162) for the relief of Thomas Crawford, of Louisville, enter my protest against the bill being considered at this session. Ky., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to in Ur. BLAIR. I have no personal knowledge of the facts, but the Sen crease the pension now paid, under certificate No. 3920, to Thomas ator from Kansas has. I spoke to him of the opposition of the Senator Crawford, of Louisville, Ky., a soldier in the war between the United from Mis'>ouri [Mr. COCKRELL] the other day, and he said he desired States and Mexico, to $25 per month. to see the Senator. He is out of the Chamber now. I hope in his ab· The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to senee uo prejudice may happen to the case. I hop~ the Senator from a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Missouri will withdraw his objection. WILLIAM J. l\IATHIS. l\lr. COCKRELL. I can not do so without a distinct understanding that the bill shall not be called np and considered unless I am in the The bill (H. R. 12349) granting an increase of pension to William Senate Chamber. I am obliged to be out a great deal now on confer J. Mathis was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes ence committees, and I do not want the bill t.aken op in my absence. to place upon the pension roll the name of William J. Mathis, late a Mr. BLAIR. I suggested the matter to the Senator from Kansas, in soldier of Company E, Second Indiana Infantry, during the Mexican order that be might consult with the Senator from Missouri. The bill war, and to pay him a monthly pension of $:W, in lieu of the amount will not be disposed of unless the Senator is present. now paiil him under certificate No. 9545. Ur. COCKRELL. With that understanding, the bill may go over The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to without prejudice. a third reading, read the third time, and passeu. 'l'he VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will be passed over without l\IRS. LOUISA l\I. GORDON. prejudice. . The bill (H. R. 10355) granting a pension to Urs. Louisa l\I. Gordon WILLIA:\! A. OSBORN. was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place The bill (H. R. 10224) granting a pension to William A. Osborn was the name of Urs. Louisa M. Gordon, f9rmerly widow of l\fonroe B. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the Pulliam, first lieutenant and commissary Eleventh Regiment of Ken pension rolls the name of William A. Osborn, late a private Company tucky Volunteer Cavalry, United St::i.tes Army, on the pension roll. E, First Regiment Maine Cavalry. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. WILJ.IAl\I H. HEAD. MRS. :1IARY HYDE. The bill (H. R. 12348) granting an increase of pension to William H. The bill CH. R. 5239) i:i;ranting a pension to Mrs. Mary Hyde was Head was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on place on the pension roll the name of William H. Hea.d, late a soldier the pension rolls the name of Mrs. Mary Hyde, widow of Cal ven C. in Company G, Fourth Regiment Kentucky Volunteers, during the Hy place on the pension roll the name of Ellen Guffey, a hospital nurse, in the war with Mexico, and to pay him a pension of $20 a month, in and to pay her a pension of $12 a month. lieu of the amount now paid him under certificate No. 7627. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. JOEL A. HOLDBEN. A.LLEN J. MAKER. The bill (H. R. 11215) granting a pension to .Joel A. Holdren was The bill (H. R.12741) to increase the pension of Allen J. Makerwas considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to increase the the pension roll the name of Joel A. Holdren, of Huntington County, pension of Allen J. Maker, late of Company I, Fourth Maine Infantry, Indiana, as the blind and dependent brother of Benjamin F. Holdren, from $24 to $40 per month, but this act shall not deprive the benefi deceased, late a private of Company K, in the Eip;hty-fourth Regi ciary of the right to apply for and have granted him an increase of pen· ment of Indiana Volunteers, in the war of the rebellion, and to pay sion under the general Jaws relating thereto. him a pension of $12 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, orderod to The bill was reported to the Senate witllout amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. HETTY .A. HASSON. ABSALOM M. WOLF. '.rbe bill (H. R. 13140) granting a pension to Hetty A. Hasson was The bill (H. R. 13174) to grant a pension to Absalom M. Wolf, of considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the Mier, Ind., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It pro pension roll the name of Hetty A. Hasson, widow of Alexander Il. Has poses to place upon the pension rolls the name of Absalom M. Wolf, of son, late a surgeon, United States Army, and to increase her pension Mier, Grant County, Indiana, the dependent father of William Wolf, from $25 a month to $40 a month. deceased, late a private soldier in Company L, of the Forty-first Regi The bill wa.s reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to ment of Indiana Volunteers in the war of tbe rebellion, and to pay a third reading, read the thir.d time, and passed. him a pension of $12 a month. ERASTUS D. BUTLEB. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 11454) increasing the pension of Erastus D. Butler, of Togas, Me., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It pro- G EORGE w. WHITACRE. poses to incren.sethe pension of Erastus D. Butler, late of CompanyE, The bill (H. R.12902) to increase the pension of George W. Whitacre, 'fhirteenth Vermont Volunteers, to $45 per month. of Huntington, Ind., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. 1 The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to It proposes to increase the pension of George W. Whitacre, of the city a third reading, read the third time, :ind pas!'led. of Huntington, in the State of Indiana, late a private in Company F, of JOHN F. WHIPPLE. the Forty-se\enth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, in the war of the The bill (H. R.13300) ~ranting an increase of pension to .John F. rebellion, and to pay ~i!:1, in lieu of the pen!'ion he is now receiving, Whipple was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes a pension at the rate o "'50 per month, subject to the provisions and to increase the pension of John F. Whipple, late of Company L, First limitations of the pension law as to any future increase. Hegiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, to $40 per month; but noth- The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to ing in this act shall be construed so as t-0 deprive him of any increase a third reading, read the third time, and passed. of pension to which he might otherwise be entitled under any general AMBROSE B. CARLTON. law. The bill (H. R.13111) to increase the pension of Ambrose B. Carlton The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on a third reading, read the third time, and passed. the pension rolls the name of Ambrose B. Carlton, late a corporal in SARAH HUTCHINS. Company F, Second Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, in the Mexican war, and to pay him a pension of $30 per month, in lieu of the pension The bill (H. R.11077) granting pension to Sarah Hutchins was con- of $8 per month he is now receiving. sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to pension roll the name of Sarah Hutchins, dependent mother of Robert d h b. d · H. Hutchins, late of Company L, First Verm{)nt Heavy Artillery. a third reading, rea t e t Ir time, and passed. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment,, ordered to MORGAN D. r.ANE. a third reading, re3.d the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 13307) to pension Morgan D. Lane was considered as PH TJ;ie bill v:as reported to t~e S~nate without amendment, ordered to l MERIDY SMITH. a thud readlllg, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 13061) increasing the pension of MeridySmitb, aRevo- GEORGE JAMES. lutionary pensioner, was announced as next in order. The bill (H. R. 13212) granting n. pension to George James was con- Mr. COCKRELL. Let the report be read in that case. sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon the Mr. DAVIS. Let the bill go over without prejudice. pension rolls the name of George James, of Long Plain, Mass., late The VICE PRESIDE~T. The bill will be passed over without prej- cooper on the whaleship Edward, in the Mexic:m war, and to pay him udice. THO'.\IAS T. HICKEY. a pension of $8 per month. · . 'l'he bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 1206d) granting an increase of pension to Thomas T • . a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Hickey was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to pay Thomas T. Hickey a monthly pension of $12, in lieu of the amount AI.ICE O. LEIGHTON. now paid him, under certificate numbered 11719, as a survivor of the ':i'he bill (H. R. 12803) granting a pension to Alice 0. Leighton, widow Mexican war. of Everett W. Leighton, deceased, Company C, Thirteenth New Hamp The bill was reported to.the Senate without amendment, ordered to shire Volunteers, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It a third reading, read the third time, and passed. proposes to place on the pension roll the name of Alice 0. Leighton, widow of Everett W. Leighton, deceased, late of Company C, of the Thir MARIA L. HAM.MER. teenth New Hampshire Volunteers, at $12 per month. The bill (H. R. 1870) granting an increase of pension to Maria L. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to Hammer was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes a third reading, read the third time, and passed. to increase the pension of Maria L. Hammer, a hospital nurse during the war of the rebellion, from $12 per month to $20 per month. E:U:MA SOUTHWICK BRINTON. Tha bill was reported to the Senate withoutamendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 13074) granting a pension to Emma Southwick Brin a third reading, read the third time, and passed. ton was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place WILLIAM l\I. BOGGS. on the pension roll the name of Emma Southwick Brinton, a nurse in 'rhe bill (H. R. 13200) to increase the pension of William M. Boags the late war of the rebellion, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. 0 The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on a third reading, read the third iimc, and passed. the pension rolls the name of William M. Boggs, late sergeant major of the company of California Mounted Volunteers commanded by Capt. SOLO.lION MAYBERRY. William .A.. T. l\iaddox,'of the United States Marine Corps, in the Mex The bill (H. R. 13329) granting a pension to Solomon Mayberry was ican war of 18~6, at $12 per month, in lieu of the pension he is now considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the receiving under certificate numbered 9731. • pension roll the name of Solomon :Mayberry, foster father of George The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to L. Brown, late a private in Company E, Eighth Regiment of Maine a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Volunteers, and to pay him a pension of $12 per month. WILLIAM P. HOLL. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 9921) granting a pension to William P. Holl was a third reading, read the third time, and passed. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the FLORENCE PETIGREW LITHGROW. pension roll the name of William P. Holl, the father of William P. The bill (H. R.13298) granting a pension to Florence Petigrew Lith Holl, jr., first lieutenant of Company K, Seventy-second Regiment of grow, an army nurse, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. New York Volunteers. It proposes to place upon the pension roll the name of Florence Peti The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to grew Lithgrow, an army nurse, and to pay her a pension of $12 per a third reading, read the third time, and passed. month. CHRISTIAN C. WHISTLER. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 7924) granting a pension to Christian C. Whistler til!'.le, a. third reading, read the third and passed. was considered~ ~n Commi~e of the Whole: It proposes to place .MARTIJA A. WOOD FURGESON. the name of Christian C. WhIStler on the pellSlon rolls, he being the The bill (H. R.13297) granting a pension to Martha A. Wood Fur father of William A. Whistler, who was a member of Company F, Ninth geson, an army nurse, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. Regiment United States Infantry. It proposes to place the name of Martha A. Wood Furgeson, an army The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to nurse, upon the pension rolls, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. a tllird reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment., ordered to CAROLINE J. OR.AFT. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 12525) granting a pension to Caroline J. Craft was CAROLINE A. BURGHARDT. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the The bill (H. R. 13295) granting a pension to Caroline A. Burghardt, name of Caroline J. Craft, a sister of David L. Craft, late of Company was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place D, Eighth Pennsylvania Reserves, and Company K, Sixth Regiment the name of Caroline A. Burghardt, an army nurse, upon the pension United States Infantry, deceased, upon the pension rolls at $25 per rolls, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. MARY ELLIS. GEORGE W. JENKINS. The bill (H. R.10611) granting a pension to .J\Iary Ellis was consid- T~e bill (H: R. 13029_) granting a pension to George W. Jenkins was ered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pen- cons~dered as m Committee of the Whole.. It proposes t? plac? on the sion roll the name of Mary Ellis, of Griffin, Spaulding County, Georgia, I pension r?ll the ~ame of. George W: ! enkms, late a ~nvat~ m. <;o!D- who is the widow ofCapt. James T. Ellis, in the Creek Indian war of pany G,_Forty-third Regiment Prov1s1o~al Enrolled MISsoun Militia. 1836, and to allow her a pension of $12 per month. T~e bill '!as reported to ~he S~nate without amendment, ordered to The bill wa..'\ reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third readrng, read the thud time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. NANCY SHOTWELL. WALTER SCOTT. The bill (H. R.10432) granting a pension to Nancy Shotwell was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to t>lace on the The bill (H. R.12531) granting a pension to WaUer Scott was con- pension roll the name of Mrs. Nancy Shotwell, late widow of Arthur sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the Stotts, a soldier in the war of 1812, and to pay her a pension of $12 per pension roll the name of Walter Scott, formerly a private in Capt. Wil- month. liam Robinson's Company, General Benjamin Patterson's command, The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to in the Creek war, at ~12 per month. a third reading, read the third time, and pas.sed. The bill was reported to the Senate wjthout amendment. ordered to MARY E. DUBRIDGE. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. · The bill (H. R 13205) to grant a pension to Mary E. Dubridrre was MILLIE A. RITENOUR. considere~ as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place ~n the The bill (H. R. 10683) granting a pension to Millie .A.. Ritenour was pension roll the name of Mary E. Dubridge, widow of Francis Dubridge, considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the late a private of marines, who enlisted in the Marine Corps on the 23d name of Millie .A.. Ritenour, a hospital nurse in the war of the rebellion, of January, 1836, and was discharged therefrom January 22, 18401 and on the pension rolls, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. served in the Florida war, to be paid a pension of $12 per montb. The bill wa.~ reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and pa.ssed. 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2967 NANCY F. GLENN. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R.11349) to grant a pensi.On to Nancy F. Glenn wns a thfrd reading, read the thlrd time, and passed. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the B. JON.Ea pension roll the name of Nancy F. Glenn, widow of Robert A. Glenn, The bill (H. R. 7147) granting a pension toB. Jones was considered who was a privat.e in Capt. William C. Rall's company in the Fourth as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pension Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, which was commanded by CoL Samuel roll, at $8 per month, the name of B. Jones, of South Cz.rolina, lat.ea M. Thompson in the Black Hawk war, and to pay her a pension of $12 private of Captain Chestnut's company of mounted men, South Caro per month. lina Volunteers of the Florida war~ The bill was rep~rted to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment: ordered to third reading, read the third time, and passed. a. third reading, read the third time, and passed. EVELINE BRITTON. JENNIE l\IA.Y CAIN. The bill (H. R. 13459) granting a pension to Eveline Britton, mother The bill (H. R.13030) granting a pension to Jennie May Cain was of John Britton, was announced as next in order. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the M:r. COCKRELL. I ask that the report be read in that case. pension roll the name of Jennie May Cain, the imbecile and invalid l\Ir. DAVIS. Let the bill go over without pr~judice. daughter of Edwin C. Cain, deceased, late a private in Company E, The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will go over without prejudice. One hundred and twenty-fourth Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers, CATHARINE l\l1ROBERTS. and to pay a pension of $18 per month to her legally appointed guar The bill (H. R.12071) granting a pension to Catharine McRoberts dian. was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to the pension roll the name of Catharine McRobert.s, the widow of J amen a third reading, read the third time, and passed. McRobert.s, of Capt. Lemuel Ford's company of United States Mounted FRANCES E. BIDWELL. Rangers in the ·Black Hawk war, at $12 a month. The bill (H. R.10323) to pension Frances E. Bidwell was considered The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes t-0 p1ace on the pension roll a third reading, read the third time, and passed. the name of Frances E. Bidwell, daughter of Daniel D. Bidwell, late l\IRS. AGNES Il. COLLINS. brigadier general United States volunteers, and to pay her a pension of The bill (H. R. 9876) granting an increase of pension to Mrs. Agnes $12 per month. B. Collins wais considered as in Committee of the 'Vhole. It proposes to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to place on the-pension roll the name of Agnes B. Collins, widow of Joseph a third reading, read the third time, and passed. B. Collins, late a major and brevet colonel of the United States Army, JOH~ D. TERRY. and to pay her a pension of $25 per month as a major's widow, in lieu The bill (H. R.13173) granting an increase of pension to John D. of the pension now drawn by her. Terry was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to increase the pension of John D. Terry, formerly a sergeant of Company a third reading, read the third time, anfl passed. E, Twenty-third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, and also a ELIZABETH P. SATTERFIELD. first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster Thirty-fifth Regiment The bill (H. R. 9668) granting a pension to Elizabeth P. Satter.field United States Colored Troops, to $45 -per month. was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to name of Elizabeth P. Satterfield, widow of John R. Satterfield, late a. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. soldier in the Black Hawk war, on the pension roll at $12 per month. MA.lUTDIE CANAL COMPANY OF NICARAGUA. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The VICE PRESIDE~T. The hour of 12 o'clock.having arrived, it a third reading, read the third time, and passed. is the duty of the Chair to lay before the Senate the nn.finished busi ANDREW J. WALLA CE. ness, which is the bill (S. 4827) to amend the act entitled "An act to The bill (H. R. 7146) granting a pension to Andrew J. Wallace was incorporate the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua," approved considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon February 20, 1889. the pension roll at $8 per month the name of Andrew J. Wallace, of Mr. DAVIS. I move that the pending order be informally laid Chestel'field County, South Carolina, late a soldier in the Florida war. aside. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to Mr. EDMUNDS. U the Senator will ask unanimous consent, I a third reading, read the third time, and passed. shall not object tor fifteen or twenty minutes, in order that the pension bilJs may be considered. ELIZABETH MOUNTS. Mr. DAVIS. I ask unanimous consent. The bill (H. R.13471) granting a pension to Elizabeth Mounts was The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection? considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon Mr. PLATT. How long will the bills take? the pension rolls the name of Elizabeth Mount.s, widow of Joseph l\Ir. EDMUNDS. The consideration of the. pension bills will be Mounts, late of Capt. C. S. Maddings's company, Third Regiment Illi subject to call for the regular order at any time. nois Volunteers, Black Hawk war, and to pay her a pension of $12 a The VICE PRESIDENT. If there be no objection, the unfinished month. business will be informally laid aside and the consideration of unob The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to jected pension bills continued. The Chair hears no objection. a third reading, re:i.d the third time, and passed. SAR.AH STEEDMAN. HENRY ALLIIORN. The bill (H. R. 12973) granting a pension to Sarah Steedman was The bill (H. R. 13337) granting a pension to Henry Allhorn was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pension roll the name of Sarah Steedman, widow of Charles Steedman, pension roll the name of Henry Allhorn, late a private in Company D, late a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and to pay her a pen First Regiment United States Infantry, in the Florida war, at $20 per sion of $50 per month. month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third thr.e, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. ELIZA.DETR WOLCOTT. ::U:ARTHA TENNERY. The bill (H. R. 12645) to place on the pension rolls the name of Eliz The bill (H. R. 12009) to grant a pension to Martha Tennery, widow abeth Wolcott was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It of James H. Tennery, of Captain Griffin's company, First Illinois proposes to place on the pension roll the name of Elizabeth Wolcott, Militia, Black Hawk war, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. formerly Elizabeth Stoddard, widow of Jonathan Stoddard, late of It proposes to place on the pension rolls the name of Martha Tennery, Company F, Thirty-fifth Wisconsin Volunteers. widow of James H. Tennery, deceased, late a private in Capt. Robert The bill was reported to the Senate without amenclment, ordered to Griffin's company, First Illinois Militia, in the Black Hawk war, and a third reading, read the third time, and passed. to allow her a pension of $12 per month. GENERAL W. J. LANDRAM. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R.12402) for the benefit of General W. J. Landram was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to plaee on the SAR.All A. PHELPS. pension roll the name of W. J. Landram, formerly colonel of the Nine The bill (H. R. 10990) granting a pension to Sarah A. Phelps was teenth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and afterwards pro considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the moted to the rank of brigadier general by brevet, and to grant him a pension rolls the name of Sarah A. Phelps, widow of William L. Odell, pension of$50 per month during bis natural life, in lieu of the pension late of Company E, Second Tennessee Regiment Volunteers, she hav be is now receiving. ing, after the death of William L. Odell, married William A. Phelps, The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to who died on the 25th day of October, 1887. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. , I _ ,;_. -J· • ...... - -.:.• '.-·-"'· ..... 2968 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, JAMES H. WALTON. MARY JANE ALLEN. The bill (H. R. 7813) to place the name of James H. Walton on the The bill (H. R. 13082) granting a pension to Mary Jane Allen was pension rolls·was considered as in Committee of the Whole. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the The bill was reported from the Committee on Pensions with an pension roll the name of Mary Jane Allen, widow of George Allen, de amendment, in line 4, after the name ''James H. Walton," to insert ceased, late of Company B, Seventy-second Pennsylvania Regiment, "late a private in Captain Lauderdale's company of Tennessee Mounted and to pay her a pension of $8 per month. Militia;" so as to ma.kc the bill read: The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to Be it e11acted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, author a third reading, read the third time, and passed. ized and directed to place the name of James H. lValton. late a.private in Captain Lauderdale's company of Tennessee l\Iounted :!11ilitia, on the pension rolls, at EDWIN H. DILL. the rate of ... 15 per montll, l!Ubject to the provisions and limitations of the pen The bill (R.R. 12145) granting an increase of pension t.o Edwin H. sion law. Dill, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to in The amendment was agreed to. crease the pension of Edwin H. Dill, late a private in Compauy K, The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendment Twenty-third Re~iment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, to $30 per month. was concurred in. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to ! . The !:lmendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a. third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third time. The bill was read the third time, and passed. MARY CO~DY RINGOLD. The bill (H. R. 12120) to increase the pension of Mary Condy Ringold, l\IRS. l\IA.RY JANE MALLORY. widow of George H. Ringold, late lieutenant colonel, deputy paymaster The bill (H. R. 9576) to increase the pension of Mrs. Mary Jane Ual general United States Army, was considered as in Committee of the l<;>ry, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to in Whole. It proposes to pa.y Mary Coody Ringold, widow of George H. crease, from $12 to $25 per month, the pension of Mrs. Mary .Jane Ringold, late lieutenant colonel and deputy paymaster general United Mallory, who is the widow of a soldier of the war of 1812, is eighty-two States Army, a pension of $50 per month instead of the pension she is years of age, bas been confined to her bed for five years, and is totally no'v recei vin~. ·" blind. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and pas!':ed. CAROLINE DAWSON. WILLIAM D. CALK! ~s. The bill (H. R.13159) restoring the pension of Caroline Dawson was The bill (H. R.12806) granting a pension to William D. Calkins, considered as in Committee of the Whole. Company A, One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, was The bill wa.s reported from the Committee on Pensions with amend coosidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place upon ments, in line 4, aft.er the words "directed to," to strike out "restore the pension roll, at $40 per month, the narr.e of William D. Calkins, to the pension roll," and insert "place;" and in line 6, after the word late of Company A, One hundred and eleventh Regiment of Pennsyl "volunteers," to strike out" to take effect from and alter the passage vania Volunteers. of this act," and insert'' on the pension.rolls, subject to the rules and The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to limitations of the pension laws;" so as to make the bill read: a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Be it en.acted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby. au thorized e.nd directed to place the name of Caroline Dawson, widow of 0. L. 1\IARY S. DAY. Dawson, late assistant surgeon of the ·.rhirty-first Iowa Volunteers, ou the pen sion rolls, subject to the rules and limitations of the pension laws. The bill (H. R. 12757) granting a pension to Mary S. Da.y, was con sidered as in Committee of the Whole. .It proposes to place the name The amendmen t.s were agreed to. of Mary S. Day, former widow of Jesse Day, late of the Fifteenth Obio The bi! l was reported to the Senate as amended .. ;i.nd the amendments Battery, on the pension roll, and to pay hera pension of$12 per month. were concurred in. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a third time. a third reading, read the third time and pa~sed. The bill was read the third time, and passed. JOilN BRITTON. MARGARET l\I. COPELAND. The bill (H. R 13041) increasing the pension of John Britton, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to pay .John The bill (H. R. 7233) granting a pension to Margaret M. Copeland Britton, late captain of Company F, Eighteenth Regiment Pennsylva was considered as in Committee of the Whole. The bill was reported nia Volunteer Cavalry, $40 per month. from the Committee on Pensions with an amendment, in line 4, after the word "rolls," to strike out "of the United" and insert "subject The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. to tho limitations and provisions of the pension laws;" so as to make the bill read: MARY C. BROUGHTON. Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au The bill (H. R. 1344~) granting a pension to Mary C. Broughton, was thorized and directed to place upon the pensivn rolls, subJect tot.he limitations and provisions of the pension laws, the name of Margaret 1\1. Copeland, late considered in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the widow of Lafayette Pickering, captain Company F, First Regiment Ohio Cav pension rolls the name of Mary C. Brou\!.hton, widow of Capt. H. H. alry. Hart, late of Company C, Sixty-first Regiment of New Y l)rk Volunteers, The amendment was agreed to. and to pay her a pension of $8 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate as a.mended, and the amendment The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to was concurred in. