the general character of our documents is such as I have stated. Some of these documents perhaps are not valuable, are not published perhaps with very much discretion; but still there is a very broad distinction between the publication of documents of that character at the public expense and the purchase of books of a general character applicable as well to a State Legislature as to Congress, to the lawyer in his office and the private student as to a Senator.

Such is the character of this book. It is a good book, and could be studied with profit by everybody, but it does not pertain peculiarly to Congress. It contains information that everybody ought to have; that members of the Senate ought to possess in order to enable them to discharge their duties well. But, sir, there are thousands of books, as was suggested by the Senator from Vermont, works on geography, works of science of various kinds, that it would be important for us to possess and to understand; but should we purchase at public expense books of that kind | because we need them and because we ought to know what they contain? If so, we should be furnished with libraries at the public expense. In my opinion the purchase of books of this kind cannot be justified.

The Senator from Illinois says that this book will not sustain itself if Congress does not help it. Then, like other books, it will go out of print. There are thousands of good books that fail; but books of real value, as a general thing, sustain themselves in this country; they are profitable. So many copies of them are sold that it is wholly unnecessary for the Government to come in and aid the publisher or author. If we need this book we ought to buy it at our own expense, just as we would buy a work on geography or geology or mineralogy

The Senator from Illinois [Mr. TRUMBULL] says that we ought to republish the Constitution. Sir, there is another book that the members of this Senate need about as badly as they do the Constitution, and that is the New Testament. I have seen a recent publication of Commentaries on the New Testament, said to be in a very compact and excellent form, and novel in its character. We, individually, need that book as much as we do this, and there would be just as much propriety in buying it at the expense of the Government as there would be in buying this book, especially at this time; but who would think of doing that?

Mr. President, let us set the example of retrenchment in every reasonable form. I do not mean to retrench expenses where they are necessary, to adopt the penny-wise and poundfoolish system of economy; but where there are expenses that are not legitimate in their character, and can be well and properly dispensed with, we ought to dispense with them. This is only $15,000; but we have no right to expend it in this direction.

Something was said about supporting the fine arts. Well, sir, there are two ways of doing that. The appropriation that we have made of $10,000 for a work of art may turn out to be valuable hereafter. At the present time, I believe, it is generally the subject of ridicule.

Mr. President, I am utterly opposed to this amendment. If we need this book let us buy it, as we would any other book that is important to us; and let the people buy it, as probably a great many of them will do; but the idea of our purchasing ten thousand copies of a new work on the Constitution containing commentaries, notes, and references to authorities on that subject. it seems to me, is entirely improper.

He says

Mr. STEWART. Mr. President, the remarks of the Senator from Indiana [Mr. MORTON] induce me to suggest some reasons, which, if he will reflect upon, I think he will agree to, why this appropriation should pass. there is no more reason for buying this work than for buying the New Testament; and he tries to show us that is out of our line altogether. Now, I recollect that we passed a bill a year or two ago for the codification of the

statutes, which is a precisely analogous work to this, and we received a communication from the codifiers this morning. Suppose some private individual had codified the statutes thoroughly, just as we find the decisions on the Constitution codified and arranged in this work, and offered it to us at fifty per cent. or ten per cent. less than the usual cost, would it not be legitimate for us to buy it? It is just as important to us to have the practice of the Government under the Constitution, and the decisions upon the Constitution before us in a convenient shape

as it is to have the statutes codified.

This work has been done, well done, better done than a commission would have done it; and the question now is, after it has been done, a work which we ourselves would have ordered, whether we shall purchase some copies of it.

If it were an original question, after Hickey's Constitution and Digest had gone out of print, and much new matter of construction of the Constitution had come up and needed arrangement, and there had been a proposition to appoint three gentlemen to codify and arrange the authorities and decisions, I think it would meet with the approbation of the Senate. I think it is quite as important as the codification of the laws. It is just as important for us to know what have been the decisions of the different departments on the Constitution as it is to have the statutes codified and arranged. It is a work of great labor; and it has been admirably done by a gentleman of great ability, better than a commission would have done it; and the question now is whether we shall give this work some encouragement by purchasing a few copies. It is a work that will not obtain the circulation that it ought to obtain without some appropriation from Congress. It is more useful for members of Congress than for any one else. It ought to be circulated in the libraries. It is of great importance that the people should know what the Constitution is and how it has been regarded by dif ferent departments of the Government, and how its provisions have been construed. Inasmuch as this work, which we would have authorized in the beginning, has been accomplished by the private enterprise of an eminent man, it seems to me it does not fall under the same head as ordinary publications. That was my opinion when the subject was before the Com mittee on the Judiciary, and I think so still. I think there is a distinction between it and other published works which do not relate so materially to the carrying on of the Government. To understand the construction of the || Constitution every department of the Government must have some knowledge. Let us have some means of obtaining knowledge in carrying on these different departments. We need it for practical use as much as we do the statutes, and it is quite as important. If we had made this codification it would have cost us ten times as much as it will to get it in the way that is now proposed.

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. Until the gentleman from Nevada made his remarks on this amendment, I could not understand why it was brought here from the Judiciary Committee, and I am not able to see now why they should have selected this particular book rather than half a dozen other books. We have a small epitome or digest of Story's Commentaries on the Constitution. Then there is Sheppard's small work upon the Constitution, and Wilson's, and some half a dozen other books just like this. Mr. STEWART.

like this.

None of those books are

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. Perhaps the covers are of a different color. Mr. STEWART. No; the contents are not alike.

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. They are on the same subject, and the only question is as to which is the best on the same subject. A majority of the committee have decided that this was the proper book for us to select and publish at the expense of the Government. It looks to me as though it was a

matter of injustice to others who have written on this subject, for it gives a sort of monopoly to this particular book. It gives an advantage certainly to this author which those who have charge of the publication of Story's Work or Sheppard's Work or Wilson's Work will not have, because it comes with the approbation of the Government.

Then, again, I see no reason why this book should be published and sent abroad at the expense of the Government any more than the statutes should be. Why should not Congress on the same principle publish the entire body of our statutes and send them out into every school district of the country?

Mr. MORTON. Or Helper's Book.

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. Or Helper's Book. I am inclined to think that would be more help to the country than this will be. I am surprised that my friend from Indiana [Mr. HENDRICKS] should urge this matter, because about a year and a half ago I believe the Constitution was left in almost every village of the West in a famous tour that was made, and Indiana was especially favored in that circulation. [Laughter.]

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. And the flag. Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. Yes, sir; and the flag also, and I am not aware that there is even a picture of the flag in this book. [Laughter.]

Mr. HENDRICKS. Does the Senator indorse that view of the Constitution?

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. No; I think it is a spurious edition; but many of the people of the West have been indoctrinated in that view of the Constitution, and it might be better, perhaps, to give them a better edition of the work.

Mr. President, the principle upon which we have published the agricultural reports and the reports of our exploring expeditions is a very different one. The material which enters into the agricultural report is collected by the Government itself, and cannot be collected by any individual or society, and that material is digested and put into the form of a book, and then sent all over the country for the advantage of the agricultural interests of the country. So these great exploring expeditions are always accompanied by men of science who collect the materials of science; those materials are taken and digested and put into form by some men of science; and then circulated at the public expense, simply because no individual, and no number of individuals, could 'collect that material or circulate it at their own expense. Every interest of science is advanced by that circulation, and the whole country is benefited. But there is no earthly reason why this book should be sent abroad at the public expense any more than fifty others. Why should not the United States Senate pass au amendment to this bill that the Government should publish some of the editions of the spelling-book, Webster's, for instance, or Worcester's edition of the spelling book, because it is better than any other spelling book which has ever been published, and, therefore, send it forth at the public expense? I am entirely opposed to this thing. We publish too many books at the public expense.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I do not feel very strongly about this matter any way, and I hardly know that I should feel called upon to say anything in regard to it, if it were not moved as it is by the Senator from Illinois, who admonished me yesterday that I was in danger of appearing neglectful, to say the least, to the Senate and to my duties to this bill by allowing amendments to be made without an attempt to resist them.

