216 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (BANK CIRCULATION AND COINAGE.) 



tion) ought to be reserved for the benefit of actual and 

 lonajide settlers, and disposed of under the provisions 

 of the homestead laws only. 



Jtesolved. That the Committee on the Public Lands 

 ia hereby instructed to report to the House bills to 

 carry into effect the views expressed in the foregoing 

 resolutions ; that said committee shall be authorized 

 to report such bills at any time, subject only to rev- 

 enue and appropriation bills, and the same shall in 

 like order be entitled to consideration. 



In explanation of the resolutions Mr. Hoi- 

 man said: "Mr. Speaker, reading the report 

 of the Commissioner of the General Land- 

 Office, and of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 both unusually valuable reports, can leave no 

 gentleman uninformed of tbe fact that under 

 the present state of the laws large bodies of 

 public land are being secured by individual 

 capitalists; and not by American citizens only, 

 but by great capitalists of Europe. For that 

 purpose mainly the pre-emption law is em- 

 ployed, and Congress has been urged repeat- 

 edly, both by the Commissioner of the General 

 Land-Office and the Secretary of the Interior, 

 to repeal that law, upon the ground that, 

 through its instrumentality and the facilities 

 for fraud it furnished, countless frauds are be- 

 ing perpetrated, and capitalists are securing 

 enormous tracts of the public domain, to the 

 detriment of the country, and injury of actual 

 settlers. That law in former years, when cap- 

 ital was not seeking investments in public 

 lands, was a wholesome provision, but now it 

 is a shelter for fraud, and an agent of land 

 monopoly. 



" So, Mr. Speaker, without entering upon 

 any general discussion, in the few moments at 

 my disposal, of the public-land system of the 

 country, I need only refer to the administra- 

 tion of that single law to answer the question 

 I am asked. It is absolutely certain that under 

 your land system vast private estates are being 

 carved out of your public lands by capitalists, 

 many of whom are not even American citizens, 

 nor intending to become American citizens, 

 and that, too, against our unquestioned policy 

 for a hundred years, that our public-land laws 

 should be so framed, and so administered, as 

 to secure the largest ownership of public lands 

 by the men whose labor would make them 

 fruitful a policy which has been held to be 

 the only safe foundation for our American in- 

 stitutions by the wisest statesmen the republic 

 has produced. The safety of our institutions 

 rests on the ownership of the lands by the 

 people. Our free institutions can not survive 

 a monopoly of lands. So far as we permit 

 monopoly of the public lands we weaken the 

 foundations of the republic." 



The motion of Mr. Holman was agreed to as 

 follows : 



YEAS G. E. Adams, Aiken, Alexander, Anderson, 

 Arnot, Atkinson, Barfey, Balleptine, Bayne, Bclford, 

 Bennett, Blanchard, Bland, Blount, Boutelle, Bowen, 

 Boyle, Breckinridire, Breitung, F. B. Brewer, J. II, 

 Brewer, Broadhend, T. M. Browno. W. W. Brown 



nolly, Converse, Cook, Cosgrove, Covington, S. S. 

 Cox, W. R. Cox, Crisp, D. B. Culberson, W. W. Cul- 

 bertson. Cullen, Cutcheon, Dargan, G. R. Davis, L. 

 11. Davis, Deuster, Dibble, Dibrell, Dingley, Dock- 

 ery, Dorsheimer, Dowd, Dunham, Duncan, Dunn, 

 Eldredge, Elliott, Ellwood, Ermentrout. Everhart, 

 Terrell , Fiedler, Findlay, Finerty, Follett, Foran, 

 Forney, Fyan, Geddes, Gibson, Glascock, Goff, Green, 

 Greenleaf, Guenther, Halsell, Hanback, Hardeman, 

 Hardy, Hart. W. H. Hatch, Ilavnes, Hemphill, D. B. 

 Henderson, Henley, Hepburn, Herbert, A. S. Hewitt, 

 G. W. Hewitt, Hill, Hiscock, Hitt, Ilolman, Holmes' 

 Holton, Hooper, Hopkins, Houseman, Howey, Hunt, 

 Hurd, James, Jeffords, Johnson, B. W. Jones, J. H. 

