154 



CONGEESS, UNITED STATES. 



"So, Mr. President, I stall vote, until I get 

 further instruction from the debates, against 

 any amendment whatever that is proposed to 

 "this bill unless the Senator who moves it shall 

 show us that that amendment in that particular 

 is to be an improvement upon it." 



Mr. Schurz: "I understand the object of 

 those who introduced this bill to be twofold. 

 In the first place the bill appears here as a 

 party measure, and, as we are informed, agreed 

 upon in caucus. About this I have but little 

 to say. If the measure is really a good one, 

 the party bringing it forward and giving it in 

 good faith a united support will be entitled to 

 all the credit that can be derived from it. The 

 most legitimate nay, the only legitimate way 

 to make party capital consists in doing that 

 which will best serve the interests of the coun- 

 try. I shall, therefore, dismiss this matter 

 without further discussing its propriety. The 

 question which I consider of paramount im- 

 portance is whether the measure is a good one, 

 and whether it will practically promote the 

 ends it professes to serve. I desire to say at 

 the start that I am going to vote for this bill. 

 I shall do so in spite of all its defects. I should 

 do so simply for the reason that it contains a 

 pledge to resume specie payments on a certain 

 day, and that, as we are solemnly assured,' all 

 those who support the measure will, as honest 

 men, be obliged to consider themselves in hon- 

 or bound to do all that is necessary to render 

 the fulfillment of that pledge possible, should 

 the provisions of the bill as they now stand 

 prove inadequate. That pledge I mean by all 

 means in my power to strengthen. 



" But at the same time I am bound to say 

 that in my opinion the redemption of that 

 pledge is not assured by the provisions as they 

 now stand in the bill before us. I put some 

 questions to the Senator from Ohio, who ap- 

 pears as the champion of the measure, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining what his own views of 

 the effectiveness of the different provisions of 

 this bill were, and I regret to say that the an- 

 swers I received from him were very unsatis- 

 factory. 



" Look at the matter in the light of common- 

 sense. How can we get back to specie pay- 

 ments? It requires only candor and a little 

 intelligent study of the subject to see that we 

 cannot resume and maintain specie payments 

 until we have less paper-money and more gold. 

 That is an absolute prerequisite. "With the 

 present volume of currency it is absolutely im- 

 possible to resume and sustain redemption. I 

 think I am not going too far when I say that 

 you, Senators, all feel this to be true. It is a 

 very simple arithmetical problem. The depre- 

 ciation of the currency indicates that its pres- 

 ent volume is in excess of that which, on a 

 gold basis, is necessary for the business trans- 

 actions of the country. You resume under 

 such circumstances, with such a volume of cur- 

 rency out, and what will be the consequence ? 

 Every dollar of the excess will at once rush to 



the Treasury for redemption and drain it of 

 gold to that extent, and not only to that ex- 

 tent, for the general movement will take with 

 it to the Treasury for redemption large quanti- 

 ties of paper-money beyond that excess, enough 

 perhaps to force suspension again. And what 

 will become of the gold so drawn out? At 

 least the excess will in all human probability 

 flow abroad immediately. The effect which 

 such a result would produce upon the business 

 of the country cannot be calculated. I repeat, 

 therefore, and I presume everybody must see 

 it, if we want to resume specie payments with 

 any degree of certainty and safety we must 

 bring about a condition of things which will 

 give us less paper-money and more gold to re- 

 deem the remaining paper with, and unless the 

 bill provides for that it does not come up to its 

 profession. 



" The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Logan) says 

 to me in an undertone, ' You do not think you 

 can pass a contraction bill?" I tell him can- 

 didly that, unless we pass some bill which will 

 bring about the condition of things I indicated, 

 it is absolutely useless to speak of resuming 

 specie payments and maintaining redemption. 

 And in this respect the bill before us is palpa- 

 bly and deplorably inadequate. 



" I move you, therefore, sir, that this bill be 

 recommitted to the Committee on Finance, 

 with instructions to incorporate in it such pro- 

 visions as are calculated practically to prepare 

 the way for the resumption of specie pay- 

 ments." 



The Presiding Officer: "The Senator from 

 Missouri moves that the bill be recommitted 

 to the Committee on Finance with the instruc- 

 tions he has named." 



The motion was not agreed to. 



Mr. Schurz: "Then I offer the following 

 amendment, to be inserted on the third page, 

 section 3, line 22, after the words 'and no 

 , more : ' 



Provided, That no less than $2,000,000 of legal- 

 tender notes shall be retired monthly by the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, and that the legal-tender notes 

 so retired shall be canceled and destroyed. 



The result was announced yeas 6, nays 44, 

 as follows: 



YEAS Messrs. Bayard, Fenton, Hager, Hamilton 

 of Maryland, Hamilton of Texas, and Schurz 6. 



NATS Messrs. Allison, Anthony, Bogy, Bout- 

 well, Cameron, Carpenter, Chandler, Clayton, Coop- 

 er, Cragin, Davis, L)enis, Edmunds, Ferry of Michi- 

 Sm, Flanagan, Frelinghuysen, Goldthwaite, Hamlin, 

 arvey, Howe, Ingalls, Johnston, Logan, Merrimon, 

 Morrill of Maine, Morton, Oglesby, Patterson, Pease, 

 Pratt, Kamsey, Kansom, Sargent, Saulsbury, Scott, 

 Sherman, Spencer, Sprague, Stevenson, Thurman, 

 Tipton, Washburn, West, and Wright 44. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Boreman, Brownlow, 

 Buckingham, Conkling, Conover, Dorsey, Ferry of 

 Connecticut, Gilbert, Gordon, "Hitchcock, Jones, 

 Kelly, Lewis, McCreery, Mitchell, Morrill of Ver- 

 mont, Norwood, Eobertson, Stewart, Stockton, Wad- 

 leigh, and Windom 23. 



So the amendment was rejected. 



The bill was reported to the Senate without 



