The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-14

would see whether the Senate agreed with him
in thinking his bill step in the right direction.
He was not sure that silver should not be coined
up to the maximum Of the limit, instead Of the
minimum.
Mr.. Sherman said that, as matter Of course,
he would not undertake to reply to the argu-
ments OF the Senator from Kentucky rhe
silver question; but he would reply briefly to
one or two matters Of personal character,
which the Senator from Kentucky felt justified
IN Juggling into the controversy That Senator
had never found him Mr. Snerfnanl lodging
responsibility, or evadlng issue. The Sena-
tors answer, to-day. to what he Mr. Sher-
mani had said when he last spoke on
the subject, was lame and impoteut to the
last degree. How had he answered 1T BY go
ing to the record and seeing whether the de-
monetization law was put through in secret
wsyt Not at all; but By quoting speeches made
on the stump or in the Senate. and grossly MIS-
applying them. He Mr.. Shermanl was now
able, from the original Senate records, to show
that the bill in question had been openly dis
cussed, fully considered, submitted to pubic
opinion in every form, inside of Congress and
outside. 1t was not bill OF his devislug he
had never seen it until it sent to nim rs
chairman of the finance committee by the Score
tary Of the Treasury. 1t die not become law
for three years afterward, and In the meantime
il had been printed thirteen times and had been
debated over and over again Copies of the bill
had been sent around inviting criticism; and
one of its provisions was thae the silver coin
should consist of dollar of 384 grains, half
dollar, q qEarter-dollar and cline, and that such
silver coin should be legaltender in any one
payment for all sums not exceeding So. That was
the identical form in which that section appeared
in the last bill, as it came from the House to
the Senate. That particular section appeared
throughout the whole history of the bill. from
the beginning to the end The House had in
sisted reducing the weighs of the silver dol
lar to 384 grains, or just the exact equivalent of
two half-dollars-thus making the silver dollar
practically minor subsidiary coin. So that
in the original bill the old silver dollar had
been dropped, and in its place a minor or sub
sdiary coin substituted. From that tune tApril,
Amt f6or arFf la ~ ~
1873 that provision had stood III the law. had been
printed over and over again IN both Houses
And yet members of Congress had been quoted
as saying that they did not know what was in
the bill If not, whose fault was itF 1t was in
Difference TO the wishes of the Pacific coast that
the Senate had substituted for the subsidiary sill
yer CON- proposed by the House, the trade dollar
of 42O grains, troy. And yet men, said he, pleaded
the baby act in the matter. He knew what was
in the bill He knew that the original PROPOSE
ton of the House was to convert the silver
dollar into a minor coin; and he did not believe
In that. He believed it better to have coin,
according to the desires of the California people,
that would become coin of commerce. But
there was one thing which he did not see. He
did not into the future. He did not foresee
that the silver dollar, which was then at a pre-
MUM of per cent. over the gold dollar would,
within fifteen years, be worth only seventy
cents. If anybody had told him so, he would
have thought him crazy. So that all that there
was about it was that Congress had not foreseen
the change in the value of the silver dollar.
When any one. in the light of these facts said
that anything was sought TO De OOno Oy 1nOl-
rection and secrecy, he did injustice to himself
and the records. AS to the payment of the in
terest of United States bonds in coin, which Mr..
Beck had found so much fault with, ne thanked
God that that had been leRislated for. IL it had
not been, what he asked. would have become
Of the national credit Without that strong
anchor of coin interest the United States bonds
would have disappeared like the confederate
bonds, into the thin air, "uphonored and I'M
sung"
AS to the Senator's talk about resumption,
who did not feel, he asked. that that great work
psrtments and of the people-was one OF the
proudest triumphs OF the Natlon7
As to the silver question, he was not opposed
to silver. He wished that no could add 80 per
cent. to the value OF all the silver in the world
and in the mines. But silver dollars would have
to be maintained at the gold standard. either by
receiving them and boarding them or by in
creasing their weight. If the silver dollars now
in the treasury forced into circulation
their credit would break down; but he did not
want TO precipitate this silver question. He did
not care to discuss it. His views on the subject
were known
Whenever he could his way clear-with the
general consent of the people, with the consent
of Colorado, Nevada aud California-to take any
step to deal with the silver question. ha was per-
time might come when all the silver product of
the country might be represented by coin certif-
icAtes, but then it would have to be bought at
its market value, not at the artificial
value: After all, what had his silver
friends made by their forced attempts TO get
silver into circulation Silver had gone down
steadily He would like to it advance in
value Congress and the Nation were powerful
in many things; but they were not powerful
enough 10 create values. These had to be fxed
journed.