make their estimates of what should be the annual expenditures of the Government, and those estimates, we are informed, are sufficient to carry on the Government for the fiscal year, and hitherto, with the exception perhaps of two hundred and fifty or three hundred thousand dollars, the estimates of the Secretaries have been sufficient. What I complain of in the gentleman from Iowa, and those who are associated with him on the Committee of Ways and Means, is that they do not in preparing the annual appropriation bills search the question and look into the expenditures of the Government, and, if they are not satisfied with the estimates of the Secretaries, allow enough in the annual bills to maintain the Government throughout the fiscal year without presenting to us here at the end, or the middle, or the beginning of the session of Congress, a deficiency bill, as was the case last year, of one hundred and three or one hundred and four million dollars, and here a deficiency of $93,000,000.

A new custom has been introduced; we have two appropriation bills now instead of one. Hitherto the custom has been to have but one. Either the estimates of the Secretary of War and the other Secretaries are all wrong and erroneous or those of the Committee of Ways and Means are, so that the Secretary of the Treasury cannot know what are to be the expenditures of the Government when he looks at these estimates.

ation by law. Neither the President of the United States, the humblest officer within the walls of the Capitol, nor any officer anywhere, however high or low may be his position, has a right, under our theory of Government, to expend a single cent of public money without due appropriation by law. And yet here, in this deficiency bill, all through it, are miscellaneous items unknowing and unknown-appropriations for fuel, labor, light, the extension of the Treasury building, incidental expenses, compensation to clerks, building bridges, stationery, and blank-books-innumerable items. If they have been already expended, it has been without any appropriation by law, and if not already expended, they have no right whatever to be in a deficiency bill, but ought to be in the regular appropriation bill.

Mr. Chairman, I know that I am wasting and consuming the time of the House in trying to arrest these wheels of expenditure, and in calling the attention of the committee to these items. feel, I know, that I am unnecessarily consuming time; and I only do it in the faint hope that I may awaken on the part of the majority a disposition to analyze all the expenditures of the Government. As a mere member of the Opposition, if I desired to throw that party out of power I would rejoice at appropriations such as are presented, and which must in the end lead, if not better guarded, to the bankruptcy of the Treasury. But as I wish to maintain the honor and credit of the Government, and as I am only for economy in the expenditure, I feel it to be my duty to my country, even if I do waste time in it, to try and awaken a spirit in the other side of the House that will prompt the dominant party to exercise that authority and supervision over appropriation bills which has always hitherto been given them by members of the party in power.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. Chairman, I do not very well understand how a gentleman on this floor can justify himself in occupying the time of the House, and wasting the money of the country, when he tells us on rising and on sitting down that he knows he is doing a vain thing, and that he is just expending time for nothing. If I thought that, sir, I would hold my tongue; unless, indeed, the eloquence of the gentleman from New York, which has been so highly eulogized, and properly, all over the western country, be a sufficient excuse for him in making a dissertation without any specific object, and which he knows can have no effect.

The modus operandi in the Treasury I take to be this indeed, I know it is: the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy place before the Secretary of the Treasury, in November or December, their estimates of what will be required for their Departments. The Secretary of the Treasury receives these estimates and submits them to Congress as the expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year. The predecessor of the honorable gentleman who is now Secretary of the Treasury complained, and justly complained, that he knew nothing of what were to be the expenditures of the War Department; that the estimates came in sometimes in the regular form, but oftener in an irregular form; that they came not through him, but often through the Committee of Ways and Means, so that he was obliged to carry on the Government and ask for loans and issue paper money to carry on the Government, while the Secretary of War was all the time deceiving him; I mean it in no offensive sense, but deceiving him as to the expenditures necessary to be made. Under this mode of doing business, the Secretary of the Treasury can know nothing of what is called for. The Secretary of War last year asked for an appropriation of $108,000,000 for deficiencies, which was appropriated; and when these appropriations came in through the deficiency bill, Mr. Chase promptly and justly complained that the Secretary of War had upset his whole system for ad-objection to the action of the Committee of Ways ministering the fiscal Department of this Government. Therefore I say that until the Secretaries make their proper estimates, and until the Committee of Ways and Means give those estimates proper and sufficient attention, it is impossible to carry on the fiscal administration of this Government without the appearance and reappearance in Wall street of the Government demanding loans, or without a call on the Treasury to flood the country with more and more irredeemable paper money.

Now, Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from New York has not moved to strike out a single item, and has not discussed a single item. But he has read a very wholesome lesson to all the members on this side of the House but one (I do not know who that is) because they do not sufficiently object to items in these bills, and he has particular

and Means for not scrutinizing them. Will the gentleman tell us what the Committee of Ways and Means have overlooked? Will he tell us in what that committee have been derelict in their duty in reporting these bills? I understand the gentleman to say that the Departments are at fault because they did not make their annual estimates large enough.

Mr. BROOKS. If the gentleman puts to me a question for the purpose of being answered, I will answer him. In this bill I find the follow

Mr. Chairman, there are other items in this billing item, beginning at the sixteenth line: which illustrate, in insignificant detail-so insignificant that I am almost ashamed to mention them-the remarks which I have made or am about to make. There are items for office furniture, for carpeting, for miscellaneous items in the office of the Third Auditor, for the hire of carts, for the police of the Capitol, and for a thousand other little things, which ought not to be in a deficiency bill unless they have been already expended, and which, if expended, ought not to have been expended but by due sanction of law. The Secretary of the Treasury has no right to have a single carpet laid down in his building without due authority of law. This is a Government, or is intended to be a Government, of law; and all the power which this House has left, all that it is likely to have left it, (and that not long, unless it puts its foot down here,) is the holding | of the public purse through these appropriation bills. The House should insist that there shall be no expenditures whatsoever without appropri

For contingent expenses under the act of August 6, 1846, for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue, provided that no part of said sum shall be expended for clerical services, $50,000.

