Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-31
MANY MINOR BILLS PASSED TODAY.
The Senate Does Considerable
Business in the Morning Hour.
POST OFFICE APPROPRIATIONS
The Bill iSConsideredin the House
Committee Of the Whole.
THE SENATE,

OF Friday WAS being read. Not one Of the sup
posed presidential aspirants (either repub-
lican or democratic) was in his seat,
although Mr.. German came in during
the morning business. The Vice Presi-
dent was also absent, and Mr.. Henderson
took the chair as President pro tenn. Among the
petitions and memorials presented and referred
was one from Massachusetts, against the monop-
oily In the production and transportation Of an
thracite coal, and several against the importa-
ton and manufacture of cigarettes.
Mr.. Turpie offered resolution calling on the
Secretary Of State for copies Of the dispatches
and correspondence with the governments of
reciprocity prior to the Presidents proclama-
ton OF March IL last. He asked that it be laid
on the table and gave notice that he would I'D
dress the Senate on the subject next Thursday.
BILLS TAKEN FROM THE CALENDAR.
The calendar was taken up and bills upon 1t
were disposed Of, among them being House
bill to establish West Point, va., o SUPPORT Of
entry and delivery in the collection district of
Richmond, Va. