The next amendment to the amendment was in section sixteen of the House amendment, in the third and fourth lines to strike out the words "who shall be chosen from and by the corporators herein provided," after the word "directors,' and in lieu of these words to insert "seven in number;" and in line seven, after the word "directors," to strike out "seven" and insert " majority of;" so as to make the section read:

a

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That the government and direction of the affairs of the company shall be vested in the board of directors, seven in number, who shall be stockholders, and who shall hold their office till others are duly elected and qualified to take their places as directors; and the said directors (a majority of whom, the president being one, shall be a quorum) shall elect one of their nuinber to be president of the board, who shall also be president of the company; and they shall also choose a treasurer, who shall give bonds with surety to said company, in such sum as the said directors may require, for the faithful discharge of his trust. In case of a vacancy in the board of directors by the death, resignation, or otherwise, of any director, the vacancy occasioned thereby shall be filled by the remaining directors.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to. The next was to add at the end of the seventeen section of the House amendment the words "and the charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown;" so as to make the section read:

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the directors shall have full power to make and prescribe such by-laws, rules, and regulations, as they shall deem needful and proper touching the disposition and management of the stock, property, estate, and effects of the company, not contrary to the charter or to the laws of the United States and the charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown.

Mr. GRIMES. The word "charters" should be "ordinances." The city charters are laws of Congress.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. That clerical correction will be made.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to. The next was to insert at the end of section eighteen of the House amendment:

And said directors shall annually make a report in writing of their doings to the stockholders and to Congress.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to. The next was to strike out of the nineteenth section of the House amendment the following clause:

And it is hereby made the duty of said Mayors, Common Councils, and other officers, to do such acts and things within their respective departments as may be needful to promote the construction and protect the operation of the said railroad. Any act or thing done in violation hereof shall be inoperative and void, and the use of said streets by said company for the purposes of said railroad, as herein authorized, shall be considered a public use.

So that the section would read as follows: SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That the Mayor, Common Council, and the several officers of the corporations of the cities of Georgetown and Washington, and the said corporations are hereby prohibited from doing any act or thing to hinder, delay, or obstruct the construction or operation of said railroad as herein authorized.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to. The next was to strike out the twenty-first section of the House amendment, in these words:

Sec. 21. And be it further enacted, That the said railway shall be completed and ready for the transportation of passengers between the Capitol and Georgetown within sixty working days, and from the Capitol to the navy-yard within six months after the approval of this act.

And in lieu of it to insert:

And be it further enacted, That unless said corporation shall make and complete their said railways between the Capitol and Georgetown within sixty working days from and after the approval of this act, and from the Capitol to the navy-yard within sixty days thereafter, and on said Seventh street within six months from the passage hereof, and from said Rhode Island avenue to the point of intersection as aforesaid, within one year from the approval of this act, ttaen the same shall be null and void.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Before that amendment is adopted, I think it ought to be amended. It Jeaves the starting place on Fourteenth street at Rhode Island avenue. It ought to be at Boundary street. If we adopt this section in the language in which it now stands, we may not be able to amend it afterwards. I call the attention of the Senator from Maine to the forty-sixth line of the first section, where it describes this road. An amendment ought to be made to make the Four

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1862.

Now the other section

NEW SERIES.....No. 125.

ator who has charge of this bill, what he proposes to insert in lieu of that section. Does he propose to make this company pay anything?

Mr. MORRILL. No, sir; I propose to make them perform the duties devolved on them in this bill in lieu of any bonus.

The amendment was agreed to.

tors.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I wish to move an amendment in the first section of the bill by inserting the names of a couple of gentlemen as corporaAfter the name of "Zenas C. Robbins," in the ninth line of that section, I move to insert the names of "Dr. James C. Hall and John M. Brodhead," very valuable citizens here who feel an interest in this matter.

Mr. POMEROY. I simply want to understand how this motion can be made. I understand this bill to be an amendment.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Then this is an amendment to an amendment.

Mr. POMEROY. The committee have amended that section.

Mr. FESSENDEN. We can amend it further. Mr. POMEROY. If I understood it, we had a decision of the Chair that we could not get any other amendments except the amendments of the committee.

