.

When the bill was under consideration in the House, I proposed a
substitute. In the debate of July 21 I made a statement of the nature
of my substitute, and I reproduce an extract which sets forth the
first step in a policy which culminated in the Act for Funding the
Public Debt, and which was approved by President Grant July 14, 1870:

"The amendment to which I wish to call the attention of the House
provides for the funding of $1,200,000,000 of the public debt
$400,000,000 payable in fifteen years @ 5 per cent interest,
$400,000,000 payable in twenty years @ 4 1/2 per cent interest, and
$400,000,000 payable in twenty-five years @ 3.65 per cent interest,
the latter sum of $400,000,000 payable, principal and interest, at the
option of the takers, either in the United States, or in London, Paris,
or Frankfort."

At that time I had not entertained the thought that I might come to be
the head of the Treasury Department. Indeed, I had no other purpose in
public life than to remain in the House of Representatives.

I had had experience on the executive side of the Government and also
on the legislative side, and I had a fixed opinion in favor of the
latter form of service.

As Secretary of the Treasury, I proposed a bill in 1869 in the line of
the substitute for the bill of the Committee on Ways and Means which I
had challenged in July, 1868. The bill proposed an issue of three
classes of bonds, each of four hundred million dollars, which were to
mature at different dates, and to bear interest at the rates of 5, 4 1/2,
and 4 per cent. It was further provided that the principal and
interest of the bonds bearing the lowest rate should be made payable
either in the United States, or at Frankfort, Paris, or London, as the
takers might prefer. The provision was rejected through the influence
of General Schenck, who had then returned recently from Europe, and
with the opinion that the concession involved an impairment of national
honor. As a substitute for the feature so rejected, I originated a
plan for the issue of registered bonds, upon the condition that the
interest could be paid in checks to be forwarded by the mails to the
holders of bonds at the places designated by them in any part of the
world. This plan is far superior to the first suggestion, as it is
susceptible of a much wider application.

I have received from Mr. Roberts, the Treasurer of the United States,
the following letter and statement:

ST