212 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES, 



officers that will be needed and we cannot tell 

 the exact amount of their duties. In one State 

 it will be mu6h larger than in others. We have, 

 therefore, been driven to the necessity of allow- 

 ing the commissioner, nnder the direction of 

 the President, to appoint these officers, 'so far 

 as the same shall be, in his judgment, necessary 

 for the efficient and economical administration 

 of the affairs of the bureau.' The object is to 

 have as few employe's as it is possible to get 

 along with, and to pay them at the cheapest rate. 

 "We authorize them, in order to avoid the neces- 

 sity of appointing new men, to detail men from 

 the army. We provide, also, that the clerks 

 appointed shall have a salary of not less than 

 $500 nor more than $1,200, and the persons to be 

 appointed will receive a salary somewhere be- 

 tween those two sums. I think the provision of 

 the bill as it now stands is imposed upon us by 

 the very necessities of the case. Wherever we 

 can define the number of officers and fix their 

 salaries, I think it is onr duty to do it ; bat I 

 think we cannot do it here ; and I hope, there- 

 fore, that the amendment will not be adopted." 



All the amendments were approved by the 

 Senate, and the bill ordered to be engrossed for 

 the third reading, when Mr. Hendricks, of In- 

 diana, in opposition, said : "I think this is a very 

 objectionable measure, and regret to see it pass ; 

 but I am well aware that any argument that 

 could be made upon it, at this stage of its consid- 

 eration, would not influence its fate, and there- 

 fore I do not propose to take up the time of the 

 Senate in its discussion further than to say that 

 in the very nature of the thing, an institution 

 of this sort cannot bring good either to the 

 white or to the colored race, in my judgment. 

 I do not believe that any bureau can be a suc- 

 cess which sends men into a community to gov- 

 ern a part of that community. There is no so- 

 ciety in New England, there is no society in the 

 Northwest, which can be governed well for the 

 country under a system like this* I think dur- 

 ing the last six months we have had so much 

 information in regard to the practical operation 

 of this bureau as to call upon men to hesitate 

 before they continue its existence for two years 

 longer. My information upon the subject is, 

 and it is that upon which I rely, that this bureau 

 has been a cause of evil and disturbance in the 

 Southern States, and has not secured to the col- 

 ored people that blessing which is any compen- 

 sation to the country for the enormous expense 

 it is upon the national treasury." 



The bill was then passed. 



The House, on June 29th, refused to concur 

 in the amendments of the Senate, and a Commit- 

 tee of Conference was appointed by both Houses. 



In the Senate, on July 2d, the committee 

 made a report, which was concurred in. 



In the House, on July 3d, the Conference 

 Committee made a report, which Mr. Eliot, of 

 Massachusetts, thus explained the more impor- 

 tant features : " Mr. Speaker, the first amend- 

 ment whtch the Senate made to the bill as it 

 yras passed by the House was simply an enlarge- 



ment of one of the sections of the House bill, 

 which provided that the volunteer medical offi- 

 cers engaged in the medical department of the 

 bureau might be continued, inasmuch as it was 

 expected that the medical force of the regular 

 army would be speedily reduced to the mini- 

 mum, and in that case all the regular officers 

 would be wanted 'in the service. It was there- 

 fore thought right that there should be some 

 force connected with the Bureau of Refugees 

 and Freedmen. The Senate enlarged the pro- 

 visions of the House bill by providing that offi- 

 cers of the volunteer service now on duty might 

 be continued as assistant commissioner and other 

 officers, and that the Secretary of War might 

 fill vacancies until other officers could be detail- 

 ed from the regular army. That is the sub- 

 stance of the first material amendment. 



" The next amendment made by the Senate was 

 to strike out a section of the House bill which 

 simply provided that upon application for res- 

 toration by the former owners of the land as- 

 signed under General Sherman's field order, the 

 application should not be complied with. That 

 section is stricken out and another substituted 

 for it, which provides that certain lands, which 

 are now owned by the United States, having 

 been purchased by the United States under tax 

 commissioners' sales, shall be assigned in lots of 

 twenty acres to freedmen who have had allot- 

 ments under General Sherman's field order, at 

 the price for which the lands were purchased by 

 the United States ; and not only that those freed- 

 me'n should have such allotments, but that other 

 freedmen who had had lots assigned to them un- 

 der General Sherman's field order, and who may 

 have become dispossessed of their land, should 

 have assignments made to them of these lands 

 belonging 'to the United States. I think the 

 justice of that provision will strike every one. 

 And it will be perhaps a merit in the eyes of 

 many that it does not call upon the Treasury 

 for the expenditure of any money. In the bill 

 which was passed by the House it will be recol 

 lected that there was a provision under which 

 there should be purchased by the commissioner 

 of the bureau enough public lands to be substi- 

 tuted for the lands at first assigned to freedmen. 

 Instead of that, pro vision is made by which they 

 can have property belonging to the United States 

 which has come into its possession under tax 

 sales, and where the titles have been made per- 

 fect by lapse of time." 



Mr. Washburn, of Indiana: "What is the 

 price at which these lands are to be sold to 

 freedmen ? " 



Mr. Eliot : " A dollarand a half an acre." 



Mr. Washburn, "That is not the cost to the 

 Government." 



Mr. Eliot : " I ought to state that the price 

 is fixed in the bill at $1.50 an acre. The gen^ 

 tleman from Indiana (Mr. Washburn) says that 

 is not the cost to the Government. I am not so 

 familiar with the facts as to be able to state how 

 that is. The next amendment of the Senate pro- 

 vides that certain lands which were purchased 



