The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-01-21
XLIXth CONGRESS FIRST SESSION.
SENATE.
WAsHINGT.

same, of putting an additional story on the Feorla;
Illinois, post Office in 1885; also all protests hled
by labor leagues in relation thereto; also copy
of the protest filed by Messrs Straup q Co., OF
Buffalo, N. " giving lnformatlon tnaL ~ Ihe woLh
of said contract would be performed by convict
labor, and that consequently the contractors VINO
employed free labor could not afford TO compete
for the work.
In offering the resolution Mr.. Hale sad ne
was not prepared to believe without further
information that the Secretary OF the
Treasury would let any contract for work 70
be done on public buildings in such way tnab
the work would be performed by convict
labor. He (Mr. Hale had received inform
alton of such a character as made 1T desirable
to ascertain the facts in the case set forth in
his resolution. He did not believe that con-
tracts for public work should be let to the
employers of convict labor, when there was
no lack of ordinary labor OF the country. He
did not believe that free labor should be put
in competition with convict labor. The re-
solution was agreed to.
Mr. Morrill, addressed the Senate on the
silver question. He promised with the re-
mark that the elaborate speech of the Senator
from Kentucky. (Mr. Beck seemed to throw
the burden of a rejoinder on the friends of
the administration. | do not mean, ne con-
tinued. to encrOach upon the privileges
SO many Democratic Senators appear to en-
iOy of coming to the rescue OF the PRESIDENT
and Secretary of the Treasury against the
rather cruel attacks made upon cardinal
measure of the administration as know the
fate of those who venture to interfere with a
familiar question, but this measure by which
silver might be maintained at par with gold
so worthy of all acceptation l fear VIII not
have after that demonstration of the re-
cognized leader of his party in the Senate
against it that unanimous support to which
it may be fairly entitled. There are no par
ties in the Senate or out of it that propose
or that have any wish to demonetize silver
and to charge otherwise is a baseless as
sumption. Everybody is anxious to keep as
much silver in circulation as can be done
and keep it at the same time at par with our
gold coinage. The only hostility to silver
arises from what seems to be liked and
passionate purpose on the part of some OF It's
advocates to promote such an excess OF sll.
yer coinage as will drive gold coinage out OF
the country and leave our vast trade Dasea
upon silver only. In reaching this posi-
tion of silver monO-metallism 1t is Impossible
to be blind to the disastrous contraction OF
the circulating medium OF the country that
would at once occur, for when the moment
arrives that gold commands q premium 1t VIII
all be held as a commodity Tor sale, not
for circulation" small or five per cent
premium being as productive of universal
boarding as % per cent, and no possible ad-
vantage to our people could be expected from
following the lame and feeble example OF
India or Mexico in utilizing silver currency
only Mr. Morrill, insisted there was no war
upon silver, but that in substance and effect
declaration of war had been made on gold
by the leader of the Democratic party In the
Senate, and from the pleasure when the
Senator from Kentucky had eylneed IN de-
liyering in the Senate his antagonism to the
President and Secretary of the Treasury, it
seemed to Mr.. Morrill, that the Senator mad
been for a moment under the deluSI0n that
he was still belaboring with left handed COM
pliments some Republican President and
Secretary, but Mr.. Morrill, could look on with
composure, confident as he was of the sur
vival of the fittest" His (Mr. Morrill's( con-
yiction that the continued coinage of large
amounts of silver would drive all OF the gold
out of the country, was based on the past eX-
perience of all civilized people; that an lnfe-
rior money never failed to expel superior,
and on the fact that our own silver mines
furnished more than one-half the annual
silver yield of the world. Our yield for 1854
was S4S, ,0O0, 900, which added to our imports,
(S17, 100000 made $50, ,OoO,O0. ms was was
more than we could practically absorb, and
all not used in the coinage acts must ma
market abroad. Large and frequent sales OF
the surplus would establish the commercial
value of silver. The exodus OF gold, hoWeV-
er. would not be likely to appear with much
force until its shipment became frequent, or
until it commanded premium. But the
large return of American securities from
abroad, affecting foreign exchange adverse
", or any great commercial disaster from
which the world was never exempt; mlght
suddenly produce this exodus OF gold.
