1894. -CONGRESSIONAL RECORD--HOUSE. 2181
POSTMASTERS. Amos W. Buchanan, to be postmaster at Bryan, in the co1.inty of Brazos and State of Texas. Frank S. Harding, to be postmaster at McMinnville, in the J. B. Nichols, to be postmaster at Jonesboro, in the county of county of Yamhill and St:tte of Oregon. . Craighead and State of ArkansaB. · L.A. Skelley, to be -postmasklr at Silver City, in the _county of De Witt C. Pierce, to be postmaster at Kirksville, in the Grant and Territory of New Mexico. county of Adair and State of :Missouri. Executive1wminations confirmed by the Senate Febnwry 14,1891,.. Eugene P. Moore, to be postmaster at Pierce City, in the county of Lawrence and Stat-e of Missouri. ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY. John W. Bennett, to be postmaster at Maysville, in the county Thomas B. Ferguson, of Maryland, to be envoy extraordinary of De Kalb and Shte of Missouri. and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Sweden and Roy H. Chamberlain, to be postmaster at Clarlnd9., in th~ Norway. county of Page and State of Iowa. CONSULS. John F. Shannon, to be postmaster at Neosho, in the c::mnty Arthur de Cima, of California, to be consul of the United States of Newton and State of Missouri. at Mazatlan. H. N. P owell, to be p03tmaster at Thayer, in the co ..mty of John Malcom Johnstone, of South Carolina, to be consul of the Oregon and State of Missouri. United States at Pernambuco, Brazil. Delaware Kemper, of Virginia, to be consul of the United States at Amoy, China. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. CONSUL-GENERAL. Thomas R. Jernigan, of North Carolina, to be consul-general WEDNESDAY, February 14, 1894•• of the United States at Shanghai, China. The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. E.B.BAGB~ . MI~ISTER RESIDENT AND CONSUL-GENERAL. The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. John Barrett, of Oregon, to be minister resident and consul general of the United States to Siam. MARINE HOSPITAL, CHICAGO, ILL. The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Act· COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. ing Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a communic ~1.tion Marion M. Hutson, of South Carolina, to be collector of cus from the Supervising Architect, recommending an appropriation toms for the district of Beaufort, in the State of South Caro for payment for work in connection with approaches to the Ma lina. rine Hospital, Chicago, Ill.; which wa.s referred to the Commit Joseph W. Clapp, of Massa{}husetts, to be collecto: of customs tee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. for the district of Nantucket, in the State of Massacnusetts. BEACON IN NEW YORK HARBOR. William R. Kenan, ofNorth Carolina, to be collector o~ cus toms for the dist.rict of Wilmington, in the State of North Car The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Act olina. ing Secretary of the Treasury relative to using the statue of POSTMASTERS. Liberty Enlightening the World as a beacon; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. Thomas Wilkinson, to be postmaster at Blair, in the county of Washington and State of Nebraska. TWENTIETH VOLUME OF OPINIONS OF ATTORNEYS-GENERAL. Charles E. Reed, to be postmaster at Arapahoe, in the county The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Act of Furnas and State of Nebraska. ing Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting an estimate of appro· Henry B. Morgan, to be postmaster at Peoria, in the county-.. priations submitted by the Attorney-General for printing the of Peoria and State of Illinois. twentieth volume of the Opinions oi the Attorneys-General; PatrickH.Kelly, to be postmasteratBraidwood, in the county which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and or of Will and State of Illinois. dered to be printed. Jay G. Green, to be postmaster at Stromburg, in the county CONTINGENT EXPENSES OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. of Polk and State of Nebraska. The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Acting J. R. Burgess, to be postmaster at Ottumwa, in the county of Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a cqmmunication from Wapello and State of Iowa. the Secretary of State relative to the estimate of appropr-iations Allen C. Tanner, to be postmaster at Mount Vernon, in the for contingent expenses of foreign missions for the fiscal year county of Jefferson and State of Illinois. ending June 30, lt595; which was referred to the Committee on James Noonan, to be postmaster at Lemont, in the county of Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed. Cook and State of Illinois. William Alexander, to be postmaster at Hayward, in the county WILLIAM T. EBBS VS. THE UNITED STATES. of Sawyer and State of Wisconsin. · The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication from C. G. Barns, to be postmaster at Albion, in the county of Boone the Court of Claims, transmitting copies of the findings of fact in and State of Nebraska. thecase of William T. Ebbs, administrator of William Ebbs1 rs. D3-vid Luke, to be postmaster at Nashville, in the county of The United States; which was referred to the Committee- on Washington and State of Iowa. War Claims, and ordered to be printed. Charles E. Cook, to be postmaster at Uxbridge, in the county STEAMER GOLDSWORTHY. of Worcester and State of Massachusetts. The SPEAKER laid before the House the bill {S.14:26) to pro ClU'tis Reed, to be postm'Bster at Menasha, in the county of vide a register for the steamer Goldsworthy; which was read Winnebago and State of Wisconsin. firstand second time, and referred to the Committee on Merchant Joseph Kloeckner, to be postmaster at Oshkosh, in the county Marine and Fisheries. of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin. Mark M. Grimes, to be postmaster at West Medford, in the RESIGNATION OF RON. WILLIAM H. BRAWLEY. county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts. The SPEAKER laid before the House the following letter: Daniel J. Dempsey, to be postmaster at Millbury, in the county HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES, of Worcester and State of Massachusetts. Washington, D. C., February 12. 1834. Henry S. Lyons, to be postmaster at North Adams, in the DEAR SIR: I have the honor to inform yon that I hn.ve forwarded to the goveruo!· of South Carolina my resignation as a member of the House or county of Berkshire and State of Ma-ssachusetts. Representatives from the First Congressional district in that State, to take Humphrey Martin, to be postmaster at Deckertown, in the etiect to-day. I am, very r€spectfully, etc., county of Sussex and State of New Jersey. WM. H. BRAWLEY. George T. Jones; to be postmaster at Wallingford, in the county Hon. CHARLES F. CRISP, of New Haven and State of Connecticut. , Speaker, House of Representatives. Charles H. Stacy, to be postmaster at West Newton, in the LEAVE OF ABSENCE. count:v of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts. John J. Carbine, to be postmaster at Olyphant: in the county By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted as fol of Vwkawanna and State of Pennsylvania. lows: Casimir Burkhart, to be postmaster at New Iberia, in the To Mr. WoLVERTON, for this day, on account of important ~ounty of Iberia and State of Louisiana. businesa. William K. Vansciver, to be postmaster at Beverly, in the To l\1r. HARRIS, for two weeks, on account of important busi county of Burlington and State or New Jersev. ness. Hugh A. Pickett, to be postmaster at Camden, in the county ' PERSONAL EXPLANATION. of Ouachita and State of Arkansas. Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I \-h,e to a question of "perso~al -.
, 2182 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14,
privilege. I send to the Clerk's desk an article and ask that it HOUSE OF REPRESENT.ATI VES UNITED STATES, be read as marked. _ Washington, D. a., February 12, 1 94, DEAR MR. HUNTER: In view of the fact thn.t I was that day doing what I The Clerk read as follows: could to assist my colleague, Mr_ CUMM£NGs, with whose programme Judge LUXURY .AND NECESSITY-SIGNIFI.CANT RATE ON THE DIAMOND AND AGRI· HoLMAN's amendment interfered, I kept track of the vote on the amend CUL:rURA.L-IMPLEMENT SCHEDULE- ment raising the duty on diamonds- THE REPUBLIC BUREAU, Washington, IJ. V., February 5. You voted for it, as you sat so closely 1n front of me I -could not well be mistaken_ In the Committee of the Whole no record is made of any member's vote, but here is where the most important legislation is formulated. For in S'incerely. stance two important amendments were voted on in the Committee ot the JOHN DE WITT WARNER, Whole' while the Wilson bill was under considerati<>n- One was to increase Member Tlli1·teenth New York Distrr.ct. the duty on diamonds from 10 to 30 per cent, offered by Mr. ALDERSON <>1 _ Hon. A. J. HUNTER, West Virginia, and the other to place agricultural implements on the free Addressed. list- offered by Mr- TERRY of Arl~ansas_ FORMAN, McDANNOLD, WILLIAMS, LANE, and FITHIAN, of Illinois, voted to increase the d~ty on dia.mon:ds ~d COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, for free agricultural implements. The most of tile lllinoi.s delegatwn, m HoUSE, OF REPRESENTATIVES, cluding BLACK and HUNTER, voted~gainst placing agricultural implements Washington, IJ. a_, February 13, 1894. on the free list and against increasing the duty on dia,monds. One is an Hon. A. .T. HUNTER, article of luxury and should be taxed hi.gh; the other 1s an arti-ele of necessity House of Rep1·esentatives: to the farmer and should be on the free list- Implements made in the United I understand that the cha.rge has been ma.de that when the Alderson amend States are now sold in foreign countries for less than they are to our farmers. ment to the Wilson tariff bill was under consideration to inCl"ea.se the duty Mr. HUNTER. I will ask the Clerk to read the next dis on diamonds, you voted agalns&the amend.m.ent_ Sitting wU.hin a few !eet of you and conversing with you wuc.hing the amendment. I distinctly re patch, of another date. _ member that yvu voted for the increase. This I state in justi.ce to you. The Clerk read as follows: Respectful! JUDGE HUNTER'S VOTES-HIS POSITION ON THE DIAMOND AND AGRICUL L_ F. LIVINGSTON, TURAL-IMPLEMENT TA.Rl:PF. Member Fifth .Di!Jt1·ict of Georgia. THE REPUBLIC BUREAU, Washington, IJ. a., February 9. Ron. A. J. HUNTER, of Illinois, makes the following statement in regard to his v 0 t.es in Committee of the Whole on the diamond amendln€nt to the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES, tariff bill incren.sing the duty on di.a.monds from 10 t-o 30 per cent, and the Wa8hington, JJ_ a., .February 13, 1894. amendment placing agricultural implements ~n the tree list. The state DEAR SIR~ I was .surpl"ised when l read the d.i:sp.atch you showed me ment is o-iven as furnished by Judge RUNTEli hrmself: stating that you had voted against the amendment ol!ered in the House in "A statement was sent out from Washington to the St. Louis papers on creasing the duty on diamonds. AU of us who sit near-you know it to be wrong_ the evening of the 5th that Representative HUNTBnof_ Illinois V?ted to place I certainly know it_ You may remember a few words that passed between diamonds on the tree list and to pla-ce a duty on_ agricultural ImJ)lementis. us when the amendment was offered. You asked me how ·•your folks" The statement is not true, so far as l'tir_ .HUNTER IS concerned- Mr. HUNTER meaning the Populist members of t·he House-·' would vote on the amend voted to raise the duty on cut diamonds trom lOJ)er cent to 30 per cent and ment." I answered, "For it, of course;" and you said, "That's right," <\D.d on uncut n·om nothing to 15per cent, and he voted to reduce all. machinery, immediately after the votn was taken, -and I know that you voted for the includingiarm machinery, from 52 per cent to 25 per -cent, and al-so voted amendment_ I think you should find the man who sent out the dispatch. I a"'ajnst putting part of farm machinery on the tree list. .Mr. ..HU.NT-ER >oted am sure he will eorr~c.li .the misstatem~nt_ for the Wilson bill." Yonrs truly, LAFE PENCE, Judge HUNTER emphatically denies that he voted aga.in.st increasing the Member First DUtriA:t of Colorado_ duty on diamonds, but as to his vote on the amendment to place agricul Hon. A. J. HmffER. tural implements on the free list, he makes no deniaL but states that he, to - quote his own lanauage, «voted to reduce a.ll machinery, including farm machinery from 52 per cent to 25 per cent, and also voted against putting HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, part of farm machinery on the 'tree list." Washington, IJ. a_, February12, 1894. - Your correspondent had no i.ntention to do any one .an injnstiee, an4 when DEAR JUDGE: As some misstatements have been made as to your vote on asked by Judge HUNTER to publish the- above statement he called on Ron. the tariff on diamond.s, l wish to bear pointed testimony 'that you voted tor JoHN J. McDANNOLD, of the Twelfth district of illinois, and a.lso on Mr. the Alder.son amendment, as I know, !rom the iaet thatJ:Bit near you a.nd FITHIAN in regard to t·he truth of the statement published in the Republic my attention was particularly ea.lled to it by_ the course of tiLe debate pre on the 6th instant as to Judge HUNTER's votes, and both gentlemen confirm ceding the vote_ the truth of the statement in the Republic_ Your friend, Mr. MOD.ANNOLD states that his attention Wl:\S called to Judge HUNTER'S CHAMP CLARK, votes on these two amendments at the time. Han- L. N. Brewer, o! 'l'oledo, Member G01UJ1'CBS .Ninth .MiB&OU7'i .1Ji.8trict. m., has written to Mr- FITHIAN, inquiring as to the statement made under Hon. A- J. HUNTER. date oC February 6in the Republic, which ~tterwas referred to.Mr_ McD.AN NOLD to answer_ Mr. MCDA.NNOLD to-day wrote to Hon. L. R Brewer in W .A.SHINGTON, .Februr;ry 13, 1891.- regard to this matter as follows: "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DEA.R Sm: Pnrs.uant to your verbal request as to my recollection ot your '' Washington, .D. a., Feb1"1.tary9_ vote on the Alderson amendment to increase the duty on di.am.onds, 1 will say that while the vote was being taken I stood in the main isle, about 6 feet "DEAR Sm: I have read your letter of the 6th instant to Mr. FITHIAN, and behind you, in J>lain view, -a.ud know that you voted for th-e amendment, as also the article i.n the St- Louis Republic of the 6th instant. I did and almost all the Democrats except a few from New York and 'the "The statement in the Republic is correct_ So is Mr. FITHIAN's letter. members of the Committee on Ways and Means, who stood by t.he bill .as re My attention was called to Mr- .HUNTER'S votes at th-e time by MI·- FITHIAN. ported by them- Our seats are close together_ THOS. LYNCH, "I write this letter that justice may be done and not as taking any part in Jfembe1· Ninth Wuconsin .J)~tt·i~t. the contest in your Congressional district_ JudgeHUNTERandMr. FITHIAN Ron. A. J. IiUNTER. are both m v friends "Yours, tnuy, ""JAMES J. M Mr. BLAND. l\fr. Speaker-, I shall have tb object unless the dollar. This being true, there is of necessity-nobody will dis gentleman will agree to withdraw the resolution if the consid pute this proposition-an amount of silver bullion in the Treas eration of it occupies more than ten minutes. ury sufficient, if coined under the laws of the United States as Mr. BAILEY. If it t a.kes any considerable length of time the they now exist, to make more dollars than there are now out gentleman will withdraw it. standing certificates. Mr. BLAND. I do not kuow whether he can withdraw it if But, say gentlemen, these extra dollars are pledged for there it once gets before the House. demption of the certificates. In answer to that, Mr. Chairman, Mr. BAILEY. Of course he can. I cite the statements of the former Secretary of the Ti·easury Mr. BLAND. I am willing- thn,tthere shall be unanimous con and the present Secretary of the Treasury that these certificates sent for the consideration of the resolution if the time occupied may be redeemed in any sort of coin that the holdera of the does not exceed ten minutes. certificates demand. The opponents of this bill go farther than The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gen that, and maintain that there is no redemption fund that the tleman from Louisiana for the present consideration of this reso Secretary of the Treasury is justifiable in using for the redemp lution? tion of these coin certificates except gold. So that when the Mr. BLAND. I shall have to object, Mr. Speaker. opposition to the coinage of the seigniorage is analyzed-that The SPEAKER. Objection is made. is, opposition to the coinage of any dollar of silver-it is found Mr. BLAND. Mr. Speak,er, before moving that the House re that the object of those opponents is to require the Government solve itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the of the United Stat.es to redeem every outstanding dollar of its Union, for the considerat.ion of the pending bill, I ask unanimous obligations in gold. That is the real object and incentive; that consent that general debate upon the bill in Committee of the is the moving cause of the opposition to the bill now pending. Whole be closed at 5 o'clock this evening. Its opponents object to the coinage of a single dollar of silver. Mr. BOATNER. I object. :M:r. Chairman, if we are to accept that proposition as the cor Mr. BLAND. Then I ask that after to-day all speeches upon rect one, then there are some astounding problems just ahead in the bill be limited to twenty minutes. the administration of the affairs of our Government. If every Mr. REED. I call for the regular order. It does not seem dollar of the outstanding obligations of the Government is to be just to gentlemen to cut off-debJ.te under the circumstances. _ redeemed in gold, then the question which p resents itself to the Mr. BLAND. Then, Mr. Speaker, I move that the House go mind of every American citizen-the problem for the Treasury into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union for fur Department to solve-is where.are you going to get the R'Old to ther consideration of the pending bill. redeem your obligations; where is the gold to come from? You The motion was agreed to. have about $2,000,000,000 of obligations in the shape of circulat The House accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the ing medium outstanding. You have $65,000,000-or more re Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. HATCH in the chair. cently $100,000,000-of gold in the Treasury. How did this last The CHAIRMAN. The House is in Committee of the Whole $35,000,000 get there? By the sale of bonds in the last ten days for the consideration of the bill the title of which the Clerk will for the purpose of putting gold into the Treasury. read. Has the situation of the Treasury Department been strength The Clerk read as follows: ened one iota? No man can argue that it has; no man can argue A bill (H. R. 49:>-3) directing the coinage of the silver bullion held in the that the Treasury Department is stronger to-day to maintain its •.rrea.sury, and for other purposes. position than it was before the bonds were sold· because the obli Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, the length of time gations which were outstanding against the $65,000,000· are still that has been given to the discussion of this question and the evi outstanding, and obligations to the amount of $50,000,000 more dentanxietyofmembers on the .floor to be heard uponitaresu:ffi. have been added against this gold in the Treasury. If this be cient indication that there is an importance attached to this bill true -and no man ca!. successfully deny it- how are you going to which makes it worthy of the most serious consideration. There strengthen the gold reser\·e? How are you going to get any are t\vo objects intended to be accomplished by the bill; and both nearer a basis on which you c::tn redeem all the outstanding ob these objects are of pressing and vital necessity. The first sec ligations of the Government? H you sell more bonds, every tion of the bill provides for the coinage of what is termed the bond you sell simply increases the obligations of the Government seigniorage of the silver bullion now in the Treasury; and the and makes it harder for the Government to redeem its outstand objectof the committee in presenting this bill for such coinage ing obligations. Besides that, you have now in operation a finan was to enable the Treasury Department to meet a pressing ne· cial system that prevents you from ever getting the United ces~dty in the way of a deficiency. - States Treasury in such a position as to be independe!lt of the It is true, Mr: Chairman, that the coinage of the seigniorage b:tnking institutions of the country. will not supply the estimated deficiency that is stated by the You have the $316,000,000; you have the national-bJ,nk notes; Secret!try of the Treasury in his report; but it is a step in the you have the coin certificates, and you have the gold certifi direction of supplying that deficiency, and goes as far in that di cates all outstanding by which the gold in the Treasury may, on rection as that portion of the available means of the United any single day, be completely and entirely withdrawn from the States Treasury will permit us t.o go. That there is a deficiency Treasury, leaving the Government of the United States without and that there is going to be a larger deficiency nobody under a solit':l.ry dollar to redeem any obligation of the Government existing circumstances denies. The committBe, after waiting that may be outstanding. through the extra session of Congress and through this session Well, what is the situation then? So long as you suppose that up to the present time and finding that no effort h ad been made it is necessary to have.afund for redemption, it is necessary that by any committ-ee of this House to supply that deficiency or in that fund be intact, and be so it can be managed. troduce legislation here looking to supplying it, thought it was So long as the credit of an individual is good so long do the time for a committee of the House to bring forward something community believe that he can redeem his obligations at any looking in the direction of meeting the oblig-ations and necessi time a redemption mn.y be dema.nded; but as sp ~m as th!3 com ties of the Government. That is the real object of ~he first sec munity come to the conclusion that an individual has no assets tion of the bill. It is to coin a surplus asset of the Government with which to redeem his obligations, then so soon does he lose and provide for its use in the defrayment of the expenses of the his entire credit in the community, and he is unable to go for Government. ward with business. It not only amounts to that with the Treas But it is objected by gentlemen who oppose'the bill that there ury, it not only amounts to a loss of the confidence of the people is no seigniorage. The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. in the ability of the Government to meet its obligations, but it CHARLES W. STONE], who opposes the passage of this bill, stated amounts to reaching a positive point in the history of the Gov on the floor that this act is nothing less than larceny; that we ernment when demands are made upon it that it can not meet. are proposing to t ake from the Government of the United States That is the situation which faces us now. That is the condi a portion of an asset pledged to the redemption of a certain part tion into which the United St9.tes Treasury has gotten itself, and of its obligations now outstanding. ~Ir. Chairman, that is to it has gotten into this condition by putting into practice the me an astounding position to be taken by anybody. The silver ideas of finance that have existed in the Eastern part of this bullion in the Treasury was purch~ed under the Sherman act, country. the bullion-purchasing act, for so many dollars-so many Treas How are you going to remedy it? How are you going to change ury notes called coin certificates-issued to the owners of silver the situation? There is only one way to change it, and that is as their purchase money. The coinage laws of the United States to provide a means by which the Government of the United provide that a giveri number of grains of silver when coined States can and does have it in its power to meet its obligations and having the stamp of the United States Government shall whenever they are presented, leaving it witt. the T.reasu~·y De constitute a dollar. partment, the Secretary of the Treasury, entirely d1scretwnary This silver bullion was p'.lrchased in dollar coin certificates as to what kind of redemption material shn,ll be used. for a sum far below that prescribed by the laws of the United If you leave it entirely to the holder of the obligation, and States as to the number of grains that should constitute a. silver allow the idea to prevail in the country that there is only one 1894. ' CONGRESSIONAL -RECORD-HOUSE. 2185 kind of money that you can use for redeeming its obligations, of tions of the Government, and the Secretary of the Treasury is course every man that has an obligation which he wants re left to one of two alternatives: that is, to allow the obligations deemed, wants it redeemed in that particular kind of money. of the Government to go unpaid, or, as it is termed in banking And if you make that kind of money the scarcest money in the circles, to go to protest; or to use the power that he found in the country, then you must reduce the power of the United States law of 1845, to issue bonds to provide a fund to meet the obliga Government to maintain its credit and redeem its obligations. tions of the Government. That is the system upon which you In 1873 the Government of the United States started out to have been going every since the 1st day of July, 1R91. administer the affairs of finance upon a single-standard h lsis, or That is the system, and that is the sort of manag-ement which upon a gold basis; because there is but one standard, and there culminated in its effect upon the country in the year 1893. Then can not be a double standard. They started out to administer there came a panic under the operations of what you are pleased the financial affairs of the Government upon a g-old basis. At to term the gold st~ndard. Disaster was here and in every once a panic oversprea "Why," he ·S!tys, "that gentleman told me that a 'bushel of how did it affec-t them? Why, they could not sell the goods of whea.t would go as far now as it ever did, and I -sold my wheat their employers because the country merchants would -not buy. to-day at 45 cents a bushel, while twenty ye:1rs ago l sold it at Why would they not buy? Because. the country merchant felt $1.40 per bttshel, but yet I see the ta-xes are just the same as they that there was BCJmething wrong with the fin:tncial condition., were then." Well, he goes out and gets on a street ca-r-to go to something which nobody could explain exactly, but he knew the depot -and he asks how much the :fare is. The conductor tells that it was not sate for him to load up with goods under the cir him that it is the same as it always was. "But," -says he, "I cumstances. sold .my wheat for 45 cents to-day, and I could get $1.40 for it The jG~bber could not sell to the merchant, the merchant could twenty ye::Lrs ago, and I underst!illd tbat·a bushel o.f wheat will not buy from the manufaotut·er, and the manufacturm·, having buy as much to-day as it ever would." "All right," say.s the an overstock of goods on hand, shut down his fires and closed cond.uctor, "that makes no difference.; just pay your fare." his dooN. 'Crhatishowitallcameabout. Themoneywaslocked T.hen he vi it3 Chicago and goes to the Auditorium. H-e up upon the idea that .the Treasury of the United States was to thought, as he was_agood citizen in the community from which be forced to issue bonds and -sell them for gold, to be put into he c!liile, that the re..,pect!tble thing ior him to -do was to travel the Treasury to redeem the Gov.ernment's obligations. That in the best style he could, and go to a good hotel so that when closed the doors of the manufacturing establishments, and they he ,got home and people asked him where he had f3tayed in Chi are closed to-day. Oh, it is very amusing, gentlemen, but it is cago he would not.have to say that he stayed·atasouphouse, but true-the doors were closed in that way, and then a howl was could tell them that he had been at a good hotel. Re goas to raised throughout the -country by the manufacturers., .aided by the Auditorium and he ·asks what the -char.ge is. the Republicanpoliticians, to alarm the people about the tariff '-'Just the-E!tme-as it was in 1812 or in 1873, or rather :a little legislation that was to be 8!11.cted by a Democratic Oon,gress. higher." "Wih..9.t," said he," why, I listened to a political ora That was how this condition came about, and we have the-re tor in whom I had the utmost confidence, who told me when I sult -to-day ·in stagnated business, idle pe.ople walking f~om one soldmy whrul.tthe other day that a bushel of wheat would go just end of ·the land to the other, and soup-houses established by as iaT to-day as it ever would. How is it, then, that it hket3 15 charity in every city in the land. Men who happened to becar bushels of wheat to pay .fol" one day's board and lodging at this ryinl; obligations above their capacity to meet in cash have been hotel?-" W-ell, he paid.his hotel bill and went down to send a forced t.o make assignments, and the consequence is that the telegram to the good weman at home, -to tell her that he had ar business of the en tire country is now in a depressed and deplorable rived safely. He found the telegraphic chat·ges thesame·as.they ·condition, all .g-rowing- out of the idea that the Government of had been years berore. He went-to the b!:trber's shop to get a the United States should be so hampered in its financial oper shave, thin king that he would like to look as nice as possible w'hi-le ation-s as that a half .doz.en men in thiscounky-could get together he !