Omaha daily bee., 1890-06-18
SILVER AS A LEGAL TENDER.
The Senate Passes Bill to That Effect by
Vote Of AZ to %.
WoLCoTT MAKES HIS MAIDEN SPEECH.
The Senator From the Centennial
State Delivers a Mastery Adj
dress ess-Proccedings in the
Lower Branch.

ine mousse silver Oil was taken up ana Alf.
Wolcott addressed the senate. Mr.. Wolcott
said that when senators who lived in silver
producing states were accused of holding sor-
did and unworthy and unpatriotic opinions,
and when it was said those who were de-
manding that silver be restored TO its old
place with its sister metal were spectators
and advcnturers, and were indifferent to the
true welfare of the country, he would have to
be pardoncd for feeling that he had a right to
claim the attention of the senate long enough
TO protest against such intimations and
against such methods of conducting debate.
If it were true Cas it was not that the people
Of the silver producing states were governed
in the matter by desire to protect an in
dustry on which their prosperity depended,
large warrant was given to them for such
course by some of the eastern states. The
country, particularly the northern states,
seemed to have fallen on days when politics
were rated at a commercial value alone and
when political fcaltv was made to depend
upon whether the prosperity of the locality
where the voter resided was to be better
fostcred by competition with other countries
or by large and prohibitory duties which
practically excluded foreign competition. The
prosperity of the people OF the
of their mines Yet, while they were less
benefited than any other region of the coun-
try by high protective tariff, they were
asked every session to stand by the duties
which the east formulated, and when they
asked that silver should also be protected
they were told that they were sOrdid and un-
patriotic and that their ideas were those of
dissatisfied and visionary people Mr.. VOL
colt went on to criticise the unfriendly atti-
tude of the administration toward the silver
question, and said that when Harrison was
nominated his record was searched in vain
for any noteworthy act or saying; that the re-
publican leaders of the west made
great efforts among the farmers and miners
and secured the sncers of the ticket that the
president had not exactly matcrialzed on the
silver question and the awakening had been
rather rude. He ventured the opinion that if
the presidents opinion on that question had
been announced before the last election not
single state west of the Missouri river would
have given republican majority, not be
cause majority of the people of those states
were not true and staunch and earnest repub-
hcans, but because they would have wished
to rcbuke overwhelmingly the party that Sc
lccted as their standard bearer one who was
unmindful of the interests of the country and
disregardful of the will of the great
majority of the members of the party.
An open foe was to be preferred
to secret enemy. The recommendation
OF t1S, secretary of the treasury struck
vicioeS9y at the interests of silver. The act
y
recommended by the secretary. The whole
purpose of the house bill seemed to be TO de-
grade and debase silver, to make it com:
modify, to reduce it to one of the baser met
ais and to prevent its again taking its place
as standard of value. In conclusion, MIR.
WOlCOtt said the silver bill was of far greater
Importance than the election bill, the anti
CCrrymandcring bill or the tariff bill.
The conclusion of Wolcotts maiden speech
in the senate was attended with great APP
plause and compliments from the senators.
The senate then voted OF. the amend
mcnt reported by the finance commit
tee striking out Of the house silver bill
the provision that treasury notes issued
for silver "shall be legal tender for all
debts, public and private" The amendment
was rejocted-yeas, IA; nays, 50-md the
provision remains i'll the bill The second
amendment, striking out the bullion redcmp-
tiom clause, was agreed to-yeas, 81: nays, Z
The third amendment striking out the sixth
section for the free coinage of silver when
the market price is 81 for 81 i grains of pure
silver was reiccted-yeaS. lG; nays 4G The
-, ten years was rejccted-yeas, e. nays, 64.
On motion of Mr. Plumb the following was
substituted for the first section of the house
bill-yeas, 43; nays, "a:
That from and after the date of the passage
Of this act the unit OF value in the United
states shall be the dollar, and the same may
be coined OF 4l2ia grains standard silver or of
25 $40 grains standard gold, and said coins
shall be legal tender for all debts, public or
lflNulti llul, ,lhtTtallcf any owner OF silver
gold bullion may deposit he same at any mint
of the United states to be formed into standard
dollars or bars for his benefit and without
charge, but II shall be lawful to refuse any de-
pOsit of less value than 500 or any bullion so
base as to be unsuitable for the operations OF
MIR Mitchell addressed the senate on the
general merits of the bill and in the course of
his remarks declared that any administration
which would set itself up against the free
and unlimited coinage of the silver dollar
wpulI be IL deserved IN bn hnplpl
power
Mr. Plumb moved to add a new section, to
come in as section =, rs follows
That the provisions of section of the act to
authorize the coinage of Il standard silver dol
lar and to restore its legal tender character
which became Il law February -, 1873, is hereby
made applicable to the coinage In this act pro-
VidCd for,
Agreed to without division.
MIR Reagan offered the following amend
mcnt rs substitute for sections 8, and >;
Soction3 That the certificates provided for
iu this act shall be OF denominations OF not less
than II nor more than 800, and such certii-
Gates shall be rcdocmable I'm com OF standard
value. A sufficient sum to carry out the pro-
visions OF this act is hereby appropriated out
of any money In the treasury not otherwise
approprlated The provision in section | of
the act OF February ~, 1873, which requires
the secretary of the treasury to purchase ut
-its market price not less than 2,009OO0 or
more thnp 100000 worth OF silver bullion per
month, Is hereby repealed.
Mr.. Edmunds-Without interfering with
the fine symposium we are having wish to
say that am opposed to the bill as il now
stands and to every one of its amendments,
III general and IN particular, and therefore /
am not TO be called upon hereafter To account
for having allowed the amendment to pass
without calling for the yeas and nays am
willing to deliver over To the democratic
party the management of the finances of the
country for the time being | only state this
in order that | may not trouble the senate
with demanding the yeas and nays on the
various ornamontations that are be n given to
this hoodlm which is set up, Laughter
Mr., Plumb retorted sharply and asked
what Air Edmunds was going TO do with the
republican platform, and iutimuted that MIR
Edmunds did not represent the republican
party
MIR Edmunds replied that he stood by the
republican party platform, but that the dem
oCrats and their dCluded followers have aban-
doued that platform and transformed il into
one which no democratic convention ever
dared make, and which no democratic admin
istratiOu and no democratic house OF repre-
scutatiyes ever dared propose, because they
knew the people of the United States would
swiftly lind out that they had been deludcd
and mised by that cry of expansion, and
when the break came il would not be the poor
or the debtor who will have prOtitod, but the
NUy people whom these gentlemen are now
n mill