Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

and insert "two clerks," and to strike out "$1,800" and insert "$3,800;" in line seven hundred and eighty-six, to strike out "one clerk and insert "two clerks ;" in line seven hundred and eighty-seven, to strike out "$1,600" and insert$3,200;" in line seven hundred and eighty-eight, to strike out two" and insert "four," and to strike ont "$2,800" and insert "$5,600;" in line seven hundred and eighty-nine, to strike out "four" and insert 66 twenty-five;" and in line seven hundred and ninety, to strike out "$4,800" and insert "$30,000;" so as to make the clause read:

Office of the Surgeon General:

For two clerks of class four, $3.600; for two clerks of class three, $3,200; for four clerks of class two, $5,600; for twenty-five clerks of class one, $30,000; for one messenger, $1,000; one laborer, $720.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line seven hundred and ninety-four, to strike out "three" and insert "four," and to strike out "$5,400" and insert "$7,200;" in line seven hundred and ninety-six, to strike out "four" and insert "five" in line seven hundred and ninetyseven, to strike out "$5,600" and insert "$7,000;" in line seven hundred and ninetyeight, to strike out "three" and insert five,' and to strike out “$3,600” and insert "$6,000;" so as to make the clause read:

Office of the Chief Engineer:

For four clerks of class four, $7.200; for four clerks of class three, $6,100; for five clerks of class two, $7,000 for five clerks of class one, $6,000; for two messengers, at $1,000 each, $2,000; and one laborer, $720.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eight hundred and three, to strike out "one clerk" and insert "four clerks," and to strike out "$1,800" and insert "$7,200;" in line eight hundred and five, to strike out "four" and insert "eight;" in line eight hundred and six, to strike out $5,600" and insert "$11,200 ;' in line eight hundred and seven, to strike out "seven" and insert "twenty ;" in line eight hundred and eight, to strike out " $8,400" and insert " $24,000;" " and after " "dollars," in line eight hundred and nine, to insert "two laborers at $720 each, $1,440;" so as to make the clause read:

Office of Chief of Ordnance:

For four clerks of class four. $7.200; for one clerk of class three, $1,600; for eight clerks of class two, $11.200; for twenty clerks of class one, $24,000; one messenger, $1,000; two laborers, at $720 each, $1,440.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I move to strike out the clause commencing with line eight hundred and three, on page 33, and ending at line eight hundred and eleven, on page 34, and to insert in lieu of the provision there Imade the words which I send to the Chair. I merely desire to say that my proposition reduces the number of clerks from thirty-three to twenty-five, and reduces the amount of expense nearly four thousand dollars. It is more acceptable to the Chief of Ordnance to have the clerks in his office classified in the manner I propose, as I have a letter from him showing, and I believe it is satisfactory to the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The Senator proposes to strike out all in regard to the ordnance office.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. Yes, sir, and to insert in lieu of it what I have sent to the Chair, and I ask that it be read.

The Chief Clerk read the words proposed to be inserted, as follows:

For chief clerk, $2,000.

For six clerks of class four, $10,800.
For six clerks of class three, $9,600.
For eight clerks of class two, $11.200.
For four clerks of class one, $4,800.
For one messenger, $1,000.

For three laborers, at $720 each, $2,160.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. This proposition may add to the efficiency of the force of that bureau, and if the honorable Senator from Vermont is satisfied of that fact, I shall not complain; but the effect of it is, I believe, simply to change the grade of the clerks, to transfer them from lower to higher grades.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. It gives the

bureau one chief clerk and cuts off a large number of clerks of class one, so as to have but twenty-five clerks in all, and the chief of the bureau prefers that to the arrangement in the bill.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. But then you increase the grades.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. But there is an actual saving of near four thousand dollars. Mr. SHERMAN. The Senator from Vermont proposes to provide an officer for whom there is no authority of law. There is no chief clerk in this office now. I ask if the amendment comes from a committee?

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. It does not. Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Does it not come from the Committee on Military Affairs?

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. No, sir; I merely introduce it on my own motion based upon a letter of the Chief of Ordnance, General Dyer.

Mr. SHERMAN. It is against the rule. Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I think, under the circumstances, I ought to invoke the rule.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Does the rule apply to a reduction of appropriations? Is it not. confined to an increase?

Mr. SHERMAN. This is an increase. Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. No; it is a reduction.

Mr. FESSENDEN. against it.

There is no rule

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The rule does not apply unless the amendment increases the appropriation.

Mr. SHERMAN. It changes the existing law, and is not reported by a committee.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If it increased the appropriation the proposition would not be in order, but the Chair understands that it does not. It is an amendment to an amendment without increasing the amount appropriated. It is, therefore, in order.

Mr. SHERMAN. I am rather surprised that my friend from Vermont should propose this amendment. It raises nearly all the clerks in the bureau of ordnance one grade. It provides for one chief clerk and for six clerks of class four in lieu of four clerks of that class allowed by the Committee on Appropriations, and instead of twenty clerks of class one it proposes only three or four, allowing more of the higher grades. That raises the question we have had so much difficulty about, as to the grade of these employés. Their grade is now fixed by law, and this is not the time to increase it. This application has been made from nearly every bureau in the Treasury Department, and, if it is done in the Ordnance Bureau, complaint will be made, and we shall be compelled again to go over the subject of the grades of the officers in the Treasury Department. We have laid all these applications aside for this session, on the principle that we would not at this time attempt to reorganize the various bureaus.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Has it not already been done in the Treasury Department?

