Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1890-07-19
BLAND ON TaE NEW Silver
BILL.

passed the House and has been signed
by the President. The bill is not what
the real friends Of silver desired u
should be, but there is . possibility thar
IL may help to stimulate the market
value Of our leading product and to that
extent deserves to be given q Fair trial.
II ia full of limitations and conditions,
the effect Of which cannot be deter
mined without Q trial Of the new law
running through q period of several
months. II will not do to form conclu-
sions on immediate results. The silver
market is not in q normal state to-day.
For six months the banks and mine own.
ers have been Withholding bullion from
the market in anticipation Of favorable
legislation by Congress. Spectators have
also taken q hand for the same reason.
This e that an abnormal condition
has been brought about In the silver
market Of the world. 1t is therefore
q very difficult thing to predict what
the ruling price will be when the nor
NAL is again reached. But we wish for
the best and hope that the new law may
be Of service TO the mining States and
Territories and the whole country as
we'll. As . rule q compromise with error
is q detriment to any cause. 1t was the
politics Of the situation that secured Tor
us anything at all from the present Con-
gress. The record as made up showed
that II q bare one.tenth Of the Republi-
cans had voted with the Democrats the
country would have been given a free
coinage law. The Republicans could not
afford to go home to their constituencies
on this damaging record. They must
have something to stand upon. They
must assume q virtue if they possessed
IL not. Hence this compromise meas.
ure, which may be either good or bad.
John Sherman prepared the bill in COM
mittee and reported it to the Senate and
made a speech in its favor. We confess
that we have not much confidence in
anything that Sherman will agree to on
the silver question. But the party lash,
and the fear of Republican defeat, may
have caused min TO reluctantly acquiesce
in something that will be more or less
beneficial to silver. The few Republican
friends Of silver in Congress very gen.
orally in their speeches apologized for
this new bill. fSenator Teller Of Colo.
RADIO very frankly said that he would
accept il to cover the few months be.
tween now and the meeting of Congress
next Winter. This was a manifest hint
that the bill had only been gotten up to
bridge the Republican party over the
Fall elections. II there had been no
elections this Fall there would have been
no silver bill. Herman of Oregon said
the country was sure to elect q free coin.
age majority to the House at the coming
elections. We believe himt but it will
not be q Republican majority. That
party is not a free coinage party as has
been ~abundantIy shown by the record in
the present Congress. The country has
had enough Of Tom Reeds bull dosing
attitude toward silver.
Bland Of Missouri spoke mainly for
the Democrats in the House. Nobody
can doubt Bland. He has done more
hard, effective work for the cause of
silver than any man in America. We
give below the substance of what he
said as te~legraphed from Washington:
He concurred with the gentleman
Oregon in hoping that the next
House would be q free coinage Housed
but that House would be composed of
those who advocated free coinage and
stood by their colors. Il would not be
composed of the Republican party,
which, by gag rule, had voted down and
stiied free coinage. If free coinage
came at all it would come from that
party which stood firm to the flag Of free
coinage. and which had not surrendered
its principles at the beck OF Wall street. |
He denied that the bill was the result Of
q free and fair conference. II was the |
result Of q secret meeting of the Repub.
conferees. He, as q conferee, had
known nothing Of the measure until il
had been framed and the report ready to
be signed. The Democratic members |
had been ignored in the preparation OF |
bill. The bill was one which practi. |
cally demonetized silver. It wal a sugar
q~uinine pill. On first reading it
seemed that the Secretary was to pur-
chase 4. 500, 900 ounces every month, but
when q man rolled the pill around in his
mouth he began to taste the bitterness
Of "or so much thereof as may be Of
There could be traced in this
measure . stealthy and italian hand.
The bill surrendered every principle OF
metallism. 1t surrendered free coin
age. 1t made q combination with the
spectators Of Wall street. In
the interest Of Wall street it DEPARTED
from the legal ratio and changed that
ratio from sixteen to one to twenty to
one. To change the ratio was 10 nile
up so much capital in the Treas
ury at the expense of the people. and in
the interest Of Wall street and the bull
ion owners. He denounced it as a fraud
and a cheat on the people who were de.
handing q ratio OF sixteen to one. The
bill made silver simply . commodity. to
measured by gold, upon which money
shall be issued at its gold value. 1t was
true the measure might make a small in.
crease in the circulation, but would
make it by . concession to the gold
standard and q desertion Of silver. It
. declaration that Congress wouli
not make any further fight for bi.metal.
II was neither . silver bill nor q
srsenback bill. but simply q political de.
vice. concocted to tide over an emer.
sency. He denounced ID as a fraud. and