--Mr. Roscoe Conkling maintained that "in the first place, the
Secretary of the Treasury has now the power, under the Act of March
3, 1865, to exchange any securities of the Government which bear
interest for any other securities which bear interest. In the second
place, he has the power to call in, to cancel, to annihilate, so that
it shall never go out again, every particle of currency issued prior
to June 30,1864; and the truth is, that substantially if not literally
the whole of the currency was issued previous to that time." . . .
"Only one power," said Mr. Conkling, "remains to be conferred upon him;
and that is, the power to put his bonds upon the market when he
pleases, where he pleases, as he pleases, sell them for money, and with
that money purchase the outstanding obligations of the Government."

--Mr. Garfield argued that "under existing law, the Secretary can
issue compound-interest notes and 7-30 bonds to meet current
indebtedness; but these are the most expensive forms of government
obligations, and therefore he ought not to use the power." He thought
the proposed bill was necessary in the interest of the Government. He
would "trust the Secretary to proceed cautiously in the path required
by honor, to place our currency on a sound basis. . . . We have
travelled one-third of the way since Congress met. Gold was then 148.
It is now 130. Defeat this bill, and there will be a jubilee on
Wall Street."

--Mr. Lawrence of Ohio opposed the bill, and presented a letter from
Mr. Freeman Clarke, then Comptroller of the Currency, saying, "We have
full power to fund every dollar of the floating debt without any
legislation, and with no occasion for making any loan whatever."

--Mr. Morrill closed debate on the 16th of March; and the bill coming
to a vote, was defeated,--_ayes_ 65; _noes_ 70. But on a motion to
reconsider, it was again brought before the House on the 19th of March,
and after brief debate was recommitted. When it re-appeared, four
days later, it contained a _proviso_ "that the Secretary of the
Treasury shall not retire more than ten million dollars of legal-tender
notes in the first six months after the passage of the Act, and not
more than four million dollars a month afterwards; and shall make a
report to Congress of his action under this provision." Mr. Morrill
submitted a letter from Mr. McCulloch, expressing the opinion that "it
will be a national calamity if Congress shall fail to grant