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The amendm,ent was ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read GEORGIANA S:;\IITH. a third time. The bill (H. R. 13299) granting a pension to Georgiana Smith, an The bill was read the third time, and passed. army nurse, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. Jt. proposes l\IARY JANE FOX. to place the name of Georgiana Smith upon the pension rolls and to The bill (H. R.13154) granting a. pension to Mary Jane Fox, army pay her a pension of $12 per month. nurse, was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to place on the pension roll the name of Mary Jane Fox, late volunteer a third reading, read the third time, and passed. army nurse, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. MALINDA PORTER. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 13242) granting a pension to Malinda Porter, was con a third reading, read the third time, and passed. '- sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pen MA.RY BROOKS. sion rolls the name of Ualinda Porter, mother of David S. Seldomridge The bill (H. R.13153) granting a pension to Mary Brooks, army nurse, late of Company D, Fortieth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, at $12 per was considered as in Committee ot the Whole. It proposes to place on month. the pension roll the name of Mary Brooks, late volunteer army nur3e, .:_:. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to and to pay her a pension of $12 per month. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to MRS. AGNES FISDLEY HALSEY. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 403:J) for relief of Mrs. Agnes Findley Halsey, who HANNAH CUMMINS. served as nurse in the late war under the name of M~ Agnes Findley, The bill (H. R. 3258) granting a pension to Hannah Cummins was was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the upon the pension rolls the name of Mrs. Agnes Findley Halsey, who pension roll the name Hannah Cummins, widow of William Cummins, served as a trained nurse from March 14, 1862, to April 30, 1865, at late a private in Captain Fordyce's company of Ohio troops in the war $12 per month. of 1812, at $30 per month, in lieu of pension now being paid to her. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate withoutamendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. , . 1891. - CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2969 l\IA.RY B. COOK. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 11640) granting a pension to Mary B. Cook was con a third reading, read the thil'd time, and passed. sidered a.q in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the RUTH E. FURGESON. pension roll the name of Mary B. Cook, who was the widow of i:renry The bill (H. R. 12305) granting a pension to Ruth E. Furgeson was W. Torbett, late second lieutenant of Company K, Eleventh Regiment considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place the United States Infantry. name of Ruth E. Furgeson, former widow of S. J. Naylor, late Com The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to pany K, Sixteenth Regiment Michigan Infantry, on the pension roll, a third reading, read the third time, and passed. and t-0 pay her a pension of $12 per month. l't!RS. FREDERIKA B. JONES. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 3174) granting a pension to Mrs. Frederika B. Jones a third reading, read the third time, and passed. was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place ELVIRA BROOKS. the name of Fre:lerika B. Jones, widow of the late Hrig. Gen. Ro~er The bill (H. R. 10817) granting a pension to Elvira Brooks, widow Jones, on the pension roll, and io pay her a pension of $50 per month. of Odney D. Brooks, late assistant surgeon Twenty-sixth Michigan Vol The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to unteers, was considered as in Committee of tbe Whole. It proposes to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. place on the pension roll the name of Elvira Brooks, widow of Odney ELIZABETH JOHNSON. D. Brooks, late assistant surgeon Twenty-sixth Michigan Volunteers, The bill (H. R. 5199) granting a pension to Elizabeth Johnson was war of the rebellion. conside10ed as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to pension roll the name of Elizabeth Johnson, stepmother of John John a third reading, read the third time, and passed. son, late of Company H, Seventy-first Pennsylvania Volunteers. VALERIA B. ELLIOTT. The bill was reporte1 to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill (H. R. 2139) for the relief of Valeria B. Elliott was consid a third reading, read the third time, and passed. ered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to pla'!e on the pen JOSEPH SMITH. roll, at $50 per month, the name of Valeria B. Elliott, widow of the The bill (H. R.12864) granting a pension to Joseph Smith was con late Brig. Gen. W. L. Elliott, United States Volunteers, and to pay sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It propo::ies to place on the her a pension in lien of the pension she is now receiving. pension rolls the name of Joseph Smith, of Saline County, Illinois, The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to late a soldier in the Second Regiment Tennessee Volunteers in the a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Florida war, at $12 per month. SOLOMON R. RUCH. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment: ordered to The bill (H. R. 4722) granting a pension to Solomon R. Ruch was a third reading, read the third time, and passed. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the MARCELLUS A. STOVALL. pension roll the name of Solomon R. Ruch, late a private in Company The bill (H. R. 104'33) granting a pension to Marcellus A. Stovall .A, Fourteenth United ~tates Infantry, at $18 per month. was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on The bill was repol'ted to the Senate without amendment, ordered to the pension roll the name of .Marcellus A. Stovall, of Augusta, Ga., at a third reading, read the third time, and passed. $12 per month, he having been a private in the Richmond Blues, a MARY :?tIORG.AN ESDON. company from Augusta, Ga., commanded by Capt. F. M. Robertson, The bill (H. R. 7524) granting pension to Mary Morgan Esdon was in the Seminole Indian war in Florida in 1836. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to placE!on the The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to pension rolls, at $12 a month, the name of Mary Morgan Esdon, of a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Barnet, Vt., on account of the service in the late war of her !ix sons, to wit: Andrew J . .Morgan, service not known by mother; Charles Mor WILLIAM C, YOUNG. gan, CompanyM, Eleventh Vermont Volunteers; Peter A. (alias George) Th£ bill (H. R. 4906) granting a pension to William C. Young was Morgan, Company I, Seventeenth Vermont Volunteers; William Mor considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the gan, Company H, Eighth New Hampshire Volunteers; James Morgan, pension roll the name of William C. Young, late a private in Capt. N. Company H, Eighth New Hampshire Volunteers; Ezra Morgan, Com P. Dodson's company of Col. William Lindsey's regiment of Tennes nany H, Eighth New Hampshire Volunteers, bnt more particularly on see Volunteers of the Cherokee war of 1836 to 1838, and to allow him account of the service of Ezra, on whom she was a dependent mother. a pension of $12 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, 1ead the third time, and passed. a third reading, read t?e third time, and passed. CELIA EICHELE. MRS. N...\.NCY SPRINGER. The bill (H. R. 10127) grant~ a pension to Celia Eichele was con· The bill (H. R.12565) p:ranting a pension to Mrs. Nancy Sp1inger sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on pension roll the name of Celia Eichele, daughter C1f Jacob Eichele, late the pension rolls the name of Nancy Sprinp;er, of Spalding County, of Company F, Forty-fifth New York Volunteers, and sister of August Georgia, widow of James M. Sprin,ger, late a private in Captain Mann's Eichele, late captain Company A, First Regiment Missouri Reserve company of Georgia troops, in the Creek Indian war of 1836, and to pay Corps. her a pension of $12 per month. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, nrdered to The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. a third reading, read the third time, and passed. J\I.A RY D. JONES. SARAH A. JOINER. The bill (H. R. 10858) granting a pension to Mary D. Jones was con The bill (H. R.12826) granting a pension to Sarah A. Joiner was sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the pension roll the name of Mary D. Jones, late volunteer nurse during pension roll the name of Sarah A. Joiner, n. resident of Scottsborough, the civil war, and to pay her a pension of $12 per month . .Ala., at $12 per month, on account of disability resulting from disease The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to contracted while serving as a hospital nurse during the war of the re a third reading, read the third time, and passed. bellion. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to MARGARET .A. MYERS. to a third reading, read the third time, and passed. The bill (H. R. 509'.l) for the relief of Margaret A. Myers was con MARY BUCKLAND. sidered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the The bill (H. R.11896) granting a pension to Mary Buckland was pension roll the name of Margaret A. Myers, and to grant her a pen considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the sion of $12 per month. pension roll the name of Mary Buckland, the stepmotl;ier of Jerome The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to µ. Buckland, late of Company H, Ninth Regiment of Michigan In a third reading, read the third time, and passed. fantry, and to grant her a pension at the same reite as if she was the DR. FRANCIS L.AMBF.RT. natural mother of said soldier. The bill (H. R. 9575) granting a pension to Dr. Francis Lambert was The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the a third readi.ng, read the third time, and passed. pension roll the name of Dr. Francis Lambert, at $25 per month, late EDWIN COTTON. a surgeon in the Creek war. The bill (H. R. 9493) granting a pension to Edwin Cotton, late a The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to musician, Twenty-fourth Regiment Michigan Volunteer Infantry, was a. third readin~, read the third time, a.ad passed. considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the JAMES M 1l\IULLIN. pension roll the name of Edwin Cotton, late a musician oftheTwenty The bill (H. R. 5869) granting an increase of pension to James Mc fourth Regiment Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Mullin was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to 2970 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, place on the pension roll the name of James McMullin, late of Com subdivision, before the words "per cent.," it is proposed to fill the blank pany I, One hundred and eighteenth Regiment New York Volunteer by inserting ''four; '' so as to read: Infantry, and the Sixth Regiment United States Cavalry, at $40 per Third. The amount of &70,000,000 of eh ares to be issued to, nnd in the name of, month, in lieu of the pension he is now receiving. the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in such certificates as he may prescribe, to be held in the Treasury as e. pledge and security to the United The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to States for the repayment to the United States, on demand, of any sum or sums a third reading, read the third time, and passed. paid by itin pursuance of its guaranty on said bonds, with interest.on the sums so paid from the date of payment at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum, payable ROBERT MOORE. annually, etc. The bill (H. R. 12550) to grant a pension to Robert Moore, of Kirk The amendment was agreed to. wood, Ill., was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, in the necessary absence, for rea to place upon the pension roll the name of Robert Moore, late a sol sons we all understand, of the chairman of the Committee on Foreign dier in Alexander White's company of .Mounted Volunteers in the Relations [Mr. SHERMAN], who reported this bill, it has fallen to be Black Hawk war, and to pay him a pension of $12 per month. my duty for the time being to t.ake charge of it. The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to I only wish to say, first, that the subject with Senators who have n. third reading, read the third time, and passed. 'been here for a half dozen years is not a new one. The whole subject PHILIP H. EMMERT. of the national importance to the United States of having the kind of The bill (H. R.1738) granting o, pension to Philip H. Emmert was interest in the canal which this bill provides for bas been fully dis considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place on the cnssed in the Senate, and by a vote only lacking four of two-thirds, pension roll the name of Philip H. Emmert, late a private in Company when the proposition was in the form of treaty1 passed this body. D, Twenty-third Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. The report of the committee, Mr. President, which is on the tables The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to of all Senators, and has been for two or three weeks, is a full, com a third reading, read the third time, and passed. plete, and condensed statement of the considerations that led the com mittee unanimously to recommend the passage of this bill in the care XENOPHON PECK. ful form in which it is drawn. That report, I say, is so full that I do The bill (H. R. 12400) granting an increase of pension to Xenophon not feel called upon at this moment to take up the time of the Senate Peck was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to in going over again the grounds that are stated in the report and that increase the pension of Xenophon Peck, late a private in Battery E, were discussed and understood by Senators two, three, or four years First 'Regiment Ohio Light Artillery Volunteers, to $60 per month; ago w ben the treaty was before the Senate, especially so in view of the but this act shall not be construed to prevent any further increase by very complete and able observations of my friend from Alabama [Mr. the Pension Bureau to which the beneficiary may at any time become MORGAN], who addressed the Senate on this subject the other day. entitled. Therefore, for the present, I do not think, speaking for the commit The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to tee, that I should occupy the time of the Senate in going over those a third reading, read the third time, and passed. grounds again and a~ain. ALONZO R. HYATT. Mr. VEST. Mr. President, I approach the discussion of this question The bill (H. R. 13271) granting an increase of pension to Alonzo n. without any personal feeling whatever. My relations with some of the Hyatt was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to projectors of this enterprise have been exceedingly intimate. In the list pay to Alonzo R. Hyatt, late private of Company C, Thirty-eighth of directors I notice the name of Ex-Senator Joseph E. McDonald, who Regiment Ohio Volunteers, a pension of $50 per month, in lieu of the has been my warm personal and political friend since I have entered pension he is now receiving. public life. I was a friend of Captain Eads. I believe him to be the The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to greatest engineer this country has ever produced, if not the greatest in a third reading, read the third time, and passed. the history of the world; and while I never pretended to put my opin ion before the public as worth anything in regard to the practicability EDWARD .JARDINE. of the Tehuantepec ship railway, I accepted, on account of my knowl The bill (H. R.10324) to increase the pension of Edward Jardine edcre of what Captain Eads had done as an engineer, his opinion in re was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to place ga;d to the possibility of constructing that great work. the name of Ed ward Jardine, late colonel and brevet brigadier general I introduced, at his request, as the RECORD will show, the first bill United States Volunteers, on the pension roll at $100 per month, in that came before the Senate for the construction of the Tehuantepec lieu of his present pension of $50 per month. shiprailway. Itcontainednopledge, asiremember, oftheGovernment The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to credit. Two bills were afterwards introduced, one by the Senator from a third reading, read the third time, and passed. Louisiana [Mr. GrnsoN] and the other from the Committee on Com The VICE PRESIDENT. The unobjected pension cases on the Cal merce of the Senate. In one of those bills it was provided that the endar have been completed. Government should giveitscredit to that enterprise when its practfoa PRESIDENTIAL APPROVALS. bility should be demonstrated by the construction of the railway and A message from the President of the United States, by Mr. 0. L. the carrying a loaded ship upon it from one ocean to the other. lt PRUDEN, one of his secretaries, announced that the President had, on is not my purpose to discuss now the constitntionality of the the18th instant, approved and signed the act CS. 4814) to amend an act action proposed in this bill, by which the Government of the United entitled "An act to forfeit certain lands heretofore granted for the pur States indorses $100,000,000 of 3 per cent. bonds for this company. pose of aiding in the construction of railroads, and for other purposes." So far as legislative action is concerned, tha.t matter is finished. In The message also announced that the President had, on this day, ap passing the bill for the Tehuantepec ship railway and in inaugurating proved and signed the act (S. 2634) for the relief of T. A. Kendig. and passing the bill which authorized the organizatio:a of the Mari time Canal Company of Nicaragua we have, so far as the action of MESSAGE F.&0.l[ THE HOUSE. Congress can go, disposed of the question of the constitutionality of A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McPHERSON", such legislation. It must be determined, if ever opened, in a judicial Hs Clerk, announced that the House had pas3ed the following resolu tribunal. Whatever may be the individual opinions of Senators, a tions; in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate: large majority of both Hotises of Congress have placed upon record Resolved by th6 House of Repre8entatives (the Senate conc1wring), That there be their opinion that under the general commerce clause of the Consti printed and bound in cloth 5,000 extra copies of the report of the Superintend tution we had the right to authorize the organization of companies ent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the fiscal year ending to construct a railway or a ship canal upon foreign soil. .Tune 30, 1890, together with the usual necessary progress sketches and illustra· tions; 1,000 copies of which shall be for the use of the Senate, 2,000 copies for Another question is involved in the bill before the Senate, which is the use of the House of Repl'esentatives, and 2,000 copies for the use of the an exceedingly important one, and that is the effect of the proposed United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. legislation upon our relations with the great English-speaking people Resolved. by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That there be printed e.t the Government Printin11: Office 15,500 copies of the tenth annual re of Great Britain. port of the Direct-0r of the Bureau of Ethnology, with accompanying papers e.nd Mr. President, I do not appeal to the prejudices which may exist in llustratioos, and uniform with the preceding volumes of the series, of which regard to our relations with Great Britain. It is easy enough and cheap 3,500 she.11 be for the use of the Senate, 7,000 for the use of the House of Repre sentatives, and 5,000 for distribution by the Bureau of Ethnology. enough to denounce Great Britain, to ask the American people to ac cept with great allowance any proposition that comes from that quar MARITIME CANAL COMPANY OF NICARAGUA. ter and to look with suspicion upon any legislation which does not 'rhe VICE PRESIDENT. The regular order will be proceeded with. antagonize the interests of that great empire. I have no reason to be The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the the special advocate or friend of Great Britain in any regard. Neither J bill (S. 4827) to amend an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Mari- by heredity, education, feeling, or sentiment can I be reasonably ac time Canal Company of Nicaragua,'' approved February 20, 1880. cused of having any leaning or partiality towards that people. .As an M:r. EDUUNDS. I move that the blank in section 9, ou page 9, line intelligent man who has read the history of Great Britain and of this 26, may be filled with the word "fonr," which corresponds with the coantry, I have no hesitation in declaring that the English people, like preceding word ''four.'' ourselves, are the most aggressive, not to say the most selfish, upon the The VICE PRESIDENT. The amendment will be stated. face of the earth. Neither Great Britain nor the United States toler The CHIEF CLERK. In section 9, on page 9, line 26, in the third ates opposition to its interests, if that opposition can be removed. ~~· · .... ~.- 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. · 2971 · When we denounce Great Britain for the aggrandizing tendencies which l\fr. Clayton then negotiated with Sir Henry Bulwer the Cla.ykm treaty, by which his scheme of a. joint protection to the transit route was recognized and it bas exhibited in all its relations with foreign countries, we must re a provision inserted by which Great Britain and the United Stateapledged their member that in ourselves are the same characteristics, coming from faith, each to the other, that neither of them would ever colonize, annex, fortify, or exercise exclusive dominion over any portion of Oen tral America.. After the heredity and racial peculiarities which we could not eradicate if we terms of this treaty were agreed to by Clayton and Bulwer, Mr. Clayton re· would. fused to sign it until he could procure from two-thirds of the Senators a. private I stand here to-day, at the risk of misconstruction, to say that no pledge that they would ratify it, which being done, he signed the treaty and calamity could come upon the world equal to a war between the United eent h to the Senate for ratification. Mr. Douglas was the only man in the Senate who made any active opposition States and Great Britain. It would dest,roy the commerce upon every to the ratification of the treaty. · He opposed it upon the ground that he wanted ocean. It would involve both nations in antagonisms, difficulties, and no partnerships with Great Britain in respect to the transit route; that such losses of which the least would be the loss of human life. No intel a partnership would be productive of constant misunderstandings and disputes, instead of being a bond of peace ; and he urged that the Senate reject the treaty ligent man can look upon such a disaster without trepidation. No and call upon the Executive to send to the Senate the Hise treaty, that it might honest man, in my judgment, knowingthe facts, would ever solicit such be ratified, with such amend men ts as the Senate might see fit to cake, in order that we should have the exclusive control over the transit route, and might a conjuncture. It becomes, then, of the very greatest importance that open it to the world on such terms as were compatible with American inter in considering this bill we should look to what are and have been ests. l\Ir. Douglas especially opposed the treaty upon the ground that he would the relations of Great Britain and the United States in regard to inter never enter into any compact with Great Britain or any other European power in rP.specL to the American continent by which the faith of the nation should oceanic communication across the Isthmus. be pledged for aJl time to come never to annex or colonize such portions of the Mr. President, it is easy enough to denounce the Clayton-Buhver continent as our interest and safety would inevitably compel us to annex at treaty. I join in that denunciation. Never since I understood that some future day. He did not desil:e to annex the country then, but insisted that the time would come when we would be compelled to exercise jurisdiction treaty have I been able to understand why Ur. Clayton caused the re over that transit route. All objection, howe'\"er, to the treaty proved useless, jection of the Hise treaty, which gave the United States absolute con as nearly the whole Senate had been committed to it privately in advance, and trol of the ship canal across the Isthmus, and went into a partnership, when the vote was taken there were but eight votes recorded in the negative. diplomatically, with Great Britain, by which we divided the control The treaty had been no sooner ratified than Great Britain did claim that her protectorate was still in existence, recognized and acknowledged by the United and management of that great enterprise. States, and she has from that day to this persisted in this claim to _a protecto I have in my possession a singular document which throws consider rate. able light upon the contemporaneous history attending Mr. Clayton's All this occurred in secret session in 1.350, and within the next-three years I tried often to get the Senato to remove the injunction of secrecy so that! might action, and as it comes from a very distinguished source, from a man publish my views. In 1853, three years afterwards, the English extended their the mention of whose name once excited great political antagonism in influence and took possession of Ruatan. Cass, in the Senate, began to get this country, but all of whose faults have been condoned by death and frightened. All that I had predicted had come to pass. Cass ma.de a. speech denouncing Clayton and the treaty. This was occurring about the time when who left to the American people, let us hope, only the memory of great Clayton was retiring from the office of Secretary of State. Soule entered into patriotism and great ability, I make no apology for placing it before the discussion, and in the course of their speeches both he and Cass, forgetting the Senate. It is a document that came to the public press from Col. that the injunction of secrecy had not been removed, quoted what had occurred during the secret session of 1850 or thereabouts_ Nobody interrupted them and J. :Madison Cutts, the brother-in-Jaw of Stephen A. Douglas, who was I thought now is the time to get my speech and my views before the public. an inmate of his household, and at the request of Mr. Douglas took So I went to a Senator and said to him, "Look here, Soule and Cass are quot down in writing his views upon public questions with an idea of fur ing what occurred in secret session; suppose you move the Senate to go into secret session and have the injunction removed so that they can do so." The nishing his biography accurately to the American people after his death. Senator started up mischievously; Soule apologized, said he was not aware Colon.el Cutts states that "the following is Mr. Douglas's exact lan that the injunction had not been removed; the Senate went into secret session, guage, and was dictated with a view of subsequent publication." It and the injunction was removed. Clayton retired from the office of Secretary of State, went back to Dela.ware, is headed, "Central America-The Clayton-Bulwer treaty." I will and said Cass had been abusing and slandering him, and that it was necessary ask the Secretary to read it. for him to reply in order to vindicate himself, promising to anaihilate Cass. The Chief Clerk read as follows: He was re-elected to the Senate,and could ha>e annihilated Ca.81!1. for the latter had taken the wrong ground and Clayton was very powerful in debate. CEXTRAL AMERICA-THE CLAYTON A~H> BULW.ER TREATY. Cass vanished, said his wife was sick, and that he had to JrO home to Detroit. Clayton came on ready with a speech, which would have just fitted Cass, and The oldest possession which Gre:i.t Brita1n claims in Central America is tha asked where he was. He was told Cass's wife was sick, and that he had gone which is known as the "Balize Settlement," dividing Nicaragua and Honduras home, and then turning to me, said: "No matter, what he had to say could on the one side and the Mexican State of Yucatan on the other. equally be addressed to me as Cass's follower." When Clayton got through I More than a century a.go some British merchants sent out ships and cut and made my speech, which used him up. I stated all that I had previously said loaded them with logwood at the Balize, which at that time belonged to Spain. in the secret session, when the treaty was ratified, and a. good deal more. The In making a. treaty or peace between Spain and England a clause was inserted speech made a. great impression upon the country, and gained me great fame continuing the permission to cut logwood without conveying any right of soil and reputation, and the treaty has been odious ever since. or dominion to England. Under the permission to cut logwood England founded a settlement at the Balize, with no fixed or definite boundaries; and she has enlarged and extended it from time to time, and organized it into a col Mr. VEST. Mr. President, as I stated, I do not think that there is ony, without paying any attention to the territorial ri,1?hts or boundaries of the any considerable difference of opinion now among intelligent men in adjoining states. About the same time England pretended to have made a treaty with a small the United States who have given this matter any attention in regard tribe of Indians called the Mosquitos, upon the coast of Central America, and to to the impropriety of Ur. Clayton ever having made the Bulwer treaty have guarantied to the Indians the protection of the British Government. Some in 1850, but it is not a. question as to whether that treaty should have years ago, perhaps twenty, the British Government sent an agent to the Mos quito coast and found an Indian boy-part Indian and part mulatto-who was been made or not. The question before us now is as to the attitude said to have been the son of a. Mosquito Indian chief, and took him over to of Great Britain in regard to that treaty, and what would be the re Jamaica. and had him crowned as the king of the Mosqllitos, took him back sult of our assuming it not to be in existence, and, without any con again to his own country and put him in nominal possession of his alleged in heritance, but, in fact, under the direction and control of a British consul on ference with Great Britain whatever, proceeding