, and the resumption act of January
14, 1875, reaffirmed the original promise and renewed the pledges
of the nation to redeem, when presented, its notes issued during
and on account of the Rebellion, thus making them the equivalent
of coin. I then, also against the prophecy of many in and out of
Congress, demonstrated the honesty, necessity, and ability of the
government to resume specie payment.

The act was not repealed, and resumption came under it without a
financial shock, and the nation's credit, strength, honor, and good
faith were maintained inviolate with its own people.

I advocated the payment of claims of loyal citizens of the
insurrectionary States for supplies furnished or seized by the
Union Army, necessary for its use for subsistence, but opposed
payment, to even loyal citizens, of claims based on the loss or
destruction of property incident to the general devastation of the
war. Claims for destruction of property were the most numerous,
and the most energetically pressed, and, in some instances,
appropriations were made to pay them, but the great majority of
them failed. The loyalty of claimants from the South was often
more than doubtful. For want of a well defined rule, which it is
impossible to establish in Congress, very many just claims against
the United States never are paid, or, if paid, it is after honest
claimants have been subjected to the most vexatious delays, and,
in many instances, forced to be victimized by professional lobbyists.
Many claimants have spent all they and their friends possessed
waiting in Washington, trying to secure an appropriation or to pay
blackmailing claim-agents or lobbyists. It is doubtful whether
the latter class of persons ever really aided, by influence or
otherwise, in securing an honest appropriation, though they, to
the scandal of the members, often had credit for doing so. It is
doubtful whether there is any case where members of either House
were bribed with money to support a pending bill, yet many claimants
have believed they paid members for their influence and votes.

An illustrative incident occurred when Wm. P. Frye of Maine was
serving on the War Claims Committee of the House. A lobbyist in
some way ascertained that Mr. Frye was instructed by his committee
to report a bill favorably by which a considerable claim would be
paid. The rascal found the claimant, and told him that for five
hundred dollars Mr. Frye would make a favorable report,