Now, I think that if the Committee of Ways and Means had given the subject due attention, they could have saved that item of $50,000, and made the national banks, which are receiving large favors from the Government,provide for all these expenditures in connection with the transfer and disbursement of the public revenue. That is what I mean.

Mr. STEVENS. Then the gentleman means that which means nothing; for the Committee of Ways and Means could not pass a law upon that subject. There is an existing law of Congress providing that these expenses shall be met in a certain way; and all that the Committee of Ways and Means had to do was to report an appropriation in accordance with the provision of the law. It was not the province of the Committee of

Ways and Means to inquire whether that law was wise or unwise.

Mr. BROOKS. I know that I do not interrupt the gentleman, and therefore I will suggest to him that the committee might simply have added a proviso somewhat in this form:"Provided, That no further sum be appropriated from the Treasury, but that all such collection and safe-keeping, transfer, disbursement, &c., be through the national banks."

Mr. STEVENS. If we had embraced in the bill such a provision, my friend on my right, [Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois,] or the gentleman across the way, [Mr. HOLMAN,] would have told us that it was not within our province to report such a provision, for it would alter an existing law. Almost any member would raise that objection. The gentleman, therefore, would have us do what almost every member at all acquainted with the rules of this House knows to be out of order, and knows that we could not do. Now, sir, before a teacher undertakes to instruct his pupils, he had better learn his own lesson; he had better know how to work out the problem before he undertakes to teach its solution to others. The Committee of Ways and Means, therefore, could not have done, in reference to these two items, what the gentle. man censures us for not doing. It was not within our power to do so if we had desired to do it.

But, sir, it is said that the Departments were. derelict in not making their annual estimates large enough. Mr. Chairman, if they had over-estimated, it would have very well become the Committee of Ways and Means, had they known the fact, to cut down the amounts; but who ever heard of the Committee of Ways and Means being called upon to enlarge the estimates of appropriations? Are we to be censured because last year, when the estimates were sent in to us, we did not say to the Departments, "These estimates ought to be doubled?" that we did not say to the War Department, "You ought to make your estimates $92,000,000 more?" (for that is the deficiency in that Department;) that we did not say to the printing department, "You ought to have embraced in your estimates two or three hundred thousand dollars more?" How would that have become the Committee of Ways and Means? And if we had assumed to propose appropriations in excess of the departmental estimates, how long would the gentleman from New York have kept his seat before he would have lectured the Committee of Ways and Means for exceeding in extravagance even the extravagant Departments that had submitted those estimates? Sir, it seems to me that the gentleman's lecture is absurd. In saying this I do not mean any offense; but I think that it is absurd for him to say to us, "You ought last year to have made the appropriations greater," or to say to the Departments that they ought to have made their estimates larger.

Now, sir, it is always better that there should be a deficiency bill than that there should be a large surplus to be expended by the Departments. We meet here now within five months after the termination of the previous session. It was well known that when Congress should meet not half the time for which these appropriations were made would have expired, and that if they should prove insufficient there would be ample time to supply the deficiency by a deficiency bill.

Now, sir, there are always deficiency bills. You can hardly refer to any period in the history of our Government when there were not deficiency bills. It is always better that there should be a necessity for a deficiency bill than that there should be voted upon general estimates a large surplus to be placed at the disposal of the different disbursing officers.

Now, sir, in regard to what is said about these large items. There is a large deficiency in the War Department, I think of $92,000,000. When the different heads of bureaus furnished the estimates for the last annual estimate the Secretary of War cut them down $400,000,000, and reported the balance. We made appropriations for $400,000,000 less than the heads of bureaus reported to be necessary. It turns out that the Secretary of War, without injury to anybody, for there was time to make the appropriation, reported $92,000,000 too little, and when you have made that appropriation in this bill you will fail more than three hundred million dollars under the esti mates made by the heads of the different bureaus

of the War Department for the last year. What is there here that is wrong? If there be error anywhere it was in the heads of bureaus making their estimates too high. It was wise to cut them down. If they are too low we can remedy that difficulty. How can the Secretary of War tell how much is necessary when he does not know how many troops will be called into the field, when he does not know how many guns will be lost, when he does not know how many head of cattle will be captured, when he does not know these and many other things? To say that he could foresee them is to indue him with omniscience. No one could do it.

Now as to the deficiency in printing, which is the next large deficiency. Since last year the price of labor has increased less in that department than in any other. I believe the increase has been only twelve and a half per cent. But the price of paper has increased sixty-six per

cent.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I would like to have the gentleman from Pennsylvania explain to me his theory in reference to the increase in the price of paper. I understand that we have imposed a duty upon paper so high that none can be imported, and that paper manufacturers have combined to put the price of paper up to this enormous extent, to a price utterly ruinous to the newspaper interest, and which must eventually destroy the local papers in the country unless Congress shall by a joint resolution repeal that duty.

Mr. STEVENS. I agree with the gentleman from Illinois that a great deal of fault lies with what I suppose-I do not know the fact-to be a combination among the paper makers. The duty was laid upon paper in hopes of getting some revenue from it. It seems that instead of stimulating that branch of industry, as has been the case with other branches, the reverse has been the case.

