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 Ad-
s-Proccedings i'm the
Lower Branch.
MAKES HIS MAIDEN SPEECH.


WASHINGTON, June I'm the senate today
the house silver bill was taken up and Mr..
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 adventurers, and were indifferent to the
true welfare of the country he would have to
be pardoned for feeling that he had right to
claim the attention of the senate long enough
10 protest against such intimations and
against such methods of conducting debate.
If it were true (as 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, a
large warrant was given to them for such a
course by some of the eastern states. The
country, particularly the northern states,
seemed to have fallen on days when politics
We're rated at 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
fOstered by competition with other countries
practically excluded foreign competition The
prosperity of the people of the
mountain states of the west had
ever to rest chiefly on the products
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 sneers of the ticket; that the
president had not exactly matcraized on the
silver question and the awakening had been
rather rude. He yentured 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 a republican majority, not be
cause majority of the people of those states
were not true and staunch and earnest rcpub-
licans, but because they would have wished
to rcbuke overwhelmingly the party that Sc
locted 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 oren foe was to be preferred
TO secret enemy. The rccommendatiC
8 cS,.&Fln secretaEI'-- = ~" on
Is cep:do I"-.. ...ySr Is ta'i9l Tslasury struck
COT 1873 was Infinitely preferable to the Bfih
recommended by the secretary The whole
purpose of the house bill seemed to be to de-
grade and debase silver, to make it a com:
modify, to reduce it to one of the baser met
ais and to prevent its again taking its place
as a standard of value In conclusion, Mr..
WolcOtt said the silver bill was of far greater
Importance than the election bill, the anti
gCrrymandcrinE bill or the tariff bill.
The conclusion of Wolcott's maiden speech
in the senate was attended with great ap-
planse and compliments from the senators.
The senate then voted on the amend
ment 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 rcjCcted-yeas, IA; nays, 50-nd the
provision remains in the bill The second
amendment, striking out the bullion redcmp-
tion 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 31l Il grains of pure
silver, was rcjccted-yeas l6; nays, 46 The
amendment fixing the limitation of the act to
y ten years was rejected-yeas, 4; nays, 64.
On motion of MIR. Plumb the following was
substituted for the first section of the house
bill yeas, 43; nays pa
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 4l2l. grains standard silver or of
70 $40 grains standard gold, and said coins
private; that,thcrcafter any owner of silver or
gold bullion may deposit I 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-
post OF less value than 800 or any bullion so
base as to be unsuitable for the operations OF
the mint:
Mr., Mitchell addressed the senate on the
general merits of the bill and in the course of
his remarks declared that nlmiui CT tinT
which would set itself up against the free
and unlimited coinage of the silver dollar
would be, as it deserved to be, hurled from
power.
Mr., Plumb moved to add new section, to
come in rs section . rs follows:
That the provisions of section 3 OF the act TO
authorize the coinage of II standard silver dol
lar and TO restore its legal tender character
which became u law February -, 1873, is hereby
made applicable to the coinage in this act pro-
ViuCd FOR.
Agreed to without division.
MIR Reagan offered the following amend
mcnt rs IA substitute for sections 3, 1 and 3:
Section .. That the certificates provided for
IN this act shall be of denominations of not less
than IL nor more than 800, and such Ccrtih-
Gates shall be redeenable 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
9abppropri9siMsd, ds M me proViSi.2n IN section | OF
the secretary OF the treasury to purchase at
more than 100000 worth of silver bullion per
month Is hereby repealed.
Mr. Edmuuds Without interfering with
the tne symposium we are having wish to
say that am opposed to the bill as il now
stands and to every one of its amendments,
in 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 navs. 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 aud nays on the
various ornamentatous that are be II given to
this hoodlum which is set up Laughter
Mr.. Plumb retorted sharply and asked
what Sir EdmundS was going TO do with the
republican platform, and utimated that MIR
Edmunds did not represent the republican
party.
MIR Edmunds replied that he stood by the
repuhliNan party pLatfOrm, but TINT the dom