\"ms a;way from home, and h a found that ·the barber charge:l and f.orce the Treasury of -the United St9.tes into suffering iiB him just the same :prioo ·as-at·any pre-vious ·time. p::tper to go to protest, or else to issue bonds and sell them for gold, Then he -went out ·to buy -some .£mga.r and coffee and other to be put into ·the Tre.!l.Sury, to be ta.ken rOut the next day by the necessaries of life -to send 'home, .and .he1ound that the 'Prices he very same process that was used :at first to get the gold out of had to -pay were iust ilie same as ever. W.hen he got bac khome -the Trea.suTy. he went -to :the bank. He had gotten rid-of all the money that That is the result oi administering 'the affairs o.f the Govern he had receiv.edlor his wheat. -:and he had still some bills out ment upon one -idea-the idea that any:Single·solita.ry-article can standing,:so.he·w.ent to the bank to get 11 note dis_counted, and be made -a stand-ard by which -to measure values. Gentlemen he found that the disco.unt charge was just the same as it was in talk about a double st!ill.dard; but th.ere .can be only ·one stand 1873. He deposited his note, got the money, paid ·his oblign. ard. There is but one yard .measure. There is but -one -gallon tion.s, and, as .he walked down the street .full .-of the 1de!:t of :how measn:re. There is but one .measure ollength. There is but-one he !had been decei-ved by his o:ratorieal aud -political iriend who kind of mEmSure.as to ·quantity; and all thet3e measures are cre had told.:him ··thatthere-w:as too much money in the country., he ated ·by law. There .is no divinity 41ttaehing to gold which met that gen.tlenum -tacm to face, and you c.anJimagine th~ se-quel, m'lkes it a standard and measure of the values; there is nodi van or::if not, ynu wlll·see it by J.ooking at the -bot.tam of ·the page in ity hedging around the miner of .gold or the owner of gold bul this paper. [Laughter.] lion. Tb.e stcwdard is fixed :by law. You can not harve two Now, Mr. Chairman., -that is the kind of stuff -that·the'PeDplB stan.dn.rds-; you can not .have tW:o yardsticks of diff.arent lengths; ol.this coun1Iry .ha-ve 'been fed on. They.hav..et>eerrtord .tha-t with but you can havre two yardsticks, ·une of poplar ~md the other of the .gold :st9.ndaTd everybody would obe 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2187 I idea that .silver can not be used as a money metal will be gone for whatever administrative measures may be adopted, because for~ver. it is a Democratic Administration-just as the Republican party 1:8 This bill1 then, is in direct keeping with the Democratic plat has been responsible for the resul of Republican legislation form; and I know that Democrats who oppose the bill would not when they have been in power. care to be charged with not walking in harmony with iliatplat Mr. REED. If your party is not responsible for these hard fOI'lll. You would hate to have anybody say that you are not times, why do you not do something to rectify them? Democrats, that you are not willing to abide by every one of the Mr. STONE of Kentucky. You are responsible because you planks of the Democratic platform. Now, what does that plat set in operation the legislation and the influences which brought form say on this question? Here is what the Democratic party about this condition of things; and the Democratic party will ba declared in convention at Chicago: responsible when they have had time to enact laws calculated to We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money ot th.e coun remed-y existing evils, to start prosper!ty, to restore peaee and try, and to the coinage of both gold and silver without discriminating against happiness to ev~-ry quarter of the land-to abolish the soup either metal, or charge for mintage; but the dollar unit of coinage o~ both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value, or be adJUSted houses, to open the doors of the factories, to start the fires of - through international agreement, or by such safeguards of legislation as industry and give the people reliet [Applause.] shall insure the maintenanee of the parity of the twQ.metals and the equal Mr. BOWERS of California. We are proud of our responsi power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in payment of d-ebts; and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and re bility for the thirty years of legislatjon under &publican rule. deemable in such coin. Mr. STONE of KentuDky. Yes, sir; those thil:tyyearsof leg Now, we do not want any m-ore than that; that is ~xactlywhat islation culminated in 1891-- we a.re attempting in this bill; it is exactly what this bill, if Mr. BOWERS of Caliiornia. How did they culminate? passed, will accomplish. Mr. STONE of Kentucky. When you passed the McKinley Mr. Chairman, at the extra sessi<>n of Congress we -passed an bill by which you set in operation or made more patent the forces act by which we not only repledged the Democratic party to operating to the detriment of the country-by which you gath ered a plethora. of money in to the banks in certain parts of the that declaration1 but enacted into law for the whole country the verv substance of that platform. What did we_say? We said: country-by which you took money out of the pockets of the A~d it is hereby declared to be the policy of the United St~tes .to continue people of this land in order to put it into the pockets of a few the use of both gold and silver as standard money, and to coin- by which you bound the chains tighter upon the people, made What?- their burdens heavier, made their load more unbearable, in or -a.-nd to coin both gold and silver into money of equalintrinsicandexehange der that this plethora o1 money might ba piled up under your a.ble value, such equality to be secured through international agreement, or legislation in the pockets of the favored few. [Applause.] '.rhat by such safeguards of legislation as will insure the maintenanee of the parity is what the Republican party did. in value of the coins of the two metals, and the equal power of every dollar Mr. giVing at all times in the markets and in the payment of d&bts. A.n-d it is hereby REED. How far do you think you have got in re further declared that the efforts o.r the Government should be steadily di lief? rected to the~sta.blislunent of such a safe system- Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Well1 we h-ave got :avery good Of what? A safe system of a gold standard? No, sir- distance along; we have got very much farther by our legislar such a. safe system of bimetallism as will maintain at all times the equal tion in gi-ving relief to the people tJlan the .Republican party power of every dollar coined or issued by the Unit-ed States in the markets did under the Harrison Administration during the first session and in the payment of debts. of Congress o-ver which you presided with so much di,onity, so Why, sir, you not only put it into the J;>emocratic platform much intelligen,ce, so much force (laughter and applause]~ very but you enacted it into law. Now comes the Committee on much farther than you got to by this date in th~t session when Coinage1 Weights, and Measures and proposes to take one short you were binding .heavier burdens upon the people4 step in the direction of keeping the pledge of the Democratic Mr. REED. How much longer do you think it is going to party and following out your declaration as embodied in the law. take? -Yet we find Democrats who oppose this bill upon the ground, I Mr~ STONE -of Ken-tucky. Well, it is not goi:Bg to t!Lke .so suppose, so far as we have been able to discover, that if we pass long but that the effect ol it will be felt in the eLection of No the bill we .shall be doing something or oth~r in the -direction of vember coming~ we shall ba tlien reinforced and encourag~d bringing about distrust in the financial situation of the country. and the action taken here approved. Now, Mr. Chairman, I want to venture a proposition here. Mr. REED. Ah! You may start out right here in this House of Representatives, Mr. STONE ol K~mtucky. There will then be a repetition of this grand committee, and you may inquire of every man here what occurred in 18SO. as to the coin which he has in his pocket; he may not be willing Mr. REED. We will rest the matter right. there. to take it out and show it to you, but if you insist on his doing so Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Yes; your prediction is one way y-ou will iind at least ten dollars -of silver where you will find one and mine is the other. dnllar in gold. Now, Mr. Chairman, the gentlenmn.fromCalifornia[Mr. Bow Mr. BOWERS of California. You can not find a gold dollar ERS] hasbrooghtinto this d.isuu:ssion the question ol tariff legis in the Rouse. lation; I will ask him whether he ever stopped to think how tariff Mr. STONE of Kentucky. I will go farther. You will :find legislation h-as operated? $100 in silver in the pockets of the people where you will :find $1 Mr. BOWERS of California. Yes, sir; it has been forced upon in gold. Go up into those great commercial centers wh~re it is my attantion somewhat and upon the attention of all the people. said there .is so much money that it has become a burden to the .Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Well, I think I can show you some peuple; start out among the people and ask every man to show thing about that. You have heard it suggested here that there you the coin that he has :in his pocket, and you will :find $100 in is a ple"thora of money in certain quarters of the country. silYer where you will fine $1 in gold. In fact, Mr. Chairman, Mr. BOWERS of California. Yes, sir. the people of this country have no use for gold as a circuluting Mr. STONE of Kentucky. You have probably found in your medium; -ar if they have, they can not get it-for that purpose4 travels that there is a deplorable lack of cuiTency in some other Mr. BOWERS of California. Will the gentl~man allow me a quarters of the country. question? - Mr. BOWERS Df California. Yes, sir. Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Yes1 sir. Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Well, Mr. Chairman, I would like Mr. BOWERS of California. I understood the gentleman to to .ask the gentleman if he ever stood at the head of a ravine in sa-y that ·the Republican party is responsible fo.r the existing some IJl{)untain gorge after a heavy fall of raip.., and whether he trouble and the hard times that have come upon the country. has then seen how there came down from every twig and every Will he answer me this question: Were the Republicans in this leaf, from every bit of bark, lrom every spear of grass, and from Congress respollSl'ble in an-y degree for the repeal of the Sher every conceivable thing, the small drops and streams .of water, man act? and how they gathered into the branches, and the branches into Mr. STONE of Kentucky. The Republicans in this Rouse the larger streams1 and those into th-e creeks, and the .creeks were almost a unit in favor of it: into the .smaller ;rivers, and the .sma.ller rivers into the mightier Mr. BOWERS of California. That doeB not answer my ques rivers, and the mightier 1·ivers into the great gulf, until there tion. became a plethora ol water? Just so it is with the operation of Mr. STONE of Kentucky. Well, I will a.mnrer it directly and this eno1·mou.s and excessive tari:ff taxation which you gentlemen say "no." 1 will not shift the responsibility. This is aDem have imposed npon the country~ From every pore in the human ocratic House, and it is responsible to the country for every skin, from every -expenditure of .a bit of human muscle, from m~sure of legislation that is enacted here. every exertion of the human brai~ and from all the efforts of - Mr. BOWERS of California. That is it. the combined intellect of the people, have come these drainings Mr. STONE of Kentucky. I have no disposition to shift the into this .stream of -tariff taxe..s, the .stream of money that was responsibility. The Democratic Congress is responsible for the going <>ut of the poo.ke1s of the people and which has been gath repeal of the Sherman law because that party is in power here, eringinto the smalle-r stream.S, :and from the sm:tller streams into just as much as the Democratic Administration .is responsible the larger, finally forming mighty rivers tending t!.>ward the 2188 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, manufacturing centers; and there the muscle and sweat and labor Lest I be confronted with what! S!tid on February 9, 1893, when of the American people, coined into dollars, have been poured the monetary conference was proposed to be again assembled in - into the pockets of the protected few, and there has become a Brussels, when I said I would then vote for or consent to the plethora of money. [Applause on the D~mocratic side.] coinage of the silver bullion then in the Treasury in order that What the Democratic party wants is to give you a sound sys Europe might n?t suppose we would dump our silver upon the tem of finance. They want to turn about this stream that has general market if we could agree upon a world's coinage there, been pouring into these centers. They wanttostop Us accumu I wish to say to this House that then we should have coined only lation in one particular center at the expense of all the others, $138,000,000. Now we would coin $187,000,000, or $49,000,000 more, and they want the benign and beneficent influences of the Gov and the reason for my then consenting to the coinage has passed ernment to overshadow all and the burdens to rest as lightly as away; for that conference is dead, past resurrection. feathers upon the backs of the people, and that all men shall Then the silver in a dollar was worth 65.2 cents. Now it is fare alike under the law, and that by that sort of legislation, worth only 48.9 cents; or one-thiri! more then than now. The put into effect and carried out and administered in this country, fiat quality in the coined dollars in the bullion that would then to bring about peace, prosperity, and happiness, and good times have then been coined was $-17,000,000. To-day it is $93,000,000. to all the people in this blessed land of ours. [Applause on the Events transpiring since then have made such coinage very Qb Democratic side and in the galleries.] jectionable. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. The geRtl.eman from Texas [Mr. KILGORE] made a proposition The committee rose informally; and Mr. TRACEY having taken to the House on Friday that was a very igreat surprise to me. the chair as Spea.ker p'tO tempore, a message from the Senate an If I had fully comprehended it at the time, in view of the custom nounced that the Senate had passed the bill (S.1217) to continue as to speeches and votes in this Housa, I am not sure that I in force the provisions of an act approved March 2, 1885, and en would not have been justified in having his words" taken down" titled "An act. to protect the fish in th') Potom!tc River in the to be submitted to the Speaker, to have had his decision as to District of Columbia, and to provide a spawning ground for shad whether they were parliamentary or not. Let me read to you and herring in the said Potomac River;" in which the concur these wonderful words. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. KIL rence of the House was requested. GORE] S3.id : This is purely a quest-ion of common sense COINAGE OF SILVER BULLION. Only think of it l The Committee of the Whole resumed its session (Mr. HATCH This is purely a question of common sense ::.nd business sense, and we in the chair). ought to take a. common-sense view of 1~. Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, there is one great fact that Well, that is still more remarkable. To make such a declar legislators above all men should keep in mind. That is, that the ation as that to this House, and then to insist that it should be great laws of nature operate on the human mind and are shown binding upon the House, I submit is an outrage on the rights in the results of human action as much as they are in the physi of members and on the general course of discussion in this House. cal world. [L-wghter.] There are certain things that legislation can not change or .Mr. KILGORE. Will the gentleman allow me? even influence. The estimation of values is something beyond Mr. WALKER. Certainly. the reach of legislation. 'l'he exchange of the products of one Mr. KILGORE. I knew that the gentleman from}.fassachu man for the products of another man, in their ratios, can not ba setts would not be governed by a.ny of the ordinar.v rules of com affected by legislation. It has been the effort of legislation ever mon sense, and I did not intend to apply it to him at all. since governments were instituted among men to affect the ratio Mr. WALKER. Well, now, that is a very bright suggestion, of exchange of the products of one man with reference to the Mr. Speaker, and it would certainly comm:md the admiration of products of another man. _ the House if it were not somewhat old. I think the gentleman Mr. Chairman, t}le world has settled on a world's measure of from New York [Mr. COCKRAN] invented that, and I think he is value. It has agreed, by the concensus of the world's opinion, entitled to its exclusive use. without a variation by the smallest fraction, that a grain of gold Mr. PENCE. The gentleman has a right t-o recognize an old shall be the measure of the products of man everywhere the truth. world over; and no coinage laws, no currency laws, nothing that Mr. WALKER. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. KILGORE] man has ever done by legislation in the last eighty years, has goes on to say: · influenced this inexorable measure of value by the smallest frac What business man. with abundant resources on hand to meet his demands tion. would go out and borrow money and give his note ror it and p:~oy interest oii There is not a man on this :fl.oorwhodoesnot admit thatthere it? That. is not business. . is a" price level;" that all things the world over; that are sub Well, I do think, Mr. Chairman, that in view of the general ject to commerce sell at the same price level the world over, course of debate on this question of silver coinage, that that is barring tariff on exports and imports, and the price of handling a very surprising proposition, viz, that a man should rel:;\lly give between points. And whatever may be the appearances to the his note !or what he borrowed with any idea of paying it! Why, contrary, the fact is that there is not a thing sold in any hamlet that gQes against all the suggestions that have been made for anywhere, the world over, touched by the world's commerce, free coinage on the gentleman's side of this House during the from a dozen of eggs to the placing of the bonds of this Gov five yea.rs that I have had a seat in this House.' And further ernment by hundreds of millions, that has not been done upon more, that they should pay interest on a note or mortgage! I a basis of value measured by a grain of gold. The commercial submit to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. KILGORE] that that declaration of this fact is in the English pound of 113 grains, a is an outrage upon the advocates of free coinage beyond all en denomination of money that does not exist in coinage. durance, to suggest the payment of interest on an obligation or All international commerce is conducted in a denomination of the principal. money that does not exist in coinage. There is the English sov Why, I have heard it echoed through these Halls that the ereign, but when the English sovereign is paid in discharge of man who would loan money to another man was his enemy, and the pound, that being also of 113 grains, it is weighed in the thP.t a man who would demand interest, was a man who ought balance, and if there is the slightest variation, the short coin, not to have any position in civilized society, and some of the made short by abrasion or any other cause, is hunted out and a States of this Union have acted upon that principle. full-meMure sovereign is substitueG.. That is why the term Abundant capital! Why, Mr. Speaker, reckoning every dol pound has been used instead of the term sovereign, viz, in order lar of silver bullion we now have on hand and all the silver in that they may have their 113 grains of gold. the dollars we have coined, the total silver bullion in both is Now, if there is not a ''world's measure of value," then there only equal to 77 cents to each of the $378,000,000 of silver al can not be a worlds "price level," for it is inconceivable that ready coined and circulating, and if the g-entleman's proposition there should be a "world's price level" with no measure of value should be enacted into law thera would be $560,000:000, each common to the world in which to express the price level. having only 48.9 cents worth of silver in them. So that in all countries which have a silver measure of value, Mr. KILGORE. Will the gentleman allow me? when goods are sold and boughtwhich are subject to commerce, Mr. WALKER. Certainly. If I can have my time extended, the price i9 fixed in silver with reference to the export or im I will gladly answer all sorts of questions. port price of that article in gold at the point of entry or of ship Mr. KILGORE. Does the gentleman from Massachusetts ment, measuring the silver coin used, which is only the nominal deny that when this bullion is coined in to a dollar of 412t grains, measure, by what its bullion value is when measured by a grain a standard silver dollar, that it will buy just as much as any of gold. other dollat• in existence and go just as far in paying debts? I ask if there is a man on this floor who is disposed to dispute Mr. WALKER. Why, just as far as our paper money will, and a single proposition that I have so far announced? If so I hope for the same reason. he will do so now. It is well understood by this House that I M~. KILGORE. Then what is the objection to it? always invite instead of repelling questions or suggestions from Mr. WALKER. The objection to it is because wo now have any man who will make them honestly. too much of such money and money is now costing our people, 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2189 under the system of coinage and paper money you have forced But as .to this strange condition that you have mentioned, you upon them,· 2 par cent per annum more than it would cost them free-comage men, and you alone, mostly represented on your side, under a decent banking system and a decent coinage system or are responsible for. I, in opposition to you, am for a currency any European system, as I will show you before _I get through. that shall be 2 per cent cheaper to the people than that we You are forcing the people in this country to pay $40,000,000 a now have in every lo3-n and discount made in the Southwest or year in indirect taxes for their money more than they would in the Northwest; for one that much cheaper than what the pea pay under a b:mkin_g system that you will vote against, and why? ple now borrow their money for, and of one-half or three-fourths . \ You will vote against it because there is no demagogy in it. per cent cheaper in the Northeast. . Mr. KILGORE. Do you say that the Democratic party are Mr. LIVINGSTON. But we want money and not currency. responsible for that legit;lation? Mr. WALKER. That is exactly what you want, and that is Mr. WALKER. I say the Democratic party are responsible what you will have if you will adopt the bill H. R. 171 now for blocking the way of the Republican party in getting out of before our Committee on Banking and Currency, which I have the slough of despond that we -got into during the war, when we introduced in this House for four years, which will give a gold began issuing greenbacks. measure of value and give you paper money to use as abundant Mr. KILGORE. But you ha,ve had thirty years of power. and as cheap as the air you breathe. This whole scheme is pub- Mr. WALKER. And we have had the opposition of the con- lished in my argument before the Committee on Banking and solidated Democratic party to every sound financial proposition Currency, made December 19, 1893, a copy of which I would be that has been introduced into this House for the whole thirty glad to send to anyone wishing it. years. . The Government is in need of money! Is that any reason Mr. KILGORE. But still you have gona on and done the mis- why we should make our money cheap and mean? Coin that chief just the same. there is no necessity for adds to the expense ot the people by the .Mr. WALKER. We did·the best we could underthe circum- interest on everv dollar of it. Just look at it, Mr. Chairman. stances; because we- had some men in our camp who were carried Consider these facts. We have bought from the day we be~an away by the delusions of your whole camp. But the Republican to purchas~ silver in 1878 to November 1, 1893, when the silver party is not wholly free from blame. They havenotalwayshad purchase ended, 460,000,000ouncesof silver. The silver dollars the courage of their convictions. coined under the Bland-Allison act were 378,000,000. Mr. KILGORE. Did you not support Mr. Cleveland in 1834 On February8,1894,onlya few days ago, the commercial value upon the theory upon which he was nominated? of the silver bought both under the BlaQ.d-Allison act and the aot Mr. vY ALKER. Oh, my friend I thank you for this sugges- of July 14,1890, at its then price of 65.3 an ounce, was only worth tion. I supported .Mr. Cleveland on the strongest protectionist $291,000,000. The commercial value of the $378,000.000 already -plank that was ever incorporated in any platform. coined is less than the face value of all the bull-ion in them and Mr. KILGORE. You did not look at it in that way. on hand by $87,000,000to-day. The 460,000,00) ounces, or all the Mr. WALKER. I did look at it in that way. And when he silver purchased in the fifteen years since the passage of the wrote his message in 1837 I was as bitterly opposed to its terms Bland-Allison act, cost the United States in gold $!61,000,000. as any man in this country, and I will give you a letter that I As it was worth Feburuary 8 only 65.3 an ounce, its present value published at that time most bitterly opposing and denouncing is only $291,000,000. Loss to the people $173,000,000 in gold, re- that free-trade message. quiring a tax on the people of $2.82 per capita to make good this Mr. KILGORE. , I would be glad to get it. loss. So that the people must be thus taxed by your action. Mr. WALKER. You shall have it. The action of the free-coinage men has actually cursed and Mr. LIVINGSTON. I want to hear my friend, the gentleman depreciated silver. Your action has actually prevented any from Massachusettsl. on the finances of the country. I want to agreement between the United States and other governments ask him if we havarany money in this country-now I am not for the free coinage of silver world-wide. You have defeated speaking of the currency-save gold? that and cursed the interests that you have nominally adyocated Mr. WALKER. Well, now, they are anticipating my discus- on this floor. You are compelling this Government to tax the sion a little, Mr. Chairman. We have no" measure of value" people $2.82 on every man, woman, and child in this country to in this country but gold. make up a loss of $173,000,000. Are you prepared to indorse Mr. LIVINGSTON. That is r~t. such a-ction as a business proposition, my friend from Texas, and Mr. WALKER.. Are you confounding "money" with the to face this condition, and to give a reason to your people for "measure of value"? I needlessly and foolishly expending $464,000,000 for what-is now Mr. LIVINGSTON. Not at all. worth only $291,000,000? Mr. WALKER. We have a measure of value that all of our I This Governmenthas exerted itself to the utmosttosecurein money represents. The measure of value coin of commerce may ternational free coinage, and it has had my most earnest and not ba any large part of the common money used in trade by the determined assistance in the very positi,_on I hold to-day. I masses of the people. charge you with defeating this Government in its efforts ior. Mr. LIVINGSTON rose. universal free coinage more than all the governments of Europe, Mr. WALKER. Wait until I answer this question before you by making Europe believe that we alone would sustain the price ask another. A third of the world use copper and brass. A of silver at 16 to 1 of gold without their assistance. Otherwise, third of the world are using nickel, brass, and copper and other in my judgment, in times past, before silver touched 48.9, they .