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for the survey, fortification, and improvement of the sca-board, and for the support of a Navy to protect our ocean commerce, equal attention has not been accorded to objects of public improvement in the interior, standing on the same ground of constitutional authority and the same principles of public policy.

The waters of the Mississippi drain an area of 1,241,000 square miles. They are navigable by steam 16,674 miles; and according to an estimate of Mr. Benton, are boatable 50,000 miles, of which 30,000 are computed to unite above St. Louis, and 20,000 below. The commerce which floats upon these waters moves, not to a local market, but to the markets of the world. It enriches the whole Atlantic commercial region. It is a copious source of revenue to the canals, railways, and navigating interests of the East. The cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore are participators in it, in common with St. Paul, St. Louis, and New Orleans. This commerce affects the exchanges of the world, supplies the elements by which alone foreign commerce can be conducted, and contributes to the customs revenue by furnishing the commercial marine the outward-bound freight which is to be exchanged for the return cargo. For internal trade is the foundation of foreign commerce, which is called into being and sustained by the domestic commodities furnished for export. another form, it is an extension of it, distributing its freights. Each react upon the other, and any attempted discrimination in favor of one to the prejudice or exclusion of the other defeats itself.

In

In the upper Mississippi valley are situated the great food-producing States. Four of these States Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, as well as the new Territories erected west of Minnesota and a vast region extending north far into British North America, to which a railroad is now in progress of construction from St. Paul-are directly interested in the improvement of the upper Mississippi river. But are these the only parties interested? By the census returns of 1860 it appears that New England raises barely a sufficiency of wheat to feed her population three weeks; and that for six months in the year even New York is dependent on the Northwest for her breadstuffs. The tables which are annually laid upon our desks from the Treasury Department show that the products of the Northwest have, during the recent war, sometimes constituted as high as seventy per cent. in value of all our domestic exports, exclusive of specie. Is not the proposition a true one, that in the same proportion they have contributed to the customs revenue and sustained the public credit? One thousand dollars' worth of Minnesota wheat exported to Europe will purchase there in exchange $1,000 worth of duty-paying articles. From the returning imports the Government, under existing tariffs, derives an average duty in gold of at least thirty per cent., or $300. Whatever, therefore, by cheapening existing rates of trans portation, stimulates production, enlarges the basis of foreign commerce; and in the improvement of the navigation of the upper Mississippi, not alone the grain-growers and stock-raisers of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois have a direct interest, but also the inland carrier, the eastern consumer, the ocean navigator, the consumer abroad, the foreign importer, the buyer of imported fabrics, the miners of Montana, Idaho, and British North America, and the national Treasury itself.

The late civil war, Mr. President, has so changed the character of our foreign commerce that the leading staples of the South no longer constitute, as formerly, the bulk of our exports. Food has for a number of years taken the place of cotton, rice, and tobacco, and it is reasonable to suppose that for some years to come the settlement of European balances will largely depend upon the exportation of food. I regret that this should be so. I regret that the industry of my own State is confined, too exclusively, I think, to the culture of grain. I know that owing to our distance from eastern

bushel, the same wheat at shipping points on the Mississippi river in Minnesota has brought during the winter an average of but eighty. five cents per bushel; to us a ruinous dis parity.

and foreign markets this culture has been unremunerative to our farmers; that in exporting the products of our harvest fields we are exporting the substance and richness of our soil; and that if we continue so unprofitable a business under existing disadvantages, depending upon railroads for distant transportation, we must decline to poverty. Hence the pressing and patent necessity for improving the great natural artery which has been fashioned to our hands by the Almighty Architect. The cost of transportation by the Mississippi river has been estimated at three mills per ton per mile, while by railroads of ordinary grades the usual estimate is from twelve and a half to thirteen and a third mills. This gives a difference in favor of river transportation of more than three hundred per cent, The experience of the last few years has demonstrated that bulky commodities will not bear the charges of railroad carriage for any great distance. Where articles are perishable, or where time is an ele-United States census the increase which was ment of value, railroads can be used to advantage; but the fact is notorious that during the past year, with an average price for wheat in New York city of more than two dollars per

Minnesota.

Let me also call the attention of Senators to the fact that though nearly four million dol lars have at various times been expended for the improvement of different portions of the Mississippi river and its leading tributaries, not one dollar of this sum has at any time been expended to improve the long line of navigable river which lies between the rapids of Rock Island and the falls of St. Anthony, and which is the natural drainage of a region larger than all of western Europe, and as fertile as any upon which the sun shines. Without refer ring to the present rapid development of outlying settlements in Dakota, Montana, and British North America, all more or less interested in this improvement. I will cite from the

had in population, in cultivated lands, in agricultural products, and in domestic animals in the bordering States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, from 1850 to 1860:

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Area of square miles.. Population, 1850.. Population, 1860.. Improved land, 1850.. Improved land, 1860. Wheat, bushels, 1850. Wheat, bushels, 1860.. Corn, bushels, 1850. Corn, bushels, 1860. Oats, bushels, 1850. Oats, bushels, 1860.. Rye, bushels, 1850.. Rye, bushels, 1860. Barley, bushels, 1850 Barley, bushels, 1860. Swine, head, 1850.. Swine, head, 1860.. Cattle, head, 1850. Cattle, head, 1860..

