158 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



a very low rate of interest Relieve our op- 

 pressed citizens from the heavy burden of war 

 taxes in time of peace, and leave the working 

 capital to fructify in the industries of the peo- 

 ple. To this end I favor a 10-40 bond bearing 

 interest at the rate of 3 per cent per annum." 



Mr. Williams, of Kentucky : " Mr. President, 

 if we are to fund this debt at all, I am in favor 

 of funding it at the lowest possible rate and at 

 the shortest possible time. If I had my way, 

 I would do exactly for the nation what I would 

 do for myself. 1 would give my note payable 

 on or before a given day, and before that day 

 arrived pay as much of it as I possibly could. 

 That relates to the time. As to the rate of 

 interest, I am perfectly satisfied that the whole 

 of this debt can be easily floated and kept up 

 at 3 per cent if we were to reverse the option 

 to pay at twelve months from date. The na- 

 tional banks could absorb the whole of this 

 entire amount; and if you were to put it at 2 

 per cent, or 1 per cent instead of 3 per cent, 

 they would take the whole of it. 



" Now give them 3J per cent, and what does 

 it amount to ? It gives to the banks 30 per 

 cent on their capital invested. There is no 

 analogy between the consols of Great Britain 

 and the bonds of the United States. Those 

 consols are taxed to support the Government ; 

 the bonds of the United States are not taxed, 

 neither the bonds themselves nor the interest, 

 nor the income accruing from them. Then in 

 this country these bonds are the basis of the 

 circulating medium. A banker takes $100,000 

 of bonds to the Treasury when he wants to 

 extend the capital of his bank, and they give 

 him $90,000 of circulating money just as good 

 as he paid for the bonds themselves. He then 

 is out but $10,000, and at 3 per cent it brings 

 him 30 per cent per annum. Does any man 

 doubt that the banks will take all these bonds? 

 They need them all ; they must take them all. 

 They must take them at 1 per cent as well as 

 at 3. Why should you pay 3 per cent? It 

 is a bonus to the banks; it is a bounty to the 

 capital of rhe country. Gentlemen may talk 

 about subsidies and bounties, but here is a sub- 

 sidy or a bounty that we are proposing to the 

 moneyed interests of the country. Why, sir, 

 there is in the city of New York alone capital 

 enough to absorb this $650,000,000. There is a 

 demand around the bourse in New York for 

 cash every day absolutely sufficient to absorb 

 the whole of this $650,000,000 if the banks do 

 not take a dollar of it. Does any man doubt 

 that ? Why, look at the clearances every week 

 in New York at the clearing-houses ; in a sin- 

 pie week they amount to more than the whole 

 of the bonds that we propose to put on the 

 market. Can they have any better security 

 for the short loans that they need for their 

 speculations, for use at the exchanges, for the 

 purchase and sale of stocks, than these bonds? 

 And can you doubt that they will be readily 

 taken in a .week ? My word for it, they will all 

 be taken in a single week. There will not be 



a bond on the market one week after we pass 

 the law and arrangements are made to issue 

 them. 



U I arn opposed to the whole scheme of ex- 

 tending this debt of the country. I think what 

 is good policy for the father of a family is good 

 policy for the nation. If I believed I was about 

 to die, the first thing I would do would be to 

 leave my estate so that my children could get 

 it; 1 would want to leave it clear to my chil- 

 dren, without a debt upon it, without a mort- 

 gage upon it ; and as a Senator of the United 

 States legislating for my posterity and your 

 posterity and future generations, I would be 

 glad to do as much of the work as possible to 

 pay off the whole of the debt while I live, and 

 I hope to see it paid, and I believe I shall see 

 it paid before I die. We shall have a surplus 

 in the Treasury of more than $110,000,000 

 next year; we shall have more than that the 

 year after, and in ten years from to-day, if the 

 same economical policy is pursued that is now 

 being pursued, we shall have a surplus revenue 

 to apply upon the debt of more than $200,000,- 



000 a year. 



" Therefore, sir, I am opposed to this amend- 

 ment adding one half per cent to the rate of 

 interest fixed in the House bill. Suppose we 

 do not negotiate this bond, what harm will 

 be done ? Suppose the banks refuse but they 

 will not refuse we can just issue Treasury 

 notes and pay off the whole and take their cir- 

 culation, cancel their bonds, and save the 

 country $400,000,000. That is what we can 

 do. Give to these bonds and give to these 

 Treasury certificates that you issue the power 

 of paying duties at the custom-house, and they 

 will be at par with gold to-morrow. Your 

 greenbacks would have been at par years ago 

 if you had made them receivable at the cus- 

 tom-house for public dues. Who doubts that ? 

 What Senator on this floor doubts that ? 



" I did not rise to make a speech, but just to 

 enter my solemn protest against the impend- 

 ing amendment. I will vote against this in- 

 crease of the interest. I will vote for the bill 

 as it came from the House. I may have some- 

 thing to say upon another amendment as to the 

 fifth section, but I care not to say more on this 

 now. I am for the shortest time and the low- 

 est possible rate of interest suggested, because 



1 am perfectly satisfied, not only from my own 

 opinion and judgment, but from that of the 

 ablest bankers in the United States, that these 

 bonds will be greatly sought after and canght 

 up in less than a fortnight after we shall have 

 passed this bill." 



Mr. Voorhees, of Indiana: "Mr. President, 

 it was not my purpose until a few hours ago to 

 take part in this debate. It has been, and still 

 is, my intention to assist in making as good a 

 funding bill as possible, with as much benefit 

 and as little evil to the people in it as can be 

 procured in such a measure. Whether I shall 

 finally vote for it or not will depend upon its 

 condition when a vote is reached upon its pas- 



