St. Paul daily globe., 1892-02-20
These Three Statesmen Had a
Field Day on Silver and
Taxation.
Ohio'S Anti-Silvep Hustler the
Central Figure in a Wild
Scene.
The Warming Circulars to G..
A. R. Men Resented as
Impertinent.
Forgotten Tom Reed Gets His
Tongue in the Way Of the
Speaker.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19.-The silver
question will not down. Its discussion
was resumed in the house again today
upon the presentation by Mr.. Bland OF
a letter in response to one of the HarteI
circulars to the G. A. r. The scene was
one of confusion and excitement al
times, but occasionally good home
thrust from one side or the other
brought forth hearty and continued
laughter.
Mr.. Harter was more than emphatic
in his denunciations of tae free silver
bill, which he characterized as infa-
nous, and predicted that if it passed the
Democratic party would meet certain
defeat in November. Warming to the
subject, he declared that ''if this free
silver bill shall pass. the time will come
when Democrat will not be given a
decent burial in a Democratic ceme-
terry" The first bill upon the calendar,
which was laid over. gave rise to some
discussion. during which
nIr. Reed, of Maine,
made some remarks as to the advis-
ability of counting quorum from the
members present and not voting. The
chairman and Mr.. Reed thereupOn had
short colloquy. which the chairman
subsequently alluded to as an ''alterca-
tion." II hope the chairman will not
designate it us all altercation," said
MIR. Reed. at was an alteration of
words" responded the chairman. THAT
was all the chair meant to say"
/ Mr.. Reed-I trust that the chair will
not designate it in that way. That
would be unjust to the chair and to ME.
The Chairman-The chair does not
Mr.. Reed-I think it unfair to the chair
as well as to myself. The Chairman
The chair will try and take care of him.
self and of the gentleman from Maine,
and will not do him an Injustice.
The next bill for the relief of A. J.
Duncan, of Tennessee, was the axle
upon which revoived another silver
wheel. 1t was set in motion by Mr..
Bland. who sent to the clerks desk and
had read aletters from a &. A; r.. post
in Missouri, .asking him to inform the
gentleman from OHIO tMr.. Harter1 in re-
gard to the
Anti-silver Circular
that the Grand Army posts were able
|. to attend to their own business. MIR.
Bland again criticised Mr.. Harter's at
titude Oh the silver question, and said
that he felt it to be duty to his consti-
uents to have this letter read.
MIR. Harter said that he aSScribed to
his friends (what his friends did not as
cribe to him) honesty of purpose. The
free silver bill was an Infamous meas
ure and yet he aseribed to the gentle
"a
This same class of legislation. called
protective tariff egislation-legislation
which was against the many interests
of the few. was infamous and outra-
geOus. He would be the last man In the
world to say that his friend and relative,
Mckinley, was an Infamous man. The
difficulty was not with the heart of his
friendi Mr.. Bland. but the trouble was
with the head. The house had been
told that one class of legislation fell
heavily upon ninety-five citizens out of
every hundred and took away their prop
erty and handed it over to the other
five under the operation of the McKin-
ley act. But there were
Other Burdens;
and some gentlemen seemed to think it
was perfectly right and very demo-
cratic indeed to take the earnings and
PiopoiIy uot Sl 30 peISouS OuG OI lUU,
but of $50 out of every 1000 and hand
them over to monopolies. Mr.. McKin-
ney, of New Hampshire, raised the
point OF order that this discussion was
entirely out of order, not being directed
to the bill under consideration by the
committee. The chair sustained the
point of order and stated that the bill
under consideration was one for the re-
lief of Mr.. Duncan, of Tennessee.
MIR. Harter replied that his remarks
were directed toward that BILL, as if
Mr.. Duncan got the appropriation he
wanted to be paid 100 cents OH the dol
lar. [Laughter.[ After many efforts Mr..
Harter again managed to secure
the floor and proceeded with his predic-
ton, which was that if the house passed
the measure which invited all the de-
graded silver of the world to free cOn-
age i'll this country, the Democratic
party would lose the votes of men who
labored tor their living, and when the
party marched to the polls in November
instead of marching to an overwhelming
victory it would march to certain de-
feat.
John Lfnd's Deepness.
Mr.. Lind, OF Minnesota, asked whether
he understood the gentleman correctly
I'm defining the principles Of the Demo-
gold standard. Before Mr. Harter could
reply he was again interrupted by a
number of Democrats protesting against
the latitude of the debate.
Mr.. Lind-Is the position of the
Democratic party for free trade ana a
single gold standard? Mr.. Harter-
The position of the Democratic party is
in favor of double standard. and is in
favor of keeping every dollar worth one
hundred cents [Applause on Republi-
can side, and demands for the regular
order from the Democrats.]
Mr.. Lind pressed his question as to
the attitude of the Democratic party in
regard to free trade, and Mr.. Fithian
take Mr.. Harter from the floor when he
attempted to make his reply. The chair
appealed to Mr.. Harter to proceed in
order, and speak to the bill under con-
SideratiOn. Mr.. Harter said he would
do SO. This man from Tennessee
wanted an appropriation Laughter
That appropriation was raised by
Taxing the People
and the question asked by the gentle
man was highly pertinent under the
circumstances. The Democratic party
was in favor of the freest possible trade
for the humblest soul and the protec-
tion of the American flag,
After scene Of confusion Mr.. Harter
said that the position OF the Democratic
party on the question of free trade was
this-that every American citizen was
entitled to the most absolute free trade
with every inhabitant of the globe,
limited only by the amount of tariff
necessary to corr.1i.at the government
lie had non answered the Question Of