OTHER IMPORTANT ACTS.

The great national measures, whose progress through Congress has been given in detail, occupied the attention of that body continuously, from the first days of its existence to the closing hours of its last session. No day passed which was not rendered important by something said or done upon questions which concern not only the nation, but humanity, and which are of interest not only for the present, but for all time to come. While these great measures were passing through Congress, making it memorable, and absorbing the public attention, there was a constant undercurrent of patient, laborious legislation upon subjects of less interest to the public, but of real importance to the country.

One of the first duties devolving upon the Thirty-ninth Congress was the great work of disbanding the vast volunteer army which had suppressed the rebellion, saved the country, and earned the undying gratitude of the nation. The soldiers of the republic were to be paid for their distinguished services, their reasonable demands for equalization of bounty were to be met, and a suitable number retained in the service for the necessities of the nation on a “peace footing.” Near the close of the first session, a bill to equalize soldiers’ bounties, introduced by Mr. Schenck of Ohio, passed the House by a nearly unanimous vote, but was lost in the Senate. Subsequently, the Senate attached to the Civil Appropriation Bill a provision for paying additional bounty, differing materially from the bill which passed the House. This being in such shape that it could not be easily detached, became a law.

During the first session, Congress passed the “Act to increase and fix the military peace establishment of the United States.” By this law the regular army consists of five regiments of artillery, ten regiments of cavalry, and forty-five regiments of infantry. It acknowledged the services and claims of the volunteer officers and men who served in the recent war by providing that a large proportion of the commissions in the new service should be conferred upon them. At the same time the standard of attainment and talent was not lowered, since the law provided for such an examination as must exclude the unqualified and relieve the army from some who unworthily held commissions.

The important fact that general intelligence is one of the greatest safeguards of the nation was fully recognized by the Thirty-ninth Congress. Of this they gave permanent proof in establishing a Bureau of Education. Early in the first session, Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, introduced a resolution instructing the joint Committee on Reconstruction to inquire into the expediency of establishing a National Bureau of Education “to enforce education, without regard to color.” The necessity for such a measure was set forth in the preamble to arise from the fact that “republican institutions can find permanent safety only upon the basis of the universal intelligence of the people,” and that “the great disasters which have afflicted the nation and desolated one-half its territory are traceable in a great degree to the absence of common schools and general education among the people of lately rebellious States.” This resolution passed the House by a large majority.

This subject was subsequently referred to an able select committee, of which Mr. Garfield was chairman. On the 5th of June he reported a bill to establish a Department of Education. The measure was supported by Messrs. Donnelly, Garfield, Banks, and Boutwell, and opposed by Messrs. Pike, Rogers, and Randall. The bill passed the House on the 19th of June and went to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The bill went over, in the press of business, to the second session, and passed the Senate on the 28th of February, 1867.

A measure indirectly connected with the subject of reconstruction, destined to have an important influence upon the future of Southern society, was introduced by Mr. Julian on the 7th of February, 1866. This was a bill for the disposal of the public lands for homesteads to actual settlers, without distinction of color, in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, providing that the quantity of land selected by any one person should be eighty acres, and not one hundred and sixty acres, as provided in the Homestead Bill of 1862. The necessity of this measure, as shown by Mr. Julian, arose from the abolition of slavery and the demands of free labor. It was designed to cut off land speculation in the Southern country. “Without some provision of this kind,” said Mr. Julian, “rebel speculators now hovering over the whole of that region, and hunting up the best portion of it, and the holders of Agricultural College scrip can come down upon it at one fell swoop and cheat the actual settler, whether white or black, out of his rights, or even the possibility of a home in that region, driving the whole of them to some of our Western Territories or to starvation itself.”

The bill was finally passed in the House on the 28th of February, 1867, with an amendment excluding from the benefit of the act persons who have borne arms against the United States, or given aid and comfort to its enemies.

A work of legislation of much importance, destined to have beneficent effect upon the business interests of the country, was the passage of the Bankrupt Law, which was finally enacted near the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The Bankrupt Bill passed the House of Representatives as early as May, 1866, but the Senate objecting to the entire principle of the bill, it was postponed till December. On the reaessembling of Congress for the second session, the consideration of the Bankrupt Bill was resumed, and after much opposition in the Senate, it finally received the support of a decisive majority in that body of all shades of politics. The perfection and final passage of this measure were among the last acts of the Thirty-ninth Congress.

The Bankrupt Law of 1800 was enacted in the interest of creditors, and that of 1841 for the benefit of debtors. The law of 1867 was framed with a view to protect the interests of both parties. The passage of this important law is due mainly to the energy and perseverance of Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island.

The subject of the tariff occupied, first and last, a considerable share of the time and attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In the early part of the first session numerous petitions poured in upon Congress in favor of a protective tariff. In June and July the subject was discussed, and a Tariff Bill passed the House by a vote of ninety-four to fifty-three. The friends of protection said of this bill that though not perfect, it was “a decided improvement on the tariff in existence.” The bill, on its introduction to the Senate was postponed till December.

There was soon after introduced into the House a revised Tariff Bill, entitled a bill “to protect the revenue.” Gradually many of the features which the advocates of protection regarded as most important, were eliminated from the bill. This was passed in the Senate on the 24th of July, with amendments in which the House was unwilling to concur. A Committee of Conference was appointed, who made a report which was accepted by both Houses of Congress. The bill greatly modified and “enfeebled” as its original friends regarded it, finally passed on the day before the close of the first session.

The subject of diminishing taxation, as far as consistent with the obligations of the nation to its creditors, early enlisted and occupied the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The principle upon which Congress acted was announced by the distinguished chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Morrill, to be “The abolition or speedy reduction of all taxes which tend to check development, and the retention of all those which like the income tax fall chiefly on realized wealth.”

In the midst of many conflicting interests, and in the face of remonstrances, protests, and prayers from every trade and profession, Congress proceeded to work out the difficult question. As a result of most patient and careful investigation, Congress found itself able to reduce to the extent of one hundred millions of dollars per annum, the taxation resting upon the shoulders of the American people.

On the subject of finance and the national currency great diversity of opinion existed among leading members of the Thirty-ninth Congress. Unanimity prevailed upon the opinion that the currency should sooner or later be subjected to suitable contraction, but there was diversity of sentiment as to the ways and means by which this result should be achieved without involving the country in commercial and financial disaster.

“I am for specie payments,” remarked Mr. Stevens, on one occasion, “when we can arrive at them without crushing the community to death. I am for arriving at specie payments, and still allowing the business of the country to go on and thrive, and the people engaged in business to pay the taxes which you impose on them. I say that there is not a man in the community who would not as soon have one dollar in greenbacks as one dollar in gold. No one expects to be paid in gold until a general resumption by the banks of specie payment; nobody now knows any other currency than greenbacks, and, therefore, I am in favor of keeping that currency. In my judgment, we have not more circulation now than the expanded business of the country requires.

“This war has given an immense impulse to every thing. Whence this precipitation? We have barely got out of the war against the rebels before we have a war made upon the business community, upon the manufacturing interests, and upon all others.”

“When this great Republican party was made up,” said Mr. Wentworth, “we, who were originally Democrats, took up a cross, and it was a great cross. [Laughter.] We were told that if we went into that thing, we should have to lay down at the feet of the irresponsible paper-money men. Now, I want to know of the gentleman distinctly, whether, if he could, he would resume specie payments to-morrow?”

“If,” replied Mr. Stevens, “I could have specie payment to-morrow, without deranging the business of the country, I would. If it would derange the business of the country to return to specie payment at once, I would postpone it a little. I voted for the Legal-tender Bill; and I am glad I did so, for the country would not have survived without it.”

“Would you compromise on a year?” asked Mr. Wentworth.

“No, sir; nor on two years,” replied Mr. Stevens. “England did not resume specie payment the year after the wars with France. The Bank of England issued paper money, but the Government had L14,000,000 in the stock of that bank to give it security, and the Government prevented it from resuming specie payment until it thought it best. Now, when that great war of twenty-five years was over, did England attempt, in 1814 and 1815, to return to specie payment? They had afloat but L20,000,000, or $100,000,000, and they began with their one-pound notes. In a few years they took their two-pound notes; afterward they took their five-pound notes. But they never resumed full specie payment until the latter part of the year 1822. Does my friend from Illinois expect me to be wiser than the great men of England?”

“Does my friend from Pennsylvania deny,” asked Mr. Garfield, “that in 1819 the law for resuming specie payment was passed, to go into effect gradually at first, and completely in 1823, and that the full resumption of specie payment actually took place early in the Spring of 1821 only about a year and three-quarters from the passage of the law?”

“Yes,” answered Mr. Stevens, “except in very large sums. The law authorized them to go on until the first of January, 1823.”

“But they resumed in 1821, about a year and three-quarters earlier,” said Mr. Garfield.

“About a year earlier,” said Mr. Stevens. “But the law did not pass until four years after the war. Do gentlemen here expect, when England, with almost all the commerce of the world at her command, was unable to resume specie payments for eight years after the conclusion of her wars, and then did it by such gradual legislation that there should be no shock to the business of the country do gentlemen expect that we are to put it into the power of one man to compel the resumption of specie payments in a single year?”