to legislate as if that that coast. This Mosquito country was within the chartered limits of the State treaty had never been.made. of Nicaragua, and consequently the Indian tribes, the l\fosquitos included, If Senators would place themselves in the position of the officers of were subjects of the State of Nicaragua, and incapable of establishing a govern ment independent or that State. the British Government, if they would assume for an instant that they This was the condition of aftairs in Central America. when the war between belong to the foreign office of Great Britain, or that they were ministerS' the United States and Mexico wa.s brought to a close. It wa.s understood, and of the Government in the House of Commons, they would appreciate, in fact not denied, that Great Britain used her entire powers of diplomacy to encourage Mexico and to defeat any treaty of peace by which the United States I am sure, what I saynowwhen !declare thatthisis a mostimportant would acquire any Mexican territory. On the day that it became known at question to the people of the United States. In the phase of this ques Vera Cruz that a treaty of peace had been signed bywhich California and New tion I am now considering it does not matter as to public opinion in Mexico were tr&nsferred to the United States, the Britishfleetsetsa.ilfrom Vera Cruz and proceeded directly to the mouth of the San Juan River, in Central the United States, except as tow hether the people of this country would America, and took possession of the town of San Juan, at the mouth of the river, justify a war with Great Britain by reason of this bill. If Great Britain changed its name to Greyt-0wn and established British authority there in the assumes that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty is in existence (and we have name of the Mosquito King, to be exercised by the British consul, and, in fact, converted it into a. British dependency. The United States protested against no information that that Government does not) then it is fair to assume this act as being an aggression upon the territorial rights of Nicaragua, and as that the Government of Great Britain will act as our Government would being prompted by hostile motives toward the United States, it having for its do under similar circumstances. If Great Britain should ignore the object to close up the only channel through which the United States could es tablish and maintain communication between the Atlantic States and our newly Clayton-Bnlwer treaty and undertake to-day to build that canal with acquired possessions on the Pacific. out consulting the United States, what would be the position of Sen The controversy growing out of this seizure of that transit route led to the ators on this floor? Clayton and Bulwer treaty. It is proper, however, t-0 remark that during the We have no right for an instant, in the light of history and lineage, last years of Mr. Polk's Administration he had appointed Judge HU!e, of Ken tucky, minister to the Central American States, and that Judge Hise had nego to assume that the people of Great Britain are not as jealous of their na tiated a treaty on the part of the United States with the State of Nicaragua by tional honor and of the individual rights of their citizens as we are or which the United States were invested with the exclusive right of constructing as it is possible to be. On the other hand, if there is anything patent a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, together with the right of establishing towns and to every intelligent man, and which has often been repeated in this free ports at each end of the canal, and of fortifying the same, and placing the Chamber, it is that Great Britain of all governments which has ever whole line of the canal and its banks, from ocean to ocean, under the exclusive protection of the United States. This Hise treaty was signed in Central Amer existed is the most tenacious of her national rights and of the indi ica. while :Mr. Polk was President, but did not reach the United States until vidual rights of her people. Whatever may be said of her propensity after the inauguration of General Taylor, and after the appointment of Mr. to aggression, conquest, dominion, commercially and territorially, one Clayton as Secretary of State. thing must be conceded, that as to the governmental functions of pro Mr. Clayton refused to accept this treaty, and sent an agent to Central Amer ica to have it canceled, and a new treaty made by which the said canal should tecting her national honor and the individual rights -0f her citizens be placed under the joint protection of Great Britain and the United States. no government has ever existed that excels the British Empire to-day. 2972 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, If Great Britain bas at any time under any ministry ever conceded formed the British foreign office also that, in his discussions of the subject with the American Secretary of State, General Cass had conveyed to him the im that the Clayion-Bulwer treaty through any act upon her part at the pression that he, for bis part, "was in favor of a naked, unqua.Jifietl repeal of Balize or elsewhere bas been abrogated or nullified, I should be glad the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, without conditions, and that such a repeal ebould to have that specific information now in this debate. he effected in the form of a treaty, though he alluded, with• certain depreca __ 7' .. Mr• .MORGAN. I am not aware that that question has ever been tion, to the contingency of the dissolution of the treaty by an act of Congress." made diplomatically. There has never been an occasion to have it dis A power which we unquestionably have to abrogate a treaty by an cussed between our Government and Great Britain, and if we stay in act of Congress, although as General Cass said it is a power which the attitude that we are in now we shall not discuss it in a hundred shouJd only be exercised upon rare occasions and in extreme emer years and we shall not have a canal in two hundred years. gencies. .Mr. VEST. That is not pertinent to my statement. I will discuss Now, Mr. President, that brings me to the manner in which we that when the question shall arise hereafter; but I am adJressing my should conduct ourselves as to this Olayton-Bulwer treaty. ..Hter re self now to the simple proposition as to how Great Britain looks upon viewing all the facts, Mr. Cox says in behalf of the committee: this treaty. The circumstances in which this treaty was originally negotiated have been Mr. MORGAN. I do not know. I am not a British man. profoundly modified by the lapse of thirty years, and it appears to your com / mittee to be entirely clear that as a.n obstacle and possible peril in tbe way of Mr. VEST. I am not a British man. a coruplete and p:wific as!lertion of the sound, necessary, and vigorous Ameri Mr. MORGAN. I did not say that the Senat-Or was, but he asked can policy laid down in the President's message of March 8, l&O, this treaty me a question which nobody but a member of the privy council of shouni now be finally anu formally abrogated. H hRs b~n shown to bave led only to great misunderstandinirs and controversies with the power with whioh Great Britain could answer. Such a person is the only one who could we were unwi>-ely Jed to make it. It has always been equally inoperative understand what the secrets of the British policy are about this mat either to guaranty the independence of the Central American States or to ad: ter. It bas not come up dip:omatically in discussion between the vance the general interests of commerce. So long as it bas even a formal shadow of existence it can not but tend to United States and Great Britain. cloud and obscure the perfectly simple, just, and equitable policy of the United Mr. VEST. Nothing bas been done or said by the British Govern States in regard to the interoceanic transit, and lo any plans or enterpriees ment to show that they do not consider this treaty in full force, and w berever originated or organized for opening a sea way thi-ouch the Isthmus of Panama or tile Central American States. on the other hand I will undertake to show that they have repeatedly Your committee therefore recommend the passage of the following joint res since 1eso assumed the treaty to be in force, and that. it should be a olution: ,; matter of negotiation between the two Governments as to whether it "}(~solved by the &nate, etc., That the President of the United State be and he is hereby, respectfully requested, if the same In his opinion shall not be' incom should be modified or annulled. The Senator from Delaware [Mr. patible with the public interest, to take immediate steps for the formal and final HIGGINS] asks me if our Government ha.e ever undertaken to annul it abrogation of the con\ention of April 19, 18.50, between the United States of or modify it. I am proceeding now to an examination of the historical Amel'ic(I. and Her Brita.nni~ Majesty, commonly called the ship-canal treaty or facts as to that qutstion. If Sena.tors will turn to an exceedingly able the Clayton-Bulwer treaty." report made from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Mr. President, it goes without saying, in a contest between Great Representatives by the late Mr. Cox, of New York, in the Forty-sixth Britain and the United States, thatthesympathiesand theaetion of every Congress at its second session, they will find an exhaustive discussion American would be with his own country. In one sense it might be of the whole question of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which I sbaJI not a blessing to this country to have thrust upon it a great issue that consume my strength nor tbfl patience of the Senate by reading in full, would consolidate its peopJe and eradicate past sectional differences but I desire to notice certain parts of it. After reviewing the treaty but those differences are being healed by the touch of time and ar~ in extemo, and expressing the opinion I have already expressed here rapidly disappearing. It goes without 1myin~ that any appeal made to-day, that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was a monstrous mistake on to the American people upon any substantial basis of protection to the part of our Secretary of State. I call attention to the fol1owing: American rights or national honor would receive the same response in FJ·om a communication made by lA>rd Napier to General Cass, bearing date every portion of this Union and from every individual, no matter what Wqshington, Nol·ember 30, 18.57, it appea1s that the duty confided to Sir Wil may be his political affiliations. liam Gore Ouseley was to effect, through negotiations with the Central Ameri cun States, the objects as to British Honduras and the l\Io~quito coast which hlld But the question pr~sented to us now is. what as a great nation been aimed nt in the British modification of the American amendments to the should be our course as to our great proJ?enitor, the rival English Dallas-Clarendon treaty, on account or which President Buchanan had finally speaking nation of the worJd, with whom ou·r commercial relations are and positively dropped the D11llas-Clarendon treaty altogether. Sir WilJiam Gore Ou~eley, therefore, as mig-ht have been been expected, bad little difficulty ~ore intimate to·day than with any other? Wh:it should be the dig in learning that the" views of the United States Government were unalterably nified, the proper, the well-defined course of this GoYernment in re hostile to the maintenance of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, as interpreted by gard to Great Britain as to a treaty which bQth countries assume to be Great Britain," and on December7, 1857, LQrd Napier submitted to the Presi dent an offer to refer the controversy as to the meaning and force of the Clay fo force and about tlrn constrnction of which they now differ':' Will ton-Bulwer treaty" to the arbitration of a disinterested third party." This Great Britain be satisfied when she is told from these halls that her con offer the United States did not think it proper to accept. duct as to the Balize bas destroyed the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and we Without reading exhaustively from the papers I bold in my band, proceed to legisiate as if it had no existence'? Would we be satisfied if it is enough for me to say now, and I can substantiate the statement the Parliament of Great Britain should assume that the United States hereafter if it is contradicted. that Great Britain had asserted its con had violated the treaty and without the common respect between in struction of the CJayton-Bulwer treaty to be that it applied fa futuro dividual adversaries, much less the comity that should exist between and not as to past years; in other words, that the action oftbe British ~reat and friendly nations. would assume that we were wrong and they Government in establishing the settlement of the Ba1ize, and with regard were right and legislate accordingly? to the Mosquito coast, were events which bad transpired prior to the I do not propose to elaborate this proposition. It is here at the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, and therefore that treaty did not affect threshold of this whole question. It is to be determined by our action those facts at all. To that contention the United States has never upon this bill. The report of the committee, unanimously made with a_greed, but the matter bas remained an open one for diplomatic nego out regard to political distinction, says that the Clayton-Bnlwer'treaty t'Tations or some other form of settlement since that time: has been abrogated by the cond net of Great Britain. The report of the committee ignores any appeal to diplomacy. The report of the com In hia messai;re to the two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the first session of the Thirty-fifth Congre111s, the President, after making a lucid and mittee sneers at the idea that Great Britain has any rights under the forcible statement of the history of the pending controversy with Great Britain, Clayton-Bulwer treaty, b~cause they have beenabsolutelydestroyed by indicated bis own jud~ment as to the best means of terminating that contro her settlement at the Bahze and her control of the Mosquito coast. If versy in these significant words: ••The fact is, that when two natipns like Great Britain and the United States, we are prepared to follow the report of the committee and pass tbe bill mutually desirous as they are and I trust ever may be of maintaining the upon that basis, if we propose to say to the Empire of Great Britain mo t lriendlyrelationswith each other, b~ve unfortunately concluded a. treaty "We determine this question without regard to your wishes, youropin: which they understand in senses directly opposite, the wisest course is to ab rogate such treaty by mutual consent and to commence anew." ions, or your interests," then, Mr. President, let us do iii and accept what must be the consequences-if not war, which, as I Eaid, every That was the language of the Presiden~ of the United States seven man should deprecate above every other contingency, a condition ofan yean; after tbat treaty was mnde, and I quote it to show that Great imosity, antagonism, distrust, which must operate injurionsly as to the Britain at that time put one construction on the treaty and we put an interests of both countries and to those of the whole world. other; and the same difi"erence bas existed Jrom that day until this. Great Britain and tht\ United States to-day represent the same civil On thelOlh of March, 1858- ization, modified by conditions, changed by circumstances, but the Says this report- same fundamentally. We are the great English-speaking peoples of the Earl of Mnlmsbury on bis f>art intimated to Lord Napier in a dispatch the world, the guardians of the highest attributes of civilized power; touching the British proposal for an arbitration his conviction that it would be and there should benoantagonism between us, unless it be the commer in ordP.r for the British Government upon the rejection of that proposal by the United States "to determine whether they should orig-inate a proposal for the cial antagonism that comes from a desire to accumulate wealth and to ab1o~ation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty," and in a letter dated on the22d of succeed in the great struggle of existence. As to any other antag March, 185~. Lord Napier wrote the Earl of Malmsbury that he had himself been authorized some time before by the Earl of Clarendon" to inform General onism, I stand here fearless of all misconstruction to say it would he a Cass that Her Maje8ty•s Government would not. decline the consideration of calamity to both countries and to the world at large. a proposal for the abrogation ot the Clayton-Bulwer treaty by mutual con Mr. President, it is almost aside from the issues now before the sent·." It was the opinion of Lord Napier that "the )!lroposal for the repeal of the Senate to discuss the importance of an interoceanic transit across the treaty should emana.te from the party to which we are told it has become oner Isthmm~. ous or unacceptable," that party being the people of the United States. He in- Mr. MORGAN. Before the Senator leaves that question-- 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2973 The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. PLATT in the chair). Does the ployed against Cen tra.l A.merica.n nations friendly to Nica.ragua. And no hi~her or other charges or tolls shall be imposed on the conveyance or transit of per Senator from Missouri yield to the Senator from Alabama? sons and property of citizens or subjects of the United States, or of any other Mr. VEST. Certainly. country, across the said routes of comm11nication, than are or may be imposed Mr. MORGAN. I wish to ask him if he can point out in what re on the persons and property of citizens of Nicaragua. And the Republic of Nicaragua concedes the right of the Postmaster-General spect this bill in any of its provisions viola.tes or disregards in any way of the United States to enter into contracts with any individuals or companies the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. I do not think it does in any respect to transport the mails of the United States along the said routes of communica whatever. tion, or along any other routes across the Isthmus, in its discretion, in closed b3gs, the contents of which may not be intended for distribution within the Mr. VEST. I intended to discuss that question, if not directly at said republic, free from the imposition of all taxes or duties by the Govern least indirectly, in a subsequent part of my remarks, but I have no ob ment of Nicara1rna; but this liberty is no~ to be construed so as to permit such jection to answering my friend now. individuals or companies, by virtue of this right to transport the mails, to While this bill is ingeniously drawn and does not in toticlem ·r:erbis carry also passengers or freight. attack the principle of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, I assume that the Then in Article XVII: committee themselves, however enthusiastic they may be for this proj It is understood, however, that the United States, in according protection to ect, will admit that it is based upon the idea of the control of this such routes of communication, and guarantying their neutrality and security, canal exclusively by the United States. always intend that the protection and guaranty are granted conditionally, and may be withdrawn if the United SLates should deem that the persons or com Mr. :M:ORGAN. Not an exclnsivecontrolat all, Mr. President. The pany undertaking or managing the same adopt or establish such regulations ide2. of the exclusive control by the United States of this canal is not in concerning the traffic thereupon as are contrary to the spirit and intention of the bill. thig treaty, eithe1· by making unfair discriminations in favor of the commerce of any country or countries, oYer the commerce of any other country or coun Mr. VEST. This bill- tries, or by imposing oppressive exactions or unreasonable tolls upon mails, Mr. WOLCOTT. May I ask the Senator from Alabama a question pa.ss~ngers, vessels, goods, wares, merchandise, or other articles. The aforesaid for information? In case of foreclosure who would own the canal? protection and guaranty shall not, however, be withdrawn by the United States Mr. MORGAN. The purcbaser. without first giving six months' notice to the Republic of Nicaragua. Mr. WOLCOTT. But the United Rtates is to be indemnified; it bas The treaty also provides that we have the right, even without the guarantied these bonds. Suppose the United States, finding no way cousentot Nicaragua, in case we thirtk it is necessary to do so, to carry to protect itself, should bid in this property, as it will probably have our troops and munitions of war there for the purpose of protecting to do, as it is almost certain in the minds of a good many people it that canal and the equal rights of all the people of the world in its will have to do, would not the Unit~d States then become the owner enjoyment, though the Government of Nicaragua may not have invited of it? us to do it. Mr. MORGAN. It would bold a. piece of property in subordination Tbat treaty, I insist, made seventeen ye..'l.r:; later than the Clayton- to the sovereignty of Nicara~ua. That is not exclusive control. Bulwcr treaty, is a mere execution of wbat was conceded and under- Mr. WOLCOTT. Would it not be ownership so far as anybody could stood by Nicaragua, Great Britain, and the United States to exercise own it? within that country powtirs approximating sovereignty, the power of Mr. UORGAN. Yes. The United States may have a ship of war lying making war, the power of conducting war. in the harbor there without losing any control of it. As a. matter of Then, ifthe Senator will pardon mea moment further, later than that course they take it cwn onere. the treaty made by Mr. Arthur(which I have before me, and wiU not l\fr. VEST. Cttm onere, say:; the Senator from Alabama. But what read Just now) provided that the Government of Nicaragua would cede sort of burden? The shadowy sovereignty of Nicaragua, without I to the United States a slrip of land 12 miles wide across that state money, without troops, without ability to enforce what she wants or from ocean to ocean over which the Government of the United States what she demands. To show that the committee hai this ide::i. of the Iwould excercise a sort of suzerainty, not merely a protection, but quasi absolute ownership of the United States, I read from their own report, sovereign rights upon a. consideration to be paid by the United States in the conclusion of it: · to that Government in money, as well as upon the consideration of the The United States becomes a party strong enough to cope with tl.Je mairni- guaranty of the United States that the canal should be built, and tude of the enterprise, and to give confidence not only to its securities buL to should be built by the United States Government. its safety from injury from internal o\' external forces. It is believed by your That treaty went throu!?:h the Senate within two of havin" two-thirds commiLtee that the United States will not be called upon to pay any portion of ~ "' ihe principal or interest of the bonds, but that the work itself will amply re· majority. So the Senate of the United State3 upon the most deliber pay a.11 its cost, a.nd yield its benefits not only to the people of Nic:i.rd.gua. and ate sort of action, and when there was no eye to see and no voice or Costa Rica, but to the civilized world. tongue to challenge, in its own wise and discreet councils resolved Now, mark this: that even that treaty of Mr. Arthur wa.s not in itself an abrogation of IC it appears at any time that the interests of the United States are in jeop- the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, or a violation of it, or a treaty made in ardy from any cause, it ca.npurcha.se the majority of the stock and become the d f · controlling owner of the ci\na.l by paying its own bonds b an equal amount, diHegar O it. and the property, tolls, income, and profits or the c:inal will be an ample sccu- The position that the committee have taken is not at all essential, rityagainstthe obligations it assumes. but it is only taken arguendo to show that there is nothiniz;in the Clay- Mr. MORGAN. If the Senator will allow me, being the controlling ton-Bulwer treaty, if it is in full force, against this bill, but there are owner of the canal does not me..'ln that the United States shall become reasons sound and strong why, if we chose to take that ground, we sovereign in Nicaragua by any means, or that she has any govern- could say that the Government of Great Britain bas abrogated the mental sovereignty about it. Now, will the Senator just allow me a. treaty by her own conduct in violation of it, as is mentioned in some moment further? for the committee do not wish to be misunderstood in.'5tances in the report of the committee and in others in the reports of about this matter. other committecR, and as bas been elaborately argued by the S ...... _.::··· 2974 CONGRESSIONAL. RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, Now, there is $70,000,000 of stock to be held by the United States The PRESIDING OFFICER Does the Senator from Missouri vield which can not be sold by this company, which is hypothecated to the to the Senator from Vermont? • Government, voted by the Government before the hypothecation has Mr. VEST. Certainly. terminated, giving them the control of all the affairs of this company l'ilr. EDMUNDS. I certainly do not mean to disturb my friend except as modified by the original conce.ssion made by Nicaragua and from Missouri; I merely want to call his attention to the bottom of page Costa Rica. 5 and the top of page 6 of the report of the committee, where, after Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President-- J our observations in respect of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty were con- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Uissouri yield eluded, the committee state that-- to the Senator from Vermont? These observations are submitted as a part of the historical and diplomatio !\fr. VEST. Oh, certainly. consideration of the E1ubject, the omission of which might lead to the implica- Mr. EDMUNDS. I only rose to ask a question, not to go into any tion that the committee are of opinion that the convention of la:>Oisstill in force - and of binding obligation on the United States, but we think there is nothing argument, and only to understand the position of my friend, as I ha-ve in the provisions of the bill now reported which is inconsistent with any of the been compelled to be nbsent for half an hour. I wish to ask him. engagements of the United States entered into in 1850, n.s stated in that conven· whether he thinks the bill as it stands in its broad and substantial fea- tion. tures is a violation of any obligation of the United States towards Great Mr. VEST. That is the very question at issue between us. I admit Britain or any other foreign country. . that the committee says in that report that there is nothing antago- Mr. VEST. That question is not at all pertinent to the argument I nistic to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty; but I am undertaking to show am. making, and, on the contrary, if the Senator had been in the Cham- that when we give $70,000,000 of this stock exclusively to the United ber he would have heard my reply to it again and again. I hH.ve stated States, taking it away from the control of this company, it proves upon that whether there is anything in the bill that violates that treaty or its face and beyond a.ny doubt that we intend to assert control of this not, no doubt should rest upon the relations between Great Britain canal, and that, as a matter of course, if the Clayton-Bulwer treaty has and the United States as to the Clayton-Bu1we.r treaty. not been abrogated by the action of Great Britain, is a violation of that But I will go further and answer the Senator in this way, that I treaty in terms. think unless Great Britain has i1:6elf abrogated that treaty this bill Mr. GEORGE. Seventy million dollars is a m~jority of the stock? does, and the argument of the report of the committee is to the effect Mr. VEST. Of course; there being$100,000,000 in alJ, $70,000,000 that the treaty is not in existence, that Great Britain has thrown it would be a majority. Besides, there are six of these directors to be aside by her settlement at the Balize and her colonization of the l\Ios- appointed by the President of the United States. qui to coast. In r~gard to the question of the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. EUSTIS], Not only that, but the bill itself, as I undertake to show, gives the we all very well know that the Frelinghuysen treaty of 1884, during control of this canal to the United States without regard to the Clayton- the Administration of President Arthur, was not approved by the Sen Bulwer treaty or the wishes of Great Britian in the matter. I hope ate. Great Britain had no right to assume, until it was promulgated that is distinct enough. as the action of this Government, that the people of the United States J.Ir. EDMUNDS. If the Senator will allow me, I am not certain intended to take that position in reg:ard to the canal. that I quite understand my friend from Missouri now. More than that, Great Britain was not estopped because she did not He says if there is any doubt about it that we ought not to do it; but enter a protest against that treaty in its initiatory stages from after wbat I want to get a.tis whether my friend from Missouri thinks that wards asserting that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was in existence. The there is any doubt in respect of international propriety affected by the last authoritative declaration we have from Great Britain is to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty or affected by the general principles of the in- effect that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was in existence, but admitting tercourse of nations which makes it immoral or unjust for us in the at the same time that the two Governments had disagreed in regard to foreign sense-be the bill a good one or a bad one as an enterprise- its construction. In that condition this question has remained for over whether my friend thinks, with all his knowledge of the history of forty years, and to-day it is open for diplomatic construction between what has taken \>lace in the world since 1850, the time of the Clayton· the two great countries. All I have said here-and it is enough for Bulwer treaty, that we are committing morally international impro- my position-is that until that misconstruction or difference of opinion priety in passing this bill. is removed we should not undertake to cut this knot with this bill Mr. VD:3T. I am obliged to the Senator from Vermont for bis ap- and say that Great Britain is estopped from claiming any rights at all parent tribute to my knowledge. Knowing him as I do, I understand under the Clayton-Bnlwer treaty. what he means is that I know nothing about it, and therefore it was I assume, Mr. President, that this bill is framed to avoid certain wholly unnecessary-- provisions of the concessions from Nicaragua to the Maritime Canal Ur. EDMUNDS. If the Senator will pardon me, I did not mean Company, or to the original concession company, and especially Article that; I did not think it at all. VIII, which is in"these words: Mr. VEST. I am so familiar with the Senator's peculiar way of in- .ARTICLE vm. terrogating brother Senators that I never take any offense. It is force The present concession is transferable only to such company of execution as of habit with him. shall be organized by the Nicaragua Canal Association, and in no case to irov- ,.,,. _ EDi"'UNDS I h b · tak b t I ~~· l ernments or to foreign public powers. Nor shnll the company cede to any !or- J.ur. JJ.L • may ave een mis en, u cerw.m y was eigngovernmentanypartofthelandsgrantedtoitbythisoontract; butitmay perfectly sincere in nl.y suggestion. make transfers to I>rivate pa~ties under the same restriction. Mr. VEST. If I have said anything, or attempted to say anything, Tho Republic of ~~icaragua. can not transfer its rights or shares by selling it has been in the direction of declaring most emphatically ruid dis- them to any government. tinctly, with my poor command of the English language, which the As a matter of course, the plain meaning of that is that Nicaragua Senator from Vermont almost monopolizes, that it is improper for us did not intend that any foreign government should control the canal to pass this bill. under the concession. It makes no difference what treaties have been Mr. EDMUNDS. Very well; now I understand it. made, we stand here under the rights of the Nicaragua. Maritime Ca.