- things; and yet the price of everything the world over, as I have would have come to the rescue in their own interest and we might said, is me::tSured in gold. I want to say to the gentleman that have had free coinage world-wide, as it must be or nowhere, and I I am in fn.vor of using every dollar of silver money that the peo- am in favor of it now world-wide. But America can by no pos ple will consent to use under any reasonable provision of paying sibility do it alone. Every move you make that looks in that the expense of the expressage to any point and everything such direction (this bill and every-other) defeats it and curses the as that attending sending it out. I would protest with all my friends and the cause you would serve. Common sense is what power against silver being taken out of the monetary system of you say you want. Why do you not act on it for once, even if this country, because who knows butto-morrowwemaydiscover you can not get your Democratic friends to go with you. deposi.ts of gold that would put gold in the same relation to sil- Mr. KILGORE. That is exactly what I am attempting, but I ver that silver now is to gold. We should keep fully as many do not want your kind of company. dolhrs in silver in circulation as we do of gold, in order that in- Mr. WALKER. But you are driving it out of your head and dustrial products may be protected in their exchange from any attempting to get the result you seek by means of very uncom- violent fluctuation in price by any such event and thereby do mon sense that I want no share in. · great injustice to the masses of the people by suddenly changing Mr. KILGORE. And I do not want any share in your com- the commercial price of the t: measure of value" metal. monsense. The "measure of value" is wholly maintained by banks in set- Mr. WALKER. Then, as my friend from New York [Mr. tling between themselves their balances in the "measure of COCKRAN] says, we are "quits." value:' metal and not by the money, either paper or coin, used Mr. KILGORE. We are even. by the people in ordinary tram;actions. Mr. WALKER. I will now listen to your question. Mr. LIVINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for the candid Mr. KILGORE. I have forgotten it. [Laughter.] manner in which he has given the information. Now, one other Mr. WALKER. When you think of it I will listen t ; ' CDNG RES8-I M~ IHLGORE. I·say by legislation. to.: govern.me-n t; and had gone down- very materiaily among-.bam:b Mr. W AL:KER. By every;-pieee: of legislation.. yon II11I.k.e:caU ei'B' and ·countries.ueiore-Ge-rm.any-or France acted and a premium. ing1:vrthe use of ail ve~-- - was apparent-. Wha-t-.do.. you suppos6" was pai~ annually: by-tha 1'i11.~. KILGOREI. Th&ttis. what-Lme..m., . Ban.icof· E:rrgla.nd:.and- the lnnks of·G the.: demone- preciation in the value of sifver- coin from:. the: second day of tization had in E':ra;n.ee-,,in Germany, and:·in: th:is: ·coun.tr;y; an.d.alL April, 1192; dawn:. to. 1873, the date of the.. passaga-of_the first over the-world, but nu·wo.Fsa e.ffect But·. you caused: that: by Sherman aet? _ your vain attempts to:;do·alone what.it:was-impossililaforyou.to: Mr. SMITH of f\rizona. Or any fall in.--silverbullion~..eith-er? da withoutuniversaLccrtiperatiorr. A MEMBER. Or in the value o.f silver. certificates.? [Lau~h. Mr-. BLAND... I. understood: you to say thatr. OIIl!: legiSlation· ter.:-] has. de-preciate'fr' sil~v-er, but now• when::. we-• limYe_ r:e-peaied tlia.t Mr. WALKER. Now that question is a poser·! [Great-Jaugh:- legislation it is depreciated still further. · ter.] .. Mr. W ALKE.R- Oh, well1.atte-r roman is: dead!.you.: might-as Mr. LIVINGSTON. Yott ha;vacaug.ht it now~ well talk about some medic:1ne· that- you: migh.t ha-ve given to Mr. WALKER. Oh., yes.;, I have. caught· it now-, a,c; I did. be- hitn to keep him ali:ve. Why do you not• talk ahont~ ther man foro. Why; .my deal'- man, do yon not. know that-,while we had while he is living-; arrd not· after he is: dea.d? · Now, after you_ our ratio of silver at 16 to 1 of gold, and all Kurope had a..ratio have. killed silve-r, ymrcome:in-.. - at 15-t of silver to 1 of gold, silver was 3t per c-ent higher in gold Mr. BOWERS of California. On, ymL will find silvec:: ar there... thanit·was;:.her-e, and all our.: silver went out of the coun mighty lively corpse. [Laughter;] try? Mr·. WALKER:- I e.xp.e..ct:.it.wilL tre;· but-these merrh:aJve·done Mr~ LIVINGSTON. Yes; and why? Because it-; was worth. all they could to kill it, and mine-owners• have· done- aill yon m:or.ecthan the ~old, was it,not? could to help them kil.l:it. Mr. WALKER. Becau.se we undervalu:ed-silver; Mr. BOWERS of California. I am not a mine-owner. Mr-. LIVINGSTON. Why did it go out':> Mr. WALKER. Well, you are a rep1Tesentative otthe.:nr. Mr. WALKE R. It : went out because it.:was worth- more. in· Mr. BOWER& of California. YBs;. and.they·a-re: pr.etty. good gold than.w-e valued· it in..our: coinage. fellows, too; rLaughter~] Mr. LIVINGSTON. Very well. Put it ba-ek there~ 16. to 1, Mr. LIVINGSTON. Now, will not the gentleman from Mas- and gold will come in and silver will go out just.as before. sachusetts make one honest'admissimrt Mr-. LIVINGSTON. Now it seems to me that it will has pecu its actual reoources already at command. That is the common lated in ag-ain and will go out. sense of the gentleman's propo ition. ' Mr-. WALKER. It we- should coin s-ilver at 6& to 1 o£ gold, Mr. WALKER. Why, Mr. Chairman, -le-t me S31Y ne.propo· double its eommereial value, silver W"()uldall go out because gold siti'On can be submitted to any husfness man of tfiis_ House thai was overvalued;, but. if we coin. it at 16 to 1 when. its. comme~ is clearer in its answer than that submitted by the gentlemar:.. cial value is 32 to 1, the gold will all go out~ according-to your from Texas:. '!'here is-no~ surplus. We are now $87,000,000 be· own state~-ent., as it did from 1792 to 1834. Now7 Hyouean not hind over. the. value of our silver-, as I have shown.. Why, sir1 undet·stand thn.t prop03it.ion I suggest tha.t.you study it-in the Massachusetts during-the war paid gold, without the scratcli ot RECORD and I will answer your question some other time.. the pen on any law as to what the intereB_t on_ aiL of heP bond-s [Laug:h ter ..] should be- paid in, paying in that. way $5.,.000,000 in premiums;. Mr. LIVINGSTON. Allright, butyouhaveneveransweredmy and she- b..a3 gat: that back fifty time.3- in lower interest orr he.r .first question. l insist, Mr. Chairman, that the ge-ntleman s.lm1l bo:l-rowings. Iftha Government will nowborrowwh~t money it answer the question that l put to him at the-stal't. needs and pa.y present low interest on i1rt it c:rn get. b11.ck this Mr. WALKER. What is it? $50.,000t000 many times over in the next.hun.dred yeurB' and. this Mr. LIVINGSTON. I asked you whether the~e was an.y de would be vas-tly preferable to issuing nat money, because- there preciation in the value of silver in this eo.untryfrom the- 2d da;y is· a pr:-esent de.:ficiency in. the Treasury. There fs. not a business; · ol April, 1792, down tO: the year 18731 when the first Sherman man_ in the country who does not know that in saying this I am. act was passed? saying what-is ab.solutely trua. Mr. W ALKEB. Well, then every mint in. the world was op:en Mr. KILGORE. The. g-enet·ationtlla,t fs to existene. hundred to- the coinage oi silve-r at a given :ratio to gold, an.d. a large year& from n-ew might plead the.statnte oflimit"H.ti:uns·, witli re- market in India, and while that was so silver could not gadown gard to the bene-fits you speak oi. ~ and gold could not go down, and it you can get all the nation:s Mr- WALKER-.. I am will.irrg: to let t.f:l..at ga in.. the. RECORD of the world to open their mints w-day tOJ the coinage of silver aS: the gentleman's answer. at 16 to 1 or at 15-1- to 1 of gold1 gold and silvevwill then be Mr. SMITH of Arizona. Now, will the gentieman..aliowmea. kept at a level at the ratio agreed upon, a.nd not till then. Do.es question? that answe-r the gentleman's question? Mr. WALKER. Yes, sir. ~r. LIVINGSTON. No, it does net. M'r. SMITH of Arizona~ I a:skit.as a.matter of :fnform.ation. . Mr. WALKER. Well, I guess- I will adjourn the answer to I d'O not know whether I am a.s good. a busin-ea& man. as. tha gen sol:Ila other- day, and I suggast that the- gentleman burn a little tleman is- in the. habit, of appealing to- midnight oil over this question in the mean time as he finds it Mr. WALKER.. I do- not propose to be de.terreiiJrom stating a treated in the RECORD. business man's view of a business. pronositi-on. p~e.sen.ted in_thia Mr. LIVINGSTON. Oh., I havadone that_many a time when House- because I happen to baa business man~ any more than. I you we-re. aslee-n. [La.ughte:r.] am to be-deterred b:y insnltson that si.defromsp.eaking OAaques.. Mr. WALKER. But, Mr. Chairman, this is not enough,_ as I tion affecting manufactures because I am a manufacturer .. have before said. Our wholefinancial system. that you; m-e. keep Mr. SMITH of Ari7..ona. The gentleman will. de me the. fus ing in exis~en~e by refusing to give us- afairand decent national tice, I think; to say that during my whole servfcafutlii.sHOuse banking act is eausing ua to l-oEe annually a sum equal to 60 cents I have never intentionally tried for one moment to ruffi.e: the per ca"Qita every year in indirect taxation., as-I will shaw late:r feeling& of a.. single membe.~. What-I said in regard to-tha busi on~ This: :fia.t coinage bill propose-s to issue: 182,000,006 more n.ess:po&ition..oi. the g_entleman was rather a. oonfession of my dollars, not against any value wha.teverr but against a. d-efi ignoranee.--- ciency of value already existing in the dollars already eoined of Mr. WALKER• . Go. on with your q_uestion; thatm.ay develop eighty-seven millions, making a fiat quality ot $26\f,OOQ,.OOO in the extent 0f.. yoYr ignerance. the silver dollars of the United States. A~e you going to con Mr. SMITH of Ar~ona. I have· no doubt the gentle.m.an.from tinue this practice?' Where are- you coming. out? WhE;n will Massachusetts- can readily solve-any question submit-ted toirim, you get the. nation£- of the-wor-ld tD unite with us to ::tdopt free from the most difficult proble~ in astron·omy to the mosiri.n.tci. c:oina.ge if you pursue this policy? cate one in theology-- That is to say, as we have now $378,000,000 in silver of the com Mr. W ALKERr If the gentleman is going t-o give-us a l-ec mercial value of eighty-seven millions less than the value of all ture on astronomy I can not yield my time. the silver owned in the United States coined and uncoined, by Mr. SMITH of Arizona. If yotuu·e through with your com~ passing this bill you would add tg- these fiat. silve:r dollars one m·errts on my question, I am through w.ith my comment& on hundred and eighty-two more millions of purely fiat dollars. hav your criticisms. Now, I want to ask the gentleman this ques ing absolutely not a farthing of value, for their redemption. tion. I want to ask him as a bus-iness man whether it is geod Thus you would increase the fiat quality in the no\v existing sil business sense to issue $50,000,000 of evidences- of interest-bear ver dollars from $87,000,000 up to two hundred and sixty-nine ing indebtednesa, which amount, principal and interest, mu.st millions by the passage of this bill, one hundred and eighty-two be_gathered from the people by the-taxgatherer, to be put into millions more than it is now. We shall then have 5oO,OuO,OOO the Treasury, in order tQ pay the men. who may be. fortunate silver dollars. each having in the United States Treasury 4B.9 enough to buy theBe bon-ds, when.. the very money which we cents worth of silver for it, instead of $387,000,000, with 77 cents thus obtain, the very money which we thus borPow in the shape of silver in dollars and in bullion as against each dollar issued. of Sherman notee, is payable, as I understand, in. siLver at the Is that good business sense? Where is the· capital that we option of the Secretary of the Treasury himself. That is the already have, that we need not borrow any money, when we kind of money we are borrowing to pay interest on. Now, is are now taking all the bulli"()n value- of OtU' total silver-$87 ,- that a good business proposition!' 000,000-" in the mud." Not the slightest advantage to the sil Mr. WALKER. I have answered that question fully in my ver miners, not the slightest advantage to the United States reply to the gentleman from Texas. Treasury, not the slightest advantage to any living person can Mr. SMITH of Arizon-a. But the gentleman from Texa.s_did possibly come through this action. not men.tion the point of th.ese notes being payable in silver. Mr. KILGORE rose. Mr. WALKER. By this silver proposition you have let the Mr. WALKER. Before the- gentleman from Texas begins his whole thing out. What you want is free silver coinage for this question, let me say, if you want to go down to a'' silver measure country alone, depreci-ating our dollal" to 48.9 cent& and sending of value," if you want to depreciate our money to 48.9 on the gold out of the country. That being your proposition, I have dollar, then vote for this bill and contin.ue in this course, be nothing to d.(). with it. cause of which no nation in the world will ever unite with us for Mr. SMITH of Arizona. That is not my proposition. free coinage of silver. Mr. WALKER. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLAND1 Mr. KILGORE. Do you believe- that the coinage of thes.e in language which I sb.all presently read, has admitted what $55,000,000 will tend to depreciate the price of silve.r? every man knows is true_, that the minute you fail to reaeem Mr. WALKER. Certainly. Just exactly as an auger' hole in your silver certificates in gold by being able to-exchange-them the gate of a dam will let out just an auger hole of water that for greenbacks or Treasury notes upon which- gold can be ob might be used to run the mill, and you would constantly enlarge tained-the moment the time comes when persons can not get ... it.. It is a comparatively small matter after we. are so d-eeply in gold for their silver certificates, that moment they go to a dis volved, but you are never satistied. But I object to destPoying count of 51.1 cents~ Yon know that, do you. not?· Answer me the gate of the dam and wasting the water or ruining our SQtmd that question. money we have spent so much time and money in a-cumulating. Mr. SMITH of Arizona. I donot.know that; I expressiyd·eny Mr. KILGORE. Yousaythatitwould be better comm-onsense it. for ~he Government to borrow the money, issuing its promissory Mr. B:YAND. I desire to say trot thegentlemanfromMassar notes bearing interest, than to coin this surplus which it h11s on c.husett& [Mr. W .A:f..KER] in what he has just said has not e Mr. WALKER.. i will read in a momentwhatthegentleman Mr. REED. I ask that the gentleman's time be extended has said. thirty minutes. Mr. SMITH of Arizona. I deny the gentleman's construction The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Maine rMr. REED] of my position; but I am for the free coinage of silver all the asks unanimous consent that the time:of the gentleman from same. Massachusetts [}!1r. WALKER] be extended thirty minutes. Mr. WALKER. I claim that the present policy is increasing Mr. BLAND. Thirty minutes from this time. indefinitely and for an indefinite time the cost in interest of The CHAIRMAN. No; the Chair understands the request every dollar borrowed in the country. The incre :~ se is one- to be for an extension of thirty minut~ s beyond the time which seventh in excessiv~ interest on every dollar borrowed, and that is the gentleman has. exactly what this measure and like measures are accomplishing. Mr. BLAND. I shall have to object, in the interest of the That is not all. There is now existing in new legal-tender Treas- economy of time. ury notes $126,000,000; in old-issue Treasury notes, $347,000,000; Mr. WALKER. Give me twenty minutes, then. making the total legal-tender circulation $473,000,000. The Mr. BLAND. I will not object to twenty minutes. Government is pledged to redeem every dollar of this in gold. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman asks for an extension of In the face of this obligation created by the law under which twenty minutes. Is there objection? these notes were issued, what doea this bill propose to do? There was no objection. Without the slightest reason or excuse, and in utter bad faith, Mr. REED (to Mr. BLAND). We will see whether you make this bill proposes to take $126,000,000-and here is the nib of the anything out of this or not. question put by the gentleman from Arizona-proposes to take Mr. BLAND. I understand the gentleman from Maine [Mr. $126,000,000 of these gold Treasury notes and make them re- REED] intends to break a quorum every time he can get an op deemable, not in gold, but to degrade them to a level with the portunity. silver certificate, so that for a dollar in value you pr6pose to Mr. REED. That is just like the gentleman's understanding subject the holder of one of these notes to a chance of obtaining of tho bill, no understanding at all. 48.9 cents instead of $1 in value. Mr. BLAND. You know you intend to do it. If that is honor, if that is integrity, if that is what I learned Mr. REED. Oh, do not make mere noise. in the State of Massachusetts,thatpaid her interest ingold dur- TheCHAIR.MAN. ThegentlemanfromMissouri[Mr. BLAND] ing the war when the bonds nomipated no such thing, incurring is not in order. The Sergeant-at-Armo will direct the gentle an expense of $5,000,000 in consequence, then I want to stay in man from Missouri to take his seat. Massachusetts and not move into Texas, Missouri, or Arizona. Mr. BLAND. The gentleman from Maine is not in order Mr. SMITH of Arizona. If I reached the same conclusions as either. . the gentleman from Massachusetts I would, like him, denounce Mr. REED. This is mere noise. After the gentleman has as dishonest the measure which he is denouncing. But I do not spoken his speech thirty-seven times-- believe that the conclusions to which the gentleman has come Mr. BLAND. I rise to my feet. I do not sit down and mouth are in any sense true. my speeoh-- Mr. WALKER. Will you· answer this question t.hen: Why Mr. REED. You had better sit down. have you put into this bill-- Mr. BLAND. Well, I will sit down at the request of the The CHAIRMAN. The Chair has desired to know whether Chair and not at your request. You have had that opportunity the gentleman from Massachusetts intended to yield to these once and I hope you never will have it again. interruptions. The Chair has asked that questionseveral times, The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Massachuset ts [Mr. but the gentleman does not respond. The Chair will state that WALKER] is entitled to the floor. Other gentlemen will resume he has been notified that no further extension of time will be their seats. made by unanimous consent. It is due to the gentleman from Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman! I hope this will not come out Massachusetts that he should know that fact. of my time. [Ls.ughter.] ~ · Mr. WALKER. How much time have I rema.ining? I will state, in view of what will appear in the RECORD, that The CHAIRMAN. Fifteen minutes. this controversy is not of my seeking, and that I am a very peace- / Mr. WALKER. Well, then, I wish to say-- ful and quiet man, ~nd never arouse any opposition, as you all 1\fr. KILGORE. I would like to ask the gentleman one more know. [Laughter.] question. Mr.KILGORE. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him a Mr. WALKER. I should be very much pleased to yield; but question? in view o! the statement just made by the Chair, I can not yield The CHAIR.MAN. Does the gentleman from Massachusetts further. lMr. WALKER] yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. KIL- Mr. CLARK of Missouri. I think the gentleman's time ought GORE]? · to be extended. We have taken it up here asking questions. Mr. WALKER. I will yield to j ust this question, and then I Mr. WALKER. I ask the House to give me more time. want tD go on with my speech. I would like to yield at each· Mr. KILGORE. I ask that the gentleman's time be extended question, but I must go on after this. some fifteen or twenty minutes, because we have consumed the Mr. KILGORE. I understood the gentleman from Massaohu- time by the questions we have asked the gentleman. ECtts to make the st!ltement that the effect of this bill, if it be- Mr. WALKER. Give me a half an hour, and I will go on and c .>. me a law, would be to make the Sherman Treasury notes re~ finish my speech. I have been detained that much by ques- deemable in silver. Now, that can not be so. tiona. Mr. WALKER. That is exactly what the effect of the law Mr. BLAND. I do not like to say I will object to extending will be. the gentleman's time, but I want to say this: I have been P.n- Mr. KILGORE. That is exactly what it provides against. deavoring, yesterday and to-day, to limit this debate. '!'here Mr. WALKER. That is exactly what it provides for. Just are a great number of gentlemen who wish to speak. I wish to as fast as the Sherman notes are received in the Treasury they limit this debate, and if one gentleman should have his time ex- are issued again as silver certificates. tended, and then another and another, it will baa month before Mr. KILGORE. They are destroyed and silver certificates we can get a vote. If the gentleman yields to questions, it II!ust t.:-'lke their place. come out of his time necessarily. Mr. WALKER. If you know any difference in the practical :Mr. WALKER. I ask in all good faith, in view of the t.ime effect, you are a smarter business man than I am by two·thirds. which has been taken by questions, and the promise made me to Mr. K[LGORE. I admit that. [Laughter.J extend my time, that my time be extended thirty minutes, and Mr. WALKER. The gentleman could not find any enemy of I will agree to conclude then. his who would assert it. Mr. LIVINGSTON. I move that the gentleman's time be ex- We now have copper coin of the value of $7,316,000. The bul- tended. · ' lion value is $1,000,301. Why not issue copper certificates for ' The CHAIRMAN. No such motion can be entertained. $6,300,000? Can you give any reason whatever why, if you are Mr. LIVINGSTON. I ask unanimous consent that the gen- justified in issuing these silver certificates? They would rest tleman's time be extended twenty minutes. upon exactly the same basis. You have nickel coin in circular Mr. BLAND. If you will m!lke it fifteen I will not.objeot. tion, nominally of the amount of $13,382,000. This nickel coin Mr. WALKER. I beg of you to give me thirty. is worth in bullion value$942,000. Whydoyounotbringin a bill The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman asks that the time of the here to issue $12,400,000 of nickel certificates? They are worth gentlemanfromMassachusetts[Mr. WALKER] be extended fifteen their face in gold just as long as you can exchange them for minutes. Is there objection? greenbacks or Treasury notes and get gold for them in that way. Mr. REED. No; the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Why do you not issue nickel certificates? Why do you not is- WALKER] asks for thir ty minutes. sue copper certificates the s:1.me as you propose to isue silver The CHAIRMAN. The Chair understands the gentleman certificates? I challenge any man on tbi.s floor to give me any from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] to object to more than fifteen min- reason whatever why their oases are not alike. And why are utes. you doing any of these things when you can have a paper our- 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2193 rency issued by banks that will make all loans and discounts 2 tleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. CHARLES W. STONE] is no doubt anxious to per cent cheaper to all the sections of this country where in address the committee. terest is high, and from one-half to three-quarters of 1 per cent Of course, I mean that: and that is exactly what the gentleman c.heaper in New York and England? Why are you pursuing this from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] said, and what everybody knows, course, I ask you? Simply to get back to Congress, and nothing that knows anything of the coinage history of the world. That else in the world. Pandering to the ignorance and want of infor is to say, unless we have free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 mation which you yourselves have created in your own distriots. to 1 the world over, the silver in the silver certificates and in There is no other basis of explanation whatever for your course the silver dollar will go to a premium for gold of 52.1 cents the here, no other excuse or justification or reason for it. There is minute you pass this bill, provided you can get nothing but silver no one of you who can give any other, as I shall show before I dollars for your silver certificates. Just so long as you can ex close. change paper money or silver certificates or silver dollars for The people are now being outrageously imposed upon by cur greenbacks or for gold certificates, they will float on a par with rency reformers and coinage zealots in Congress, to the tune of gold. The minute you can not, they will go down to the bullion being taxed nearly $40,000,000 a year for the benefit of no one value of the metal in them-to 48.~ cents. an utter waste to and oppression of the people. They are being The gentleman from Missouri admits, then, that the $560,000,000 taxed more than 60 cents per capita, as I have before said, every of silverwould immediately go down in purchasingpowerto48.9 year, to furnish material for experiments of currency tinkering, cents for each dollar if his scheme works to his satisfaction. by men without accurate knowledge, which only secures them Mr. BLAND. I admit no such thing. seats in this House. This is the place of all others in this coun Mr. WALKER. I ask the gentleman to sit down. try to tell the bold, naked truth, and I propose to do it, as was The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. found in the Fifty-second Congress. BLAND] is not in order. Now let us see what the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] Mr. REED. Order. has to say. Here is richness for you. It equals what my friend Mr. WALKER. The effect named is not based on specula from Texas [Mr. KILGORE] and my friend from Georgia [Mr. tion, but on fact. Bear in your mind I am calling your atten- LIVINGSTON Jand my friend from Arizona [Mr. SMI'rH] have had -tion to a fact. Within the last few months the bare suggestion to say, in view of his advocacy of this bill: of Secretary Carlisle that hemightpay silver certificates in silver Mr. BLAND. Now I will hear the question of the gentleman from Massa instead of gold in redeeming Government paper money and Treas chusetts [Mr. WALKER] . ury notes started a financial stringency such as the world never Mr. WALKER. I wish to ask the gentleman this question: If any moment should arrive when by exchanging silver certificates for greenbacks or any saw before. Nowinterestis ataslowarateas was ever known in other money redeemable in gold, there was no way of getting gold for sil this country, and yet business does not revive. There is now an ver certificates, does the gentleman doubt that the silver certificates would industrial depression that is past calculation or the memory of go down to the bullion value or the silver in the silver dollars? Mr. BLAND. I do not understand the gentleman's question. any man now living or contained in tho record of histOL'J, started Mr. WALKER. If there is no way of getting a gold dollar for the silver cer at the beginning just by a hint of Secretary Carlisle that he tifl.cates now in existence. or that will be issued under your bill, would not would pay silver instead of gold, and it has continued bJca.use of the price of the silYer certificates go down in the market to the bullion price of the silver in the silver dollar necessarily, if thev could not be redeemed your threatened tariff legislation, which, bad as it is, is not half in anything but tbe silver dollar? so bad, if it is to ba final, as would be the depreciation of silver Mr. BLAND. That might occur under a limited coinage which depresses certificates to the bullion price of the silver in the dollars. the bullion; but with tmlimited coinage I answer no, and that the silver dollar and the gold dollar, as we always had them, would fioat practically Even that financial storm would be like a gentle zephyr com at par; but if you are going to cut ol! all coinage of silver and debase it to a pared to the prairie blizzard as compared with the result of the metal, that is a dil!erent thing. - . striking down of $560.000,000 of value from 100 in value to 48.9, Mr. WALKER. The gentleman admits, then, that under a limited coinage, under present conditions, it would go down to the bullion price. That is with a prospect of going to the silver meas~1re of value in this what I understand the gentleman- country. Itwould be a shock tothewhole social system as well. Mr. BLAND. Oh, I understand the gentleman. He means that bullion silver Every value in the world, sir: would be unsettled. There is not will never go to a par with the gold dollar without free coinage. Mr. WALKER. I am no theorist. a value the world over, in any gold or silver country, that would Mr. BLAND. That is what I mean 1r you do not. Now, Mr. Chairman, I not be shocked and disturbed, and all the commercial transactions have said about all I care to say. the world over would be brought to a standstill. No action could Hear him again: make it worse, unless it be the free coinage of silver, than the Mr. WALKER. If there is no way of getting a gold dollar for the silver cer general propositions of this bill. tificates now in existence, or that will be is sued under your bill, would not \iV hy, Mr. Chairman, I spent nearly a year on the Committee the price of the silver certificates go down in the market to the bullion price on Coinage, Weights, and Measures of this House trying to per of the silver in the silver dollar necessarily, it they could not be redeemed in anything but the silver dollars? suade the gentleman then from Montana. [Mr. Carter] and the Mr. BLAND. That might occur under a limited coinage, which depresses gentleman from Nevada [Mr .. Bartine] that they were striking the bullion; but with unlimited coinage I answer no, and that the silYer a fatal blow to silver by the action they proposed. The result dollar and the gold dollar, as we always had them, would float practically at par; but i! you a.re going to cut off all coinage or silver and debase it to a has proved exactly what I said to them it would be. Not a sin metal, that is a. different thing. gle statement have I made on the floor of this House or anywhere else co-ncerning this sih-e1· question that ha.s not proven abso Here is the admission that under existing conditions free coin lutely true, but one, and that was that when we repealed the age in the United States m~ans a silver measure of value. Sherman law I thought silver could not go lower; but