“I want to know,” said Mr. Wentworth, “if the power, and the patronage, and the influence of the great Republican party, so called, is to be used to deprive us of our natural standard of value. Now, I wish, while we go together, to be perfectly honest. Nobody respects the talents of my friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] more than I do. He knows more than all of us put together. [Laughter.] I want him to state to the House, fairly and candidly, whether, if we follow him, he will lead us to specie payment; or whether, if he could, he would.”

“I will say to my friend,” replied Mr. Stevens, “that in this case I do not act as a member of the Republican party.”

“I have followed the gentlemen,” said Mr. Wentworth, “because I supposed him to be a Republican leader.”

“If I believed,” said Mr. Stevens, “that we could resume specie payments in a month without crushing the interests of the country, without injuring the laborer, without breaking down the manufacturer, without oppressing the people, without decreasing the revenues of the Government; if I had the power, I would order every bank in the country, State and national, and the Government also, to resume specie payment.”

“Suppose McCulloch could do that,” said Mr. Wentworth, “and give all our boys their money at par.”

“If he could do it, I would give him great credit,” said Mr. Stevens.

“I believe he can,” said Mr. Wentworth.

“My friend is large,” said Mr. Stevens, “and has faith like two grains of mustard-seed.”

Plans were devised, and ultimately carried through Congress, by which the great volume of paper currency should be gradually reduced at a certain fixed rate, so that the people might know how to calculate the future, and be enabled to provide against a commercial crash.

The first measure designed to accomplish this result was popularly called the Loan Bill, which was amendatory of an act “to provide ways and means to support the Government.” When first considered, in March, 1866, it was defeated in the House. It was soon after brought up again in a modified form, and passed both the House and Senate by large majorities. The act provided that the Secretary of the Treasury might receive treasury notes, or “other obligations issued under any act of Congress,” in exchange for bonds. The contraction of the currency was restricted and limited by the provision that not more than ten millions of dollars might be retired and canceled within six months from the passage of the act, and thereafter not more than four millions of dollars in any one month.

A financial problem of great importance presented itself for solution in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. A large amount of compound-interest notes, weighed down with accrued interest, had ceased to float as currency, and lay in the vaults of the banks and the coffers of capitalists, awaiting redemption. The question arose as to how they should be redeemed, and the nation saved the payment of the immense amounts of interest which must accumulate in course of time. The House of Representatives proposed to pass an act authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue legal-tender notes, without interest, not exceeding $100,000,000, in place of the compound-interest bearing notes.

To this proposition the Senate would not accede, and passed a substitute which the House would not accept. A Committee of Conference reported a modification of the Senate’s substitute, which finally became a law, providing that, for the purpose of redeeming and retiring compound-interest notes, the Secretary of the Treasury should issue temporary loan certificates, to the amount of $50,000,000, at a rate of interest not exceeding three per cent. per annum.

While the greater share of the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress was occupied with efforts to reconstruct the eleven States which had forfeited their rights by rebellion, the Territories of Colorado and Nebraska applied for admission to the Union. Congress voted to admit both, but the President obstructed their entrance with his vetoes. Congress, on reconsideration, admitted Nebraska, the objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding. Colorado was not so fortunate, since her people had been so unwise as to prejudice their cause by restricting the enjoyment of political rights by ingrafting the word “white” into their fundamental law. By this mistake they forfeited the favor of the “Radicals,” who refused to champion their cause against the President. Incidental to this, Congress ordained that political rights should not be restricted in the Territories on account of race or color.

The manifest evils of unrestricted Executive patronage the bane of American politics early enlisted the efforts of the Thirty-ninth Congress to provide a remedy. A bill to regulate appointments to and removals from office was introduced by Mr. Henderson into the Senate near the close of the first session, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, but never saw the light as an act of Congress.

The President’s power of removal and appointment having been unsparingly used during the recess of Congress, the country became convinced that a remedy should be applied which would be effectual for time to come. On the first day of the second session, Mr. Williams brought before the Senate a bill to “regulate the tenure of offices,” which was subsequently referred to the joint Committee on Retrenchment. On the 10th of December Mr. Edmunds, chairman of this committee, reported the bill to the Senate, with amendments. In bringing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration whatever, but for “the true republican interest of the country under all administrations, and under the domination of all parties in the growth before the nation in the future.” After grave consideration and protracted discussion in both houses of Congress, the bill was passed near the close of the session. On the 2d of March the bill encountered the veto of the President, who saw in the measure serious interference with the ability of the Executive to keep his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The bill was immediately passed over the veto without debate.

The act thus passed provides that officers appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall hold their offices until their successors are in like manner appointed and qualified. Members of the Cabinet hold their offices during the term of the President by whom they are appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by consent of the Senate.