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Remarkable, Mr. President, as is the progress thus indicated in the decade from 1850 to 1860 in these four States, these returns but faintly show the present situation of the same States. Notwithstanding the decline of immigration, and the stagnation of business in many portions of the country during the war, the material advancement of the Northwest in the last five years has been unparalleled by any equal period of peace. I will not occupy the time of the Senate with statistics of the increase, in population and productions during the last five years, of the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, but will content myself with submitting a few statements which will illustrate the progress of Minnesota in this period-a State with which I am most familiar, and from which the growth of the other States may be inferred. The State of Minnesota has 2,746 miles of shore line of navigable waters.

In 1865 the number of steamers registered at the single port of St. Paul was 39, with a registered tonnage of 3,088.52, with a carrying capacity of 4,973 tons, and valued at $607,500. The number of arrivals and departures of steamers at St. Paul in 1865 was 2,117.

Three steamboat companies transact business on the upper Mississippi-the Northwest ern Packet Company, from Dunleith and Dubuque to St. Paul; the Northern, from St. Louis to St. Paul; and the La Crosse and Minnesota Steam Packet Company, from La Crosse to St. Paul. Details of the business done by the latter company in 1864 and 1865 have been furnished me, which I herewith submit, premising that by multiplying the sums total by three a sufficiently accurate estimate of the business upon the upper Mississippi river in 1864 and 1865 can be

arrived at:

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From the mouth of the Minnesota to the Rock Island rapids, the Mississippi is characterized by almost innumerable wooded islands. The main volume of the stream is confined to one channel, but branches from it ramify in various directions, forming sloughs, as they are generally named, and making its water course with inclosed islands, seldom less than a mile in width. The low water in the channel of the river is caused by the numerous diversions created by these islands. Each slough subtracts a large amount of water from the main channel, and by decreasing the current allows the formation of deposits. To ascertain the cheapest and most feasible mode of stopping these leaks, and rendering all the water in the river available for navigation, is the object of the examination proposed in the bill before us. That this can be done at a very moderate cost, and in a very simple way, I am well satisfied. In a paper prepared by a skillful engineer and by a gentleman with an experience upon the river of more than twenty-five years, it is suggested that a line of piles driven diagonally and filled in with fascines at the head of each slough, will so turn the force of the current as to cause permanent deposits of sand upon the face of the barrier, which, in a few years, will become self-sustaining, and always secure such outlet against further waste.

As this paper possesses much practical interest I will here ask the indulgence of the Senate while I read it:

The time seems to have arrived when the improvement of the upper Mississippi river should no longer be a problem without a solution. The vast increase in the productions of the northwestern States, their vast exports of wheat and other provisions, and their corresponding importation of all articles except food, demand that this question, second in importance to noue that has been before Congress since internal improvements were first made a part and parcel of the policy of the country, should be met and answered.

It is unnecessary, at this late day, to speak of the importance of the Mississippi river, that great spinal column through which circulates the vitality which feeds and sustains so large a proportion of the people of this country and of Europe, and without which civilization would not have reached beyond the lakes at this time.

The interests of not only the States in the valley of this mighty river, but of the whole country, de

mand that efficient means be at once taken to remove the obstructions and furnish a free and adequate communication with the ocean.

From Maine to Florida, from Minnesota to Louisiana, all are equally interested in the question of cheap food; and any appropriation and expenditure for the improvement of this river is of national importance and equally benefits all.

When we compare the vast production with the. means of transportation, we shall at once be surprised at the disproportion existing between them. There are three lines of railways connecting the Mississippi with the lakes, which are available in a greater or less degree to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Iowa: these are, first, the Milwaukee and St. Paul road, extending from La Crosse to Milwaukee, which can receive and forward about twenty thousand bushels of wheat each day, which will require some sixty cars for its transportation, and which together with merchandise and passengers, is about the limit of its ability, with its present facilities for elevating: second, the Milwaukee and Prairic du Chien road, connecting the points its name indicates, and whose elevator has a possible capacity of forty thousand bushels per day; third, the Illinois Central road, from Dunleith to Freeport, and thence by the Northwestern road to Chicago, whose elevator has a possible capacity of twenty thousand bushels a day.

The route by the way of Savannah and Racineistoo far down the river, and its equipment and facilities are too limited to be of much benefit or to exercise any marked effect on the general result; it is not therefore considered in this connection. The same reasons, but with increased force, apply to the Rock Island road, which has a local business equal to its utmost capacity.

The Illinois Central road, for a greater part of the year, is blockaded with freight from the Dubuque and Sioux City road, and is forced to neglect its local business in order to furnish an outlet for the country immediately contiguous, and cannot be relied upon for the transportation of a bushel or a pound from above McGregor.

The Prairie du Chien road has at least half its capacity absorbed by the contributions of the McGregor Western road, and at the present rate of increase, will in a few years be unable to move more than that connection will demand.

We now come to the La Crosse route, which is the principal outlet on which Minnesota and Wisconsin must depend, and while that road is now taxed to its utmost capacity, the question arises, what are we to do in the time to come?

The capacity of all roads is vastly increased by laying another track the entire distance, but there is no probability that the present owners of either of the upper roads will embark in an enterprise requiring such an outlay for many years to come, even if it should ever be their policy.

