Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-03-22
FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS-.
First Session,
HOUSE.
WASHINGTON, March 20.

strong speech against the further coinage OF
silver. He was followed by Mr.. Hemphill
Of South Carolina and Mr.. Seymour of Con
nectcut on the anti-silver side, and Mr.. Gull
bertson Of Texas and Mr. Bynum of Indiana
on the silver side. There was large at
tendance of members, and strict attention was
paid.
Mr.. James promised his speech with what
he stated were few words of personal sex-
planstion People were wont to look to the
lawyers and professors and political leaders
for legislation on financial questions instead
of business man such AS he was. The re-
suit Of this looking to lawyers, professors
and political leaders was that now the coun-
try was in slough. The car of state was
very nearly ditched. This was not a question
Of doing something great. 1t was question
of getting out OF something bad. 1t was not
question of making good time. 1t was a
question OF getting the wheels out of the
slough. 1t was question which the business
men ought to solve. If the business men
had dealt with the silver question, the team of
state would not have been stalled in the mire
as it was now. They should have spoken out
and insisted that their advice should be fol-
towed. They should join their forces for a
Judlcious handling OF the great question. The
so-cailt decentralization OF silver had been
from the first great business blunder of the
nations as a whole. No one nation could af
ford to have the others unload their silver on
it. The evil of demonetization was charge
able to the action of Germany, for the impe
tus given by Germany was passing along the
line, and one after another the mints of diff
ferent nations had been closed to silver. The
history of Europe for the past 10 years had
been history of business depression pre-
viously unexampled. The silver men held
that the anti-silver craze had been conspir-
acy of the creditor class and the bondholders
OF the various nations. Such was not the
truth. The professors OF political economy.
who had been the leaders of thought for a
generation, were not the servile hirelings of
the bloated bondholders. They had thought
they were reformers, and they meant well,
but their foresight had been a mistake. The
coinage OF silver in the United States had
operated injuriously to the success of the
effort to secure si-metallic coinage in Europe,
and the extreme silver men were really the
"catspaw" of the European monometallists.
The silver question was more than local
issue, it was An international one. The coin
age of silver, under the Bland act, had been
from the beginning, aud was now, a colossal
business blunder, and he believed that had it
not been for the passage of that bill, silver
would have been remonetized long ere this.
both in the United States and Europe, and
the two metals would have been at a parity,
one with the other, at a fixed ratio. Until
an international agreement was reached, the
coinage under the Bland act should be sus-
pended, for the continuance of that coinage
was but organized chaos in the United States.
He expressed the regret that New York should
be attacked as being antagonistic to the views
of the great West on this question, and he
asserted that New York, as a State, was pro-
nouncedy in favor of international b-metall-
ism. The free coinage of silver was what
the country wanted, but in his opinion it
could only be accomplished through the me-
dunn OF suspension and negotiation. He went
on to argue that Germany, France and Eng
land were in a position where little pressure
such as the suspension of coinage in this
country would force tn, m INTO adopting inter
national b-metallism. For the United States
to fix a day for the suspension of coinage.
unless there international concurrence
before that time, was subject which Euro
pean statesmen could not ignore.
Mr.. Seymour of Connecticut followed the
same line of argument, and characterized as
unwarranted the assumption of the extreme
silver men that those gentlemen who were
opposed to free coinage were monOmetalllsts.
He advocated the suspension of silver coin
age, which he declared was demanded by
large. patriotic ahd highly intelligeDt body of
people. The present law had proved to be an
unwise law, which tended toward danger. and
certainly in the end would bring disaster. II
stood in the wav of an international concur-
renee respecting the ratio of gold to silver as
money metals.
The discussion was interruptad to allow the
speaker pro tempore to appoint Messrs
Burnes. Randall and McComas as conferee.
on tn @ urgency deficiency AUTHORIZATION bill.
Mr.. O'Donnell of Michigan branched off
from the main question before the House He
stated that while the Weld of gold and silver
each wear in this country was $50. .OOO. 900.
and the time of Congress was taken m in
discussing the merits OF the two metals. the
and molasses nearly SlS5. 900. 900. and we
see scarcely an effort to bring relief He
stated that each inhabitant paid s. for flour
each wear and So 35 for sugar. each person
consuming go pounds of sugar and only one
country (England) consuming more. The
revenue collected for sugar duties were 25
per cent. of all duties levied each wear. Alter
giving history OF sugar, he proposed that its
cultivation be encouraged by bounties and
gave a history of the growth of the beet sugar
industry of the old world. which now pro
duces 4i6. 80 more tons of beet sugar than is
grown of cane He argued that this sugar
could be grown in thisi country. He gave a
history of sorghum sugar and thought that
the plant could be successfully cultivated
here as the sugar producing cane. In sun