- Mr. VEST. I say it is improper to pass this bill. I do not ac- nal Company as granted to the concession company originally, and cept the Senator's verbiage and say that it is immoral. It strikes me transferred by it to the construction company, and then to the .M:ari that language does not apply to the relations of great nations; but I time Canal Company. We occupy exactly the position, so far as our say it is improper, because we have every reason to know that Great rights are concerned, as the Maritime Canal Company, the concession Britain puts a different construction upon the treaty from that which company, and the construction company, which are all the same, as is set forth in the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations. is shown by the evidence and are composed of the same individuals. G.reat Britian to-day assumes that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty is in full Therefore, when we accept these rights we accept them with the limita force, and, as I have repeatedly put; it to the Senate, it is now pro- tion that the control of this canal or of this contract or this concession posed for us to ignore entirely Great Britain in the matter, ancl to pro- can not be given to :my foreign government. ceed as if Great Britain bad destroyed the treaty, and that we could If Senators are willing to do this, not in the letter but in the spirit, go on and legislate as we please. it is with them. If the English language in any inst.rument can be Mr. EUST1S. I should like to ask the Senator from Missouri a q nes- construed, this concession, under which this company is operating, tion. , means that no foreign government shall control that canal; and yet The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from l'iiissouriyield the United States steps in and takes a majority of the stock, assumes to the Senator from Louisiana? the payment of the debts, wipes out all the obligations of this M:ari- Mr. VEST. Cel'tainly. time Canal Company, pays them back the amount expended with 6 Mr. EUSTIS. When the treaty of 188! was made, by which the per cent. interest, indorses their bonds at 3 per cent., payable quar United States Government assumed directly to build a canal and own terly, for $100,000,000, has six directors appointed· by the President, the canal, the English Government did not then make any assertion and honorable Senators from the committee say there is no shadow of that we were violating the Clayton-Bnlwer treaty, or make any objec- pretefile that the United States proposes to control this property! tion or protest whatsoever, so fur as I know. Wby should he expect, Now, l\Ir. President, as I was proceeding to observe when inter or, as I may also say, invite the English Government to accuse us of rupted, it is not a question of argument as to whether we should se violating the Clayton-Balwer treaty when the Government is not pro- cure, if pos.sible, an interoceauic transit across the Isthmus. There is posing to do that work directly? no controversy in regard to that question. I stand here, without any Mr. EDMUNDS. Then, if my friend from Missouri ~ill pardon me personal feeling in the world, simply to make for the people of the one moment more-- United States, whose trustee and servant I am, what I believe to be 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2975 the best contract and the fairest contract for the interests of the people secret-service fund of the State Department. It was alleged that the purpose was to secure a contract by which this Government would secure the rights of of the United States. If I could be convinced that we could only ob· these twekc concessionaires on the further payment of Sl,200,000 or Sl00,000 to fain this interoceanictransit by this bill, and that iL is a fair and just each of them. The concession was represented to be immensely valuable. In settlement of this question, I should support it as enthusiastically as addition to the ~l.450,000 which was to be used to obtain the concession, it was represented that the canal could be constructed at a cost to the United States of my friend from Alabama [Mr. MORGAN], or as the Senator from Ver $i:>,OOO,OOO. Civil engineers estimate the cost of the work at $300,000,000, but the mont [Mr. EDMUNDS]. But I assume that I have no right to make a Secretary of State told the committee that this was an unreasonable and an ab· contract that I believe to be unfair and unjust and unnecessary, not surd amount. He claimed that there was no danger to locks and draws from volcanic action in that country, no special precautions needed in view of that accompanied with at least the same prudence which I would exercise action, and assured the committee that $i5,000,000 would be ample for the con in regard to my own affairs. struction. Indeed, every honorable man must consider that obligation enhanced, 'Vhy we should purchase that which this Government had suffered French men to take at will Secretary Frelinghuysen did not inform us. Why this Gov when acting as trustee, above what he would do for himself. I under ernment should purcba.!le a right that Nicaragua. tendered, freely and without take to say now, without being at all offensive, that not one of my cost, to twelve mere adventurers, he did not tell us. We were asked to submit friends on that committee would make this coµ tract for himself. They ourselves and our judgments, tranquilly, to the proverbial good lack of the ad ministration, without curiosity to know the secrets of the art diplomatique,with have been led away by the glamour of this great world enterprise which the assurance that for Sl,450,000 the Government would obtain the barren right is to oonnect the two oceans, which are yearning for a mutual embrace, to construct a canal across the State of Nicaragua. and bring the commerce of the world to our own shores. Without im 'Vhen we urged objection against paying out so large a sum of money to mere private parties who had nothing to sell, the suggestion was offered that further pugning their motives in the slightest degree, I am compelled to think negotiations with the concessionaries would be abandoned and that this Gov that they have brooded, to use no other term, over this question until ernment treat directly with the Nicaraguan Government, perhaps the personnel they have come to the conclusion that it must be done now, upon any of that Government. But it could not be concealed that the results would be the same. The same amounts of money would be required and the same bene terms, by conceding to any demands which ma.y be made upon this fits would have to be conferred on the concessionaries. It was proposed to do Government. indirectly what the people would protest against if done directly. It was doubt What would bethe first thing that any intelligent and prudent busi less the refined spirit of diplomacy at work-its essence and genius; but ordi nary business simplicity would neither compass it nor yield to it. ness man would do if he contemplated an investment of $100, 000, 000 In the best judgment of our committee there was contemplated an expendi or $1!000,000 in an enterprise in a foreign country or in this country? ture of ~301.450,000. The Secretary said S76,-t50,000. Engineers differed from What would any Senator do? Would he not first examine for himself, the head of our State Department, profoundly intimate with theodolites as with statecraft. It was suggested that as the scheme of the concessiona.ries or by his agents in whom be had implicit confidence, as to the condi waa in the throes of dissolution they would probably ta.ke less that Sl,200,000. tion of the property, a.s to all its surroundings, as to the obligations? The Secretary said he would be willing to pay "a good round sum" to get their Or would he be satisfied with the statements of the parties who were rights. They never named a less sum than Sl,200,000, as far as I heard. selling? Would he take it for granted that their statements were cor I read that to show that in 1880 Mr. Menocal was a concessionaire, rect? Would he assume that the engineers, who were shareholders as l\fr. Burnes termed it; that although then, as now, an officer of the and projectors and promoters in it, who had made these srnveys, were United States Navy, he wa.s engaged in obtaining concessions from to be taken as absolutely truthful, and invest $100, 000, 000 upon their Nicaragua for the construction of thi'3 canal. He did obtain a conces statements alone, without sending his own engineer or his own agent sion, the terms of which, without reading it at length, gave to Nicara to investigate the facts? • gua only one-tenth of the net profits of that canal and gave to these Let us look now at this concession, which is the charter of this whole concessionaires large amounts of land upon each side of the route of enterprise from the be~inning! overriding anything that the Congress the canal, as is proposed in this concession and admitted in this bill of the United States can do, because it isthe life of the company; it is to be the case. I read the statement of Mr. Burnes to show that these the commencement of its corporate existence; it binds it absolutely, same concessionaires who were engaged in it in 1880 and 1884, with unless we assume that Nicaragua, not having the military force and the exception of those who are dead, are engaged in this enterprise to national importance to enforce her own rights, is to be ignored in the day. transaction, and that there are only two parties in it, the Maritime In 1880 they obtained the concession, and in 1884 they asked $100, - Canal Company of Nicaragua and the United States Government. 000 each for their rights, while to-day, under this bill, under a new We have heard a great deal about the sovereignty of Nicaragua. ccncession granted to them in 1887, they are to receive for a concession Very good; let us respect it. Nicaragua. has made this concession. not so valuable the sum of $4,000,000, in round numbers, to commence & We can not go outside of it. We can not ignore it. It must govern with, besides their estimates for what they have since expended, with us here as to our legislation and as to our opinions. And what is that an enormous amount of land which they do not give up, but which still concession? I make no apology for analytically discussing it. Before remains their property, and which they can sell, and whiclr they own I vote upon any proposition pledging the credit of the people of the absolutely, with its gold and silver mines, according to the terms of United States for $100,000,000 at 3 per cent. interest, payable quar the concession. terly, I propose to use all the time I think necessary to enable me to And more, and above everything else, they are to remain in absolute understand exactly the basis of that transaction. control of the power to make the contracts for the construction of this Here is the concession, published by the committee in connection canal, which, a.severy intelligent man knows, are the most profitable part with its report: of every such enterprise. The United States, by this bill, if it shou1d Concession and decrees of the Republic of Nicaragua to the Nicaragua Caual pass, shuts itself off absolutely from the control of these contracts for Association of New York. building this important work. This concession was made with Mr. Menocal, who seems to be om We give them, as I said, out of hand, as I shall show from the read nipresent in this whole transaction. This was made April 12, 1887, ing of the bill, 5'1,000,000 to star~ with in 3 per cent. bonds of the signed by Mr. Ad. Cardenas and A. G. Menocal as the two contracting United States, payable quarterly, equivalent to about 31 per cent. in parties. Mr. Menocal is a naval officer of the United States, and yet teroot, which as a matter ofcourse will sell above par the very minute they he appears in the character of an engineer and a concessionaire in 1872, are issued, lar~ely above par if there ici any comparison between them at the close of the Administration of President Grant. He was one and the price of the securiti"5 of the United States Government in of twelve gentlemen who obtained a concession from Nicaragua, he market overt. They now hold, as I repeat, this enormous amount of going there, although an officer of this Government, to negotiate it for land absolutely, which is not included in what they grant to the private interests, in regard to which I have a graphic account from a Unitetl States; and they control, by tbe terms of the concession, the late colleague of mine, who was a distinguished member of the Com directorship of the canal, because, as I shall proceed to show, under one mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, Mr. of the clauses of this concession one-half of the directors are always Burnes, of Missouri. This was published some years ago, just before to bP; composed of the promoters or concessionaires in the ori¢nal con the Frelinghuysen treaty had failed to be ratified, and when the State cession if they retain their character as such. In other words, out of Department applied to Congress for an appropriation of$250,000 to be the fifteen directors created by this bill certainly one-half of them used forsomesecretservicein Nicaragua. Mr. Frelinghuysen appeared if they can be divided by cutting one man in two-are to be from the before the committee, of which Mr. Burnes was one of the leading concessionaires or promoters. members, in the House of Representatives, and here is Mr. Burnes's The only reply to that is that they may cease to be promoters, or lose account of it: their character as such in some sort of way, which will take them out About the close of Grant's second administration, perhaps justl\fter, twel•e of the grants in the concession. But so long as they claim their rights men secured a concession from the Government of the Central American State (and we know they will claim them) they are entitled to one-half of of Nicaragua. of a great body of land and the right to construct a. canal a a railroad, or to authorize its construction by any company, across the shall be taken possession of by the Government of Nicaragua, and will be, after that date, the property of the republic, which, by virtue of its ownership, shall Isthmus parallel with the canal, if Nicaragua ever determines that the be bound to bear all expenses required in the future for the service, mainte canal is not sufficient for the world's commerce. The United States is nance, repair, and operation of the canal. But the company shall have the right not to be consulted; the Maritime Canal Company is not to be con to make use or it for all purposes useful for the maritime canal enterprise, and to pass throui;rh it freely with its vessels and those belonging to the contractors sulted; it is a question exclusively for Nicaragua and for Nicaragua emJ>loyed in the service of the Interoceanic Canal during the term of this con alone. cession without being subject to any charge whatever, or to pay tolls or contri Again, in case of war between foreign countries the canal is to be butions of any kind to the Government of Nicaragua or to any person or com pany that may, through any cause, be in charge of the administration and oper neutral. I will read these articles, and Senators can refer to them. ation of the work and its dependencies. Article VIII provides: The Government of Nicaragua will place al the disposal of the company, free Mr. WOLCOTT. The Senator is reading from Appendix I? of all expenses and charges, all the lands that may be required, as well as the materials found thereon, or on those belonginit to the Government and that Mr. VEST. I am reading from Appendix I. I shall not read all the may be utilized by the company in the execution of this work. concession, but I shall read the salient points. Article VIII provides that- In his estimate of the cost of this canal Mr. Menocal, the chief en- The present concession is transferable only to such company of execution as gineer, and one of the projectors and concessionaires, puts it at $65, shall be organized by the Nicaragua Canal Association, and in no case to gov- 770 000 ernmentsortoforeign pnblicpowers. Norsballthecompanycedetoanyfor- ' • l eign government any part of the lands granted to it by this contract, but it may Mr. GEORGE. The total cost of the cana ? make transfers t-0 private parties under the same restriction. Mor. VEST. The tot.al cost of the canal, excluding unforeseen con- The Republic of Nicaragua can not transfer its rights or shares by selling them ting~ncies, commissions, and interest. But that is the actual work- to any govemment. ing cost of the canal for construction. I have gone through his esti- As I have already had occasion to observe, this bill violates the spirit mates; I may have overlooked some of the items; but I will be obliged of that article. It is as broad and explicit as it is possible to makethe to any member of the committee who will show me where Mr. Menocal English language: in his estimate of $65, 770,000 has included the cost of the construc- The present concession is _transferable only to !!_uc~ company of exe.,ution as tion of this canal, which is here donated absolutely to the Republic shall be organized by the Nicaragua Canal Association- of Nicaragua, subject to the use of this Maritime Canal Company for this construction company that figures in the contract and is composed its own purposes during the time of the concession. of the same personnel as the Maritime Canal Company and as the orig- I ask now for information, and I call upon members of the commit- inal concession company. tee, if I have overlooked it, to show in Mr. Menocal's statement, or I will say now, parentheticaUy, that the history of this transaction is any portion of these exhibits, except as I ha.Ye read from the conces this: After the failure of the FrelinghUJ'sen treaty Mr. Me~ocal appeared I sion itself, where he has estimated for the construction of this canal, again in Nicaragua and applied to the Government of Nicaragua for a which becomes the property ;tbsolutely of Nicaragua, subject to the concession, as appears in one of the reports of his company, made by Mr. condition I have named, to the use of this Maritime Canal Company. Warner Miller, who is the president of the construction company, Mr. What is that cost? No human being isnowableto state, because from Hitchcock, of New York, the keeper of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, being no report docs it appear that any engineer bas made any estimate or the president of the Maritime Canal Company. Mr. Menocal appeared survey. It is a nebulous, inchoate, and indefinite obligation, which in Nicaragua. and ohtained this concession from the Government of may cost millions upon millions of dollars, or may be reduced to thou- Nicaragua in 1887. sands. This concession was given to what was called the original concession I come back to the proposition, What business man of ordinary prn- company, which had the same individual members as the other com- deuce would enter into a contract with a showing like that if it is un pany. That company proceeded to organize the construction com- explained? And in my judgment it is inexplicable. It shows bow the pany, of wh~ch ~r. Chene:y_ w~ first presiden~, and afte~wards "Warner enthusiasm of our frien~s upon the_ committee bas forced them to over Miller and it assigned all its rights under this concession to the con- look even the construction of a ship canal, to become the property of struction company. After we passed the bill organizing the Maritime Nicaragua, to be built from Lake Managua to the navigable portion of Canal Company of Nicaragua the construction company assigned all its the Tinitapa River; but w bether it is 50 miles or 100 or 300 miles, or rights and intere,ts under this concession to the Maritime Canal Com- whether it will cost $10,000 or $10,000,000 or $100,000,000, I am not ::r•••. pany of Nicaragua. The consideration of the transfer from the con- able to do more than conjecture, and therefore I ask for information. ~ion company to the ronstruction company was $12,000,000 of stock l\Ir. MORGAN. 1\lr. President- in the construction company, or $11, 998, 000. When the construction The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Missouri yield comnany sold its interest in the concession to the Maritime Canal Com- to the Senator from Alabama? panytheconsideration was an even $12,000,000of stock in the Maritime Mr. VEST. With pleasure. Canal Company's stock given to the members of the construction com- Mr. MORGAN. The concession that was made to these .first con- pany. Afterwards a contract was made by the construction company cessionaires included the proposition that the Senator from Missouri with the Maritime Canal Company for the building o:(, the canal, to now refers to. Those concessionaires would be under an obligation, of which I shall allude hereafter. course, when required by the Government of Nicaragua to make a canal Mr. GEORGE. Does the Senator desire to be understood as saying to connect the two lakes, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua; a short that the construction company and the canal company are substan- canal, of course, followingrightalong the outlet between the two. How- tially composed of the same persons? ever, the Government of the United States, when these concessionaires Mr. VE.<;T. I do. had assigned their contract to the Maritime Canal Company, organized Mr. GEORGE. In other words, that the members of the two com- theMaritime Canal Company. For what purpose? Only for the pur- panies made contracts with each other? pose of building a canal across to connect the waters of the Pacific and Mr. VEST. That is all. These three companies just shnfiled the the waters of the Atlantic. The Government of Nicaragua, knowing contract hack and forward between themselves, meeting in the same fully, of course, the whole programme, what the Government of the house on the same day and fixing the thing up to suit themselves, and United States had chartered this company to do, received from that com Mr. Hitchcock so testified. pany its deposit of $100,000 in money into its treasury, and has gone on Mr. GEORGE. In other words, twelve men appear to-day as· Com- making its full and complete acknowledgment of its right to execute the pany A, and the same twelve men contract with them'3elves as Com- act of the Congress of the United States conferring upon this company pany B? certain charter powers which have no relation to any other than a mere Mr. VEST. Yes, substantia.Uy. lateral canal which may be necessary for the convenience of working Mr. GEORGE. And the same men contract with another company, the main canal, if there was any; but there was none in the prograllllile as Company C? of the surve.vs. Mr. VEST. Exactly; the substantial controlling interest being the No country except Nicaragua . could make the objection that the same in each case. Senator from Missouri now states, ttiat the estimates made by Mr. Men- Mr. MORGAN. But they can not do that under this bill. This ocal or by the surveyors of the l\Iaritime Canal Company route did not bill is framed expressly to prevent that. include this short line of canal to connect the two lakes. Nicaragua Mr. VEST. I am not talking about this bill. has made no such objection, and does not make any such ol>jection. Mr. MORGAN. I know you are ncrt. Nicaragua accepts the work that this American company have pro- Mr. VEST. I am talking about what was done and about the per- jected and gone on to execute, not only in good faith and without ob- sonnel of these companies in all these negotiations and transactions as jection, butwithaspiritof enthusiasmsuchastheSenatorfromMissouri between them. thinks possessed this aged and venerable committee, myself excepted, Mr. GEORGE. There appear to be three sets of names for the same who preside over the foreign relations of this body. The Senator from thing. Vermont [1\Ir. EDMUNDS], the Senator from Georgia [.!\Ir. BROWN], l\Ir. VEST. That is about it. It was simply a difference of names. the two Senators from Ohio [Mr. SH.ER:ll.A.N and Mr. P .A YNE], the Sen The next article to which I call atrention is Article XIV: ator from Oregon [Mr. DOLPH] are a remarkable set of light-beaded, ·within three year;i, to be counted from the commencement of the work upon vaporing enthusiasts! As a matter of course we understand that. the Interoceanic Canal, the company shall, at its own expense, construct a. nay- The Senator from Missouri, however, is fishing around for objections, igable canal between Lake Managua. and the navigable part of the Tipitapa it appears, and he has now contrived to find that there is something River, near Pasquier, of sufficient dimensions to admit of the free passage of vessels drawing 6 feet and of 150 feet in length. '1.rhen completetl this canal that Nicaragua might insist upon, that he insists upon here, when 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2977 Nicaragua bas made no such insistence, and nev~r will, and bas nothing ernment of the existing public lands, forty lots, each 4 miles frontage by 5 miles deep, reserving always the acquired rights. to do with the main body of this canal, which we have chartered under It is under.stood that the government reserves around each of the forts, Cas a United States statut.e. tillo and San Carlos, the lands jncluded in a circle of l~ miles radius, whose cen l\Ir. VEST. Mr. President, I can not be drawn into any personal ter shall be the respective fortresses. As a. general rule, at the extremities of theinteroceanic canal and at its points controrersy as to my motives. I "think they will stand investig;ation of contact with the lake the opposite lots will be allotted, one to the govern as well as the motives of the Senator from Alabama or of any memher ment and one to the company, but if this be not possible the first will belong to of that committee. I am exercising my right as a Senator of the United the government. From the Atlantic to the lake that part of the river bed occupied by the canal States on an important measure in which my people and all the people shall be considered as part of the latter for all purposes of this a1·ticle. of all the States are interested. I do not propose to be deterred by any The measurement and setting out of all lands ceded by this contra-Ot shall be such talk as that of the Senatot' from doing my duty. I propose to made at the expense of the grantees under the supervision of this C'n>vernment. The State shall vest in the company the possession of said lands so soon as show what this contract is. If the Senator from Alabama. chooses to the said company shall begin operations on the canal. Opnations shall be re call it picking out objections, I am simply following his own illustrious i:arded as begun when the provisions set forth in Article XLVIII shall have been example when for three weeks in the consideration of the Tehuantepec complied with. The final title deeds shall not be granted except as the work of the canal progresses and in due proportion. Ship Railway question he followed the same course. But that is leather and prunella. Article XXVI provides that- Wha~ we are talkin~ about is $~00,000,000 of bonds guarantied b.y Mines of coal, stone, gold, silver, iron, or othei· meta.ls situated in the lands the Umted States at 3 per cent. mterest. I reaffirm that under th1s Igranted to the company shall belong to it by right, without need of previous article Nicaragua has a right to demand the constrnution of this ship "d~nounciation," it having the right to work them when considered expedient, canal from Lake Managua to the navigable waters of the Tipitapa River. subJect t-0 the laws of the country. ~he Senator can not· show where Nicar~gua ha~ ~ver given up that Now, Mr. President, not one foot of that land goes to the United right. ~e can only stand_ here and surm1se that Ni~ragua makes no States. That is the absolute property of these concessionaires. They such claim. When has Nicaragua ever surrendered 1t? That Govern- retain this enormous quantity ofland, amounting to millions and mil ment uu~nestionabl~ thought it to b~ of_imp~rtance, b~canse they de- lions of acres, wit.hall the gold and silver which Mr. Menocal testified voted this whole art1?le here ~ putt1~g m ~his c~ncess1on. All of us are found there, becauae he says that there are both gold and silver can see !hat a poor, impecumous nation l~ke Nicaragua would look a1ong the route of this canal, and that bituminous coal bas been re upon t_h1s as a matte~ of the very g~eatest IIDport~nce to h~r people. ceutly discovered. I put it to any Senator, as a business man, if be There is not one particle ?f foundation ~or t~e conJectare of the Sena- made a contract of this sort for the construction of any canal, whether he tor from Alabama. that Nicaragua. has given 1t up. would not demand that the property of that company should be in- .Mr. ?.IORGA.N. That is the Senator's statement. He does not eluded in the indemity which is given him against loss? know. Mr. MORGAN. Those concessionaires transferred to the Maritime .