Mr. KELLEY. I beg leave to say to my colleague that in a great degree it has stimulated that branch of manufacture, and that at this time works are operating and producing paper for newspapers from wood by a process not known two years ago, There is being erected at this time, to my knowledge, one of the most extensive establishments in the country to produce paper from pulp obtained from wood, and now producing many tons a day from imperfect works.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. I should like to inquire of my friend from Illinois [Mr. WASHBURNE] what evidence he has of a combination on the part of paper manufacturers to advance the price of paper. I think, unless he is prepared with facts and statistics, he has no right to present so serious a charge against any branch of industry. I have heard intimations, here and elsewhere, that such was the case, but I have not yet heard any substantial facts which give evidence of any such combination on the part of paper manufacturers.

Mr. Chairman, I do not know how this subject has arisen at the present time, as I was called out of the House; but I am prepared to say that to my belief there is no branch of American industry, employing the same amount of capital and labor, that is so unremunerative as the manufacture of paper. A large number of paper mills have been broken down during the past four or five years. If gentlemen would turn their attention to furnishing the manufacturers of paper with the raw material at a less price than they can now obtain it all this difficulty about the price of printing paper would disappear. The fact is that paper manufacturers are not deriving great profits from the manufacture of paper. On the contrary, a large portion of the power employed in making paper in this country has broken down. I could point this House to establishment after establishment that has been broken down because the business has been unremunerative during the last year.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I would inquire if they have not been broken down by these combinations.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. No, sir. I have no idea the gentleman from Illinois would willingly make any misstatement whatever upon this subject. I have no desire to keep up the price of paper, but I have a desire that this House shall not, by any hasty or unfair legislation, strike a

blow at a struggling branch of American industry by destroying the means of producing this article, and by making the burden upon the men employed in making newspaper paper greater than it is now. What will the newspaper interest of this country depend upon if the mills are all broken up? Will they depend upon supplies of paper brought across the Atlantic ocean; and are the members of the American Congress prepared in this time of war to strike down a branch of American industry, and to send this money which is now distributed among our own fellow-citizens across the waters to support the laborers of a foreign and perhaps unfriendly Power?

The whole theory upon this subject is fallacious. It is all wrong. What we want is a greater amount of raw material. No gentleman can say that the employés of these factories receive an unreasonable recompense for their labor without the proprietors of those establishments receive an improper or more than remunerative return. This subject has attracted public attention a great deal within the last few years. Let me illustrate for a moment some of the difficulties which lie in the way of a complete supply of paper. Before the commencement of this war, when cotton was obtainable at a low price, we had a large number of cotton mills running, and they produced a large amount of cotton-waste, and that was the material used for making paper, and, next to rags, was the very best material that could be obtained.

In addition to the raw material, we were deriving from the various States of the Union a large quantity of domestic cotton and linen rags; but the same cause which has wiped out altogether the waste from cotton factories, so that there is no raw material from that source for paper, has also led the people of the country to practice unusual economy in the use of their cotton clothing, and they mend up and make it last as long as possible, so that a very large portion of the supply of domestic rags has also been taken away from the paper manufacturers.

We are then producing less raw material than we were before the war. We have a large number of men, formerly clothed more or less in cotton, who are now clothed entirely in wool, and they make no rags for the paper maker's use.

We are now dependent largely upon foreign markets for rags, and since the stringency came upon the American manufacturer for his raw material, every device has been resorted to to supply the deficiency. The result is that great progress has been made in working straw and wood, and I think there is now every prospect that within a very short time-within a few years, and probably within a few months-there will be a very considerable accession to the raw material for paper making from straw and from wood. But if Congress is going to so legislate as to destroy this branch of American industry, there will be no American capitalists, no American manufacturers, who will risk their capital and direct their enterprise to this unpromising, and indeed ruinous, branch of business.

I hope there will be no modification whatever of the tariff on paper; and if there shall be any reduction of the tariff on imported paper, I hope Congress will at least make a corresponding reduction in the internal duty imposed upon that article. I believe that the true way to a reduction of the price of paper, and an abundant supply, is for Congress to turn its attention to the develop ment of this branch of manufacture at home, and particularly in the western country, where the raw material is so much more abundant than it is at the East. I have no interests in this question which are subserved by a high duty on foreign paper, and I am entirely willing to give whatever influence I have in the direction of securing to the consumers of paper an abundant and cheap supply. And the way to do that is to protect the interests of our own manufacturers at home.

an extent that it was impossible for the country to live under it, in consequence of the imposition of the present tariff, which is prohibitory. That leaves it to the domestic manufacturers, and I have understood from the best authorities that there is a combination of paper makers who have controlled this whole matter and who have brought up the price of paper from twelve and fifteen cents a pound to twenty-five and twenty-six cents per pound. That there has been such an advance in price I presume the gentleman will not deny.

Mr. DAWES. I would like to ask my friend a question if he will permit me.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. Certainly. Mr. DAWES. If he will answer my question satisfactorily with his own theory, perhaps we shall get some light on this subject. If he knows anything about the manufacturing of paper he knows this, that it takes two pounds of rags to make one pound of paper. He knows also.that the paper manufacturer is dependent upon the foreign article, and he knows also that such is the price of exchange that it now costs more than twice as much to obtain a pound of the foreign article that it did before the war. How can it possibly be, then, that two pounds of rags, costing twice as much as they did before the war, can be made into paper now and the paper cost less than twice as much as it did before the war? You must also put into the computation the fact that there is a large amount of chemicals entering into the manufacture of paper that are bought abroad at the same double price, and more too, from the necessity growing out of the cost of exchange.