Mr. SHERMAN. Not at all.

Mr. TRUMBULL. This bill does it in some of the bureaus of that Department.

Mr. SHERMAN. The Senator is mistaken about that.

Mr. TRUMBULL. There are various changes made by the committee throughout this bill in the parts of it relating to the Treasury Depart

ment.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Only putting in what was left out.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I see in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury eleven clerks of class four provided for instead of five, and so on throughout there is quite an increase of the number and an increase of the aggregate amount appropriated.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Perhaps I had better state to the Senate precisely how that is. The House of Representatives framed this bill on the basis of the peace establishment anterior to the war, and left out all the clerks

who were denominated war clerks created in 1862, 1863, 1864, and 1865, and who were expected to continue during the exigency caused by the war. The Committee on Appropriations of the Senate having the whole subject before them, the attention of the Departments having been called to it by the action of the other House, came to the conclusion that, in the particulars indicated by the amendments they have reported to this bill, it was not safe to leave out this year those clerks who were appointed for that exigency. So following the appropriations of last year, and following the law authorizing the employment of these clerks during that exigency, we have increased the appropriations to cover those particular clerks appropriated for last year, and also provided for by the statute to which I have referred.

There has been no attempt in this bill to classify any of these Departments; in fact, the Committee on Appropriations have steadily resisted it, and I am inclined to think that the Senator from Vermont will do well not to press his amendment, because it is a classification of one bureau in the War Department for reasons which would apply perhaps to all the Departments. It is simply raising these persons to a higher degree and a larger pay without imposing on them any additional duties.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I am rather surprised, I confess, at the opposition to this amendment. Here is a plain proposition reducing the number of clerks in this bureau from thirty-three to twenty-five, and reducing the absolute amount of expenditure nearly four thousand dollars. What harm, pray, could arise if this practice should be introduced and cover all the Departments? I would be glad to see it done. If we can reduce the force, and reduce the expenditure at the same time, who is to be harmed? Is not the Government benefited? If these officers, as I have no doubt is the case, could make their Departments more efficient by employing men of a different grade, why should we not grant them the authority, and cut off from the lower end? I am perfectly willing.

Mr. SHERMAN. The result would be that next session we should have an application from this same Department for more clerical force, or they would assign temporary clerks to it. I warn the Senator from Vermont that if he opens the door in the Bureau of Ordnance for this kind of reform, as he calls it, he might as well take up the whole subject and open it. As to the Treasury Department, we have a bill here carefully prepared, which does in every bureau of that Department precisely what he proposes now to do as to the Bureau of Ordnance, which proposes to nominally reduce the number and increase the salary by promoting the clerks a grade.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. And reduce the whole expense.

Mr. SHERMAN. It reduces the whole expense nominally; but that, I take it, will be covered up by temporary clerks, and in other

ways.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I have no idea that there will be an application next year for any increase of service. I have merely proposed to change the proposition offered by the Committee on Appropriations. They propose four clerks of class four; I propose six. They propose one clerk of class three; I propose six. They propose eight clerks of class two; I propose the same. They propose twenty clerks of class one; I propose four. Mr. SHERMAN. In other words the amendment promotes them.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I have here a table carefully prepared by the chief clerk of the War Department for the use of the committee, showing precisely what was desirable in this office, and we made the bill conform to it. It will be seen by this table that this bureau has its fair proportion of the higher classes of clerks, and I think it would hardly be fair to the other bureaus to allow this increase of the higher clerkships to be made here. It will certainly lead to a similar appli

cation from the other Departments, and I do not believe it will add one particle to the efficiency of the force.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The ques tion is on the amendment of the Senator from Vermont to the amendment of the Committee on Appropriations.

The amendment to the amendment was rejected.

The amendment of the committee was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eight hundred and fifty-two, after the word "general" to insert "corner of F and Fifteenth streets," and in line eight hundred and fifty-five, to strike out twelve" and insert "fifteen;" so as to make the clause read:

Building occupied by Paymaster General, corner of F and Fifteenth streets:

For superintendent, watchmen, rent, fuel, lights, and miscellaneous items, $15,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eight hundred and seventy-two, to strike out "six" and insert "four" after "dollars," in line eight hundred and seventy-five, to insert "four clerks of the first class, $4,800;" so as to make the clause read:

For compensation of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, $3,500; chief clerk, $2,200; one fourth-class clerk, (also as disbursing clerk,) $2,000; four clerks of the fourth class, $7,200; five clerks of the third class, $8,000; three clerks of the second class, $4,200; four clerks of the first class, $4,800: one messenger, $1,000; one assistant messenger, $840; two laborers, $1,440.

The amendment was agreed to.