But I do not rise in that spirit even now to resist this, simply because the Senator from Illinois has offered it, or because it is an amendment to the appropriation bill; for I do not conceive it to be my duty to stand here with a bludgeon to strike at every thing because it is proposed upon an appropriation bill. But, sir, I doubt somewhat whether this proposition fulfills any of the conditions that have been

required in the purchasing of books, or making publications of books for distribution. The Senator from Illinois puts it upon the only ground which could address itself to the Senate; and that is that this work is useful for us in the discharge of our duties. I am aware that copies of books have sometimes been purchased by both branches for the use of individual members; but I believe not to this extent. Here it is proposed to purchase ten thousand copies, and that would imply a distribution of the work. Certainly if it is to be limited to the uses of individual members, this number is much too large. I hardly think it will be found, on careful examination, that this book, although one of decided merit, commends itself so strongly that we can say that it is absolutely a matter of necessity to us, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, to enable us properly to discharge the duties of our offices. It does not strike me that even that argument is particularly forcible.

The ground upon which the other Senator from Illinois [Mr. YATES] puts it, I hardly think is tenable. Certainly we have never heretofore established any precedent of that sort, that it is proper for the Congress of the United States to purchase books published outside of Congress for popular distribution. That, I think, would be establishing a precedent not to be favored by Congress, and certainly I think it would not be tolerated by the people. Then I suggest to my honorable friend that, valuable as this book may be, it addresses itself not to the popular heart, not to the popular judgment. It furnishes a kind of information most useful to certain classes, and not to the people at large. It is most useful to professional meu, lawyers particularly, and statesmen in a general way. The idea of publishing such a book as that to meet a popular demand, as stated by the Senator from Illinois, would not be precisely what I think the people would expect. But, sir, I am opposed entirely to the idea of purchasing the books of any author for popular distribution. I do not believe it is warranted by any precedent; nor can I understand how it can be warranted in the nature of our Government on principle.

The only other ground upon which we distributed publications to the people in the shape of books is, that they are either official or offcially connected with us, or officially or politically connected with the transactions of the Government; such as exploring expeditions. We have published many books on the explorations of the country; but those stand upon entirely different grounds. They are connected with the transactions of the Government, and it may very well be supposed that the people take a deep interest in the transactions of the Government; but it must be remembered that all those publications have been on a very limited scale. So, I repeat, to say all that I design to say, that I do not believe this proposition fulfills any of the three conditions upon which it is possible to conceive that under any circumstances it is proper to publish books for distribution.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The ques tion is on the amendment offered by the Senator from Illinois from the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 13, nays 21; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Cole, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Hendricks, Johnson. Nye, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, and Yates-13.

NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Cattell, Conkling, Cragin, Davis, Doolittle, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Howard, Howe, McCreery, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Ross, Tipton, Vickers, and Williams-21.

ABSENT-Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Cameron, Chandler, Conness, Corbett, Dixon, Fowler, Grimes. Henderson, McDonald, Norton, Patterson of Now Hampshire, Patterson of Tennessee, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Rice, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Thayer, and Wilson-22.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I ask leave to lay on the table an amendment which I propose to

Mr. TRUMBULL. I have another amend ment to offer. Before doing so, I wish to state that I received from the Attorney General ad interim, a communication so late last evening that I have not had time to give notice to the Committee on Appropriations of the amendments which he asks to have made to this bill in reference to the Attorney General's office; and if the Senator from Maine, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, considers it his duty to object to them, of course they cannot be considered. I will state what they are. The Senator from Maine, it will be observed, has taken pains in the other Departments of the Government, particularly in the Treasury Department, to correct the bill which he says was framed upon the basis of the business in those Departinents before the war, by put ting in the number of clerks that now exist there; but in the Attorney General's office he has omitted to do that. The number of clerks has been reduced, and the amount of money appropriated for the contingent expenses of the Department, for wood, fuel, labor, &c., has also been reduced. I have a communication from the Attorney General ad interim, stating that the office cannot get along with the force which is allowed to it by the bill, and that there will be a necessity for employing special counsel, and that the $5,000 for fuel and other expenses will be insufficient, and recommending that those appropriations be increased; and I will offer those amendments unless the Senator from Maine, having the bill in charge, objects for the want of notice. If he does, they cannot be offered. One proposition would be-I will make it in form so that the Senator from Maine can understand it-to add two clerks of class one; and another would be to increase the sum of $5,000 for fuel, labor, furniture, stationery, and miscellaneous items to $9,000. This is recommended by the Attorney General. I will make that motion if the Senator does not raise the question of order. If he does, the amendment cannot be offered.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment will be received, if there be no objection.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I desire to say a word about that. All the clerks in that Department that were estimated for but two are in the bill.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Yes; and the Attorney General says that those two which are omitted are necessary; and he also says that this $5,000 appropriation is insufficient.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The committee had but one rule, of course, about it.