Mr. FESSENDEN. That cannot be so.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair has made no decision that amendments to the House amendments could not continue to be made; but an amendment proposed by the committee to an amendment of the House could not be amended, because that was an amendment to an amendment. Those, however, have been acted upon; and the amendments of the House can now at the pleasure of the Senate be further amended. The Senator from Maine moves to amend the amendment of the House, by adding the names suggested by him. The Chair thinks the motion is in order. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HALE. I think it is appropriate, as the Mayor of the city of Washington is in this bill, that the Mayor of Georgetown should be also. I move to insert the name of " Henry Addison" in the first section among the corporators.

Mr. ANTHONY. I think his name is already in the bill.

Mr. HALE. No; it is not.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HALE. I have some other amendments, but I understand the committee have some further amendments to propose, and I will wait until they are disposed of.

Mr. MORRILL. I was instructed by the committee to move a slight alteration in the names of the corporators. I move to add the name of "Benjamin H. Cheever," as one of the corpora

tors.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL. I was further instructed by the committee to move to strike out the names of Horace M. Dewey and Edward Clark from among the corporators.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. GRIMES. In the second section, fifth

of this act, then this act shall be null and void, and no rights line, after the word "aforesaid," the words "ex

whatever shall be acquired under it.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL. I believe we have now acted on all the amendments of the committee. Mr. HALE. Except striking out the third section.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. It is now moved by the Senator from Maine that the bill be further amended by striking out the third section, which will be read.

The Secretary read, as follows:

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That three per cent. of the net receipts for fares on said roads shall be paid over to the cities of Georgetown and Washington, to be divided according to the relative population of the two cities, and to be applied exclusively to the support of free public schools; and while the said per cent. shall be duly paid the realty of said roads shall be exempt from any other taxation.

Mr. POMEROY. I should like to ask the Sen

cept as hereinafter provided" should be stricken out; and I make that motion. The section will then read:

That said roads shall be deemed real estate, and they, together with other real property and the personal property of said body corporate, shall be liable to taxation as other real estate and personal property in the cities aforesaid. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HALE. I have two or three amendments that I desire to move to the fifteenth section. They both relate to the same subject, and raise the question which I endeavored to ask the Chair a few moments ago, and which the Chair answered in its own way, which I do not find any fault with. I propose, in the sixth line of the fifteenth section, after the word "open," to insert these words:

In some convenient and accessible place in the city of Washington, from nine o'clock in the forenoon till five o'clock in the afternoon.

The reason why propose this amendment is, that it has sometimes happened that these corporations give notice to incet in some place that is notconvenient and accessible to the public, crowd in and fill up the room, and take all the stock themselves. I wish simply to provide that that shall not be done but that these books shall be keat open in some convenient and accessible place in the city of Washington, from nine o'clock in the forenoon till five o'clock in the afternoon. I trink: averybody will see the propriety of that. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HALE. I propose further to amend the same section by inserting in the twelfth fine, after the words: provided that," the words, "no person shall subscribe for himself or for another more

than one hundred shares, and." The object of this a meatment is to prevent the monopoly which may be created without a provision of that sort. The proviso, if thus amended, as I propose, would then seivel :

Provided, That no person shall subscribe for himself or for another more than one hundred shares, and no subscription shall be deemed valid until the person subscribing therefor shall make atidavit, &c.

The amendment was agreed to..

Mr. HALE. I have one other amendment that bwishte propose to the same section. After the amendment just made, it goes on as follows:

And subscription shall be deemed valid until the person subscribing therefor shall make affidavit before the persons, or any one of them authorized to receive such subscriptions, that the same is bona fide, and in fact and in truth for fim or herself, and not for another.

I propose to add, after the word "another," these words:

Nor until the person subscribing shall pay to the person persons authorized to receive the same twenty-five per cetit. in cash of the whole amount subscribed by him.

This has got to be done right off, if the road is to be built in sixty days, and that will be a guarantee that no person who does not actually inean to take the stock shall take it.

Mr. GRIMES. Is that amendment susceptible of further amendment? I think twenty-five per cent. is altogether too large a sum to be required, especially of persons who are not in very affluent circumstances, and who have not their means in a condition to immediately pay that amount in. Let the Senator put it at ten or fifteen per cent. That will secure every purpose that the Senator seeks to accomplish.

'Mr. HALE. Well, I will modify my amendment, and put it at fifteen; though I think twenty would be better, because the whole of the money has got to be raised in sixty days.