The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. KELLEY] hit this matter precisely. The discovery of new materials here at home from which the manufacture of paper is being successfully carried on is a means whereby the price of paper will be brought down here at home; but never can it be manufactured at a less rate than double what it could be manufactured for before the war so long as you have to give two dollars for one for all the rags you bring into this country, and so long as the circumstances alluded to by my colleague [Mr. RICE] are such that we are dependent on foreign rags for this manufacture. It cannot be otherwise, unless my friend has genius enough to explain how it can be done.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair takes occasion to state two things: first, that the interruptions of the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. WASHBURNE] and other gentlemen are coming out of the hour of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. STEVENS;] and further, the Chair will be compelled, if it assumes a much wider range, to arrest the whole of this debate upon the ground that in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union all debate on a special order must be confined strictly to the measure under consideration. This being an appropriation for the purchase of stationery, it is scarcely competent to go into the question of the duty on paper.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. No question of order of that kind has been raised.

The CHAIRMAN. No, but the Chair will feel compelled to raise that point of order from the chair if the debate takes a much wider range. The gentleman from Illinois will proceed.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I will try to keep within the rules.

In regard to the point made by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. DAWES,] in relation to the enhanced price of the material from which paper is manufactured, let me say this in reply: before the war, the price of paper was eight and nine cents a pound, and the enhanced price of the material would have brought it up, say to fifteen or sixteen cents a pound; but not being satisfied with that, these paper monopolists and manufacturers have run it up to twenty-five and twentyseven cents per pound.

The gentleman from the Boston district [Mr. RICE] spoke of the hardship and injury suffered

make money at the present prices. Let me tell him some facts which I know of my own knowledge. There is a paper-mill in the State of Illinois, half of which was proposed to be sold six months ago for $15,000, and the party now asks $75,000, and says that at that price it will pay an interest of forty per cent.

This question does not come before us here because this is an appropriation which we are bound

to make for this deficiency arising from the enhanced price of paper. understand from the Superintendent of Public Printing-and if I am wrong the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means will correct me-that he made his estimate at eighteen cents per pound, but instead of paying eighteen cents per pound he is obliged by these enhanced prices to pay from thirty-one to thirty-seven cents per pound. But we have got to meet this question.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. I would like to ask my friend from Illinois whether the law does not require that the Superintendent of Public Printing shall advertise for proposals for paper, and whether his contracts are not based upon the returns made to that advertisement; and if so, and if he entered into contracts for paper at eighteen cents a pound, I would like to know where is his authority for paying thirty cents a pound?

Mr. STEVENS. The gentleman does not understand me as saying that the Superintendent entered into contracts at that rate. I said he made his estimates at that rate.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. He made the estimates on which I suppose he would have to base his contracts.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. I should suppose that the Superintendent of Public Printing, whose business it is to be acquainted with the price of paper, would come nearer to the mark than estimating paper at eighteen cents and paying for it over thirty cents.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. That has nothing to do with the great fact that the Superintendent of Public Printing, who has full knowledge of the matter, instead of buying paper at eighteen cents a pound, which he estimated as a fair price, states to the Committee of Ways and Means that he is obliged to pay from thirty-one to thirty-seven cents a pound. That has nothing to do with the law in regard to the contract system. We have got to meet this question, not here in this deficiency bill, but when it shall come before the House. Then it will be for Representatives to say whether the country shall have to submit to the present high price of paper by continuing the high prohibitory duty, thus imposing a tax upon education, a tax upon knowledge, a tax upon newspapers, a tax which will, in fact, destroy all our local newspapers if it be continued.

Mr. MORRILL. May I be allowed to ask the gentleman from Illinois, as he has spoken of the high tariff on paper, what that tariff is?

Mr. BALDWIN, of Massachusetts. It is prohibitory.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. It is high enough to prevent the importation of paper. I think it is twenty per cent., payable, as a matter of course, in gold.

Mr. COX. I think I can answer that question. Mr. MORRILL. I did not ask the gentleman from Ohio. [Laughter.]

Mr. STEVENS. I am very sorry to have to cut off this debate.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman

The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania yield to the gentleman from Ohio? Mr. STEVENS. If my time on this floor were not very short, Mr. Chairman, I might; but, as it is, I must be excused. I am very glad that this debate has sprung up, because it has given us information which may be of use hereafter. Now, however, we are dealing only with this bill; and the actual price of paper is what we have to consider, not as to how we shall reduce the price hereafter, as I hope we shall do. At present, however, its increased price has caused this deficiency, and makes an appropriation necessary. That is why it is in this bill.

There is another item of some ninety millions for the ordnance department. That arises from the fact that it is impossible to tell in advance what forts may be finished and will need armament. As works have been finished ordnance has been supplied, and that has caused the deficiency now asked for. As we have discussed the whole bill without any particular objection to any part of it, I hope we will go on and pass it.

Mr. MORRILL. Mr. Chairman, as the subject has come up for discussion, I desire to say, upon the paper question, that it is not entirely in consequence of the increased price of paper that this large deficiency has occurred. A very considerable part of the blame is to be put upon this

House. Whenever the question of printing arises we find the gentlemen on the other side as well as on this side of the Chamber ready to make the largest appropriations asked for. At the last session I endeavored on two or three occasions to arrest this, but without avail. One proposition came in to print two hundred and fifty thousand extra copies of the report on agriculture, which required the work to be reprinted; and although the usual number of extra copies had been already distributed that proposition passed the House.

Mr. BALDWIN, of Massachusetts. I wish to say that the printing ordered by the House is but a small item of the expense. The great mass of public printing is done for the Departments.

The Chair overrules the point of order, as made under the provisions of the 120th rule, for this reason: the House of Representatives is a portion of one of the departments of the Government. The pay of its officers, clerks, and other employés, is a contingency attending the carrying on of that department of the Government. A question whether, in order to carry on the department, greater remuneration is necessary in order to secure the continued service of these employés or to properly compensate them, is a question which relates to the carrying on of that department. The last clause of the 120th rule is in these

terms:

"Unless in continuation of appropriations for such public works and objects as are already in progress, and for the contingencies for carrying on the several departments of the Government."

tleman to order.

Mr. MORRILL. I withdraw the remark. Mr. STEVENS. The gentleman, coming from a little stony hill in Vermont, which cannot be plowed, and which is not capable of agricultural development, is always attacking this agricultural report. [Laughter.]

Mr. MORRILL. Mr. Chairman, I am willing to concede that the work itself is perhaps one which we ought to publish, and of which we ought to publish a liberal number.

Then there was another proposition, and that was to print ten thousand extra copies of the volume from the Secretary of State. That passed. Subsequently there was another proposition-to print the Dictionary of Congress; and every gentleman who wished to see his name in print of course supported that, although the work had no more to do with our legislative business than Worcester's or Webster's Dictionary.

Mr. WILSON. I would like to ask the gentleman whether he voted for that proposition. Mr. MORRILL. I did not.

Mr. WILSON. Well, very many others did. Mr. MORRILL. But, Mr. Chairman, there are evils in the establishment of this office. It enables all the Departments of the Government to go there whenever they are hungry. Whenever they want a little job all they have to do is to make an order for it, and it is done. We strove at the last session to regulate that some

what by providing that nothing should be printed except under the order of the chief of a Department. It does happen to be true that a large amount of printing is required for the War Office, a much larger amount than was anticipated. The whole of this increase has not arisen in consequence of the rise in the price of paper. It has arisen in part from the increased amount of orders for printing, mainly from the War Department.

Mr. HOLMAN. On the item extending from the one hundred and second to the one hundred and eleventh line of the bill, I raise the point of order, under the 120th rule of the House, that the appropriation is not authorized by any existing law. I regret to be obliged to raise this point, because the appropriation applies to a very meritorious class of gentlemen connected with this House.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will read the clause which is objected to.

The Clerk read, as follows:

"To enable the Clerk of the House of Representatives to execute the resolutions of the House of July 4, 1864, directing payment of additional compensation to its officers, clerks, and other employés, and to the House reporters for the Congressional Globe, a sum sufficient for that purpose, being $37,991 40, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and the same is hereby added to the contingent fund of the House of Representatives."

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will also read the 120th rule.

The Clerk read, as follows:

"No appropriation shall be reported in such general appropriation bills, or be in order as an amendment thereto, for any expenditure not previously authorized by law, unless in continuation of appropriations for such public works and objects as are already in progress, and for the contingencies for carrying on the several departments of the Government."

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HOLMAN] objects to the clause of the bill which has been read, providing for increasing by twenty per cent. the compensation of the officers, clerks, and other employés of this House.

the Government, if the House thinks proper and the Senate thinks proper to increase the remuneration of their servants in order to secure their sérvices, or in order better to reward those services.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the committee rise for the purpose of closing the general debate on this bill.

The motion was agreed to.

So the committee rosc; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. SCHENCK reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had had the Union generally under consideration, and particularly House bill No. 620, to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1865, and had come to no resolution thereon.

Mr. STEVENS moved that when the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union resumed the consideration of the bill, all general debate should be closed in one minute.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS moved that the rules be suspended, and that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.

The motion was agreed to.

So the rules were suspended; and the House accordingly resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. SCHENCK in the chair,) and resumed the consideration of the deficiency bill, on which further general debate had

been limited to one minute.

Mr. HOLMAN. I call the attention of the committee to the following:

To enable the Clerk of the House of Representatives to execute the resolutions of the House of July 4, 1864, directing payment of additional compensation to its officers, clerks, and other employés, and to the House reporters for the Congressional Globe, a sum sufficient for that purpose, being $37,991 40, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and the same is hereby added to the contingent fund of the House of Representatives.

I would ask the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means whether that increase of twenty per cent. embraces the Commissioner of Public Buildings and the officers under him.

Mr. STEVENS. My recollection is that the police under him are embraced, but that the Commissioner himself is not.

Mr. HOLMAN. His salary is $2,000. Mr. STEVENS. He is not embraced. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I should like to have the original resolution read, to see how broad it is.

Mr. HOLMAN. In order to get the matter before the committee, I move to strike out these words:

To enable the Clerk of the House of Representatives to execute the resolutions of the House of July 4, 1864, directing payment of additional compensation to its officers, clerks, and other employés, and to the House reporters for the Congressional Globe, a sum sufficient for that purpose, being $37,991 40, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and the same is hereby added to the contingent fund of the House of Rep

resentatives.

I ask that the Clerk will read the resolution of July 4, 1864; but before it is read I desire to say that I am well aware of the faithfulness in the discharge of their duties of the class of officers designated in this appropriation. They are a meritorious class of our citizens. The salary paid to them is equal to that paid in the other departments of the Government, and equal to that heretofore paid to like servants of the country. It is

equal to that paid to other officers in various employments under the Government. It seems to me, then, that this House ought not to favor its own particular employés by increasing their salaries at a time when economy is demanded.

