Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-07

that it was intended to stop the further COIN
age of the silver dollar. It relegated silver
to the same plane as any other commodity:
1t was a Wall street measure-a scheme OF
the ola enemy of the people. He also critl-
cized the caucus bill and advocated Tree
coinage measure.
NO AMENDMENTS ALLOWED.
Mr.. Bland, of Missouri, inquired whether
il was in order for him to offer an amend
ment The Speaker replied that it was not.
Mr.. Bland said that he could only protest
against the denial of right of a member OF
the minority to offer an amendment. he, as
a member of the Committee on Coinage,
Weights and Measures, had asked whether
he would be allowed to offer free coinage
substitute. The Chairman had replied tnat
it would be SO arranged. He did not want 70
charge any gentleman with acting in bad
faith; but he did charge that there had been
q neglect In carrying out the promises OF the
committee.
This gag law had been placed upon the
minority. Why had this been done? 1t was
for the purpose of passing bill through the
House, the effect OF which was to demonetize
silver. That was the object of it. The bill
was Wall street scheme and gold bug
scheme to change the ratio between gold and
silver. 1t recognized silver bullion accord
ing to its gold value. Silver was being
murdered in the house of its friends. He
especially criticized the bullion redemption
clause, arguing that it would prevent any
appreciable expansion of the currency.
QUITE A TEMPTATION.
1t would hold out the temptation to the
Secretary of the Treasury to make millions
of dollars out of speculation in Wall street.
No Congress which had any regard for the
officers of the Government would hold out
such a temptation. The free coinage of
silver would not only appreciate silver
bullion, but would depreciate gold bullion
and bring the two metals to a parity. Some
men cried out for dear money and cheap
goods. 1t was Wall street cry, and he
had heard its echoes on this floor. The
Government must either issue fiat money or
give unlimited use to gold and silver.
Mr.. Kerr of Iowa, advocated the bill as
a long step in the right direction, and
thought that it did not merit the condemna-
tion in which the gentleman on the other
side INDUCED. The bill would result in the
reconciliation of silver, and in the two
metals ultimately going hand in hand.
Mr.. Townsend, of Colorado, said that the
departure from the bimetallic standard had
been the cause of untold misery to the
wage workers, and benefited only those
in the enjoyment of fixed incomes payable
in gold. Prosperity would not return, and
the downward course of prices would not be
arrested until silver was returned to its
proper place. The only complete and per-
feet remedy was to reverse the action of
1873, and go back to the free and unlimited
coinage of silver.
A VOICE FROM NEBRASKA.
Mr.. Dorsey, of Nebraska, said that If
Secretary Window had purchased and
coined the maximum amount of silver al
lowed under existing law (S4, 600. 900 per
month"; there would have been no need of
this discussion, and he would have strength
ened the administration OF President Har-
rison. To that section of the substitute
which provided for bullion redemption he
emphatically objected. There was no need
for such section, for if the silver bullion
was in the Treasury and could be sold for
gold coin necessary to redeem the notes, 40
man would ever desire to have his notes
redeemed. It had been said
in the case of the specie redemption
fund) that if the gold reserve was not in the
Treasury the noteholders would want gold.
Would it not be better to cover the one
hundred million redemption fund into the
Treasury and use it as part of the circulating
medium; and, in case United States notes
were presented for redemption and there
was no money to meet the demand, allow
the Secretary to sell bonds to meet the de-
mand. The bullion redemption feature
should be stricken out, and he appealed to
his side OF the House to allow a vote on that
proposition.
Mr.. McRae. of Arkansas, appealed to the
gentlemen on the other side who believed in
free coinage, to restore silver to its proper
place, not step by step, but as it was de-
stroyed, in one jump.
The evening session was devoted to gen.
eral debate on the silver bill.