"Resolved (the Senate concurring), That the thanks of Congress be presented to the Hon. James G. Blaine, for the appropriate memorial address delivered by him on the life and services of James Abram Garfield, late President of the United States, in the Representatives' Hall, before both Houses of Congress and their invited guests, on the 27th day of February, 1882; and that he be requested to furnish a copy for publication.
"Resolved, That the chairman of the joint committee appointed to make the necessary arrangements to carry into effect the resolutions of this Congress, in relation to the memorial exercises in honor of James Abram Garfield, be requested to communicate to Mr. Blaine the foregoing resolution, receive his answer thereto, and present the same to both Houses of Congress."
At the time of the commencement of this session the credit of the United States had reached high-water mark. It was apparent that, with judicious management, a three per cent. bond of the United States could be sold at par. On the first day of the session, December 5, 1881, I introduced a bill to provide for the issue of three per cent. bonds. It was referred to the committee on finance, and on the 15th of December, by direction of that committee, I reported the bill with certain amendments, and gave notice that I was directed to seek the action of the Senate upon it immediately after the holidays. It was taken up for consideration on the 11th of January, and, much to my surprise, met with opposition from those who a year before had favored a similar bill. They said it was a mere expedient on my part, that President Hayes had, at my request, vetoed a similar bill; but I was able to truly answer that the veto of President Hayes was not against the three per cent. bond, but against the compulsory provision that no other than three per cent. bonds should be deposited in the treasury as security for the circulating notes of, and deposits with, national banks; that President Hayes, in fact, approved of the three per cent. bond.
I made a speech in support of this measure on the 26th of January, reviewing our financial condition, with many details in respect to our different loans, and closed as follows:
"I say now, as I said at the commencement, that the passage of this bill seems to me a matter of public duty. I care nothing for it personally. I have been taunted with my inconsistency. I feel like the Senator from Kentucky about an argument of that kind. If I did not sometimes change my mind I should consider myself a blockhead or a fool. But in this matter, fortunately, I have not changed my mind. In 1866 I anticipated the time when we could sell three per cent. bonds and said that was a part of the funding scheme, and so continued, year in and year out, as I could show Senators, that that was the ultima thule, the highest point of credit to which I looked in these refunding operations. I believed last year it could not be done, because I did not believe the state of the money market would justify the attempt, and, besides that, the great mass of the indebtedness was so large that it might prevent the sale of three per cent. bonds at par. Therefore, I wanted a three and a half per cent. bill then. But then we secured the three and a half in spite of Congress, by the operations of the treasury department and the consent of the bondholders, now we ought to do a little better.
"Let Congress do now what it proposed to do last year, offer to the people a three per cent. bond. If they do not take it no harm is done, no expense is incurred, no commissions are paid, no advantage is taken. If they do take it, they enable you to pay off more rapidly still your three and a half per cent. bonds. There was no express and no implied obligation made by the Senator from Minnesota, as he will himself say, that the people of the United States have the right to pay every dollar of these three and a half per cent. bonds. He had no power to make such an intimation even, nor has he made it, as he states himself. We are not restrained by any sense of duty, we have the right to take advantage of our improved credit, of our advanced credit, and make the best bargain we can for the people of the United States, and the doctrine is not 'let well enough alone,' but always to advance.
"We are advancing in credit, in population, in strength, in power, in reason. The work of to-day is not the work of to-morrow; it is but the preparation for the future. And, sir, if I had my way in regard to these matters I certainly would repeal taxes; I would fortify ourselves in Congress by reducing this large surplus revenue; I would regulate, by wise and separate laws, fully and fairly considered, all the subjects embraced in these amendments as separate and distinct measures, pass this bill which, to the extent it goes and to the extent it is successful, will be beneficial to the people."
The debate upon the bill and upon amendments to it continued until the 3rd of February, when it passed the Senate by the decided vote of 38 yeas, 18 nays.
The bill was referred to the committee of ways and means, but the House, instead of passing a separate bill, accomplished the same object by section 11 of the national bank act of July 12, 1882, by which the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to receive at the treasury any bonds of the United States bearing three and a half per cent. interest, and to issue in exchange therefor an equal amount of registered bonds of the United States bearing interest at the rate of three per cent. per annum.
Mr. Folger, Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual report of December 4, 1882, stated that on July 1, 1882, the amount of three and a half per cent. bonds outstanding was $449,324,000, and that under the section referred to he had exchanged to the date of his report $280,394,750 of three per cent. bonds for a like amount of three and a half per cent. bonds, thus reducing the annual interest charge by reason of these exchanges $1,401,973.75.