The Lake Superior road, should it ever become a fact, will, in connection with the Minnesota Valley road, open an outlet for five or six months in the year, and if the necessary accessories of elevators and a line of propellers are provided, prove of immense value to the commerce of the Northwest; but the benefits arising from these lines of communication are necessarily local, and will be confined to the country north and west of St. Paul. The great markets of the world are situated at the outlets of navigable rivers, which in this country are at the East and South; produce will not come up the Mississippi to reach the lakes at Superior, unless it is transported at a loss, and no fact is better known and understood in transportation than this, namely, that whenever you divert freight from its only legitimate course, which is the most direct and the shortest, you have to compete with lines possessing these advantages, and rates which are remunerative to the direct route prove losing ones to the indirect. The Minnesota Central road will only add to the burdens now imposed upon the La Crosse and Prairie du Chien routes to the lakes by opening up a communication with a rich and productive part of Minnesota. Its continuation south and a connection with the Northern Missouri railroad will open a line of communication with St. Louis, and furnish that great market to Iowa and Minnesota; but all experience shows that a railroad through a rich and productive country is in a few years hardly able to transport more than it creates and develops.

multiplying the difficulties. Let us bear these facts in mind, and the remedy at once suggests itself; close up these sloughs or a sufficient number of them, direct the water into one channel, and its immense volume will open to itself an "unvexed course to the sca."

A line of piles driven diagonally and filled in with fascines at the head of each slough will so turn the force of the current as to cause permanent deposits of sands upon the face of the barrier, which in a few years, by the growth of vegetation, will become selfsustaining, and always secure such outlet against further waste.

This assertion does not rest on mere conjecture, but has been verified by the experience of the summer of 1861, when the labor of twenty men, one day, in merely driving a few stakes and filling in with brush, raised the water in the channel ten inches between St. Paul and Pine Bend, and secured navigation for small boats through, which otherwise could not have reached above Prescott.

We do not propose in any case to attempt to change the channel of the river or dig canals, but simply to stop the leaks and make all the water available for navigation.

Having thus briefly given our views as to the obstructions caused by diverted forces, we come to tho matter wherein the river cannot by its own force contribute to its own improvement.

The Upper Rapids of the Mississippi, as they are known, extend from Le Claire, in Iowa, to Davenport, and consist of a series or succession of boulders and projections interspersed with many reaches of smooth and deep water.

For an average of perhaps three months in cach year these rapids are impassable for loaded boats, and all freight has to be taken over in barges and lighters and reshipped at Davenport, thereby causing a vast loss in time and money. Added to this is the Rock Island bridge, stretching diagonally across the channel, and which is never passed without danger, and proves a perfect barrier in windy weather. The rocks projecting into the channel of the river can all be reinoved and perfectly safe and deep navigation secured by the judicious expenditure of a few hundred thousand dollars. The most dangerous rocks in Hell Gate, East river, have been successfully taken out, and in fact we need not go so far for an illustration, but look at the improvements made in the Lower Rapids, in spite, we may almost say, of the stupidity and inefficiency of the parties in charge.

That rocks can be cut off and removed from under water are indisputable facts; that the work can be done by contract rapidly and cheaply all will admit; and that all internal improvements attempted by the Government directly have been either falures or completed at a cost vastly beyond what the same would have been done for by individuals, are also facts.

The difference in cost between the plan here proposed and a canal around the rapids, can hardly be estimated. Probably the locks alone would be double the cost of removing all obstructions, and aside from that, the delay in passing so many boats up and down, would cause a loss in a few years equal to the original outlay.

Nature has given us this noble river almost perfect to our hands; it has hitherto answered our purpose very well, and furnished us a cheap communication with the ocean, but the time is coming, and in fact now is, when that line of communication must be made perfect, and then the powerful tug, with its four barges laden with their forty thousand bushels of wheat, can float uninterruptedly from the falls of St, Anthony to New Orleans, and return laden with the sugar and cotton of the South.

Multiply railroads as we may; stretch them from the East and the West, and yet a few years finds them crowded with local business which their simple construction has developed. The Mississippi is our chief dependence: its capacity is unlimited; it requires neither switches nor double tracks; it only requires a limited outlay to render it perfect for all time. G. A. HAMILTON, RUSSELL BLAKELEY. We the undersigned having had long experience in the navigation of the upper Mississippi cordially approve of the plan proposed above for its improvement. D. S. HARRIS,

II. L. BEEDLE,

WILLIAM F. DAVIDSON,
EDWARD H. BEEBE,
N. F. WEBB.

These gentlemen are among the most enter

In view of these facts, what remains for the country but to make available the great highway prepared for us by nature, and by a judicions expenditure render perfect that which is nearly so already: that high-prising and experienced navigators of our westway whose capacity is unlimited, and which can bear the mighty burdens of the three hundred million people who will one day live on its course?

The question now is simply as to the best way of doing what all admit must be done: and on this point we beg to offer the following suggestions as the result of our own experience confirmed by that of many prominent river men: first, as to the cause of the low water in the channel; this, it must be evident to all, cannot be because there is not enough water in the river, but because it is spread over so vast a width and divided into so many channels.