Mr. TRUMBULL. It seems that they dropped these clerks out, and have also reduced the estimate. I have no interest in it, I wish to say, at all. This letter was addressed to me, I suppose, because I was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, stating these facts. Perhaps I had better have it read.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Where does the Senator find the sum for contingent expenses reduced?

Mr. TRUMBULL. The sum recommended, as is stated in this communication from the Attorney General, was $9,000, and it is $5,000 in the bill.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. But the Senate committee did not reduce it. The Senate committee took it as it came from the House.

Mr. TRUMBULL. The Senate committee took upon itself to correct the House bill in reference to the other Departments, but has not done so in reference to this Department.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The Senate committee acted upon this principle: Where there was a discretion, and the House had exercised it, the Senate committee did not undertake to exercise a discretion against the House committee, unless upon evidence furnished by the Department which satisfied them that the House had not exercised a sound discretion. Our attention was not called to this item to which

the Senator now addresses my attention. I do not think we had any information on that subject. If the Attorney General had communicated to the Committee on Appropriations what he has communicated to the Judiciary Committee I do not doubt that we should have entertained the proposition and considered it. Under these circumstances, whether I ought to enforce the rule as against the Senator I hardly know. It is not a rule for my personal privilege. Any Senator can object who thinks that the case requires objection. To show that the committee did not act without proper information on the subject, I hold in my hand a communication from the Attorney General's office on this subject, in which may be found these words:

"The clerioal force allowed for the next fiscal year is sufficient for the ordinary routine work of the Department, but would be insufficient should any calls be made upon it similar to the calls for pardon reports by Congress during the present year."

This is the information we had from that Department under date of March 16, 1868.

Mr. TRUMBULL. But the Senator will see that the bill does not allow the force that has existed; it strikes out two clerks. Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. This communication has special reference to this bill; it says "the clerical force allowed."

Mr. TRUMBULL. Not allowed by the bill, but by law, I suppose, is what is meant.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. No, sir, allowed by the bill as it passed the House; and it further says in regard to the Attorney General's office :

"The sum allowed for contingent expenses, namely, for fuel, labor, &c., $5,000, may suffice with the most rigid economy."

That is what the committee ought to enforce, I submit. I think we are right, and therefore I feel obliged to invoke the rule on this amend

ment.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment cannot be received except by unanimous consent, without notice being given.

Mr. CATTELL. I move to amend the bill on page 44, line one thousand and eighty-one, as per memorandum that I send to the Clerk.

The Chief Clerk read the amendment, which was on page 44, line one thousand and eightyone, to strike out the word "six" before "thousand," and after "thousand" to strike out the words "five hundred," and at the end of the clause to insert the following proviso:

Provided, That from and after the 1st day of July, 1868, the annual compensation of the weighing clerk shall be $2,500, and the compensation of the calculating, accounting, and warrant clerks shall be $2,000 each.

So that the clause will read :

Mint at Philadelphia:

For salaries of the Director, treasurer, assayer, melter and refiner, chief coiner and engraver, assistant assayer, and seven clerks, $39,000: Provided, That from and after the 1st day of July, 1868, the annual compensation of the weighing clerk shall be $2,500, and the compensation of the calculating, accounting, and warrant clerks shall be $2,000 each.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I will take the oppor tunity, while that amendment is under consideration, to say a word about the amendment which I proposed and which the Senator from Maine considered it his duty to object to. On looking at the paper which he read, I find it purports to be a letter from the chief clerk, Mr. Pleasants, to the Attorney General. The letter to which I referred is from the Attorney General; and it will be seen, if the Senator will look a little more carefully at the letter which he himself had, that it refers to the Assistant Attorney General for information upon the subject; so that there is no contradiction at all between the letter of the Attorney General and any other letter that the Attorney General has written, as there is but the one letter, and that is simply a letter from a clerk. I do not know that I properly discharge my duty in the matter without having the Attorney General's letter read, because he goes at some length in this communication into the facts to show the absolute necessity to the Government of increasing these appropriations. He states that he is there ad interim merely, and that a

new officer will soon come in, and that it will involve a very large expense to the Government in the employment of special counsel to carry on its business unless some appropriation is made. I wish the Senate, and the Senator from Maine, who objects to my amendments being considered, to understand the facts in case we should hereafter have any controversy about it.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I will state another fact for the information of the Senator from Illinois. I understand that letter to be from the chief clerk, but the chief clerk represents the office, and that communication was sent to us by the Attorney General himself, and I have the letter in my hand, in which he communicates that letter as stating the needs

of his office.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amend ment of the Senator from Illinois being objected to, the question is on the amendment of the Senator from New Jersey, [Mr. CATTELL.]

