New-York tribune., 1891-01-30
NP UIVDON'S LAST SPEECH

The sudden death of Secretary Window
last evening will invest with more than
ordinary interest the great speech which he
had Just made at the dinner of the Board
of Trade. II was an address of unusual
importance, strength and pcrtinency. We
have printed it in full in our report of the
dinner, and we commend it to the careful cX-
animation of our readers. The occasion upon
which it was delivered and the particular topic
assigned to the speaker enabled him appropr
ately to dwell upon two subjects now engaging
pubic attention in marked degree-the re-
vival of our merchant marine and the unlimited
coinage of silver These are subjects which
many statesmen, and many whose responsibility
for their treatment is small in comparison with
Mr.. WINDOWS, discuss warily and with an eye
to the favor Of factions and sections rather
than in the real and permanent interest OF the
country but the Secretary to his credit,
spoke clearly and without reserve advocating
the practical protection OF our foreign shipping
and condemning any present return to unim-
tied coinage in arguments that seem to us UNI
answerabe.
There is no ground upon which a man can
stand for an instant in opposing the plan to
revive our foreign shipping by National aid to
carrying companies, unless he proposes to main
tain the absurd doctrine that there is some
thing wrong in serving the common interest
in any way that happens also to promote the
interest of an individual There are some
economists loving distinctions moro than prin-
ciplcs who do make this assertion, and they
are the only logical opponents OF the shipping
measure now pending in the House. For it is
impossible to examine the questions where new
markets can be got, what they require, what
we can take from them and how far our goods
can be made to dsplaoo European goods in tho
markets we already partially occupy not to
speak Of such matters as the relation Of first
class merchant marine to the National defence
without percaiving that every producer in the
country would be benefited by the revival
The claim that this is sectional measure or
that it aids ShpownerS and shipbuilders at the
expense of the rest Of the country ignores all
the important facts Of the case 1t ignores the
fact that fully two-thirdS OF the frcights now
carried by or vessels are agricultural prod
uctS. II ignores the fact that among the bal
ance is literally every article successfully man
ufactured in the United States. 1t ignores the
fact that the manicSS of Our ships engaged
in the West Indian, Oriental, South American
and Australian trade all prove that the exports
carried by them come from every State in the
Union in fair ratio with its population. TO
employ the class and Scctional' arguments
in the face of these facts is sheer dishonesty.
The tone in which Secretary Window spoke
of unlimited coinage is Us much to be com
mended as the plain language he used. lie
came from Western State full of farmers.
covered by Alliance organizations. and closely
associated with the interests of the mining
communities And yet. concedng his anxiety
To bring about the time when the free coinage
of silver will be safe, he did not hesitate to
declare that such policy now would be utterly
disastrous 10 the country. Some Of the argu-
mentS used by Mr. Window. notably those by
which he proved that free coinage would result
in silver mcno-metallism and would presently
reduce the silver dollar to its bullion value.
thus defeating the very purpose which the free
silver advocates aim 10 serve, were employed
by Mr.. Sherman in the Senate during the re-
cent debate to the complete confusion Of Mr.
Teller and Nr. Stewart. No answer was made
TO them then. and none is possible. They are
As uncOmpromiSing as a table of lOganthmS
Mr.. Teller, il is tTe, did profess to believe
hat the European requirements for silver were
20 great as to reuder remote the chance of its
expectation here, but it only needs 10 be stated
nat the European stock amounts to eleven
hundred millions and that by unlimited coin
lge we will be offering 100 cents in
,old for every 80 cents in all that enormous !
toch OF silver 10 make Mr. TelleIS childlke |
aith ridiculous 70 suppose that that silver |
will not come piling III upon the United States
Treasury, and will not exhaust our supply Of |
,old, and will not thereby create currency of
liver only, worth no more than it's bullion |
'alue is to suppose that European holders are