CONGEESS, UNITED STATES. 



187 



Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Frelinghuysen, 

 Harlan, Kellogg, McCreery, McDonald, Morgan, 

 Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Patterson 

 of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Bamsey, Boss, Sher- 

 man, Stewart, Sumner.Thayer, Trumbull, Welch, 

 Willey, Williams, and Wilson 36. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Grimes, Har- 

 ris, Henderson, Hendricks, Howard, Morrill of 

 Maine, Norton, Patterson of Tennessee, Pool, Eice, 

 Eobertson, Saulsbury, Sawyer, Spencer, Sprague, 

 Tipton, Van Winkle, tickers, Warner, Whyte, and 

 Yates 23. 



Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, moved to amend 

 the second section so as to read as follows : 



And le it further enacted, That any contract here- 

 after made specifically payable in coin shall be legal 

 and valid, and may be enforced according to its 

 terms. 



The motion was lost by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Dixon, 

 Fessenden, Henderson, Pomeroy, Eoss, Stewart, and 

 Trumbull 10. 



NAYS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Cameron, Cat- 

 tell, Chandler, Conness, Cragin, Davis, Doolittle, 

 Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, 

 Howe, Kellogg, McDonald, Morgan, Morrill of Ver- 

 mont, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Patterson of New 

 Hampshire, Eamsey, Eice, Sawyer, Sherman, Sum- 

 ner, Thayer, Wade, Welch, Willey, Williams, and 

 Wilson 34. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Fowler, 

 Grimes, Harris, Hendricks, Howard, McCreery, 

 Morrill of Maine, Norton, Patterson of Tennessee, 

 Pool, Eobertson, Saulsbury, Spencer, Sprague, Tip- 

 ton, Van Winkle, Vickers, Warner, Whyte, and 

 Yates-22. 



The bill, as amended by the Finance Com- 

 mittee, was passed by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Cattell, Conkling, Conness, 

 Corbett, Cragin, Dixon, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, 

 Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harlan, Harris, Howard, 

 Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morriil of Vermont, Nye, 

 Patterson of New Hampshire, Eobertson, Sawyer, 

 Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Willey, 

 Williams, and Wilson 30. 



NAYS Messrs. Cole, Davis, Doolittle, Fowler, 

 Henderson, Hendricks, McCreery, McDonald, Mor- 

 ton, Osborn, Patterson of Tennessee, Pomeroy, Eoss, 

 Spencer, Wade, and Welch 16. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Buckalew, 

 Cameron, Chandler, Drake, Howe, Kellogg, Norton, 

 Pool, Eamsey, Eice, Saulsbury, Sprague, Trumbull, 

 Van Winkle, Vickers, Warner, Whyte, and Yates 20. 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "I move to 

 amend the title so as to read, ' An act relating 

 to the public debt.' " 



The motion was agreed to. 



On March 2d the House refused to concur in 

 the amendments of the Senate, and appointed 

 a committee of conference. 



On the same day the Senate insisted on its 

 amendments, and appointed a committee of 

 conference. 



This joint committee, on March 3d, reported 

 to each House the following bill : 



An Act to strengthen the public credit, and relating to 



contracts for the pavment of coin. 

 SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That, in order to re- 

 move any doubt as to the purpose of the Government 

 to discharge all iust obligations to the public cred- 

 itors, and to settle conflicting questions and interpre- 

 tations of the laws, by virtue of which obligations 

 have been contracted, it is hereby provided and de- 



clared that the faith of the United States is solemnly 

 pledged to the payment in coin, or its equivalent, of 

 all obligations of the United States not bearing in- 

 terest, known as United States notes, and of all tho 

 interest-bearing obligations of the United States, ex- 

 cept in cases where the law authorizing the issue of 

 any such obligation has expressly provided that the 

 same may be paid in lawful money, or other currency 

 than gold and silver. But none of said interest- bear- 

 ing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or 

 paid before maturity, unless at such time United 

 btates notes shall be convertible into coin, at the op- 

 tion of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of 

 the United States, bearing a lower rate of interest than 

 the bonds to be redeemed, can be sold at par in coin. 

 And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith 

 to make provision, at the earliest practicable period, 

 for the redemption of the United States notes in coin. 

 SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any contract 

 hereafter made specifically payable in coin, and the 

 consideration of which may be a loan of coin, or a 

 sale of property, or the rendering of labor or service 

 of any kind, the price of which, as carried into the 

 contract, may have been adjusted on the basis of the 

 coin value thereof at the time of such sale, or the ren- 

 dering of such service or labor, shall be legal and 

 valid, and may be enforced according to its terms ; 

 and, on the trial of a suit brought for the enforcement 

 of any such contract, proof of the real consideration 

 may be given. 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "If the Secre- 

 tary will send the report and the bill to me, I 

 wiU explain, in a very few words, the result of 

 the conference. The Senate made four amend- 

 ments to this short bill. The first amendment 

 was designed to extend the pledge of the first 

 section to the United States notes as well as 

 the bonds. In the House bill, the obligations 

 were described as ' all interest-bearing obliga- 

 tions,' but there was no pledge to pay in coin 

 United States notes. The Senate, by striking 

 out the words 'interest-bearing,' intended to 

 extend the pledge to all obligations of the 

 United States ; but the House conferees feared 

 that this would include obligations not in- 

 tended to be embraced by this claim. In order 

 to avoid all ambiguity, we now say that the 

 pledge shall extend to the payment of all 

 United States notes in coin, and all interest- 

 bearing obligations, except those where other 

 provision was made, so as to prevent including 

 other obligations not intended to be reached 

 by this measure ; and, in that respect, I think 

 the report of the conferees is decidedly an im- 

 provement, because it is more specific. 



" The second amendment of the Senate was 

 to strike out the proviso to the first section. 

 The objections made in the Senate to the pro- 

 viso were these : That it tied up the power of 

 the Government to pay the debt, or do any 

 thing toward reducing the rate of interest, 

 until after the return of specie payments. This 

 provision is stricken out, and, instead of it, we 

 have inserted a provision that we will not at- 

 tempt to pay the principal of this debt until 

 either we resume specie payments or we can 

 sell a bond bearing a lower rate of interest 

 than the bonds, to be redeemed at par in coin. 

 Then we are at liberty to proceed to pay off 

 the outstanding bonds, even if specie payments 

 have not been resumed. 