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I should like to have it explained, so that we may know precisely what it means.

Mr. CATTELL. The amendment which I offer is an advance in the salary of some of the clerks holding responsible positions in the Mint at Philadelphia. The salaries of these clerks at Philadelphia. The salaries of these clerks

They are there on precisely the same salaries that they were at that time, while in almost all the governmental departments, as is well known, the salaries have been increased. The salaries of these clerks now are $1,500 per and they are obliged to give bond and annum, hold very responsible positions, the weigh clerk having sometimes from five to eight million dollars of bullion in his charge, and passing through his hands in a single year $69,000,000 of bullion. The compensation paid to these gentlemen, who are under bond and who have such responsible positions, is less than that of a third-class clerk in any of the Departments in Washington. The advance in these salaries is recommended by the assistant treasurer of the Mint at Philadelphia, Mr. McKib bin, indorsed by the Director of the Mint, Mr. Linderman, in a letter which I hold in my hand, and warmly indorsed by the Secretary of the Treasury himself, Mr. McCulloch. These letters may be read, if any Senator desires to hear them.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Are you instructed to move the amendment by a committee?

Mr. CATTELL. No, sir. My attention was called to this subject too late to have it included in the Finance Committee's report. It was spoken of in the Committee on Finance, and met with no objection there, but was too late to be included in their report. The chairman of the Committee on Appropriations will remember that I called his attention to the subject. I gave him the notification required.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Yes; that was all right.

Mr. CATTELL. I exhibited the papers to him, and we talked the subject over, and my

belief at that time was that I had made an impression on his generosity.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Decidedly, as a matter of generosity, I have no doubt you established the case; but if you have not the recommendation of a committee, I submit whether you are not out of order. You can move it at some other stage, having obtained their consent. I hope the Senator will allow it to pass over now.

Mr. CATTELL. Very well.

Mr. WILLIAMS. If that matter is dropped for the present, I offer the following amendment, to come in at the end of line five hundred and fifty-five, on page 23:

But the Special Commissioner of the Revenue shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, act as superintendent of the division in the office of said Secretary created by the thirteenth section of the act approved July 27, 1868, entitled An act to protect the revenue, and for other purposes," and called the Bureau of Statistics; and the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint one division clerk, at the same salary as a head of division, in the office

of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who shall act as deputy to the said Special Commissioner of the Revenucin respect to the said bureau, and exercise in his absence all powers belonging to him as such superintendent, except the franking privilege; and the office of director of the Bureau of Statistics is hereby abolished.

I will make a brief explanation, at the suggestion of the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. This amendment proposes to abolish the office of the Bureau of Statistics and to transfer the duties of that bureau to the Special Commissioner of Revenue, and it provides that the Secretary of the Treasury may designate one clerk with the salary of a heed of a division to act as chief clerk of this bureau, under the direction of the Special Commissioner of the Revenue. Some time ago this subject was referred to the Committee on Retrenchment and examined by that committee, and they instructed me as a member of the committee to report this measure as a bill to the Senate. Afterward it was referred to the Committee on Finance, and I am also instructed by that committee to report it as an amendment to the appropriation bill, and recommend that it be passed. According to the judgment of both of those committees it will save expense to the Government and tend to facilitatate the transaction of that business in a more satisfactory manner to the country.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. STEWART. I wish to offer an amendment in addition to the amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN] yesterday, and which was adopted. I move to insert after the word "Treasury," in the sixth line of that amendment, the words "and the Commissioner of the General Land Office." Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. That is not now in order, I take it.

Mr. STEWART. This is the amendment that was spoken of last night.

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN in the chair.) The amendment is not in order at present. It will be in order after the bill shall have been reported to the Senate.

Mr. HARLAN. I desire to know on what ground the proposition is ruled out. I had a similar amendment to offer.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. You can move it in the Senate. That amendment has been acted upon in committee.