66

[ocr errors]

The next amendment was in line eight hundred and eighty-three, to strike out "third," before class," and insert "fourth;" in the same line to strike out $1,600" and insert "$1,800;" after "dollars," in line eight hundred and eighty-four, to insert "two clerks of the third class, $3,200;" in line eight hundred and eighty-five, to strike out "three clerks" and insert one clerk;" and in line eight hundred and eighty-six, to strike out "$4,200" and insert " $1,400;" so as to make the clause read:

66

For compensation of the chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, $3,500; for civil engineer, $2,000; chief clerk, $1,800; cne clerk of the fourth class, $1,800; two clerks of the third class, $3,200; one clerk of the second class, $1,400; one clerk of the first class, $1,200; one draughtsman, $1,400; one messenger, $1,000; two laborers, 1,440.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was after "dollars," in line eight hundred and ninety-four, to insert "one clerk of the fourth class, $1,800;" in line eight hundred and ninety-six, to strike out "second" before "class" and insert "third;" in the same line to strike out "$2,800" and

66

insert "$3,200;" in line eight hundred and ninety-seven, to strike out one clerk" and insert "three clerks," and in the same line to strike out "$1,200" and insert "$3,600;" so as to make the clause read:

For the compensation of the chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. $3,500; chief clerk. $1,800; one elerk of the fourth class, $1,800; two clerks of the third class, $3,200; three clerks of the first class, $3,600; one messenger, $1,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line nine hundred and two, to strike out "second" before "class" and insert "third," and in line nine hundred and three to strike out "$1,400" and insert$1,600;" so as to make the clause read:

For the compensation of the chief of the Bureau of Navigation, $3,500; chief clerk, $1,800; one clerk of the third class, $1,600; one clerk of the first class, $1,200; one messenger, $1,000,

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was after "dollars," m line nine hundred and thirty-one, to insert "one clerk of the fourth class, $1,800; three clerks of the third class, $4,800;" in line nine hundred and thirty-three, to strike out "four" and insert "six;" in line nine hundred and thirty-four, to strike out "$5,600" and insert

66

$7,200;" in line nine hundred and thirtyfive, to strike out "one clerk" and insert "three clerks ;" and in the same line to strike

66

out $1,200" and insert"$3,600;" so as to make the clause read :

For compensation of the chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, $3,500; chief clerk, $1,800; one clerk of the fourth class, $1,800; three clerks of the third class, $4,800; six clerks of the second class, $7.200; three clerks of the first class, $3,600; one messenger, $1,000; one laborer, $725.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in lines nine hundred and forty-two and nine hundred and forty-three, to strike out "two clerks of the second class, $2,800," and to insert "one clerk of the fourth class, $1,800; one clerk of the third class, $1,600;" and after dollars, in line nine hundred and forty-three, to insert "one laborer, $720;" so as to make the clause read:

For compensation of the chief the bureau of medicine and surgery, $3,500; one clerk of the fourth class, $1,800; one clerk of the third class, $1,600; one messenger, $1,000; one laborer, $720,

The amendment was agreed to.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

For collecting statistics and material for annual report, $10,000: Provided, That hereafter the accounts of the Agricultural Department shall be audited by the First Auditor of the Treasury Department, and revised and certified by the First Comptroller according to law.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line ten hundred and forty-eight, to increase the appropri ation "for purchases for. library, laboratory, and museum for the Department of Agriculture from $3,000 to $5,000.

[ocr errors]

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was to insert, after line ten hundred and sixty-seven :

Department of Education:

For compensation of commissioner of education. $4,000; chief clerk, $2,000; one clerk of class four, $1,800; and one clerk of class three, $1,600.

For stationery, blank books, freight, express charges, library. miscellaneous items, and extra clerical help, $10,600; in all, $20,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line ten hundred and ninety-four, to increase the appropri ation for wages of workmen and adjusters" at the branch mint at San Francisco from $150,000 to $191,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

66

The next amendment was in the appropriation for the San Francisco branch mint, to strike out $80,000," in line ten hundred and ninety-six, and insert "in addition to available profits, $69,000," and to strike out the following proviso in lines ten hundred and ninetyseven, ten hundred and ninety-eight, ten hundred and ninety-nine, and eleven hundred:

Provided. That hereafter all the "available profits" of the United States Mint and branches shall be covered into the Treasury, to be expended only by a specific appropriation.

So as to make the clause read:

For incidental and contingent expenses, repairs, and wastage, in addition to available profits, $69,000. The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and forty-five, to increase the appropriation for salaries of the clerks and messengers in the office of Assistant Treasurer at Boston" from $15,000 to $25,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and forty-eight, to increase the appropriation "for salaries of clerks, messengers, and watchmen in the office of the Assistant Treasurer at New York" from $60,000 to $126,000.

Mr. SHERMAN. The Committee on Finance direct me to move to amend the amendment by making the amount $157,120, which is the estimate.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to; and the amendment, as amended, was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven

hundred and fifty-one, to increase the appropriation "for salaries of clerks, messengers, and watchmen in the office of the Assistant Treas urer at Philadelphia" from $15,000 to $24,885. The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and fifty-four, to strike out "six" and insert "ten;" and in line eleven hundred and fifty-five, after the word "thousand" to insert "five hundred and sixty;" so that the clause will read:

For salaries of clerks, messengers, and watchmen in the office of the Assistant Treasurer at St. Louis, $10,560.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hun dred and fifty-seven, to strike out "six" and to insert "nine;" and in line eleven hundred and fifty-eight, after the word "thousand" to insert six hundred;" so that the clause will read:

For salaries of clerks, porter, and watchmen in the office of the Assistant Treasurer at New Orleans, $9,600.

The amendment was agreed to.

66

The next amendment was in line eleven hun. dred and sixty, to strike out "five" and to insert "six;" and in line eleven hundred and sixty-one, after the word "thousand" to insert "nine hundred;" so that the clause will read: For compensation to stamp clerk, cashier, and clerk in the office of the Assistant Treasurer at San Francisco, $6,900.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and sixty-four, to insert "eight hundred" before the word "dollars;" so that the clause

will read:

For compensation of the depositary at Santa Fé, and the clerk, watchman, and porter in his office, $4,800.