~fr. VEST. I know that it is !n this concession, a~d J know that Canal Company all of theirrights, of every kind and character, acquired N1Caragua bas never surrendered it. If the Senator will show where under the concession, and they belong now t-0 that company. Of Nicaragua ever intimated that she ever intended to surrender it, I will course, ifthe company realizes money from that source U will not want abandon the proposition. It is here, and put there by Nicaragua as the honds of the United States to assist it, and to that extent we shall one of the conditions of this concession, a.nd we take this company's be relieved from the necessity of raising money upon those bonds for rights and stand in their place, nothing more and nothing less. So I the benefit of the company. say that we here bind ourselves that the money of the United States I w13h to call the attention of the Senator from Missouri, if he will shall build the Nica.mgua Canal (because it is one of the obligations of allow me to the fact that the harbor of Brito is estimated in Mr. Meno the parties from whom we derive our rights), without knowing any- cal's rep~rt to cost $1, 720 128, and the harbor at Grey Town is esti- th}~g about th~ distance .or the cost, or i? fa~t anJ:thing about it. mated (including one first-~rder lighthouse complete, three range bea- lhe next article to which I call attention is Arttele XVI: con lights, one b.-eakwater beacon 1igbt, two pier-head lights, and one ARTICLE xvr. first-class nun buoy, two second-class nun buoys, and two third-class The co1Upany shall construct, at its expense, and maintain, in good condition, nun buoys), at $2, 649, 575. I beg the pardon of the Senator for having two large ports, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific, to serve as termini overlooked this small item which the Senator bas commented upon of the canal, each of them to have a lighthouse of the first order. H shall also here, that the estimated cost of the Ti pitapa Canal is estimated by Mr. construct at the two points on the borders of the lake wbcre the canal disem- l\ieriocal at ~ -, ,000. That is only a little 6~toot "anal. bogues two ports of lesser size, with the respective lighthouses. 'l' 2 5 ~ The company is also obliged to maintain and improve said ports by means of Mr. VEST. 'Vbere are those items? dredges, di kes, picr11,embankments,or any other works it may deem advisable, "1 1\IORG.A.N On age 106 ha\•ingo.lways in view the good service of the traffic through the canal. ! • r. • P · I~ way, for thi3 purpose, select on the coasts of the two oceans, within the Mr. HOAR. May I ask permission of the Senator from Missouri tenitoryof Xicaragua, thelocahties which the surveys made indicate as prefer- [Mr. VEST] toputa question which I should like to be informed about? able. How much of the stock of this canal company has already been i~sued l\Ir. SPOONER. Will the Senator be kind enough to tell me what and paid for? page he is reading from? Mr. MORGAN. None at all. :Mr. VEST. I read from page 113, Article XVI. As to what it is to Mr. HOAR. .A.re there no stockholders.in fact? cost to make these ports and maintain them, or what the3e lighthouses Ur. MORGAN. There are stockholders by subscription, on prom- are to cost., I find no estimate. · ises to issue. Mr. MORG.A.N. Oh, yes; they are in the estimates. .Mr. HOAR. How much of that? Mr. VEST. If they are in the estimates, then as a matter of course Mr. MORGAN. The stock engaged for by the Mari tine Canal Com- they must come, I suppose, in the $05,000,000 which is the estimated pany to the construction CQmpany and others was $12,UOO,OOO. cost of the canal. Mr. HOAR. That bas been issued? Mr. MORGAN. They are estimated at much more than they are Mr. MORGAN. No, not issued; no stock has been issued; it is en- going to cost. gaged for. But this bill wipes out that transaction. That was one Mr. VEST. What is the estimat.ed cost? of the reasons of the committee for taking hold of the subject. Mr. MORGAN. I will tell you in a moment. Mr. HOAR. I shall not detain tbe Senate. It opens up a large Mr. VEST. That can be disposed of afterwards. question, and I do not ask the Senator from :Missouri to yield to it Mr. President, I come now to Article :x;XIII, and this shows what now. a profitable investment it is for these concessionaires and their nom- Mr. VEST. Mr. President, I liave no di understand it. I have no apprehension of that lind, and I am sure and $100,000,000 in stock, they are entitled to 6 per cent. of both bonds the committee had not the slightest. and stock or 6 per cent. in stock. Mr. Hitchcock admit:B this is an Ur. GEORGE. I should like to ask the Senator from Mis.5ouri a open question. But Nicaragua claims that it is entitled to 6 per cent. question. of all, and the committee assumes and l\Ir. Hitchcock in his testimony The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from .Missouri claims that it applies to the srock alone. My construction of the con yield? cession is unquestionably, from the language of different portions of Mr. VEST. Certainly. it, that it refers to the bonds and srock. Mr. GEORGE. I understood the Senator to say that the estimated Mr. GEORGE. Will the Senator read that clause? cost of this canal was about $65,000,000. In that case what is to be Mr. VEST. It is Article L, and reads: come of the $35,000,000 over and above that amount that we are to In .~. . consideration ofthe valuable privileges, franchlses, and concessions granted issue our bonds for? What is that tor? to the company by this contract, the Republic shall receive, in shlll'es, bonds, Mr. VEST. I am coming to that. certificates, or other securities which the company may issue to raise the cor porate capital, 6 per cent. ofthetotal amount of the issue. Mr. GEORGE. I should like to have that explained. Such shares, bonds, certificates, or other securities shall be free of all pay Mr. VEST. I am coming to that. I do not know that any expla ment on the part of the Republic, being considered as paid in full. The 6 per nation has been made of it. It is a fact that the full amount for the cent. shall in no event be less than $4,000,000, that is to say, forty thousand shares or obligations of whatsoever kind of 8100 each. construction of the canal is not to exceed $100, OOOi 000; and, as I shall proceed to show, the High Commission, as it was called, at the head That is, under no conditions shall Nicaragua have less than $4, 000,- of which was General Humphreys, appointed during President Grant's 000, but it is t;o receive 6 per cent. of all the securities, whether in the Administration, I think, added $48,000,000 to the estimate of Mr. Me shape of bonds or stock. nocal, which they had before them, he having gone there with Captain Ur. MORGAN. Does the Senator hold that the borrowing of money Lull's expedition to make the survey. Mr. Menocal made the esti by a corporation for its purposes ia the raising of its capital stock? ·, mate at $52,000,000 for actual construction, and tilllt comm1ss1on Mr. VEST. Well, it uses singularlanguage. It says, "to raise the added $48,000,000, making in all $100,000,000. Mr. Menocal, in bis corporate capital.'' testimony before the Honse committee, as I shall proceed to show, when ~1r. MORGAN. That is very clear. A hotel keeper might be mis asked how that happened, said he supposed it was owing to the gen taken about that language, but a lawyer can not be. eral uncertainty which attended the construction of all large enter Mr. VEST. I have never kept a. hotel, and therefore I can not speak prises; and therefore the commission added this enormous amount to for that distinguished class of citizens. cover all contingencies. Mr. MORGAN. The Senator was speaking for Mr. Hitchcock, who Mr. MORGAN. I want-to ask if that did not relate entirely to a is a hotel keeper. previous survey and a previous estimate, not this one at all? l\fr. VEST. I spoke of him as the president of the company, but he Mr. VEST. I am not talking about this survey. As I understand had with him an eminent lawyer from New York, Mr. Mason, who it, as I read from the report of the committee and from .l'r!r. Menocal's also testified. So I suppose he spoke under legal advice when he put own statement, this survey has been recently made by six surveying that construction upon the article quoted. Mr. Hitchcock-and this companies, I believe. As a matter of course it was not this survey, is the point I make; whether he is a lawyer or a hotel keeper is cer for this one was recently made, but it was a survey by Mr. Menoca1. tainly immaterial-admitted that this was a question open between Mr. MORGAN. On a different line from this one. Nicaragua and the company. Mr. VEST. But it was one made by him. It might have been in Mr. .MORGAN. The committee deny that. some particulars on a diffe.rent line, and there were a number of dif Mr. VEST. I know; butthepresidentofthecompanysaysso. The ferent locks, and the system might have been different. committee, as I said, claim that it is 6 per cent. of the stock, and the .l'r!r. MORGAN. There were fourteen locks, I think. It was a dif whole question turns upon the words of this concession which embrace ferent survey altogether. This survey now saves 13 miles of canaliza not only the stock but '' bonds and other securities.' 1 If Nicara~ua. tion in one place by creating estuaries from the dam to the shore, throw did not mean to include these bonds, why are those words in the con ing the water out from behind the hills into the lakes. cession? It would have been the simplest thing in the world to say Mr. VEST. I come now to the discns.sion of Article L of this con- "corporate capital " and have that left to be construed to include the cession: stock only. But they said "bonds or other securities." ARTICLE L. Mr. MORGA.N. Is the Senator aware of any claim made by Nica Jn consideration of the valuable pri vileges,franchlses, and concessions granted ragua that they should have $12,000,000 instead of $6,000,000 under to the company by this contract, the republic- that? That is, the Republic of Nicaragua- Mr. VEST. I am not. I suppose, Mr. President, that Nicaragua, Bhall receive in shares, bonds, certificates, or other securitieswhlch the company like any other party to a contract, will claim all they are entitled to. may issue to raise the corporate ca pi ta.I, 6 per cent. of the total amount of the is- Mr. MORGAN. No; Nicaragua willneverclaimanythingmore than sue. . they think they are justly entitled to, and will never set up any such I ask the attention of Senators to tha.t. Nicaragua is to receive, of claim. the amount issued to raise the corporate capital, that is, as I under Mr. VEST. I do not know that they have set up any claim yet. I stand it, all the money that the company may raise (for that is the cor am discussing the legal construction of this concession and what is /. porate capital), 6 per cent. of the total amount of the issue. That is a meant by it. I submit that the only construction that can be put upon very important element, as I wi11 proceed to show. it in the future, as to the language which has been repeated over and Such shares, bonds, certificates, or other securities shall be free of all payment over, is that it embraces bonds as well as shares of stock and all sorts on the part of the republic, being considered as paid in full. The 6 per cent. shall in no event be less than $4,000,000, that is to say, forty thousand shares or of certificates and all sorts of securities-in the language of the conces obligations of whatsoever kind, of 3100 each. sion, "of said shares, bonds, certificates, or securities of whatsoever Ofsald shares, bonds, certificates, or securities of whatsoever cla.ss, two-thirds shall not be transferable; but all shall participate in the benefits, interests, par class." titions, dividends, sinking funds, rights, privileges, and in all the advantages Mr. MORGAN. For what purpose? given to pa.id-up shares without any distinction. The Government in its ca Mr. VEST. This is the purpose stated: pacity of shareholder shall, be.sides, have the right to appoint one director, who shall represent its interest in the l)oard of directors of the canal company from Two·thirds shall not be transferable; but all shall participate in the benefits, the time of its definite establishment. The shares referred to in this article shall interests, partition!l, dividends, sinking funds, rights, privileges, and in all the be delivered to the a.gent the Government may appoint to receive them and as advantages given to pa.id-up shares without any distinction. soon as the company shall be ready to issue the certificates for its capital. Mr. MORGAN. They all relate, if the Senator will allow me, to Mr. Hitchcock, the president of the Maritime Canaf Company, as the raising of the corporate capital and nothing else, not to the bor Senators will see by looking at bis testimony, was asked if there was rowing of money. any open question between the Government of Nicaragua. and the Mr. VEST. I understand; but specific terms, as the Senator very well company. That was when he testified before the Committee on For ~- knows, will control any general phrase. If it did not have in the eign Relations here some months ago. He said there was not, but in words "bonds or other securities," then the general language "cor a subsequent part of his testimony he admits that Nicaragua. claimed porate capital" might be confined to stock. It is very obvious that that it was entitled to 6 per cent. not only of the stock of the company that is specified in order to exclude that conclusion. but of its bonds and all the securities that they might issue. But the Mr. DAVIS. I would like to inquire what article the Senator is committee assumes in its report, as Senators will see by looking at it, reading. that Nicaragua is to receive only 6 p0l' cent. of the stock, not 6 per Mr. VEST. Article L, on page 130. cent. of the "bonds and other securities," in the language of the con But, Mr. President, I pass on now to Article LIV to see exactly what cession. comes to this company, whether we get an absolute ownership of this Now let me advert for a minute to the immense importance of this canal or not. question. Under the act of organization of the Maritime Canal Com ARTICLE LIV. pany the company can issue $100, 000, 000 of stock or $200, 000, 000 of On the expiration of the ninety-nine years stipulated in this concession, or in stock and $100,000,000 in bonds, or $200,000,000 in bonds, making in the event of the forfeiture contained in the preceding article, the re:pubUo shall stock and bonds $400,000,000 in all. Senators will appreciate at once enter upon possession in perpetuity of the canal, of works of art, lighthouses, storehouses, stations, deposits, stores, and all the establishments used in the ad· the claim of Nicaragua that if the company should issue $400,000,000, ministration of the canal, without being obliged to pay any indemnity to tho or under the proposition embodied in this bill $100,000,000 in bonds company. 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2979 There shall be excepted from this condition the vessels belonging to the com has put the burden of constructing this canal upon the people of the pany, its stores of coal and other materials, its mechanica.liworkshops, its float mg ca.pita.I and reserve fund, as also the lands ceded to it by the State, except United States. ing those in which are established the works indicated in the first part of this More than that, Mr. President, it is stated here that peculiar ad article, and which will revert to the State together with their immediate appur vantages are given by this concession to the United States Government. tenances, as necessary for the service of the canal, and as an integral part of the same. I would be glad to have those advantages pointed out, and the articles But the company shall have the right, at the expiration of the aforesaid term in which they are named. This says absolutely and specifically,'' Pro of ninety-nine years, to the full enjoyment of the free use and control of the vided that all the nations of the earth shall be invited to subscribe t<> canal in the capacity of· lessee, with all the privileges and advantages granted by the said concession, and for another term of ninety-nine years, on the con ibis enterprise.'' There is nothing in these concessions that I have been dition of payini: 25 per cent. of the annual net profits to the enterprise to the able to find that limit either the burden or the benefit to the people of Government of the Republic, besides the di"lidends due to it for its shares in this country. Nicaragua, if it meant anything in this concession, the ca.pita! stock. The company furthermore shall have the right to fix, at its discretion, the meant that this was to be an enterprise for the whole world, and it is dues referred to in Article XLIII of this concession, so that the shareholders still so specifically stated in the different articles of this concession. receive dividends not to exceed 10 per cent. per annum on the whole capital after As I said before, there can be but one excuse or object for this legis deducting the payment of 25 per cent. of the net gains to the Government. At the expiration of this second term of ninety-nine years the Government lation, which is to avoid that article in the concessions from Nicaragua shall enter into perpetual possession of the canal and other properties referred which says that no foreign government shall be the owner of the con .,·; to in the first part of this article, including also in this possession all that which cession. Therefore, it is necessary, in order to avoid that article of is excluded in the said first part witli the exception of the reserve and amorti .....- zation funds. The failure to comply with any of the terms of the lease shall the concession, to put the title to this property in the hands of this terminate it, and the State shall enter into possession of the canal and other Maritime Canal Company, or the construction company-which is works belonging tQ it in accordance with the provisions of the preceding para the same thing-in order that the United States may, through the graph. company, control the canal as absolutely as if it built it with money .Ap, amatter of course it may be of very small importance to the pre taken directly from its own Treasury and expended by its own officers. sent generation as to the duration of ownership by this canal company. I find in the bill of the committee this provision: But as this is to be a great national work not only, but a work for the S.Ec. 9. That t-0 secure to the Governments of Nicnraj?ua. and Costa. Rica. the whole world, as it is to affect such enormous interests and to change benefits stipulated by their concessions, and to indemnify and save the United States harmless from its guaranty of tbe bonds of the said Maritime Canal Com commercially the face of this continent, it becomes a matter of serious pany of Nicaragua, the stock of the said company, by this act limited to $100,000,- importance that if we pay for the canal we should control it absolutely 000, shall be issued only as follows: . and forever, subject of course to the territ-Orial sovereignty of the States First• .A.n amount of the stock which at the face or par value thereof shall, with the amount of the bonds at their par value, to be issued to the Nicaragua of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Canal Company for expenditures by it prior to January l, 1891, as provided for Under the terms of this concession, the canal company, at the end in section 'l of this act, make an aggregate of $7,000,000 may be retained by the of the first t~rm of ninety-nine years, can then become the lessee by said canal company and the stockholders thereof and shall be nonassessable. Second. The runounts of shares stipulated to be delivered to the Governments paying to Nicaragua 25 per cent. of the cost of the canal; and at the of N icatagua and Cosla Rica, according to the terms of their respective conces end of the second term of ninety-nine years-which in the life of na sions. tions is but as a year to the life of an individual-the State of Nica Third. The amount of ~0,000,000 of shares to be issued to and in the name of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in such certificates as he may ragua becomes the absolute owner in perpetuity and in fee of the entire prescribe. property, subject of course to the limitation here as to vessels and works So, Mr. President, $7,000,000 are to be issued in the stock of this of art, whatever that may mean, which have been used bythe company company, besides the $4,000,000 in bonds to these concessionaires, and and are then belonging to them. $70,000,000 is to be hypothecated in the Treasury of the United States, I call attention now to a portion of this report in regard to the build the lien upon which is the only security that the Government of the ing of this canal, and to the argument made by the committee: United States has for its issue of $100,000,000 in 3 per cent. bonds. Any strinirency or fluctuation in the money market might prevent their sale and thus arrest the progress of the work. Any neglect on the part of the Gov Mr. GEORGE. Will the Senator state that over again? ernments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. to protect the contractors In the per Mr. VEST. I state that that amount of stock is to be issued in ad formance of the work would necessarily add to its cost, and perhaps, as in simi dition to the $4,000,000 in bonds which is provided for in section 7 of lar enterprises, disable the comp&ny and forfeit their charter privileges. Any failure of the bankers 11urchasing these securities to pay for them according to the bill. The seventh section provides- the conditions of the sa1e would have the like effect. The work is so great and That as soon as practicable after the passage of this act the surrender and the benefits of its completion sotnnscendent that it would seem that its execu cancellation oftbe stock and the cancellation or modification of all contracts and tion should not be left to private enterprise that, in the chances of the future agreements of sa.id company for the construction of said canal, as provided for may fa.ii. It is doubtful whether any private company, corporation, or combi~ in section 3 of this act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall deliver to the l\Iari nation, however strong it may appear, would be able to complete so great an time Canal Company of Nicaragua bonds of the said company, guarantied as enterprise, one that could yield no income dnring its progress and could not in aforesaid, at the parvaluethereof, to an amount equal to the amount expended any event yield profit until after the whole enterprise was completed. Unlike by said company and the Nicaragua Canal Association prior to the 1st day of railroads, the investment could not yield any income or profit until it was dem January, 1891, in securing concessions from Nicaragua and Costa Rica, in pro onstrated by actual trial that commercial vessels could pass from ocean to moting the enterprise, and in the colll!ltruction of said canal, including the e:r ocean with reasonable facility and without delay or danger. In whatever view pendituresfor the plant of the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, if trans the committee could take of the enterprise there appears grave doubt whether ferred to the Maritime Canal Company, together with interest on such amounts it could be executed with tary of the Treasury, with authority to vote it at any election of direct moters, have made no objection. The matter goes along smoothly and ors. So that the direct-Ory of the canal company will be under the without any thought or concern by anybody, and nobody in the world entire control of the United States Government, and that directory ran has any real interest in raising an exception or an objection of that make any contract they please under this bill. kind, which in its nature would be purely technical, except one of Mr. GEORGE. Is the directory not obliged to be taken from these these governments. The Government of Costa Rica can not do it under concessionaires? the·very terms of this concession, and the Government_of Nicaragua Mr. MORGAN. Not at all. That relates only to the first organiza can not do it under the evident meaning of its concession, though ex tion of the company. pressed in different words. Mr." YES'{'. Mr. President, I do not know that I ever can get Mr. VEST. The Government of Nicaragua could not? through with this argument without going back to. the concession. Mr. MORGAN. No, under-the evident meaning of it, though ex The conces.5ion provides that at least one-half of the duectors shall al pressed in different terms. ways be of the number of the concessionaires so long as they retain Mr. EUSTIS. If the Senator from Missouri will allow me, I would their character as such. like to suggest to the Senator from Alabama that this is in somewhat Mr. MORGAN. What does the Senator read from? different langua~e from the terms used in every act of illcorporation, Mr. VEST. I read from the concession. that such and such individuals shall constitut-e a body corporate. Mr. MORGA...\!". What nart of it? Mr. MORGAN. For the purpose of giving a sort of legal succession Mr. GEORGE. Does the Senator read from the concession from and preserving the rights of the original promoters. Nicaragua? Mr. VEST. In this instance they are not mentioned by name. 'l'he Mr. VEST. Yes, the concession from Nicaragua, which makes that peculiar llmguage is that they shall remain directors so long as they re- provIS1on. Article X, on page 112, provides: tain their quality as promoters. . The company shall be organized in the manner and under the conditions l\fr. MORGAN. They are, every one of them, named in the act of generally adopted for such compa.nies. Its principal office shall be in New incorporation. York, or where it may be deemed most convenient• . and it may have branch offices in the different countries of Europe and America. where it may consider Mr. VEST. What is the meaning of the language, "so long as they it expedient.