CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



151 



tenth, and after June 30, 1877, one-fifth part there- 

 of may be so paid. 



Mr. Bogy, of Missouri, said: "I desire to 

 move an amendment to this amendment, to 

 strike out all after the word ' that ' and insert : " 



On and after the first day of July, 1875, duties on 

 imports may be paid in legal-tender notes or coin, 

 at the option of the importer. 



" My purpose in offering this amendment is 

 to facilitate the object aimed to be accom- 

 plished by this bill ; that is, as soon as possi- 

 ble, consistent with the interests of the coun- 

 try, to return to specie payments, and upon 

 that subject my mind has undergone no 

 change. 



"If the legal tenders are made receivable 

 for duties, you at once give to them a positive 

 value. You at once take away the only de- 

 mand for gold. At the present day gold is not 

 used for any purpose whatever in this country 

 except to pay duties on imports. It is to-day 

 an article of commerce, as much so as iron or 

 lead, or dry-goods, or sugar, or coffee. It is 

 not used at the present time as a medium of 

 exchange. It remains a measure of value, be- 

 cause" it is so recognized by the entire com- 

 merce of the world. But as a means of ex- 

 change it is not used except as an article of 

 commerce, and is sold from day to day in Wall 

 Street ; and for what purpose ? Only for one : 

 te enable importers to pay duties amounting to 

 from five to eight hundred thousand dollars a 

 day. Do away with the demand, and what 

 will be the result? There being no demand for 

 gold, as the national-bank notes are redeema- 

 ble in legal tenders, and these are not yet re- 

 deemable in gold, the effect would be that the 

 gold of this country, amounting to $160,- 

 000,000, would at once flow into the channels 

 of trade, and you would really have an expan- 

 sion of coin of that large amount. The $160,- 

 000,000 now used as an article of merchandise 

 would immediately go into the channels of 

 business. It could not be used for any other 

 purpose. If my friend from West Virginia 

 (Mr. Davis) had $100,000 in gold, and were a 

 broker in Wall Street, and there were no de- 

 mand for it, what could he do with it ? He 

 would lend it to some one, say to my friend 

 from Delaware (Mr. Saulsbury), and he, hav- 

 ing borrowed it, would use it as a necessity 

 for legitimate business purposes, and in that 

 way one hundred and sixty millions would be 

 carried into the channels of trade and be used 

 only as gold should be, as a medium of ex- 

 change, in addition to being a measure of 

 value." 



Mr. Thurman : " Will my friend allow me 

 to ask him a question ? " 



Mr. Bogy : " Certainly." 



Mr. Thurman : " I should be inclined to 

 favor the amendment of the Senator from 

 Missouri but for one thing, to which I wish 

 to call his attention ; and that is the pledge 

 of Congress that so much of the customs duties 

 as shall be necessary is pledged for the pay- 



ment of interest on the public debt and the 

 creation of a sinking fund, and that interest is 

 payable in gold. I have made my calculation 

 in my amendment so as to leave an ample 

 amount to meet that pledge ; but the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from Missouri would de- 

 stroy the pledge altogether. 



" I wish to say further in reference to that, 

 that the bill as reported and now before us dis- 

 regards that pledge quite as much as and more, 

 a great deal, than can be said of my amend- 

 ment, for mine does not disregard it at all. 

 This bill allows the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to use all the gold that may be received from 

 customs duties to carry out the purpose of 

 the . bill, and in fact disregards the pledge 

 totally." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said : " The Sena- 

 tor from Ohio will pardon me if I suggest to 

 him that he has not read the statute of 1862 

 or stated it exactly as it is. The act of 1862 

 does not say so much as shall be necessary (as 

 he stated it), leaving it to the judgment of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, shall be collected 

 in coin. It says that all duties on imports 

 shall be collected in coin, and the public faith 

 is pledged to it." 



Mr. Thurman : " I know it says that all 

 duties shall be payable in coin ; but the true 

 interpretation of that statute, so far as it is a 

 pledge, does not pledge us to collect any more 

 in coin than is necessary to answer the pur- 

 pose for which gold is necessary. I do not 

 wish to go into that argument ; I argued it at 

 the last session ; and, if my friend will do me 

 the honor to look at what I said then, he will 

 see what I think about it." 

 . Mr. Bogy : " I contend that by making these 

 legal-tender notes what the words authorizing 

 their issue justify, that is, making them re- 

 ceivable for all debts due the Government of 

 any description whatsoever, without except- 

 ing duties on imports, you will give to your 

 legal tenders a value equal to gold, and that 

 will do away with the demand for it, and by 

 doing away with this demand it will never- 

 theless continue to exist to the extent of $160,- 

 000,000 now in the country, and, not being 

 used any longer as an article of merchandise, 

 it will be employed in its legitimate function 

 as a means of exchange. In that way, instead 

 of bringing about an inflation of paper-money, 

 you would in point of fact have an inflation of 

 gold to the amount of $160,000,000, because at 

 once it would be added to the circulation. 



" Now, I am met by the argument advanced 

 by the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Thurman), that 

 this would conflict with the law of 1862, which 

 requires all duties to be paid in gold; not a 

 part, not nineteen-twentieths, but the whole 

 twenty-twentieths ; all must be paid in coin. 

 The object of the Jaw beyond a doubt was to 

 create a gold fund to pay the interest upon the 

 gold bonds. But what is really the essence 

 of that contract ? Taking the modification of 

 the law made by the act of 1869, which made 



