132 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



a resolution much broader in its scope and 

 consequences than the proposition which he 

 offers. The resolution offered by the Senator 

 from Rhode Island embraces all matters of re- 

 trenchment. Whatever may tend to retrench 

 the expenses of this Government in reference 

 to any department of the Government is em- 

 braced within the jurisdiction of the commit- 

 tee under that resolution ; but the amendment 

 moved by the Senator from Illinois is in its 

 nature a limitation ; it narrows it. 



" But, Mr. President, the discussion has pro- 

 ceeded upon another theory. The resolution 

 offered by the Senator from Rhode Island 

 authorizes the investigation by the committee 

 of such matters as may be referred to it by 

 the Senate; of course, embracing within it 

 the powers necessary for that investigation ; 

 but it has been assumed in the discussion that 

 the committee should have the power to initiate 

 investigations upon its own motion without any 

 order from the Senate, and have power to send 

 for persons and papers. I insist that such a 

 power lias never been committed to a standing 

 committee of this body. To give to a standing 

 committee the power to initiate investigations 

 and to send for persons and papers is to make 

 it an inquisition. It ceases to be a committee 

 and becomes an inquisition, becomes a tyrant. 

 That power might not be abused, and perhaps 

 would not be in this instance ; but we put it 

 into the power of a committee, upon its own 

 motion, to investigate the conduct of any 

 officer of this Government, or any man con- 

 nected with the Government, directly or indi- 

 rectly, upon mere private information given 

 to that committee, or it may act without in- 

 formation, if it chooses to abuse its power. 



" No standing committee has ever had this 

 power. Why has not the Committee on Com- 

 merce this power ? Can they not be as safely 

 intrusted with a general power to initiate in- 

 vestigations as this new committee ? And yet 

 that power has never been conferred. It is 

 so high that it is never granted to a commit- 

 tee except upon special occasion. But here 

 it is asked to give it in general terms to a com- 

 mittee, to be exercised year in and year out. 

 I understand that no such power ever has been 

 given in Congress, or in Parliament, or by any 

 legislative body. 



/'lam not mistaken about the whole drift 

 of this debate. It has been to show that there 

 is corruption existing under this Administra- 

 tion, and gross corruption. The drift of this 

 debate is a reflection upon the Republican 

 party. I might appeal to those distinguished 

 Senators and ask them if there is any ground 

 for special assault upon the Republican party 

 in that direction. I ask if ever there has been 

 a party in this country that has exerted itself 

 more systematically to expose and to destroy 

 corruption than the Republican party? I ask 

 if there has been an Administration within the 

 memory of any man on this floor that has 

 more promptly punished crime when it has 



been brought to light, or has more promptly 

 removed the offender from office? I think 

 none of us remember an Administration en- 

 titled to higher credit than the present. 



"We propose to raise this committee. We 

 do not propose to confine it to the narrow lim- 

 its specified by the Senator from Illinois in his 

 resolution in the first branch of it, but to give 

 it jurisdiction over all matters of retrenchment, 

 and at the same time to give it power to send 

 for persons and papers whenever in the opin- 

 ion of the Senate the committee should be in- 

 vested with that extraordinary power; but 

 we cannot give it these general powers to ini- 

 tiate investigations upon its own motion, and 

 to arrest any man, to take his private papers 

 and bring them to the public gaze." 



Mr. Schurz said : " Now, sir, my motives 

 have been reflected upon, and we have been 

 asked what objects we pursue. I am ready to 

 tell the Senate in a few words. My object is 

 to uncover, to denounce, and to have cor- 

 rected any and every abuse wherever I can 

 lay my hand upon it, without regard to the 

 effect it may have on the interests of any par- 

 ty, and without regard to the likes or dislikes 

 of any person. That, and no other, is the aim 

 I pursue. 



"I desire, also, to make a remark in reply 

 to something that fell from the lips of the 

 Senator from Indiana (Mr. Morton). He dis- 

 closed a most horrible picture of tyranny to 

 which the operations of the investigating com- 

 mittee would most certainly lead if it were 

 invested with the powers embodied in the 

 amendment of the Senator from Illinois. It is 

 just as if we were discussing an entirely .new 

 thing ; as if the Committee on Retrenchment, 

 invested with just such powers, had never 

 been heard of in this body ; as if it had never 

 held a single sitting ; as if it had never con- 

 ducted a single inquiry and investigation ; as 

 if it had never reported to this body ; as if the 

 Senate had never acted upon its' suggestions. 

 We have witnessed and sustained the exercise 

 of these very same powers, verbatim et litera- 

 tim, for the last five years of our history. The 

 Committee on Retrenchment held a meeting 

 almost every week, and was almost continually 

 engaged in some investigation under the very 

 eyes of both Houses of Congress, and never, 

 not a single time during those five years, have 

 those immense dangers been discovered which 

 we are now threatened with in such thrilling 

 language, if we continue to do what we have 

 been doing for five long years. Not once has 

 there been a whisper in this Chamber or in 

 the other about any abuse of these powers 

 which the Committee on Retrenchment might 

 have been guilty of. Not a single person has 

 been discommoded in his private affairs ; the 

 rights of nobody have been violated. ^ Nay, 

 there has not even been a single complaint of 

 anybody being dragged before that Star- 

 Chamber, as it is called now. Only once, that 

 I remember, were the proceedings of that 