Mr. GRIMES. No, sir; there will be no necessity for raising the whole of the money in sixty days. They will call for it in installments, as the interests of the company may require. There is only a portion of this road that is required to be built in sixty days. It runs through six months; and it will only require a very small installment of the capital stock to be called in in the beginning. Ten per cent. would be plenty, in my opinion. Mr. HALE. Well, I will say fifteen per cent., if that will satisfy the Senator.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be so modified.

The amendment, as modified, was agreed to. Mr. HALE. I have one other amendment. I am told that since these branch railroads have

been put on through Seventh and Fourteenth streets, $300,000 will not be enough to build it, and I propose to add at the end of the tenth section the following words:

Provided, That the capital stock of said company may be increased by a majority of the stockholders to a sum suffi cient to carry out the object of the act, not exceeding the sum of $600,000.

Mr. MORRILL. I hope not in that form. I have no objection that the capital stock should be increased, but I think it is objectionable that the capital stock should be liable to be increased by the stockholders. It should be fixed by your bill; and if the Senator will allow me I will suggest that it be amended in this way: that the capital stock of said company shall not be less than $300,000 nor more than $500,000. Then the capital stock will be fixed definitely by the bill, not by sliding scale of the stockholders.

Mr. HALE. I accept that in lieu of my proposition

Mr. GRIMES. 1 trust no amendment of this

kind will be made. There is not the slightest necessity for the amount we have specified in the bill. There is not the slightest necessity for $300,000. We have given them at least $150,000 more than will be required to complete the road, and put it in perfect running order, and keep it in running order. I suppose of course Senators do not know the appliances that have been used to get a large amount of stock included in this bill. I have had some experience on that subject, and do not desire that there should be any loophole left by which there shall be any frauds perpetrated upon the public or upon Congress, and I think the tendency of the enlargement of this capital stock will have that effect.

Mr. HALE. I do not think I have been approached about it by anybody. I have had statements made to me by people interested. I felt a good deal of interest in the subject; and I think for as much as ten years we have been prevented from having a railroad here from the conflicting interests of those who have undertaken to get this grant made to these different companies. I understand that the length of the road to be built will be fourteen miles of double track, or most of it, and that the number of horses necessary to operate it will be something like four hundred. The number of cars I do not know. I am told that this sum of $300,000 will not do it. If it will, I certainly have no possible object except to give them what is necessary to build the road and put it in good running order, and particularly as we have compelled them not to go into debt.

Mr. COWAN. What is the length of the road, did the Senator say?

Mr. HALE.

I am told that fourteen miles is the length of the track.

Mr. GRIMES. I have been talked to as well as the Senator from New Hampshire in regard to the amount that this stock should be placed at; but I have not been talked to by a single citizen of the city of Washington or Georgetown who is really interested in the road and in its construction, who was in favor of this enlargement of the capital stock, and I think the Senator has not. But I have been talked to by gentlemen who have made a descent upon us from abroad, and who are attempting to use this railroad for purposes of private speculation, in favor of having this large amount. I have been talked to three or four times this morning about it. I quietly passed the gentlemen entertaining

I entertained at the start. I think those who are really interested in the road, and whose interests and whose wishes we should consult in the matter, do not desire any such thing. If they do, then it will be time enough for them to come to Congress and ask us to authorize the capital stock to be enlarged.

Mr. POMEROY. Perhaps the Senator from Iowa may not be aware that this increased amount of stock is rendered necessary by increasing the corporators. The twenty-six or thirty corporators will want a large amount of stock. It will not be necessary to make an assessment on this stock, not even of fifteen per cent., as the Senator from New Hampshire proposes. All they need do is to issue bonds on the road and build it. The bonds, on the road will pay for the building of the road, and this amount of stock will be a gratuity to be distributed among the twenty-six or thirty corporators. That is the reason why it is proposed to have a large amount of stock. The bonds are going to build the road, and not the stock; and the reason, in my private opinion, why we have run up the number of corporators from the original number proposed by the Senator from Iowa, the chairman of the committee, to twenty-six, and why it is proposed to have this large amount of stock, is to have a large amount to divide, without making an assessment upon it.