• retain their quality as such?" Its name shall be the "l\Iaritime Canal Company of Nicaragua.," and its board Mr. MORGAN. I bav.e stated it to be a right on the part of the or directors shall be composed of persons one-half at least of whom shall be chosen from the promoters who may yet presen·e their quality as such. concessionaires to protect themselves by the consent of these Govern ments against being thrown out. It is for their benefit, and nobody Nicaragua has one director, which, under the provisions of this bill, else's. there being fifteen directors, would give the company and Nicaragua Mr. EUSTIS. It does not use the language, "so long as they con eiO'ht and a half. The company would have seven and a half under the - . \ tinue to be promoters." It simply says, ''who may yet preserve their article I have read, and Nicaragua has another, which, if they acted quality as such." "Yet" refers to the time of organization. together, would, as a matter of course, give them the control of the Mr. FRYE. I should like to inquire if the Senator from Missouri directory; and it goes without saying that these promoters will never contends that, under that concession, the stockholders of this corpora give up their "quality as such," as it is called in this concession. tion can never, so long as these men survive, elect their own directors? How could they give it up? It is also beyond coutroversy that they Is that the contention of the ~enator? would not give it up without a struggle if they could, hecause after Mr. VEST. If the language means anything, it must mean that, these bonds have been issued and sold for more than par then the stock that they retain "their quality as such." goes up on the market, as it has already, and, as a matter of course, Ur. FRYE. That is impossible. with the United States Government behind them, there will not be an Mr. VEST. The provision of the concession is absolute tliat one. enterprise in this country which will stand upon such a footing so far half of the direct-Ory shall be composed of these concessionaires or pro as the value of the stock is concerned. moters if they retain "their quality as such." Mr. MORGAN. I do not wish to interrupt the Senat-Or from Mis Mr. McPHERSON. The Senator from Missouri will permit me a souri, but, as this argument goes on, it seems to be implied that silence moment. I think the language is exceedingly unfortunate in any gives consent to a good many things. event, because, in the first place, the .Maritime Canal Company must The Senator now contends that the concessionaires when they make necessarily consist of a certain number of incorporators, and, as I un the organization of the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua shall be derstand the Senator from Missouri, they are named in the bilJ. Fol compelled thereafter to preserve in that company and in it.s board of lowing the context of Article X, we find it says: directors one-half of the persons who may be the promoters of this scheme. '!'bat is not a correct interpretation of this concession. The And its board or directors- article preceding Article X provided that these concessionaires may Not its present board of directors, or its future board of directors, organize the Maritime Canal Company. It means that on the first or but clearly implying that it may be any board of directors- ganization it shall be composed of one-half, at least, of the persons who shall be chosen from the promoters- were the promoters of this scheme. That was put in for the benefit of Who are the promoters? Unquestionably those named as the in the concessionaires, and not for anybody else. corporators in the .Maritime Canal Company act- Mr. GEORGE. Will the Senator please read that part to which be who may yet preserve their quality as such. refers? I presume that they will always maintain their quality as such. .As Mr. MORGAN. It bas just been read; but I will read it again: long as the ..act incorporating the Maritime Canal Company remains Its name shall be the "Maritime Canal Company ofNicar>lgua," and its board upon the statutes of this country they will retain their character as or directors shall be composed of persons one-half at least of whom shall be chosen from the proruoters who may yet preserve their .quality as such. promoters of the enterprise, and they must be selected as part of the board of direction. It certainly is very unfortunat-e language if it does That is to say, .should they pass from concessionaires into incorpo not mean exactly that. rators of the Maritime Canal Company they may yet preserve their re lation as promoters of the scheme. When that same provision of law .Mr. VEST. Mr. President, on page 18 of the report of the commit came to be incorporated in the concession from Costa Rica the same tee I find a statement which I advert to now, because I read a few mo idea, the same thought was expressed, but in a little different languaj!:e, ments ago that portion of the bill of the committee which apportions as we will see. Article IX, on page 125, reads: out the full $100,000,000 of stock to be issued by this company. The compn.ny shall be organized in the manner and under the conditions By the terms of these concessions- l!,'enerally adopted for such companies. Its principal office shall be either in Referrlng to the concessions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. the citv of New York or in such place as may be deemed convenient., Its first board of directors shall be composed of persons one-half at least of By the terms of these concessions the :aiaritime Canal Company became en whom shjj.ll be chosen from those members of the Nicaragua Canal ~sociation titled to $12,000,000 or the mpital stock, and this amount has been, by the agree who were promoters of the enterprise. ment with the <'Onstruction company, transferred to the latter company. The agreement heretofore referred to between the Maritime Company and the con This Costa Rican concession was made after the orizanization of this struction company provided for the transfer of the residuum of the stock and company under this act of Congress. This act of Congress in organiz also $150.000,000 of bonds to be issued in payment for the work as performed. ing this company paid not the slightest attention to this matter. It I should like some member of the committee to tell me in what por was understoo:l that these concessionaires when they went into the tion of these concessions $12, 000, 000 of this capital stock is to be issued Maritime Canal Company, or would go into it under the act of Con to the Maritime Canal Company. gress, would go in freed of this restriction, because it was made for Mr. MORGAN. There is no such provision in the concession at all. their benefit. After it bad been made and the company bad been or· When the word "transferred" is use:l there it means simply that the ganized, the Government of Costa Ric~ made the concession to that Maritime Canal Compan.y, under a contract which they made and which company as a corporation, and used the language which I have just this bill obliterates and destroys with the consent of that company, employed, to wit, that the first organization of the company should agreed on a plan for the construction of a canal, and, as a part of that be composed one-half of persons who bad retained an interest as con agreement and also as following out some other antecedent agreements, cessionaires under this charter. they agreed that they would transfer to this company $12,000,000 of That matter has already been wiped out, because the Government of the capital stock of the company as paid-up st-Ock, but there is nothing the UnitedStatea bas chartered this company and it has gone into opera in ihe concession that relates to it. It is a mere agreement between tion, and both of these companies, without respect to the question the Maritime Canal Company and the constra~tion company, which whether or not these concessionaires were or were not the original pro- this bill destroys. ... ~ 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2981 l\Ir. VEST. The committee stated in their report that this bill and, we demanded at their hands, I will not say under a. threat, but at least in fact, this whole idea binding the Government of the United States under the intimation that they might go further and fare worse, be for these bonds came from the Committee on Foreign Relations, and cause we had the power of alteration, amendment, and repeal, and the that these concessionaires or promoters never made any advances in that committee determined that they would stand by the peop-le of the United direction. In publications in the New York papers I see it stated that States and their commerce and see that thi • 2982 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, 000, 000 in Actual cash for $100, 000, 000 of stock of the Maritime Canal ness man of ordinary sagacity and prudence, if he were about t-0 invest ~~~ . . $100,000,000 or ii,000,000, woald send to examine the property he Mr. MORGAN. I think that "$100,000,000" is a misprint. was about to buy, and not take the statement.a of the parties interested Mr. VEST. Of course I can not be responsible for misprints. I do or of the engineer who made the surveys and who was himself a pro not know as to that. jector and a stockholder, as the list of stockholders shows. No ordi Mr. MORGAN. 'that proposition was never accepted. nary business man who was not inviting bankruptcy would do any such 1\Ir. DOLPH. Will the Senator from Missouri allow me to ray a thing as that. word? Mr. MORGAN. I hope the Senator from Missouri will allow me to Mr. VEST. Certainly. make a statement in that connection. He ha.3 referred to this matter Mr. DOLPH. I have no doubt that "$100,000,000" there should twice. be "$1,000,000," and that was subscribed for 10,000 shares. It is a The report made by Mr. Menocal was ta.ken by the Maritime Canal mistake of the printer. I have been trying to find the original paper, Company and submitted to five of the most distinguished engineers in but have not been able to place my hands upon it. the United States, none of whomhadanyinterestin this work as stock Mr. EUSTIS. The question was asked Mr. Hitchcock by the Sen- holders or anything of the kind. They went over it and they raised ator from Vermont [Mr. EDMUNDS]: his estimates, not on account of the impropriety of any charge he But. the construction company itself is a. stockholder to the extent of $1,000,000? made or the low rate at which he valued any work at all, but taking A. Yes. into consideration all the possibilities-not the probabilities-of delay Mr. WOLCOTT. We are told that this contract was not accepted. and detriment from earthquakes, or any other thing which might These :figures would look as if there were a great many misprints scat happen in that country, they put on, as I remember now, $14,000,000 tered through the volume. additional to Mr. Menocal's estimate. l\Ir. VEST. The construct.ion company was a stockholder for $1,- The Maritime Canal Company took the report as it was modified 000, 000, and paid the money, and ex-Senator Miller, of New York, tes and increased it by $14,000,000, and acted upon that, and not upon tified that they paid it. He was asked by the Senator from Vermont Mr. Menocal's report in it.s further transactions, though that company [Mr. EDMUNDS] how they raised the money, and hesaid, "By selling believe, andlthink every member of the committee believes, that when our stock." this work comes to be completed it will be completed at least down Mr. DOLPH. The list of stockholders, on page 186 of the report, to Mr. Menocal's estimates, which have certainly been made with great shows that the Nicaragua Canal ~nstraction Company took 10,000 ability and care, and in every respect they are worthy of one of the shares, making $1,000,000. That subscription was made in pursuance best engineers in the United States, if not in the world. He spent of this proposition. There is no question about that. There was never four years' solid time in examining that country. any pretense that there was any contract. l\Ir. EDMUNDS. Will my friend from Missouri allow me? Mr. VEST. The Senator from Alabama in front ot me [Mr. MOR Mr. VEST. Certainly. GAN] says that the proposition was never accepted. l\Ir. ED.MUNDS. Referring to what the Senator mentioned, on page Mr. MORGAN. I referred to the language of the two instruments 188 of the report of the committee, near the end of the letter of the which are printed here, which show that the contract for the execution construction company of the 24th of May, 188!l, it reads: of the work was accepted, and the other part there was nothing said As :i. guaranty of good faith this company hereby agrees to subscribe for about. Therefore, I infer it was not accepted, but I was not present $100,000,000 stock of your company- in the committee at that time. It is said 10,000 shares, amounting to As it is written here- $1,000, 000, had actually been paid to the Maritime Canal Company by and pay for the same in cash. the construction company - I am bound to say, from the testimony of these gentlemen, that I am Mr. DOLPH. Undoubtedly that subscription was made in pursu certain there is a mistake in the print or in the writing of that thing ance of this general arrangement as part of this proposition. because they all said that as aguarantyof good faith they would sub~ Mr. VEST. I am not responsible for misprintis. I read it as it is scribe a million dollars and pay for it in cash, which they did. They printed in all the editions. did pay that million dollars in, cash into the treasury of the company. I was about to observe that, if they could pay $100,000,00(l, that Therefore that is a mistake either of the clerk who wrote it out or of would build the canal, even under the largest estimate made by the the printer. There is no doubt about thatat all. high commission and the report of the committee, and the correspond Mr. WOLCOTT. By Mr. Cheney, who made the offer. ence shows that they went on under that contract. On the next page, Mr. EDMUNDS. Or by somebody, because, taking the testimony page 189, Mr. Hitchcock says, in reply to that proposition: of these gentlemen, anybody can see the statement is absurd on the You are hereby authorized and directed to begin such construction work at face of it. They were to subscribe for a million dollars and pay for it the earliest possible moment, with this understanding and agreement: That if in c:ish, which they did, and put the money into the treasury of the within three months this company does not:accept your proposition, or execute a contract with your company that shall be mutually satisfactory, then, in such company. 'Vhether it amount;s to anything or not is another thing. an e"ent, this company will reimburse your company for all the expenditures Mr. MORGAN. For the sake of getting a matter before the Senate incurred in connection with the construction work and 10 per cent. in addition about which there has been very little disputation so far, I wish to read thereto. That, of course- who are the corporators in the original act, and then to show, by ref Says the witness- erence to Senate Report No. 2234 of the present Congress, that these in corporators, while there are a few of them mentioned as shareholders was because we could not make a large contra.ct with any company at that point of time, and therefore we reserved the right to simply pay them for what in the other company, the other company consist.a, I suppose, of two they did and 10 per cent.. additional. hundred shareholders, comprising many of the best men in the whole Q. Well, that is within three months? country. I happen to know some of these men. A. If we did not ma.ke a contract within three months. Well, we did not make a contract within three months. l\Ir. McPHERSON. Which company? Q. Sothat- Mr. MORGAN. I am talking about the construction company. It Said the Senator interrogating him- has been assumed here that the construction company and the Maritime Q. So that as the thing stood they were going on under this authority and Canal Company were one and the same thing, and that they had merelv you were either bound to make a. contract that was mutually satisfactory or to transfer from one room to another in order to make agreements with else you were bound to reimburse them, with 10 per cent. profit? themselves. A. That is it exactly. To that they responded as follows : Mr. WOLCOTT. If I may intermpt the Senator on this same mat Mr. EDMUNDS. What page is that? ter, I find that in Senate Report No. 2234, to which the Senator from Mr. VEST. Page 189. Here comes the answer: Alabama has called our attention, on page 6, the letter of Mr. Cheney, OFFICE OF TllE NICARAGUA CANAL CONSTBUCTJON COMPANY, certified to be correct by one Thomas B. Atkins, also contaim a clause 44 Wall street, New York, May ~4, 1889. tbat the offer is to subscribe for $100,000,000. DEAR Sm: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 24th instant Mr. EDMUNDS. That was evidently a blunder, because in truth authorizing and directing this company to begin the cons.t.ruction of the Nica: ragua. Canal at the earliest possible moment upon terms and conditions therein it was not so, and nobody ever understood it so. stated. Mr. MORGAN. I will read the incorporators in the orginal act. In reply I beg to advise you that this company will, in compliance with your They were as follows: directions, commence the work of constructing the Nicaragua. Canal at once and to that end will dispatch an expedition to Nicaragua on the 25th instant. ' Frederick Billings, Charles P. Daly, Daniel Am men, Francis A. Stout, Horace Very respectfully, your obedient servant, L. Hotchkiss, Edward F. Beale, Hiram Hitchcock, O. Ridgeley Goodwin, A. 0. A. C. CHENEY, Cheney, J. F. O'Shaughnessy, H. C. T&ylor, J. W. Miller, A. S. Crowninehield, A. President of th e Nica1·agua Canal Construdion Company. G. l\lenocal, Charles H. Stebbins, T. Harrison Garrett, Jules Aldige, R. A. Lan caster, Alfred E. Mills, Gusta.v E. Kissell, Horace Fairbanks, George H. Robin Ilm.AM HITCHCOCK, Esq., son, Alfred B. Darlinli!", Joseph E. l\lcDonald, James Roosevelt, Christian Dev· President of the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua. ries, Frederick F. Thompson, and Henry A. Parr. It does not make so much difference about the correspondence be They were the corporators in this company. In this paper which tween themor the contract, because it -was all the same company. All has been communicated here on the resolution of the Senate the list of they had to do was to meet in one room and abrogate or modify the stockholders is given in Senate Report No. 2234, and, while I have not whole thing, as they saw fit. This shows that they went on under that counted the number, it must be largely over one hundred. They have contract, whether it wns a misprint as to the $100,000,000 or not~ their board of directors. In 1889 their pre.sident was A. C. Cheney; Mr~ President, I said in the opening of my remarks that any busi- H. C. Taylor was first vice president; J. W. Miller, secretary, and 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SEN.A.TE. 2983 Edward Holbrook, treasurer. In 1890 the following officers were !Ir. VEST. I do not say that the dams are 5 or 6 miles long; I &y elected: Warner Miller, president; H. R. Hoyt, treasurer, and A. C. the valley is that wide. Cheney, first vice president. .And in July, 1890, the following officers Mr. MORGAN. There is not one more than 500 feet long. were elected: President, Warner Miller; vice president, A. C. Cheney; Mr. VEST. I suppose the dam they propose to build there will be secretary, J. W. Miller, and treasurer, H. R. Hoyt. the longest dam in the world if it is completed. Then follows the list of stockholders in that company, a very large Mr. MORGAN. It is nothing like as large as the dam that brings number of persons, and amongst them are some ladies. Some stock water into New York City. seems to have been subscribed for by persons acting in a :fiduciary ca Mr. VEST. I do not care about those detailB, but the dam is an pacity. I notice in the list' John M. Crawford, trustee; Lancaster & enormous one. However, I suppose it makes no difference as to its Lucke, aj!ents; Charles N. Vilas, trustee; Samuel Thorn et al., trust size. Mr. Menocal's testimony, which I hold in my hand, was given ees; Thomas A. Rich, trustee, etc. before the Committee on Foreign Relations. He was asked as to the The stock in the construction company was taken up by a large result of earthquakes. This is his testimony, taken and printed with number Df people who had not any interest and were not stockholders the report of the committee. He was asked by the Senator from Ver in the Maritime Canal Company. mont what has been the result or effect of earthquakes upon the dams .Mr. VEST. Mr. President, in order to dispose of the question as to built out of these enormous bowlders that are just rnlled into the the identity of these stockholders, that the same parties were inter water-- ~ed in all three of these companies, the concession company, the Mr. MORGAN. They are very small bowlders, not enormous ones. Construction Company of Nicaragua, and the Maritime Canal Com Mr. VEST. I do not know what is called small, but they weigh a pany, I will read the statement of Mr. Mason, who was the attorney ton, and I consider that a pretty good rock. These bowlders are rolled for all the companies, to be found on page 205: in, and Mr. Menocal, when asked what is the effect of an earthquake, The Ni.!arague. Canal Association was formally organized on the 3d of De says it will make a dam better; that it will shake the rocks together ccrnber, 1886. by Messrs. Daly, Stout, Hotchkiss, Taylor, Billings, Crowninshield, and stop the water from running through. That is in his testimony Hitchcock, Miller, and l\Ienocal for the purpose of securing; from the Govern· in response to a question put by the Senator from Vermont. The vul ment of Nicaragua. a concession or gran~ with all the rights and privileges, etc. gar impression has been that the tendency of an earthquake is to disin Ur. Hitchcock was on the stand as president of the Nicaragua Mari te~rate and loosen, but Mr. Menocal bas made a new discovery, it seems time Canal Company, and Senator EmIUNDS asked him, as appears on to me, in physics, not to say engineering, and that is that an earth page 191: qnake is an accessory. Q. Are any of the officers of the Maritime Canal Company members of the Mr. HOAR. Were there any experts in earthquakes examined be construction company? fore the committee? ..\.. Not as officers; they are stockholders. The officera are entirely different. Q. The management is entirely separate? Mr. VEST. Mr. Menocal was. He said that from 1872 to 1890 he A. Entirely separate. had been in Nicaragua altogether, not continuously of course, four By Senator DOLPH : years, and that he never had heard of bat one earthquake that did Q.. Can you state how nearly identical the stockholders of each company are? damage of any consequence, and that was in 1845or1846, I believe, A. 'Vell, I should say all the stockholders of the maritime company are also when a steeple was jostled down in the town of Rivas. stock.holders of the construction company. But in order to show the absolute necessity, in my judgment, of the Mr. GEORGE. That settles it. United States having some information from its own officers who are Mr. MORGAN. No, that does not setUe it, because we all know not in this concession, who do not belong to this corporation, I want that Ex-Senator McDonald is not a stockholder in the Maritime Con to allude to some testimony given by this same gentl&man, Mr. Menocal, struction Company, and we know that there are a. number of gentle in February, 1880. He appeared before tile committee of the House of men who are named in the Maritime Canal Company who are not mem Representatives. The distinguished Senator from Maine [Mr. FRYE] bers of the construction company. was a member of it. Mr. Menocal's estimate then for building this Mr. WOLCOTT. May I ask the Senator from Alabama a question? work, upon a different survey, it is true, as the Senator from Alabama . Mr. MORGAN. Yes. says, was $52,577, 718. Now the high commission, at the head of which 1\lr. WOLCOTT. Is it not a fact that, with the exception of the was Humphreys, added $48,000,000 to that estimate, for they stated $14,500 subscription, every dollar that has ever been subscribed to the that the work would cost $100,000,000. Maritime Canal Company bas been subscribed by the construction The CHAIRMA.N. Was the survey made complete from one end of the line to company? the other? l\Ir. l'.\IENocAL. Yes, sir; but a final and more detailed survey may sugges' Mr. MORGAN. I expect that is true. changes in the loca.tion of the line that will, I have no doubt, greatly reduce the Mr. EDMUNDS. That is substantially true. estim.ate I have named. l\Ir. MORGAN. Iha.venodoubtitis tru.e. That is one ofthe things The CHAm.MAN. On the whole, was the cost of labor and materials at that time we did not like. We wanted to stop that. If the Senator likes that, about the same as at present? be will let the thing stand as it is. It was in 1872 when he made the survey under Captain Lull, and Mr. VEST. The evidence shows beyond n.ny question the state of this testimony was given in February, 1880: facts to which the Senator from Colorado has alluded. One million 1\lr. l'.\!ExocAL. The cost of labor was assumed to be SL.25 per day for common dollars was paid by the construction company for stock of the Mari laborers. The CHAIRMAN. How was that as compared with its present cost? time Canal Company, and Mr. Warner Miller, president of the con l\Ir. MENocAL. About the same as at present. The prices adopted for the struction company, testified before the committee that he paid that different items of the work have been considered_ very liberal by many engi neers in ~his country oflarge experience in public works. I have been told by million dollars out of the proceeds of stock of the construction com responsible contractors that they would be willing to take the work for the pany, which had the same stockholders that the Maritime Canal Com prices allowed in the estimates. pany had. It was like passing it from one hand to the other; and all the Mr. CONGER. Twenty-five per cent.. was added to that estimate? money outsiders ever paid is $14,500. J\lr. l\IENOCAL. Yes, sir; that raised the total amount to $65, 700,000. The high commission appointed by the President added about 100 per cent. to the orig· The Senator from Alabama says that the objection I make to accept inal estimates, and fixed the maximum cost at $100,000,000; but I do not believe ing the reports of the surveys of Mr. Jl.Ienocal, one of the concession that the canal when comµleted will have cost over S70,000,000, as I know of many alterations that can be made to the line as originally located that will re aires and one of the stockholders, and one of the chief promoters, is ob duce the estimate before named. viated by the fact that his surveys were submitted to five advisory engineers, one of whom, I am informed, was the brother of the president Now, said Mr. FRYE: If your estimate was carefully made, by what authority did the high com of the Maritime Canal Company. I do not know anything about that. mission add $411,000,000 to it! Out of the five advisory en~eers not one of them had.ever been on the Isthmus of Darien, and not one of them had ever made a survey of the Mr. GEORGE. Who made that survey? canal route. They accepted the report of Mr. l'i!enocal, they took his Mr. VEST. Humphreys, the Chief of Engineers, appointed by Gen statement upon paper, and then made their estimates and added to the eral Grant. $65,770,000, which was his estimate for the whole construction, ex Mr. MORGAN. It was a. different survey. penses enough to make it $87,000,000 to cover expenses and contingen Mr. VEST. Of course, but it was not a different survey when the cies that might not have been contemplated; and in the report of these high co~mission put this additional estimate on it. They took the advisory engineers they say that nobody can tell absolutely what would same survey that Mr. Menocal had made. be the cost of that work or even approximate to it in a country like the Mr. GEORGE. They made their own survey themselves. Isthmus. Mr. VEST. They went there and went over the lines. That raised Mr. MORGAN. Who says that? the total amount to $65, 700,000. Then he goes on: Mr. VEST. These advisory engineers, because they say nobody can tell Mr. FRYE. If your estimate was carefully made, by what authority did the high commission add $4.8,000,000 to it! what will be the leakage as to those enormous dams that are constructed l\Ir. MENOCAL. The only authority they had was the precedent that such aeross a valley 5 or 6 miles wide in order to make a continuation of works generally cost more than is estimated for. Lake Nicaragua. They say that the water may percolate through it l\fr. FRYE. So thatthe forty-eight millions additional is a guess? Jilr. MENOCAL. It is certainly a guess, as it is not based on any calculations of in spite of everything that can be done in the shape of engineering fa.b~~1::JeO:~~fi:;!: either in the works proposed or in the adopted prices tor tnle12t. to Mr. FRYE. If your original estimate of 152,000,000 was carefully m&de, and if Mr. .MORGAN. Does the Senator mean say that the d.ams are you know a good manv places where that estimate can be reduced, why do you 5 or 6 miles long in that work? say that you believe the ca.nal can be constructed for $10,000,000? 2984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, l\Ir. l\IENOCAL. Because there are always contingenciE'B in an enterprise of ing them a cent, and they retain all this valuable land and the United this kind that can not be estimated beforehand, and which are really not within tbe province of the engineer. For example, the Government of Nicaragua. will States pays for the canal and they own it. Is that the statement? probably recefre a. percentage of the stock. of the company in lieu of certain Mr. VEST. That is it, of course subject to this concession, that at concessions granted: commissions will have to be paid to bankers, and interest the end of ninety-nine years it reverts absolutely to Nicaragua unless pa.id to the stockholders during the construction of the canal, all of which will have to be added to the estimated cost of the work proper. they become the lessee and pay Nicaragua 25 per cent. of the profit& l\Ir. lim.'CHINS. Have you yourself any prejudice in favor of either line as Mr. GEORGE. So the result would be, if we pass this bill, that P..gainst the other? we pay these men every single cent they have ever advanced, we allow i\Ir. l\IENOCAL. No, sir. l\rr. liUTCHI:ss. Are you an American? them to retain all these valuable lands, and then we furnish the money 1\Ir. MESOCAL. I am an American citizen. l\Iy native land is Cuba. to build the canal of which they are to be the owners. Mr. HUTCHINS. Have you any interests that would be benefited by the adop Mr. VEST. .As a matter of course, whenever we issue $100,000,000 tion of either route? l\Ir. MENOCAL. Not any. of 3 per cent. bonds we are bound to build the canal if it costs $500,- l\Ir. HUTCHINS. Have you any personal friends who have an interest or who 000,000, because we commit ourselves to it. would be benefited by the adoption of either route? One statement which probably bas not been brought out is that Mr. l\IENOCAL. I have no personal friend interested in either rout.e. My judg ment is not influenced by any such <'Onsideration. I do not know anybody in Nicaragua gets $6,000,000 of these securities, Costa Rica gets only Nicarngna who would be especially benefited by the adoption of that route, ex $1,500,000; and then the concessionaires, as they are called, the mem cept in a general way. I know gentlemen in this country who a.re endeavoring bers of these companies, receive the $4,000,000 to compensate them for to form an American company to build the canal, and who may become finan cially interested in the affair. what they paid for the concession and for other expenditures prior to January, 1891. J.fr. MORGAN. What year was that? Mr. GEORGE. Then I understand furthermore thatthe estimated Mr. VEST. Jn February, 1880. Now, according to the report of cm~t of the canal is $65,000,000. Ur. Miller, in bis historical resume of the interoceanic canal, Mr. Me- Mr. VEST. That is Mr. Menocal's estimate. nocal was in Nicaragua by the 1st of April and obtained the concession Mr. GEORGE. He is the leading man. of which I have read here to-day from the Nicaraguan Government, Mr. VEST. He is the principal engineer. The committee say in the first concession, in May, 1880. their report that they think it will cost $100,000,000. Mr. MORGA~. That is not the one you read here to-day. Mr. GEORGE. Then they will have $35,000,000 of surplns if the Mr. VEST. No; that was the last concession, the concession ob- estimates turn out to be correct. tained in 1887. But I speak of the concession which he obtained and Mr. VEST. They would have to pay commissions if they sold the to which Colonel Barnes alluded in the extract that I read from his stock, and possibly other expenses, but they will have a very large statement. start on that surplus. · Mr. MORGAN. That concession bas not been read from here. Mr. DA. VIS obtained the floor. Mr. VEST. No, that has not been read, but we know the general Mr. DOLPH. I wish merely to make a statement in regard to the provisions of it, and it can be produced if necessary. It has nothing question of the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. GEORGE]. to do with this question. I simply want to show that 1\Ir. Menocal I Mr. STEWA.RT. I wish to offer an amendment to the bill. was then contemplating a concession from Nicaragua, because he must The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota [Mr. have left this city and gone immediately there in order to have secured . DA VIS] is entitled to the floor. that concession in less than two and a half months afterwards. Mr. STEWART. I ask the Senator to yield un ti1 I can offer an At that time Mr. MenocaJ, as his report shows, estimated the level amendment to the bill and have it read. of Lake Nicaragua above the sea level at 107 feet. He now puts it in Mr. DAVIS. I yield for 1,hat purpose. 11is report here at 110. Lull put it at 107. Whatever may have been The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada offers an the difference of sarYey, there could not have been any difference in ] amendment to the bill, which will be read. regard to the summit level, as it is called, of Lake Nicaragua. The SECRETARY. After the word "par," at the end of line 27, Mr. MORGA.I.