 Jones, J. K. Jones, J. T. Jones, Kasson, Keil'er, 

 Kctcham, Kleiner, Lacey, Lamb, Lanham, Lawrence, 

 Le Fevre, Lewis, Long, Lore, Levering, Lowry, 

 Mackey, McAdoo, McCoid, MeComas, McCormick, 

 McKinley, McMiUin, Matson, Millard, J. F. Miller 

 S. H. Miller, Milliken, Mills, Mitchell, Morev, Mori 

 gan, Morrill, Morrison, Moulton, Murphy, Murray, 

 Mutchler, Neece, Nelson, Nutting, Gates, O'Hara, 

 Charles O'Neill, J. J. O'Neill, Parker, Patton, Pay- 

 son, Pierce, S. W. Peel, S. J. Peelle, Perkins, Peters, 

 Phelps, Post, Price, Pryor, Pusey, Randall, G. W. 

 Ray.Ossian Ray, Reagan, Reese, Riggs, Robertson, 

 W. E. Robinson, J. H. Rogers, W. F. Rogers, Rose- 

 crans, Rowell, Ryan, Scales, Seney, Seymour. Shaw, 

 Shelley, Singleton, C. R. Skinner, T. G. Skinner, 

 Slocum, Smith, Snyder, Spooner, Spriggs, Springer, 

 Steele, Stephenson, Stevens, Charles Stewart, Stock- 

 slager, Storm, Strait, Struble, C. A. Sumner, D. H. 

 Sumner, Talbott, E. B. Taylor, J. D. Taylor, J. M. 

 Taylor, Thomas, Throckmorton, Tillman, Towns- 

 hend, Tully, H. G. Turner, Oscar Turner, Valentine, 

 Van Alstyne, Vance, Wait, Wakefield, Ward, A. j! 

 Warner, Richard Warner, Washburn,Wellborn. Wel- 

 ler, Wemple, J. D. White, Milo White, Wilkins, 

 Williams, Willis, James Wilson, E. B. Winans, John 

 Winans, G. D. Wise, J. S. Wise, Wolford, Wood, 

 Woodward, Worthington, Yaple, York, Young 251. 



NAYS Barksdale, Bisbee, George, Horr, Kea~n. Lib- 

 bey, Lyman, Morse, Muldrow, Poland, Ranney, Reed, 

 Rice, Russell, Stone, Van Eaton, Whiting 17. 



NOT VOTING J. J. Adams, Barbour, Barr, Beach, 

 Belmont, Bingham, Blackburn, Brainerd, Brumm, 

 Buckner, Burleigh, Burnes, Chace, Curtin, Davidson, 

 R. T. Davis, Eaton, Ellis, I. N. Evans, J. H. Evins, 

 Graves, Hammond, Hancock, Harmer, H. H. Hatch, 

 T. J. Henderson, Hoblitzell, Houk, Hutchins, Jordan, 

 Kelley, Kellogg, King, Laird, May bury, Mayo, Money, 

 Muller, Nicholls, Ocbiltree, Paige, Payne, Petti bone, 

 Potter, Rankin, J. S. Robinson, J. W. Stewart, 

 Thompson, Tucker, Wadsworth, Weaver, W. L. Wil- 

 son 52. 



Bank Circulation and Coinage. What is com- 

 monly known as the McPherson bill passed 

 the Senate, Feb. 23, 1884, after a protracted 

 debate. In beginning the discussion of the 

 measure, Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said in ex- 

 planation of its purposes: 



"The national-bank note is the best form of 

 paper money, because its payment is absolutely 

 secure. No misfortune can break it. The bank 

 may fail, and yet the note is good and passes 

 current, because the bonds of the United States 

 deposited are immediately available to redeem 

 every dollar in circulation. This security of the 

 noteholder is the foundation of the whole sys- 

 tem. No other security can possibly take the 

 place of Government bonds. This has been 

 tried in the United States over and over with 

 disastrous results. Coin reserves in the vaults 

 of banks disappear at the first sign of a panic. 

 Even reserves placed under a board of control 

 of a system of State banks have proved insuf- 