Mr. HARLAN. It is an amendment to an amendment, which amendment has been acted on heretofore.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The amendment of the Senator from Ohio having been adopted in committee, it can only be amended in the Senate.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment offered by the Senator from Nevada will be in order when the bill comes into the Senate.

Mr. RAMSEY. I should like to inquire of the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations whether I am in order now in moving to increase the salary of the Assistant Postmasters General from $3,500 to $4,500, making it equal to that of the Comptrollers of the Treasury? It would come in properly on page 41, line nine hundred and eighty-four.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. offered in the Senate perhaps. reported to the Senate.

of the Comptrollers and Auditors of the Treas ury, in order that I may move to amend it hereafter.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. That amendment will be excepted. If no other amendment be excepted the question is on concurring in the other amendments made as in Commit tee of the Whole.

The amendments were concurred in.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ques tion now is on concurring in the excepted amendment.

Mr. WILSON. I should like to have that amendment read.

The Chief Clerk read the amendment, which was to insert as an additional section the following:

SEC. And be it further enacted, That from and after the 30th day of June, 1868, the annual salaries of the Comptrollers of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Customs shall be $4,500 each; of the Solicitor, the Auditors, the Register, and the supervising architect of the Treasury, $4,000 each, and the additional amount necessary to pay the increase of salaries provided for by this section be, and the same is hereby, appropriated.

Mr. STEWART. I now move to amend that amendment by inserting after the word "Treas ury," in the sixth line, the words "and the Commissioner of the General Land Office."

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. How much does that give him?

Mr. STEWART. Four thousand dollars. Mr. HARLAN. The salary of the Commissioner of the General Land Office is now $3,000, and if the amendment proposed by the Senator from Nevada should be adopted it will put it on the same basis with the salaries of the Auditors of the Treasury. They are now, as I understand, $3,000 each. Formerly the General Land Office was a part of the Treasury Department, was a bureau in the Treasury Department, and when the salary of the Auditors was fixed the salary of the Commissioner of the General Land Office was fixed, many years ago; I suppose more than half a century since. If it is proper to increase the salary of the Auditors on account of the increased business and the change in the value of money, it certainly is equally proper to increase the salary of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Mr. THAYER. I desire to add that if the salary of any officer is to be increased the salary of the Commissioner of the General Land Office ought to be. In my judgment there is no department of this Government managed with greater efficiency and greater thoroughness, and none in which the business is discharged more satisfactorily than the Land Office. I think the Commissioner is one of the most thorough, efficient, and accomplished officers under the Government.

Mr. RAMSEY. I say ditto to all that the Senator from Nebraska has said; but in addition to that, I think at the same time when the salaries of the Auditors and Comptrollers of the Treasury are raised the salaries of the three Assistant Postmasters General ought also to be raised. They are gentlemen of high charac tter, and their duties are laborious and constantly increasing. No other Department of the Government is so steadily growing as the Post Office Department. Then, again, it is a Department that brings into the Treasury all that it costs to the Government, and therefore there is no impropriety whatever in giving to these officers the same compensation that is granted to officers of similar grade in other Departments.

That can be Let the bill be

Mr. RAMSEY. Very well. The bill was reported to the Senate as amended.

Mr. RAMSEY. Now I move to amend the bill on page 41, line nine hundred and eightyfour, by striking out "three" and inserting "four," and in the same line striking out "ten" before thousand" and inserting "fourteen ;" so that it will read, "Three Assistant Postmasters General at $4,500 each, $14,500."

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The first question will be on concurring in the amendments made as in Committee of the Whole. Shall they be taken in gross or separately?

Mr. HARLAN. I desire to have a separate vote on the amendment of the Committee on Finance relating to the increase of the salaries

Mr. THAYER. I agree with the Senator, and will cheerfully vote for that proposition.

Mr. CONNESS. The question of adding to the salaries of the Assistant Postmasters General is not now before the Senate. When that comes before the Senate of course we shall consider it. I do not understand the propriety of an argument on that which may convince the Senate that they ought not to vote for the amendment now proposed. I wish each to stand upon its own merits.

Now, sir, I desire to say in addition to what

The present incumbent is competent. When he shall go out you certainly cannot get a competent person to take the office at $3,000 with its additional labors. The labors are now more complicated and much increased over what they were formerly. That office being a striking example of this insufficiency of pay, and knowing something about the duties of the office, I have offered this amendment.

I concur with the Senator from Maine that other officers who are equally meritorious, if there are such, and I presume there are several of them, ought to be relieved. I think it should be done in every case where it is manifestly just; but we ought not to put this off on that account. They can be put on some other bill, and let this bill go through with this amendment.

Mr. FESSENDEN. There is just as much justice in putting them on here as there is for putting on this case.

Mr. STEWART. There may be.

Mr. HARLAN. I do not wish to be misapprehended here. I advocate the Senator's amendment; but I gave notice last evening that I would move to-day to amend the bill so as to put the Commissioner of Pensions and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on the same basis. There is, as the Senator from Maine has justly observed, the same reason for it.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Why not include the Assistant Secretary also?

Mr. HARLAN. I have an amendment to increase his salary to the same as is here allowed to the Comptrollers, $4,500. Mr. President, the salary of the Commissioner of Pensions (although that is not now strictly in order) was fixed, I suppose, at the same time that the salary of the Comptrollers was fixed, when the disbursements from that bureau amounted to but a few thousand dollars a year. They now amount to more than thirty millions annually The office has increased from a dozen or so of clerks to three or four hundred clerks. If there is any propriety in increas ing the pay of any of these officers there is a propriety in increasing the pay of the Commissioner of Pensions; and I intend to make that motion, if this amendment should carry, and I think it ought to carry, if the amendment of the committee is to prevail.

The Senator from Maine said he was not in favor of doing things by piece meal. That is the reason, I suppose, that the Senator from Nevada has offered his amendment. It will be my reason for offering the amendment that I propose to offer. If the pay of the heads of bureaus in any one of the Departments is to be increased because the present salary is insufficient, then the pay of the heads of bureaus in other Departments, where the labor is equally great, and where the salary is insufficient, ought to be increased. I am of the opinion personally that this is the better way to add the twenty per cent., to give to those whose labors justify the increase. I have no doubt that the pay of some of the clerks ought to be increased; but I do not believe that it ought to be increased in that mode, by adding a per cent. to the whole. As I have observed in the Senate heretofore, I believe that that pay should be given which will command the services required. The same rule should be established in regard to the performance of labor for the Government that is established in employing people to do labor for private individuals. A sufficient salary should be given to command the services demanded.

While I am on my feet, I may remark in relation to the Commissioner of Pensions, as it will save me the trouble of rising again, that there is a case where the Commissioner did resign and left the office on account of the insufficiency of his pay, and an abler officer and a purer man perhaps has never served the Government. He resigned and left the office and returned to private life, where he can make more money by the performance of less labor. There is at this time no Commissioner of Pensions in existence. The chief clerk at present is performing the duties of that office. I do not know whether the President finds it impos

sible to get a man fit for the place to take that office at the present pay or not; but it has been vacant for some time.

Perhaps I might make the same remarks with great propriety in relation to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Mr. TIPTON. I have said not one word during the progress of these investigations; but if it is a fact, as the Senator from Iowa has just asserted, that gentlemen receiving such salaries as are received by the commissioners are retiring on account of the inadequacy of the support, I wish to suggest that it is also a fact known to every Senator here that there are thousands of men in all these Departments who are absolutely suffering for want of adequate pay, men who have just as heavy family expenses, who have just as heavy expenses relative to the education of their children, as those gentlemen receiving larger pay, and who are undoubtedly in many cases induced to resign on account of the inadequacy of their support. I trust, therefore, that if we continue to increase the salaries of those who have now the higher grade of pay, it will be with the distinct understanding that we shall not slacken our hands until we have done ample and adequate justice to all the employés of the Government. And if I was satisfied that such was the determination of the Senate, and that an increase could in some proper and legitimate and safe manner be made to the pay of the clerks throughout the Departments generally, I would most heartily indorse all these propositions which seem to be fragmentary and very unsatisfactory in the mode of accomplishing the general result.