since it Mr. BLAND. No, sir-- has gone to 48.9 an ounce on account of the stoppage of free coin Mr. WALKER. You would not grant me the time I wanted age in India! which I did not anticipate and which would not and I can not yield. If you will extend my time I will hear you, h ave taken place, in my opinion, but for the action of the United and not without. States on silver for the last fifteen years. Mr. BLAND. Mr. Chairman-- The whole volume of coin used in this country, in all the com Mr. WALKER. I ask to be protected from the interruptions merce of the country, shown by actual experience, does not of the gentleman from Missouri. I ask that my time be protected amount to but from $6,000,000to $8,000,000 a day;· and we can not from the gentleman from Missouri, and I ask that the gentle possibly use upon any sound system of banking over $400,000,000 man from Missouri be made to sit down. of commercial coin, and we have $800,000,000 of visible coin. Mr. BLAND. I assert that that does not quote me correctly. E very other dollar over $400,000,000 ought to be a paper dollar~ I deny that that is the proper effect of what I said. that costs not a farthing more than the cost of printing it, and Mr. WALKER. I am reading the gentleman's exact words. it would be so under a rational system of b:mking. We have Mr. BLAND. If you will look and see what I said aft,er the productive wealth, consumable wealth, and coin; and coin is that- of no earthly use to anybody except to '' measure value" in b3llks, Mr. WALKER. I ask to be protected in my rights. The over and above the pocket coin. Every dollar you have in coin gentleman from Missouri violates every man's right on this floor. more than is necessary is an absolute waste and a tax, to the value Mr . .BLAND. I allowed you an extension of twenty minutes, of interest on it, upon the people. Divide into the three parts and now you have the discourtesy not to allow me to correct of real estate, personal property, and coin; or into wealth in you-- _ fixed capital, wealth in transit, and coin, and all of these terms Mr. WALKER. The extension of time was allowed me upon the are unsatisfactory. No one of them any more than approximates - express understanding that I should not be interrupted. I read what we would reach in definitions. Railroads, canals, s•m• again from the gentleman's speech before quoted: ships, transportation wagons carry and e x chang~ the products, Mr. WALKER. The gentleman admits, then, that under a limited coinage, under present condit.ions, it would go down to the bullion price. That is but they can not carry and exchange products without banks to what I understand the'gentleman- carry and exchange the titles of these products. Mr. BLAND. Oh, I understand thegentleman. Hemea.nstha.t bullion silver All the titles to products are carried and exchanged through will never go to a par with the gold dollar without free coinage. Mr. WALKER. I am no theorist. banks or the equi valent of banks. A country store is the eq uiv Mr. BLAND. That is whatimeanif youdonot. Now.Mr. Chairman, I have alent of a bank, just to the extent it gives, as your bank does, !aid about all I care to say. I do notca.re to proceed any further. The gen- credit on what it sells you. We ought to hu.ve a bank in every X .XVI--138 2194 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, town in this country, which should loan money to the farmers, reserves, and they are thus made a source of as much income to anticipating- their crops to pay the bank and the men in busi the bank as any of its "quick" funds. ness in the towns, that they might take the money borrowed So we have about $800,UOO,OOO of both kini!s .of coin " visible"' .and go to the country store adJacent, or to some other coun in this country; that is, besides what is tin the pockets of the try store, and buy what they wanted. They would save in price people. England has only $12.5,00~,000 f.or all of her commerce, many more times as much as the interest they paid the bru1k. $25 of foreign commetce to a dollar of visible gold, and we have The'b:mker always loans money at a lower rate than individ only five or six to the dol.J..a,r of our visible gold, to say nothing uals. That is the history of every neighborhood where a bank of <>ur silver dollars. We have paper money afloat to the is estn.blished; and just so far as you use your credit -at the amount of gold certificates, $143,000,000; legal tender notes, -country store it becomes to that extent your bank. The ba.nks $347 ,ooo,-ooo; Treasury notes, $127 ,OOO,COO; sillVer oortitlcates, of tb.is country .are copartners with every business man in this $327,000,000; national-bank notes, $172,000,000, making in all country, in furnishing him a -p:1rt of his capital and making $1,U7 ,000,000 dependent upon the Government for redemption, the exchanges for him of the titles to the products he sells and and the Government can not redeem it without the help of the buys. You can no more conduct the business of modern civili banks. The banks have really redeemed every dollar of the .zation without banks than you can without railroads1 steam silver certificates and every dollar of greenbacks that the Gov cars, steamships, and telegra ph, and go back to jack mules and ox ernment has ever seemed to redeem. Only a day 'Or two ago we carts .. had the spectacle before your -eyes of Mr. Cal.'lisle going over to One is but a complement and a part of the other. All paper New York to borrow $50,000,-()00; and the banks did not wish to money in its different fo:qns is identical in substance and in law. take the loan. But they took it? Why? Because they knew Furthermore, it is an economic impossibility for a government to that they must really redeem all these twelve hundred millions issue good paper money. It simply can not be done. There is not of paper money, while the Secretary ostensibly ·did it1 ·or else an experienced banker in this country, not one, who will not tell our financial system would go to wreck and ruin. you that it is impossible for any government to issue good paper There is not a m an on this floor who knows anything about money; and I submit to the gentlem n from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] the finances of thi.s country or b .1nking who does not know that :and to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. KILGORE] that a banker that is the plain unvarnished truth. Again when a man goos to has as good a right to say that he knows more about banking than a bank to borrow money it makes nota bit of difference whether a .farmer, a lawyer, or a doctor, as a farmer has the same right they write hlm a credit on a bank pass book, give him a cash to say to the b..tnker, the lawyer, or doctor that he knows more ier's check, or issue to him bills for the full value of his loan. :about farming. The doctor must be our authority in medicine, All these things are the same in iaw and to the bmker. What 11nd the lawyer about the technicalities .and practice of law. You does the banker get? He gets -a title to the property of the man insult your own intelligence when you stand in this House from who bol'i'ows, sufticieut to .redeemeverydollar th the l-ends him. day to day and abuse, milign, and insult the bankers of this Not a dolbr is in circulation inFranoe, in Germany, in England, country-for what? I have told you for what; and for no othBr in Scotland, in Canada, in any country -wheTe they have a first reason. .class banking system, where the bank doesnothold,notth-eact Mr. KILGORE. Which we disclaim. ual possession of, but the title to, that much wealth of the busi Mr. WALKER. You can not fairly disclaim it. Every ness man in his note, which property it can take when the ob speech you make, every vote you give here on these questions, ligation matures and with it redeem the dollars it has loaned does it. Why, the paper money, or curren~y, as you -call it, does and issued to the borrower on his note. '98. 7 per cent oi all the daily transactions in trade. I learn from On the other hand1 what does the Gavernment have? Abso volume 1, page 32, of the Comptro~er's Report for 1892, that i.n lutelynothing. Not a title to acent'sworth of wealth to redeem checks, cashier's checks, drafts, bills of exchange, 47 per cent 1s th-e paper money it issued. It issues its money on a vacuum. done: in clearing-house certificates, ·43 per cent; telegrams and [Ap-plause.] It is obliged to issue i-t on a vacuum. When the miscellaneous, L67, making 98.7 of the exchanges in this .coun Government issues paper m-oney what does it do? It puts what try that are done with paper, and that we only use 1.29 per it gets for it into custom-houses, into post-offices, into public cent in coin. Gentlemen, in your coinage legislation, you are buildings of other kinds and into salaries. The wealth it got is legislating upon the lines of barbarism, absolute barbarism. It all gone. There is absolutely nothing with which to redeem a is only the barbarian who wants the solid coin in hi-s hand, in dollar. Of course they can get your wealth in ta.xes to use; but his business transaction, and just so far as you get Christian that is all. Suppose this $1,200,000,000 in existence had all been .civilization and get out of a barbaric condition and barb.1ric issued by the banks. For every dollar of it issued they would ideas, you want less and less of actual coin. have a title to consumable wealth rn the country in the bands of As I have said before, to-day the -coin that is used in com each borrower in proportion to the amount of his assets above merce is· doing ten thousand times more in -commercial ex his liabilities with which to redeem each dollar of paper money, changes than the coin could do eighty years ago. That is de averaging fully $5 to each dollaTissued, making a total of $6,000,- monstrable as clearly as .any proposition in arithmetic. The 000,000, while the Government has a beggarly 8 per cent on the daily exchanges in this eountry are only $400,00J,OOO, and we money issued. You have got twelve hundred million .dollars have to use only 1.67 per cent in coin, or $6,000,000 in the daily afloat, and you have got a hundred million dollars of geld in the ·exchanO'es. We have $337,000,000 of e-old in this country. Treasury, but let a crisis come, and it goes down in a day. How Under~ proper banking system, requiring the banks to have much more time have I, Mr. Chairman? their cash re.serves in coin, compelling the banks to be at all The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman has five minutes remain the expense of the redemption of all the currency in circulp,tion, ing. compelling them to maintain the "measure of value," in so do Mr. KILGORE. How about silver? ing inducing them to take u-p and destroy the existing green Mr. WALKER. It is not worth any more for any redemption backs and Treasurynotes, at no cost to them, they buying a new purposes than it will sell for in the market as bullion. It is just greenback to the amount of $400,000,{)00 in the place of $337,- the same as any old junk. It is not wot·th any more than the 000,000, releasing $87,000,000 of gold in the Treasury, so Mr. p-aper in paper money except as it will sell for more in. the Secretary Carlisle could use it to-morrow, and -all this by allow market. It is not worth any more as redemption money than ing the banks to issue their own currency notes up to their '' re- a farm of the farmer who has given a note. A farm may be good "serve held "-$600,000,000 in place of existing paper money-and in itself, but a farm is no more money in a commercial commu you reduce the rate of interest to the peo-ple 2 per cent all over nity than would be the same amount of mud in the bottom of your Western and Southwestern country of high-priced money, the sea. Now, we have two thousand eight hundred millions of and considerably in the East and North. bankable funds in this country, and twenty-two millions of them Notes being issued by the banks to the amount of their re loaned and six hundred millions lying idle in the banks not earn serve, every dollar of banking funds is earning an income. Now, ing a dollar. That is almost -one-fifth of the whole, and every not a dollar of the bank coin reserves is earning any income. dollar you borrow from a bank costs you that much more, because In England, Germany, France, etc., the coinreservesofbanks of this idle c ::tpital. On every dollar you borrow on a mort~age are performing three functions: the interest is fixed by what you pay the bank on your loans and dis 1. They are used to measure values in every transaction in counts; andyougentlemeu stand here cursing your constituencies the country, as all transactions are ultimately and equivalently by :efusing to pass a bill that has been before you for four years, settled in the banks. The paying of the ''final balance" in coin wh1ch would allow the banks, a-s they .are allowed in every other is the equivalent of each bank paying each single obligation in civilized country. to issue notes on the coin they have in their coin. vaults. You might compel them by law to hold £3very dollar of 2. They act as our bank reserves act. They are at hand to their cash reserve in coin, and then allow them to ist>ue notes satisfy .any and every obligation against the bank~ which obliga up to four hundred million to six hundred million dollar.s. tions practically mature only in balances shown, of debts and Then you coutd take your gold in the Treasury and use it for credits between banks. the current expenses of your Government. Then you would have 3. Currency notes are issued to an amount equal to these coin four hundre{l millions more of the new greenback notes, and you ' 1894. CONGRESSION.AL RECORD-HOUSE. 2195 . could compel the banks to redeem them •by simply having them It is useless now to review the history of that struggle. We exchange one kind of money for another; relieving the Govern were whipped before the fight began. We were routed, horse, ment of all interest on that four hundred millions, requiring not foot, and dragoon. We were wnipped in detail. But p erhaps a dollar to be kept in the T reasury to redeem them, and saving the mistake made in diviaing our forces, leaving detachments the pcoplefi'Om a taxation of forty millions a year. Yetyoustand to fight for different r atics, will be of benefit to us in the battles h ere refusing to educate the peopio in your districts into the that are to come. If so, tuen the silver struggle which began truth so they may know what their true policy is, and under tak on the ith of August last, was not in vain. ing to pass these miserable makeshift, dishonest, dishonorable Again, we relied upon t he South to -stand firm. Much has bills r educing vour g old redemption certificates down to silver been said of the naturnl alliance b tl tween the South and West. cer tificates, t r usting, as some of you do, that they will depreciate When put to the great test, however, Southern leaders fell like all our current money to 48. !:J cents on the dollar. God save-not leaves in autumn. Those of us who came fr om the West, be the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for her financial salvation lieving that the prostra.te Sout h was not only ready but anxious is already sure- but God save to this nation a little of the busi for the final struggle, wera u tterly ·astounded at their flight and ness and common sanse which my friend from Texas fl\lr. K IL their ultimate and c.omplete surrender to th3 single gold stand GORE] professes to desire. God save the United States of America. ard men. E ven though our Southern friends redeem themselves Amen ! fV:mghter and loud applause.J now,·I fear it is too late. Mr. SWEET. Mr. Chairman , as a member of the Cammittee WH.AT SHALL WE DO? on Coinage, I voted to report t.he p ending bill. At the time the What are the bimetallists to do? Their strength lies in the vote was taken in the committee I entert3.ined very serious West and South. The line b ~ tween bimetall~mand gold mono doubts as to whether, as a bimetallist, it-were advisable to pre metallism is drawn between the men who borrow a;nd the men sent to the HoUBe anything short of a measure that tested fairly who lend, and that line is as clear and as distinct, and may be as and fully upon this 11 oor the question of bimetallism. But for easily traced as the Missis3ippi River. It is true that we have -reasons hereinafter given I decided to vote in favor of reporting a few stanch friends in the East, but they are not sufficient in the bill. numbers to be of any benefit at the polls. During the preliminary struggle for ita consideration I voted Shall we join another p oliticalp ~rty? If so, where are we to with those who favored the passage of this measure. I am frank go? What party shall we join? Wedo not need a new p arty to to say that I doubt very much whether this blll will result in ca.Try the Rocky Mountain States for bimetallism. What we any benefit to the cause of bimet.allism. I did not, at any rate, must do is to carry the great Central and Northern Mississippi .support it upon the theory that it will except, perhaps, that in River States. Added to such votes as we can obfu.in from the directly it may reflect asentimant around which will clust9r more South, these Central States would insure an American financial strength for the great principle at stake. policy. I voted for this measure because, to the extent of $55,000,000, The banner to carryintothese States is a banner around which it antagonizes the issue of gold bonds. I antagonize the further the people will rally. It is claimed by some that the Populists issue of Government bonds because I believe we already have have raised such a tlag. I do not think they have yet unfurled too much credit money in the United States for the safety either a banner around which ·the masses will rally in sufficient strength of the credit structure or the foundation upon which it rests. to give to financial reform the control of the Government. THE TRUE TEST. It is true that all the industrial orga-nizations, togethe-r with This is the reason why I supported and shall vote for the a majority of the farmers in the sections named, are favorable pending measure. My only regret in connection with the bill to silver, but whether desh·able _a_r not, our Populist friends in 15 that it does -not present to the House the test of bimetallism, clude with their demand for the restoration of silver as money so that a vote may be taken upon tha;t issue alone, to the end so many radical, not to say doubtful, changes in the fundamental that we may know, once and for all, who are our friends and principles of our Government, ths.t it seems to me impossible who are our enemies. for them to command the strength in the United States to ac During the four years that I have spent a"S a member of this complish the reform we seek. body, I have never yet, notwithstanding thenumerous struggles Let us Bee what the two old parties .have said on this subject. that have taken place over what is termed the silver question, REPUBLICAN .PLANKS. had the opportunity of hearing a deb tte or of participating in The Republican plank in ·the platform of 1888 is as follows: a vote that tested the simple question of whether or not the The Republican party is in favor or the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic Administration in its ·ef United States should have gold and silver for the money of the forts to demonetize silver. United States, and as the basis upon which credit should be Under this plank the Republican party enacted what is known issued. This is the t1·ue test. as the Sherman law. THE SILVER ELEMENT3. At the Minneapolis convention, held in 1892, the following There are different elements from which the forces of the bi plank was inserted in the Republican platform: metallists are recruited, and -each element joins the column for The money of the country should consist of gold, silver, and paper, and be i::sued by the General Government only in sufficient quantities to meet the a different reason. demands ofbusiness and give full opportunity for the employment or labor. The first, and perhaps the most numerous, comes from the To this end an increase in the volume of money is demanded, and no individ South, the general destruction of values and the prostrate con ual or corpor::~.tion should be allowed ·to make any profit through its issue. It should be made a legal tender for all debts, public and private. Its volume dition of the cotton industry having combined to bring the should be fixed at a de1inite sum per capita and to increase with our increase 'Southern masses to the su-pport of bimetallism. in popubtion. Second. The men of the silver States, whose direct interest [can not stop to analyze these planks. The last one contains c-ompelled a study of the question of a double standard, just as some admirable thoughts. I will pause to remark that I fall to the people of Pennsylvania have been led to investigate with find anything in it that could be tortured into a justification of cara all of the economic phases of protection to American in any Republican in voting for "the unconditional repeal of the dustry. Sherman law, or for refusing to vote for the pending bill or Third. The Populists. In the intermountain State-s the Pop something in its place looking to a restoration oi silver coinage - ulists favo1· bimetallism for the same reason that all other men on some basis. in those States have espoueed the cause of the white metal. In UNCER'l'AINTY ITSELF. the Eastern States this party is composed of the rank and ftle of If some one were to ask me to define the words indefinite, un the old Greenba-ck party, augmented by those who see no hope certain, ambiguous, I should, as a definition, tender section 7 of financial reform through either of the old organizations. They of the last Democratic -national platform as- a complete and ac- have inserted in their platform a plank in favor of thefree coin curate answer. It reads as follows: . age of silver, and that it wus a nice piece of political strategy We denounce the Republican legislation known as the Sherman act of there can be no doubt. There are famous names in the history 1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught with possibilities of danger in the fu ·of the old Greenback party, and1 believethepresentVjce-Presi ture which should make all of its supporters, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the .. · dent of the United States was twice elect9d to this body upon s tandard money of the country, and to the coinage of both gold and silvet that ticket . without discriminating against; either m etal or charge for mintage, but the Fourth. We have bimetallists from all over the Union who be dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchange .. able value, or be adjusted through international agreement. or by such safe lieve in the principle, belong to all classes, and all parties, and guards of legislation as shall i nsure the maint.enance of the parity of .the two all sections. m etals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and S uch were the forces that assembled at the beginning of the in the payment of debts; and we demand that all paper currency shall be k ept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy special session of Congress to contend, not only against the de as especially necessary for the protection of the farmers and laboring classes, struction of .such silver htws as remained upon our statute books, the lirst and most defenseless victims of unstable money and a fiuctuating .but to advance, if possible, the use of silver as an absolu.te money curr ency. metal. They·entered into the contest with all of these forces I am certain the "farmers and. laborers" fully appreciate-this -and·reasons back of them. appeal in their behalf. It has not worked very well so f811', but .: ·- 2196 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, then, it requires a Jong time for a plank like that to be under race with what is required to eat, to drink. and to wear; no mat stood, and no doubt the "farmers and laborers" will be patient ter how much faith the world may have in our integrity as a. until the Administration can interpret it and place it in opera nation and in our disposition to make good every contract we tion . . Meantime, do you wonder that some of the silver-produc enter jnto, there is nevertheless a limit to the gold we can ob ing States confronted with such a declaration have gone Popu tain for monetary purposes, because there is a limit to the gold list? I a.m not going to say what should be expected of a Demo obtainable for this purpose. · crat elected on the platform quoted, or where his duty calls him When, therefore, we promise more gold than we can obtn.in, when we vote on this bill. I suppose, however, that all Demo and the whole commercial world knows that we can not execute cratic votes will be mst in the interest of the "farmers and la our promise; when all the holders of and dealers in securit:es borers." are perfectly aware that our promises are so impossible of ful The long and shor t of it is, that neither of the old parties fillment that the ordinary transactions of business at h ome, or seems disposed to adopt bimetallism a.s an American financial that fi ve years of international commerce may take from us every policy. It is stated in the public prints that the President will dollar we possess in gold or that we can produce in th'3 mean veto this halting, h alf-hearted recognition of silver coinage. time, it is idle to say that the world will and must and ought to But we need not concern ourselves about that. It will do no have confidence in every promise we issue to -pay in gold. harm for us to assume that the legislative branch of the Gov A nation has no more right to make a promise which it can ernment still exists, and we can perform what we conceive to be not fulfill than a private banking or mercantile institution. Not our duty regardless of the Executive, just as the Executive h as only is it without such a right, but as a matter of fact it is im committed the Government without consulting the legislative potent to do it. branch. We can work as a matter of theory, if nothing more. Now, our gold friends come in with their proposition that it We have this consolation: the Executive can not impeach us, is all a matter of confi dence. They say that so long as we have nor turn us over to the tender mercies of a cannibal queen! confi dence in the money of the country all will be well. Our But there are good bimetallists in all parties, and on this ques reply to that proposition is that confidence does not come to us tion we must unite. We can not force a voter who honestly ad as a matter of charity, but that itcomes to us as a matter of fact. voc:ttes and votes for silver into any particular party, no matter We say that confidence comes to us because we command it; where he lives. Bimetallism is more likely to lose than gain because by wise acts of legislation it must follow, and not be by doing that. I am of those who believe the reinstatement of c ~mse we say to the world we are great and powerful and full of silvee to be the paramount issue in American politics. But I resources and you must have confidence in every promise we can not afford to drive from the support of bimetallism the man make, whether we are capable of fulfilling it or not; yo:.1 must who believes in it, and who will work and vote for it, although ha>e confidence in every promise we issue t.o pay, even though not willing to take the radical steps that to me appear to be yon know we can not redeem one-tenth of the promises we h ave plainly my duty, because he does not consider the question n.s issued. vital to nation!'Ll prosperity-even human freedom-as I do. D uring the last six months we have had in the Trea.sury of the But I think a true bimeh llist ought to be willing to demand United States from $60,000,000 to $00,000,000 in gold. Upon that of all Presidential candidates that the one chosen shall lay his we have asked the world to give us credit for $1,600,000,000. veto power aside and leave this question to the people. Let all Upon less than $100,000,000 in gold we have issued $1,600,000,000 friends of this cause unite, and if necessary Parnellize the elec in promises to pay. These promises have been in the form of toral notes, silver certificates, greenbacks, and various kinds of money, COLLEGE AND HOUSE which those fortunate enough to possess any money at all are fa of Hepresentatives. Politics will not be so one-sided hereafter. miliar with. It is s::tid in reply that we have in the United States There are enough bimetallists in the United Sta.tes to compel a $500,000,000 more in gold. I admit this whether it is true or not. President to lay aside the Admitting it, this amount of money is held in b:mks and in the vaults of private individuals for hire. Out of it must be paid the IMPERIAL POWER vast amounts due from private individuals and the municipa l and of veto, if the matter is called to the attention of the people be business corporations of the United States, who have issued. their foro election and before the national conventions are held. obligations payable in gold. Yet we can not win without combining all of the friends of If it ba said that the special strength and credit of the Gov silver. This means that mutual concessions must be made, and ernment will enable it to obtain the greater proportion of this that we must act together. We must drop our isms and party private reserve with which to maintain its credit, then wh at be isms long enough to win this fight. After that, those who want comes of the credit of individuals and of municipal and business free trade: nothing but paper money, and a still greater consoli corporations? There is only one possible answer to this ques dation of power in the central Government, even to the extent tion that can be made by which any conclusion other than bank of controlling railroad and t-elegraph employes, etc., can leave ruptcy of the parties named can be reached, and that is that their more conservative comrades and march on. If enough they will not be called upon to execute their contracts. march on, all of these more advanced notions may crystallize into But the gold way of stating it is that there must be .so much law; if not, then whatever t-he m:tjority decr aes will continue to confidence in all of this credit money that the business world be the law. will accept these credits as of the same value as the metal upon GOLD-CREDIT-CONFIDENCE. which they are hased. In this way alone is it possible that the If there is sufficient gold at om· disposal for all monetary pur entire volume of money in the country shall measure the entire pos: s, it is unnecessary either to coin silver or to issue credit product and labor of the country. But the trouble is, you can money in any form, except that which is issued by the Govern not say: Let there be confidence, and there is confidence. I ad ment for fractional currency. If there is not enough gold to mit that so long as this confidence exists the promise to pay in furnish the volume of money necessary with which to transact gold is just as good as the actual payment in gold, but I claim the bnsin2ss of the country, but there is nevertheless sufficient that whenever the business world begins to doubt the ability of gold upon which to bas e a volume of credit money which com the Government, and of private, municipal, and business corpor bined with the gold itself is equal to the needs of the people, ations to pay in gold as demanded, that then all the articles of then there is no need for any other kind of money. . production are measured no longer by the promise, but by the If it b a concaded that this stat-ement is true, then the question gold itself. at issue is whether we have sufficient gold with which to trans I also insist that it is the sheerest folly for a nation to contend Ret the business of this country, or to form a basis of credit upon that its credit does not require the same elements of safety that which money may be issued equal to the necessities of the peo are re9-uired of any private business house of whatever character, ple. I will admit, to begin with, that if the credit of a nation that seeks to have its credit accepted as a basis upon which to is never questioned no trouble c..