Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-11-03

tine protecting the national currency
from the disaster that would invariably
follow In the wake Of free coinage IL
was believed that 1t would be given a
passage without very Strenuous oppoSi
| ton. This idea proved 10 be delnsion
The free silver men opposed the meas
ure with the utmost yigor- On January
Ia. 1891, Mr.. Vest Of Missouri. the Dem
ocratie leader In the Senate. moved an
| amendment to the bill, striking out all
after the enaeting clause and providing
tha, Hereafter any owner Of silver bal
lion may deposit the same at any mint Of
the United States to be formed into
standard dollars or bars for his benefit
Without charge This amendment,
making the bill free coinage measure.
was passed. after brief discussion, by
vote Of 80 10 27--oniy one Democrat,
Wilson Of Maryland. registering himself
against It. No Democratic senator had
word TO say In opposition 10 it.
10 the National House the situation
was nearly the same. The Democratic
party, By large majority, were sup
porters Of free coinage. Such pronounced
party men az Bland Of Missouri; Wheeler
OF Alabama; Williams Of Illinois; Tucker
Of Virginia; Geary Of California. and
Clements Of Georgia, fastened 10 intro
duee free coinage measures with the
hearty approval Of their Democratic
associates. It will be noted that onig
one Of these gentlemen came from a
mining district. The records show
that free silver coinage found
Democratic supporters, and that the
Democratic congressman from fully w O.
thirds OF the states we're unanimous in
| their support OF that measure. ON the
| other hand the very few Republicans
who could be brought to ita support were
nearly all from mining districts. IL is
apparent from this that the Democrats
advocated it as q party policy and that
| the few Republicans who united with
them did go as the result of local pres
sure. The patient reader will look
| through the voluminous records OF Con-
gress-monuments Of Democratic yer
| bosity-Speaker Reed has figured that
they dispensed 100000 during the
| season-5OO, 900 more than at any
precious eruption; and among them
all will search in vain for
protests against the free coinage of
silver. The opposition to this party
policy on the part of a few Eastern
Democrats is thing Of recent birth
Like .jonah's gourd it has sprung up in
single night. 1t is evident that they,
too, like the few Republicans who sup
port free coinage, have yielded party
convictions to the pressure Of local SEN
timent
But the Standard declares that the
JoI RNAL does not show, and cannot
show. that the House Of Representatives,
when 1t had Democratic majority. ever
committed the party to that free silver
coinage policy"
Can this indeed be true? on page
G26G OF the Congressional Record-June
-, lSJ0-we find Mr. Roger Q Mills
that Democratic Ajax making use of
the following language:
we the Democratic me mbars of the
House, passed free Coinsge bill over
twelve years ago. 1t went to the Senate,
and your Republican Senate put a re
striction upon it, and prevented 1t
from being what the Democrats Of
the House asked that it should
be. Again. few years afterward, we
did il and yod sent 1t back to US emascu'
lated" Now 1t is evident that one Of
these Democratic authorities is wrong
While ordinarily we might be in doubt
as to which one it was, in the present
case, little study of Congressional his
tory has shown US beyond doubt that
it is the Standard Mr.. Mills, with his
somewhat fiery rhetoric, undoubtedly
refers to a bill introduced by Mr.. Bland
of Missouri-of Bland dollar fame-at
the extra session of Congress called by
President Hayes on the 18th of October,
1877. Mr.. Bland has always been an
ardent champion of free silver coinage
At the opening Of the above session he
brought forward measure for the free
coinage of silver dollars Of tl24 grains,
full legal tender for all debts, public
and private This bill WAS given pass
age by the Democratic House on Nov. >,
by large party vote; but, as Mr.. Mills
says. the Republican Senate -staudi ng
then as pow for honest money-''pre
vented It from being what the Demo
Gratis asked that it should be-" viz; free
coinage. As Mr.. Mills points out the
Democratic members renewed their
efforts in behalf of their pet monetary
measure. and were again prevented by
the Republicans from accomplish
ing their purpose. subsequently a
compromise was effected by the passage
of the Bland bill, with the restrictive
clause engrafted upon it by Repub
lican Senate, limiting the coinage of
silver between the the minimum and
maximum %; $1,000, 900 and 81 600 600.
without this resti iction. and as origi
nally passed by the House of
Representatives, the bill was free
coinage measure, pure and simple.
As result of this compromise
measure the silver question was removed
from the political are ma until its sudden,
and somewhat une expected re appearance
in the deliberations OF the 5lst Congress.
Had 1t not been for this fact it would
have been as cordially endorsed by the
Democratic convention which nominated
General Hancock as it had been by the
Democrats Ia Congress.
We have devoted considerable space
to this article, but we make no apologies
for doing so. The subject Is now cur
rent and q burning issue, and little
historical retrospeetion won't come
amiss. few years work many and
astounding changes, even leading the
Biddeford Standard to entirely forget
the fact that the Democratic party is the
father OF free silver coinage.
II II :" en-:
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