~. The difference, if the Senator will allow m~, is be- section 8, on page 8, insert: tweAn high and low water. This last survey is the mean between high The Chief of Engineers of the Army shall have the supervision and control of and low water. the construction~ such canal, together with all r~ghts, appurtenances, and fi.x· 11..f" VEST Th. t t t f th 1 ~~ d tu res connected with the same, and the construction of such canal and the im· ..1.ur. · IS S a emen was O. e mean, express Y SWJte SO by provements connected therewith shall be subject to the laws. rules, and regu- 1\Ir. Menocal. One officer put the height of the level there at 114 feet lations applicable to the construction of public works in the United States and in ext.reme high water, in the rainy season and they took the mean. such other laws and regulations as may hereafter be prescribed by Congress or · 1872 h 'th d th · . . · the Secretary of War. And no money shall be expended except through the En L u 11 an d M enoca 1 s t a t e th a t In • W en ..ey ma e eII survey, it gincer'sDepartmentfora.nypurpose whatever connected with the construction was 107 feet; and Menocal now states that it 18 110 feet. As a matter and equipment of the said canal until the same shall have been completed. The of course it is a fact about which there could not have been any vari- .compensation ofall officers and employ~s of the comoany shall be fixed by the . d1 th t I t" th" · l t h th President of the United States, and no money shall be pa.id out of the treasury ance, an . ere was no · men ion lS simp Y OS OW at, no m~t- of the company for any purpose except for the construction and equipment of ter how high the character of Mr. Menocal, we ought to accept WI th the canal, as herein before provided, until the accounts have been examined and the greatest rel actance the statement of any engineer who comes here approved by the chief Comptroller of the Treasury. in the promotion of an enterprise in which he is interested. It was Mr. EDMUNDS. Let the amendment be printed. urged here against Captain Eads (and I never denied the legitimacy of The PRESIDING OF~ICER. The amendment offered by the Sen- the argument) that he was interested in the Tehuantepec Ship Rail- ator from Nevada will be printed. way, and even his high character as an engineer and a man of honor Mr. DAVIS. I yield to the Senator from Oregon [Ur. DOLPH] to was not sufficient to do away with that argument as made here in the make a statement. < .; ~enate. .Mr. DOLPH. ~fr. President, I am sorry to interrupt the speech of :-,.. Mr. President, I have consumed more of the time of the Senate than the Senator from Minnesota, but I do not like the statements, made I intended. I have no personal interest in this matter. I am trea~g in the form of an interrogation by the Senator from Mississippi and it exactly as I would any other business transaction, considering its apparently assented to by the Senator from Missouri, to go unchal magnitnde. Like every other .American citizen desirous of the honor, leoged. the glory, and the welfare of our country, I should be glad to see its It is trne that by the bill reported by the committee and now before coast line extended, as the report says, and the commerce that whitens the Senate it is proposed that the company shall receive out of the every ocean passing through that canal. But I am here for another proceeds of the bonds to be guarantied by the Government all that purpose, and that is as a trustee for the people to scrutinize every prop- they have expended for the concession and in the construction of the osition that looks to the expenditure of such an enormous amount of canal. That is supposed to be in the neighborhood of $4,000,000. It money, and I should consider myself derelict to every demand of duty is also provided that they shall receive in addition stock enough atthe if I did not do so without regard to consequences to myself. par or face value thereof to the neighborhood of $3,000,000 of stock l\Ir. GEORGE. Mr. President, before the Senator from Missouri for their concession, for their risk, and for their interest in the enter lakes his seat I desire to ascertain a very important fact. I ask leave prise. to propound a question to him because I am a learner here. I have But that is only 3 per cent. on the amount of the stock of the com listened with a great deal of interest to his exposition of this proposed pany. So it is not correct to say that they will own the canal, that contract. I do not know if I have got it right and I want to see if I they will own the land, or any other property belonging to the com bave. pany, or that they will have any surplus after the canal has been com- ! understand now-and I want to know if this is correct-that this pleted, because it is provided that the bonds shall only be issued-no company got a conce.!sion from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In that con- other bonds shall be issued, no stock can be sold; there will be no cession they are to have lands of very great value. I understand fur- means of obtaining money, but the bonds guarantied by the Govern thermore that they have expended about $4,000,000 of their own money ment shall only be issued for work actually done and as it proceedB, in getting this concession and in doing the work on the land and on and the total amount of bonds issued shall not exceed the total cost of this canal. I understand that the proposition is for the Government the canal. So all that the company receive for their interest and their of the United States to issue bonds which will be applied, first, to risk and for all their trouble in the matter is the $3, 000,000 soock which paying back to these men every dollar that they have expended on may or may not have value at some future time, depending on when the canal, so that they start out without its having cost them a cent. the canal i "- -...... · 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2985 Mr. VEST. Do they not receive the land? it all has been that a public sentiment was awakened shortly after the Mr. DOLPH. No, the company hold the land. policy was adopted to which I have referred which is distinctly hostile Mr. VEST. I say the company hold it. to any such subsidies, assistance, or grants. F_or more than twenty-five Mr. DOLPH. But the stockholders of the present company, the years not a single subsidy or land grant has been made by the United present organization, only receive the $3,000,000 of stock. If the States in aid of any corporation, and for more than twenty ye.ars any United States takes the $70,000,000 of stock, they own seven parts out project of that character ha. The Nicaragua. Can&A.ssociation-whetheritwas a mere association nnmbers of $1001 000,QOO, equal to the total amount of stock or bonds of individuals or a corporation I am unable to learn-was organized on which this company is authorized to issue. the 3d of Deeember1 1886. Mr. PAYNE. Does that include the commissions or profit on the 1tlr. MORGAN. That wns not a corporation, I will say t-0 the Sena work itself? tor. Mr. DAVIS. I suppose so, necessarily. .Mr. DAVIS. It was a mere association of gentlemen for business Mr. PAYNE. It is estimated thatthat would be 10-per cent. I do purposes? not know whether it is embraced in those figures or not. Mr. MORGAN. Yes. 1\Ir. DAVIS. Now, I desire to state the subst.ance of the bill under ~fr. DAVIS. The concession by Nicaragua to this company was consideration, with some comments upon it as I go along. made June 10~ 1887. On the 12th of August, 1887, the Nicaragua Section 1 of the bill provides that the capital stock of this company O.anal Association, this unincorporated body, sold and assigned to the snall be $100,000,000 and no more. It limits the amount to be issued. Nicaragua. Canal Construction Company, a corporation which had been Section 2 defines what the words "Nicaragua canal n shall mean as previously formed under the laws -0f Colorado, everything that it, the used in the bill. Section 3 is a very import.ant section, and it pro canal association, took under the concession from Nicaragua, in con vides in substance tbat in consideration of this act all stock (except as sideration of 511 7998.000 in the capital stock of the construction com herein provided) and all contracts inconsistent with this act shall be pmy. Nowwe have this concession vested in the construction company made to conform therewith or be canceled, and the stock ofsaid company two years before the act of incorporation of the Maritime Canal Com shall only be disposed of as hereinafter provided-it being the intent of pany was passed. the act to secure the construction of the canal by said company, with the After this transfer had been madi3 and the consideration fully paid aid of the United States to the extent herein provided, on the basis of the Nicaragua. Canal Company tu.med back into the treasury of the con the concession by Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the contract.a and struction eompany, as a gift, $61000,000 of the stock which it had re agreements heretofore made consistent with this act, or that may be eeived., for the purpose of enabling the construction company to raise made consistent, etc., and as far as practicable at its actual cost. bv its sale the money necessary t.o carry on the preliminary work1 such Mr. President, I supposed when I first examined this bill, or heard aS surveys, location, etc. its purport stated, that as to all antecedent contracts and agreements About this time came up a difficulty with the Repnblic of Costa Rica.1 between these companies there was to be a tabula rasa; that all con which claimed that under the concessi-0n from Nicaraguacert.ain rights tracts were to be canceled; that all outstanding stock was to be taken must necessarily be claimed by the canal association inimical to Costa up, and that matters were to be restored to just precisely the condition Rica, and the result of it was a concession from the G-Overnment of they would be in if the Maritime Canal Company had never made a River, about 16 miles from Grey Town, and adamatTola.1 within4miles Mr. DAVIS. I do not approve the measure, and therefore I do not of the Pacific Ocean, with a short interval of canal, secure a. clear sur propose to change the phraseology. face level of 153} miles of the 169!} miles between the Atlantic and the In the first place, this section 3 provides, not for the cancella.tion of Paoific. all antecedent contracts, but only provides that all stock and all con In this are involved enormous structures; dams of 50 and 70 feet in tracts inconsistent with this act shall be made t-0 conform therewith or height, locks to overcome the difference in level of 110 feet, lateral be canceled; in other words, if the oontracts which exist as to stock or embankments which retain the waters of afiluenta of the San Juan bonds or as to construction at the time of the passage of tbe bill are 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2987 inconsistent with this p1·oposed act, all that is necessary to do is to con All such moneys paid prior to said date and subsequently to be ascer form them thereto; and if the only substantial difference between this tained to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury upon ac proposed actand the act of incorporation in that respect is the amount counts to be rendered. by the company. of considerati-On which the oonstruction company shall receive for con Such bonds are to be received and applied in satisfaction of all prior structing the canal, then that is all the modification that is necessary linbilities, the performance of such condition to be ascertained by the to be made under the provisions of the bill. Secretary of the Treasury i>rior t-0 the delh-ery of the bonds. Mr. MORGAN. If it will not disturb the Senator from Minne By section 8 the President is to cause an estimate to be made of the sota-- cost of construction according to the plans and specifications of the l\Ir. DAVIS. It will disturb me, for I am going on to explain the canal company. section in my own way. Here is a clear adoption of plans and specifications of the canal com Mr. MORGAN. I merely wished to call attention to a fact, not to pany upon which the President is to cause an estimate and specifica any exposition. The Senator had observed that there were $12, 000, 000 tion to be made. From the phraseology of the bill throughout it is of stock that the company had agreed to sell to other persons, the con consistent with the proposition which I am endeavoring to establish, struction company and to other persons, and he alluded to the $3, 000, 000 that it is the design of the bill, or that it is susceptible of that con of stock. Now, as to the purchasers, we can not of conise break their struction, that the existing contract between the canal company and contracts by an act of Congress, but we can provide that those agree the construction company shall not be abrogated, but only modified in ments shall be entirely canceled or else they shall be made to conform certain particulars as respects the amount of the consideration; that to the act. this Government is to take the estimates by the engineers of that com ltir. DAVIS. As I go on I think I will answer the Senator in due pany instead of calling upon its own functionaries to make surveys or time and in the due order of my argument. even to revise them, and to assume as a conclusive fact that the canal .Mr. MORGAN. That is the difficulty we were trying to provide is to cost exactly $100,000,000, the extent to which it is to be aided against. We were obliged tousesome phraseology to provide against by the guaranty of th·e United States. that difficulty. It is further provided that sixty days after passage of this act, and Mr. DAVIS. This section goes on to provide: from time to time thereafter and as frequently as once in sixty days, It being the intent and object of this act to secure the construction of the he-the President-shall cause an estimate and statement to be made Nicaragua. canal by the so.id company, with the aid of the United States to the of the cost of work actnallydone on the canal since December 1, 1890, extent herein provided, upon the basis of the concessions of Nicaragua and or the last preceding estimate, and thereupon he shall deliver to the Costa Rica.- Maritime Canal Company the bonds of the company so guarantied to Mark the language- the amount of such cost and also interest to come due before the next and the contracts and engagement.a heretofore ma.de consistent with the provi estimate; the proceeds of bonds are to be applied to cost of construc sions of this a.ct, or that may hereafter be ma.de by said maritime company con tion and reasonable expenses of administration and accrued interest sU.tent with the provisions of this act. uponoutstandingbonds of the company, and shall not be sold or dis In other words, it is as plain to my mind as anything can be, that posed of at less than par. it is the intention of the bill that the contract for the construction of It is provided by section 9 that to secure to Nicaragua and Costa Rica this canal which the Maritime Canal Company, composed of certain the benefits stipulated by these concessions, and to indemnify and save person.s, has made with the construction oompa.ny, composed of the harmless thE\ United States from its guaranty, the stock of the com same persons, is to stand with certain modifications in the way of re pany is limited to $100,000,000, to be issued as follows; duction of the consideration, which are not at all so inconsistent with First. An amount of stock which at its par shall, with the amount the entire purview of the act as to require anything more than a modi of bonds at their par to be ~ned to the Nicaragua Canal Company, as fication as to the amount of the consideration. By section 4 it is pro provided by section 7, make an aggregate of $7,000,000, may be re vided, in substance, that to secure the means to construct, the company tained by said company and be nonassessable. is authorized to issue it.<3 bonds, not e.xceeding $100,000,000, of date Second. The amount of shares stipulated to Nicaragua and Costa January 1, 1891, payable January 1, 1911, at 3 per cent., the bonds to Rica, according to the terms of their concessions, which are $6,000,000 be secured by a firet mortgage. to Nicaragua and $1, 500, 000 to Costa Rica. It is provided by section 5 that these bonds are to be guarantied Third. Seventy million dollars to be issued to and in the name of by the United State.a, and if the company fails to pay interest at ma the Secretary of the Treasury, to be held in the 'l'l:easury as a pledge turity the Secretary of the Treasury shilll pay it, and the sums required and security to the United States for repayment to it on demand of for that purpose are he1eby appropriated. In case the United States any sums by it paid in pursuance of its guaranty of the bonds, with pays interest, the company is to repay it to the United States, with 4 interest on sums so paid at -- per eent. per annum. per cent. per annum interest. The Secretary is empowered to vote said stock for the United States. Section 6 provides that for all sums the United States shall pay ns It is provided that the United States shall, at any time before matu principal or interest it shall be subrogated to a.11 rights o:r liens under rity of bonds, have the option, a.t the discretion of Congress, fu pureha.<>e said first mortgage of the holders of said bonds, but until the expira at par value, or subscribe for and hold in its own right, all or any of tion of five years after the canal shall be put into operation, and so said stock so hypothecated; and the United States may apply in pay long as during said five years shall be in operation and remain under ment of said stock the sum paid by it by reason of said guaranty and the control of the Maritime Canal Company, this subrogated right interest thereon; and the remainder of the purchase price of said stock shall not be enforced by foreclosure. shall be applied, according to the discretion of Congress, either to the In other words, whatever may be the disasters of this enterprise, purchase or redemption of the bonds of the company, or for a sinking whatever fantastic tricks these promoters, contractors, and construct fund for such purchase or redemption at maturity. ors may play with it, yet until five years after the canal shall be put Fourth. The residue of the stock shall only be issued by the Maritime into operation this subrogated. right of foreclosure by the Government Canal Company after the same shall have been subscribed for; and shall shall be held in abeyance. be offered for subscription only when, in the opinion of the President Section 7 provides that as soon as practicable after the cancellation of the United St.ates, the proceeds of the installments of the mortgage of stock and cancellation or modification of rontracts, as provided in bonds shall be insufficient to meet the current requirements of the section 3, namely, cancellation or modifi~tion so far as may be neces company in respect to the enterprise. sary on the ground of inconsistency and no other, the Secretary of the Section 10 provides that six of the fifteen directors shall be appointed Treasury shall deliver to the Maritime Canal Company bonds of the said by the President, company guarantied as aforesaid at par value to an amount equal to the It is provided by section 11 that all rights reserved to Congress by amount expended by said company and the Nicaragua Canal Associa section 8 of the act of 1889, including the rights of repeal and amend tion prior to July 1, 1891, in securing concessions from Nicaragua and ment, shall apply to this act. Costa Rica, in promoting the enterprise, and in construction of the I have made. for convenience of reference, what I believe to be a. fair canal, including expenditures for the plant of the Nicaragua Canal statement of the provisions of the bill, and it leaves the distribution of Construction Company (if transferred to Maritime Canal Company), the stock of the Maritime Canal Company as follows: together with interest, not exceeding $4,000,000. The construction company has $12,000,000 of that stock; the Re This $4,000,000 is a reimbursement to the Maritime Canal Associa public of Nicaragua. has $6,000,000; Costa Rica has $1,500,000; the tion of the amount which it is claimed it has expended up to the date United States has $70,000,000; the Maritime Canal Company has mentioned in the Eection. $3,000,000, leaving not issued and subject to the provisions of section l\Ir. EDJUUNDS. But all to be approved and vouched for by the 7, stock which shall not be disposed of except on certain conditions, Secretary of the Treasury. only $7,500,000: In other words, this stock is all taken up and pro Mr. DAVIS. Certainly. vided for except the insignificant amount comparatively of $7,500,000. The act also provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall also de Mr. President, the exposition given by the Senator from Missouri li vet' to the Maritime Canal Company guarantied bonds equal to the [Mr. VEST] as to the terms of the concession by these two republics amoant actaa.llypaid bysaid companyin constructionofthecanalfrom makes it necessary for me to say but little upon that subject. But I January l, 1891, to the ftnal adju.sunent of account.s, with interest at 6 call attention to the concessions from Nicaragua. and Costa Rica made per cent. in article 8 as t.o Nicaragua and article 7 as to Costa Rica. They are ~------"".t;. --~-... ·•• ,.~ 2988 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, identical in language. They provide that the present concession is Mr. DAVIS. I understand that a Democratic President withdrew transferable only to such company of execution as shall be organized that treaty from the coneideration of the Senate. by the Nicaragua Canal Association, and in no case to foreign publie Mr. MORGAN. I am very happy to say that a good Republican powers. The Government of Nicaragua. studiously guarded against President negotiated the treaty, and it was a very good treaty indeed. the inevitable destiny to which this bill, by its very theory and by the l\Ir. DAVIS. And the Democratic President aborted it the moment very terms of its exposition, intends to guide this ~rent work. be came into power. · Mr. EDMUNDS. I should like to call my friend's attention to one Mr. EDMUNDS. We have got to take the thingasitisnow. consideration, for I know his sincerity and I respect his opinions. Mr. DAVIS. That is true for the present. I was merely answer Article 8 provides, as be says, against the transfer of this concession ing the question of my friend from Alabama. to any foreign public power. That is the shortest way of stating it. Now, if there is any one thing in the history of the construction of But it does provide that it may and must be in effect transferred to a great works in this country during the last twenty-five years which is company of execution. It has been transferred to a company of execu the cause of the present discontents in regard to railroad management· tion created by act or Congress. The eighth article of the concession, which has encumbered railroads with the obligations of :fixed charges 1 therefore, has exhausted itself, and the Republic of Nicaragua has af such as bonds; which has made extortionate rates inevitable· which firmed and assented in a formal and official way to the existence of the bas excited the indignation of the people so that it has been co~verged Maritime Canal Company that we incorporated as the successor and on this whole subject in one focus of consuming power, it is the method proprietor of these concessions. of construction of railroads, throughout the West especially, whereby Mr. WOLCOTT. I did not quite understand the Senator from Ver the railroad company, or the persons of whom it is composed, form a mont. Will he please repeat his statement? He says it is abrogated construction company and contract with themselves to build the railroad by what? for the whole amount of the bonds and stock of the line, and tbev stock Mr. EDMUNDS. I do not say it is abrogated; I say it is executed. and bond it for all that they are allowed and more than it can~ carry. The concession has not been transferred to any foreign power, but ac Properties are stocked and bonded throughout the Northwest for $60 - cording to the provision oft.his eighth article it bas been transferred to 000 a mile, which, allowing for all the differences of the cost of constru~ a company of execution organized under the laws of the United States; tion between the time when they were built and the present time that is, the incorporation that we made by act of Congress of the Mari should be built for half that money. ' time Canal Company, and the aots of the company down to a month Mr. EDMUNDS. That is just what we are trying to prevent by ago, or whatever th~ time, have been approved by the Republic of Nica this bill and thfa canal. ragua. in its formal and official capacity. Mr. DAVIS. I beg to differ in the strongest manner possible from Mr. DAVIS. The concession has been made to a company of execu my learned friend from Vermont, became I say that upon a.propercon tion, that is true; but that is not all which article 8 of this concession struction of this bill things go on just exactly as they were before, ex requires or prohibits. The prohibition that this concession shall not cepting as to the abateme~t of a portion of the consideration, as I have be transferred in any c,ase to governments or to foreign public powers stated. The contracts which have been made stand by section 3 of remains as a limitation upon the power of any transferee, in my hum this hill. This canal is to be completed according to the estimate of ble opinion. the canal company upon the contracts already made so far as the same Mr. EDMUNDS. Suppose Nicaragua does not complain, but it is may be consistent with the provisions of this act.. there-- • Mr. President, what is the personnel of the three companies that Mr. DAVIS. It is enouJ!:h for the pnrp~ses of my argument that have appeared upon this scene? There is the Nicaragua Canal Associ we are trying to commit the Government of the United States to a ation, composed of certain gentlemen named. The Maritime Canal transaction involving $100,000,000, and that Nicaragua may possibly Company appears 1n other habilaments, but it is the same person. complain. These two vanish from the scene upon the pretext that they are no Mr. EDMUNDS. I was going on to call attention to article 9, about longer substantially interested in this property, and another personage government suhscribers, but I will wait. appears, but when the mask is raised, although it has taken the alias Mr. DAVIS. By article 10 of the concession Nicaragua as a share of the Nicaragua Construction Company, it is the same as the others . .- holder has a right to name one director who shall take part in all elec Mr. Hitchcock says that all the stockholders of the maritime company tions, and Costa Rica has the same right by article 10 of her concession. are stockholders in the construction company. (See page 191 of the The total number of directors is fifteen. The United States can nomi report.) nate but six under the terms of the bill unless she choose!'