~n arise; but I deny that the do business. credit of a nation is any more likely to escape scrutiny than the THE T.AltiFF AND CONFIDENCE. credit of a great business house or a great banking institution. The sum and substance of this is, that if weare without sufficient As there is a limit to the credit of any man, or combination of gold with which to do our business and upon which to base our men, or corporation, so there is a. iimit to the credit of the credit, then we must have more money possessing full legal-ten United States. der powers and of ultimate redemption, or that the price of The limit upon the credit of this country, as it is represented products of all kinds must be scaled down until the actual gold in issues of money, is not so much a limit upon the power and we possess measures their value. This scaling process is now in resources of the Government to pay whatever it promises to pay active oper ation. In other words we do not need more credit in gold, as it is a limit to the ability of the Government to nb money; we need more actual money. tain the gold with which to redeem its obligations p ayable in The business of tho United S tn.tes has suffered untold misfor that metal. · tunes during the past twelve months. What shall we attribute No matter what our resources or power of production may be; it to? If t.hose about me were to speak there would be one uni no matter what capacity we p9ssess for supplying the human versal cry of loss of confdence. Loss of confidence in what? 1894. CONGRESS! ON AL -RECORD-HOUSE. 2197 Loss of confidence in the integrity of the people? No. Loss of ver-using countries, it is impossible to deny that the standard of confidence in the resources of the country? No. Loss of confi value is intimately connected with prices. dence in the industry, or skill, or in the energy of our people(' These issues are so clearly made that men who havegt,en the No. Wherein, then, lies the loss of confidence? I hear some or subject much thought must reach a conclusion withou t a very my 1:1arty associates say that threatened tariff legislation has de extensive analysis of the propositions stated, even if they have stroyed confidence. not already settl~d convictions upon the points raised. I am myself a protectionist. I believe in protection to Ameri DECLINE OF VALUES. can industry for protection's sake. I believe in paying Ameri In the sixth count made by the gold men it is stated that can labor sufficient wages to maintain the public schools and Arise or fall in the general level of prices will tllerefore prove nothing as the churches of the people. I believe in enabling the Ameri regards the supply of gold, since it maybe due to the diminution or expan· can workman to send his children to school well dressed und sion of the volume of credit, without any corresponding alteration in the with the books necessary to obtain s~ch an education as YTill amount of gold. K_i ve them a fair show for success in the battle of life. I be It needs no argument to demonstrate that values in the United lieve that with protection to these industries should come the ~ e States have met with a very serious decline. All classeB of wa1;es, if not voluntarily on the part of those who pay them, products, all kinds of property are reduced in value, and scarcely then involuntarily; and if people are coming to our countrywho anything r~mains that is considered good b:mkable security in do not c:1re for the institutions upon which our Republic is all the great money centers. This is not due to the reason as bJ.sed, and the maintenance of which are necessary to its con signed by the gold men in the summary of their views just tinued growth and prosperity, then they should not be per quoted. Values had gone to destruction before there was any mitted to come here to compete with our workers in industrial diminution in the volume of our credit money. I therefore con.; pursuits. I am absolutely_a believer in all of these things. I tend that silver as money having been utterly destroyed and know that it is not the class-room idea of political economy, but thus half of Ol.lr actual money lost, as stated by the bimehllists I believe it is the practic3l idea of political economy for the of the royal commission, products and property of all kinds are United States. I do not believe we will lift the world up, being reduced in value to correspond with the actual amount either by example or as a matter of fact, by letting ourselves of gold on hand with which to measure them, in place of wing down. measured by the promises t-o pay in gold. While I believe all of these things, and while I believe further This is a genuine lack of confidence. It is a lack of confidence that threatened legislation has thrown thousands of people out in the ability of the debtor, whether that debtor be the Govern of employment, and as a necesss.ry result curtailed the market ment or a municipal or business corporation, to pay its oblig~ of the farmer and of the manufacturer, I believe further that tions in gold, because the world knows that the gold does not an appreciated currency is responsible for at least half of the exist with which to pay these obligations. evils under which we suffer to:day. REDEMPTION OF GOLD DEBTS. THE ROYAL COMHISSION. But it will be said nobody pretends there is sufficient gold I beg leave to submit the conclusions reached by the English with which to pay these debts; no government is supposed to be gold and silver commission, pro and con, upon the question of able to pay all of its obligations at a given time and without no bimetalism. The statements made by both sides present an tice; no bank is supposed to do it; no business house is supposed issue. That is something we h ave never had upon this floor to be able to meet all of its obligations without warning and at any since I became familiar with its proceedings. The statements, time. Iadmitthis. Upon the other hand I assert that there is or the conclusions reached by the gold monometallists of the not sufficient gold obtainable with which to pay the interest on the English Royal Commission, are as follows: ind~b~dness of ~mr Goverl?-ment and of our people. ~r, if you 1. That in any one area the nominal value of the transactions desire It stated m what might be termed a commercial way; I is alway enormously greater than the quantity of gold available, affirm, that having reduced commodities to an actual gold basis, and that it would therefore be impossible for all the transac that is t-o say, if we measure the value of allcommodities by the tions pending at any one moment to be actually carried out in gold we have and not by the promises to pay in gold which we the terms in which they are expressed. have issued, that we can not produce at living rates a sufficient 2. That, as a matter of fact, gold actually passes in only an in amount to pay the interest on what we owe, payable in gold.- finitesimal number of transactions. Again, I affirm that while no government, no bank, no busi 3. That in all their transactions the consideration which passes ness house, no municipal corporation or other association of men, from the purchaser to the seller is res.lly not gold, but a promise doing a great business more or less on credit, is expected to pay to pay gold. its obligations all at one time or without due notice, it is non 4. That the prices of commodities will consequently be regu sense to say that any of the parties named are not expected lated not by the quantity of gold, but by the quantity of such to pav some time all that they owe and in accordance with the promises which will be received in discharge of debt and as specific terms of the agreement. Our agreement to pay in gold equivalent to gold. at any time regardless of ·notice, regardless of applications for 5. That the quantity of such promises to pay, or in other words :payment of obligations, being a well-known fact, all confidence the volume of credit, has no doubt some connection with the m our ability to pay is gone, and all commodities entering irito quantity of gold, but that the relation between the two are very our commercial life are reduced in price to that point at which complex and obscure, vary in different countries and states of they can be measured by the actual gold on hand. The fluctu society, and can not be reduced to any definite rule. ations in price, therefore, are not the fluctuations in the volume 6. That the connection between the supply of gold and the of credit money we have, but they represent the fluctuations in prices of commodities is consequently not directly, but indi the amount of gold we have. rectly, acting through the ·medium of credit, and that a rise or In stating this I have not taken into consideration that the fall in the g-eneral level of prices will, therefore, prove nothing prices of all commodities are a:ffected_by the question of supply as regards the supply of gold, since it may be due to the diminu and demand. I admit that the greater the demand and the tion or expansion of the volume of credit without any corre more limited the s11pply, the higher the price. This applies to sponding alteration in the amount of gold. every commodity,_and gold being no ex9eption to that rule, then To this summary the bimehllist replied as follows: the greater the demand for gold the higher will be its price, 1. 'l'h1t a distinction must be drawn between that portion of an~ the more it will take of any commodity to buy an ounce the supply of gold which is actually circulating as coin and is of It. used in the smaller transactions of commerce, and that portion THE REMEDY. of the supply which is held in reserve by b:mks and similar in From all of thisl without repeating and republishing tables stitutions as a basis for the credit which they create. that have so many times been given to the -public, showing the 2. That between gold in the latter form and the quantity of production of gold and the decrease of that production as com credit there is a direct arithmetical relation. They may vary pared with the increased necessities of the people, I conclude in different countries and in different states of society, but will that we are without sufficient gold upon which to base _the in any _one country or any one state of society be tolerably uni money of the United States or to do the business of our country, form. and to measure fairly the products of the people. -- 3. That whatever proportion the volume of credit may bear If my coy;t<;:lusion is correct, what are we to do?, There is but to the quantity of gold on which it is based, the value of the one alternative that I know of, and that alternative is to rest-ore former must, in the long ·run, conform to the value of the latter. silver to its old place with gold and make it, not a promise _to 4. That the supply of gold also operates directly upon the be redeemed in gold, but make it money itself. With both g9ld prices of commodities, for it is affected by the rate of discount. and silver as the basis of our credit; and as actual money, we 5. That in face of the fact of an aUeration of 30 per cent in the shall be none too strong financially. - _ . -_ - relative value of gold and silver in recent' vears, and a corre INTER~ATIONAL BIMETALLISM. sponding relative alteration in the gold and silver prices of the The question of international bimetallism is probably dead. commodities interchanged between the gold-using and the sil- The latest report from Europe indic::tted an unsettled condition 2198 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- HOUSE. of affairs financially, and there seems to~ more.of an inclina In that same soaech Senator SHERMAN declared that silver tion on the part of each nation to look out for itself than to ask mining was one of the most profitable industries in the world; some other nation what had better be done. The land owners 1hat it has made nearly as many millionaires as -petroleum, iron, and many lines of manufacturing industries in Great Britain steel, or railroads. Well, so has gold mining; so has every othe are for bimetallism. . kind of business when successfully followed by skillful business I b3lieve that most of the Irish leaders are for bimetallism. men. But what is the situation now? Under hostile leo-i0 lation Certainly I hn.ve never heard of any Irish statesman attempting the silver mines of the United States are nearly all 0f them to controvert in any way what seems to me to be the unanswer closed down, and none of them are being worked at a profit. able statesmentso! Archbishop Walsh. But England is, and for Besides, the truth is that all investments and gains considered, many years has been, dominated by her commercial and money no money has been made by silver mining. Balance the great lending interests. Just so long as she can collect her interest losses and great gains. That alone will tell the story. in the products of other nations measured by an appreciated gold As a further illustra tton of the unfair manner adopted by dollar. just so long will she maintain gold monometallism, and monometa.l.lists of presenting this question to the people of the she will maintain it by those splendid powers of commercial E ast. I quote the following sentence from wha.t was termed Sen vigilance and diplomatic art by which she has made her drums ator SHERMAN'S great speech in the Ohio campaign. After stat beat around the world. !ng ~hat the Government had d one for silver by way of purchas I h ope, therefore, that all this prattle about an international rng It, he says: agreement, at least so far as the American Congress is con But tiD:s is not enough for our silver barons; they want us to buy it at a. cerned, is at an end. I long to hear an American, an Eastern fixed rat10 to gold; they want us to demonetize gold and make silver alone American, a protective-tariff statesman, if you please, as en the standard of value. thusiastic for an American policy on the financial question as I undertake to say, with due respect for the dis tin o-uished man he is eager for an American policy upon the tariff question. who made these two statements, that neither of them are true. [Applause.} The miners do not want or seek to have the Government buy sil 1 would therefore make gold and silver our money and the ba ver at alL They ask th· t the oldlawbereinstated. They have sis of our money and I would m:..t.ke gold and silver money, or never asked, they do not now ask, nor have they ever intimated the representative of these metals, full legal-tender money for a wish that gold be demonetized. I can not believe that when all debts public and private, except that I would compel the pay that statement was made to the 4,000 Ohio farmers, the learned ment of import duties upon goods manufactured in any country man who made it did not know that he was makino- a sta.tement not opening its mints to the free coinage of silver, not in bank simply to prejudice his auilience, and that he wai not justified notes, not in the government currency of a.ny nation on earth, by the facts when he gave that utterance to the people. but I would have them pay in gold coin alone. Then immediately after that he declared, what has already been This may be called retaliation. Call it what you please. If stated, that the price of silver is regulated by supply and demand, it is retaliation, then I would retaliate. I would not only retali like any other commodity. That is true to-day, and it is be ate, but I would go to any other extreme rather than see the cause it always will be true while it is a commodity th1.t I have people of the United States become the subjects of what is far little heart in supporting any measure or in attempting to de worse than to be the subjects of kingt queen, or emperor, and bate the financial question in any form, except that it brings to that is the subjects ol a money-lending, interest-collecting money the test the question of bimetallism itseli. No compromise will power or aristocracy. help silver beyond gi vingit a moral support. This bill may help us by antagonizing the issue of gold bonds, and by showing to FINANcrAL PROPHECIIllS. the people of the country that the h!:Ltred of the Administration PredictioNS by financial statesmen are not by me at least con for the cause of bimetallism h :1s not absolutely squelched the sidered with very much reverence. In a speech made at Pauld members of Congress, nor obliterated entirely their devotion to ing-, Ohio, on August 2.7, during the first campaign of Maj. Me-. a principle that is very dear to alarge majority of what is known Kinley for Ohio's gubernatorial chair, speaking of the silver law as the" common people." of 1890, Senator SHERMAN said: Thi3 increased purchase of silver was felt by conservative men to have MORE UNFULFILLED PROBLEMS. gone to the extreme extent :l:n favor of the producer of silver. I yielded But there is another reason why the prophecies of great men with r olucta.n:ce to the amount provided for, but it seemed to be the most upon this question fail to impress me. During the long debate expedient measure- to stop a coinage already in excess of popular demand and to furnish a good paper currency more favored by the people. that followed th~ assembling of the special session of Congress I now believe the measure will work out the- most beneficial results. It there was one um versal cry from the gold men to the effe..ct that will tend to advance sil-ver to its old parity with gold. It has already ad confidence was gone; that with the restoration of confidence all vanced the vaJ.ue of our vast store-of silver in the 'l'rea.sury. It has given great activity to the production of silver. It has furnished an increase o:C would be well, and that with the repeal of the Sherman law con circulation. It has ma.inta.ined the g old standard while utilizing and bene fidence and prosperity would come back to us hand in hand. fiting silver to the utmost extent short of demonetizing gold. lt is the key I remember well when the eloquent gentleman fromMar:vland to oru· exalted, a.lmost preeminent. standing in commercial credit and na tional honor among the nations of the world. It treats both silver and [Mr. RAYNER] opened the debate in behalf of the gold ~men. gold like all other commodities or products a.s subject to the universal rule Among other things he reiterated the old statement that you or being worth what they will brin~ tn the mYkets of the world. This is can not circulate silver dollars. He did not say that you could tll.e R-t~publica.n do..:trine now proclarmed in our Ohio platform. not circulate silver certificates. Of course it would have been Such was the language used by Senator SHERMAN in opening folly to make that assertion in the face of the fact that during the Ohio campaign, yet within two years he proposed to throw all the stringency, and doubt, and fear that followed and became away what he had announced to be Hthe key to our exalted, a part of the panic, no citizen of the United States ever hesi almost preeminent standing in commercial credit and national tated to acceptor hoard silver certificates. But while Mr. RAY honor among the nations of the world." NER was speaking I was reading the financial article of theNew One of two things is certain: First, Senator' SHERMAN is not York Tribune o! that date. I beg to quote from it as follows: much of a prophet; or, second, his talk to the 4,000 Ohio farm The demand for money shows no sign of diminution. Money brokers re ers who had assembled tO listen to his view·s upon the financial port that the supply, however, was running short, and that they found more dilficulty than on previous days in a.ccommodatng customers. Premiums question was purely a talk for votes and not a sincere statement averaged about 2! per cent paid, and 4 per cent charged. So far the brokers as to the effrct of the Sherman law. But he stated that both have been able to supply their orders for all kinds of money except silver gold and silver were left as commodities subject to the universal dollars, which their agents are searching for in vain. rule of being worth what they will bring in the market. This Thus we see that while the gentleman from Maryland was de is more serious. claring that you could not circulate silver dollars, the brokers The most radical gold monometallist in the world can not and ol New York were attempting in vain to obtain them. Manu will not attempt to deny that there is no equality whatever in facturers in various parts of the United States complained that the market demand for these two metals. No man will attempt they could not secure the silver called for in their business, and to deny but that the Government itself creates ademand for one more especially the fractional currency which they needed in metal, and that bv legislation it destroyed the demand for the settling their pay rolls. other metal, and yet having done this, men complain that the Mr. John Pilling, of Newark, Del., a woolen manufacturer, discredited metal does not maintain its price in the market at and ~State senator of the State of Delaware, told me that he the same ratio with the other metal, after the demand for the found it almost impossible to secure the silver actually demanded former has been utterly destroyed and the demand for the latter by the necessities of his business. But these little things do not increased by law. matter. I do not pretend to say that silver coins will be used All talk, therefore, about the difference in the value of the two in large business transactions. 1 am ready to admit that they metals, or any e.tl'ort to compare them unfavorably, is unjust and will not be. But I declare with equal emphasis that neither unfair to silver so long as the entire influence and power of leg gold or silver is, or will be, used in large business transactions, islation is dedicated to increasing the demand and hence the because both are too heavy and too unwieldy for convenience. value of the one, while decreasing the demand and of course the Paper will be used to represent these metals whenever they are value oi t he other. handled in large sums. · I t ever has been thus, and so it will i ., 1894~ CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE._ 2199 continue to be. Such is-the common-sense method. of handling a breach of faith on the part of the Government to take from the metallic money, whether gold or silver. vaults of the Treasury this silvm· which we propose to coin, and Where are the good times which were to come with the lost which is now held as collateral security to notes issued. It sounds confidence that was to return with the repeal of the Sherman like a technical demurrer to a bill. in court that upon its face is law? The fact is that these prohecies were prophecies and noth equitable and just. It sounds like one of ~hose e fforts made to ing more. I do notneed to argue that they have failed to come de;eat justice, in a court of justice, by attempting to interject a to pass, because events demonstrate it. It is folly to prove a technical discussion over the form of statement made in the self-evident fact. It is folly to argue a. proposition which the de pleading. stroyed values of the country, the disconsolate homes and the Tha other side is that the Secretary of the Treasury wLl.Scom emp-ty larders of our people prove beyond doubt t.o be trne. manded by the Sherman law to coin the silver bullion p tL·chased There never was any ba.sis for the argument, because the man, under that act. This the Treasury ha'3 refused to do. O:.~.r gold woman, or child does not live in the United States, who for a frie.nds would, bec ~mse of that fact, t3.ke advantage of t h-eir own moment complained of the character of the cm·rency then in use~ wrong to declare that it sh9J.l ~otnow do wmt is right. no matter wh at its quality or upon what it was based. But we do not need to worry over a discussion of thes-1 tech That leads me .to the statement that until there is more money nicalities. The Secrets.r y of the Treasur-y in his annual report in the United States than is necessary to measure the value of states unqualifiedly that the silver seigniorage in the T1·easury the p-roducts of the United Smtes and the labor of its people amounts to the $55,000,000 which it is proposed by this bill to there will be no such thing as cheap money, nor will there be coin. We take his word for it. If there is no seigniorage there, any kind of money which all of the people will not be glad to then the Secretary of the Treasury is misbken, and I am will get. It is dear money that creates the disturbance this time. ing to let the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the Secret:1.ry Since Sen 1tor SHERMAN'S prophecy has failed, according to of the Treasury have it out over this technical point to thetr own his own action, since the prophe.cy oi every gold man engaged satisfaction. Meantime we will coin the silver and take cha.nces in the debate beginning on the 7th of August has failed, I do that the people will be g iad enough that it is added to the cir not sbnd in very much awe of the prophecies made in connec culating medium of the country. tion with this bill. It simply means tha.t no matter what form it comes in no legislation looking to the additional coinage of INFLATION. silver will be passed if the gold monometallists can prevent it. But again, says my friend of the committee, this issue of The little silver which this bill would send out amounts to , money is inflation pure and simple. So is any increase of money nothing in the great channels of our commercial life. France, to the cirm1lation or to the stock of monev in the United States with half as many people, mainmins $700,000,UOJ in silver, and an inflation of it. Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania pre has nearly or quite twice as much money per capit:1. While tend to say that it is not necessary to infiate the currency each this is true1 it is a conceded fact that where France needs one year in an amount equal to meet the increase of population and dollar for the development of her industrial life, or of the un the commercial growth of the nation? The only question is known resources of the nation, the United States needs one hun whether the volume of money is inflated too much-that it must dred, and could use it, and would use it, if the people had it. be inflated or increased constantly is not disputed. RESULT. OF BOND SALES. The truth is that our gold friends are .aot alarmed over this It is said that we have any amount of surplus money in the threatened infiationol the currency; it is the method of increas.: banks of our money centers. While that is true, the people ing the stock of money on hand a.nd nqt the fact that annoys are not -possessed of the securities which will bring that money them. They realize the necessity of adding to the Treasru7 out. The sale of Government bonds for gold has not very ma supply; but they propose to do it by selling gold bonds in place terially increased the gold in the Treasury. This is true for of coining silver. The inflation of ·our cul'rency does not worry the reason that the purchaser of bonds carried currency to the them, provid.ed it calls for the issuing of more goJd bonds. Treasm·y and got gold for it, then turned around and presented Supposing it to ba true that the $55,000,000 provided for in the gold which he had drawn from the Treasury to the Treasury this bill is redeemable in gold (and I suppose the present Ad ministration will so hold if this bill shall become a l~w) still it for the bonds he bought. There will be no more gold in ~e Treasury ninety days from. to-day than there was when Mr. is better than an issue of interest-bearing gold bonds. If it Carlisle sold his bonds, unless it comes from some som·ce other should be held (as I suppose it will be) by the Secretary, that than a public loan. each silver ce1'tificate issued, or each silver dollar coined under When it is gone, then what? Borrow more, I suppose. I see this act must be redeemed in gold, still the indebtedness is no greater than it will be if bonds are sold.; and ·the obligation on no other alternative~ With each bond loan we are worse off; for bear in mind, we are not redeeming gold indebtedness with the part of the Government is less, because in redeemiu.g the this borrowed coin. It is simply expens9 money. silver dqUar, or the silver certificate, no interest would be Supposing tr-ade should revive, a.s some claim,. and that we charged. shall be fortunate enough to .find a market for our produce? But these are technical points merely to call attention to one This statement admitted, and we are no better off, as the gold or two of the arguments presented, not because I believe they price of products, even though we sell our entire surplus, will are seriously considePed by those who make them, but to call at tenti 2200 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, schedule of the tariff bill recently passed by this House. Our I The Clerk read as follows: mines are closed. Still we are not dishea.rtened. We still be- lieve that we shall win the victory for bimeta.llism. SEc. 4. That all first, second, and third class post-omces are hereby desig- We are not be()'gars and we will p:1y every sin o-le dollar that nated as postal sa~gs bank ofll.ces, at which lawful money or the United o. k ' . l . • o States may be deposited as heraa.fter provided. Wa OWC. E very r.nc el Wll we pay fapplau se], b u t We ask you to SEC. 5. That any person of the age of 12 years or over may deposit at5such t -. ke it into consideration the promises which have been_ made offices any sum of lawful money of the -pnited States, not less than $ nor throucrh the various platforms to the people and we ask you to more than ~on the sa~e day: Promded, That no fractions o~ a dollar 'd,., b' tall" · th l ' ht f th h '' t • f th ·ld shal~ be rece1ved for deposit, n_or sha~ any deposit.or have standmg to his cons1 er 1me 1sm In a 1g o . e lS 01 Y o e wm. · credit more than $1,000, exclusive of mterest, withm the year following his We ask you to look at the oldest empire on earth, the Egyptian fi_rst deposit, nor more than $2,000, exclusive of interest, to his credit at any Empire once the richest and one of the most a-dvanced. '£o-day tlme thereafter, J?.Or shall anv sum in excess of l-'2,000 be received for deposit · · ' h' b k · from one person many year. h or Cl tiZens are. w ~ppad . are-bac ed uP and down the ~ Ile to pro- SEc. 6. That upon the receipt of any deposit at such an ofilce the post- duce from their rwn so1l enough cotton to pay the Interest on master shall deliver to the depositor a postal savings bank pass book in England's gold debt; and, not only tha t, but obliged to support which he shallen~r the amount of the dep_osit and certify it by his offi.cial an army of occupation besides. That is the condition in that f!1Wt~·:i;_~~;~~h1Ch book succeeding deposits shall be entered and certified country, and not only there but all over the world; wherever the SEc. 7. '!'hat any depositor wishing to withdraw all or any part of his de circula ting m edium h a s been so reduced and so limited as that posits may a~ply to the postmaster, wb_o shall furnish him with a blank it measures unfairly the efforts and the labO"'S and the produc- form of application for withdrawal, whlch, when properly filled out and . . • signed, the postmaster shall forward to the Postmaster-General at Wash- twns of mankmd. [Loud applause.] ington, who, upon its receipt shall draw a check upon the Treasury for the Mr. SWEET. I yield the seven remaining minutes of my amount, and forward the same to t_he depositor, under cover _to the post-. time to the gentleman from California [Mr. BOWERS]. maste.1: who forwarded the applicatwn, and by him shall be delivered to the Mr. BOWERS of California. ¥r- Cha irman, during th~ time de~~~~s~rTbat every depositor shall forward his deposit pass book to the that I have been a member of th1s House I have been pa1d my Postmaster-General in an envelope, which will be furnished him at the post salary in silver certificates and "by their daily walk and con- omce, once in e?l-ch year, namely, on the anniversary of the first deposit • . t' " h tiii te' · th l' to t f th made, for exammation and entry of amount of interest found due. versa 10n t ese cer ca s give e le a grea many o · e SEc. 9. That interest at the rate of 3 per cent per annum shall be com- beautiful theories that are broached hera. If I want a bag of puted, allowed, and entered in the pass book to the credit of the depositor flour, if I want some fruit, if I want a good steak to take home I one~ in ea~h year. u~on the average amount on deposit for the year preced can buy it for a sil var dollar J·ust as much as for a gold dollar· !Jlg. Promded, That lf, in any case, it shall be found that the tota.l sum of . . ' . . ' mterest for the year be less than half a dollar, then no interest shall be al- and there lS not a grocer 1n th1s mty that you can talk out of lowed or entered upon the pass book; but if the interest shall be found to be accepting a silver dollar for these commodities if you make a. more than half a dollar and less than $1, then the interest due shall be en- ld t d • h to h · h 1 [L ht ] tered on the pass book as $1, ana in no case shall fractions of a dollar be en- go -s ;m. ara speec . . 1m an our ong · . aug ~r · tered upon pass books or books of account of the postal savings bank depart- I behave that fifty millions more of these s1l ver certificates can ment, it being the intent of this act that a dollar shall be the unit of all ac be issued and that we can stand them· that they will be just as counts of the postal savings bank department. g ood as those we have now Of COU'"S~ there is on ~ ObJ'ection to SEc. 10. That no sum ot mone! d~posited under this act shall, while in the • • • • • • • ~ ' • v. hands of any postmaster, m· Whlle 1n the course of transmission to or from commg that se1gn10rage, which lS the difference between the the Postmaster-General, at any time be liable to demand, seizure, or daten coinage value and the market value. If you issue these fifty tion under ~ny legal process against the depositor thereof. . millions of silver certificates to help to pay us members of Con- SEc. 11 · Tnat the postmasters and other officers of the Post-Ofilce engaged , . . . in the receipt or payment of deposit shall not disclose the name of any de- grass and other people s salaries and runnmg expenses, you Will positor, or the amount deposited or withdrawn, except to the Postmaster- n ot have to pay $2,000,000 a year interest; and of course that is General, or to such of his ofilcers as are appointed to assist in carrying into 1 •ad [L hte ] Th t · t' • t · l' ttl th · · th operation the provisions of this act. u • a~g r. . a In ei es lS ~very 1 e mg ill _ e SEc. 12. That all moneys received for deposit under this act shall be for- eyes of th1s economical Congress. If 1t was a matter of reducmg warded to the Postmaster-General, or to such United States depository as some clerk's salary $100 a year, or something like that, gentle- he may direct, as often as once each week, and daily from !!uchoffi.ces as he men would grasp the idea in a. minute· they would go perfectly may designate; andallmoneyssoforwarded shall be paid mtothe Treasury . _ . . ' . . . and shall be credited to an account to be called "the post-ofilce savings w1ld 1n the1r enthusiasm over an economical prOJect like that; bank" account, and all sums withdrawn on account of depositors shall be but when it is a matter of $2,000,000 of interest to be paid to the charged to such account. bondholders who practically control all of that money in the SEc. 13. That postmasters o:f postal savings ba~ ofilces shall make dai.ly , ' . _ . . . reports to the Postmaster-General of all sums received by them for depos1t, Treasury, that IS not a large enough SUbJeCt for this Democratic giving particulars of each deposit on blanks to be furnished them, and upon Congress to take hold of. [Laughter.] · receipt of such reports the Postmaster-General shall transmit to the de- l want to say to my friends on the other side and by way of a positor, under cover to the postmaster making the report, an acknowledg . ' ment of such deposit. Such acknowledgment shall be conclusive evidence bnef raply to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. STONE], that of the claim of the depositor to the repayment of the deposit on demand they are wasting their time in talking about what the Repub- with any interest that may have been allowed and entere~, and until such licans did or what the Republicans are goincr to do Why gen- acknowledgment is received the entry by the proper officer m the depositor's ' Re bl' t d th' "' · ' 't pass book shall be conclusive evidence of the title as respects the deposits tlemen, the pu 1cans can no o any mg un1 ess you perm1 made. them. You are entirely responsible for all the legislation that SEc. 14. That the Postmaster-General may, with the advice and ap:proval t akes place in this House and for all the legislation that is of the Secretary of the 'l'reasury, designate such United States depositories . ' . as may be convenient for the postn.l savings bank ofilces and tor the Treas- omltted, as the gentleman frankly acknowledged. It IS per- ury, where deposits authorized by this act may be made by postmasters. fectly useless, therefore, to talk about what the Republic:w. SEc. 15. That any depositor having had standing to his credit for six arty has done or is going to do. You can not fool the people months the sum of ~100 or more may make application to the Postmaster P . . . . . General that United States bonds be issued to him in lieu of such deposit; even a httle b1t ill that way. The que~t.wn IS, what are you thereupon, the amount specified by the applicant being $100, or a multiple going to do yourselves to better the cond1t10n? Now, I want to thereof, shall "!Je transferred to the general fund of the Treasury. and_ bonds say that as a Republican I am proud of my share of the re- of the denommation of !100 each shall be issued to the depositor m lieu ...... thereof, one bond for each $1JO transferred. All such bonds shall be of the spons1b1hty for the cond1t1on of thiS countr~ for .twenty-five denomination of $100; shall be due and payable twenty years after date; years prior to 1892. LApplause on the Republican s1de.] shall be dated July 1 or January 1 of the year issued, and shall bear interest You gentlemen on the other side talk about the burdens of at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, which interest shall become due and . . payable on the 30th day of June of each year; and such bonds shall be known which you have relieved ~he people, burdens pl~ced upon them, as United States postal savings bonds, and the words "Un.ited States postal as you say, by the Republican party. Well, I will tell you about savings bonds" shall be printed upon the face of each of said bond~. someof those burdens. During those twenty-five years we placed SEc. 16. That the Postmaster-General may, in his discretion, reqmre an ad- the burden upon the working man of this country of laboring ~~~~~a~?~~to~ea~ic~~:;~a.~;~~r~~o~!~~:~~~~~~~omce,providedsuch eight or ten houra a day for good wages; we placed upon him SEc. 17. That the Postmaster-General, with the consent and approval of the burden of carrying home those wao·es to his family at the theSecretaryoftheTreasll!Y,shallmakethenecessaryregulation~andpre- • ~::> k' f all pare the necessary instructiOns for can·ying this act into eJJect, mcluding end of the week. You have roheved the wor 1ngman o regulations regarding the deposits and withdrawal of deposits by minors . ~those burdens. [Laughter.] Th::>se are the burdens, the only and trustees, and the final disposition of deposits of deceased persons, and burdens of which you have relieved the people of this country. such regulations and instructions shall be binding on all persons to the ' • • J same extent as if such regulations formed part of this act, and the Postmas- [ Applause on the Republican Side· . . . ter-General may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, change Are you proud of the year past under DemocratiC cond1t10ns? I such regulations from time to time as may be found necessary to secure the am proud of my share of thoae twenty-five years of Republican best administration of this act; and the Postmaster-General shall transmit . h · fi to Congress on the fi.rst day of each session a copy of all regulations made control; and when your Democrat1c party as g1ven ~wenty- ve and in force and of all changes made subsequent to his last report, and the years, one year, twenty-five days, or twenty-five mmutes that reasons for such changes. will in their results equal that record of Republican control in SEc. 18. That the Postmaster-General shall cause to be prepared and · alk lk . printed all necessary books and blanks required to carry this act intoetrect, thiS country, then you may t ; but do not ta any more unt11 and the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be prepared the required you have dona so. [L'l.ughter and applause.] bonds. Mr. Chairman having only .five minutes I request the Clerk to SEc. 19. That the Postmaster-General shall, as soon as practicabla after ' · h I :ff h' b'll t h the end of each month. make a report to the Secretary of the Treasw.y of all read an amendment whlC propose to o er tot lS 1 a t e moneys received and paid during the preceding month and tbetotal amount proper time. I want to make this bill just as good as I can. I of deposits at the end of each month, and such report shall be published by a.m going to vote for it: I am going to vote for free silver all the the Secretary as soon after the close of the month as is practicable. The ·· I k tl to 1' te Postmaster-General shall make an annual report of the total amount of de- w hil e and un d er a 11 C1rcumstances. as gen emen lS n posits received and paid and the total amount due depositors for each year - to this amendment. ending June 30; also ;,fall expenses incurred and such other particulars and " , .• 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE~ 2201: recommendations as he shall deem necessary. Such-annual report shall be market value to-day is in the neighborhood of $300,000,000. transmitted to Congress upon the first day of each regular session. After it is all coined and certificates issued upon it, as provided SEC. 20. That the P ostm a.ster-General is hereby authorized to a.ppo~t a sup"'rintendent of the post al savings bank department, who shall be pa1d a in this bill, we will have over $600,000,000 in circulation in the salary not exceeding ~5,000 per year, and who, under the Postmaster Gen form of silver certificates, redeemable exclusively in 600,000,000 eral's direction, shall have charge of the postal savings bank busines~, and silver dollars, worth in the market less than 50 cents each. the Pos tmas te r-~ner al shall appoint such number of clerks for said de- partmen t as may be found necessary to execute this law:. . Such a situation, in view of the sensitive condition of the public SEc. 21. '!'bat t his amendment shall t ake effect and be m force on and after mind on the subject of money, may well arrest public attention. 1st 1894. the day of July, OUR SILVER POLIOY. [Here tho hammer fell.] Now, Mr. Chairman, we have had a policy in relation to sil Mr. TRACEY. That amendment is, of course, subject to any ver which, I think, has been in some respects a very vicious one. point of order later on? · I would like to se-9 it corrected if it can be. But I shall regret The CHAIRMAN. It is now r ead simply as a part of the gen more than I can express if, instead of improving it, we make it tleman's remarks. more vicious than it is now. Under the policy which has been Mr. BROSIUS. Mr. Chairman, wa h ave just had woven before est-s.blished by the act of 1893, in connection w\th previous legis us by the gentleman from Idaho [Mr. SWEET] a web of somewhat lation on the subject, we have about $500,000,000 of paper money pr0found, careful at least, and to some extent philosophic, study of redeemable in gold. That includes United States notes (which t l.0 monev question from the white side of it, and we then had that are the greenbacks) and Treasury notes. web decorated with an edging of vigorous eloquence, softened I say" redeemable in gold," because while under the Sherman bv what someone h as called a lambent flame of humor from my law the Treasury notes are redeemable in coin-gold or silver, frjend from California [Mr. BOWERS]. in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury-yet it must I am sure it is a real felicity to any American t-o know that he be remembered that the same law provides ths.t it is the policy can buy as :much sugar and molasses for so much money in the of the Government to maintain the parity of the two met2ls; and denomination of a silver note as he can in any other kind of this provision imperatively requires that this paper ba redeemed money, and the matter about which some of us feel some solici in gold whenever demanded by the holder. Therefore, I say, tude is t.o secure such legislation upon the financial question as without hazarding the truth, that $500,000,000 of paper are unde~ will enable us to continue to purchase just as much with a sil our present policy redeemable in gold. We have about $337,- ver certificate as with any other kind of money. 000,000, or less than $350,000,000 o! silver certificates redeemable In the desultory observations which I may be able to make in in si1 ver, issued to serve the prefer ence or convenience of people the r emnant of th e afternoon, I do not expect to travel as far who do not want the silver dollars, because they really are unfit afield as some of the honorable members have done; for I can for a popular currency. not discuss the question of bimetallism or that of free coinage, Now, in the Sherman bill we made a distinct advance in so for neither of them is before the House. The real question is far as we curtailed the issue of that kind of paper money which is comprised within a very narrow compass; and even in address redeemable exclusively in 50-cent dollars, or perhaps to-day 49- ing their remarks to that question it has been viewed by gen cent dollars; and we provided for an increase of that kind of tlemen from a variety of standpoints. paper money which is redeemable in 100-cent dollars. The dis Some have debated fiS though the matter to be established tinct gain in the way of safety from this act over the previ was to show the fealty of one party or another 1lo the declara ously existing policy, was that we diminished the ratio of in tions of their platform. Others have argued it as if the funda crease of silver to gold in our money stock which had alarmed mental postulate to be established was that the interest of the our people; and not only that, but the Treasury notes paid out white metal requires certain kinds of legislation. Now, I sub for the silver were supported by the gold as well as the silver in mit with great confidence that neither the one nor the other of the Treasury, and to that extent the strain on their credit was these questions can establish any title to consideration in this diminished. · debate. The onlv matter before us now in legislation is to es In the extraordinary session we made. another ad vance step tablish and perpetuate a sound monetary system in the United still more important; for we stopped the purchase of silver bul States; and if that legislation inures to the_advantage of the lion altogether; we stopped the issue of silver certific:ttes, in producers of silver or of any other commodity they will accept order that our monetary stock should not be further watered by their good fortune and be thankful. that kind of money. And this in response to a universal de We can not undertake in this debate to establish or demon mand, which showed how sensible our people were of the dan strate that the action of any party is consistent with that party's ger to our monetary syRtem from the progressively increasing declarations. We are not here for that purpose. If the party ratio of silver to gold in our circulation which had prevailed for platform is wrong, it ought not to be followed in legislation. If years. its commands are" more honored in the breach than in the ob THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE W.AY. servance," they ought to be broken; and no man will dispute Now, Mr. Ch~irman, it is proposed by this bill to take a step that proposition. It is a great mistake for us to correct our backward in the direction of the danger from which we merci latest and best approved convictions and sentiments by those in fully escaped but a few months-ago. It opens the way not only corporated in a platform of years gone by. for a further increase in our silver circulation, but for the con We ought not to relinquish the convictions and opinions of to ver sion of our legal-tender Treasury notes redeemable in gold day because they do not harmonize with_opinions of a year ago, into silver certificates redeemable in silver dollars. adopted without the light of present knowledge and past experi It must be regarded as a fundament~! fact which lies at the ence. It is best that we should undertake to guide the ship of base of the whole question, and whose consideration can not be state in this monetary storm not by the observations of past omitted in the discussion of this que.stion without imperiling our years, but by the later observations of to-day. conclusions on the subject, that this Government has given its THE PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. pledge to maintain the parity of these two metals at their pres But, Mr. Chairman, I do not i::1 the least believe that t alking ent ratio or some other legal ratio. Now, we encounter, Mr. will avail anything in this debate; and my only excuse for tres Chairman, certain difficulties in carrying out that task. It is passing upon the House f_or a brief time is that w~en I see the not wise by legislabion to augment those difficulties. We ought financial honor of the Umted States put up at auctwn for a few to diminish them whenever and wherever we can. Those diffi beggarly millions, to eke out the .revenues o~ th~ Government culties originate in two distinct sources. to nay its current expenses, I find 1t hard to s1t st1ll. One arises from the constant depreciation of the inferior There is one point g-ained always in controversy when the op metal; the other from the_constant increase (until very recently) posite parties to the argument come to understand each other; in the amount of the inferior metal in our circulation. Now, the and I want to honor my distinguished friend !rom Missouri by fatal vice in this bill is that it increases directly the 'difficulty en s:tying that in his remarks he has left no doubt upon any mind countered on account of the increasing amount of the metal in here what he means by the bill which he has proposed. He circulation. To this I am unalterably opposed-always have means to increase, so far as he can, the volume of paper currency been, am now, and always will be-bec3.use it is wrong, it is de in this country redeemable in a 50-cent dollar; and he means to structive of a sound monetary policy for this Government. diminish as far as he can the volume of paper currency redeem Bearing in mind the two sources by accretions from which able in a 100-cent dollar. I think I have done my honorable arises our difficulty in executing the task we have set ourselves riend no injustice in making that statement. of maintaining the parity of the two metals, everyone will see at Now, look for a moment at the situation after this measure once thn.t one of those difficulties is entirely beyond our control. becomes a law and has performed its perfect work. At this We can not prevent the progressively decreasing value of the time we have 140,000,000 ounces of silver in the Treasury. It white metal. That is due to circumst.ances entirely beyond our cost us $127,000,000, in round numbers. It will coin about control. But it is·none the less a difficulty that we encounter in $182,000,000. The difference between the cost and the coin is the task tha.t we have set ourselves. But the other difficulty, the seigniorage. We have bought, under the acts of 1878 and that of the large amount of the inferior metal which we are at 1890, 460,000.000 ounces of silver, at a cost of $4ti4,000,000. Its tempting to maintain at a parity, we can at least prevent from 2202 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, becoming any greater, and ..we are bound to do so if we are so cidating that subject; but the gentleman from ·Ge.orgia asked licitous at all for the soundness of our monetary system. that question with a sort of air which implied that it was a vital It is a proposition which no gentleman will questfon that the question, and that unless it was answerecl it would overthrow more of the inferior metal we h ave in the volume of our circu the arguments of those who oppose the measure. lation the more difficult it will be to maintain that metal at a When the memorable case of B ardwell t•s. Pickwick was be parity with the superior metal; and similal'ly, the less we have ing tried, you will call to mind that the celebrated counsel, Ser of the inferior metal in om· circulation the easier will be the geant Buzfuz, when he read that memorable letter to the jury, task of maintaining it at a parity. Therefore I say that this "Dear Mrs. B., chops and tomato sauce," exclaimed, "Gracious bill is vicious because instead of seeking to diminish the amount Heavens, chopsand tomatos:mce! Gentlemenof the jury, what of the inferior metal that is to be maintained at a parity, it seeks does that mean? Is the h appiness of a sensitive and confiding to increase it and thereby augment the very difficulty that we female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as this?" All ought to try to escape. with such an air and effect as to give the letter superior import OTHER ODJ:CCTIONS. ance in the case. Now, Mr. Chairman, there areotherobjections to this bill. I Well, now, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. LIVINGSTON] think it is a great mistake to take any step in legislation at this asked that question with that 3ort of an air. Why, I suppose time calculated to produce disquietude in the public mind, that shortly after 1873 there was a fall in silver. What that which is now recovering from the disturbance caused by the fact, even if true, has to do with the issue befo re this House is peril from which we esc:1ped by means of an act passed at the past my comprehension. If silver fell in value I would like to extra session of this Congress-an act which brought great relief say to my honorable .friend from Georg b. [Mr. LIVINGSTO~ Jthat t-o all our people, I may say, excepting those who believed that it fell, nrt because of the act of 18..7~, but in spite of that act. we should- continue to carry the burden of the parity of these That a-ct and the silver policy which followed was calculated to metals, because we collliilenced to carry it when it was not very hold up and sustain the silver market of the country instead of great, and having carried it all these years, our backs would be dragging it down. The price of silver fell, no doubt, because of strengthened to the burden and we would be able to continue to transactions in Europe over which we had no control. carry it. That delusion, Mr. Chairman, is only equaled by that of E very membar of this Housa will remember that Germany the man who insisted that if he carried a calf on the day it was threw $140,000,000 of silver upon t.he markets of the world as born, and carried it every day thereafter, that his strength would early as 1872. Ever.v gentleman will remember that the mints grow with the growing calf and he would be able to carry it of the Latin Union were closed to silver, and that these events after it became an ox. had something tG do with the fall of silver I entertain no doubt. Furthermore, we ought not to put into circulation any part of But as fot· the legislatioJ. of the United States, I deny that the the silver bullion that is now uncoined in the Treasury. It is a act of 1873 had any agency whatever in producing the fall in vicious policy which takes that bullion out of the Treasury, silver, and I cb..:tllenge any gentleman on this floor to produce where it has been reenforcing the gold reserve of the country} one single well-authenticated fact to prove that it had, and I where itcancontinuetoreenforceit, and puts it intocirculation, will give him time to do it. thereby increasing the burden that we are now carrying in our · Mr. BLAND. Mr. Chairman, I want to know-- effort to maintain the parity of the metals. Moreover, it may The CHAIRMAN. Does not the gentleman from Pennsylvania be needed for purposes of subsidiary coinage, and ought to be yield to the gentleman from Missouri? kept to wait necessary demands upon it. Mr. BROSIUS. I cio. I invited the gentleman to state any The United States ought not and will not, if i t proposes to facts. maintain a sound monetary policy, issue any more money of a Mr. BLAND. Does not the gentleman know that France and kind th..it our people do not desire than is absolutely necessary. the Latin Union did not cloae their mints to silver until after '. It ought toissuethe money that the people want, and the money we dropped it from our coin'1ge, and does he not know that the that the people want is not silver dollars. The money that the silver dollar was above par until we dropped it from our coinage, people