The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-01
SHERMAN TALKS SILVER.
THE SENATORS GIVE HIM VERY
CLOSE ATTENTION.

He Opens by Denying That the Free
Coinage Question Is Partisan Issue
He Looks Upon 1t as a Local Measure.
Evils Which 1t Ia Feared Would Fol-
low the Passage of the Measure.
WASHINGTON, May 31.-There was a very
small attendance of senator's at the opening
prayer this morning and only a dozen or
more came into the chamber while the jour
nal Of Friday was being read. Not one Of
the supposed presidential aspirants either
republican OF democratic was in his seat +,
although Mr. German came in during the
morning business. The Vie President was
also absent and Mr.. Henderson took the
chair as president pro tenn.
The calendar was taken up and bills upon
1t were disposed of as follows:
The Senate bill granting the right of way
TO the Mexican Gull, Pacific and Puget
Sound Railroad Company through public
lands in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and
Tennessee. aud through the naval and mill
tary reservations near Pensacola, Fla,
passed. ..
n The Senate bill appropriating S1l 500 for
q road TO the national cemetery at Dover,
Tenn. passed.
At O'Clock the calendar was laid aside
gold and silver was taken up. There were
then about dozen senators on each side of
the chamber, including Mr.. Hill on the
democratic side. Mr. Sherman had been In
his seat for the preceding half hour waiting
for the bill to be taken up. Messrs. Teller
and Stewart were also present and were in
1requenv consultation.
SHERMAN BEGINS HIS SPEECH.
Mr.. Sherman prefaced his speech on the
silver bill by saying that he did not regard
II as a partisan measure, or as political
measure on which the parties were likely to
divide. IL was largely local measure.
There was no question to be compared with
It in the Importance OF its effects on the
business interests of the country. Five
states were largely interested in the produc-
ton Of silver and were ably and zealously
represented in the Senate. The south seemed
also to have caught something of the spirit
that actuated the mining states because it
desired not exactly free coinage Of silver
but expansion of the currency, cheaper
money, broader credit. It was also repre-
scented largely in the Senate in favor of
free coinage of silver and so in other parts
of the country. He. representing a state
nearly central in population. had tested the
sense of the people Of Ohio and they, he
believed, were by a large majority not
only in the Republican party, but in the
Democratic party, opposed to free coinage
of silver. They believed that it would
degrade the body of the currency. reduce
ats purchase power one-third, destroy the
bimetallic system Of the country, and reduce
the country to a single monetary standard
of silver, measured at the rate of 81 grains
20 the dollar He went on to defend the
financial action Of the Republican party and
his own part in it.
SHERMAN ARoUsEs INTEREST.
Not more than twenty-five senator's were
in the chamber during the first two hours of
the session and they wore an air of listess>
ness. But that listlessness disappeared and
the Senate chamber filed up as Mr.. Sher-
man proceeded with his speech. All around
him on the republican side OF the chamber
his colleagues settled themselves In their
chairs and faced him with an air of marked
attention. 1t was the same on the dem
ocratic side. During the two and a
half hours that Mr.. Sherman
spoke but few senators left
the chamber. Fully seventy of them re-
manned in their seats nearly all the time,
paying close attention to his argument.
Mr.. Sherman's manner was forcible, his
voice was clear and strong and he spoke
like one who felt deeply the Importance of
carrying conviction to his hearers. AL
though he was interrupted on several CO.
casions he did not allow himself to be
diverted from the course which he had
marked out for himself. He had not finished
his argument when the hour of adjourn
ment came.