! to vote her Now, if this canal can be built for $100,000,000, or less, and that $70,000,000 of stock and take them a11 but two, which I do not think money is to be furnished by the United States with tbe idea of an is intended. The result is that by this measure, by which we are asked eventual acquirement of the property by the United States, why not to commit this Government in $100,000,000, these two foreign repub pause, for two reasons: One, in defrrence to the people of this country, lics, by virtue of their right to name one director each, hold the balance whose views upon subjects of this character are very decided, as we of power in all the transactions of the company at a meeting of the now know or as we shall be taught to know if we act in contravention board of directors. · to their wishes, and the other reason is, w by not pause and endeavor In other words, they can combine with the private directors of this to make a treaty with Nicaragua, the same as that of 1H84, and pay company to the number of seven. One of them can do it, hold the this company $4,000,000 for what it bas expended, repe2l or amend balance of power, and nullify the power of the United States in this the act, as we have reserved the right to do, and construct this work respect, notwithstandieg our Government holds $70,000,000 of stock, as a great national work, if it can be constructed at all? For after all, . ,. unless it is clear that the Government can take tht\ directory by voting say what you may, Mr. President, in'"olYe this bill in a maze of words $70,000,000 to elect directors, which I do not think can be the case by as you may, it appears from the bill and from the report that the ulti reason of the express provision in the tenth section as to the number mate design of this measure is the acquirement of this property by the of directors to be appointed by the President. United States in a proprietary capacity as holding the stock as pledgee, The canal company is required, within three years from the com and ultimately under the bonds. There the difficulty is going to be mencement of the work, at its own expense, to construct a navigable made in regard to article 8 of the conce&"ion by Nicaragua. As the canal between Lake Managua, on the navigable waters of the Tipitapa Senator from Colorado [Mr. WoLCOTr] asked some hours ago, under River near Pasquier, navigable for vessels 150 feet long and drawing 6 the present status can the United States become the purchaser at a fore feet of water, the same to be the property of Nicaragua. Upon that closure sale? the Senator from Missouri [Mr. VEST] commented so forcibly, that I Ur. President, l have not perceived, either in this debate 9r in the do not care to enlarge by any remarks of my own. signs of the times, any particular urgency for immediate action in: this Mr. President, if it is a matter of such supreme national importance, matter. The American people are certainly not cryrng for it. Great looking not only to the present, but to all apprehended future contin Britain has assumed no menacing attitude. The terms of the con gencies, that the United States shall be in such a position towards this tracts between these various companies manifestly require more scru canal as to be entitled to control it, whether as sovereign or proprietor, tiny than they have received. I am not willing to vote $100,000,000 it is in my judgment of equal importance, to reach that end, that this to aid in the construction of any canal upon the survey of its own -. Government should build that canal in its sovereign capacity, and engineers or on its own ~stimates of cost. There is no fear of adverse without the intervention of companies incorporated for that purpose action by foreign powers, and in my judgment would not be if this either by way of taking the concessions or for the purpose of construc canal were under the control of any government, however weak, or of tion. any company, however 1891. UONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2989 up that great avenue of commerce any more than it would allow her to Mr. DAVIS. There are fourteen volcanos: Los Marabios, extending seal up the Gulf Stream, or than it did allow Spain to seal up the Span from Lake Managua northwest to the Gulf of Fonseca, about 75 miles. ish Main two hundred years ago under her plea of sovereignty? .Momotombo, at the head of Lake Managua, is always smoking, and Mr. EDMUNDS. She did seal it up when she had the last war. is often in eruption. Mr. DAVIS. But that claim of right was abandoned. How long The buildings in Ma113eaua are one story on account of the frequency did England seal up the Suez Canal? of severe earthquake shocks. That is the way the buildings are con Mr. EDMUNDS. .As long as it was necessary for her purposes, to structed in the capital of that country, about 50 miles from the site of accomplish what she wished. . this canal. Mr. DAVIS. Simply for military purposes, and as a base of o~ra All the houses of Leon are one story, except the cathedral, whose tions to get her armies into Egypt. She did not shut up the Suez much buttressed walls show the ravages of earthquake shocks. The Canal against the commerce ·of any foreign power. cathedral shows a great crack passing from tower to tower across the There are some questions in connection with this measure which center aisle. Several smaller chnrche..::i show similar cracks from the I can not find that any of the promoters or speculators upon this en same cause. terprise haveconsidered exceptin the most cursory and superficial way. The Indian name of this region is "Cuscatlan "-"the Janel that The region to be occupied by the Nicaragua Canal is a peculiar region. swings like a hammock." It is the theater of political revolutions and has been from the begin The isthmus of Tebuantepec and the State of Oaxaca in Mexico are ning. Physically it is a phenomenal region. It is the home of the free from volcanoes. volcano and the earthquake. It is laid down by scientific men that the Distances from section of canal between west shore of Lake Nicara great seismic centers of the earthquake upon this globe are the island of gua and the Pacific Ocean are as follows: Java and the states of Central America. To l\lan!igua, 60 miles. I can not find in all the literature upon this canal that this subject To Leon, 110 miles. has beeu adequately considered. In the very able report which has ToMomotombo (volcano, north of canal), 90 miles. been presented by the Committee on Foreign Relations it is mentioned To Mombacbo (volcano, north of canal), 25miles. To Orosi (volcano,\outh of canal), 25 miles. just three times. In one instance Mr. Menocal adviaes the construc To Omotepe and Madeira volcanoes (on island in Lake Nicaragua), 20 miles. tion of a rock-fill dam at Ochoa 70 feet high, I think, upon the ground that a canal of that character is better adapted to resist earth- Now what is the history of the operations of these volcanoes and quakes. On another occasion, when the acumen of the Senator from earthquakes in this country for the period of time which it is prudent Vermont [Mr. EmruNDS] dictated a question upon that subject, he for us to consider. answered that daring bis acquaintance with that country for some La Antigua, in Guatemala, was destroyed in 1717. In 1773, eighty years there bad been a slight earthquake at Rivas; and the other one, churches were. destroyed. I think, is in one of these contingencies for increased coi;;t of construe- In 1835, occurred an eruption of Conseguina, ia Nicaragua, on the Bay tion. of Fonseca, with accompanying e.arthquakes. It was one of the most Now, when we consider the height of the dams and the number of appalling events of that character in modern times. embankments which can be examined upon that map in connection Mr. Savage,distantl20miles,sawthis; yetwherehewasearthqn.ake with the report, the fact that the locks, each 650 feet long, 70 feet wide, shocks prostrated the people, who were march in~ in penitential proces- 30 or 40 feet deep, are built not of masonry, but of concrete, in one sion. The sounds as of the earth breaking up were heard at places in solid mass; that two of them are in direct connection with eachother, Guatemala, 400 miles distant, and in Kingston, 700 miles away. the one letting into the other up or down, as the case may be, prac- Churches 400 miles distant rocked and tottered over the affrighted tically making one mass of concrete over 1,200 feet long, 70 feet wide, people. ~nd about 40 feet deep, is it not worth while to consider, what has In 1841 the city of Cartago, in Costa Rica, was nearly destroyed by not been considered so far as my researches have extended (and they an earthquake. have been as faithful as time would allow), whether it is going t-0 be I In May, 1844, in Nicaragua, a succession of earthquakes occurred entirely safe to commit the United States to this enormous responsi- wbi ch lasted for several days, and the city of Nicaragua, or Rivas, which bility and expenditure in a country where such physical and political is about 5 miles nortlt of the western section ot this canal, was much conditions exist? damaged, and the water of the lake rose and fell with the throes of the Daubeny, on Volcanoes, describing Central America, as to Guate- earth. • mala. and Nicaragua, states that "there is perhaps no part of the world Mr. EDMUNDS. What year was that? where so many active vents lie within a short compass." l\Ir. DAVIS. That was in May, 1844. Humboldt enumerates thirty-five, and Von Buch (Philosophical Mag- In 1847 a violent shock in the city of Mexico threw down the Con- azine for 1827) considers twenty-five of these as active. They are all vent Church. Squier describes the birth in 1850 of a volcano 20 miles situated between latitude 16 and 10 degrees. The most northern is from Leon, near the base of a long extinct volcano, and it was aecom· Soco.&nsco, north of Lake Aztitlan, and the most southern that of Barna, panied with concus.sions of the earth. near the Gulf of Dulce, considerably below Lake Nicaragua. Daubeny In June, 1858, there was a most violent shock in Mexico, which de- enumerates thirty-two of these. molisbed the aqueduct. The volcano is so pervasively a Nicaraguan characteristic and prod- In 1867, in the month of November, a new volcanic cone was formed uct that a facsimile of a range of them, stretched from Lake Mana- in Nicaragua 24 miles east of Leon. At the same time two hundred gna northwest to the Gulf of Fonseca, and named "Los Marabios," and eighty-two shocks of earthquake were felt in the West Indies. or "The Marvels,,, forms part of the national coat of arms and is In 1870, on the 26th day of July, there was an earthquake in Ma stamped upon the Nicaraguan silver coins, as the eagle is stamped on nagua simultaneously with activity in the volcano of M:omotombo. ours or the lion on the British. On July 27 and 28 there were two earthquakes in the adjoining Re- Theescutcheon of Nicaragua is the volcano. It is engraved upon her pnblic of Salvador. San Salvador was entirely destroyed .March 19, seal, because it is the distinctive physical feature of the country. 1873. I propose to give a statement of the seismic convulsions of that region, In 1882, in the City of Mexico, an earthquake cracked the front of a equaling in grandeur and destructiveness anything that bas ever taken church and the walls of the London Bank building. place in any other country upon the face of the earth. I will give a :M:r. President, I come now to call the attention of the Senate to the synopsis of those as they have occurred in thatregiou since 1835. most extraordinary event of this character which I have read-abont. In 1835 Consegnina formed two new islands and produced shoals in It will be observed on the map of Lake Nicara~uai that immediately the sea; the nver Chiquito, which ran northwest, was completely opposite the exit of this canal towards the Pacific is an island, which choked up. Another river, 6 yards broad, appeared running in an op- I should say is about 15 or 20 miles long. It is called the Island of posite direction. Omotepe. The northern end of that island is marked by the volcano Squier says that- of that name, and the southern extremity of the island is occupied by No equal extent of the Americ.i.n continent, perhaps of the globe, possesses the volcano of .l\Iadeira, well-ascertained volcanoes and set down as so many volcanoes. active or extinct, or exhibits so many traces of volcanic such in scientific works. How have they performed? action as Central America, or the region embraced between the Isthmus of Te- On the 19th of June, 1883, while these negotiations were going on huantepec and that of Panama. and while these promoters were upon the ground, from the volcano of Stephens speaks of that region as ''bristling with volcanoes.'' These Omotepe lava flowed _for days and spread over the island. The erup are fourteen volcanoes-Los Marabios-extending from Lake l\Ianagoa tion was accompanied by earthquakes, and the whole population of the northwest to the Gulf of Fonseca, about 75 miles. island took refuge on the mainland. That was as late as 1883 and Mr. EDMUNDS. I should like to ask my friend, whose observa- within 20 miles of the exit of this canal going west from the Lake of tions are exceedingly interesting, if he can tell us of any living and Nicaragua. Omotepe is on the island of that name in Lake Nicara active volcanoes, as he calls them, within 200 miles of the line of this gua and "is now (1887) twice as active as it used to be." For more canal at this time, or within 300 or 400 miles of it. than a century it bas been quiet, but during the last few years it has Mr. DAVIS. If the Senator will listen to me just five minutes be been active, so much so on one occasion as to nearly destroy the town will get the information he desires. at its base. Mr. EDMUNDS. lam very glad to be a listener. In 1885 the town of Amatitlan, in Guatemala, wasalmostdesiroyed• ..... •. __ t-'- I.& ;--· . .'·J',,1 •\_ .--~ .....; ·-· . ':..... - ,,..~.:.~· 2990 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 20, An eruption of Momotombo occurred on the 22d of May, 1886, and into any pn.blic work that was thought to be useful to the peopl~ no Nicaragua, or Rivas, and -0ther towns experienced .an earthquake si account of the possible danger of a cat.aclysm of nature which should multaneously. overthrow that public work. In Nicaragua. a great eruption of Momotombo occurred on the 22d of l\Ia.y, It might happen to-day or any other day, Mr. President, that the 1886. It was accompanied by severe earthquake shocks, during which the aqueduct that comes down from the Great Falls might be broken un whole area. of Me.nagua, the capital, * * * sank three feet, completely de by a convulsion of nature, but it is extremely improbable. It is ex- stroying all the most important buildings and many lives.-Kneeland,Volcanoes and Earthquakes, pages '158-159. tremely improbable that this great public work, if it were built, would once in five hundred years have a crack happen to it by any convulsion In 1887 an earthquake in the city of Mexico badly injured the great of nature. It might happen. It may happen the day after the thing .. - aqueduct. The walls of the cathedral wern cracked by the shocks and is done, or it may be a thousand years or ten thou;mnd years before it the walls ofa. number ofhouses recently built were fractured. happens. But the progress of human affaira can not be delayed on ac In 1888, on the 30th day of Septembel', Poas volcano was in erup count of such possibilities. tion and destroyed the capitol and cathedral in San Jose, the capital I repeat that on the line of this canal, instead of there being evi of Costa Rica. dences that there bas ever been a convulsion which has disturbed the '- M:y authorities, Mr. President, for what I say are Vincent, In and smallest building, as I now remember it-I am not speaking by the Out of Central America, 1890; Hooker, Great Earthquakes; Daubeny book for the moment-there are some ancient structures of water works on Volcanoes; Kneeland on Volcanoes and Earthquakes, and the works and things of that kind which have stood nobody knows for how many of Humboldt. hundred years, but certainly since the Spaniards first got in there, I submit these relations with no design to discredit this enterprise, which have been abandoned and are ruins, and have not been touched but with the sole purpose of urging the importance of the United States or tried to be kept up for ever, ever so many years, and which on in proceeding carefully in this matter. In my humble opinion1 this ele spection do not show the slightest crack or disturbance ic their struc ment of natural disturbance has not been sufficiently considered. All ture. I do submit, therefore, with great respect to my friend, that the over that region the great ecclesiastical structures, the aqueducts, and earthquake theory of opposition is rather a convulsion of the imagina the towns themselves are constructed with referenhe to the shocks of tion than one which is likely to happen in the future. the earthquake. !\fr. President, as regards another point my friend referred to, I will 1 It is Cuscatlan- ' the land that sw.ings like a hammock,'' according only take a m~ute or two concerning what the United States are com to the translation of ita Indian name. There is not a city within the mitted to and what is the danger of our committal in regard to in· state of Nicaragua.; there is not a city within 150 miles of this canal, volving ourselves in something that is a violation of this concession by -either way, that in the last forty years has not bad the bells in its churches our coming in to be the con trolling force in this corporation. The con tolled by earthquakes. The awful operations of nature, in my opin cession distinctly declares in terms that the concessionaires, the people ion1 Mr. President, explain why that vanished civilization in Yuca to whom the concession was first made, shonld not transfer it to any t.an was so transitory. That people disappeared in the abyss of time foreign government. The -very same article distinctly declares that and left no trace excepting those colossal structures which rival the they can transfer it to a company of execution-I am not using the "pyramidal immensities" of ancient Egypt. That is one of the rea language of the concession, but the substance of it-which is to be sons why modern civilization has taken no fruitful and enduring root organized under the authority of some law somewhere. in that country. The forces of nature are so stupendous and destructive It would have been perfectly competentunderthisconcession for the that they annihilate the works of man, the most enduring of which are people who had it to have gone to France or Germany or England, and there but as bubbles. obtained the authority, if they could, to organize a company there, and I have looked into this subject because I found that it had not been have the stockholders and bondholders, etc., peopleof those countries. fairly considered in any examination which I have seen of this ques Money is cheaper in those countries than it is hP-re, and a good com tion, and I prese:i;it it in all earnestness and sincerity to the consider pany could doubtless have been organized there to execute this work ation of the Senate and the country. under the concession and according to its terms. In my judgment it is not wise and prudent to commit this Govern That would have been more advantageous to the concessees than the ment to the expenditure of $100,00U,OOO in a country which is the organization which the United States permitted; bntit happened that aater of political revolutions, t-0 build a canal over the lair of earth these concessees were citizens of the United States, and it happened quakes. that t~eir eyes and their mind~ and their hearts were broad enough Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, if I may be peTIDitted for a min and bnght enough to see thatthat gap, that gateway of the commerce ute, I should like to state as to the earthquake part of my friend's ar of the world, the correlative and the counterpart of the Suez Canal, gument, that it is a curious thing he has not given us any instance in was one that ofrightand justice and fair play belon2ed to the people of the whole course of time when any part of the line of the San .Juan the UnitedStatesand to the sister republics north and south-all r~pub River or of Lake Nicaragua, or of the solid divide between it and the lics now-that are connected with that great isthmus. Pacific down to Brito-a dozen or fifteen or twenty miles-has ever They therefore applied to the United States, as the Governments of 'l been otherwise disturbed by earthquakes than, as he said, that the Nicaragua. and of Costa Rica hopetl and believed they would, for it is waters of Lake Nicaragua rose and fell as the result of some oscillation many and many a year since the Government of Nicaragua, when she of the earth somewhere. first came to be out of the dominion of Spain and became a republic, All ~long the river San Juan, which falls into the Caribbean-Atlan appealed to the United States to enter into this enterprise and to build tic side of the continent, alter you have got out of the dead, low swamps this waterway for the common benefit of us all. So they came. JVhere this eanal goes starting away from the river and stretching out Therefore, .Mr. President, that concession, forbidden to be transferred about 9 or 10 or 11 miles up to the first lock, of course an earthquake to a foreign government, was transferred, according to the very law of ordinarily would not show any physical symptoms; but from the point its existence and its grant, to a corporation of the Congress of the United where this canal strikes the river at the first lock there have been, States of America. since any kind of civilization existed there, habitations, little towns So far the concession has been executed. It was not only transferred here and there, and navigation of that stl'eam and of that lake, and so in that way, but since that time the Republic ofNicaragua has approved on, following its western and southwestern shores to the place where of it and has taken up this corporation as being a fulfillment of that , this canal is to cut across the final continental divide. only 148 feet concession. the work to be done within the given times, by a formal above the sea; and going down to Brito on the Pacific side, nothing and official act. They took up that corporation with the contents of has ever happened to anybody, so far as this exhaustive research of its act of existence before their eyes, and that was that the Congress of . my friend-and it is exhaustive and complete-can find. There has the United States in this case, as in the case of all other of its corpora '• been no convulsion of nature that has disturbed anything. tions, should have the control of amending, altering, and changing the Now, I beg to assure my honorable friend from Minnesota that the charter of this company according to the general purpose of its exist committee was not oblivious to the considerations which travelers and ence. book writers and common sense would lead any intelligent business There is no want of harmony, there is no danger of international ob man to take into view in regard to the danger of a canal from earth_. struction or violation of this concession in the fact that we propose to quakes in that particular region of countl'y where the canal is to go. · pr-0vide that Congress shall furnish the means to build that work for We had known that there were earthquakes in Central America, as cash, and not on the credit of a private company, which would be to there have been at San Francisco, as there have been at Washington, double and more than double the am::mnt of its out.standing obliga and as there have been at South Carolina. only four or five years ago. tions. We had known that there were volcanoes within 15 miles of the city l\Iore than that, the very next article, or the next but one, of this of Naples, on the Mediterranean, active volcanoes still going on, and concession provides that when this company of exe~ion, that ia, the yet railways and waterworks and condnits,goingbacktothetimeofthe :Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua incorporated by the United Romans, built upon masonry and upon arches and all that sort of thing, States, is once formed, foreign governments are to be invited to con have brought water to those various towns in one way and another for tribute to the building of the canal, and, through foreign governments, more than two thousand years; and yet no Roman emperor nor Roman as many private citizens of their respective governments aa choose to republican senate-as it was in the first place, and I am sorry it did come in also and take stock, or in whatever way in the large sense. not continue to be so all the time-and no successor having charge of Mr. SPOONER. And without any limitation what.everoftheamount the governments and progress of those countries ever hesitated to go they may take. .. - .. ' ' 1891. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2991 .. . ./ t. Mr. EDMUNDS. And without any limitation whatever. All that NOMINATIONS. was done by this company in conformity with this concession. No for· eign government, I am most happy to say, has yet entered into a con· Executive nominations received by the Sen.ate the 20th day of February, 1891. tribution, or a subscription, or any other means of aid, and for this POST.MASTERS. obvious and, as I think:, only reason, that H was only two or three years ago when it was proposed that the French Republic, with whom we Elmer E. Fitch, to be postmaster at Galva., in the county of Henry have the largest sympathy as a republic, of course, was invited and it and State of Illinoisi in the place of Jonas W. Olson, whose com was seriously propo3ed that it should come officially to the aid of the mission expires Febmary 281 1891. Panama Canal, tlmt the Senate of the United States, and I believe the l\Iary McLaughlin, to be postmaster at Lake Forest, in the county Honse of llepresentatives as well-but no matter about that-certainly of Lake and State of Illinois, in the place of Mary McLaughlin, whose the Senate of the United States by a unanimous vote called the atten commission expires March 3, 1891. tion of the President to the subject-I am not speaking in the terms, William A. Brock, to be postmaster at Belleville, in the county of but the substance of it-ancl declared the opinion of this body in diplo Republic and State of Kansas, in the place of John McLanry, re matic and courtly phrase, but it had its definite meaning all the same, moved. that the people of the United State3 would look with serious concern Jacob Stotler, to be postmasterat Wellington, in the county of Sum upon any connection of any foreign government with any transit across ner and State of KanS3s, in the place of Edith Love, whose commis the continents of North and South America, which meant, just as sion expired February 14, 1891. plainly as if it had been written in the ugliest of Eng1ish, that the Simeon W. A. Stevens, to be postmaster at South Gardner, in the United States would not tolerate anv such interference. Therefore it county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts; the appointment of is that foreign governments and foreign capitalists are off-hands, and a postmaster for the said office having, by law, become vested in the they must come in privately if at all. President from and after January 1, 1891. Now, bow are they to come in? Thiscompany, being in the situa Hiram E. Hardy, to be postmaster at Big Rapids, in the county of tion they now are, did not invite the Committee on Foreign Relations Mecosta and State of Michigan, in the place of Joseph H. Kilbourne, to enter into this scheme or make the slightest hint or suggestion, whose commission expires February 22, 1891. directly or indirectly, that they desired that the United States should Ogden Tomlinson, to be postmaster at Plainwell, in the county of come into it; but the Senate of the United States, looking to the wide Allegan and State of Michigan, in the place of Jacob N. Rogers, whose questions which were involved and the great future which is involved commission expires March 3, 1891. in this thing for somebody and some people, unanimorudy passed a res John M. Farmer, to be postmaster at Le Sueur, in the county of Le lution directing the Committee on Foreign Relations to consider the Suenr and State of Minnesota, in the place of Henry J. Dane, wh-Ose subject and to recommend to the Senate what, in its opinion, ought commission expired January 7, 1891. to be done in view of the whole situation. George Baird, to be postmaster at Austin, in the county of Mower That situation is, as it is claimed in the report of the committee, and State of Minnesota, in the place of Christian Johnson, resigned, to which I hope every Senator will read, if he has not already done so take effect March 31, 1891. and that is in the business sense, saying nothing for the moment about Alexander Laverty, to be postmaster at Ashland, in the county of its wider and much more important sense-that if this canal was to go Saunders and State of Nebraska, in the place of Richard M. Scott, on, as it is to go on and will go on, and to be built on private credit, whose commission expires February 28! 1891. will have charged up against its traffic more than double what its actual Edward Whatcomb, to be postmaster at Friend, in the county of cash cost must be if money can be got dollar for dollar on its securi· Saline and State of Nebraska, in the place of William F. Wolfe, whose ties. commission expired February 3, 1891. The committee was looking at the question in its narrowest and mere Charles F. Leicham, to be postmaster at Socorro, in the county of business sense, for the particular traffic of the people of the United Socorro and Territory of New Mexico, in the place of Andrew J. Bah States and our sister republics, and the question was, whether the United mey, whose commission expired February 14, 1891. States could not come to the aid of the enterprise and keep the cost of John I. Platt, to be postmaster at Poughkeepsie, in the county of it down to its actual cash and necessary expenditures. I do not pro Dutchess and State or New York, in the place of William M. Ketcham, pose to speak of the wider aspects of the question at the present stage whose commission expires February 22, 1891. of the debate, but only in reference to what my friend has said about Olius Anderson, to he postmaster at Hillsboro, in the county of this state of things in a business way, and the concessional difficulties Traill and State of North Dakota, in the place of Charles W. Morgan, that he baa referred to. If the United States are not willing to do any· removed. thing about it, then this company will go on, as it is going on to-day, Elmer I. Smith, to be postmaster at Mayville, in. the county of taking out 10,000 cubic yards of the prism of the canal every day. Traill and State of North Dakota, in the place of Daniel D. Murray, Mr. MORGAN. And with only a single dredge. whose commission expired January 5, 1891. Mr. EDMUNDS. With only one single dredge 10,000 cubic yards S. D. Cowden, to be postmaster at Gallipolis, in the county of Gallia a day are taken out now in these 9 milea of the first cut before you and State of Ohio, in the place of William G. Brading, whosecommis· get to the first lock where you strike the San Juan River. They can sion expired February 14, 1891. get the money, and they can get it on the terms that this construction F. Howard Armstrong, to be postmaster at Plymouth, in the county company, be it the same people or other, I do not care at all, and it of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania., in the place of Ado] ph F. Hitch is not of the slightest possible consequence to the United States, pro ler, whose commission expires February 26, 1891. vided we are safe and secure in the binding precautions we think we Isaac Burk, to be postmaster at Sayre, in the county of Bradford and have taken about the business. State of Pennsylvania, in the place of Sidney Hayden, deceased. Where are they to get the money if we do not come in? They are Charles H. Montgomery, to be postmaster at West Randolph, in the to get it in the markets of the world; their stock is to be held by Eng county of Orange and State of Vermont, in the place of William B. lishmen, by Germans, by Frenchmen; their bonds are to be held and Viall, whose commission expires February 26, 1891. taken by English and French and German capitalists, and then we shall have a repetition in a little while-we can not help it then-of the Suez Canal business. We shall have one, two, or three, or all of those governments competing with us for the great storehouse of trade CONFIRMATIONS. on the eastern coast of Asia, China, and Japan, and Siam, and so on, Executive nominations confirmed by tile Senate February 20, 1891. and they will be the masters of the situation and not we. That is all, Mr. President, that I run able to say just now. UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGES. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair understands the question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from Nevada [Mr. STEW· Edgar Aldrich, of New Hampshfre, to be United States district judge ART], but the amendment was ordered to be printed, and it having for the district of New Hampshire. been sent to the Printing Office it is not now in the possession of the James H. Reed, of Pennsylvania, to be United States district-judge Senate. for the western district of Pennsylvania. Mr. SPOONER. I suppose it is not expected that any vote will be taken on the pending bill this evening, and I therefore move that the TERRITORIAL PROBATE JUDGES. SeMrnateEa~MouUrnN.DS Let h t• . I Joseph D. Jones, of Utah Territory, to be judge of probate in Utah • . . us ave an exe~u ive s~1on. County, in the Territory of Utah. Mr. SPOONER. I withdra~ the ;notion to ad~ourn, 8:11d move that James A. Stark, of Utah Territory, to bejndgeofprebate in Pi Ute the Senate _proceed to the consideration of executive busmess. C nnt in the Territory of Utah. The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to the consid- 0 y, eration of executive business. After thirteen minutes spent in execu- POSTMASTER. tive session the doors were reopened, and (at 5 o'clock and 48 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, Saturday, February 21, James Gipson, t~ be postmaster at Coleman, in the county of Cole 1891, at 11 o'clock a. m • man and State of Texas. • .:.. / ' !.·:.'·.