The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-17
SHERMAN'SSAY0NSILVER
HEsrARTs IN BY OFFERING A NEW
AMENDMENT.

Senator Plumb on Hand With an
Amendment TO the Amendment
Sherman Favors Purchases of Silver
If the Notes Represented by it are
Made Legal Tender.
WASHINGTON, May 16.-In the Senate
this afternoon the silver bill was taken up
and Mr.. Sherman offered substitute for
the amendment heretofore offered by him
las to covering into the treasury the funds
now held for the redemption of national
bank notes.. stating that the substitute was
to the same effect but In better form, hav-
ing been prepared in the treasury depart
ment. The amendment was read as fol-
lows
SECTION 8. That upon the passage Of this act
the balances standing with the treasurer of the
United States to the credit of national banks
for deposits made to redeem the circulating
notes OF such banks, and all hereafter received
trs.s tor Ike purpose shall be covered into the
and the treasurer of the United
States shall redeem from the general
cash in the treasury the circulating notes Of
said banks which may come into his possession
subject to redemption; and upon the certificate
OF sthe controller of sthe currency that such
notes have been received by him, and that they
shall be issued in their place, reimbursement of
their amount shall be made to the treas
urer, under such regulations as the Secre-
tary of the Treasury may prescribe.
from an appropriation hereby created. to be
known as the national bank notes redemption
account" But the provisions of this act shall
of the act of June 20, 1874, requiring every
national bank to keep in lawful money with
the treasurer of the United States sum equal
to per centum of its circulation, to be held
Gad fnr rndaDoTffnu nf fe 1Ioffr
notes. and the balance remaining Of the de-
posts so covered shall, at the close of each
month"; be reported on the monthly public debt
statement as debt Of the United States bearing
no interest.
MR.. PLUMB'S AMENDMENT.
Mr.. Plumb's amendment to Mr.. Sher-
mans amendment was then read, to insert
the following:
And hereafter. no funds available for the
payment Of the public debt dncluding such as
are kept for the redemption of treasury notes.
shall be retained in the treasury in excess of
$40 000, 600.
Mr.. Sherman opposed Mr.. Plumb's
amendment as putting restraint upon the
treasury department and preventing it
from paving government obligations as
they became DUE AS 800, ,000, 900 had to
be reserved for the redemption of treasury
notes, it would leave only 81 ,0O0, 900 for cur
rent business. The interest on the public
"
SlO,OOO.OOO, and that amount had
to be on hand. 1t was utterly
impossible to have the hands of the Secre-
tary of the Treasury tied up in such a man
ner. No bank would be allowed to do bust
ness that did not have a reserve of from 10
to 90 per cent. to meet current liabilities.
MIR. Plumb defended and advocated his
amendment in a speech Of much length.
He wanted, SO far as he could, by
his vote and influence, to separate
the treasury department from the
business Of the people Of the United States.
FEATURES SHERMAN DON'T LIKE.
Of the features Of the bill. Some of the
friends of the bill seem to have abandoned 1t
already. The gentleman who introduced it
seems to have abandoned the principle of 1t,
but will debate that further on. There
are some good features in it, which like
very well. If we can agree
upon some measure that will
furnish to the people of the United States
more money (for think we want it,, and
will also try to advance silver bullion nearer
and nearer and up to the standard OF gold,
am willing to vote for such q measure,
but / do not want to embark upon the wide
sea of free coinage of silver, drawing from
the body of S3,000.000 900 of silver, and /
do not want congress to pledge it.
which will be offered-silver melted from
the pots of India, China, and all the world.
do not want to vote for any such bill.
Let those who would take the risk of such
speculation take it, not l. But anything
whatever that can be done by this bill or
by any other bill to give us more paper
based on actual deposits Of gold and silver
bullion, OF that will raise the value of
silver, will favor.
WOULD BECOME A BIG PURCHASER.
81 would buy every ounce of silver pro-
duced in this country, keep it in the
treasury vaults, and issue certificates upon
it, based on its market value, to any extent
that may be desired, aud 1 would make
them legal tender SO that they would travel
over the world, be as good as gold, and be
on a parity with gold; but this other
measure, which has been debated at such
voluminous length and with such full
eulogy, which invites us into competition
with all the world in the free coinage of
silver-'I do not want any Of it in pine.'
to use slang phrase. As long
as our money can be maintained
up to the highest standard Of the
most civilized nations in the world, / will
go hand in hand with these gentlemen to do
anything that can be done to increase the
volume of the currency based on bullion or
coin, because l regard silver as well as
gold) as one of the metals chosen by the
Almighty for currency But gold and
silver have varied from the very Beginning
of time, sometimes up and sometimes
down, and they are varying now from day
TO day in the markets Of the world. If we
can adopt measure that will make use of
both gold and silver, and keep them togeth-
er at par with each other, will vote for it.
If not / will content myself by simply
voting in the negative"
The discussion was continued by Messrs.
Cockrell, Aldrich, Ingalls,, Farwell, Harris
and Edmunds. chiefly on the point of the
gold reserve of S100, ,000, 900 for the redemp-
tion of treasury notes, Mr.. Cockrell assert
ing that there was not particle Of law on
the statute books requiring such a reserve.
and arguing that there was no necessity for
it, as treasury notes were rarely offered for
redemption.
The silver bill went over without action.
The delivery Of eulogies on the late Rep
resentative Kelly of Pennsylvania was post
poned till next Tuesday, and, after a brief
executive session, the Senate adjourned till
tomorrow.