172 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third 

 reading, and read the third time. 



The President pro tempore: "The question 

 is, 'Shall the bill pass?' on which the yeas 

 and nays are demanded." 



The Secretary proceeded to call the roll, 

 which resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Bogy, Christiancy, Clay- 

 ton, Cockrell, Conkling, Dawes, Ferry, Goldthwaite, 

 ilamilton, Harvey, Hitchcock, Kernan, Key, Logan, 

 MeCreery, McDonald, Maxey, Morrill of Vermont, 

 Morton, Patterson, Stevenson, Thurman, Wallace, 

 Wliyte, and Wright 26. 



NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Boutwell, Cooper, Davis, 

 Dorsey, Frelinghuysen, Hamlin, Howe, Ingalls, 

 Jones of Florida, Jones of Nevada, McMillan, 

 Mitchell, Paddock, Robertson, Sargent, Sharon, 

 Spencer, Windom, and Withers 20. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Anthony, Booth, Bruce, 

 Burnside, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cameron of 

 Wisconsin, Caperton, Conover, Cragln, Dennis, 

 Eaton, Edmunds, English, Gordon, Johnston, Kel- 

 ly, Merrimon, Morrill of Maine, Norwood, Oglesby, 

 Randolph, Ransom, Saulsbury, Sherman, Wadleigh, 

 and West 27. 



So the bill was passed. 



On April 6th the bill was passed by the 

 House. 



On April 19th President Grant returned the 

 bill, with his objections, as follows : 



To the Senate of the United States : 



Herewith I return Senate bill entitled " An act 

 fixing the salary of the President of the United 

 States," without my approval. 



1 am constrained to this course from a sense of 

 duty to my successors in office, to myself, and to 

 what is due to the dignity of the position of Chief 

 Magistrate of a nation of more than 40,000,000 peo- 

 ple. 



When the salary of the President of the United 

 States, pursuant to the Constitution, was fixed at 

 $25,000 per annum, we were a nation of but 3,000,- 

 000 people, poor from a long and exhaustive war, 

 without commerce or manufactures, with but few 

 wants, and those cheaply supplied. The salary 

 must then have been deemed small for the responsi- 

 bilities and dignity of the position, but justifiably so 

 from the impoverished condition of the Treasury 

 and the simplicity it was desired to cultivate in the 

 republic. 



The salary of Congressmen, under the Constitu- 

 tion, was first fixed at $6 per day for the time actu- 

 ally in session an average of about 120 days to each 

 session or $720 per year, or less than one-thirtieth 

 of the salary of the President. 



Congress have legislated upon their own salaries 

 from time to time since, until finally it reached $5,000 

 per annum, or one-fifth that of the President before 

 the salary of the latter was increased. 



No one having a knowledge of the cost of living 

 at the national capital will contend that the present 

 salary of Congressmen is too high, unless it is the 

 intention to make the office one entirely of honor, 

 when the salary should be abolished a proposition 

 repugnant to our republican ideas and institutions. 



I do not believe the citizens of this republic de- 

 sire their public servants to serve them without a 

 fair compensation for their services. Twenty-five 

 thousand dollars does not defray the expenses of the 

 Executive for one year, or has not in my.experience. 

 It is not now one-fifth in value what it was at the 

 time of the adoption of the Constitution in supply- 

 ing demands and wants. 



Having no personal interest in this matter, I have 

 felt myself free to return this bill to the House in 



which it originated, with my objections, believing 

 that in doing so I meet the wishes and judgment of 

 the great majority of those who indirectly pay all 

 the salaries and other expenses of Government. 



U. S. GRANT. 

 EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 18, 1876. 



In the House, on August 4th, Mr. Lord, of 

 New York, said : " I hold in my hand a re- 

 port from the Committee on the Judiciary upon 

 the House resolution, which is known as the 

 Elaine amendment to the Constitution. I had 

 been directed by the committee to make this 

 report, and intended to do so early in tbe day, 

 but was prevented. I now present the report." 



The Speaker pro tempore: "If a motion has 

 been entered to reconsider the vote by which 

 the joint resolution was referred, then the gen- 

 tleman should ask to take up that motion." 



Mr. Lord : " I will put it in that form." 



The Speaker pro tempore : " The gentleman 

 from New York calls up at this time the motion 

 to reconsider the vote by which the joint reso- 

 lution which will be read was referred to the 

 Committee on the Judiciary." 



The Clerk read as follows : 



The Committee on the Judiciary respectfully re- 

 port that they have had under consideration House 

 resolution No. 1, and have amended the same by 

 adding thereto that the article should not vest, en- 

 large, or diminish legislative power in the Congress. 

 Thus amended the resolution was unanimously 

 adopted. While there may be a difference of opin- 

 ion as to the necessity of such a constitutional 

 amendment, all agree that the underlying principles 

 are right and in accordance with the spirit of the 

 age. 



The Speaker pro tempore : " The Clerk will 

 now report the joint resolution." 

 The Clerk read as follows: 



JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE 

 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 

 of the United States of America in Congress assembled 

 (two-thirds of each Jfovse concurring therein), Thut 

 the following be proposed to the several States of 

 the Union as an amendment to the Constitution, 

 namely : 



ARTICLE XVI. No State shall make any law re- 

 specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 

 the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by 

 taxation in any State for the suppoit of public 

 schools, or derived from any public fund therefor, 

 nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be 

 under the control of any religious sect ; nor shall 

 any money so raised or lands no devoted be divided 

 between religious sects or denominations. 



The Speaker pro tempore: "The amend- 

 ments proposed by the committee will now be 

 read." 



The Clerk read as follows: 



In line 12, after the word " sect," insert the words 

 " or denomination." 



At the end of the article add the following : " This 

 article shall not vest, enlarge, or diminish legisla- 

 tive power in the Congress." 



Mr. Lord : " I move the previous question." 



The previous question was seconded and the 



main question ordered ; and under the opera- 



