Mr. SHERMA. I regret very much that I differ from the ComFinance in regard to this bill. This is the only bill on the subject of the public debt on which I have not been able to concur with that committee. I do not perceive the necessity for conferring on the SecyTreasury, in the present condition of our finances, the vast powers which are conferred by this bill. It is true that the bill, as it now comes before us is very different from the one 1st reporte in the HoRep. That bill contained a clause which authorized the SecyTreasury, not only to sell the bonds of the U.S. abroad, but to make them playable in the currency of foreign countries. nder it the Secretary could made our bonds payable in pounds, shillings, and pence, guild crs, franes, or any of the various forms of currency known in an European country. That provision was stricken out by the HoRep. After the bill was defeated in the House a clause was added, on reconsideration, intended to limit the power of the SecyTreasury over the legal tend ers; but this clause, although wise in itself, will not accomplish the purpose desi ned by the House. It is on this ground, chie y, that I object to the bill as it now stands. If Senators will read this bill they will find that it confers on the SecyTreas nrygreater powers than have ever been con.ferred since the foundation of this Government pon any SecyTreasury. Ourloan laws heretofore have generally been confined to the negotiation of a single loan, limited in amount. As the war progressed the difficultiesof the country became greater and we were moroin the habit of removing the limitations on the power of the SecyTreasury; but generally the power conferred was confined to a particular lbau then in the market. This bill, however, is more general in its terms. This bill authorizes the SecyTreasury to sell any character of bonds without limit, except as to the rate of interest. The authority conferred does not limit him to any form of security. It may run for any period of time within 40 years. He mav sell the securities at less than ar, without limitation as to rate. He may sell) them in any form he chooses. He may put them in the form of Treasury notes or bends, the interest ayable in gold or in papermoney. He may iin ertake, under the provisions of this bill, to fund the whole debt of the U.S. The only limit as to amount is the public debt, now $2, 700,000,000. The pOWer conferred on the SecyTreasury is absolute. It is not only for this ear, or during the current fiscal year, or for the next year, but it is for all time, until the act shall be repealed. It gives him absolute power to negotiate bonds of the U.S. to the amount of $2, 700,000,000, without limiting the rate at which they shall be sold, and only limiting the rate of interest infer entially. The description of the bonds in the act of March 3, 1865, referred to here, would probably limit the rate of interest to 6%. in coin and 7 and 3 10ths%. in currency; but with this exception there is no limitation. It seems to me that in the present condition of our finances there is no necessity for conferring these large powers on the SecyTreasury. The people are not generally aware of the favorable condition ofour finances. The statement of the public debt laid on our tables the other da dbes not show fully the condition of the nauces. It is accurate in amounts, but does not give dates of the matu rit. ofour debts. But a small portion of the det of the U.S. will be due prior to August, 1867, that will give the Secretary an trouble. But little of the debt which he will be required to fund under the provisions of this bill matures before August, 1867. The temporary or call loan, now over 100 millions, may readily be kept at this sum even at a reduced rate of interest. The certificates of indebtedness, amounting to 62 millions, may easily be paid from accruing recei ts, or, if necessary, may be renewed or funded) at the pleasure of the Secretary. None of the compound interest notes orv the 7 30 notes mature until August, 1867. It is idle, therefore, to say that there is now at this moment or will be within ayear a pressing necessity to confer on the SecyTreasury this enormous powor. It is only in view of a change of poliey, either by a reduction of the currency or some other measure in the mind of the Secretary, that he can claim that this power is necessary. Nor is there necessity to contract debt to pay current expenditure, becaiisethe present incomc excceds ourex end iturcs. In is annual repoithe estimate that there would be a deficihof $112,000,000 at the close of the present fiscal year. It is now admitted that there will be no deficit and that the amount on hand together with the current receipts will be amply sufficient to pay all the exmensesof the Government up to the 1st of July next. During the next year the estimated expenditures of the Government are stated by him at $280000,000. Those estimates have been reduced somewhat by the bills sent to us by the HoRep, and it is scarcely possible that the expenditures during the next year can reach $275,000,000 on the present basis. We have a current revenue now of nearly $500,000,000 during this year. The amount of the gold receipts during the 1st 3 uarters of the year were $140,000,000, and or this quarter Will not fall below $20,000,000. It is supposed that the internalrevenue will yield during the current year not less than $320,000,000, so that includini7 the profits realized on the sale of surplus gold we have an, income of not less than $500,000,000 this year, and some authorities place it higher. Thus it is evident that we have $200,000,000 more in come this year than we will have expenditures next year. No man can tell the future, and it is possible, perhaps probable, that during the next year t. ere will aaconsiderable falling off in revenue. I do not think the internalrevenue will fall off materially, because there are many sources of revenue that will come in next year which we have not yet felt. No one doubts that the tax on spirits will yield 2 or 3 times as much next year as it has during the current ear. No doubt, however, other taxes will be iininished. I ho c that the duties received from imported goo s will be diminished by a diminution of importations. But