Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-02-15
THE MAJORITY REPORT
Recommending Passage of the Bland
Bill win he Presented To-day.

Bill VIII ne PRESENTED To-day.
| WAsHiSGroE, Feb. IA The rspaYs Of
the msj0fiy committee on Coinage. ~eish;s
and measures recommending IT the Blsnd Tree
| coinage bill, will be presented to the House
| tomorrow by Mr.. Bland. The repert Dis
| cusses The various objections made against
| free cottage, showing where, Ia the opinion
| Of tie majority, thJse OH are i'll
| fou nded ard how the free uoinsga Of silver
would greatly benefii this country, especi-
/ ally the producers.
| After explaining the provisions OF the
| bill the report refers to the warning free
coinage would have and ospse ship loads of
| silver from other countries to be bsouph
| here ard dumped into cur muts Iii e1.
change for our gold. The report declare
| that sbipi0fdJ of SILVER brought 80 cur
mints by foreigners. would, uadsr he pre-
| pos, d law, be coinsd into stsEdsid dollrs
| and these dollars returned 10 him, bat lhst
| he must not go to our treasury and demand
| gold for them.
| Nor Guild he compel one of our citizens
| to swsp him gold dollar for silver dollar
should the foreigner tsks e0in NOES for
| bullion, he can take his coin note to th.
| treasury and demsud redemption. but the
secretary Of the treasury could hand him
| back the coin struck from his ship osi OF
bnliion. The foreigner then would sscet-
| tain that he'hAd committed the blundeF O.
| bringing silver TO cur minis wh5n it VS.
worth 3 cents on the dollar lass shsn vas
al home,
he could NOT buy gold with his money
or gold ia exchange, unless gold and silver
| were at par in ihis case there could be no
30 nj 60,
Ii gold went 10 premium he would have
TO pay a premium on his exchange, thus
additional loss in his enterprise Of sending
us shipIosds Of silver. If be iuvgss his
| money in our pFopertr and business enter
prises, it viii stimulate our industries.
awaken our enterprises, slve us a healthy
blsiness sBd a sound currency.
Every sh.tlcsd Of silver brought here
ard invested would brig urt xamplsd pros
! perity TO .his csuntfy, " bile panics would
occur in the old world. Business there
| would be pa,slyzed for the want of mo ,ey
his would force ehipfcsd4 of people 10
come to this couusTy from abroad in sesrch
| Of their lost shiplosds OF money. Nations
of The old world are aware of this, and
would see 20 it thst no such thing occurred.
The report quoted sr3m Ssere'sTy Win,
d9ns report fos 1859, IN which be tSgs the
position ihst no danger need be apple
| heuded Of food OF European silver.
The secretary said there WAS no known
accumulation Of silver bullion anywhere in
| 'he woFd, and the stock Of silver coin in
Europe was needed for business purposes
I he msiofity rcplrt sseerte thai couspt,-
zCy, formed in the cid world, sni succcsF-
fully carried through there sod hers, winch ,
aimed To confne the debs-ps'iag ui5 dunn
nations concerned to single metal, gold.
Gold il deGreed TO rapidly rise in value
thus rdding 80 per cont. to the value Of
credits, and enormously depressing the
| value OF labor ard he products CT labor
The promoters Of t-is conspiracy ara ito
benz fceries, says the report, Bnow that
| when this government hrows its Weigh in
the silver balance, the world will sgain be
restored to full faith and confidence in the
future safety Of silver as the money Of the
world. The old parity OF The two metsis
will return
The report refers 10 4 statement that We
give silver miner at our mlnts 1ne dolias
for bullion which costs only IL cents, ard
also remarks that wa of'en coin gold
miners product thst cosis hut four dollars
into money amounting to ole hundred dot.
lars.
The report maints!ns that there is sbso
lu,eiy no reliable data to estimate the cost
of mining Of our precious metals which has
one way and another been enlaiied Re
gsrding the assertion in ;he case free coin
age was brought. our sold will fee this
country at once contracting our currency
to $685., ,0o0, ,0o0 and the report states that
that official reports show the total gold in the
| treasury and banks 10 be only 1915, 40S ,554
The remainder Of the estimate Of $685.
900, 900 is mere guess work. The report
admits that return to the coinage Of both
metals on equal terms may cause some
apprehension, and probably disposition to
| hoard gold. Yet it says Ihs. any evils thai
| msy result must be transisoIy
The report declares thst to restore silver
| now would not make the radical chang
Affected in our currency laws by an act de-
monetizing it. We have coiGed, il says,
over 100000 900 silver dollars and have
besides over so, ,000, ,0C0 silver b1llion, AID
| are dow purchasing 4 800 900 ounces every
| month. Our approach to free coinage has
been ssesdy and persistent. We arc Hos
suf sfing all the evils alleged sgsinss free
| coinsge by its opponents sIthout the rest-
iz,tion Of the many benefits Of free coinage
claimed by its friends.
| The stocks Of coined silver would add 10
| the worlds money and would cheaper gold,
and render it less burdensome to inset she
| gold contracts than now Gold would b.
| invested rather than boarded. The report
| takes up the question Of the relation of the
| silver question TO Indis and TO show that
| silver demoneiizipg operates as bonus or
Indian exports to our disadvantage. ItI
states that countries having silver stand
% 4rp Ia FAnk.
| foreign debts In money bscsuse silver is, as
| compared with gold, deprecated,
| India, instead Of sending silver to pay
foreign balances, sends wheat, cotton and
other exports which have not los, their
value in her currency. This works as an
indirect bonus upon all such exports from
silver standard countries. Ia this country
ve are tied to single gold standard; con
| stquently Then gold goes up IS compared
| to silver, the lover the farmers wheat, CO..
ton and other exports fall in price. -
| The farmer in silver country Who seils
| his products in 3 gosd-usiug country, sad
get gold for them, can buy enough silver
| for gold dollar in London to coin over
| 81 25 in India. The American fa-msr car
not with his gold dsllar buy silver for coin
age 1t home. because free coinage 10 de-
MED him. Free coinage Of silver would
add at least IL to Is per cant, to the value
Of Gil farm produces. The report regards
low price silver as factor in the decline Of
cotton, and clsims that desgiss the failure
OF breadstuf crops that nss,iy eTeryshsre
except in the United States our food pro-
ducts are now selling to low for any profit
| The repor. srsues that large bullion pur-
chases viii not restore q parity of the .wo
metals. I, states that bi-metslism does
not tolerate the iasa that ore metal shall be
set up as 3 standard by which other metsls
shall be purchased or measured. The re-
port quotes fsom veil known suthcrify to
the effect that ~ people want always 70 pay
in cheaper money, the demand uader a
double sfaodArd for msssl which fall. os
in price results Ia raising the value Of ths.
metal sssia and bringing ths .wo together.
A review Of the way in which Frsnes
held two metals togethe. was given to shny
tie sbiiity Of the Uaitea Stasas 10 maintain
each metal at ps7, and it -as asserted sha
| free coinage would put moye money i5to
circulation besides rsisias the status Of
silver the world over.
Twelve custom house inspectors as Nsv
fork were removed Saturday, for ;nsffi-
| elcJs