CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



151 



as the representative and mouth-piece of all 

 Southern representatives on the floor, when he 

 assumes to rise in his place and claims to speak 

 for all Southern men here and all through the 

 South, and says that they do not now press, and 

 they never have pressed, war claims properly 

 so called that they have not doue so in every 

 possible combination of language and words, 

 by bills and memorials and petitions, that the 

 human mind can conceive the gentleman must 

 allow me to question whether he does repre- 

 sent the people of the South, whether he does 

 represent other representatives of the South on 

 this floor, whether he does represent the mill- 

 ions of people of the South interested in the 

 passage of war claims. 



"I say that the time has come, if these 

 statements are correct, and if the gentleman 

 does speak for the whole South, that the 

 wagons and the carts and the wheel-barrows 

 should be brought here, and this accumula- 

 tion of petitions, memorials, bills, and affi- 

 davits, and proofs that now fill the pigeon- 

 holes in the room of the Committee on War 

 Claims should be taken away. Yes, sir, I 

 would like to see the procession formed. I 

 would like to see the representatives of the 

 South who have presented petitions and me- 

 morials and bills favoring the passage of war 

 claims and the payment of war losses take their 

 bundles of papers and march with them away 

 from that committee-room and away from the 

 Capitol. And who would be left out of that 

 grand and solemn procession ? I can myself 

 imagine the whole Democratic side of this 

 House in marching order, carrying back to 

 their constituents the petitions and the memo- 

 rials and the bills and the proofs, marching off 

 to Long Bridge to the music of ' Carry me 

 back to old Virginia, to old Virginia shore.' " 

 [Great laughter.] 



Mr. Goode : " I move to lay the whole sub- 

 ject upon the table. I think that ought to bo 

 satisfactory." 



The Speaker: " The question will be taken 

 on the motion to lay on the table." 



The motion was agreed to. 



In the Senate, on February 15th, the House 

 bill to facilitate the refunding of the national 

 debt was considered : 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware: "Mr. President, 

 in little more than sixty days from this date a 

 loan of the United States, bearing 5 per cent 

 interest, and amounting to $469,651,050, will, at 

 the option of the Government, become payable. 

 On the 30th day of Juno next two other loans, 

 each bearing 6 per cent, the first for $145,786,- 

 500, and the other $57,787,250, will also ma- 

 ture at the option of the Government. These 

 facts are stated in the last report of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, and will be found on page 

 10 of his report of last December. He has in- 

 formed us that the surplus revenue accruing 

 prior to the 1st of July, 1881, will amount to 

 about fifty million dollars, and can and will be 



applied in part to the extinguishment of that 

 debt. Bonds maturing on the 31st of Decem- 

 ber last were paid out of the accruing revenues. 

 So that there will remain the sum of $637,- 

 350,600, to be provided for and funded at the 

 option of the Government at such rate of in- 

 terest as may be deemed advisable by Congress 

 and can practicably be obtained. 



"The sums that we are dealing with are 

 enormous, affecting the welfare of every branch 

 of our country's industry and of our entire 

 people. The opportunity for reducing the rate 

 of interest upon this enormous sum, and not 

 only that, but of placing the national debt 

 more under the control of the Government in 

 regard to future payments, is now before us. 

 The opportunity for doing this upon favorable 

 terms should not be lost, and the only question 

 before us as legislators is how we can best and 

 most practically take advantage of the hour. 



" Two propositions have been made, one by 

 the House of Representatives and one from 

 the executive branch of the Government. The 

 Secretary of the Treasury, at page 12 of his 

 report, has recommended the refunding of 

 $400,000,000 of the national debt at a rate not 

 exceeding 3 '65 per cent. 



" It is also recommended that authority be given to 

 sell at par an amount not exceeding $400,000,000 of 

 bonds or the character and description of the 4 per 

 cent bonds of the United States now outstanding, out 

 bearing a rate of interest not exceeding 3'65 per cent 

 per annum, and redeemable at the pleasure of the 

 United States after fifteen years, the proceeds to bo 

 applied to the payment of bonds redeemable on or 

 before July 1, 1881. 



" The House of Representatives has proposed 

 that we should fix the rate of interest at 3 per 

 cent, and make the bonds payable in ten years, 

 with the option to the. Government to redeem 

 them in five years. Upon careful deliberation, 

 and considering all the arguments from every 

 respectable source that we could obtain, the 

 committee of the Senate have modified both 

 the proposition of the Secretary and the propo- 

 sition of the House. We have reported to the 

 Senate the issue of the $400,000,000 of bonds 

 recommended by the Secretary and the House, 

 but we have fixed the interest at 3^ per cent, 

 being a shade lower than that proposed by the 

 Secretary and a slight increase upon the rate 

 proposed by the House, and wo have fixed the 

 time of payment at twenty years instead of 

 ten, with the option of paying the debt at the 

 end of five years. The term five-twenties 

 would therefore continue to be applicable to 

 this form of the national debt, and one as to 

 which having had experience of a most favor- 

 able character, and to which the people of the 

 country have become accustomed, it was 

 thought that feature alone gave it weight and 

 increased the probability of its success. 



" There are various reasons for this. Opin- 

 ions have differed, and always will differ, as to 

 this matter. Intelligent and patriotic men be- 

 lieve that it is practicable to fund the whole of 

 this debt at the rate of 3 per cent. Others 