I appeal to the House. Here is an appropriation bill of $93,000,000 to supply a deficit for the present fiscal year ending the 30th of June next. It also contains a proposition to increase the salaries of a large class of officers to the extent of over thirty-seven thousand dollars. I do insist, Mr. Chairman, that we are not sufficiently mindful as a body, although we may be as members, of the condition of the country in reference to that most material feature, its finances. We have a tremendous war upon us demanding the whole resources of the country, and it does seem to me that we should husband those resources, and that there should, if possible, be retrenchment of extravagant and unnecessary expenses in all departments of the public service. We ought not certainly to increase expenditures in departments having no connection with the war whatever. So far as the War and Navy Departments are concerned, I have not raised my voice against appropriations for them. What I condemn, and what 1 protest against, is the enormous increase made during the last four years in those departments of the Government not at all affected by the ravages and operations of war.

I now ask for the reading of the resolution which was adopted on the 4th of July last when scarcely any members were present. There was no dissenting voice at the time, and I presume only a few were aware of its passage.

The resolution was read, as follows:

Resolved, That the Clerk pay, at the close of this session, out of the contingent fund of the House, to the officers, clerks, and other employés of the House, a sum equal to twenty per cent, of their annual compensation respectively; or, where not receiving an annual compensation, on the amount received by them during the session.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. From the reading of that resolution it will be perceived that it differs from this clause in the bill in this, that while the resolution provides for paying the clerks, officers, and other employés of the House, the bill provides also for paying the additional compensation to the reporters of the House for the Congressional Globe.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair understands that there is another resolution which embraced them.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I would like to hear that resolution read.

The resolution was read, as follows: Resolved, That the Clerk pay out of the contingent fund to the reporters of the House for the Congressional Globe an amount equal to twenty per cent. of their compensation as such reporters, for the present session of Congress.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. If the others go in I certainly shall not object to including the reporters for the Globe; but I wish to call the attention of the House to the original resolution,

and to the section of the bill now under consideration, and, to prevent the possibility of any other payments being made, I ask the gentleman [Mr. STEVENS] to consent to an amendment of the clause, by adding thereto the following:

But no payment shall be made under this provision to any other persons than the officers, clerks, and other employés of the House, and the reporters for the Congressional Globe.

Mr. STEVENS. I believe the appropriation is intended to embrace none other than those enumerated in the two resolutions which have been read.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. Does the gentleman object to my amendment?

Mr. HOLMAN. Does that amendment exclude the Capitol police?

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. It does. Mr. STEVENS. I have no objection to that amendment.

extra compensation for the Capitol police employed at that end of the Capitol.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. The gentleman certainly must be mistaken. I have never heard that they were considered as being employés of the House, or that they have received the extra compensation which has usually been voted to the employés of the House. Yet I want this amendment adopted, so that it will exclude them from the benefit of the appropriation.

Mr. HOLMAN. Who, then, will be embraced besides the officers, clerks, doorkeepers, and other officers immediately connected with the House? Who are meant by "employes?" Who are the employés who are to be paid? Probably the gentleman from Illinois can tell.

The amendment was agreed to.

The motion to strike out the appropriation was not agreed to.

Mr. KERNAN. For the purpose of calling the attention of the committee to the amount of money we are appropriating for furnishing the Treasury Department, I move to amend by striking out lines sixty-six and sixty-seven, as follows:

For furniture, carpets, and miscellaneous items for the Treasury building, $15,000.

If gentlemen will look at last year's deficiency bill, they will see that they appropriated, for furniture, carpets, and miscellaneous items for the Treasury building, $25,000; and immediately below, for furniture, repairs of furniture in the Treasury Department, $5,000. There is $30,000. Then they will find in the same bill an appropriation for refunding to the appropriation for the Treasury extension the amount paid out of that appropriation of $150,000 for similar purposes. So that in last year's deficiency bill we appropriated absolutely $30,000, and so much of the $150,000 as was used. And in the regular appropriation bill for the year ending June 30, 1865, we appropriated for the same purpose $40,000; and now in this bill we appropriate the amounts I have alluded to, the $15,000, and in the clause before that, $16,911 53, for refunding to the Treasury extension the amount of payments made for furniture, and, on the first page, $5,000 more for furniture, carpeting, preserving files, and miscellaneous items in the office of the Third Auditor; making in this bill $36,911 53.

So it appears that at the last session and this we appropriated for furnishing this building $106,900 in addition to what was paid out of the $150,000. It does seem to me, considering that it was a building pretty well furnished before we came into office, that the appropriation of last session of over $70,000 specifically, in addition to what was paid out of the $150,000, and that of $36,900 now, is too much.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. Chairman, all the members of this House know that we have gone on furnishing room after room in the Treasury building as fast as they were finished. The furniture has been necessary in order to enable the clerks to occupy the rooms. Since our meeting here last year, many of these rooms have been completed, and of course new furniture has been necessary. I presume there has not been an article bought that was not necessary to furnish some of these new rooms so as to enable the clerks to Occupy them and go on with their business. The amendment was disagreed to.

Mr. PIKE. I move to amend the bill by striking out the following clause:

For salary of the commissioner for codifying the naval laws under joint resolution of March 3, 1863, from July 1, 1864, to March 3, 1865, $2,025.

I call the attention of the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means to that item. It contains an appropriation for the salary of the commissioner for codifying the naval laws. As I understood it, that commissioner made his report at the last session of Congress and prior to the 1st day of July last. What he has had to do since I know not. There was nothing in the tenor of his appointment or the duties with which he was charged which should call upon us to pay him any salary after he made his report.

when he hopes to have it completed. He had but partially finished it, and he states that the work he has been doing since was necessary to make it perfect, and that he has been constantly engaged upon it.

The amendment was disagreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the committee rise and report the bill to the House. The motion was agreed to.

So the committee rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. SCHENCK reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had, according to order, had the state of the Union generally under consideration, and particularly the bill of the House (No. 620,) to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1865, and had directed him to report the same to the House, with an amendment.

