Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. President, my attention was not called particularly to this bill until it was brought up for consideration to day. I have heard the objections made to its passnve, and I must confess that they have no considerable weight with me. I do not participate in the fears that have been expressed by Senators who oppose the passage of this bill. It has been emphatically renounced vicious legislation; but I submit tgat no good reasons have been given to the Senate for the expression of that opinion. Suppose Cong'ress, having exclusive jurisdiction to legislate for the DistCol, should pass ageneral act of incorporation providing that certain persons might incorporate themselves under that act to do any legitimate business. Many of the States have passed acts of that description. I think that system of legislation is preferable to special corporations. If there was such a law as that in this District then these persons could incorporate themselves to do the business which they proposeto do by the terms of this bill. A, B, an C might file articles of corporation declaring thattheir capital stock should be a certain amount, and that each share should be a certain amount, declaring where the principal office should be, and the business which they proposed to pursue, all of which is declared in this bill; and those persons so incorporated could then pro ceed and transact the business described in this bill, and they could own property elsewhere than in the District of CO um in. Now, I suppose it will not be pretended that a corporation organized under the laws of a State is confined in the transaction of its busi uses or in the possession of property to the limits of the State in which it is organized. Man corporations organized by the laws of the NewEngland States do business on the Pacific coast; andI do not see why a corpo ration organized under the laws of Congress in the DistCol, an artificial ierson, may not own property outside of the DistCol as well as a natural person living in the DistCol. Suppose a man here living in the DistCol is worth $1,000,000, and he sees proper to engage in the business described in this bill, and he in vests his money in mines in Virginia or Ohio or California or Oregon. Certainly he has a perfect right to do that, and nobody can complain. So if halfa dozen individuals unite together, and their capital consists of $1,000,000, is there any reason why those half a dozen persons should not be allowed to engage in the same business that an individual residing within this District might engage in who happened to be worth $1,000,000? It is said, whydo not those persons living in the DistCol, who are organized mto a company in this bill, go into the States where they wantto do business and obtain the privilege from the State governments to transact their business? Many of the States and I do not know but all of the States, require that where acompany is organized by the laws of the State, that company shall have its principal place of business within the State, and that a certain portion of the stockholders or officers of the company shall reside within the State; and the laws of the State generally provide that citizens of the U.S. living in the DistCol cannot organize under the laws of the State unless they transfer all their business to those remote places and to States where the do not live. ow, it is to be remembered that there are Territories of the U.S. where there are extensive mines, and those persons organized by this not into a company may go into the Territory of Montana antiimine; they may go into the Territory of Washington or the territory of Idaho and have and own mines. Is there any reason why Congress should not provide by an act of incorporation that citizens living in the DistCol may not go into the Territories of the U.S., over which Congress has the power to legislate, and engage in mining business there? t seems to be assumed that this company is to be engaged in mining in a State. That may be true, and probably it is true. That would not be any objection to the bill, even if it was true, in my opinion; but if this company, organized for the purpose of transacting this business, should find that it cannot engu e in this business within any particular State, then it might engage in the business of miningin some of the Territories of the U.S. where the business of mininf is extensively prosecuted. ow, sir, Congress is constantly engaged in organizing companies, granting charters ofin corporation toindividua 5living elsewhere than in the DistCol, living in the different States and Territories. Railroad companies are organized. Several have been or‘ ganized at this session of Congress. Persons have been incorporated for the purpose of constructing railroads in the different Territories of the U.S. I believe a company has been organized to build a telegraph from the U.S. to the West India islhnds. The power which is to be exercised in this case is a power that is constantly exercised by congress; and abill is now ending here to organize a company to build, a ship canal around the falls 0 Niagara. Therefore the objection which is made to this particular bill, it strikes me, is one that cannot prevail at this time, unless Congress proposes to reverse all that has been done for a long time in reference to matters of this description. I think that it is the duty of Congress to romote as far as prac ticable the interests of) the citizens of the DistCol, and that persons residing in this District should have the same opportunities to transact business as citizens residing within a State. congress stands in the same relation to the poop e of this District that a State government does to the people of a State; and I undertake to say there is no State in this Union where these individuals, if they resided within that State, could not be organized, either by asecial act of incorporation or under a general) law of incorporation; there is no State in this Union where this bill might not become a law, either by a special act of legislation or under a general not ofincorporation. Itseems to me that the citizens of this District ought to have the some rights and privileges, and Congress ought to be as liberal as a State government 'would be to them if they reside in an State.