The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-30
Free Coinage Battle Trans.
ferred to the Upper House.
THE MINE OWNERS CANNOT WIN.
Senator Carlisle and Other Democrats
Will Put Quietus on the Bill.
Bland and His Followers Have Lost
Hope-Hansbrough Won't Vote for
Free Coinage, and at the Very Best

WASHINGTON City, March 9.-The free
coinage men have not yet given up the
fight in the House. The controversy be-
tween Bland and the speaker was the sub
ject of general comment today, and Bland
announced that he would make no further
attempt to secure cloture rule, but Pierce
and other leaders have again taken courage
and will make supreme attempt to force
the committee to report a rule. Up to
this evening they have secured between
ninety and hundred names to the petit
ton, but require lis. Many believe it will
be found impossible to get them.
The most jubilant members of the House
just now are the Peoples party congress-
men, who rejoice in the discontinue of
the Democratic majority and proclaim
that the failure of the Democratic House
to pass the free coinage bill means that
the Peoples party will carry six or eight
states in the coming campaign. Watson
of Georgia talked at length to this effect
tonight, and said this action is the death
of the old Democratic organization, par
ticularly in the South.
The notice given in the Senate
this afternoon by Stewart of an inten-
ton to call up his free silver coinage
bill on Monday, created sensation, not
withstanding the fact that it was ex-
pected, in view of the setback the Bland
bill has received in the House, that the
struggle must sooner or later be trans
ferred to the Senate. As far as can be
learned, Stewart appears to have acted on
his own responsibility IN precipitating the
issue.
1t is said by some silver men that
Speaker Crisp urged them to pass the sill
yer bill in the Senate and let it come over
to the House, when it would be in posi-
ton much more favorable for action than
if it came before the House in the shape of
an original report from the coinage COM
mittee. Some Republican silver senator's
were unable to see the force of this reason
ing, fearing that the speaker was playing
for the party advantage which might be
expected to follow the passage of the silver
bill By the Republican Senate even by the
instrumentality of Democratic votes.
The Democratic senators are as yet un-
decided as to the attitude they shall as
sumo when the bill is called up by Stewart.
Carlisle remarked that the outcome of the
effort to pass the bill is extremely doubt
full. This view appears to be generally en-
tertained on this side of the chamber 1t
is probable that there Will be a gen.
eral consultation among Democratic
senators before Monday, with the
purpose of reaching an agreement upon a
united line of action. The Republican
opinion is that the bill will not pass.
Hansbrough of South Dakota, who had
been included in all the estimates as being
in the ranks of the silver men, said very
frankly this eEternoon that he would
oppose with his vote any effort to pass
pure free coinage bill. and believes that
there are not ten Republican senators
who would vote for such bill.
He called attention to the fact that Per-
kins, successor to Plumb in the Senate, is
an anti-free coinage man, and felt conf
dent that even with the full strength
which the Democratic silver senators have
shown in the last struggle the bill would
not have more than one majority.
As matter of fact he believed the
Democrats were divided on the question,
and he expected that when it came to
test vote many of them who formerly
voted for the Vest bill would vote against
the Stewart bill. Stewart himself is not
very sanguine of the success of his move.
He says, however, that the country is en-
titled to know exactly how the senators
stand on the silver question, and he pre-
poses to put them on record, if he can.
LONDON, March 29-The Times financial
article contains the following: If the
silver party in the American congress will
accept defeat, the silver market will doubt
less partly recover from the fall of the past
eighteen months and eventually settle
down to price sufficient to maintain its
production at the level required by the
real wants of the world. But the silver
party is powerful and not likely to accept
the defeat as final. Further endeavors to
create an artificial demand are far from
improbable, and the mines, which were
unremunerative before the recent fall ), will
perhaps be kept going in the hope of ulti-
mately proving profitable.
ALBANY. n. Y, March 29.-In the Sem
ate last night a resolution approving the
action of the New York congressman in
opposing the free silver bill was laid aside.
The same resolution was also choked in