Mr. STEVENS demanded the previous question.

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered.

The amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was agreed to.

The bill was then ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed,

Mr. STEVENS moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. The latter motion was agreed to.

WASHINGTON GAS COMPANY.

Mr. DAVIS, of New York. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to take from the Speaker's table Senate bill No. 363, for the purpose of putting it upon its passage. It is a bill for the relief of the Gas Company of the city of Washington.

Mr. PIKE. I object.

AMENDMENT OF INTERNAL REVENUE LAW.

Mr. STROUSE, by unanimous consent, submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be requested to inquire into the expediency of amending section one hundred and three of the internal revenue act, so that canal boats and barges now paying a tonnage tax shall be exempt from the tax of two and a half per cent. upon freight, &c., and be thus placed upon the same footing as provincial vessels bringing cargoes to our ports.

NORTHERN INDIAN SUPERINTENDENCY.

Mr. HUBBARD, of Iowa, by unanimous consent, and in pursuance of previous notice, introduced a bill to abolish the northern Indian superintendency; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

CONFISCATION OF CONSCRIPTS' PROPERTY.

Mr. GRINNELL. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to report at an early day upon the expediency of a law to confiscate for the Government, when practicable, so much of the property of conscripts who have failed to report for duty as may be required to secure the services of a soldier in their stead.

Mr. ELDRIDGE. I object.

THE NATIONAL BANKS.

Mr. RANDALL, of Pennsylvania, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill to authorize national banks to close their banking institutions on certain days named, and to make all notes and other negotiable instruments, under the laws of the United States, falling due and payable on such days, due and payable on the preceding secular day respectively; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

COMPENSATION OF POSTMASTERS. Mr. HUBBARD, of Iowa, asked unanimous consent to offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of so amending the act of July 1, 1864, regulating the compensation of postmasters, as to allow postmasters of the third class a reasonable sun for the necessary cost of rent, fuel, lights, and clerks.

Mr. HOLMAN objected.

MILITARY ROAD IN ARIZONA.

Mr. POSTON, by unanimous consent, offered the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be directed to inquire into the expediency of making a grant of public lands to aid in the construction of a military road from the head of navigation on the Colorado river to Great Salt Lake City, and from some point on the said river to Prescott, the capital of Arizona; and also as to the propriety of an appropriation of lands for the improvement of the navigation of Colorado river.

FRIENDLY INDIANS OF ARIZONA.

Mr. POSTON also, by unanimous consent, offered the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs be directed to inquire into the expediency of making an appropriation for the purpose of colonizing the friendly Indians of Arizona on a reservation to be selected from the public lands.

TAX ON MILEAGE.

Mr. DRIGGS asked unanimous consent to offer the following resolution:

Whereas the Sergeant-at-Arms has deducted the five per cent. tax from the mileage of members as well as from the salary: Therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be directed to inquire by what authority the same has been done, and to report to this House.

Mr. HOLMAN. Iobject.

ENROLLED BILL.

Mr. COBB, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported as truly enrolled an act (H. R. No. 618) to amend the act entitled "An act to provide internal revenue to support the Government, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," approved June 30, 1864; when the Speaker signed the same.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I move that when the House adjourns to-day it adjourn to meet on Friday next.

The SPEAKER. That motion cannot be entertained, from the fact that the House has already decided that it will not meet on Friday.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. Then I ask unanimous consent that there shall be no business transacted to-morrow.

Objection was made.

And then, on motion of Mr. HOLMAN, (at twenty-five minutes to four o'clock, p. m.,) the House adjourned.

IN SENATE. THURSDAY, December 22, 1864. Prayer by Rev. THOMAS BOWMAN, D. D., Chaplain to the Senate.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS.

Mr. BUCKALEW. I present the petition of William Appleman, of Pennsylvania, with accompanying papers, reciting his conviction before a military commission, and praying that the fine imposed by it may be refunded. I move that the petition and papers be laid on the table and printed.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. That order will be made if there be no objection.

Mr. GRIMES. I object to printing solely on the ground that I hear no statement made by the Senator from Pennsylvania that will make this an exception to the general rule, which is that petitions shall not be printed.

Mr. BUCKALEW. I have no objection to waive the motion to print,

The PRESIDENT pro tempore.

The motion

to print is waived, and the petition lies on the table.

Mr. SPRAGUE. I hold in my hand a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, and a report from the Light-House Board, upon a petition of citizens of Rhode Island and New York, praying for the establishment of fog signals at Point Judith, Rhode Island, and at Execution Rocks, and Hart Island, New York. The subject is of public interest, and I move that the letter and the report be read and referred, with the accompanying papers, to the Committee on Commerce.

The motion was agreed to; and the following documents were read:

TREASURY Department, December 20, 1864. SIR: Your letter of the 13th instant, with accompanying petitions from citizens of Providence, Rhode Island, and New York, engaged in commercial pursuits in said cities, requesting the erection of "fog signals" at Point Judith, Execution Rocks, Hart Island, and Beaver Tail, having been referred to the Light-House Board, I have the honor to transmit a copy of their report on the subject. I am, very respectfully,

W. P. FESSENDEN, Secretary of the Treasury.

Hon. WILLIAM SPRAGUE, United States Senate.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD, December 19, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from Hon. WILLIAM SPRAGUE to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury, with a petition from citizens of Providence, Rhode Island, and New York, engaged in commercial pursuits in said cities, also addressed to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury, and both addressed to this board " for a report."

These papers have been submitted to the board, and I am instructed respectfully to report that the attention of the board has been anxiously drawn to the subject of ear signals of different kinds as aids to navigation in those waters of the bays and rivers of the United States where fogs most prevail.