Bv the report of the United States Treas
urer. "Mr Morrill, continued" it appears
there is somewhere in the treasury S165,5S5,-
600 of standard silver dollars which we are
struggling to find how and where to safely
store. until by some miracle they can ind
more favor in this wicked world. The per
centage of these dollars in actual circulation
outside of the treasury has been constantly
growing less since 1881, being then 30S per
cent. and now only 1873 per cent. we nave
coined over two hundred and fifteen million
of silver dollars and have only been able at
any time through much cost and tribulation
to get not quite $50,000,000 into spasmodlc
circulation. People do not like to be COM
PEELED by law to carry it, and we do not re-
ceive silver ourselves with any praiseworthy
cordality. Our condition is somewhat like
that of one of our distinguished hnmOrists,
who in our late war would not enlist HIM
self, but was very willing that all OF his
wife's relatives should.
Whenever the government from inability
or from indisposition shall fail to maintain
the silver dollar on par value with gold, all
of the silver certificates as well as all other
paper cur1 ency, together with the silver dol
lar itself, will fall to exact the commercial
value of the bullion contained in the stand
ard silver dollar. All our legal tender must
then stand on that basis. There is no fnan-
cial or legislative witchcraft that offers any
other fate. Democratic treasury officials are
held to be no more honest tnan tnelI preue-
cessors and it is not for me to claim that they
are but all have been at work from early
morning until the evening twilight in push
ing silver at every cross roads OF the c0un-
try. OF course the inevitable result OF using
silver in payment of the public debt would
be to Danish gold, or two thirds of all eur
present metallic circulation, and leave us
with nothing but silver coinage, and our flye
or six hundred millions of gold would soon
command premium, increasing day by day.
Go where it might it would have more appre-
citation and its departure conld not fail to
produce a serious monetary crisis, and con-
traction which Congress would be promptly
asked to cure by an indefinite issue OF legal
tender greenbackS, or by revival OF the
wildcat banks to supply the place OIL the de-
parted gold. This or anything the supreme
court has already announced Congress may
do at its pleasure. Such step once taken,
however, the experience OF the world SHOWS
cannot be easily retraced
Mr. Morrill, characterized the. old time
Democratic party as party OF lnf1eXlDle
hostility to paper money and devotion to gold
and asked why the financial principles OF
jefferson and jackson were now denounced.
1t could not be, he said, that there was any
where any reluctance to paying the wages OF
laborers or pensions OF Union soldiers IN
dollar worth 100 cents.
He criticised Mr.. Beck'S reference to pro-
tective tariff and American shipping. He
insisted that the farmer of this country was
protected, almost all Harm products peing
covered by tariff, even peanuts not being
forgotten. American money was not invest
ed in shipping, Mr. Morrill, said because
more profitable use was found for it in other
directions.
On the conclusion of Mr.. MorrilPs re-
marks, Mr.. Beck said he thought the country
would think on reading Mr.. Morrill's speech
that if that were the best the mono-metal-
lists could do, and the best the treasury
could aid him to do, their case. was very
poor one.
Mr. Teller denied the statement made by
Mr. Morrill, to the effect that $165,000,000 of
the $215, 100000 silver dollars already coined
could not be got into circulation. That
statement had also been made by the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of the Treasury and
had not been made by accident. So far as
the treasury officials were concerned it was
intended to mislead and had mislead people.
By the same process of logic it could be as
serted that $252, 100000 of the gold in the
| treasury could not be put in circulation.
| The government, Mr.. Teller said, had made
| 10000, 900 profit on the coinage of silver.
| They'had no right to make a profit on its
| coinage. The talk of the government losing
money on silver coinage was all bosh and
nonsense.
| The Senate at $40 p. IN. went into eXecu-
| tive session and later adjourned.
HOUSE.
In the morning hour Mr.. Matson of Indi-
ana, in behalf of the committee on invalid
| pensions. called up the bill increasing the