The amendment was agreed to.

66

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and sixty-eight, to strike out three and to insert "five;" and also to strike out "five hundred" and to insert "nine hundred and forty;" so that the clause will read:

For salaries of clerks in the office of the depositary at Louisville, $5,940.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and seventy-one, to insert "six hundred" before the word "dollars;" so that the clause will read :

For salaries of clerks in the office of the depositary at Chicago, $2,600.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and seventy-three, to strike out "two" and insert "three" before "thousand;" so that the clause will read:

For salaries of clerks and watchmen in the office of the depositary at Pittsburg, $3,400.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in line eleven hundred and seventy-six, to strike out "three" and insert "seven,' " and also to insert after the word "thousand" the words "six hundred;" so that the clause will read :

For salaries of clerks and messengers in the office of the depositary at Baltimore, $7,600.

The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was in-line eleven huneight" dred and seventy-nine, to strike out " and to insert "ten," and after the word "thousand" to insert the words "two hundred ;" so that the clause will read :

For salaries of clerks in the office of the depositary at Cincinnati, $10,200.

Mr. SHERMAN. I am directed by the Committee on Finance to move to insert $14,850" instead of the appropriation made in that clause.

66

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I desire to say that the appropriation now is precisely in harmony with the provisions of the law. There was an estimate submitted for $4,000 additional, but there was no evidence which authorized the Committee on Appropriations to allow it. If the Senator has information on that subject I should like to hear it.

Mr. SHERMAN. I have a letter in my hand from the Secretary, in which he desires this amount, on account of the large increased character of the business, for the employment of some additional clerical force in the city of Cincinnati, and the Committee on Finance concluded to allow it, after examination.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. If the Committee on Finance have examined the question so as to be satisfied that that additional force is necessary I submit it to the Senate without opposition.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the amendment of the Senator from Ohio to the amendment of the committee, to strike out "$10,200" and insert "$14,850."

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to.

The amendment, as amended, was adopted. The next amendment was to add at the end of the bill the following section:

line nine hundred and twenty-two, I move to strike out the words, "chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, $3,500," and to insert after the words chief clerk," in line nine hundred and twenty-three, the words "of the Bureau of Construction and Repair."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 38, line nine hundred and twenty-two, I move to strike out the words, "chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, $3,500," ," and to insert after the words "chief clerk," in line nine hundred and twenty-three, the words “of the Bureau of Steam Engineering."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 38, line nine hundred and twenty-nine, I move to strike out the words "chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, 3,500," and after the words" chief clerk," in line nine hundred and thirty-one to insert "of the Bureau of Provis

The amendment was agreed to.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the provisions and Clothing." 1ons of section ten of an act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes, approved March 2, 1867. be, and they are hereby, extended to one additional newspaper in the District of Columbia from the date of the approval of said act, the same to be selected by the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

The amendment was agreed to.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendments reported by the Committee on Appropriations are now gone through with, with the exception of the amendment which was passed over on page 18, from line four hundred and thirty-one to line four hundred and thirty-eight, in relation to the clerks of the First Auditor of the Treasury, which will now be read.

Mr. SHERMAN. Let that be passed over for the present. I have quite a number of amendments to offer from the Committee on Finance.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment will be passed over if there be no objection.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I have some other amendments that I desire to offer. On page 36, line eight hundred and eighty, I move to strike out the words "chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, $3,500 for." That officer receives compensation as an officer of the Navy, and this appropriation is not necessary. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 37, line eight hundred and ninety-two, I move to strike out the words "chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, $3,500."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 37, line nine hundred, I move to strike out the words, chief of the Bureau of Navigation, $3,500."

66

Mr. WILLIAMS. out?

Why do you strike those

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Because they are officers of the Navy and get their pay in that way.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 38, line nine hundred and six, I move to strike out the words, "chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, $3,500,"

Mr. COLE. I suggest to the Senator that by these amendments he leaves each clause to read, "for compensation of the chief clerk," &c., without specifying the bureau.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The words "of the Bureau of Ordnance" should also be inserted in line nine hundred and seven, after the words" chief clerk." I add that to my amendment.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 3, line fifty-two, in the clause "one special policeman, $864," I move to strike out "$864" and to insert "$1,000."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page twenty, line four hundred and seventy-nine, I move to strike out "four" where it first occurs, and to insert "five.'

Mr. SHERMAN. I have an amendment to that clause.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Will it cover that?
Mr. SHERMAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Very well; then I withdraw my amendment.

Mr. SHERMAN. I am directed by the Committee on Finance to report quite a number of amendments to this bill, and I will commence on page 20. In line four hundred and seventy-seven I move to strike out "seven" and insert "nine;" in line four hundred and seventy-nine I move to strike out "twentyfour" and insert "forty;" in line four hundred and eighty I move to strike out the words "four of them transferred from Third Auditor's office;" in line four hundred and eighty-one I move to strike out "thirty" and insert "thirtyseven;" in lines four hundred and eighty-three and four hundred and eighty-four I move to strike out the words in parenthesis "including additional to two clerks of class three transferred to class four;" and at the end of the clause I move to strike out "$191,060" and to insert "$229,160;" so that the clause, if thus amended, will read:

For compensation of the Auditor of the Treasury, for the Post Office Department, chief clerk, nine clerks of class four, (additional to one clerk of class four as disbursing clerk,) forty clerks of class three, sixty-four clerks of class two, thirty-seven clerks of class one, one messenger, one assistant messenger, and eleven laborers, employed in his office, in ali $229,160.

Mr. POMEROY. Has that amendment been before the Committee on Appropriations?

Mr. SHERMAN. Yes, sir. An amendment covering much broader ground has been referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and I have consulted with the chairman of that committee about it; but instead of offering the amendment in broad terms, as I proposed to do, I will take it up in detail, changing and modifying the bill so as to meet the case. The amendments I shall offer are not quite so extensive as the Finance Committee reported. This identical matter has been submitted to the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. POMEROY. If the rule has been complied with, I have no objection.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. We had notice of the amendment, and considered it.

Mr. SHERMAN. If any Senator desires an explanation of this amendment, I have here

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I ask to have a similar amendment made in the clauses relating to the Bureaus of Yards and Docks, Equip. ment and Recruiting, and Navigation, by insert- a long letter from the Auditor of the Treasury ing the title of the bureau after the words "chief clerk."

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. That amendment will be made.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. On page 38,

for the Post Office Departinent, which can be read. The Committee on Finance have examined it carefully. This amendment continues the present force.

Mr. POMEROY. I was about to inquire

whether it provided for any increase of the present force?

Mr. SHERMAN. No, sir.

Mr. POMEROY. There has been before the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads an application for some officer there to be paid an additional salary, who should have charge of the foreign mails.

Mr. SHERMAN. This has nothing to do with that. That relates to the Post Office Department; this is in regard to the Auditor in the Treasury Department.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The amendment does not provide for any additional force. It simply makes a provision that the Committee on Appropriations did not feel that they had any authority to make without its coming from the Committee on Finance.

Mr. POMEROY. While this clause provides for the office of an Auditor of the Treasury, he is the Auditor who audits the accounts of the Post Office Department.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. SHERMAN. On page 23, line five hundred and forty-two, I move to strike out “six" and to insert "eight," before "million," so that the clause will read:

For salaries and expenses of collectors, assessors, assistant assessors, revenue agents, inspectors, and superintendents of exports and drawbacks, together with the expense of carrying into effect the various provisions of the several acts providing internal revenue, excepting items otherwise estimated for, $8,000,000.

Mr. TRUMBULL. That is quite an important amendment. I should like to hear an explanation of it.

Mr. SHERMAN. I will explain it. The present expenditures of the Internal Revenue Bureau are something over nine million dollars. The estimates for this year were $9,000,000; but the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, without having any official information on the subject, went upon the supposition that the reduction of the rev enue would, as a matter of course, reduce the expenditures. Careful examinations have been had on this subject, and I will read what is said by Mr. Rollins in regard to it. Senators will observe that this item covers the salaries and expenses of collectors, assessors, and the army of officials employed by the Internal Rev enue Bureau. Mr. Rollins says:

"The amount actually drawn from the Treasury thus far during the present fiscal year to meet the expense of assessing and collecting the revenue has been at the rate of about nine million dollars per annum. Should the changes which I understand the Committee of Ways and Means to favor be incorporated into the statute, I cannot think that the reduction of expenditures would be more than $800,000. The receipts last year were, in round nunbers, $265,000,000, and the estimated receipts under the proposed changes are somewhere about one hundred and sixty million dollars, making a reduction of some forty per cent.; but it will be at once apparent that the expenses of assessment and collection cannot be reduced in the same ratio. Assessors and collectors are paid a salary of $1,500 per annum, and, in addition to this, a commission decreasing as the collections of the several districts increase. It is presumed that there will be no reduction in the salaries paid to these officers, and, as the rate of commissions decreases with an increase of the amount collected, a diminution of collections cannot result in a corresponding diminution of commissions. The amount paid for rent of offices cannot be materially reduced, and many other incidental expenses will be as great when small amounts are collected as now. In some of the city districts there can be under the proposed changes a reduction in the number of assistant assessors, but in a large portion of the country at present there is but one assistant assessor for a county, and in some cases one of these officers attends to two or three counties. Of course, so long as taxes are to be collected from distillers and brewers, or in fact so long as taxes of any kind are to be collected, an assistant assessor cannot effectually supervise much more territory than he does at present.

It is understood to be the intention of the Committee of Ways and Means to recommend the imposition of a light tax upon sales upon many of the manufacturers whose products are exempted from the excise tax to which they have heretofore been subject, and it is evident that the expense of assessing a tax of one tenth or one half of one per cent. will be as great as that of assessing a tax of five per cent. While the amount of work to be performed by revenue officers will somewhat diminish, I cannot think the reduction of expenses can safely be estimated at more than $890,000.”

In addition to that the new tax bill now pending in the House of Representatives, which will pass in some form, will largely increase the machinery for collecting the tax on whisky and tobacco, and will, no doubt, add to the product of the tax. The estimate of Mr. Rollins is that the amount of the expenditures will be at least $8,200,000. The Committee on Finance concluded to appro priate $8,000,000. I have a letter also from the Secretary of the Treasury, stating that if only $6,000,000 were appropriated undoubt edly the amount would be exhausted by next winter, and a deficiency would have to be called for. I see no object in the world, as the mere amount of the appropriation cannot limit the amount of expenditures, in cutting down the amount in this way. We might as well make an appropriation sufficient to cover the expenditures. As the expenditures are regulated by law and the amount of the salaries, and the commissions and the expenses of the offices are fixed by law, there can be no object in cutting down the mere aggregate of appropriation.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Does not a portion of the $8,000,000 go to pay special agents and others appointed ad libitum?

