822 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. G. F. EDMUNDS. I hope tho Chair on all such occasions will put 

 tho question, for I do not wish to stand unanimous sponsor for 

 anything from this time to the end of the session. 



The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the motion to 

 proceed to the consideration of the bill named by the Senator from 

 Vermont [Mr. Merrill]. 



The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Committee of the 

 Whole, proceeded to consider the bill. 



Mr. VOORHEES. Mr. President, I am oppose.d to legislating a contract 

 into any one man's hands on a subject where competition ought to take 

 place. I do not know how often it has been done heretofore, but in every 

 instance where it has been done it is wrong. A work of this kind 

 ought to be open to competition. Every artist ought to be allowed to 

 compete for a work of this character. [A pause.] The Senator from 

 Vermont very justly reminds me that Mr. Story is an eminent artist. 

 I know that. There are other eminent artists in the country, and all 

 of them think they are. Every one of them desires to put his skill on 

 exhibition, and it is his right to do so. I think that the bill ought to be 

 amended by making this work subject to competition rather than a 

 direct contract with Mr. Story. 



Mr. MORRILL. I hope my friend from Indiana will not move any 

 amendment. Mr. Story is the son of the late Chief Justice Story, and 

 is one of the most eminent artists of this country or any other, and has 

 never received an order from the Government. He is eminent in 

 very many other respects than as a sculptor. T trust there will be no 

 amendment offered. 



The PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is too much conversation in the 

 Chamber [rapping with his gavel]. 



Mr. MORRILL. I merely was appealing to my friend, the Senator 

 from Indiana, not to offer any amendment to this bill. It is no more 

 than justice to the very eminent men, the living as well as the dead, 

 to both the person to whom we propose to erect the monument and 

 the artist whom it is proposed to employ, and the sum offered is a 

 very small one indeed. 



Mr. VOORHEES. It is difficult for me to withstand an appeal or 

 request preferred by the Senator from Vermont, but I am satisfied 

 that tho bill ought to be amended so as to allow competition. 



Mr. MORRILL. I hope not. 



The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Indiana move 

 an amendment? 



Mr. VOORHEES. I have not done so. 



The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment and passed. 



The title was amended so as to read: "A bill for the erection of a 

 bronze statue of Joseph Henry, late Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution." 



