Confederate Congress.
Tuesday. Sept. 23d, 1862.
Senator.--The Senate met at 11 o'clock A. M.--Prayer by
Rev. Mr. Brown.
Mr. Hunter, from the
Committee on Finance, reported back a bill authorizing the
Secretary of the Treasury to offer a reward for the apprehension of persons engaged in forging or uttering counterfeit Treasury notes.
(Authorizes the
Secretary to offer a reward not exceeding five thousand dollars.)--Passed.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Military Committee, reported back a bill amending an act to provide for the appointment of Adjutants of regiments and is done, of the grade of subaltern, in addition to the subalterns attached to companies, approved August, 1861. Passed.
From the same; A bill to amend an act to provide for the public defence, approved 6th March, 1861. Laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
From same; A House bill to existing companies, squadrons, battalions and regiments of the provisional army of the
Confederate States.
Made the special order for 12 o'clock.
Mr. Hill, from the
Committee on the Judiciary, reported a House bill empowering certain persons to administer oath in certain cases.
[Authorizes the oath to enable sick, wounded, and other soldiers, to receive their pay, to be administered by any quartermaster authorized to administer the same, and any State officer having the right by the laws of the
State to administer oath] Passed.
From the same: A bill to provide for the prompt settlement of the claims for arrearages of pay, commutation of clothing and bounty due to deceased soldiers and officers of the army.
Passed.
Mr. Brown moved that the
Secretary of the Senate be instructed to request the
House to return the Senate exemption bill.
Mr. Brown stated that he was absent when the vote was taken on the bill.
He expressed the opinion that as it passed the Senate — and he did not think the
House would improve it — would result in taking more men out of the army than it would put in. The motion was negatived.
A bill supplemental to an act concerning pay and allowance due deceased soldiers, approved February, 1861, and to provide for the payment and settlement of claims for arrearages of pay and allowances and bounty due to deceased officers and soldiers, was passed.
House amendment to Senate bill determining the annual pay of engineer and chief post assistant surgeons of the Navy.
Amendment concurred in.
The hour for the consideration of the special order of the day, the
House bill to provide for the filling up of existing companies, squadrons, battalions and regiments, and to increase the Provisional Army of the
Confederate States, was taken up, together with a substitute submitted by
Mr. Sparrow from the
Committee on Military Affairs.
The substitute is the original Senate bill and has already been printed.
Mr. Barnett moved to amend this substitute by the addition of the following proviso: "That the
President is authorized to suspend the execution of this act, or the acts to which this is an amendment, or any special provision or provisions of said acts, in any locality where he believes such suspension will promote the public interest; and that in such localities, and during said suspension, the
President is authorized to receive troops into the
Confederate service under any of the acts passed by the Confederate Congress prior to the passage of the act to further provide for the public defence, approved 16th April, 1962. Agreed to.
Mr. Phelan moved to amend by inserting the following in the clause empowering the
President to call out citizens between the ages of 35 and 45; ‘"And such authority shall exist in the
President during the present war as to all persons who are now or who may hereafter become 18 years of age, and when once enrolled, all persons between the ages of 18 and 45 shall serve their full term."’ Agreed to.
The substitute of the
Committee, as amended was then passed — ayes 21, noes 3.
The title was then amended so as to road ‘"An act to amend an act entitled an act to provide for the public defence, approved April 16th, 1860."’
On motion of
Mr. Orr, the bill amending an act fro the organization of the
General Staff of the Army was taken up. It gives a
Quartermaster General the rank, pay, and allowances of a
Brigadier General.
Mr. Clark offered as a substitute:
‘
"Giving the
Quartermaster General,
Commissary General, and
Chief of Ordnance of the
Confederate States, and the
Chief Officer of the Engineer Corps of the Army the rank, pay, and allowances of
Brigadier Generals."
’
The measure was debated at length by
Messrs Clark,
Sparrow,
Clay,
Henry,
Wigfall, and others.
The amendment was disagreed to and the bill passed.
The Senate then went into Executive session.
House of Representatives.--
House met at 11 o'clock.
Mr. Foote, of Tenn, by consent of the
House, introduced the following resolutions:
Resolved. That the
President be requested to cause estimates to be made out at the War Department, and sent to this House, of the expense necessary to be incurred in the establishment of complete military defences along the banks of the
Tennessee and
Cumberland rivers, with a view to resisting any future advance of the enemy into the interior of the States of
Tennessee,
Alabama and
Mississippi, by water in order that adequate appropriations purpose may be immediately made.
Resolved. That the Prussians be requested to cause estimates to be made out of the Naval Department.
And sent to this House, for the building and fitting out, for the protection and defence of the
Cumberland and
Tennessee rivers, of twelve gunboats, of suitable size and construction for said purpose, in order that the requisite appropriation may be made at once.
The resolutions were agreed to.
Mr. Conrad, of
La., offered the following resolution, which was agreed to:
Resolved, That the
Committee on Military Affairs inquire into the expediency of authorizing the
President to appoint officers, of the rank of
Major, to command and superintend such camps for the instruction of new levels as be may deem it advisable to establish.