Mr. SHERMAN. Yes, sir; it does.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Then it is not fixed by law, because the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint as many agents as he pleases and pay them what he pleases.

Mr. SHERMAN. There are probably three or four hundred officers whose pay is not fixed by law. I think the pay of some of those special agents is fixed by law. At any rate, the whole thing is regulated by law. The law in that case authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make certain allowances, and they all come out of this fund.

Mr. TRUMBULL. The more we appropriate the more of these persons may be employed. My understanding is that there is no limitation upon this authority. The Senate passed a bill some months ago, I think, limiting the number of special agents to be employed in the Departments, and regulating the subject; but it has never passed the other House, and has not become a law. My understanding is that the Secretary is exercising the authority, either with or without law, to appoint special agents and fix their compensation, and that we have these agents all over the United States. Now, if we appropriate $8,000,000 instead of $6,000,000, we know that the pressure will be very great to get these places, and very likely a great many more will be appointed than would be if a less amount was appropriated.

Mr. SHERMAN. That does not follow at all. This is a fund set apart for the payment of the compensation of collectors and assessors and all expenses of the internal revenue. If Congress has been unwise in allowing the appointment of special agents to too great a number, Congress should change that law; but as a matter of course that will not affect the amount to be appropriated. The Committee on Finance took a business view of the subject. My own impression is that the expense of collecting the revenue will come to about nine millions probably next year, as this year, and a deficiency will be called for; but it is utterly idle to cut down the appropriation from nine to six millions without any reason. Expe rience has shown that $9,000,000 is required to carry on that service.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. The estimates for this year are $9,000,000. The appropriation last year was $6,000,000. The House of Representatives, in presenting the bill to the Senate, followed the appropriation of last year. The Senator from Ohio perhaps knows, but I do not, whether the $6,000,000 last year was found to be adequate for that service.

Mr. SHERMAN. No, sir; there was a deficiency.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I do not think there has been any deficiency this year; and unless there was a surplus from a former year, it would appear that the inference which the

House drew from the fact that $6,000,000 was appropriated last year for this service without any application for a deficiency bill this year was justified. The Committee on Appropria tions had no information on this subject except a letter from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, such as has been read by the chairman of the Committee on Finance. I rise only. to say, therefore, in justification of the action of the Committee on Appropriations, that finding that the appropriation last year was $6,000,000, and that no deficiency was asked for this year, and not being apprised that the services of this Department for this year are any larger than those of last year, we very readily accepted the proposition from the House, and took it this year at what it was last year.

Then there is another consideration about it which I submit to the Senator from Ohio,

and that is, that we are to meet together again

in December, and if it should be found then that this fund of $6,000,000 is running short an application for an increase can then be made.

It

Mr. SHERMAN. The report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shows that the expense last year was a little over nine million dollars. For the current year now running on I have already read the statement of the Commissioner, that the expenditures are on the basis of about nine million dollars. It is not worth while for us to appropriate much less. We propose to appropriate $8,000,000; and, indeed, I have no doubt that a deficiency will be called for, even with that sum. is scarcely worth while to make appropriations with a view to deficiency bills. We had better appropriate at once what is sufficient. Let me say here that there is no country in the world where the same amount of internal revenue and excise is collected at so cheap a rate as in this country. The entire expense of collecting our internal revenue is less than four per cent.-between three and four per cent. In England it is over six per cent. A great deal of misapprehension exists in the public mind in regard to the expense of collecting our internal revenue. The expense of collecting the internal revenue is a little less pro rata than the expense of collecting customs, although the great body of them is collected in the single port of New York, the entire expense being about nine million dollars for collecting about two hundred and sixty-five million dollars of internal revenue, and the expense of collecting customs being about the same-nine million dollars-for collecting a much smaller sum in gold. I merely make that observation in passing to show that this sum is not at all out of the way.

Mr. POMEROY. There are districts where the expense does not exceed one per cent.

Mr. SHERMAN. That may be; but I am taking the whole country together.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. SHERMAN. On page 23, line five hundred and fifty-four, I move to strike out the word "ten" and insert "one hundred." It is evidently a mistake.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I think that is so. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Let the amendment be reported.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I should like to state first how that happened. This is the appropriation for the contingent fund for the Treasury Department. Heretofore the contingent fund has been divided between the Treasury proper and the heads of the various bureaus. Now they are all put under the head of the Department, and I think very properly so; and the estimate was $136,200. We struck out the appropriation for the bureaus, and gave the entire sum to the head of the Department for distribution among the bureaus, holding him responsible instead of the heads of the bureaus.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment will be reported.

The CHIEF CLERK. The amendment is on page 23, line five hundred and fifty-four, to strike out "ten" and insert "one hundred" before the word "thousand."

Mr. CONNESS. How will it read then? The CHIEF CLERK. The clause, if amended, will read as follows:

For incidental and contingent expenses of the
Treasury Department:

In the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and the several bureaus, including copying, labor, binding, sealing ships' registers, translating foreign languages, advertising, and extra clerk hire for prepar ing and collecting information to be laid before Congress, and for miscellaneous items, $100,000. Mr. CONNESS. And the bill now reads "$10,000?"

Mr. TRUMBULL.

Yes.

Mr. SHERMAN. The Senator must not that this is an increase. Formerly we suppose used to appropriate for the contingent expenses together. It is probably a less amount than is of each bureau; but here they are all put usually appropriated.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. It is something like $36,200 less.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. SHERMAN. On page 23, after line five hundred and fifty-seven, I move to insert the following:

For temporary clerks in the Treasury Department, $150,000: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized, in his discretion, to classify the clerks according to the character of their services.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Is not that an increase? Mr. SHERMAN. No, sir; it is a little less than it was. I will explain the matter to the Senate so that they will understand it. The ordinary appropriation for temporary clerks and for the extra allowance to officers is $210,000. We had a good deal of controversy here two or three times about this item, especially the extra allowance to officers and employés. Early this session a bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Finance reorganizing the Treasury Department, which would absorb this item, and which provided for a redistribution of the employés of the Treasury Department; but the Committee on Finance, after some consideration, concluded that now was not a favorable time for the reorganization of the Treasury Department. That bill generally increased the compensation of the employés. It will, however, be necessary for the present to keep up an appropriation for temporary clerks. Every one of these clerks is now employed. They are divided among the different bureaus. The great body of them, I believe, are now in the Second Auditor's office and the other Auditors' offices. They are all now employed, and probably a greater number than this appropriation provides for would be required. It is necessary to keep up this appropriation. I have here letters without number that I could read to the Senate upon it. I have a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury stating that he cannot get along without these clerks; and I have no doubt of the fact. The Committee on Appropriations examined it, and I believe they are satisfied of the fact. I have nothing further to say in regard to it. It is a matter of which every Senator can judge as well as I.

It must be remembered that the Treasury Department are now discharging duties growing out of the war. The House Committee on Appropriations cut down this bill upon the basis of expenditures before the war. That might possibly be correct as to some of the Departments, but it is not as to the Treasury Department. The great mass of accounts that sprang up during the war are now going through the different offices there. It is necessary to preserve and continue the war force until those claims are disposed of. In my judgment, without additional clerical force beyond what was fixed as the regular force before the war, it is impossible to carry on the operations of the Treasury Department.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I do not suppose it is of any avail to try to resist an appropriation for anything that is asked for by the Treasury Department. This is an old acquaintance under

a new name.

We used to call this extra compensation to the clerks. Now it is called $175,000 for the employment of temporary clerks. One hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars is a very considerable sum; and that is to be placed at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury to employ such clerks as he pleases, and for such purposes as he pleases; and the reason given for it by the Senator from Ohio is that this bill is framed on the basis of the business which was done in this Department before the war.

But if you will look through the bill you will find that he has been increasing the clerks at the rate of a score at a time all along through the bill, upon the ground that the House of Representatives had made a mistake in framing the bill, and had framed it on the old peace establishment when there was not near as much business in the Treasury Department as there is now. A very few moments ago the number of clerks was increased very largely in some of the bureaus of the Treasury Department; and we find by looking at the bill all along through it amendments increasing the number of clerks. I have right before me now, on page 17, an increase of six clerks of class four; that is the highest class of clerks, I believe, they have in the Departments, an increase from five to eleven by this bill. But that was not sufficient. It was sufficient to carry all these increases without objection in the Senate, to state that this bill had been framed under a misapprehension. Then after getting through with all those they come in with a small sum of $175,000 for temporary clerks; and the reason for that is the same as in the other cases, that this bill has been framed on the basis of the business done in the Department before the war. As I said when I rose, I have no other object than simply to call attention to it; I do not suppose it will be of any use to attempt to defeat it.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. Perhaps I ought to say a word in explanation for the benefit of the Senator from Illinois, if of nobody else. I once stated, but I suppose it escaped the attention of the Senator from Illinois, although my remarks were called out by his inquiry, that the Committee on Appropriations on the part of the House seemed to have based this bill upon the clerical force authorized anterior to the war. There was an additional clerical force which was authorized during the war that was left out. The representations to the Committee on Appropriations on the part of the Senate from the several Departments were that the service would suffer by leaving out this last class of clerks, the clerks who were called war clerks, and who had been provided for by the statutes in the years 1863, 1864, and 1865; that in many of the bureaus there was still a necessity for continuing these clerks. We had the information from each of the bureaus in the Treasury, in the War, and in the Navy Department, and addressed ourselves to the absolute necessity in those several bureaus for a longer continuance of this class of clerks. The apparent increase of clerks to which the Senator refers here is not, in fact, an increase of clerks. It is simply a continuance of the clerks provided for by law heretofore, as I have stated. Therefore, all the amendments which have been presented to the Senate by the Committee on Appropriations on the part of the Senate have been to supply clerks absolutely provided for by law heretofore, and the necessity for the continuance of whom became obvious to the committee upon as careful an examination as they were able to give to the subject.

Now, it is said that outside of the clerks which were authorized anterior to the war, and outside of what I have denominated the war clerks, there is a large number of clerks called temporary clerks. How many? The committee had no precise information on that subject. They were provided for by an appropriation of $210,000 last year, and by former appropriations for the supply of temporary clerks in the several Departments, at the discretion of the heads of the Departments, up,

of course, to the amount of the appropriation. That was a subject that the Committee on Appropriations did not think belonged to them, and therefore we sent all those applications for temporary clerks, and the appropriations necessary for temporary clerks, to the Committee on Finance, whose duty we believed it to beor at any rate we did not think the duty devolved on us-to inquire what the service absolutely demanded in regard to the temporary clerks. Contenting ourselves to follow the provisions of the law and the service as indicated by the statutes, we turned over to the Committee on Finance the applications from the Treasury Department, from the War Department, &c., for the continuance of temporary clerks. Now, the Senator from Ohio, having examined that subject, comes here and moves for an appropriation of $150,000.