neither the SecyTreasury nor the head of the Internalrevenue Bureau contemplates any very material reduction, and on the basis of the present law as it now stands we shall next year probably have a revenue of $400,000,000, or at east $100,000,000 more than the expenditure of the next year. There is therefore no immediate necessity for these vast powers. The question then naturally occurs, why grant them? I have care fully considered thisquestion, and I, d o not think there is now any immediate iiccessity for granting these powers. No debt is maturing that is likely to give the Government any trouble; and yet we are now about to confer upon the SecyTreasury powers that we cannot in the nature of things recall. It is true we may repeal this law next year, but we know very well that when these large powers are granted they are very seldom recalle; they are made the precedents of further grants of power and are very rarely recalled. It seems to me that the whole object of the passage of this bill is to place it within the power of the SecyTreasury to contract the currency of the country, and thus, as I think, to reduce an unnecessary strain upon the people. his power I do not think ought to be given to him. The HoRep did not intend to give him this power. They debated. the bill a long time, and it was defeated on the ground that t cy would not confer on the Secretary this power to reduce the currency, and finally it was only passed with a proviso contained in the bill which I will now read: Provided. That of U.S. notes not more than $10000.000may be retired and canceledwithin 6 monthsfrom the passageof this act and there after not morethan $4,000, 00ino anyonemonth. The purpose of the HoRep was, while giving the Secretary power to fund the debt as it matured or even before maturity, (giving him the most ample power over the debt of the U.S., to limit his power over the currency, lest he might carry to an extreme the view presented by him in his annual report. If this proviso would accomplish the purpose designs by the HoRep, 1 would cease all opposition to this bill; but I know it will not, and for this very obvious reason: that there is no restraint upon the power of the SecyTreasury to accumulate legal tender notes in the Treasury. He may retire $200,000,000! of legal tender notes by retaining them in his possession without cancellation, and thus accomplish the very purpose the HoRep did not intend to allow him to, accomplish. He may sell the bonds of the U.S. at any rate he chooses for lega tenders, and he may hold those legal tender in his vaults, thus retiring them from the business of the country, and thus produce the very contraction which the HoRep meant to deny him power to do. Therefore, this proviso, which only limits the power of canceling securities or notes, does not limit his power over the currency, and he ma, without violatin this bill, in pursuance of the very terms of the bill, contract the currency according to his own good will and pleasure. My own impression is, that the SecyTreasury, in carrying out his known po icy, will do so. He says he will not contract it unreasonably or too rapidly, but I believe he will contract the currencyin this way. He has now in the vaults of the Treasury $60,000,000 in currency and $02,000,000 in gold a larger balance, I believe, than was ever before kept in the Treasury until within the last 2 or 3 months; a larger balance than was ever found in the Treasury during the war. What is the object of accumulating these vast bal ances in the Treasury? Simply to carry out his policy of contraction. With this power of retaining in the Treasury the money that comes in, what does he care for the limitation put upon this bill by the HoRep? That says that he shall not retire and cancel more than $10.000,000 of U.S. notes within 6 months, and not more than $4,000,000 in anyone month thereafter; butwhyneed he retire and cancel them when he can retain them in the vaults of the Treasury, and thus contract the currency? That brings me to the only material objection that I have to this bill. I do not think it Wise now to place in the power of the SecyTreasury or any mortal man this absolute and extreme control over the currency of the country. We have never done it before. In the bills that were passed when m honorable friendfrom Maine [.Mr. Fassnxnnxfi Was SecyTreasu and when Mr. Chase was SecyTreasury, we authorized them to retire legal tendgr notes, but only by issuing other notes of the same character. That was the provision of the law of 1864. Here we authorize the SecyTreasury to retire $10,000,000 within 6 months and $4,000,000 a month thereafter. That is all that the HoRep was willing to do after debate an after an extreme effort to pass this billbut, sir under the general operations of the Treasury dept, without the power given him by this bill, he may contract the currency without limit at his pleasure. If the Senate are willing to give him that power, I have nothing further to sa. They should do it with their eyes open. I do not think the SecyTreasury ought to have that power. I do not doubt in the least either the integrity or the capacity of the present incumbent of the Treasury Dept. I have as much confidence in him as anyone; but this question of the currency is one that affects so intimately all the business relations of life, the property of every man in this country, his ability to pay taxes, his ability to earn food and acquire a living, that no man ought to have the power to var the volume ofcurrency. It ought to be regulat by law, and the law ought to be so fixed and so defined that every business man may transact his business with full knowledge of the amount of the currency, with all its lim its and qualifications. Iask you, sir, how any prudent or judicious man can now engage in any important business in which heis compelled to go in debt with this large power hanging over him. It would be unsafe for him to do so. The amount of the currency ought to be fixed by law, whether much or little. There ought to The a limit, and no man oughtto have the power at pleasure to enlarge or contract that limit. ViLh the powers conferred by this bill the SecyTreasury may at any moment put into the market a bond that will at once absorb all