Mr. Lyons, of
Va., from the
Joint Committee on Public Buildings, submitted the following joint resolution, which was engrossed read a third time, and passed:
A joint resolution to authorize the
Postmaster General to cause certain alterations to be made in the building now occupied by the Post Office Department.
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America, That the
Postmaster-General be authorized to cause such alterations to be made in the building now occupied by the Post-Office Department as may in his opinion be necessary, provided the cost shall not exceed $2,500.
The special order of the day, the
Arkansas contested election case was taken up and the
House was addressed by
Mr. Gentry, of
Tenn.; in favor of the claims of the contestant,
Mr. Johnson; and
Mr. Curry, of
Ala., in favor of the sitting member,
Mr. Garland.
The contestant and the sitting member were then heard in support of their respective claims, when the question came up upon the resolution of
Mr. Trippe, of
Ga., to declare the seat vacant in the representation from the third district of
Arkansas.
This resolution was rejected by a vote of ayes 7, noes 70.
Mr. Chilton, of
Ala., offered the following:
Whereas, the
Committee on Elections have excluded all the proof that was offered in the contested election by
J. P. Johnson of the seat occupied in this
House by
A. H. Garland, and yet said proof, if property taken and submitted, has an important bearing in said content; Therefore,
Resolved, That the matter of the said contested election be recommitted to the
Committee on Elections, with instructions further to investigate said contest, and to allow the respective parties a reasonable time within which to retake the proof, and to adduce such legal evidence as they may be able to adduce, such proof to be taken according to the existing law.
Upon this resolution the ayes and noes were called, and resulted as follows: ayes 45, noes 35 --A motion to reconsider this vote was laid upon the table.
The
House then took up the next special order, the bill reported by
Mr. Kenner, of
La., entitled an act to raise revenue.
The first section of this bill provides:
That on the first day of January, 1863, there shall be levied and assessed on each person resident in the
Confederate States, for the support of the
Government and the defence of the country, the following tar, to with One fifth of the value of all the wheat, corn, rice, rye, oats, potatoes, hemp, flax, peas, beans, barley, bay, wool, rosin, tar, pitch, turpentine, cotton, sugar, molasses, and tobacco produced by him in those States during the previous calendar year, also, one fifth of the value of the increase for the preceding calendar year of the horses, asses, cattle, sheep, and swine; and, also, one fifth of the profits made in the preceding calendar year by the feeding of swine, sheep, cattle, or mules; also, one fifth of each person's yearly income for the preceding calendar year, from all sources whatever, except from the sources hereinbefore described, and except from the interest on Confederate bonds, certificates, or Treasury notes:
Provided, That said tax so levied and assessed, shall be due and payable on the first day of April, 1863;
Provided further, That foreigners, resident within the
Confederate States, shall not be required to pay, except from the aforesaid articles produced by, or for them, or from incomes or profits derived from business conducted by them within those State; nor shall any tax be levied upon the products of residents, where the total value of such products, during said year, is less than five hundred dollars, nor shall any tax be levied upon the income of residents, where the total value of such income is less than five hundred dollars.
The second section is herewith appended in full:
Sec. 2. And, in as much as the collection of said tax may be impracticable in certain districts, now invaded, or which may hereafter be held or possessed by the enemy, and to the end that the burden of taxation, hereby imposed, for the common defence, may be equal and uniform, there shall be delivered by the collectors hereafter provided for, to each person paying the tax levied by this act, a receipt for the amount paid, and said collectors shall make due return to the
Secretary of the Treasury of all collections made by him, specifying the amount paid by each tax payer, and when paid, and upon such return, the said
Secretary shall issue to each tax payer a bond of the
Confederate States, to be termed ‘ "Income Tax Bonds,"’ to bear six per cent, interest per amount payable annually, the principal to be paid at ten years after date or any time there after within thirty years after their respective dates, at the pleasure of the
Government; but no receipt or bond founded thereon shall be issued in sums less than thirty dollars each, and no such re- ceipt or bond shall issue for any fraction of ten dollars; and whenever the amount of any tax shall give a fraction over a multiple of ten, the tax payer may, at his choice, abandon such fractional excess, or obtain a receipt and bond by paying into the Treasury the amount necessary to increase said fractional excess to ten dollars.
The third section provides for a Board of Appraisers in each State, to consist of three persons, at an annual salary of five hundred dollars each, to fix the prices of the articles mentioned in the first section in that State and in the several parts thereof — Each State is to constitute a tax division, and a chief collector is to be appointed, at an annual salary of two thousand dollars. This chief collector is authorized to appoint deputy collectors, who are to receive a commission of — per cent on the amount collected, but no amount received by any one collector shall exceed twelve hundred dollars.
The remaining sections of the bill prescribe the duties of these collectors, and the manner of carrying out the previsions of the bill.
Mr. Kenner, the
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, addressed the
House at length in support of this measure, but without action upon it the
House adjourned.
