TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-1847. 405 



reimburse it at any moment on a failure to pay b}^ those to whom it 

 had been loaned. Whether the investments made were judicious or 

 otherwise, Mr. Thurman did "ot know. He had not inquired, for it 

 was not his purpose to cast censure anywhere. 



As to the merits of the bill under consideration, he would do noth- 

 ing more than express an opinion without going into any argument 

 whatever. He could not vote for the bill unless it were most materially 

 changed. He was opposed to the erection of an immense institution 

 at the city of Washington that would ultimately become a charge 

 upon the Treasury and would necessarily be partial in its operations 

 and benefits. He was rather inclined to believe that the best disposi- 

 tion of the fund that could be made would be to invest the interest 

 arising from it in a library. There were great objections to this plan, 

 to be sure. They had been forcibly stated by the chairman of the 

 select committee [Mr. Owen]. But there was one great recommenda- 

 tion it possessed that strongly influenced him. That was that though 

 it might not eSect the greatest amount of benefit that could be pro- 

 duced b}' the fund, it was not liable to the abuses to which all the 

 other plans would probably give rise. It would create no large body 

 of office holders, no patronage, no favoritism, no partial, sectional 

 advantages. 



Mr. Owen wished to saj^ a few words in reply to the gentleman from 

 Massachusetts [Mr. Adams]. He was sorry that duty devolved upon 

 him. He had for that gentleman, in more senses than one, a most 

 wholesome respect. Not only did he respect his character most sin- 

 cerely, his acquirements, his long experience, his information, so 

 accurate on every subject, but in addition to all that he had for him, 

 as opposed to him in argument, a most wholesome respect. If any 

 one who ever debated with him came off the better in the contest it 

 was while he [Mr. Owen] was out of the House. And it was nothing 

 but a sense of duty which induced him to reply to the gentleman. 



The gentleman from Massachusetts had labored more zealousl}^ in 

 this good cause than, perhaps, an}^ other individual. He read from a 

 report of Mr. Adams, of March, 1840, in regard to the application of 

 these moneys, in which, among other things, it was declared: 



It will be perceived that the United States have made themselves creditors to the 

 States, and made themselves responsible for the punctual payment of the interest of 

 these bonds, etc. 



That (said Mr. Owen) was the opinion of the gentleman from Massa- 

 chusetts in 1840. It was Mr. Owen's opinion to-day. He believed it 

 is the United States that are the creditors of the State of Arkansas 

 and the other States, and that their faith is plighted for the due 

 administration of this fund. And this included the question of time. 

 Delay was equivalent to denial. To say you will administer a fund 

 fifty years hence is to say you will not administer it at all. 



