The Portland daily press., 1885-02-16
The Silver COINAGE

1t is an open secret that President-elect
Cleveland is exceedingly anxious to have
SONS bill passed by Congress before the ses-
sion closes by means OF which the silver
coinage can be restricted or entirely stopped.
The Hon. William 81. Barnum and the Hon.
William L. Scott were in the House on Fri
day consulting with the hard-money Demo-
Gratis to see is something could not be done
in that direction. While it is not certain
that they went there at the direct sugges-
tion OF the President-elect, there is no doubt
that their efforts met his hearty approval.
Mr.. Barnun1 reports that his conference
convinced him that any attempt to get bill
through this Congress such as the President
elect desires will be fruitless of anything
but failure. The same thing is indicated by
the fact that already over one hundred DEM
ocratic members have signed petition re-
questing Mr.. Cleveland not to say anything
in his inaugural address that will hurt the
feelings of the silver men or reflect anfayer-
ably on their pet-the buzzard dollar.
1t is to be regretted that the Democratic
members are inclined 10 be SO stiff in this
matter, and that more of them are not ready
to be as accommodating as our esteemed
morning contemporary which while it has
"not the slightest belief in any immediate
danger to our finances from the continued
coinage of silver for year, or year and
half to come, yet in Difference to the ju6g-
ment of these who entertain such belief'' ii.
a Ntoua1apd1
gress will pas an act, leaving it to the dis
cretion of the President to suspend the coin
age of silver whenever the financial situation
in his judgment shall require it." Sooner
or later the Democratic members have got
to come down in this matter as has the Ar
gus, which has been as much of silver fan
attic as Bland, or else incur the dispIeasure
of the man who has the Offices In his keep
ing. They can't afford to do that and they
know it. But their pride makes them hesi-
tate, and they are in hopes that some way
will be provided to let them down easv. We
are not sure but the Argus has furnished
them with formula by which they can es.
cape the humiliation of confessing that they
Law DOou oil HlOLS III tulb eilfeI UuSLHeSs
and at the same time save their President
elect from the danger to which his admins
tration is exposed by the continued coinage
OF the short weight dollar. Let them rise
in their seats and vote for the suspension of
the coinage, adding the following paragraph
from our esteemed contemporary, by way of
explanation of the fact that they are voting
against something which for years they have
been contending was necessary to rescue
the country from the clutches of the gold
bugs and bankers:
Whether there be or not any real immediate dan
ger to our financial status from the continued coin
age of silver under the present law there can be no
doubt whatever that such danger is believed in by
many well informed on the subject, and that their
continual iteration of the fact has caused among
business men more or less apprehension on the sub
jsct. Without the slightest regard to whether this
apprehension is well founded or not, it is very im-
portant in the present condition of business that it
should be removed.
We do not believe that any Democratic
wAmber can hope to let himself down any