the legal tenders. It may be said that he will not do it; that it will not be his interest to do it. Then why give him the power to do it when it is not necessary? If there was now an impending necessity resting upon him to raise a large sum of money within a short period of time 1 would be willing to give him this power as cheerfully us anyone; but there is no such necessity. Why, then, place it in his power to contract or expand the currency at his pleasure, and thus make fluctuations in all the business transactions of life? That this is not an idle fear I know from correspondence with some of the bestqbusinessmen of the countr. They are alarmed and refuse to go on an contract new obligations; they refuse to go on with their business in the manneriin which it has gone on; the effect of the pend ency of this bill has been to limit and contract the transactions in various operations of enter prise and business. I presume there are few Senators here but have had comlaints of this kind made from business men in different arts of the country, that the uncertainty of the amount of currency on hand, and the uncer tainty as to the policy to be adopted by the Government and the SecyTreasury, takcs away from them all means of judging as to what amount of business they can transact. With this power, the will or whim of the SecyTreasury might destroy all the men of the country who are compelled to go ginto debt to carry on their business. A sudden tcontraction or a sudden expansion might build 11) or tear down fortunes. I think every citizen of the U.S. has the right to know how much enrrenc whichis the by good of the whole system, shallbe in existence for the time being. There should be some limit over this power. The HoRep intended that there should be a limit. They proposed such a limit; but as I said before, that limit, from the verynature of things, without further amendment is of no account whatever. The passage of that li itation leaves the bill, in let particular, pregisely as it was before; because all the Secretary has got to do is to receive these legal tenders, put them in the hands of the Treasurer of the U.S., Mr. Spinner, where they will be safely kept, and they will be retired from the business operations of the country, and produce the very results which the HoRep intended to prevent. I do not think that this is the time or the occasion to enter into an elaborate discussion as to the amount of currenc needed in this country, or as to the various mnucial subjects that may be broughtbefore the Senate at different periods. There are only 2 propositions in this bill. One is to give the SecyTreasury, without limit, the power to sell bonds of the U.S., to retire any portion of the present debt of the U.S. at pleasure. He may, with these bonds, as he is oing, retire notes that are not due for 2 or 3 years. He may, with this power, at his discretion retire the 5 twenties and ten forties or an portion of the debt of the U.S. Tiid may sell bonds without limit as to amount, without limit as to rate. There is no limit upon him. That power you may ichoose to give him, although Isee no necessity or it. Then there is the further power to reduce the currency, a power that has not heretofore been granted to any SecyTreasury. The amount heretofore has been fixed and lim ited by law. By the 1st clause of this bill the Secretary is authorized to receive Treasury notes, or U.S. notes of any form or description, and there is no limitation to this power exceptthe clause which I have read to you. That imits his power to retire and cancel the U.S. notes, but not to accumulate the enormous balances on hand. My own iru pression has been, and when this bill was before the ComFinance I believed it would be better for that committee to report to the Senate a financial project to fund tedebt of the U.S. I believe that now is the favorable time to do it. If a 5%. bond, along bond of properdescription and properguarantee, was now placed upon the market, with such ample powers to negotiate it as ought to be given to the SecyTreasury, such a loan as was authorized 2 years ago, at a reduced rate of interest, to be exempt from taxation, I have no doubt whatever the SecyTreasu could fund every portion of the debt of the IgU.S. as it matured. The real difficulty of our financial position in the future grows out of the peculiar character of the 7 30 notes. y those notes the holder, when they mature, has the option to demand the money or a 520 bond. It is manifest that as this option is out it cannot be recalled. To recall that option would be a violation of the faith of the U.S. that the holder of these notes may demand either the money or a bond. It is therefore the interest of the U.S. so to preserve its credit that the 5 twenties will be above par, and thus the 7 30 notes when due will be converted into 5 twenties, which will run for 5 years at 6%; then I think the whole debt of the U.S. might be funded and reduced to 5%. I do not believe it would limit or cripple the power of the Secretary if we would grant him authority to put upon the market such a bond as I havementioned and limit his power over the national currency by requiring him to pay out all over a reasonable balance in the Treasury toward the liquidation of the public deb and thus prevent the very thing the HoRep intended to prevent by this proviso to the bill. I do not like to embarrass abill of this kind with amendments, because I know it is difficult to consider amendments of this sort reguiring an examination of figures and tables. have prepared a bill very carefully, with a view to meet my idea, but I will not present it now in antagonism to this bill passed by the HoRep and the view taken by the ComFinance, because I know, in the present condition of the Senate, it. would not probably be fully considered. My only purpose now is to poiutout the fact thatis perfectly clear to the mind of every sensible man who has examined this bill, that the bill as it stands does not carry out the manifest intention of the HoRep when they passed it, and that the proviso limiting the power of the Secretary over the legal tender currency does not accomplish the purpose which they designed, and Without which I know the bill never could have passed the HoRep.