The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-10

ing claims against the government. After con-
siderable debate, but without action, the House
went into committee of the whole-Mr. Ham
mond, OF Georgia, in the chair-on the half-gal-
Ion tax bill.
Nh. Findlay, of Maryland, took the floor with
a carefully prepared speech upon the financial
question. which he said resolved itself into the
question as to whether or not the Bland act
should be repealed. The Bland act, on its face,
was an impeachment of the wisdom of free coin
age and a legislative assertion that there was
strong ground for making a distinction between
gold and silver, and by this act the advocates of
silver gave up their whole case. He said to the
advocates of silver: Follow your leader, and
wholly repudiate the false position in which you
have been placed by the Bland act for the last
eight years; take the stand which logic and ex-
full, instant and complete rehabilitation" The
whole question was, whether Congress should
get rid of q measure which was neither
nesh nor fish, sea nor good dry land.
The question was, whether Congress would
repeal a mischievous act. which in principle was
itself a decentralization of silver. If the Bland
act as recorded by the present and past admins
t~ration, had any friends, they had not shown
their hands. All true friends of silver held to
the orthodox faith that gold and silver ought to
be admitted to the minis on equal terms. Gold
was not yet at a premium, but there were hun
dreds and thousands of men who were boarding
it up against the day when it would command a
premium. The banks were boarding gold against
that day, which they believed, Notwithstanding
the buncombe opinion of this body, would be in
evitable- The tendency of discussion which
took place here was not to relax, but to strength
EN- the grip on gold. There must come a time
when the legal-tender faculty of silver would
not be able to lift it up to the plane of a metal in
trinsically more valuable. He believed the labor
ing class of the country would receive a serious
injury whenever the time came that gold waved
parting adieu to silver. The time had not yet
come. 1t might be postponed; might be put Of
until the governments vaults were oyerrun with
silver dollars, but sooner or later it would come,
and the laboring classes would be the sufferers.
Gold could take care of itself; capital had a thou
sand ways of protecting itself, but labor had
only one, and that was by a medium of exchange
which would always be q fair exchange for what
was given for it.
Mr.. Warner. of Ohio, thought no permanent
settlement of the financial question could be ar
rived at till gold and silver were restored to the
positions they occupied prior to the demonitiza-
ton of the latter metal. He spoke for silver be-
cause he believed 1t to be the side of truth and
justice. and because he believed the welfare of
this country and the world we're bound up in it.
He went on to portray the evils which would fol-
low in the wake of a contraction OF the circula-
ton, and held up the London riot as a warning
of what might happen in the United States if the
effort to suspend the coinage of silver should
meet with success. At last, he said. we had to
face the startling fact that the production of gold
had fallen off, while the consumption in the arts
had increased until the annual production is con-
sumed for other than money purposes. Geolo-
gists agreed that the supply of that metal must
diminish in the future. If we rule silver ont.
where was the future money supply to come
fromg The gold production amounted to about
7 cents per capita of population. Nor was there
any hope of improvement in the situation as to
gold. How was the stock in hand to
be kept ups These were questions above
all others for the statesmen of the
day. They would not be SO serious if
the population of this country was at q stand
still. But it had been estimated that the popu-
lation of this country would equal one hundred
millions before the end of the century. Would
the volume of money now supplying SO, 600, 600
people suffice for the needs of loo, 600, 0002 1t
was no answer to say that the present stoppage
OF silver coinage was only temporary. That
was nonsense. Stop the coinage Of silver, and
it would be the last of bimetallism, not only in
this country, but in the world. That was what
the monometaliists desired. The issue was
between bimetalllsm and monometallism and
it must be fought out here and now. To yield a
step would be to surrender the whole position.
He admitted that if gold went to a high pre-
MUM it would be driven out of circulation.
The result woula be a sudden contraction of cur
rency of more than one-third. 1t was claimed
that the remainder would Immediately fall to
the level of the bullion value of the silver, or 30
per cent. below the gold level, which meant
higher prices. 1t was impossible that contract
ion and depreciation would simultaneously occur.
0Oi0 WoQiQ u Do maintained at g. premium
under such circumstances. OF course. a panic
might force gold to a high premium, but it would
find its level when the natural order of things
prevailed. Gold could pass from the country
only under the tide of high prices Gold could
only be driven out of a country by a high pre-
MUM. The purchasing power of money was
the only test of its value, and the silver dollar
to-day would buy as much of q commodity as a
gold dollar. Cheap money could drive ont dear
money only to the extent of its own volume, and
to drive out our $500. 600, 900 of gold must put
something in its place-one hundred millions of
silver would not do it. We were now further
from a separation of the metals. as money, than
at any time since the passage of the act of 1873.
He would admit that the present condition of
silver could not be regarded as permanent-that
it was not logically consistent. Nothing but its
restoration to a full equality with gold as a
money metal could render it's condition satisfac-
tory: nothing short of that would satisfy the de-
mands OF equality of the vast industrial inter-
ests of the world. He should saw, hold the
fort, if that could be done, or take a step in ad-
vance, it possible. but not to go backward.
Pending action the committee rose.
MIR. Morrison. of Illinois. from the committee
on ways and means, reported a resolution calling
on the Secretary of the Treasury for information
as to the sums of money claimed in suits against
collectors Of customs for duties illegally ex-
acted on imported merchandise now pending in
the Southern District of New York. Adopted.
The House then adjourned.