From bluff to bluff, a distance of from one to four miles, this vast highway spreads out, offering many routes divided by islands, sand bars, and deposits of drift; one, of course, is better than all others, but even this varies at different seasons, and is liable to changes and dangers. The islands which form so remarkable and picturesque a feature in the upper Mississippi, are formed by primary deposits of sand, which, by the wonderful fecundity of nature, are soon covered with vegetation, and permanently divert the water from its direct course. Every such diversion reduces the volume of water, and consequently lessens the current, which effect causes new deposits, and they, in turn, new islands, thereby increasing and

ern rivers, and where they are known, as they are throughout the valley of the Mississippi, their approbation of the views of Messrs. Hamilton & Blakeley will commend the plan to the favorable consideration of the public and I trust to that of the Congress of the United States. Should it receive the approbation of the engineers to be detailed by the Secretary of War, if the bill under consideration receives the favorable action of Congress, I am informed by excellent authority that four feet of water can always be obtained between St. Paul and Prescott, Wisconsin, and five feet below the latter point to Dunleith, at a probable cost not exceeding $250,000.

As I believe I can best accomplish my purpose in having the honorable Committee on Commerce, who have now before them the bill from the House of Representatives making the

usual annual appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors, accept this bill as an amendment to that, I shall, Mr. President, after having now called the attention of the Senate to the subject-matter, permit the bill to be passed over informally for the present.

The kindred measure, likewise so important to the preservation of the navigation of the upper Mississippi river, which some time since I presented to the Senate-I mean the Senate joint resolution No. 64, in these words:

Whereas the Mississippi river is one of the greatest highways of inland commerce in the world, affording, together with its connecting rivers, many thousands of miles of navigable waters for the cheap transportation of agricultural, mineral, manufacturing, and other bulky products; and whereas to insure safety and economy in such transit the navigation of said stream must be protected from all obstructions, whether natural or artificial, especially as the methods of transfer on barges towed by steamers, and requiring much larger channel-way than heretofore, are now coming into general use on the western rivers; and whereas the necessities of land travel and railway connection render it very desirable that the proper steps should be taken for bridging said stream at such points as may be found practicable for effecting continuous freight lines from west to east, and under such conditions of structure, as to height, channel-way, position of piers, and plan of operation, whether by draw or otherwise, as will not, by any possibility, operate to render the navigation of said stream dangerous to the lives of passengers or the safety of cargoes; and whereas it is proper that the Congress of the United States should protect the navigation of this highway of inland waters from the obstructions of private persons or interested corporations, and yet should concede such privileges in regard to bridging the same as may not interfere with the rightful claims of river commerce, and in order to do so should be furnished with accurate inforination on the points stated to guide its legislation and prevent it from doing any wrong in the premises: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be directed to appoint a commission, to consist of three officers of the corps of Engineers of the Army, to examine and report at the present session of Congress, if practicable, and if not, before the next session of Congress, upon the subject of the construction of railroad bridges across the Mississippi river at such localities and upon such plans of construction as will offer the least impediment to the navigation of the river; and that the sum of $10,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expenses of said commission.

I trust it may receive the favorable consideration of that committee and be ingrafted as an amendment upon the bill now before them. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be regarded as postponed for the present, no objection being made to that course.

QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S CLERKS.

Mr. WILSON. I move to take up the Senate joint resolution No. 96, providing for the transfer of certain clerks to the office of the Quartermaster General.

The motion was agreed to; and the joint resolution was read the second time and considered as in Committee of the Whole. It provides that thirty-seven clerks of the first class, two of the second class, and one of the fourth class, from the ordnance department, ten of the first class from the subsistence department, and four of the first class from the office of the Secretary of War, shall be transferred to the office of the Quartermaster General, and proposes to appropriate $65,800 for the payment of their salaries for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Where does this come from?

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Mr. WILSON. I will simply say in regard to this matter that the resolution is based upon a recommendation of General Meigs. desired to have these clerks classed higher, but the committee thought they would transfer them to his office in the same classes they are in at present.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I ask whether the matter has been submitted to and received the approbation of the Secretary of War.

Mr. WILSON. It was sent to us indorsed by the Secretary of War.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Approved by him?
Mr. WILSON. I understood so.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I think, from the recent course taken with regard to the clerks in the different Departments, that the proper place il

for this measure would be on one of the appropriation bills.

Mr. WILSON. If the Senator desires that course to be taken, I have no objection to letting this resolution lie over and be put upon the Army appropriation bill when it comes here. The Army appropri

Mr. FESSENDEN. ation bill is here. Mr. WILSON. It can lie over until we take up that bill.

Mr. FESSENDEN. In the mean time I think the Committee on Military Affairs had better inquire whether it meets the approbation of the Secretary of War. I am very unwilling to act in matters of this kind until they receive the real approbation and recommendation of the head of the Department.

Mr. WILSON. The resolution was sent to us by the War Department. I accept, however, the suggestion of the Senator from Maine, and will consent to this resolution lying on the table for the present, and I will make an effort to have it put upon the Army appropriation bill when it comes up.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be laid upon the table, if there be no objection.

RECONSTRUCTION.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I desire to make a re

mark to Senators, in consequence of the notice which I gave a week ago that I should to-day call up the joint resolution reported by the committee on reconstruction, which has already been passed by the House of Representatives. I am obliged, to-day, to ask the indulgence of the Senate, and to say that I shall not desire them to proceed with that matter until Wednesday. I am utterly unable, myself, to take charge of it; but whatever may be my own condition on Wednesday, I shall expect the Senate to proceed with the consideration of the subject. I defer calling it up until Wednesday morning, when I hope to have the attention of the Senate to it.

MILITARY ACADEMY APPOINTMENTS.

Mr. WILSON. I move to take up.the House joint resolution No. 134, relative to appointments to the Military Academy of the United States.