Mr. HALE. When the Senator says that is the reason why this amendment is proposed, I can only disclaim it for myself, and leave it to his own taste to make such accusations as those. I have offered it in good faith, and I have proposed only one additional corporator, and that was the Mayor of the city of Georgetown, which I think was eminently proper. I do not wish to get into a passion, or say anything harsh, but I disclaim being governed by corrupt motives in my action in this body.

Mr. GRIMES. I desire to inform the Senator from Kansas in regard to why the number of cor

We

porators was increased, what was really the reason. It is not that which he has suggested. Certain citizens of this District were included in the first bill which we passed through the Senate and sent to the House of Representatives. The House chose to send us back another bill. A majority, I think, of the persons named in it as commissioners or corporators were non-residents. were immediately approached by the agents of the persons who are interested in securing the passage of that bill, and told that the House would never consent to the substitution of other names than those named in the House bill, and that we must, therefore, adopt the names that were included in the House bill; and gentlemen were influenced by that declaration. So far as I agreed to the incorporation of new names, it was to the names of persons resident in this District, in order to get a majority of the citizens of this District to be named as commissioners, and thereby lessen the influen ence in the corporation of those gentlemen from abroad who were placed in the bill by the House of Representatives, and sent to us for our concurrence; and it was for no purpose of the distribution of the stock or anything of that kind. I have pretty much the same opinion as he has in regard to the necessity of this increase of the stock. I am perfectly well aware that they will never call for more than this fifteen per cent. As soon as they get this fifteen per cent., they will issue their bonds, and with the bonds they will build the road. I am perfectly well aware that this will be, if it passes, a most valuable charter, and hence it is that everybody has been contriving to obtain it upon the best terms he possibly could. But I think myself we had better leave the capital stock where it is, and if there should ever be such a necessity, which I have no idea will ever arise, as that it will be necessary that the amount of capital stock should be increased, let them come to Congress and make their showing to that effect, and it will unquestionably be increased in accordance with their wishes.

Mr. ANTHONY. I do not see any objection to the increase of the number of corporators, for I do not see any advantage that the corporators have over other stockholders. As the bill originally came from the House, there was some advantage in being a corporator; but as it has been amended by the committee, and the amendments have been adopted by the Senate, I do not see any advantage in a corporators. names of three persons have been inserted as corporators at my suggestion. One of them has since been put in on motion of the Senator from New Hampshire, but the committee had agreed upon him before-the Mayor of Georgetown, a very proper person certainly. The other two persons are householders and large owners of real estate in this city. Neither of them knew that his name was to be placed among the corporators until he learned it from the committee. I did not consult with either of them. The other persons that have been inserted, have been put in there on the faith of other members of the committee. I do not consider that there is now any sort of advantage in being among the corporators, and I should have no objection to twenty other men being put in. If any body who chooses to subscribe for the stock of the road thinks there would be any advantage in putting his name in the first section, I see no objection to it at all.

Mr. COWAŃ. I think the amount of stock, considering the proposed length of the road, is about enough. I do not think it is any too much; and it may be, and I suppose it would be, necessary to resort to the twelfth section, which authorizes a loan of $100,000. Therefore I would oppose raising the amount of the stock any higher than it is. As I understand, there are fourteen miles of double track, and it will perhaps cost $10,000 a mile.

tion to managers, has given stock-jobbers great powers, and has cheated millions out of the pockets of the people, the men who have subscribed stock in good faith. In our older States we have, by legislation, within a few years been endeavoring to correct those evils, and have more of the capital stock of railroads paid in.

Now, here is a little railroad in the capital of the country, a railroad which to those who build it will unquestionably be an excellent piece of property. Here is a small capital of only $300,000. You would find half a dozen men anywhere ready to advance the money at once and build the road. Give them what capital is necessary-I think $300,000 is enough-but do not have any issuing of bonds, or any stock-jobbing connected with it. I intend to move to strike out that portion of the bill, and not allow this railroad company to issue any bonds at all. Let us have a cash concern of it; let the money be paid in; let it be real, fair, as it should be. If I had the power I would carry that policy certainly in all the new railroad operations that are hereafter to be made in this country. I believe that hundreds of millions of dollars have been plundered out of the people of the country by this system of issuing bonds on railroad stock. Perhaps in the new section of the country, where they have but little money, they are necessary; but in our older States it was not necessary, and if it was then, it certainly is not now; and I hope we shall set a better example here.

