CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



175 



the amendment of the committee in section 

 one, line nineteen, by striking ont the words 

 ' to the same amount either to purchase or 

 redeem the public debt or,' and inserting after 

 the word ' service,' in line twenty-one, the 

 words ' and the principal of any United States 

 bonds bearing interest payable in coin shall, 

 oa demand by the holder thereof, be paid by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury in legal-tender 

 notes and the interest thereon in coin.' 



"I have but a very few words to say on 

 this amendment, because I have presented my 

 ideas on the question of this amendment to 

 the Senate before. The first part of this section 

 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 

 bonds when they are demanded by men hold- 

 in:,' currency to the amount of $1,000. That 

 is a contraction of the currency ; it is a fund- 

 ing of a portion of the public debt. Now, my 

 judgment is that, while there should be contrac- 

 tion or the power of contraction, there should 

 also be ability to expand; and this amendment 

 proposes that whenever men have bonds, and 

 they want currency more than they want 

 bonds bearing interest, they shall have the 

 privilege of going to the Treasury and obtain- 

 ing currency. It is an interchangeability be- 

 t\vo. j n coin and bonds and between bonds and 

 coin." 



Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, said: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, the proposition submitted by the Sen- 

 ator from Connecticut is not entirely new to 

 the Senate. So far as its practical operation 

 would go, it would not advance us a single 

 step in the resumption of specie payments. 

 It would give as much opportunity for going 

 backward as for going forward. The object 

 to be attained, as stated by the Senator from 

 Connecticut, is, to enable a manufacturer, who 

 finds he wants more currency, to go to the 

 Treasury Department and exchange bonds for 

 it. Let me say to the Senator from Connect- 

 icut that any man who has bonds to give for 

 security can obtain money in any quarter of 

 our country at one, two, three, and four per 

 cent, less than anybody else. There is abso- 

 lutely nodifficulty whatever for a man, whohas 

 bonds to give as security, in obtaining money." 



Mr. Fenton, of New York, said : "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I ask the consent of the Senate, if agree- 

 able to the chairman of the Committee on 

 Finance, who reported this bill, to consider 

 the amendment of the Committee on Finance 

 as the bill before the Senate." 



The Presiding Officer : " Is there any objec- 

 tion to the proposition of the Senator from 

 New York? The Chair hears no objection, 

 anl that course will be taken." 



Mr. Fenton : " I move to amend the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from Connecticut by 

 adding : 



" Provided, That twenty per cent, of tlio notes so 

 received for the said bonds shall bo retnincd and 

 ncrmanently retired from circulation : Provided alia, 

 That said twenty per cent, shall not exceed in the 

 aggregate the sum of $3,000,000 a month. 



" One word only, Mr. President. This bill, 

 with the amendment of my friend from Con- 

 necticut, ignores the vital consideration in the 

 work of resuming specie payments. Senators 

 do not seem to have in view that the value of 

 currency depends upon its volume and the 

 value is determined by its exchangeability into 

 coin. Believing, then, that it is impossible 

 within any reasonable period to reach specie 

 payments and maintain them without a mod- 

 erate reduction of the currency of the country, 

 I have offered this amendment in good faith 

 to that end. This amendment incorporated 

 into the bill, with the postponement of the 

 period when it will take effect, as suggested 

 by the honorable Senator from Indiana (Mr. 

 Morton), it would doubtless in time accomplish 

 the work of resumption which we all so much 

 desire." 



Mr. Schurz, of Missouri, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I have followed this debate with a good 

 deal of attention, and I discover that the 

 further we go the oftener we strike upon 

 rocks. The Senator from Connecticut offered 

 an amendment which is to obviate a great 

 danger, consisting in the discretion of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury to flood the market 

 with currency whenever currency has accumu- 

 lated in the Treasury of the United States 

 the same topic to which I took the liberty of 

 calling attention yesterday. The Senator from 

 Vermont sees in the amendment offered by 

 the Senator from Connecticut another danger, 

 which consists in putting it into the power of 

 Wall Street speculators to empty the Treasury 

 of greenbacks and to use them for their own 

 speculative purposes. 



" I think both these difficulties exist ; but 

 there seema to be still another one which 

 affects the whole system as designed by the 

 author of this bill, the honorable chairman of 

 the Committee on Finance. If I understand him 

 correctly, he wants to bring us back to specie 

 payments, an object in which I sincerely sym- 

 pathize with him. In his speech he described 

 to us the dangers and inconveniences arising 

 from irregular fluctuations of value. His aim 

 and object are very laudable indeed. The bill 

 provides that on the 1st of January, 1874, you 

 or I may go to the Treasury of the United 

 States and present legal tenders there and re- 

 ceive coin in return. That is specie pay- 

 ments. It will also put gold and silver into 

 circulation again. But the bill provides also 

 that when the gold in the Treasury is ex- 

 hausted, or when the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury deems it wise not to redeem in gold any 

 longer, he may use the interest-bearing securi- 

 ties of the United States and may redeem the 

 legal tenders with bonds. That, if I may say 

 so, is no longer specie payments, hut that is 

 a suspension of specie payments again, is it 

 not? The chairman of the Committee on 

 Finance nods assent; he has said so in his 

 opening speech. In fact, the whole bill seems 

 to have been devised to institute specie pay- 



