Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-07
The Senate.

WASHINGTON, April 4.--Some time ag
Sena tor Walthall introduced bill for th
withdrawal OF public lands in Mississipr
from sale at ordinary private entry. Tn
Public Lands Committee concluded to r.
port bill covering all public lands. an,
this morning Walthall by direction OF th
committee reported the following substi
tute for hiss bill:
Resolved, That from and after tb,
passage Of this act the public lands Of th,
United States, now subject to private en-
try. shall be disposed of unde: and accord
iDg to the provisions of the homestead law
only"
Cockrel gave notice he would oppose The
passage OF the bill. The Senate then
briefly discussed the bill to REIN burse cr,di
tors of the Freedman's Savings and Trust
Company, after which the bond purchase
hill was taken up.
The Senate resumed consideration Of the
BOND blll, the pending question being
Berks amendment. Teller criticised the
stntement uf Mcpherson al to the country
bring with n sixty days Of b ing ON a
silver basis witr gold at IL premium (ir the
atncadment .sbonld become law). He de-
'larrd tisere vas nothing ia the finaucial
px;rerience OF th@ country or the world
that would justify the sta atement that IL
t"O hundreh and ffty millions OF silver
COLI were put ou he market any differ
eEce would he made in the relative value
OI the silver dollar aud silver bullion He
denied there was any intrinsic value
in money, whether gold, silver or
paper. 1t had simply value CORES.
pondiug with it's ability to absorb
this. The silver question, he said,
did not cut any particular figure in
the pending bill. The amount of silver that
would be coined under the Beck amend
ment would be Insignificant and would have
little or no influence ON the value OF silver.
but it would tell the world that hegreatest
silver-producing country of the world was
satisfied 1t did not make a mistake when it |
partially remonetized silver and that step |
by step it proposed to 60 on until there was |
complete RECOGNITION of silver as a money |
metal in all respects equal with gold. The |
question was taken on the Beck amendments |
and it was agreed %, 81 to l3.
Reagan offered an amendment directing
the purchase and cancellation of bonds
with ten millions OF gold in the Treasury
for the redemption OF legal tender Totes.
Farwell asked il he pretended to saw
legal tender notes were not q debt, as
shown upon their face
Reagan said technically they we're a debt.
but practically they were money. The
easiest way to reduce the surplus and re-
leve taxation was by the adoption OF his
imendnent. Later Reagan withdrew the
lmendmeut on the assurance he would
AVE an opportunity to offer it to another
)ill.
Sherman moved to amend the Beck
amendment by substituting silver bullion |,
or silver coin over the two millions !!
monthly, but the presiding officer ruled it !
put of order. Sherman said he knew his
mendment W not in order but wanted
o show the Senate II matter which has not !,
'een carefully examined by the committee Il
ne Senator from Texas had spoken of Q
here being great industries in the coantry 8
hc-man attributed this distress TO the fact =
nat the Administration had not executed
he law giving it full power to use It's :,
nrpus in the purchase of bonds. A Is
House had also refused To pass 4
he Senate bill allowing National bank
urrency 10 be issued to the full amount ti IT
he bonds deposited. The effect Of the
olicy since the Administration cane into
over was that the national bank cur
ency had been reduced by $4,000, 900,
nd that was not all. When the banks
to reduce the only way they n
ould do it was by depositing United States b
otes in the Treasury, and that they had h
". l.
hat $1O2,O00,0O0 OF United States Z
otes was now lied up as the W
suit Of the faulty action OF I'll
lie house. So the result of that policy ii
the Democratic party was to make a oe
oube contraction of the currency. The .
stress could easily be relieved by con- N,
nuing the efficient national bank system r
I'D removing the present restriction OF the II
sue OF the national banking currency. m
r. Sherman spoke at great length in ad- q,
'cacy of his views OF the effect OF the
eek amendment.
moved to add to the bill:
rovided that nothing in this act shall
lthorize the Secretary of the Treasury to ca
in more than four millions worth per at
onth. Ia
Stewart moved to lay the amendment on
g table and without action the Senate Go Go
iourned. b