Mr. SHERMAN. I think the Senate is about tired enough of this question now to hear a few suggestions which I intend to make, which, if heeded, will, I think, dispose of this question in a speedy way. If the Senate should agree to the amendments reported from the Committee on the District of Columbia to the House bill, those amendments go back to the House, and are the subject of dispute and controversy. They will be referred to a committee of the House. They will agree to some and disagree to others. In that stage of the bill you never can get a committee of conference until there is an absolute disagreement between the two Houses. Now, I believe it is the desire of every member of the Senate to have a railroad speedily constructed. I believe also that Senators are perfectly indifferent who builds it. I confess that I do not care. In dealing with all these persons, I would deal with them as sharp, shrewd, money-making men, and I would deal with them so as to protect the interest of the public and the interest of the Government, and I believe that is the desire of the Senate. Now, I submit this proposition: if the Senate will agree to all the amendments reported by the Committee on the District of Columbia-I think they have done it-and then disagree to the House amendments, that makes a case of disagreement, and we can ask a committee of conference to-day without any further action of the House. The whole matter will then go upon a general disagreement between the two Houses to a committee of conference, and when the committee report, it is a privileged question which must be acted upon by both Houses, and both Houses will act upon the same bill without amendments. And allow me to say that is the only way, in my judgment, where outside interests are so diverse, that you can ever pass a railroad bill. This was the advice I gave as a member of the House a year ago, when I desired to get this bill, but it was not heeded. I will again suggest to Senators that under the rules of the Senate and under the rules of the House, for they are similar, this is the only way it can be done. I will read the first rule, in order to explain the position of the bill:

"In every case of an amendinent to a bill agreed to in one House and dissented to in the other, if either House shall request a conference, and appoint a committee for that purpose, the other House shall do the same."

Now, sir, you will see, if we disagree to the House amendments without any further vote, the Senate having charge of this bill, will at once move a committee of conference, the House will agree to that conference, and then the subject is presented in such a way that we can get a final vote, and but one vote.

Mr. HALE. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question?

Mr. SHERMAN. Certainly.

Mr. HALE. My question is, whether, in that view of the case, any amendments that have been

would be before the committee of conference? Mr. SHERMAN. They will all be there, subject to the committee of conference.

Mr. HALE. It strikes me, not.

Mr. SHERMAN. The committee of conference can then take up an entire new bill. The question will stand this way: the Senate make one proposition and the House make another, and the committee of conference can make a new bill entirely. If they can make a good bargain for the public with Mr. Brock, they are at liberty to do it. The committee of conference can report their action to either House, and either House can reject it without these various propositions of amendment. In this way, and in this way alone, can you reach the subject. Each House, as a matter of course, will select a committee in whom it confides, and this committee can deal with all these various statements, and make the best possible bargain for the public, and report their action, and I have no doubt that action will be heartily acquiesced in. But if you continue in the way you have already pursued, you create an innumerable number of question as to the amount of stock, as to the number of stockholders, as to the persons who are to be corporators, as to what they shall do, whether they shall go on and borrow money and issue stock-all these are questions about which you will have a controversy with the House which will not be settled, and you will not have the bill disposed of. Under the mode I propose, in a simple way, as business men, you may dispose of this question, and I think in ten days from this time the railroad may be in progress of construction.

I make these suggestions, as I said I would the other day, and I trust Senators are tired enough of this question to make that disposition of it.

Mr. MORRILL. I will suggest to the Senator that we first finish this question about the capital stock of the company.

Mr. SHERMAN. I have no objection to that. Mr. MORRILL. As at present advised, I think well of the suggestion, and I should have no objection so far as I am concerned if it should take that direction. It seems to me we might reach the point more directly in that way than we would be likely to do if we get up a division between the two Houses otherwise.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from New Hampshire, as modified.

The amendment was rejected.

Mr. TEN EYCK. I wish to perfect, at least in my view, the fifteenth section for the protection of the stockholders in the matter of the election of directors. I apprehend there will not be any objection whatever to it. I propose to offer two slight amendments to that section. I will read that part of the section for the purpose of showing

what I desire:

"And when the books of subscription to the capital stock of said company shall be closed, the corporators nained in the first section, or a majority of them, and in case any of them refuse or neglect to act, then a majority of the remainder shall."

