contract, or the
making of any contract for the sale and delivery of any gold coin
or bullion, of which the person making such contract was not at
the time of making it in actual possession. It also declared it
to be unlawful to make any loans of money or currency to be repaid
in coin or bullion or to make any loan of coin or bullion to be
repaid in currency. All these provisions were made to prevent what
were regarded as bets on the price of gold. This law, however,
proved to be ineffective, as all such laws interfering with trade
and speculation must be, and was soon repealed.

The national banking act, which passed at the previous session,
was carefully revised and enacted in a new form, and it still
remains in force, substantially unchanged by subsequent laws. By
this new act the office of comptroller of the currency was created.
Under its provisions, aided by a heavy tax on the circulating notes
of state banks, such banks were converted into national banks upon
such conditions as secured the payment of their circulating notes.

The financial measures, to which I have referred, were the work of
the committees of ways and means of the House and on finance in
the Senate. They occupied the chief attention of both Houses, and
may fairly be claimed by the members of those committees as successful
measures of the highest importance. I was deeply interested in
all of them, took a very active part in their preparation in
committee, and their conduct in the Senate, and, with the other
members of the committee, feel that the measures adopted contributed
largely to the final triumph of the Union cause. Certainly, the
full power of the United States, its credit and the property of
its people were by these laws intrusted to the executive authorities
to suppress the rebellion.

In addition to military and financial measures, that session was
prolific in many other measures of primary importance. The Union
Pacific Railroad Company, which had been chartered by the previous
Congress, found itself unable to proceed, and appealed to Congress
for additional aid. This was granted by the act of July 2, 1864.
Under this act, the first lien of the United States for bonds
advanced to the company, provided for by the act of 1862, was made
subordinate to the lien of the bonds of the company sold in the
market--a fatal error, which led to all the serious complications
which followed. The proceeds of the sale of the first mortgag