And  here  I  should  refer  to  the  papers  submitted  by  Mr.  McCul-
loch  and  Mr.  Ropes,  all  very  well  stated,  all  very  well  written,  and
with  many  of  their  ideas  I  heartily  agree.  But  what  is  the  use  of
talking  about  other  plans  of  resumption?  The  idea  suggested  by


214  HON.  JOHN  SHERMAN.  [CHAP,

these  gentlemen  was  advocated  in  Congress  for  years.  A  simple
funding  act  was  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  Finance  in  1866,
and  was  pressed  year  in  and  year  out.  In  the  original  draft  of  the
funding  act,  now  a  law,  United  States  notes  were  convertible  at  the
will  of  the  holder  into  four  per  cent,  bonds  precisely  such  as  we  are
now  selling  at  par  in  coin.  With  this  feature  the  bill  passed  the
Senate,  but  the  House  refused  to  pass  it.  No  proposition  has  been
more  frequently  urged  and  acted  upon  adversely  by  Congress  than
that  now  advocated  by  Messrs.  McCulloch  and  Hopes.  What  is
the  use  of  wasting  ammunition  on  this  ?  What  is  the  use  ot  de
laying  resumption  until  Congress  will  pass  such  an  act?  If  Con
gress  would  pass  such  an  act  it  would  greatly  aid  and  expedite  re
sumption,  and  I  cordially  join  with  these  gentlemen  in  the  hope
that  such  a  bill  will  pa'ss,  and  advise  them,  if  they  think  they  can
promote  it,  to  get  into  Congress  as  soon  as  possible  to  help.  I  have
tried  the  experiment,  with  much  labor  and  no  success.  What,
then,  is  the  use  of  distracting  attention  by  new  plans  of  resump
tion  ?  I  receive,  on  an  average,  about  one  a  week,  some  of  which
are  wild,  and  some  of  which  contain  very  good  ideas.  I  could  fur
nish  from  the  Hies  of  the  Finance  Committee  as  many  plans  of  re
sumption  as  there  are  cities  in  the  United  States.  But  it  is  mani
fest,  to  practical  men,  that  no  legislation  can  be  obtained  from
Congress  except  some  simple  measure  that  will  aid  the  execution
of  the  present  law,  the  danger  being  rather  that  the  opponents  of
resumption  will  be  strong  enough  to  arrest  the  movements  already
made  in  that  direction.