I propose to add after the word "shall," the words," within twenty days thereafter." I will proceed to read the other amendment so that the Senate may understand it. The section then continues:

"Call the first meeting of the stockholders of said company for the choice of directors."

of the fifteenth section, after the word "shall," to insert the words "within twenty days thereafter." The amendment was agreed to.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey moves that the bill be further amended in the twenty-ninth line of the fifteenth section, after the word "directors," to insert the following:

Of which public notice shall be given for five days in two newspapers printed and published daily in the city of Washington, or by written personal notice to each stockholder by the clerk of the corporation.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. WADE. I offer the following amendment, as an addititional section:

And be it further enacted, That the personal property owned by the Union Omnibus Line Company, and connected with or employed in running the line of omuibuses between Georgetown and the Capitol gate, in Washington, shall be valued by three disinterested persons, one to be chosen by each party, and the third by said two, and the amount of valuation to be paid by the corporators or company to the owners thereof on or before the cars commence running on the aforesaid railroad between Georgetown and the Capitol gate.

It seems to me it would be equitable to adopt an amendment of this kind, requiring this railroad company to take all this stock; for, if they do not, it will be a dead loss to the owners. If this corporation is to be so very profitable as it is said it will be, I think it is no more than right that they should take this stock off the hands of the owners, as these omnibuses will be rendered useless by the adoption of this measure. I told one of these owners that I would offer this amendment for them. The Senate may do as they please about it.

Mr. COLLAMER. I would inquire of the gentleman whether his amendment includes the two companies? There are two.

Mr. WADE. I believe it does. I do not know. The amendment says the owners of such a line.

Mr. COLLAMER. One runs to Georgetown from the Capitol gate, and the other runs from the navy-yard to Seventh street.

Mr. WADE. This is only for the one from Georgetown to the Capitol gate.

Mr. COLLAMER. Why not include them both?

Mr. WADE. There is no reason, only that this amendment was handed to me by one of the parties interested; and if the other party had handed his in, I should have offered it also. I believe as often as these railroad bills have been up here, which has been very frequent since I have been a member of this body, that a proposition of this kind has generally been thought reasonable. I believe it has been attached as an amendment to most of the bills that have been up here before. I think myself it looks very reasonable and right that it should be done; that this company, espe cially if it is to be so profitable as gentlemen suppose it will be, should take part of this burden; for all this property will become almost entirely dead property on the hands of the persons who have accommodated the public heretofore by getting up these expensive lines. But I leave the matter to the judgment of the Senate. I take no more interest than that in it.

Mr. CLARK. I desire to make a suggestion to the Senator from New Jersey that he amend his amendment, so that the clerk of the corporation or some person shall give a personal notice to the stockholders of the meeting. I think personal notice would be better.

Mr. TEN EYCK. That would make it more certain, and I accept that modification."

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the first amendment proposed by the Senator from New Jersey, in the twenty-eighth line

to exercise its rights, nothing more, in reference to its own accommodation. Indirectly, consequentially, this property will be affected. That is never held to be ground for damages anywhere; I think never within the principle of legislation, certainly not within the principle of jurisprudence, that consequential damages are to be awarded when any of these enterprises are started. Certainly, if this property is to be included, all the property of a like character should be included, and that would embrace the other line. It seems to me it is a question of such obvious impropriety that the Senate ought not to adopt it.

Mr. WADE. It does not strike me exactly in the light it does my friend from Maine. Here we are granting a franchise to a private corporation, which is said to be exceedingly valuable. I do

not know how that may be. I understood, from the gentleman who handed me this paper, who, I suppose, is interested in these omnibus lines, that the corporators who had been named heretofore had offered to take this property off his hands. I know nothing more about it. It is not as though we were taking this for the public. We are granting a franchise to certain persons, which is said to be profitable. We can put them upon such terms as seem to be equitable, right, and just. These persons we are investing with this valuable privilege are entitled to nothing from the public that I know of particularly; but they are about to displace those who, for the public accommodation, have necessarily laid out a good deal of money. If we are about to grant a privilege to this railroad company, which will necessarily destroy these omnibus lines, on which these men have laid out a good deal of money for the accommodation of the public, and thus throw a large amount of property dead on their hands, it strikes me there is nothing very unreasonable in our saying to those to whom we grant this valuable privilege, "do equitably by those whom you are about to destroy."

