Mr. HOWARD. Mr. President, Lfeel a very stron repugnance toward this amendment, and hope It Will be nou'coucurred in. What is it? It appropriatesFor compensation of temporary clerks in the Treasury Dept and for additional compensation to officersand clerks in the same Dept, $160,000 I’:rovnlerl, That the temporaryclerks herein providedfor maybeclassifiedaccordingto the character of their services, and that the SecyTreasury may award such additional compensation asmay be 1phis judgmentJust and maybe required by the public service. It will be seen that there are 2 classes of clerks to be provided for out of this sum of $160,000. he 1st are the temporary clerks, socalled; and the other the officers and clerks already properly and formally employed in that Dept. There is no limit to the number of temporary clerks who may be thus employed by the SecyTreasury, an there is no rule but the discretion of the SecyTreasury for the distribution of this fund, or any part ofit, to those officers and clerks who are permanently such in the employment of the Dept. It appears to me that this is a very loose and a very unsafe style of legislation. Is it the purpose of the honorable Senfrom Maine to allow the SecyTreasury to appoint and employ in that Dept any number of tem porary clerks, the number depending only upon his discretion, his “judgment, in the language of the bill, or perhaps upon his caprice or whim, as it may practically turn out? Is that the purpose of the honorable Senator? That is certainly the meaning of the clause, so far as I can comprehend 1t; and under it the Secretary may at any time employ just as many temporary clerks as he may see fit, and the number may run up from 20 to 100, or 500, or even1,000 if he sees fit to employ so many. There is no limit fixed by the statute to the number. A similar objection lies to the distribution of the fund, so far as it respects the permuent clerks in the employment of the Dept. There is no rule by which the money is to be distributed among them. All is left to the caprice and the favoritism if he sees fit to employ favoritism of the SecyTreasury; and it is beyond all doubt that in the distribution of the fund he will necessaril create great discontent among the clerks, an do injustice, at least to some of them. I prefer that the clause should settle the amount which is to be paid to each clerk with precision and exactness, leaving nothing to the discretion of the SecyTreasury. But, sir, it is useless to disguise it; this amendment will in its operation place in the hands of the SecyTreasury $160,000 to be used by him, i he shall see fit so to use it, as an electioncering fund, as a fund to reward that class of clerks connected with his Dept who have figured very recently so cons icnously as politicians; that class ofclerka who have taken it upon themselves to lecture Congress on the subject of their duties here; who, acting under the impulse, as I must presume, of their chief, have seen fit to pass res olutions in their ward meetings, or in their associations, or clubs, denouncing the majority in the 2 Houses of Congress in reference to very grave and important measures pending before them. Sir. will never consent to place the money of the U.S. in such hands, bands which may use it for such base purposes. I do not care who the chief of the Dept is, or what may be his merits; in myjudgment, it is an act of childishness and folly, and worse than childishness and folly, to place such a sum of money in the hands of a public functionary, who, according to his own givings out, is as bitterly hostile to the policy of this congress as any man in the land. I will never consent to feed a foe, even though that fog may be a mere political foe. Let him remain in his place and 0 his duty, and not ask Congress to ccome the contributors of money to enable him to carry on electioneering campaigns. For these reasons I shall vote against this amendment., The question being taken by yeas&nays, resulte yeas 23, nays 14; 12. So the amendment was concurred in.