The Portland daily press., 1890-06-17
CLEVELAND PREJUDIcED.
Mr.. Vest on the Ex-PresIdent's Views
of Silver.

Mr.. Vest on the Ex-PreSldent'S Views
of Silver.
WASHINGTON, June 16.-In the Senate to-
day, Mr. Platt presented petition in favor
of an increase in the duty on seeds. Mr..
Blair introduced joint resolution request
ing the President to institute an information
al conference to meet in Washington in Feb
ruary, 1891, with view to the formation of
an international alliance for the suppression
of slavery and the slave trade, and of the
traffic in intoxicating LIQUORS, firearms and
destructive substances with uncivilzed peo-
pie, and to provide for the establishment of
schools of common knowledge, art and in
dustry. and also for the disarmament of ma
tions and the establishment of international
penses of the conference. The joint resolu-
tion was laid on the table.
The House silver bill was taken up, and
Mr.. Daniel resumed his speech. He express
ed the belief that the coinage of silver was
safe and proper. If it was not safe. the fact
gree, an experiment. But the experiment
could be made, as there would be ample time
to correct any evil tendency that might be
developed before harm would happen. The
experiment was necessitated by the demands
of the times and by the disordered system of
Mr. Allison addressed the Senate. He
said the pending bill was substantially the
bill proposed by the finance committee when
it made its report originally, with the ex-
ception that the House added to it a provis-
ion for redeeming in bullion and provision
relating to free coinage when silver had
come to par. He believed the original re-
port the wisest, and ON the whole, the best
solution to the question. He would support
the amendment to strike out the sixth amend
limiting the operation of the bill to ten
years. He regarded the Limitation unneces-
sary, and it imperilled the efficiency
of the bill. He did not believe the bill
would last ten years. He had agreed to the
report because it was necessary to increase
the currency under the present exigency ofthe
situation. The necessity came from the fact
that the United States having taken under
its control and disposition the entire aue;s.-
tion Of the paper money % td ;da sne cIun'ry, eo ~
enable supply of currency. BY the pay
ment of the public debt, the national bank
circulation was gradually passing away.
Public opinion seemed SO strong against al
lowing any other basis for that circulation
than government bonds, that bills intro
duced In each House, allowing different Sc
curity, seemed to have met no favor The
question was what currency could be safely
1t was evident public opinion favored the
issue of that currency by the government:
It has been suggested the currency should
be issued on farm produce; also that 1t
should be issued on liens or real estate. The
Judgment of the finance committee was If
the government issHed paper money, it
should issue it on something that was, IL and
of ITSELF convertible into legal tender money.
Therefore the bill proceeded on the idea that
whatever paper money should be
issued should be issued on silver bullion
purchased by the government in the markets
of the world at the market price; Silver
bullion had been sele eted as the basis for
that new paper money because the pubic
mind rested in the belief that sooner or later
silver bullion would De coined ana would pc
basis he was willing the coinage of silver
dollars, as now provided, should cease.
There were people who believed coined
dollar in the treasury useless and 1t would be
wise public policy to cease that coinage; He ne
as well to continue them to the utmost limit
of four millions month. The larger public
opinion was against that view and therefore
he consented that bullion should be left in
the treasury uncoined. ne believed sooner
change the number of grains of silver in the
dollar, and the dollars now coined would be
re-cOined. He was willing bullion should
lie in the treasury until it was known
whether there would be an international
agreement as to ratio. The pending bill pro-
vided that the bullion in the treasury should
be coined for the REDEMPTION OF treasury
notes. He did not labor under the delusiOn
that in the near future, under the provisions
of the House bill, or the Senate bill. any ad-
ditional silver dollars would be issued.
There were now more than 100000 GOO coined
dollars in the treasury, against which silver
certificates were issued, so that although
these dollars belonged to the holders of
certificates, the certificates being payable
for public dues when they were received
into the treasury, they belonged to the
government, so the government would al
ways have working balance sufficient to
redeem those treasury notes. He believed
the only safe way to rehabilitate silver was to
secure concurrent agreement among the
nations, whereby they would open their
mints concurrently to the free coinage Of
silver at an agreed rate.
Mr.. Vest commented on a remark by Mr..
Allison as to the new found zeap' of the
Democratic senators in the cause of the free
coinage of silver. He stated that had al
ways been the Democratic policy and read
the resolution he offered in the Senate in
1879 fer the complete reconciliation of sill
yer, which had been, on Mr.. AllisOn's motion
and by vote of the Republican majority,
referred to the finance committee where it
was buried beyond resurrection. Mr..
Vest remarked that If the Democratic party
said nothing on the silver question in its
platform in 1888, it was not because it had
receded from the position it always held. 1t
was because President Cleveland did not
sympathize with the majority Of his party
on that question. Mr.. Cleveland had come
to the Presidency imbued with the preju-
dices of New York bankers, and was, In one
sense, so far as his opinion on silver was
concerned, sectional man. He had reason
to believe that now Mr.. Cleveland was better
informed on the subject, and was in sympa-
thv with the people Of the great West and
ha nartu