The Senator from Maine, however, says that they have no more right than any other interest in the city that might be affected in some remote manner by the construction of this road. I do not look upon it in that way. I know of no other interest that will be directly and certainly affected and destroyed by it. If there is any other, I should think they ought to pay for it. They are not compelled to take this franchise. If they do take it; it is because it will be a profitable business; and all the Senators who have spoken on the subject believe it will be an exceedingly profitable business. I do not exactly participate in that belief; I am not so sanguine about that; but this road directly destroys the omnibus interest. It cannot be carried out without the destruction of it. If there is anything to be absolutely destroyed by it, I say these corporators who are to receive this benefit at our hands ought to do justice; and it would become us to compel those upon whom we are about to confer a privilege, if it affects other interests, to do justice. They have a good deal of property in horses that this company will undoubtedly want to take off their hands, and they should take it at an appraisement. I believe this amendment provides that they shall take it at a fair and equitable appraisement. I think that is reasonable and right, and I hope they will be compelled to do it.

Mr. TEN EYCK. I will simply add, in addition to what the Senator from Ohio says, that this railroad company will doubtless require everything, excepting the omnibuses, that this omnibus line owns the horses, harness, and everything of that sort; and under the circumstances, as this man is to be deprived of the privilege he has enjoyed, and his business is to be entirely broken up without the prospect of going anywhere else, because the day of omnibuses is passing away, it seems to me but reasonable and proper that some protection should be afforded to him. I may add, in addition, that what appears to be the common custom and consent of mankind ought to be regarded as having some sense and reason in it, and I believe the practice in all the northern cities where charters have been granted, with respect to omnibus lines, has been to require the property of the omnibus lines to be taken by the new railroad lines which are to supersede them and take their place and destroy their business. There seems to me to be great propriety in it, and I shall support the proposition brought forward by the Senator from Ohio. This Senate itself upon one occasion did incorporate in a railroad bill for this city this very same identical provision upon a full discussion of the whole question, and, as I understood then, to the satisfaction of the majority of the body, that such a course ought to be pursued.

Mr. MORRILL. Of course, I am not going to contend against this; but I suggest to my friend from Ohio that if this railroad is to be profitable, as it is suggested, in which sentiment I do not know that he concurs very largely, then this owner of these omnibuses will find his reward in the fact that he is a member of the corporation. I notice that he is one of the corporators. But you will see that the same principle would embrace the other line, and would of course embrace all the

hacks in the city. When you have the facilities of this railroad, these hacks will be useless to a greater or less extent; they will be very largely affected by it; and there is no limit to the application of this principle. However, I do not desire to extend the discussion. I shall content myself with simply voting against it.

Mr. WADE. I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken resulted-yeas 16, nays 20; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Chandler, Collamer, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Foot, Kennedy, McDougall, Powell, Saulsbury, Stark, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wright

-16.

NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Clark, Dixon, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Sherman, Simmons, Trumbull, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wilson of Missouri-20.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. COWAN. I move to insert the name of George W. McMahon as one of the corporators. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MCDOUGALL. I propose to insert among the list of corporators the name of Walter S. Gurney. I do so because I want to see in it some person whom I know to be a capitalist, a railroad man, and a business man.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. LANE, of Indiana. I move to add the name of Hallock Tilburn, a very respectable citizen of this District, as one of the corporators. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. SHERMAN. As there are no further amendments, I believe, I now renew my suggestion that the amendment of the House be disagreed to informally, and that a committee of conference be asked on the part of the Senate. I will not make the motion for a committee of confer

to have nothing to do with it.

Mr. GRIMES. In the fifth line of the sixteenth section, after the word "office," I move to insert the words, "for one year and," so that it will

read:

That the government and direction of the affairs of the company shall be vested in the board of directors, seven in number, who shall be stockholders, and who shall hold their office for one year, and till others are duly elected and qualified, &c.

The amendment was agreed to.

strike out all of the twelfth section after the word

Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts. I move to

"mentioned," in the eleventh line, in the following words:

And in case of purchase, to execute and deliver the bonds of the corporation for these properties, or other property purchased and held by the company; and the said bonds shall be secured by the whole or any portion of the property of said company, provided that said loan does not exceed $100,000.