The motion was agreed to; and the joint resolution was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It provides that hereafter the age for the admission of cadets to the United States Military Academy shall be between seventeen and twenty-two years; but any person who has served honorably and faithfully not less than one year as an officer or enlisted man in the Army of the United States, either as a volunteer or in the regular service, in the late war for the suppression of the rebellion, and who possesses the other qualifications prescribed by law, shall be eligible to appointment up to the age of twenty-four years. Cadets at the Military Academy are hereafter to be appointed one year in advance of the time of their admission, except in cases where, by reason of death or other cause, a vacancy occurs which cannot be thus provided for by an appointment in advance; but no pay or allowance is to be made to any such appointee until he shall be regularly admitted on examination as now provided by law; nor is this provision to apply to appointments to be made in the present year. In addition to the requirements necessary for admission as provided by the third section of the act making further provisions for the corps of Engineers, approved April 29, 1812, candidates shall be required to have a knowledge of the elements of English grammar, of descriptive geography, particularly of our own country, and of the his tory of the United States.

Mr. JOHNSON. Will the honorable chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs state what is the reason for requiring the appoint ments to be made a year in advance?

Mr. WILSON. This joint resolution comes from the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives. The chairman of that committee was last year, a member of

the Board of Visitors at West Point, and was very anxious to have the changes made in the law which this resolution proposes. The first change is to raise the minimum age of admis sion from sixteen to seventeen, so that boys shall not enter so young as heretofore, but shall be more mature. Then it provides that young men who have served in the Army, either as officers or as soldiers, may be admit ted up to twenty-four years of age. The ob ject of the provision requiring the appointments to be made a year in advance is to give the persons appointed an opportunity during that year to fit themselves to enter the Acad emy. Then the resolution provides for increas ing the standard of admission now required. Very little is required by this increase. I think it ought to be much larger than it is, and that the institution ought not to be a primary school; it ought to be a higher school; but there is objec tion to that. The increase here provided for is very slight indeed-English grammar, history of the United States, and small matters of that kind.

Mr. JOHNSON. The honorable member will permit me to ask him if there is no qualification required now. There is, I think, a pretty rigid one.

Mr. WILSON. But very little qualifications are required now. This is an addition to those qualifications. I should like the Secretary to read that portion of the joint resolution.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The reading of that portion of the joint resolution being asked for, it will be again read.

Mr.HENDRICKS. Before the reading of that section, I wish to call the attention of the Senator from Massachusetts for a moment to the fact, and I suppose it will be recollected by him, that the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. ANTHONY] presented to the Senate, at the last session, a proposition, which had a good deal of strength in the body, changing the mode of appointing cadets to West Point. It was then presented to the Senate under circumstances which prevented its full consideration. I was not willing to support it at that time, because its merits could not then be fully understood and considered. It was proposed as an amendment to an appropriation bill. All Senators know that the proposition could not very well be considered in that connection, with the opposi tion to it as legislation, upon an appropriation bill; but as it is a very important proposition, I think, more important, perhaps, than any provision of this bill, if it have any merit at all, it is due to the Senator from Rhode Island that we should wait until he returns before we propose to change the present plan. I cannot state to the Senate what was the proposition of the Senator from Rhode Island, but I think it was that there should be a board in each State for the examination of candidates; that the member of Congress from the district should present the names of a certain number of young men, and those young men should go before the board, and should be examined with a view to their physical qualifications for the military service, their intellectual qualifi cations and capacity, and also with regard to their education; that they should be examined by the board in advance, so as to prevent so many failures in the institution. I am not prepared to say that I am in favor of the proposition of the Senator from Rhode Island; but to say the least, it is worthy of the consideration of the Senate; and if the Senator from Massachusetts will not object, I will move to postpone this bill for a reasonable time until the Senator from Rhode Island shall return.

Mr. WILSON. I have certainly no objec tion to the bill going over for that purpose, although I must say to the Senator that I ex pect little to come of the postponement. It will be found very difficult to devise any plan that will be satisfactory to Congress, and es pecially to the House of Representatives, changing the mode of appointment of cadets at West Point. However, at this stage, I will allow the bill to lie over. It is from the House of Representatives; no amendment is

proposed to it; and I will allow it to lie over until the return of the Senator from Rhode Island.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The joint resolution now before the Senate will be postponed by common consent, no objection being interposed.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced that the House of Representatives had passed the following bills, in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate:

A bill (S. No. 379) to establish in the District of Columbia a reform school for boys;

A bill (H. R. No. 564) to annul the thirtyfourth section of the declaration of rights of the State of Maryland so far as it applies to the District of Columbia; and

A bill (H. R. No. 601) to grade East Capitol street and establish Lincoln square.

ADMISSION OF COLORADO-VETO.

Mr. HENDRICKS. I move to take up the bill which was vetoed by the President of the United States for the admission of the State of Colorado. I think a proposition of that sort ought to be considered.

Mr. WADE. I hope we shall not take up that bill now. I hope it will be permitted to lie awhile before we take it up.

Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator from Ohio, who is to some extent responsible for this measure as chairman of the Committee on Territories, desires not to take up the bill to-day; but if he is willing to say to-morrow at one o'clock, so that all Senators shall know that the bill is to come up at that time, I am willing to modify my motion, and will move to take up the bill with a view to making it the special order for to-morrow at one o'clock. Perhaps before taking up a measure of this sort, we ought to give notice a day in advance, so that Senators may be here. I have therefore no objection to modifying my motion so as to move to take the bill up with the view to make it the special order for to-morrow at one o'clock. I will state to the Senator that I name to-morrow for the reason that the Senator from Maine has notified the Senate that on the next day he expects to call up a question which will Occupy, unquestionably, the Senate for a number of days; what length of time none of us is now able to say. It is proper that within a reasonable time the message of the President of the United States should receive the consideration of the Senate, and I do not think that we ought to wait until the Senate has disposed of the reconstruction proposition. Therefore I think it is right that we should either to-day or to-morrow take up this bill. My present motion is to take it up; and then if it is taken up I shall move to make it the special order for to-morrow at one o'clock.

Mr. WADE. I hope the bill will not be taken up now. I do not think we can at this time definitely fix a proper time to consider the bill. The Senate is very thin. I believe several members are now absent. I do not know when they will be here. When it is taken up the Senate ought to be full, and I cannot say that that will be to-morrow or the next day. I do not think it is best for us at the present time to take it up, and I hope we shall not do so.

I am

Mr. SUMNER. There are one or two of the Senators who are now absent who are to be here to-morrow, which is the time proposed by the Senator from Indiaua for the consideration of this question. I think that we may expect to-morrow a reasonably full Senate. inclined to think, still further, that we ought not to postpone the consideration of the question. I do not think that a veto message of the President has ever before in our history been so long postponed. It has been considered from day to day, and discussion has been allowed to go on until a conclusion was reached. I am not aware that any message of that character has ever been laid upon the table and there allowed to sleep as if it was not to be proceeded

with. It seems to me that the Senate ought to proceed with it at an early day, that the question may be definitively settled. As it stands now, the question is not definitively settled. It is an open question still whether the State of Colorado shall be received into the Union. It ought to be closed.

Mr. WADE. I have had some little experience as to these veto messages, not so much nor so often formerly as now; but I know very well they have been treated precisely as any

other measure has been treated here. There is no reason that. I know of why they should be considered in any other light than any other measure that is important before the body, and they have always been so considered. The Senator from Massachusetts says that we have proceeded immediately to take them up and consider them, and not laid them on the table. That is not my experience. When what was called the homestead bill, in the days of Mr. Buchanan, was vetoed, it lay here nearly three months, if I am not greatly mistaken, before it was finally settled. It was laid on the table, and adjournments took place, precisely as upon any other question that was deemed by the body important, and which they wished to discuss. I see no reason why we should at this time take up this message. I do not think we are ready to dispose of it properly at the present time, and I do not think the friends of the measure ought to take it up at this time.

Mr. HENDRICKS. I certainly would not ask the Senate to consider a bill when it could not be properly considered; but the Senator from Ohio has not stated any reason why the Senate is not prepared to consider this bi.l. It was pressed upon the attention of the Senate more than a month ago. It was said we were in a condition to consider it then. We did consider it and rejected the bill. Then, again, there was a motion to reconsider, and after further protracted debate a different result was arrived at in the Senate, somewhat astonishing to some of us. After two debates

and rejected it, but afterward adopted the measure and sent it to the President who has vetoed it, and now a proper courtesy on our part requires that we should consider it immediately. I do not know but that the suggestion of the Senator from Ohio ought to be listened to from another consideration besides that which he has given. It seems that Colorado has had a very hard time of it. We passed an enabling act, two years ago, saying to the people of Colorado that if they desired a State government, they might vote upon the proposition, adopt a State government, and we would receive them. At the first vote after the enabling act was passed, Colorado rejected the proposition. Upon a reconsideration of the question, however, the people of that Territory adopted the proposition, and now send us a State constitution, and ask for admission. The President took the matter into consideration, because it suited him, or directly in accordance with the provisions of the enabling act itself, I believe, the President was authorized by a proclamation to admit the State; but instead of doing so, he sent the proposition for admission to us, and said, "I leave this matter to Congress." Congress took it into consideration. It is true that the Senate, upon the first vote, like the people of Colorado, rejected the proposition, and left the State out. The President said to us that he was willing to leave it to us, and whatever we might do on the subject, I understood, he was perfectly willing to give his sanction to. ever, the Senate, after first rejecting it, reconsidered the proposition and then adopted it, and said to the people of Colorado that they could be admitted. This shows a change, not only on the part of the people of that Territory, but a change, after reconsideration, on the part of Congress. Now, sir, let us give a little time to the President of the United States. I am satisfied, upon all the precedents and all the history of Colorado, that if he has a short time, he will send us, in the course of a few days, a message withdrawing his veto message. Let him have the same time that the people of Colorado had to consider the proposition, and the same time the Senate had to reconsider it, and in all probability he will come to as correct a conclusion as the people of Colorado and the Senate of the United States.

How

in the Senate upon the bill it finally went to the President of the United States. He did not agree with the Senate in its last vote; he thought the Senate was right in its first vote. Now that question is before us, presented as an important question by the President of the United States for our consideration. I know of no reason why the Senate is not pre- Mr. FESSENDEN. I voted against the pared to consider it. The Senator from Ohio admission of Colorado, but I am quite willing gives no reason. The question of the admis- to leave the question of when this veto mession of a State into the Union is a very grave sage shall be taken up, within reasonable and important one. It loses none of its gravity limits, to the friends of the measure. As I and importance by the fact that it is now ac- differed from them with very great reluctance, companied by the veto of the President of the and was disposed, if I could, to vote with United States. It is due, I think, to the them, I am certainly not disposed to press its dignity of that message that it should be con- consideration at a time which is inconvenient sidered at an early day. For this reason I to them and against their wishes. I am willhave moved to take the bill up with the viewing that they should take their own time, and of making it the special order for to-morrow.

Mr. WADE. The Senator asks me why I am not ready to take up this bill now, and I am very frank, as I am on all occasions, to tell him the reason. I am a friend to this measure, notwithstanding the veto of the President. I have come to the conclusion that this Territory ought to be admitted as a State for a good many reasons that might be assigned, but which it would not be proper to argue now. I wish to deal with this question as I do with all others that I am in any way intrusted with the charge of. I do not think the bill is as likely to be successful if we take it up now as it would be if we were to postpone it a little longer, and when I have a measure at heart that I intend to pass I intend to take every honorable means that I can to pass it. I do not think it is politic now for the friends of the bill to take it up. That is all I have to say about it. As one of the friends of the measure I hope it will not be considered now, and for the reason I have given.

Mr. HENDERSON. The Senator from Indiana thinks that this matter ought to be considered immediately because, he says, a month ago the Senate considered the measure

shall therefore vote with my friend from Ohio on the motion to take up this question, he being chairman of the committee which has the bill in charge. I think it is proper to comply to a reasonable extent with his wishes on the subject.

But I rose merely to say that I can see no occasion for the suggestion that by deferring the consideration of this bill a discourtesy would be committed toward the President. It so happened that the message was not read upon the day on which it was laid on the table. It was suggested by a Senator at that time, who was desirous that it should be read on that day, that not to read it then would be not treating the President with that respect which was due to him as President in relation to the message itself. It also so happened that before that suggestion was made I had made a motion to go into executive session; and I replied at that time that nothing like a want of respect or a disposition to treat the President with disrespect existed, so far as I was concerned. I see that the idea has been caught at and that some presses have taken pains to represent that there was intentional discourtesy on the part of the Senate.

Now, sir, I wish to repel that idea here, and utterly. It so happened that when that message came in we were engaged in a debate and the consideration of a bill. The message was not read but was laid on the table of course, and we proceeded with that bill to a late hour in the day, when we were all fatigued. The time arrived at which we usually adjourn, but it was absolutely necessary for certain purposes to have an executive session that evening, and I moved an executive session, not willingly but because it was necessary, thinking we could dispose of the matters that required immediate attention then. Then was. interposed the question of reading the veto message. I insisted upon my motion, for I thought at that late hour it was hardly worth while to take up a message which was to be listened to at any rate with respect and attention, and have it read at that period of the evening, but it might as well come up in the regular order of business the next morning. I think still that was the correct course. I utterly repel the idea for myself and for all others of the slightest intention on the part of anybody (because I know that it did not exist) to do anything that was at all out of the way, or improper, or disrespectful to the President of the United States. As is well known, I am not in the habit of treating any officer of this Government who is charged with public duties with any disrespect whatever, either in words or acts, and I believe that to be the general disposition of the Senate itself.

I only notice this because it shows a disposition to make a mountain out of a mole-hill, and construe what was merely an ordinary proceeding in the course of business into something that was not intended or in any way designed; and, I will add, on the suggestion of my friend from New Hampshire, [Mr. CLARK,] that these questions are not questions of courtesy, at all; they are questions of business. We pass a bill; we send it to the President; when he gets ready, within a certain time which is limited, he returns the bill to us, if he sees fit, with his objections. When we get ready and think that the time has properly arrived to consider them, we consider them and come to our own conclusions. It is a matter of business deliberation in which the good of the country is involved, the ordinary course of legislation, which has reference to the good of the whole, and not a mere courtesy to an individual, whatever may be his position, whether he happens to be the President of the United States, who objects to a bill, or whether he happens to be a chairman of a committee who may have charge of the bill, or anybody else who is interested in the bill and desires to be heard upon it, or that a particular course should be taken. It is for the Senate to decide; and on all these questions, as an individual I am to act with reference to the question itself, and not with reference to what may be the wishes of others in relation to it. When it comes before me, as a Senator I act in my own time and in my own way, if agreeable to the majority here, which upon each question has a right to decide. And now, sir, say that if we should conclude that the proper time for the consideration of the objections of the President to the bill has not yet arrived, it is to be construed, so far as I am concerned, and I trust all others, into a mere opinion that we will consider it at another time when we are better prepared in our own judgments to take it into consideration.

Mr. HENDRICKS. In the main I agree with the Senator from Maine in his suggestions upon the question of business. I think it would be better that we should consider all such questions as questions of business rather than questions of courtesy. But the Senator is aware of the fact that it is usual, because perhaps the question is a grave one, and because of the weight that is given to an executive communication, to consider veto messages and bills accompanying them at an early day after they are communicated to the Senate. A very lengthy postponement of it is likely to be understood

by many as an intentional one, as a matter of discourtesy to the President.

The Senator is aware of the fact that when the Senate pass a bill, and the House of Representatives amends that bill in important particulars, and sends it back here, we consider those amendments at an early day; perhaps because it comes up in the course of business, but also, I think, for the reason that there is a question in dispute between the two Houses, and that question ought to be settled. Then when there is a question of difference between the President and the Senate, that question of difference ought to be settled at an early day, I think, as a question of business.

