Mr. FESSENDEN. I am sorry, Mr. President, that I feel under the necessity of replying to some of the remarks of the honorable Senfrom Illinois, because I think his speech is ealculated to do injury and mislead the public mind. It is a very good adcaptandum speech but unfortunately a good part of it is founded on a misapprehension, and so far as part of the last it is concerned, when you come to examine it according to the facts, I think it will be found that it is built up upon a false supposition, or rather upon an ignorance of the true state of the fact. I made no attempt at eulogizing the honorable SecyTreasury. It is not my habit here to eulogize anybody. His honor being impugned and his administration of his office being impugned, I but felt it my duty, being the chairman of the ComFinance, to state that in my belief the SecyTreasury had conducted himself in his high office with integrity and with ability. I repeat it now. It is myopinion, and the opinion will go for what it is worth. With regard to this particular thing, when the honorable Senator did not find here the owhich 2 years ago he so much Good to; what necessity was there that he to along speech in order to prove that we had been wrong heretofore, and that he had been right, as he always is, and that now the Finance Countmittee had come at last to his opinion and to his conclusion? What object the Senator had in making such a speech when he did not find here the appropriation to which he objected, except to recall to the memory of the Senate the wise words that he uttered on a former occasion, I cannot imagine. I cannot think of any other reason, because the question did not Present itself to the Senate. I stated last year with reference to this large fund to be placed in the hands of the SecyTreasury for a certain purpose, that if anybody was responsible for iIt was. I 1st recommended it. I urged it upon the Senate, and I will state briefly the reasons that operated upon me in doing so. I thought that in these times there was an absolute necessity to increase the pay of some of the officers of the Dept in .to retain their services. I hoped that these hard times would not continue, that we should soon get back to aspecie basis, and when we did return the Present salaries would be sufficient. I was opposed, therefore, to making a permanent increase of salaries which it is almost always impossible to reduce, and preferred that in order to carry on the Dept the temporary power should be given to the SecyTreasury for a year or 2 I did not know how long it would last to increase the pay of those officers who could not afford to serve and would not serve for the Ray they received, and whose services were absolutely essential. In other words, I preferred to lodge a temporary discretion with the SecyTreasury rather than to make a general increase of salaries, which would be too high by and by, and which we could not get rid of. That was the simple ground upon which I put it. I recommended an appropriation of $250,000 with this view while f held the office of SecyTreas. ury, and recommended it, not to be disbursed by myself, because I did not intend to remain in the office, but to be disbursed by my successor, whoever he might be. I was of the opinion that that was the best thing to do. I consulted the chairman of the ComFinance on the part of the Senate, now a member of the committee, as he will remember, on that subject, and I consulted the chairman of the ComWays&Means of the House, and explained my reasons. They agreed with me, and the appropriation was made. A reason for a similar appropriation, though of a smaller amount, seemed to Present itself last year because there had been no increase of salaries, and it was made after considerable discussion. It is my habit to think that a man placed in a high office, a man of character, who has been found true to integrity and honor during a long life or for many years, may be trusted with the disbursement of a sum of money for ordinary purposes. You must trust somebody. Why not trust him who has risen to such emi nence as to fit him for a high place? In principle, as a general practice, I agree, and I stated that I agreed, with the honorable Senfrom Illinois; but under the circumstances I deemed it wise to vary from it; and I believe that he is rather a poor statesman who always is bound by the same rules under widely differing circumstances, because he sees a principle in it, not a moral principle, but a political principle if you please. I think that ability is shown in the power to suit yourself to circumstances and do that which varying conditions may require, and not always to be bound down by one iron rule and not to move from it. Sir, these have been remarkable times, and they have required some variation from the ordinary course of things. It seems the Senate agreed with me. I have not abandoned the idea. I think now that it would be wise to do the same thing rather than to be paying 20%. increase of sal aries all round to every officer. It would not take one quarter as much money. We appropriated only $160,000 last year in this way and got along well enough; but your 20%. increase will to: a million. I did it on the score of economy. I thought it was better. I think so still. But unfortunately such a state of feeling exists in Congress with reference to political affairs at the Present day and the political opinions of the SecyTreasury and other men, that they would rather spend a million according to rule, according to the law they passed, than spend $150,000 through the exercise of the discretion of au officer whose honor is not impugned and cannot be impugned in my judgment. That is the simple fact; and when I say that the ComFinance did not attempt to propose such an appropriation this year I mean to suggest that it was because it was understood that such was the state of feeling that it was impossible to pass it, and therefore they might as well not try it; but I remain of precisely the same opinion that I did then, and I would rather trust $150,000 to the SecyTreasury to be disbursed in that way than to spend $1,000,000 in a general increase of salaries when the great majority of them in my judgment ought not to be increased at all. So far as that goes I am responsible for these opinions and for having acted upon them; and I do believe I know that while in. disbursing the fund he may have made some mistakes, the Secretary disbursed it throughout upon the principles upon which the appropriation was obtained, according to the reasons which I gave for it in the 1st place, and to accomplish the very purpose that I wished to carry out. I did not mean that it should be given to all the under clerks, who receive enough, but for a special purpose, to keep that kind of aid in the Dept that was needed by the Dept. That was the object and the only object. But it is abandoned, and the question comes back simply to an appropriation of $50,000; for what? To pay temporary clerks. As I said before, these are times when you cannot tell precisely what you want. In ordinary times, before the war, we knew exactly what force was needed; we knew how much business was to be done in the Dept; we could fix the number of clerks in each bureau and say “there is enough, ” and fix their compensation. We cannot do it now, for such is the sudden increase of business in the different bureaus of the Dept from month to month that the SecyTreasury must have power to employ temporary clerks more than the ordinary force at different times or he. cannot get along.