1877. Congressional Record-Senate. 1273
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1877. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 1273 IN SENATE. a petition praying compensation for two lots and buildings thereon in Nashville, 'l'ennessee, occupied one as a warehouse for commis TUESDAY, February 6, 1877-10 a.m. sary stores, the other as a hospital for the Union forces during the late war of the rebellion. -.... I know this petitioner. She lives in the The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The recess having expired, the Sen town in which I live. I am quite sme of her loyalty. She does not ate resumes it.s session. belong to the race to which the Senator from Iowa and myself be-. PRESIDENTIAL APPROVALS. long. Accompanying her petition are the affidavits of numerous citi..: Amessage from the President of the United States, by Mr. U. S. zeus, surgeons in the war, lawyers, and others, stating her ownership GRAN'J;, jr., his Secretary, announced that the President had, on the of this property, stating its occupation, stating that it was taken by 31st day of January, approved and signed the act (S. No. 155) to the authorized authorities of the United States, and stating why and amend sections 533, 556, 571, and 572 of the Revised Statutes of the how she was unable to obtain compensation at the time. If any as United Stat-es relating to courts in Arkansas and other States. surance of mine can give the chairman of the eommittee a prejudice in favor of the loyalty and the merit of this claim, I beg to give that RESUMPTION OF SPECill PAYl\IENTS. assurance. I believe the case a meritorious ono, and I hope the hon i The PRESIDENT p1·o tempore laid before the Senate the following orable Senator may remember the few words I have said, and consider message from the President of the United States: it kindly in committee. To the Senate and House of Representative$: The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The petition will be referred to the .f:By the act of Congress approved January 14, 1875, "to provide for the resumption Committee on Claims . of specie payments," the 1st of January, 18i9, is fixed as the date when such resump :Mr. CONKLING. I present also the memorial of many members of tion is to begin. It may not be desirable to fix an earlier date when it shall actually the bar of the State of New York, particularly of the city of New become obligatory upon the Government to redeem its outst.andin~ le~al-tender York, being in the southern district of that State, praying legislation noies in coin on presentation, but it is certainly most desirable and will prove most beneficial to every pecuniMY interest of the country to hasten the day when the to augment the judicial staff by increasing the circuit judges. With paper circulation of the country and the ~old coin shall have equal values. this petition is a letter from Mr. Wetmore, a highly respectable mem 1 At a later day if Qurrency and coin should retain equal values it might become ber of the bar ; and I move that the letter with the petition be re advisable to authorize or direct resumption. I believe the time has come when by ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary. a simple ad of the legislative branch of the Government this most desirable result can be attained. I am strengthened in this view by the course trade has taken in The motion wa-s agreed to. the last two years, and by the strength of the credit of the United States at home Mr. CO:NKLING. I present also a petition signed by Henry R. Sel and abroad. den, a well-known citizen of the State of New York, and signed in all : For the fiscal year endin"' June 30, 1876, the exports of the United States ex by 216 men and 394 women, 610 citizens of the State of New York, ceeded the imports by 6120,'213,102; but our exports include 40,569,621 of specie and bullion in excess of imports of the same commodities. .For the six months of asking for a sixteenth amendment of the Constitution. In present- the present fiscal year, from July 1, 1876, to January 1, 1877, the excess of exports ing this petition I am requested to read the three lines which com~ over imports amounted to $107,54·1,869, and the import of specie and bullion ex pose it: ceeded the export of the precious metals by $6,192,147 in the same time. The act ual excess of exports over imports for the six months, exclusive of specie and bull The undersigned, citizens of the United States, residents of the State of New ion, amounted to $113,737,040, showing for the time being the accumulation of spe York, .* * * earnestly pray your honorable body to adopt mea..<>ures for so cie and bullion in the country amounting to more than $6,000,000 in addition to the amending the Constitution as to prohibit the several States from disfranchising national product of these metals for the same period, a total increa8e of gold and United States citizens on account of sex. silver for the six months not far short of ~60,000,000. It is very evident that unless I move its reference to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. this great increase of the precious metals can be utilized at home in such a way as to make it in some manner remunerative to the holders, it must seek a foreign mar The motion was agreed to. ket as surely as would any other product of t-he soil or the manufactory. Any leg Mr. CONKLING. I present also a petition, indorsed upon the back islation which will keep coin and bullion at home will, in my jud~ent, soon bring by au appeal by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others officers of about practical resumption, and will add the coin of the country to the circulating the national Woman Suffrage Association, praying in like tenor and medium, thus securin~ a healthy "inflation" of a sound currency to the great ad vantage of every legitimate business interest. effect as the last petition. It ifi signed by a number of women citi The act to provide for the resumption of specie payments authorizes the Secre zens of the county .of Herkimer in the State of New York. I move its tary of tbe Treasury to issue bonds of either of the descriptions named in the act reference to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. of Con~;ress approved July 14, 1870, entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of The motion was agreed to. tho national" debt, fornot less than par in gold. With the present value of the 4! per cent. bonds in the markets of the world, they could be exchanged at par for gold, Mr. SHERMAN. I present a memorial of the Cincinnati Chamber thus strengthening the Treasury to meet :final resumption and to keep the excess of of Commerce, setting out the great interest taken by that body in coin over aemand, pending its permanent use as a circulating medium, at home. .All geographical discoveries and polar explorations, and stating that in that would be further required would be to reduce the volume of legal-tender notes in circulat.Wn. To accomplish this I would suggest an act authorizing the Secre the interest of science, as well a,s in behalf of commerce and trade, tary ef the Treasury to issue 4 per cent. bonds, wHh forty years to run before ma mutually and inseparably linked together, they heartily approve and turity, to be exchanged for le~al-tender notes whenever presented in sums of $50~ urge the passage of the bill providing for another expedition toward or any multiple thereof, the whole amount of such bonds, however, not to exceea the North Pole for the purposes of exploration and the establishment $150,000,000. To increase the home demand for such bonds I would recommend of a colony at some point north of the eighty-first degree of north that they be available for de~osit in the United States Treasury for banking pur poses under the various proVIsions of law relating to national banks. latitude. They approve of an appropriation of $50,000 by the Gen I would suggest further that national banks be required to retain a certain per eral Government for this purpose. I move the reference of the me centage of the coip. interest received by them from the bonds deposited with the morial to the Committee on Appropriations. Treasury to secure their circulation. I would also recommend the repeal of the third section of the joint rMolution The motion was agreed to. "for the issue of silver coin." approved July 2-4, 1876, limiting the subsidiary coin Mr. DAVIS presented the petition of Rev. Thomaa Scott Bacon, of and fractional currency to $50,000,000. Oakland, Maryland, praying to be allowed to give evidence before · 1 am satisfied that if Congress will enact some such law as will accomplish the the Committee on Privileges and Elections in relation to affairs in the end suggested, they will give a relief to the country instant in its effects, and for which they will receive the gratitude of the whole people. State of Louisiana; which was referred to the Committee on Privi..; • U.S.GRANT. · leges and Elections. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 3, 1877. Mr. BOOTH presented a petition of citizens of California, praying The message was referred to the Committee on Finance, and ordered the paasage of a law allowing arrears of pension; which was ordered to be printed.