To the suggestion of the Senator from Ohio I have no particular objection, of course. He has a right to select a time when he thinks he can carry his measure instead of losing it. I do not quarrel with him about that, and on this particular question I think the opinion of the Senator from Ohio is entitled to a great deal of weight. A year or two ago the Senate passed the enabling act upon the assurance given to the Senate by him that there was a large population in Colorado, he thought about sixty thousand or over, and that the current of immigration was setting in very rapidly into Colorado, and that there soon would be a very large population, fully justifying the admission of the State. Then, when the bill came up a month or so ago, the Senator said that in all that he was mistaken, that he was misled, and that there seemed to be a much less population there than he had supposed. Clearly the evidence justified the opinion that the Senator then expressed, for no man can question that there is much less than sixty thousand inhabitants in that Territory, and at that time the Senator thought it to be his duty, without having either the fear or respect of vetoes before his eyes, to oppose the admission of Colorado on the ground that the population of the Territory was so inconsiderable. The other day when the bill passed he was not able to show us that there had been any increase of population since he said to the Senate that the population was too small to justify the admission. It is possible that if we postpone this bill now the Senator will again change his opinion. The Senator from Missouri [Mr. HENDERSON] Suggests that if we give the President an opportunity he may change; but I have more reason to hope that the Senator from Ohio, having already occupied three grounds upon this question, may occupy a fourth directly if we give him some time. But I think the question ought to be considered.

One word in reply to the Senator from Missouri. He intimated that the President, in communicating this business to the Senate at an early day of the session, had said that the subject was referred to Congress and that he would abide by the decision of Congress. The President, in that communication, did not say so; it does not authorize that construction to be put upon his communication. The President first states the facts; then he says:

"The proceedings in the second instance for the formation of a State government having differed in time and mode from those specified in the act of March 21, 1864, I have declined to issue the proclamation for which provision is made by the fifth section of the law, and therefore submit the question for the consideration and further action of Congress."

That is all. No opinion is expressed by him, no intimation expressed by him. The President could issue no proclamation upon that proceeding out in Colorado. The law did not authorize it; it was not justified by any law either of the General Government or of the Territorial Legislature; it was an irregular proceeding, a party proceeding, gotten up by the chairmen of the committees of the different political parties of the Territory, and the election was not such as is usually held. Delegates to the convention were appointed by county conventions, as if you were appointing delegates to a political convention in a State or Territory. It has none of that regularity which we expect in such grave proceedings when a State is to be brought into the Union.

But, Mr. President, it is not proper now to discuss the merits of the question. In the absence of any sufficient reason why the bill should not be considered, I think it is due to the importance of the question, to the impor tance of any executive communication, that we should consider it at an early day. If the Senate decides otherwise, I am individually entirely

content.

ate.

Mr. WADE. I did not intend to say any thing more about this matter, but the Senator from Indiana has insinuated that I have vacillated a good deal on this question. I agree that my course upon it has not been entirely what would seem consistent to one unacquainted with all the facts of the case. I voted against this bill at first, and on the reconsideration I voted for it. I gave no reasons for my last vote, because I do not care so much about giving reasons generally for the course I take here. I suppose that my reasons are to be judged by my votes. My votes always manifest the strongest reasons. Whoever searches the record will find my opinions much oftener from my votes than from anything I say in the Sen But I think I had very good reason in this case to change my vote between the time I first voted against the bill and afterward on the reconsideration voted for it. Although I was upon the committee that reported the bill, and endeavored to obtain all the facts within my reach, I found that I had not got hold of all the facts that really existed in the case, when the bill was reported. When the bill was reported I differed from the other members of the committee on Territories who thought that there were sufficient reasons for permitting the State to come in. But after that vote was given we had a great deal of additional light thrown upon the subject from the records of the different departments of this Government showing the population to be greater than was supposed when the bill was first up, and when that vote was given, and that the wealth and the ability of the Territory to maintain a State government were infinitely greater than any member of the Senate had before supposed. I believe the fact to be that no Territory in the West had shown at the time of its admission as a State a greater amount of wealth or equaled the amount of taxation paid in this Territory.

I shall detain the Senate but a moment fur ther, for I am not going to argue the question nor enter into a lengthy explanation as to my votes on the subject. I wish simply to ask whether ever before in the history of this Government there was a veto by a President of a bill for the admission of a State. You may trace every Administration from the time that States were first admitted till now, and this is the first instance when an Administration has seem fit to veto a bill which Congress had passed admitting a State into this Union. There has been no uniformity in regard to the practice of Congress in the admission of new States, and consequently they have been admitted sometimes with a larger and sometimes with a smaller population, and that has hardly formed any criterion. It has been said, and I think properly said, as a general thing, there should be about population enough for a Representative in Congress; but that rule has not been adhered to; we have vacillated one way and the other just as the circumstances of the case seemed to require. But the question is one peculiarly within the jurisdiction of Congress, and less than any other within the province and obser vation of the President of the United States. This is the first instance where the people of a Territory wanted to come into the Union and where Congress had passed an enabling act for that purpose, that the President has turned round and put his veto upon the bill for their admission, so as to keep them out. You can not find any other instance in which it has been done, and you will probably never find one again. We have not been very exacting of the Territories when they desired to become States. Generally, whenever the people of a Territory have come together and said they were able to maintain a State government, Congress has

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