I do not wish to detain the Senate, but simply to say that the only justification for allowing railroad corporations to issue bonds would be the want of means, and in this case there is no want of means. They are ample and abundant; and we ought not to allow them to use their bonds or have any stock jobbing about it.

Mr. HENDERSON. I will suggest to the Senator from Massachusetts that the work to be done has been considerably increased by an amendment which I think was adopted. Instead of building a road on Fourteenth street, from Rhode Island avenue down, they are required, by an amendment adopted this morning, to build it from Boundary street, which will largely increase the length of the road upon Fourteenth street. It will increase very largely the amount of work to be done. The committee, in preparing the bill with a capital stock of $300,000, intended to provide a sufficient amount of stock to build the road contemplated by the bill; but inasmuch as one of the branch roads has been materially increased, I apprehend it would be best not to adopt the amendment of the Senator from Massachusetts. I call his attention to that point. I, like him, am opposed, and I acted upon that principle in the committee, to giving this corporation any opportunity to do the thing feared by the Senator from Kansas, to issue the stock, and sell it to parties, paying nothing themselves, and thereby enabling them to build the road entirely from money they make from the sale of stock to others; but in consequence of this increased work, I think it will be better to leave it as it is.

Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts. I understand that the increased distance is only about a third of a mile, and will cost but a very small sum of money. I am informed of that on the authority of the Mayor of the city.

Mr. HENDERSON. I do not know the length of the road.

Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts. It is but a very short distance indeed, and will cost but little. This is a simple question of whether this road shall be built by gentlemen who are willing to put their hands in their pockets and put their money into this road as an investment, as a matter of business, or whether it shall go into the hands of men who will pay a little money, issue their bonds, and speculate upon it. That is the whole question. It is a plain and clear one, and I hope the Senate will adopt the amendment.

The amendment was agreed to.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. This bill was originally a Senate bill, was passed, sent to the House, and came back with an amendment. The bill was then sent to a committee. The commit tee report the bill back with amendments to the amendment of the House. The Senate have agreed to the amendinents reported by the committee to the amendment of the House, and have also agreed to divers amendments proposed in the Senate to the same amendment. The question now is, will the Senate agree to the amendment of the House as amended. That is the question before the Senate.

Mr. SHERMAN. I will again repeat that if the Senate vote in the negative upon that proposition, it will be perfectly competent for the honorable Senator from Maine who has charge of this bill to move a committee of conference under the rules, and in that way we can have this matter brought to a termination. I trust that course will be pursued.

Mr. HENDERSON. I do not know but the course indicated by the Senator from Ohio may accomplish what is desirable, and, perhaps, in the shortest time, and that is, the passage of some bill. As the bill now stands there can be but little objection to it. I am well aware that there were serious objections to the bill as it came from the House of Representatives. The bill, as it came to us, permitted the company to construct their road upon the streets of the city without requiring them to pave on the outside of the tracks of the road, or requiring them to keep the space between the rails paved. The bill as it now stands requires that to be done.

The House bill gave the corporators named in the bill an opportunity of taking the whole of the stock named in the bill. That is not the case with the bill now. In reality, I suppose it was that privilege that induced gentlemen to desire to be named as corporators. That desire cannot be so great now. The corporators named in the bill have no control whatever, except to receive subscriptions, and, as I understand, they have no opportunities superior to the opportunities of outsiders to take stock at all. Every man throughout the country can come and subscribe, and the corporators themselves have no advantages what

ever.

Again: as the bill came to us from the House of Representatives, the corporators themselves were made directors, and although it did not fix the time for the election of directors, it was so framed as that when the directors were clected, they were to be elected from the corporators named in the bill. There were, I believe, only seven, and there being seven directors, of course they must have been the corporators named in the bill. That is not the case now. Any of the stockholders may be elected. As the bill now stands, it is not necessary that a corporator should be elected, and, in fact, a corporator cannot be elected unless he is a stockholder. The Senate also provides that a report shall be made in writing annually to Congress. The House bill did not require anything of that sort.

I will state another thing, and a very important matter in reference to this road, a thing that perhaps made it extremely desirable to be a corporator under the House bill, but which renders it not so desirable at present. It will be remembered that under the House bill there was a rate of fare fixed