Mr. TRUMBULL. One hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars I believe his propo

sition is.

Mr. SHERMAN. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars is the amount.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. In lieu of $210,000 appropriated last year, telling you that a certain portion of this temporary force is still necessary. The Committee on Appropriations had the same information and examined it to some extent. I will state a single

case.

Take the case of the Second Comptroller, whose duties are not less than they were during the war, but are greater.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Have we not given him an additional number of clerks at this session of Congress?

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. No, sir; we have not. I will state exactly how that is, and I will take that case to illustrate the whole service and the action of the committee in regard to it. Here is the Second Comptroller, whose duties are greater than they were during any part of the war, who is himself a laborious and very meritorious officer, as everybody knows who knows anything about his office. The committee on the part of the House cut him down to the condition of that office before the war. That was absolutely without justification, of course. The committee on the part of the Senate have increased that force, giving to him the additional clerks which were authorized by what I have denominated the statutes increasing the war clerical force. But he had forty-three clerks in his bureau whom he had been employing, and who were not provided for either by the permanent acts anterior to the war or by the statutes denominated war statutes; and having given him that, as by refence to page 18 of the bill it will be seen the committee on the part of the Senate did, there were still forty-three clerks in his bureau whom he had employed last year, and whom we became perfectly satisfied were necessary to the execution of the work in his bureau; and yet there was no law which justified the Committee on Appropriations in providing for those forty-three clerks. That is precisely what I understand the Senator from Ohio, as chairman of the Committee on Finance, whose business it is to speak for that Department, to be attempting to provide for by this amend ment; and to that extent, of course, he has the approval, so far as I understand, of the Committee on Appropriations.

I have no means of knowing, beyond the facts I have stated, to what extent the temporary force of the several Departments in the employment of clerks ought to go. But to the extent of the forty-three clerks in the Second Comptroller's office, I am thoroughly satisfied, from examination into the affairs of that bureau and the force they have already there, and the force that is required now to keep up that bureau, that that provision for forty-three temporary clerks ought to be made.

While I am up, I wish to make one remark in regard to the proviso in this amendment of the Senator from Ohio. I see it is provided that the Secretary of the Treasury shall be

authorized to classify the clerks. If that relates to the temporary clerks contemplated to be employed by this appropriation, I do not see the necessity of it. If it contemplates a classification of the entire force of the Department, then I should be strenuously opposed to it.

Mr. SHERMAN. Oh, no; it does not. Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I suppose it does not; but if it relates to the temporary clerks I do not see why it should be necessary to classify them. Of course, whenever they are employed, they will be put to discharge the duties for which they are capable and will be paid the compensation attached to that grade. Unless it is with a view of fixing the salaries, I hardly see why it can be necessary.

Mr. CONNESS. Mr. President, these matters involving the employment of clerks in the Treasury Department and expenditures there seem to be mysterious at least. The more we hear them discussed the less we know about them. The honorable chairman of the Committee on Appropriations does not appear to give us much information. The most material sources of expenditure there he tells us he knows nothing about; and it is but a guess of money to fit an anticipated service, or state of service at best. Outside of and over the door of that great granite building the word "mystery" should be written. There is no exact information touching the performances there, nor do the facts appear to be ascertainable. I had expected great things from the senior Senator from Maine, [Mr. FESSENDEN,] who once presided there, and during whose presidency, so to speak, of that institution, I supposed all was right, and undoubtedly it was. But at the beginning of this session, I think, he introduced a bill here for the reorganization of the Treasury Department. It was either at the beginning of this or the last session, I forget now which, it is so long ago.

Mr. FESSENDEN. This session. ·

Mr. CONNESS. And he promised, and the press promised upon the presentation of that bill, that what was unascertainable heretofore would, in the future, be ascertainable; what was impossible to be known would be made possible; and that the service would be so organized that great public benefit would grow from the reformation, and a great decrease in public expenditure be the result. I have waited patiently, and if it were not presuming I should have from time to time called to ascertain where that bill had gone, what had become of it-the bill to reorganize the Treasury Department, introduced by the honorable Senator from Maine. I do not know where it is now. I do not know that we shall ever hear of it again; but we do hear of these $150,000 appropriations to meet additional clerical service, demands for twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty clerks here, and as many there, and hundreds of thousands of dollars for contingent funds.

My friend, the honorable Senator from Illinois, with all the perspicacity known to be possessed by him, from time to time endeavors to reflect light upon this mysterious question; but I do not know that he has made any progress. I have heard him until, I will not say I have tired, because I always listen to him with pleasure, but as soon as he comes up on this subject, he develops other Senators who fly to the defense, and session after session of Congress passes, and we have the same order of things, the same matters under, as he has stated, a little different name, are reintroduced here.

I think, if I am not mistaken, that the bill to reorganize the Treasury Department went to the Committee on Finance. Perhaps the chairman of that committee can tell us something about it; why it has not been reported here why we have not to-day the advantage of all the experience of the Senator from Maine upon this subject; and why it has not taken the form of law. I hope that we shall hear from that bill and know something about it; so that the generous chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, who comes forward here and adds to the appropriation for the Treasury Department, I have no doubt, as he is informed in a

« PoprzedniaDalej »