In regard to the case of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, I desire to say, and it was especially for the purpose of making a remark on that point that I rose, that having known him for seventeen years very intimately, having served with him for three years in the Land Office many years ago, I should not be doing my duty toward him, I should be stifling all the better feelings of my nature, if I did not aver in the presence of these gentlemen who have so much knowledge on the subject of the efficiency of officers that I believe there is no more efficient officer in connection with the Government in the city of Washington than the Commissioner of the General Land Office. A more laborious man I have never known; and undoubtedly it has been his pride not only to discharge the daily duties devolved upon him, but to make himself a first-rate lawyer; and as a land lawyer I apprehend that he has nothing to ask of any gentleman connected with the Government, or perhaps connected with Congress, in any respect. As to his willingness to work it exceeds almost his ability, if that were possible. Certainly if there is an officer who deserves any advance in his pay it must be the Commissioner of the General Land Office; and I say nothing disparagingly of any other of the gentlemen occupying analogous positions, for my acquaintance with them, and the intricacy of the duties which they perform, is not so great, or perhaps I should say the same in regard to them.

I therefore desire to see the amendment prevail. and I trust we will resolve when we are dealing with this subject by piece-meal that we will also do it in detail, and do justice before we adjourn to all the employés of the Govern

ment.

Mr. WILSON. I ask for the yeas and nays on this question.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. CONKLING. Before voting on this proposition, I wish to submit an observation. The proposition is to pay a number of officers here described $4,000 a year in lieu of $3,000, which they now receive. Their compensation as it is is as large as that paid in many States to the judges of the highest courts in those States, and my inclination is to believe, if that were the question which I wished to discuss, that the compensation is not now inadequate. I waive that, however, for the purpose of coming to the question whether an amendment of

this sort is wise to correct the evil, if it be true that some of these men are inadequately paid.

The Assistant Postmasters General, for example, stands here now in a predicament in which no addition can be made for them without violating the rules of the Senate, because no notice of such an amendment has been given; and the same thing is true with regard to a number of officers of similar grade. Therefore, to justify this amendment entirely, I submit that we must find in it an enumeration of those persons in whose case especially this hardship exists. Is that true, Mr. President, of this amendment? The way to determine its truth is to take particular officers, and not to consider all these persons together. I will take now the case of the Register of the Treasury, and I refer only to what the public prints have said, and therefore not to what is known in executive session, when I state that recently the incumbent of this office evinced a very great disposition to obtain it and hold it. It was a marked instance of activity and enterprise in the acquisition of office. Indeed, I believe I shall not trench upon executive secrets if I say that the departmental history of the Govern ment furnishes but few examples of such agility, of such dexterity, in obtaining office and a commission to office as were exhibited in this case, because the public knows that after the newspapers of the city recorded a motion to reconsider his confirmation a commission was obtained and carried through its various stages and lodged in the hands of the person of whom I am speaking, and he took an oath to enter upon the discharge of the duties of the office, so as, if possible, to close the door against any challenge of his right to hold the office.

This occurred, I think, about two months ago. The Senator from Vermont [Mr. EDMUNDS] perhaps will remember more accurately than I do when it was. I think it was not more than two months ago; and now, after the lapse of that brief interval, at the commencement of which this gentleman was so ready and so eager to obtain this office, at a compensation then fixed by law, we propose to add $1,000 to him. Upon what principle? Will any Senator say that there is danger of his resigning because by turning to the quiet paths of private life he can make more money in some other way? Will any Senator, without disparaging him, tell the Senate that $3,000 a year is not a compensation full and ample for his services, no matter in what direction they are devoted? Why, then, should he be put higher, why should he be singled out and placed upon a roll on which the Commissioner of the Land Office, the First, Second, and Third Assistant Postmasters General, and others whom I might mention do not appear, and to

be decorated

Mr. WILSON. He must have a great deal of work to do, it appears, because he appoints a great many clerks.

Mr. CONKLING. I know a statement has been read here that this gentleman found cast upon him among the first of his duties the necessity of appointing, I believe, thirteen men and one hundred and seventeen women as clerks at an expense, as I understood the Senator from New Hampshire to state, amounting to $109,000 a year, and that sum to be paid out of the money appropriated to defray the expenses of loans. I do not know but that just as it stands is satisfactory to persons who know more about it than I do; but persons outside of this Chamber who think they know a great deal about it, and who have spent time investigating it, are greatly dissatisfied, without being I think partisans in the matter. Now, Mr. President, this amendment involves one ingredient to which I wish to call attention. The other day in Committee of the Whole the Senate imported into this bill the provision which had expired giving a large sum of money to the Secretary of the Treasury with which to pay temporary clerks. Seeing that it was to be adopted, as everybody saw, I consoled myself, and audibly expressed the consolation that I felt that the amendment then proposed had