want stays with them. The money they do not want and that it was after that that silver began to fall? . finds its way into the Treasury of the United States in payment Mr. BROSIUS. I know all that. I do not dispute the facts. of t3.xes and dues to the Government. I have repe3.ted them myself; but what I want the gentleman Now we have or had until within a few days only $65,000,000 from 1issouri to tell me is what relation those admitted facts of gold in the Tre:tsury of the United States, but we had $527,- bear to the fall of silver. Because silver fell after the fa-ct does 000,000 out in the country among the people in the banks and not prove that the fact caused the fall. Why, I could say to you moneyed institutions of the country. Five hundreciand twenty with as much re:LSon and logic that there was no progress in seven millions of the money that the people want out among education and religion in the city of Washington until liquor them, and $o5,000,000 in the Treasury of the United States. saloons were established here because they were established be With silver the situation is reversed there being only about 55,- 1 fore there was any material -pr>00 ress, either in art, science, edu 000,000 silver dollars in circulation and 363,500,000 in the Treas cation, literature, or religion. Post hoc e1·go pl'opter hoc-·What ury-covering paper certificates. What a story that tells of the could be more vicious in reasoning·? preference of the people as to kinds of money. I say that the fact that the act of 1813 was passed immediately THE ACT OF 1S78. before silver began to decline had nothing to do with the decline The silver policy which ne:1.rly wrought our ruin was com of silvel", excepting that it curtailed the rapidity of its fall as menced in 1878. Now, I am willing that my honorable friend far as this Government could do that; because we inaugur.:tt ed. a from Missouri [Mr. BLAND} should enjoy the distinction of hav silver policy that increased the demand for silver in the United ing conceived the idea of coining silver bullion without regard States so immensely that it must, in the nature of things, have toitsvalue in the marketsof the world, and issuingpapercertifi sustained the silver market, instead of pulling it down. cates upon it. When a silver dollar was worth 85 cents in gold Why, my friend from Missouri [Mr. BLAND 1 will remember the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] proposed and secured that for eighty years, up to1873, we had only coined about8,000,- the passage of a bill authorizing the coinage of a. certain amount 000 of silver dollars, and when that act was p:tssed we were not of silver, constituting nearly the whole silver product of the coining any at all. We did not stop coining on account of that United States. act--- That bill passed the House, strange to say. It went to the Mr. BLAND. The gentleman is very much mistaken. We Sen!.lte and Senator ALLISON and his colleagues came to the had coined nearly $2,000,000 within eighteen months prior to the very wise conclusion that if we were going to monkey with the passage of that act, and were coining it up to the very day that money or the United States, so that any man could pay a debt of the act passed, ani we had coined half dollars of full legal ten 100 cents with 85 cents, that the whole people of the United der for many years. S tates should enjoy the benefit of the pious fraud rather than 1\lr. BROSIUS. I think my friend has tried to state the exact the bullion owner or bullion producer. fact. I quite agree that a small number of dollars were coined; And so it came to pa.ss that the bill became a law, and we con but I still say that it does not alter in any way the validity of tinued to purchase and to coin and to put in circulation aU the my proposition, because we had not been coining silver dollars paper that would cover that vast amount of silver. to any extent up to that time. But now I submit with great con F .ALL IN SILVER. fidence to my friend from Missouri that it is the use of the metal When my distinguished friend from Massachusetts [Mr. thatconstituted thedemand for it; and whereas we h ad not been WALKER) was engaging the attention of the House, my honor using the metal for monetary purposes to any extent before the able friend from Georgia [Mr. LIVINGSTON] propounded to him passage of that act, after that we inaugurated a policy which a singular question. He asked if it was not true th:tt the de created a continuous demand for silver. p reciation of silver commenced after the passage of the a~t of Mr. CULBERSON. I want at that point to ask the gentle- . 1873. man a question. I do not know exactly why it did not lead to some observations The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania on the part of my distinguished friend from Massachusetts, elu- yield to the gentleman from Texas? 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD--HOUSE. 2203 Mr. BROSIUS. With great pleasure. I remember reading of a sanctimonious pirate who went tosea Mr. CULBERSON. You say the use constitutes the value. with the b.ble of commandments on board, and when he got out Is it not a fact thatatthe time you speak of wehad coined$156,- he struck out. the commn.ndment ';Thou shalt not steal," ''be 000~000 of subsidiary coin? cause," said he, "that commandment commands me from my Mr- BROSIUS. Oh, yes; ceminly. function_ I setout to steaL" That is the situn.tionof the United Mr. CULBERSON. And tha.t we had several kinds o.fforeign States with a difference, because we do not proclaim our inten silver coin in circulation in the United Sbtes of full legal ten tion tosteaL As a matter of fact, these coins, though only worth der for debt? 49 or 5{)eents, sometimes called "daddy" dollars-1 should rather Mr. BROSIDS. Certainly. Now, my friend, let me say that say donkey dollars-are good coins for the purposes of exch.inge there is not a member of the House for whom I have a pro as tokencoins, for thecon,.venienceof the people in making- trade founJer respect than for my distinguished friend from ·rex.as- exchanges; and if they were only redeemable in something that :Me. CULBERSON~ Well~ let that go. was worth the value of the debt. the Government comm:mds. Mr. BROSIUS. But the gentleman will do me the justice, I them to pay, would be as unobjectionable as our subsidiary coins. belic~e, to. admit that I was not discussing·sub3idiaey coinage. But as real money-money of ultimate redemption, which can not 1 only said that we had not been coining silver dollars. itself be redeemed-they are a cheat and a fraud. Mr. CULBERSON. \Ve did not coin them becausewe did not Now, I think I state a proposition, 1r. Chairman, that will need them. We had enough without. meet with a cordial greeting in every honest mind. The Gov Mr. BROSIUS. If we did not use them we did not need them, ernment of the United States ought not to issue, armed with and there was no demand for them, and tnat settles the ques unlimited legal-tender power, any kind of a. dollar the material tion. Pric~ is enhanced by demand, other things being equal. of which is not worth the value of the debt it is commanded to Now, after we passed the act which you say caused silver to pay-- . declin-e, we immedhtely CPe::tted a. demand for the metalr and Mr. PICKLER. What becomes of the greenbacks, then? wit-hinthenextseventeenyears.we had usedsomuchofthatmetal Mr. BROSIUS. Never break a sentence in two in your eager- that we coined four hundred and fifty millions of those dollars, ness to interrupt. [Laughter.} multiplving the demand for silver immeasuJ'ably. And yet (Continuing:} Unless it is redeemable in something o.f equiva you say that that caused silver to decline in price. r do not lent value. If any man here wants to question or challenge that think you believe that. The f.lct is I know yoll do not believe proposition, I give him time here and now. it; and to anybody who says he does I only wan~ to sa.y that he Mr. PICKLER. Mr. Chairm::m-- believes it because his· mind has not caught up with it. The CHA.IRM.Al'i. Doo_s the gentleman from. Pennsylvania THE PANIC OF 1893". yield to the gentleman from South Dakota? Mr. BROSIDS. I invited the interruption. Now, that was our policy, and because we continued that pol Mr. PICKLER.. I want to know if the silver dollar is not as icy as lop.g as we did-entirely too long-it produced calamities good as the greenback dollar? in this country which some wise men foresaw. The continuance Mr. BROSIUS. Is. that tha whole question? of that vicious policy had· some agency, in my opiniot4 in pro Mr. PICKLER. That is. one question. ducingthatdist-emper that never found a better name with which M1~. BROSIUS. Are you thruugh? to express itself than "panic." We were in a state of fright. · Mr. PICKLER~ Yes. sir. It suggests the fable of the plague. Tbe Spirit of the Plague Mr. BROSIUS.. The questionwithout more. is. incapable of be was accused of killing a half million of people. It answered~ ing- answered. "No, I only killed ten thouSR.nd. Fear killed all the rest." Mr. PICKLER. Then, I will ask you another,if that is inca- We were in a state of fright, produeed by the excessive use of pable of being answered. this inferior and depreciated metal. Every man knows how Mr. BROSIUS. Give me a better one. the apprehension of danger disarms the courage of men~ how im Mr. PICKLER. You conced~, I suppose, the statement- p.end.ing ca1a.mity throws men's minds from their poise. Every Mr. BROSIUS. Do not :rrn.kean argument; ask a question. m.:w knows how distrust of the future paralyzes the activities of Mr. PICKLER (continuing}. Of all the members of the com- the present. So it did in that caser and as the resutt of that mittee, that there is a silver dollar in the United St'1tes Treas fright, of that state of apprehension and alarm that covered this ury, or silver bullion suEfi.cient to coin a silver dollar, to cover country, we saw money going into its hiding places, diminish every silver certificate issued under the Bland act, and every ing the volume of available loanable funds all over the country. Treasury note issued under the Sherman act, and that beyond We know how it caused credit to be withdrawn, business to that there is sufficient to coin 5,000,000 more of silver dollars. languish, production to be curtailed, workingmen to be thrown Is that true? out of employment, banks to be crippled by the necassity of cur Mr. BROSIUS. My friend, what on earth has that to do with tailing their discounts, all kinds of values to be unsettledt and my proposition? bankruptcies to keep company with the hours all over this coun Mr~ PICKLER. Is that not true?- try, while the blood. of commerce stagnated in th8 vains and ar Mr. BROSIUS. I dis::~.llow the question on account of its teries of business. irrelevancy. FORTY-NINE CENT DOLLAR. Mr. PICKLER. It was the gentlemants challenge. Now! I do not believe, I do not wish to be undet~atood as claim Mr. BROSIUS. I chaHcnged you upon a proposition which ing that all of these calamities were produced by the vicious you have not met. I threw the gauntlet at your feet, and you silver legislation in which we had indulged, but that it h ::td an dare not take it up; and I say that to every member of the House, agency in the production of these distres ing conditions, 1 have because r ·submitted a proposition which is invulnerable to attack no more doubt than that I live this hour. And yet, Mr. Chair- as long as men are honest. I want to say with reference to your . man, there are gen tlem ~n on this fi.oor ,gentle ::nen of le:1rning, gen first question1 that I said was not capabLe of an answer, it may tlemen of virtue, honest men, with whom you would trust your be an;;wered in two ways, depending upon what you mean. The fortunes, who advocate the resumption, to some extent, or that question appeared to be one which could be answered with no or vicious policy that led us to the very verge of this terrible yes~ danger. Mr. PICKLER. You gave-- We take 49 cents worth of silver and stamp it with the i.nu1ge Mr. BROSIDS. Wait until I get through. Iwouldanswer it and superscription of the United States; we declare it worth 10) no, and I would answer it yes. If you mean as real money, as cents; we sanctify it with the holy legend ''In God we trust,'' and money of ultimate re-demption, I would say "no," it is only send it out armed will full legal-tender power and without pro worth half s much as :1 dollar; if you mean as ·representative vision for redemption to pay 100 cents worth of debt. Tha.t is money, for the convenience of exchange, to be redeemed by real what we do. We have done so in the past, and I suppose must money of ultimate redemption, I say "yes." That is my answer. continue to do so, but I would not extend the policy beyond its Mr. PICKLER. I meant for ali practical purposes. ~resentlimi~ · M!~. BROSIUS. For all practical purposes in exchange it is Mr. PICKLER. How do you dispose of the bullion? just as goou as any so long as we do not make it otherwise by Mr. BROSIUS~ I do hope that Congress will not yield to the vicious legislation. solicitations of those good pe9ple who pray us to insert the name Mr. PICKLER. Now, another question-- _ of our Creator in the Constitution of this Government, so long :Mr. BROSIUS. Not anv more· I d:o not consent to be further as we continue to use a silver dollar which, though stamped by interrupted. • the- Government of the greatest co mtry on earth declaring it to Now,- Mr. Chairman, having made a proposition which :I helOOcents. is in fact but 50cants, and irredeemable, and making thought would meet with a cordial greetjng in every honest it a legal tender for a hundred cents' worth of debt. I think if mind upon this floor, I intended to add that one of the acts of we must do something in that line it were better for us to pass legislation which is pressing with extreme urgency now is either - a.foint resolution striking out of the decalogue the command to provide for putting a dollar's worth of silver in the coined ment, "Thou shalt not steal." dollar or to make it redeemable in a dollar's worth of silver -. 2204 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUAHY 14, at its gold value. This Government ought not to have afloat a Again: single dollar of less value than a gold dollar that is not redeem LFebruary 10, 1894.] able at the option of the holder in something of the value of 100 The silver bullion in the 'l'reasurv being insu1llcient to redeem with full value the Treasury notes now issued against it, certainly no more can be cents. h Onestly issued and declared to be represented to full redemption value in And I went to S:iy in addition to that, that it is good Demo the Treasury bullion. cratic doctrine in the district which I have the honor to repre The Government has lost money by Us purchases of silver bullion as is shown bf the fact t:ha~ it could buy what it holds for $30,000,000 less tha.n it sent, a district in which in matters of common honesty and good paid !or 1t, althougn 1t made an apparently large profit when it purchased, morals Republicans and Democrats agree; t'tnd in order that there and although this imaginary profit has enough substance, in the vision of may be no doubt about it, I ask the Clerk to read some editorials Mr. BLAND and or many of his colleagues, to furnish a basis !or an issue or from the Lancaster Intelligencer, one of the leading Democratic Treasury notes. Tv us it seems to be very clear that such notes should not be issu ed, and journalsinEasternPennsylvania, which Ifeel justified in saying ~hat if !lollY further coinage of silver dollars is to be made they can only be express the views entertained by a great majority of Democratic 1ssued m redemptio.n o! the notes. which now circulate in their sr.ead and which no one will surrf'lnder for them, because the note is .not only more journals in Pennsylvania. convenient t han the dolla.r and also because it is substantially redeemed in The Clerk read as follows: gold on demand. Mr. BLAND can fairly get no increase of the currency out or the silver bullion on deposit. It is fulfilling its mission in the Treasury THE DEMOCRATIC DECLARATION. as a backing for the •.rreasury notes, and it has a bigger burden now upo.n it The Ohio Democratic convention declared it3 continued approval o! the than it can properly discharge with its reduced strength and value. currency declaration or the n ational Democratic platform, which denounced A FIFTY-C"El{T DOLLAR INCONVERTIELE. the Sherman law but held to "the coinaga or both gold and silver without discrimination a~ainst either metal or charga for mintage; but the dolla.r Mr. BROSIUS. Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hand a silver unit of coinage or both metals must be of equat intrinsic and exchangeable dollar. The Government compels me to ta.ke it for 100 cents value." The national rcsolutionsca.ll!urther for such" international agree worth of value. It is worth in the markets of the world to-day ment or such safegua.rds or legislation as shall insure th'i m aintenance or the parity of the two metal~ and the equal power of every dollar at all times 49 cents. Supposiri.g I .want to use it abroad to pay a debt to an in the markets and the paym'3nt or debts." They demand also that all pa- Englishman, I ca,n not usa it, and under the monetary laws of per currency shall be kept at par with and r edeemable in such coin. · the United States I c::~.n not have it redeemed. I have no way This is the chart l;ly which the Democratic reprasenta.tivas in Congress will be expected to sail. There can be little uoubt that the Democracy of all to convert that dollar into money that is worth a dollar to my the States, as has that or Ohio, would reiterate this national Democratic foreign·creditor under any statute of the United States. The declaration to-day. Silver and gold money is demanded, of parity or value, Government lets me stick, and nothing but the mercy or pity of with paper currency redeemable in them. Gold and silver of equal purchas ing value must stand behind every paper dollar !or its redemption. my neighbor can rescue me by volunta-rily giving me gold for it. A Democratic Congress has, then, to provide a. sufficient store or gold and There is no money in the United States but the silver dollar and silver to redeem the paper currency, which is to be issued in sufficient quan its representative that is so mean as this, actually sent out with tity for the use o! the people. It is to see to it that this redemption may be made indifferently in gold or silver, the value or one being made equal to a smirched character, with no provision for retrieving it. that or the other. In other words, Congress must enact that the Treasury If I have subsidiary coins, half dollars, quarters, or dimes, of the United States shall give silver in quantity equal in value to the gold they are redeemable in lawful-money. If I have a greenback, in a dollar to redeem a dollar or paper money. There is no encouragement in the Democratic declaration to the idea that that is redeemable in gold. If I have a Treasury note that is re a quantity of silver that can be bought !or 50 cents' worth of gold shall be deemable in gold, nothing but the silver dollar whose claims are oflered in redemption of a dollar of United States paper money. The dec championed by the Knights of Silver, with a gallantry and chi laration is that a quantity or silver equal to a gold dollar in value, or a gold dollar itself, shall be offered indifferently in redemption of the paper money valry worthy the age of knight errantry is subjected to the of the nation; so that there maybe no difference between a payment in gold double curse of bAing depreciated and irredeemable, and for that or a payment i.n silver, each metal bei.ng proffered in a quantity which shall reason I am unalterably opposed to continuing its coinage. be equivalent in value to the other. Congress has this plain duty before it, and the problem !or its considera I hold it to be the duty of the Govemment to take ca,re of tion is the mode of establishment of the ratio between the metals, so that what it has out; that it is an obligation from which it can never this ratio shall always be a fair representation of their values. Congress be absolved to take care of the dollars that are already in circu may declare a ratio for its coinage, but as the real ratio is a changeable one it seems necessary that it should provide some means of determining it, as lation. They are our own children, of our own loins, and we it changes, so as to always preserve the parity or the metals, and that this must take care of them and sustain them at a parity with the parity shall be preserved in their form as bullio.n, since it will not be conven superior metal. You can never do so if you keep on issuinoo ient or possible to preserve it in the coinage. Nor is it necessary. It matters little what the ratio in coinage is, provided redemption or the coins can them. That is the point, the very nerve of the question. "" always be had a.t the true ratio in bullion. Fifty cents' worth of silver in a OUR FATHERS WOULD BE SHOCKED. dollar is as good as a dollar's worth it everyone knows that the dollar's worth can always be had !or it !or the asking. What would the illustrious men who laid the foundations of our monet.:1.ry system in the coinage act of 1792 have thought Again February 9, 1894: had it baen proposed to coin a dollar of the intrinsic value of THE BLAND BILL 50 cents and clothe it with full legal-tender power? The first coin ever minted in the United States of less intrinsic value Mr. BJ.AND has succeeded in getting the House to consider his bill to coin the silver bullion in the Treasury that is jn excess of the notes issued in the than its face was deprived of its full legal-tender power and de purchase of bullion under the notorious Sherman act. the purchasing clause nied the privilege of the mint. It was the subsidiary coinage or which was repealed withsoruuch talk and trouble a !ew months ago. 'l'he issued in limited amounts on Government account and m:1de re D -~ mocratic members generally supported Mr. BL~~·m·s motion. and Speaker CRISP hastened to have his own vote recorded in favor of it. Nevertheless, deemable in lawful money. it we properly u.nderstand the proposition, it is not a wise one; because we It was the purpose of the early statesmen of the Republic to do not see that this excess or silver bullion in the Treasury is in a situation make the ratio of coinage value correspond with that of the com to be coined into money. It represen ts the profit ma1e by the Treasury in purchasing silver, !or which it paid less than a dollar, in dollar notes re mercial value of the metals. Both were to retain their identity deemable in gold or silver, for the amount in a dollar; and !or which it is- in the crccible as well as in tha countinghouse. To this end sued t.hese notes only to the amount or purchase, of course. _ 'l'his is callej. the seigniorage or profit in coining. We put into a silver the amount of gold in a dollar w2.s ch:mged two or three times, dollar an amount of silver which we buy, say, for 50 cents; and then we say and when the relation was at last established at the ratio of 16 we m:J.de 50 cents profit, which profit we may coin into money, so that we to 1, it was provided that the gold coin that h ad lost a very small m ay issue double the number of dollars that we paid for the silver bullion amount of its weight by abl'asion should only be a logal tender · and make a dollar into two. This is a handy way of ma!dng mon-3y, but it is too h 'tndy to be very goo1. This so-called seigniorage is now lying in the for the amount of its intrinsic value. In the morals of money Treasury along with the remainder of the purchased bul~ion, as a specie the United States seems to h "Lve degenerated. backing or redemption fund for the notes issued lu the purchase of it, and NOT NEEDED IN O!Jit CIRCULATION. this protection should be continued to them. The Governmen~ should not make paper money for currency that does not have a dollar in silver or go:d But, Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit another. proposi behind every paper dollar issued, and the am0unt or silver beaind a silver tion which goes far to discredit the contention in favor of free dollar should be enough to buy gold for its redemption if gold is deman,led by the holder. A dollar note redeeru:~.blo in silver bullion wortil. 50 cents in coinage. Our circulation does not need any more de based silver gold can never circulate on a parity with gold. Tho Government notes now dollars. It is better without them. As I have already sug issued circulate together because they are pract.ically redeern:tble together g ested, for eighty years but 8,000,000 were coined and very few in any coin demanded. . • We can not see that it is either wise or honest to ta:re the amount of bul of them ever circulated; not much over 50,000,000 are now in lion in the Treasury that is t here because t!Je Governm'3nt has not put a. circulation among near 70,000,000 oi people; their chief use being dollar's worth or bullion in the coined. dollar, and to coin the profit into more to cover silver certificates. Nor are the silver producers con light dollars, especially when the coined dollar is not needed for circulation and can not be circulated in its silver form. tending for this measure becausa more coined dolla rs a re neces .And it is not really intended that it sh:tll be coined. The provosition is sary to the circulation, but because they think it will in some that .notes shall be issued !or the dollars into which it may be coined; and way sustain the character of silver. that the coinage or it shall proceed at co::tvenience. It is a bare proposal to issue Government notes t·o the amount of tbis seigniorage in the Treasury; Did any "silver bug" ever lament the lack of silver dollars-in and we can see no wivant:Lge in itt:> the country, even to its silver inter our circulation all the years that ~il ver wa.s at a premium, and ests. We believe in the use o! gold an-i silver as money; w e would have the little or none w:ts h aing coined? Did any silver producer ever -.Governmen t issue its notes reieemable in either; and we would have it keep gold and silver bullion in 1'-~> vaults su ~fi cient to re.leem e very no ~ e issued, refuse 103 cents fm· 371 grains of silver a.nd t:'tke it instead to the in either gold or si.lver, a 8 its: h'>lder dem::t!lls; provHed thalj we would re mi.nt to have it coined into 10) ce!:lts on the ground that we serve t-he privilege to re-1e:l n a silV-di. doll:t~ in a w~ight or silver bullion needed it in the cieculation_ and it was r p:.ttriotic duty to sup equal in ma.rkat value to a ~old dollar. a -> a protection against a lack of gold in the 'l'.reasury ::md a;s::~.ins;; the nee1 or <1., suj!ply or either m atal equal to ply it'? F or every such m m you c::tn find ! will show you a white tho whole outstanding not{) issue. . blackbird. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2205 The free-silver contention in this country commenced when thus leading to sudden monetary contraction and serious finan silver was at a discount, and it will end when it is at a premium cial disturbance. Suppose an ounce of platinum, for the uses to as comp:1red with gold. That is the true inwardness of the con which that metal is now applied, is worth a dollar, or more than tro';ersy and it is not possible to disguise it. It is not pa.tr~ot a dollar, and suppose this Congress should enact a law that an ism, but profit; notduty to country, but the demands of cup1d1ty, ounce of platinum should be coined and issued as a dollar. that inspire the silver producers, who clothing a commercial ven No sooner would you put that coin into circulation than the t ure in the robe of a patriotic cause, and setting their sails to metal of which it was composed would be converted to its more ca.tch the minds of discontent, h~ve marshaled m 1.ny honest valuable use and would cease to exist as monev. The value of men in the support of the boldest piece of audacious pretense that each unit of money for monetary purposes, other things being ever discredited American patriotism. equal-that is, the demand for money remaining tha same-de Mr. Chairman, without trespassing further upon the patience pends upon the volume which is issued; in other words, upon of the House, I ought to say that it is not possible, with my con the number of units that are put into circulation, and not at all victions and my temperament, to contemplate with patience or upon the material in which it is symbolized. Not the met~ but to debate with composure a proposition to tamper with the the function which it performs is the money. It is immaterial morals of our money, and I must be excused if I have betrayed whether it be paper, or copper, or silver, or gold, if it is put some earnestness and zeal in the remarks I have made. And forth as money, its value, its function, its purchasing power, de now let me s3.y, in conclusion, that whatever we do in this pends upon the number of units that are put into circulation. , country, wherever else we may fa.il, we ought never to betray As the number of units approaches infinity the purchasing any feebleness of attachment to the sound money of the country. power or the value of ea 1804. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2207 The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Utah (Mr. RAW- voted on the vote by tellers; neither does the g·entleman from LIN yield for that purpose? ' Kentucky [Mr. STONE], <>r my coilea.gue [Mr. McDANNOLD]. Mr. RAWLINS. Yes, I yield for that purpose. After the rising vote I paid no further attention to his vote, or The CHAIRMAN. The gentlemanreta.ins the balance of his to the vote of any body else. time. and wi.ll be recognized the first thing in the morning, after Often members vote under a misapprehension of the question the House goes into the Committee ol the Whole. The gentle they are voting on. I rem ... mberan instance in particular where man has occupied thirty-two minutes of his tim.e. I think my colleague [Judge BUNTER] made thl:'.t kind of a mis The motion of M.r. BLAND was agreed to. take on a former occasion. When we vo ed on the Wilson bill The committee accordingly rose; and the Speaker having re to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman law h e voted sumed the chair, Mr. HATCH, Chairmanof the Committee of the ':yea." ·When the Voorhees substitute came into the House, on Whole House on the state of the Union, repol'ted that that com the first roll call Judge HUNTER voted ''no,' as I and other mittee having had under consideration the bill H. R.4956 had member-s of the Illinois delegation had voted. come to no resolution thereon. My recollection is th3.t after his attention had been called to the way he had voted, if I mista.ke not, by the gentlema.n from QUESTION OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE. New York [Mr. T RACEY], Judge HUNTER, befor e the :tin il vote Mr. FITHIAN. Mr. Speaker-- was announced, changed his vote to yea, in hvor of the repeal The SPEAKER. For what purpose does the gentleman rise? of the pu.rchasing clause of the Sherma.n act on the Voorhees Mr. FITHIAN. To a question of personal -privilege. substitute that came over from the Senate. The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Illinois states that he Now, I have no further interest in this matter. I have no feel rises to a question of personal privilege. The gentleman will ing abf the facts. I am willing to concede that that was the case, able for the payment of the current exp2nditures of the Government and all laws relating to silver certificates, as far as practicable, shall be appli h:c~se I hav~ no motive. of mi3representing him or -putting cable_to the silver certift~~ h erein authorized. The said seigniorage shall h1m m a false hght. I am mformed 'bv the ~entleman from Mis be corned as fast as possible mto legal-tender standard silver dollars and the souri [Mr. HALL] that when Judge HUNTER passed through the coins held in the Treasury tor the redemption of the silver certificates. SEC. 2. That the remainder of the silver bullion purchased in pursuancs tellers he voted to increase the duty~ I do not know how he of said act of July 14, 1890, shall be coined into legal-tender standard silver ·" , . . / 2208 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 14, dollars as fast as is practicable, and the coin held in the Treasury for the By Mr. HALL of Minnesota: A bill (H. R. 5809) for the relief redemption of the Treasury notes issued in the purchase of said bullion. That as fast as the bullion shall be coined for the redemption of said notes, of Lemuel T. Kellogg-to the Committee on Claims. _ • the notes shall not be reissued but shall be canceled and destroyed in By Mr. HAINER of Nebraska: A bill (H. R. 5810) for there amounts equal to the coin held at any time in the Treasury, and silver cer- lief of William Henry Johnson-to the Committee on Military ' tificates may be issued on such coin in the manner now provided by law. ::=.Ec. 3. That a sumcient sum of money is hereby appropriated to carry Affairs. into effect the provisions of this act. By Mr. JOY: A bill (H. R. 5811) granting a pension to Mrs. · The proposed amendments are as follows: Rosie Wilson-to the Committee on Pensions. By Mr. McNAGNY: A bill (H. R. 5812) amending the record By Mr. BLAND: Amend by striking out the first section, ~nd inserting the following in lieu thereof: of, and granting an honorable discharge to, James Wilkenson " That the Secretary of t he Treasury shall immediately cause to be coined to the Committee on Military Affairs. as fast as practicable the silver bullion held in the Treasury, purchased By Mr. MAGUIRE: A bill (H. R. 5813) for the relief of Riley nnder the act of July 14, 1890, entitled 'An act directing the purchase of sil .ver bullion and tha issuing of Treasury notes thereon, and for ot.her pm· Moutrey-to the Committee on Claims . poses,' to the amount of the gain or seigniorage of such bullion, to wit, Also, a bill (H. R. 5814) to provide for the payment of the the sum of $.'>5,156,681 and such coin or the silver cenificates issued thereon claim of William H. Mahoney-to the Committee on Claims. shall be used in the p ayment of public expenditm·es, and the Secretary of By Mr. PRICE: A bill (H. R. 5815) for the improvement of the TTeasm-y ~y , in his discretion, if the n eeds of the Treasury demand it, issue silver certificates in excess of such coinage: Provided, 'l'hat said ex Mermentau River and tributaries-to the Committe e on Rivers cess shall not exceed the amount of the seigniorage as herein authorized to and Harbors. be coined..'' By Mr. RICHARDSON of Michigan: A bill (H. R. 5816) grant By Mr. BLAND: On page 2, in section 2, line 9, afwr the word "Treasury," insert t.he words "derived from the coinage herein provided for." ing a pension to Mary Ann Donoghue-to the Committee on In ~alid Pensions. And then, on motion of Mr. BLAND (at 5 o'clock and 29 min Also, a bill (H.R. 5817) granting a pension to Brid g~t Quin utes p.m.) the House adjourned until to -morrow, February 15, ton-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. at 12 o'clock noon. By Mr. WHEELER of Alabama : A bill (H. R. 5818) g t·anting an honorable discharge to James R. Torrance-to the Commit REPORTS OF COMMITTEES ON PRIVATE BILLS. tee on Military Affairs. By Mr. McCLEARY of Minnesota: A bill (H.R. G819) for the Under clause 2 of Rule XIII, private bills and resolutions were relief of Melvin C. Chamberlin-to the Committee on Claims. severally reported from committees, delivered to_the Clerk, and referred to the Committee of the Whole House, as follows: By Mr. BUNN, from the Committee on Claims, the bill (H. R. PETITIONS, ETC. 2468) for the relief of the owners and crews of the Hawaiian bark Under clause 1 of Rule XXII, the following petitions and Arctic. (Report No. 430.) papers were laid on the Clerk's desk and referred as follows: Also, the bill {H. R. 3812)toempowerRobertAdger and others By Mr. ADAMS of P ennsylvania: Petition of the Lumbermen's to bring suit in the Court of Claims for rent alleged to be due Exchange of Philadelphia, Pa., relating to the postal laws-to them. (Report No. 431.) the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. Also, the bill (H. R. 3863} for the relief of John Scott. (Report By Mr. BAKER of Kansas: Petition, preamble, and resolution No. 433.) by the citizens of Smith Center, Kans., in the interest of the fraternal society and college journals -to the Committee on the ADVERSE REPORTS. Post-Office and Post-Roads. . . By Mr. BLAIR: Protest of Progress Assembly, No403, Knights Under clause 2 of Rule XIII, private bills were adversely re of Labor, Manchester, N.H.,againsttheissueofbonds and pray ported and. laid on the table, as follows: ing for the issue of legal-tender notes for the wants of the Treas By Mr. McNAGNY, from the Committee on War Claims, the ury-to the Committee on Banking and Currency. bill (H, R. 4931) for the relief of John Calvert. (Report No. 428.) Also, petition of Progress Assembly, No. 403, Knights ofL!tbor, By Mr. COX, from the Committee on Claims, the bill (H. R. of Manchester, N.H., praying for the pass:1ge of bills est::tblish 3307) for the relief of W. R. Miller, of Covington, Ky. (Report ing a Government telegraph=--to the Committee on the Post No. 429.) Office and Post-RoJ.ds. By Mr. DUNN, from the same committee, the bill (H. R. 4489) Also, petition of Journeymen Barbers' Union, of Concord, to pay James McCabe $500 for his expense in contesting the N.H., praying for a GoYernment telegraph-to the Committee seat of Godlove S. Orth, of Indiana, in the Forty-sixth Congress. on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. (Report No. 432.) By Mr. BROOKSHIRE: Resolutions of Carpenters' Union, No. 48, of Terre Haute, Ind., of which William Warner is pres CHANGE OF REFERENCE. ident and M.A. Russell is secretary, in favor of the act for the n ecessary and better protection of American labor, and the en Under clause 2 of Rule XXII, the Committee on Invalid Pen forcement of the law of domicile and the restriction of immigra _sions was discharged from the consideration of the bill (H.R. tion-to the Committee on Labor. 5800) for the relief of Frederick Engelhardt, and the same was Also; papers to accompany House bill5605, granting a pension - referred to the Committee on War Claims. to John H. Linn-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Also, papers to accompany House bill56~ 9 . for granting a pen PUBLIC BILLS. sion to Andrew J. McGinnis-to the Committee on Invalid Pen sions. Under clause 3 of Rule XXII, bills of the following titles were Also, papers to accompany House bill 2601, for the r alief of introduced, and severally referred as follows: - Joseph H. Johnson-to the Committe3 on Military Affairs. By Mr. COMPTON (by request): A bill (H. R. 5803) providing Also, papers to accompany House bill 57 62, for the relief of for the reconstruction of the Aqueduct bridge-to the Commit- William Phillips-to the C~mmittee on Military Affairs. tee on the District of Columbia. . Also, pap~rs to accomp:my House bill 5761, to incraase the By Mr. DRAPER: A bill (H. R. 5801) to promote the safety pension of John W. Smith-to the Committee on Pensions. of employees and travelers upon railroads-to the Committee on By Mr. BURROWS: Petition of H. Dodson and 73 other citi Interstate and Foreign Commerce. zens of Michigan, asking for the passage of the M.a!lderson By Mr. POST: A bill (H. R. 5805) exempting from taxation Hainerbill-to the Committee on the Post-Office and P ost-Roads. the Home of the Aged Colored People in the city of Washing By Mr. CHICKERING: Petition of E. L. Stone and 2.5 other ton, District of Columbia-to the Committee on the District of citizens of Ellisburg, Jefferson County, N. Y., praying for the Columbia. passage of the bill regulating the sa.le of oleomargarine-to the By Mr. HALL of Minnesota: A bill (H. R. 5806) to authorize Committee on Agriculture. the city of Hastings, Minn., to construe~ and maintain a wagon Also, petition of citizens of H arrisburg, N. Y., in relation to bridge over the Mississippi River-to the Committee on Inter- the manufacture and sale of substances in semblance of b utter state and Foreign Commerce. · and cheese-to the Committee on Agriculture. By Mr. COBB of Missouri: Petitions of Mound City Council No. 154, Mount Olive Lodge No. 305, Ancient Order United PRIVATE BILLS, ETC. Workmen, and of Andrew Medley, William L. Hawkins, and Under clause 1 of Rule XXII, private bills of the following others, favoring the passage of House bill 4897, to admit to the titles were presented and referred as follows: ma.ils as second-class matter periodical publications issued by or By Mr. BROOKSHIRE: A bill (H. R. 5807) t.o pension Wor under t.he auspices of bsnavolent and fra.t ?-rnal societies-to the thington L. Allen-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. Bv Mr. BURROWS: A bill (H. R. 5808) for·the relief of John By Mr. COVERT: Petition of the officers and directors of Coon-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. the Suffolk County (N.Y.) Agricultural SociE}t-y, for the regu· 1894. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2209 btion of the traffic in oleomargarine-to the Committee on sage of the bill·to ragulate traffic in oleom:trgarine-to the Com- Agriculture. mittee on Agriculture. By Mr. DANIELS: Petition of citizens of Erie County, N.Y., Also, petition of 26 members of Wayne Tent No. lOS, Knights in favor of the passage of a bill now pending to regulate the sale of Maccabees of the World, for the passage of the Manderson- of oleomargarine, etc.-to the Committee on Agriculture. Hainer bill-to the Comm itt.ee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. Also, petition in the interest of the fraternal society and col- By Mr. POS'l': Petition of the Trades Lea.gue of Philadelphia, lege journals-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- Pa.., asking for the larger post-offices the privilege of making Roads. . necess:1ry expenditures without waiting the approval of the De- By 1\fr. DOCKERY: Two petitions of citizens of Hamilton; partment at Washington-to the Committee on the Post-Office one from Eden Lodge, No. 190, Independent Order of Odd Fel- and Post-Roads. lows, Hamilton; one from Hamilton Lodge, No. 212, Kuights of Also, petitions of Arcade Lod2'e No. 87, Order of Mutual Pro· Pythias, and another from Hamilton Lod.g-e, No. 255, Ancient tection, of Peoria; of College City Council No. 1000, Royal Ar Order of United Workmen, Hamilton, Mo., asking a change in canum, of Galesburg; and of C. McCluhan and others, of Galva, the postallc>.ws-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- Ill., asking for same rate of post9.ge on pariodical publications Ro!l.ds. of the fraternal beneficiary press as on other newspapers-to the By Mr. DRAPER: Petition of Angeline C. Blaisdell a·nd 77 Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roa.ds. others in favor of the passage of the Manderson-Hainer bill-to Also, petition of J. M. Gale, of Yorkville, Ill., for the eshb- the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. lishment of United States banks, etc., in accordance with bill By Mr. GARDNER: Petition of E. F. Woodruff and 29 others, proposed by him, which is annexed-to the Committee on Bank asking- for favorable consideration of the Manderson-Hainer bill ing and Currency. (H. R . 4.897 and S.l353)-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Also, petition of National Paint, Oil, and Varnish Association, Post-Ro.:!. ds. in convention as~emblea at Pittsburg, Pa., in favor of House Also, petition of A. D. Carnagy and 7 others, asking for favor- bill2012-to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Com· able consideration of the Manderson-Hainer bill (S. 1353 and H. merce. R. 4897)-tv the Committee on the Post-Office a"nd Post-Roads. By Mr. REYBURN: Petition of John B. Bisbing and 35 oth- By Mr. GEAR: Papers to accompany House bill5789, for relief ers of Philadelphia, Pa., in favor of the Manderson-Hainer bill of Elizabeth M. Foster, widow of Charles B. Foster, deceased, to the Committee on the Post-Office and Po3t-Roads. late of the Second United St:1tes Regiment of Cavalry-to the By Mr. RICHARDSON of Michigan: Petition of W. R. Law- Committee on Invalid Pensions. ton, Richard Chappel, Ramson Dowd, S. A. Sheldon, and 30 By .Mr. HALL of Minnesota: Petition of citizens of Glencoe, othei;.S; and resolutions of Wright Tent of Knights of the Mac Minn., in favor of the passage of the Manderson-Hainer bill-to cabees, of Berlin, Ottawa County, Mich., in favor of the passage the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. of the Manderson-Hainer bill, in the interest of fraternal society Also, petition of citizens of Franklin, Minn., in favor of the and college journals-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Manderson-Hainer bill-to the Committee on the Post-Office Post-Roads. ' and Post-Roads. By Mr. SCHERMERHORN: Petition of citizens of St. Johns· Also, petition of citizens of Brownstown, Minn., in favor of the ville, N.Y., in the interest of the fraternal society and college Manderson-Ha.iner bill-to the Committee on the Post-Office journals-to the Commit~e on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. and Post-Roads. By ~1r. SPRINGER: Petition from Springfield and Morrison By Mr. HOPKINS of Pennsylvania: Petition of 46 citizens or ville, Ill., and memorial of John Ed wards, Nicholas DuBois, Tioga County, Pa., praying for the passage of the Manderson- Alexander Murray, and 111 other cithens of Springfield, 111., Hainer bill-to theCommitteeon thePost-OfficeandPost-Roads. praying for the passage of a law which will permit the publica By Mr. JOY: Petition of citizens of St. Louis in the inte1·est tion of fraternal societies to be admitted to the mails a,s second of the fraternal society and college journals-to the Committee class matter-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. Roads. . By Mr. LANE: Petition of citizens of Vandalia, Ill., in the Also, memorial of Dr. J. L. Million and 182 other citizens of interest of the fraternal society and college journals-to the Springfield, Ill., praying for the passage of a law allowing fra Committee on the Post-Office and Po3t-Roads. ternal ::mciety publications to bs sent through the mails as sec By Mr. MAGUIRE: Petition of Merced Grange, Merced, Cal., and-class matter-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- for free coinage of silver -to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, Roads. · and Measures. By Mr. STEVENS: Papers to accompany House-bill5801, for By Mr. McCLEARY of Minnesota: Petition of A. D. Warner the relief of Phoobe Elizabeth Holt, Andover, Mass.-to the for Cook's Camp Modern Woodmen of America, of Mountain Committee on Invalid Pensions. Lake, Minn., favoring the passage of the Rainer bill-to the By Mr. WILLIAM A. STONE: Petition of citizens of Alle- Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. gheny, Pa., for duty on pickles, etc.-to the Committee on Ways Also, petition of H. C. Miller and other citizens of St. Peters, and Means. Minn., favoring the p3.ssage of the Manderson-Hainer bill-to Also, petition of citizens, of Weston, Pa., for the passage of the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. laws restricting immigration-to the Committee on the Judi- By Mr. MEIKLEJOHN: Two petitions of citizens of Wausa, ciary. and one of citizens of Oakland, Nebr., for the admission to the Also, petition of employes in pickle works in Allegheny, Pa., mails as second-class matter publications of fraternal and be- for duty on pickles-to the Committee on Ways and Means. nevolent societies-to the Committee on the Post-Office and By Mr. CHARLES W. STONE: Petition of 79 citizens of Post-Roads. Grand Valley, Pa.,and vicinity, and resolutions of Grand Valley By Mr. MOON: Petitiono!J. R. Whittaker, H. Wanderer, and Lodge, No. 221, AncientOrderofUnited \Vorkmen, infavorofthe 51 others, citizens of Bennett, Mich .. for the passage of the law admission of the publica.tionsof fraternal and beneficiary associa relative to postage on fraternal and college journals-to the tions to the mails as second-class matter-to the Committee Committee on the Post-Office and Post-R.oads. on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. By Mr. MORSE: Petition of the Massachusetts State Bo1.rd of By Mr. STORER: Petition of Samuel Grea.torex and 31 other Agriculture, asking for the passage of House bill 119, to protect members of the Walnut Hills Fratern-::tl Union, No. 616, and reso public forest reservations-to the Committee on Agriculture. lutions adopted by the Walnut Hills Council, No. 616, National Alw, a petition of Ezra W. Reed, master workman Ancient Union, praying for the passage of House bill 4897, in relation to Order of United Workmen, and 30 other citizens, asking that publications of fraternal benevolent societies-to the Committee the same privileges be extended to the fraternal beneficiary press on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. that i'3 extended to the other papers-to the Committee on the By Mr. UPDEGRAFF: Petition of N. I. Grettenberg and 26 Post-Office and Post-Roads. other honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of Vanderpool By Mr. PAYNE: Indorsement by Grange 214, Patrons of Post,No.479,GrandArmyoftheRepublic,ofMitchell,Iowa,fora Husbandry, of Marion, N.Y., of the bill to regulate traffic in law forbidding the suspension of pensions without proof of fraud oleomargarine-to the Committee on Agriculture. and notice of suspensionandcommandingthe immediaterestora- Also, petition of 67 residents of Yates County, N.Y., for the tion of all suspensions otherwise made-to the Committee on passage of a law establishing a Government telegraph and tele- Invalid Pensions. phone service-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- Also, petition of C. C. Vanderpool and 26 other honorably dis- Roads. charged Union soldiers and sailors of Mitchell, Iowa, for the en- Also, petition of 64 residents of Cayuga County, for establish- actment of an equitable and just service-pension law-to the ment of a Government telegraph and telephone system-to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Committee .o~ the Post-qffice aiid Post-Roads. Also, petitio~ of Local Ass?mbly, No. 201, of the Knights of Also, pet1t10n of 24 res1dents of Walworth, N.Y., for the pas- l Labor,pf Lansmg, Iowa, agamst the further issue of interest XXVI-139 .- 2210 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. FEBRUARY 15,- bonds and for the coinage of the bullion in the Treasury and Mr. HOAR presented petitions of C. W. Scott and 115 othe~: for coinage of silver-to the Committee on Ways and Means. citizens of Uxbridge; of William P. Brooks, of Amherst, and of Also, petition of F. T. Pilkington and 22 other citizens of James H. Pierce, of Whitinsville, all in the State of Massachu· Clayton County, Iowa, in favor of the Manderson-Hainer bill, setts, praying for the enactment of legislation to enable the rating as second-class mail matter periodicals of fraternal and States to enforce State laws regulating the sale of substitutes benevolent societies-to the Committee on the Post-Office and for dairy produce; which were referred to the Committee on Ag Post-Roads. riculture and Forestry. By Mr. WEADOCK: Petitions of Kinsel Bros. and of ' George He also presented a petition of the Roofers' Protective Union, Monaghan and others of Alpena, Mich. , in the interest of the of Boston, :Mass., praying for the governmental control of the proposed reduction in postal rates on the fraternal society and telegraph service; which was refer red to the Committee on Post college journals-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post Offices and Post-Roads. Roads. He also pre sen ted a petition of the Massachusetts Horticultural By. Mr. WILLIAMS of Illinois: Petition signed by many cit Society, praying for the passage of House bill N o.l19, to protect izens of White County, Ill., in favor of the Manderson-Hainer public forest r eservations; which was referred to the Select Com bill-to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. mittee on Forest Reservations. He also presented a p atition of Palladium Council, No. 287, Royal A1Tca,num, of Everett, Mass., in the interest of fraternal college· n.nd society journals, praying for the passage of the SENATE. Ma.nderson-Hainer bill. proposing to amend the postal laws; THuRSDAY, Febntary 15, 1894. which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post Roads. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. W. H. MILBURN, D. D. He also n resented a memorial of F. W. Russell and 16 other The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. citizens of Winchendon, Mass., remonstrating against the passage of the Wilson tariff bill; which was referred to the Committee SENATOR FROM MISSLc;;SIPPI. on Finance. Mr. GEORGE. Mr. President, I present the credentials of Mr. HOAR. I present the petition of Lyman Abbott, D. D., Ron. A. J. McLaurin, elected a Senator by the Legislature of C. K. Adams, LL.D., and 148 other eminent and distinguished the State of Mississippi to fill the vaca)Jcy in the Senate caused scholars and citizens from different parts of the United States, by the resignation of Ron. E. C. Walthall. I ask that the cre praying for the enactment of legislation for the suppression of , dentials be read, and that the oath of office be administered to the lottery traffic. I move that the petition be referred to the the Senator-elect. Committee on the Judiciary. The VICE-PRESIDENT. The credentials will be read. The motion was agreed to. The Secretary read the credentials of A. J. McLaurin, elected Mr. MITCHELL of Oregon. I present resolutions adopted by by the Legislature of Mississippi a Senator from that S tate for the Ch ::~.mber of Commerce of Port.Iand, Oregon, at a special the l.'nexpired term ending March 3, 1895. meeting held on the 7th instant, in which they recite that the Tbe VICE-PRESIDENT. , The credentials will be placed on threatened modification of the existing tariff has disturbed and file. The Senator-elect will please come forward and re()eive checked the prosperity of the country; that the tht'eatened ad · the oath of office. mission of wool, coal~ lumber, lead ore, and so-called raw ma Mr. McLaurin was escorted to the Vice-President's desk by terial to the free list, the S\veeping reduction in rates of duties Mr. GEORGE, and the oath prescribed by law having been ad and the substitution of ad valorem for specific duties have caused ministered to him, he took his seat in the Senate. widespread alarm, anxiety, and distrust among the commercial -, EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS. and industrial classes of the country; that the commercial pros The VICE-PRESIDENT laid before the Senate a communica perity of the State of Oregon and o"f the entire Pacific Slope is tion from the Secretary of the Treasury, tra.nsmitting a letter largely dependent upon the coal iron, lumber, wool, prune, and from the Secretary of the Interior of the 12th instant, requesting hop industries, and that those industries can only prosper and that an appropriation of $4,785 be included in the urgent defi be maintained under the preSBnt system of a protective tariff . ciency appropriation bill for surveying and alloting Indian res The r esolutions declare the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce ervations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894; which, with of Portland, Oregon, r epresenting the principal commercial and the accompanying p ::tpers, was referred to the Committee on Ap industrial intsrests of the State of Oregon, that the proposed pr-opriations, and ordered to be printed. modification of the tariff in the present depressed condition of He also laid before the Senate a communication from the business is injudicious and unwise, and they condemn it as t end Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a letter from the Com ing to the destruction of industrial employment and to the crip missioner of Indian Affairs, together with a draft of a bill, pling if not the extirpation of other industries. The memorialists further resolve that they H condemn said authorizing the construction of a wagon road on the Hoopa tariff bill known as the Wilson bill as bearing with especial hard Valley Indian Reservation, in California, and making an appro ship upon the wool, lumber, prune, ho-p, and other of the staple priation therefor; which, w!th the accompanying papers, was productions of Oregon," and they protest against its passage. I referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, and ordered to be move that the memorial be referred to the Committee on Finance. . printed. The motion was agreed to. PETITIONS AND MEM:ORIALS. Mr. PERKINS presented petitions of Lodge No. 156, Ancient Mr. STOCKBRIDGE presented petitions of Tent No. 759, Order of United Workmen_, of Michigan Bluff; of sundry citi Knights of the Maccabees, of Alamo; of Eldorado Tent, No. 919, zens of Haywards, Oakland, East Oakland, Michigan Bluff, and Knights of the Maccabees, of Calkinsville, and of sundry citi Janesville, and of Lake Lodge, No.135, Ancient Order ofUnited zens of Otsego, all in the State of Michigan, in the interest of Workmen, of Janesville, all in the State of California, in the in fraternal society and college journals, praying for the 'passage terest of fraterm.l college and society journals, praying for the of the Manderson-Hainer bill, proposing to amend the postal passage of the Manderson-Hainer bill, proposing to amend the laws· which were referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and postal laws; which were referred to the Committee on Post Post-Roads. Offices and Post-Roads. Mr. HALE. I present the memorial of John Watson, B. A . Mr. GALLINGER presented a petition of Journeymen Bar Donovan, John M. Brown, and 1,100 other citizens of the county bers' Union, No. 82, of Concord, N.H., praying for the govern of Aroostook, in the Etate of Maine, setting forth the prosperity ment:ll control of the telegraph service; which was referred to of that la1'ge region in Maine, under the present tariff laws, and the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads. protesting against the enactment of the so-called Wilson tariff Mr. KYLE presented a petition of Lodge No. 20, Ancient bill, which discriminates against the chief agricultural product Order of United Workmen, of Iroquois, S.Dak., praying for the of the county, and the manufacture of starch connected there enactment of legislation entitling the fraternal beneficiary press with; and showing that, under the Wilson bill, the cheapness of of the country to the same consideration in the matter of postage labor and the superior natural advantage in the transportation classification as any other newspaper: which was referred to the of merchandise, in that portion of Canada lying- along the border Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads. of Aroostook County, will place the farmers and starch manu He also presented memorials of sundry citizens of Clark County, facturers of that county at such a disadvantage as to render com Ohio, remonstrating against the issuance of bonds by the Gov petition hopeless. The memorial is signed by 1,100 farmers of ernment, and praying that legal-tender notes be issued of suffi ·Aroostook County, without distinction of party, and I may state cient quantity to meet the expenses of the Government econom that it l"epresents the appealing cry of a whole county of about ically administered; which were referred to- the Committee on 30,000 people on this subject. I move that the memorial be re Finance. ferred to the Committee on Finance. Mr. DOLPH. I present resolutions adopted by the Chamber The motion was agreed to. of Commerce of Portland, Oregon, representing that the Wil- '.