Daily globe., 1879-05-18


and the standard silver dollar represented
one dollar. The demonstration of silver
had been crime and fraud, and the third
section of the bill was another fraud, be-
cause it was giving bullion holders an ad-
vantage of II per cent Laughter and ap-
plause on the Republican side] He would
like to see the Democratic party going be-
fore the people in 1880 in advocacy of that
section. 1t would be buried so deep that
the horn of Gabriel would not resurrect it.
Mr.. Garfield said Congress had never leg
islated on any question that reached further
both territorially and in time, and touched
more vital interests, than those touched by
this and similar bills. Within recent years.
and notably within recent months. the lead
ing thinkers of the civilized world had be-
come alarmed at the attitude of the two
precious metals in relation to each other,
and they were clearly of the opinion that by
some wise, broad, judicipus arrangement,
both metals might be kept in service for the
currency of the world. Even England,
which for more than half century believed
in single gold standard, was now seriously
meditating how she might harness both of
these forces to the monetary power of the
world, and yet, outside of this chamber and
capitol there was not a single bi-metaltic au-
thority in the world who regarded it safe
to plunge into any wider coinage of silver at
present anywhere. Franco and the Latin
Union, which had believed in bi-metallism,
| and had maintained it against all coners, and
| had advocated it throughout the world we're
not coming silver now, and had not done so
since 1864. The most stringent advocates of
| bi-metallism now said it would be ruinous to
| bi-metallism for France or the Latin Union
to coin any more silver, and yet the United
States government, which had coined in less
| than two years more of silver dollars than
had been previously coined from the
foundation of the government, and ten times
more than had been coined in seventy years
of its existence, was to-day facing the world
and denying the universal opinion about BIZ
metallism by saying America, single
handed, could enter the contest and
settle this mighty question alone. This
was madness. He had once seen dog on
great stack of hay which had been foated
out into the wide overhowed bed of river.
For little while the dog appeared perfect
ly happy. The hay stack was there the
stock pen was there and he thought that the
world was all right. But by-and-by he began
to discover that the barn ard the house and
the surroundings were not all there as they
had been before he went to sleep, and he
began to understand that he
could not quite command all the
prospect he had done. So with the United
States. We are all aaoat on the mighty
question, and we ''bay the moon'' as we
float down the whirling tide and say: "We
are WISE" We have been launched on g
wide current which sweeps over the whole
world, and we bark from our hay stack as il
we commanded the whole For heavens
sake let us take some account of the flood
| | Of r7oHorotar1 that 1o1nCo
something, and try if we can to get ou1
bearings before we undertake to
fix all in the House of Re
representatives.. To-day we are coming
one-third of all the silver that is being coin
ed in the round world. China is doing an
other third, and all the nations of the glob
, are! using the other third for subsidiar,
3 coin. If we want to 60 with Chin
| and1 part company with all the civilized
r nations of this western world, let us do i
in this bill. What this country need
most Of all is that the Congress go home
, daughter and applause on the Republica,
Il side) and let these forces of business an,
d peace and order and brotherhood work il
: their natural way and bring US into light
: stability and peace. Even now our ad
It ministration is opening negotiations wit
: all western nations to see if there canno
a be an international arrangement whereby tn
question of bi1netalism may be wisely settled
/ Mr.. Ewing said the apparent Object of the
+ amendment of Springer was to save to tn
\ government the difference between coin ani
o bullion of silver, but the great defect of th
n amendment was that while repeating, as thi
4 bill would repeal, the existing law makin
J. peremptory the coinage Of $2,OOO,OOO
month, this amendment would comm
a to the secretary of the treasury the power {
his discretion to stop entirely the coinage
> the silver dollar. How? Because it said I'll
a secretary should buy at market pric
Where? At London or at San Francisco, {
q at New York or Virginia City. He had
= right to fix where, and being utterly and il
II tensely inimical to the coinage of the silve
~ dollar he would 50 construe and exercise b.
q power that no bullion holder would sell s
n the market price as declared by him. II
f country would in that way be put off with
"a coinage which, he ventured to say, would NJ
ia amount to the present coinage required b
; law. The amendment which he propose
\. fixed the market value at the average mark'
# price at New York and San Francisco for th
week preceding the time the bullion was d.
"a posted. .Nss .f
q Mr.. Haskell declared himself to be an on
= thusiastic bimetalist, but opposed the bi
h and Springer's amendment thereto becaus
20 if the bill passed the gold would leave th
l. country and the currency would be COZ
ar tracted to the extent of $2OO.OOO,OOO.
h Mr.. Warner said he3 was glad the prese
or administration had been induced by Il
n. action of this House to open correspondent,
al on this question with foreign countries, ar
w he hoped that action would be backed up
at a vote of the House. The opinion seem,
if to prevail very generally that if this
m passed it at once transferred oy law Is p
" cent. of all the silver bullion that might
ne coined to the bullion holder. The absurdi
,al of that proposition was to him so plain th
'se he only wondered that so many had fall
info the fallacy, and had become bewilder
~ on that point. Take, for instance, gold.
a was set apart from all other things as
n money metal, and the coming of it did Z
Al alter its value. The same had been true
Il silver, exactly. Up to 1878 an ounce of b
~. lion had had precisely the same value in |
II. market as an ounce of coin.
IN The vote was taken on Mr.. Ewin
amendment, and it was adopted, yeas
r. nays 1O5, the Speaker casting the decidi
ad vote amid applause on the Democratic 81
Mr.. Springer's amendment, as amended
Ir. Mr.. Ewing, was then rejected, yeas 80, nj
he Ill, and the House then, on motion of
la Clymer, adjourned till Tuesday.
fl --
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