In 1860 an appropriation of $6,000 was made by Congress to enable the board to experiment in the matter of fog sig. nals. Of this appropriation $4,500 are yet on hand, and further experiments are necessary to enable the board to decide on the relative advantages of bells, whistles, and trumpets. It has been deemed that the excellent light on Point Judith and the large buoy on the Great Eastern Rock were sufficient for vessels entering or leaving the waters of the United States by that passage, but a bell or whistle will be immediately placed near the light if an appropriation can be obtained in accordance with an estimate submitted with this.

The fog signal at Beaver Tail was discontinued temporarily, but will again be put in operation.

The bell on Execution Rocks has been ordered to be replaced by a larger one.

Measures are being taken for the erection of a light house on Hart Island, and a fog signal, either a bell or whistle, will be placed there.

The papers are berewith returned.
Very respectfully,

W. B. SHUBRICK, Chairman.

HON. WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN, Secretary of the Treasury.

Estimate.

For fog signals at Point Judith, Rhode Island, Execution Rocks and Hart Island, New York, $10,000.

Mr. SUMNER. I offer a petition from Rev. John Beeson, who is well known to have interested himself very much in the welfare of the Indians, in which he asks Congress that a proclamation of amnesty and protection for all Indians who will cease their hostility against the people and Government of the United States may be speedily issued. I move its reference to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. SUMNER. I also offer the petition of Mrs. Catharine Spear, widow of the late Rev. Charles Spear, who devoted his life to persons in prison, asking Congress to make provision for the care and reformation of juvenile offenders here in the District of Columbia, and setting forth the necessity of such provision. I move that it be referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. WILSON presented a petition of officers of the Army praying for an increase of their pay and allowances; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

Mr. WILSON, from the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 586) to drop from the rolls of the Army unemployed general officers, reported adversely thereon, and submitted a report, which was ordered to be printed.

Mr. SUMNER, from the Committee on Foreign Citizations; to whom were referred two petitions of citizens of Iowa, praying for the abrogation of the reciprocity treaty, asked to be discharged from their further consideration; which was agreed to.

THE SOLDIERS' HOME.

Mr. WILSON submitted the following resolution by unanimous consent:

Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia be instructed to inquire into the expediency of continuing the relief to soldiers at the Soldiers' Home, inquiring into the manner in which the funds for the said institu tion have been managed, the present condition of the same, and also whether the benevolent purposes of the Govern

ment in establishing the same might not be better carried out by repealing the law, abandoning that mode of relief, and substituting therefor pensions to those at present by law entitled to its benefits.

Mr. HALE. My impression is that a resolution of this kind, and perhaps in these very words, was passed at the last session; but I have no objection to this resolution; let it go.

The resolution was agreed to.

MILITARY SERVICE.

On motion of Mr. WILSON, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill (H. R. No. 583) to amend the twentyfirst section of an act entitled "An act to define the pay and emoluments of certain officers of the Army, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862. The bill proposes to amend the section referred to, so as to make it read as follows:

That any alien, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who has enlisted or shall enlist in the armies of the United States, either the volunteer or regular forces, or in the naval or marine forces, and has been or shall hereafter be honorably discharged, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, upon his petition, without any previous declaration of his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and that he shall not be required to prove more than one year's residence within the United States previous to his application to become such citizen;, and that the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to the proof of residence and good moral character, as is now provided by law, be satisfied by competent proof of such person having been honorably discharged from the service of the United States as aforesaid.

Mr. WILSON. I do not desire to put the bill on its passage now, but to move two sections as amendments to it, in order to have them printed. I do not think there will be any objection to them; but I wish Senators to have them before them, so that they may know what they are. The amendments are to add to the bill the following additional sections:

SEC. 1. And be it further enacted, That it is not within the intent of the first section of the act of March 3, 1863, entitled "An act to authorize the brevetting of volunteer and other officers in the United States service," authorizing the President to confer brevet rank for gallant actions and meritorious conduct, to make a distinction as to pay between the officers of volunteers and other forces, including the regular Army; but that such brevet rank does not entitle any officer, either of the regular Army or volunteers, to any increase of pay or emoluments.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That if a soldier discharged for wounds received in battle die before receiving the bounty provided by the act of March 3, 1863, entitled "An act to amend an act to authorize the employment of volunteers," &c., the bounty due shall descend to his heirs in the same manner and order of succession as if he had died in service.

The amendments were ordered to be printed, and the further consideration of the bill was postponed until to-morrow.

BILL INTRODUCED.

Mr. HALE asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 368) to incorporate the Association of the Sisters of Mercy in the city of Washington, District of Columbia; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

LAND SALES IN KANSAS.

Mr. LANE, of Kansas, asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a joint resolution (S. R. No. 88) suspending the sale by sealed bids of the lands of the Kansas and the Sac and Fox Indians; which was read twice by its title.

Mr. LANE, of Kansas. I desire the unanimous consent of the Senate to put the joint resolution on its passage at the present time.

There being no objection, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the joint resolution, which proposes to postpone

the sales of the lands of the Kansas and Sac and Fox tribes of Indians of the State of Kansas by sealed bids until the 14th of December, 1865, any

Y. HARLAN, Hurly Brown been Mr. Has that resolution ported from any committee?

re

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It has not. It has just been introduced by the Senator from Karsas.

Mr. LANE, of Kansas. It is a copy of a resolution that was passed on the same subject at the second session of a former Congress. I desire to state to the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands that these lands were advertised while our people were engaged in resisting Price's invasion of the State. To-morrow is the day appointed