The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-14
PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS.
senators Heck ana sherman ON the he.
monctiyatIon Of silver.

WAsnISeroE, March l3.-[Senatc. J.
Bills reported and placed on the calendar:
Authorizing the Secretary Of tho Treas
ury to reaudit the claims Of Pennsylvania
for expenses incurred in calling the mill
tia into government services under the
Presidents proclamation OF June Is, 1868.
Granting an increase OF pension 10 Mrs.
Gen. Ward Burnett.
The Senate proceeded 10 the oonsidera-
ton OF Mr. Bcck's bill to provide for the
retirement OF United States legal tender
and national bank notes Of small denomi.
nations and the issue OF coin certificates
in lien OF gold certificates, and Mr..
Beck addressed the Senate In advocacy
OF II. The bill, he said, had been referred
10 the finance committee and had been.
last Tuesday, reported back by n bare
majority. lie referred 10 what he said in
his speech on the pension bill rs 10 Mr..
Shcrman's responsibility for the silver
demonetizaiion measp:r. In support Of
his statement that that measure had been
carried through Congress secretly, he
quoted from a speech made In the House
by Mr.. Kelley, OF Pennsylvania, the chair
man who had charge OF the bill, 10 the
effect that tho bill was passed without any
allusion In debate TO tho question OF the
abandonment OF the standard silver dollar
law; and that he Kelley did not know
anything Of II for eighteen months after
ward. He also quoted from recent
speech In the Senate by Senator Stewart
who was In the Senate in 1873 and who,
although his State was deeply inter.
ested In the question. knew nothing
OF the bill demonetizing silver.
lie also quoted from n speech OF Senator
Allison In 1877 in which he declared the
bill OF 1873 was "doctored;" from speech
OF Senator Howe, OF Wisconsin, in 1877,
in which he spoke Of Il as an act Of guilt.
compared with which the robbery OF
5000, 600, 900 was vcnial;" from q speech of
Senator ingalls, In 1873, In which he spoke
OF IL ms "the elimination OF a scheme long
entertained by the holders Of the public
debt, devised by them for the purpose OF
approaching the value OF their investment
regardless OF the ruin and dcsolation which
II would bring on the productive glasses OF
the nation" from a speech by senator
Voorhees,, In which he spoke Of II M "hay.
ing crawled into the statute book lurtiyely
and noiselessly;" from speech OF Senator
Coke, In which he said that mo greater
Outrage than the decentralization actl had
ever been pcrpctraicd under the form OF
law" and from the speeches OF other sen
aton. He wanted 10 show 10 the senator
from Ohio (Shcrman) that what he (Beck)
had said on the subject was mild compared
10 what Others had said about H. Ifthen
was any faith 10 be put In human tcsti-
mony, then neither the Senate, the Con.
grcss nor the people knew that silver coin
was being struck down when the act Of
1873 was passed. lie also quoted from the
House proceedings on the occasion of the
passage Of that bill Regulating tho opera.
tons Of the mint. What he complained
Of, he said. and claimed 20 prove, was that
the House never knew what was In the
bill; that II was reported by Mr.. Hooper
M n substitute Tor all former bills on the
subject; that II was avowcd by Mr.. Hooper
that II had nothing 10 do with the coinage.
lie denounced M untrue the prctcnse that
silver was demonetizod because Il was more
valuable than gold but declared II was bo-
cause the capitalists and bond owners saw
that gold was becoming more and more
valuable every day. lie also charged 'the
fraud" was contaminated through the no
vision OF the statutes. The act OF 1873 had
not destroyed the legal tondcr principle Of
the silver coin then In existence, but the
Revised Statutes (which protested not TO
alter the law IN single syllablel,
came aflcrward and declared that
silver coin should be a legal tender
Tor not morc than s.. Was that, he asked,
an accident II was true that whoever
did Il committed palpablc fraud upon
the country, Tor II required the Revised
Statutes 10 destroy the silver coinage Of
the country. The truth was, he said. that
from the beginning OF the war until now
the moneyed men Of the country and their
adyocntcs and supporters In Congress and
elsewhere had sought, first 10 make money
out Of the county's distrcsscs, and then nj
all hazards and by all means, foul aud fair.
lawful and unlawful, 10 make themselves
rich at the expense Of the great masses Of
the people. The decentralization OF silver
was but one step--a step which was In
perfect accord with all the other steps that
wcro taken. The act In the Revised Stat.
ntcs was another step In the same dircc-
tion. There was not man In either
housc who knew that the Revised Statutes
took away the legal tender quality of the
silver dollar. Even the senator from Ohio
would not admit that he knew that the
thing was done. After that was done tho
next thing determined upon was 10 strike
down the grccnback (in the resumption
actD. 10 destroy u altogether, and 10 leave
national banks omnipotcnt over the land
And All this time tho senator from Ohio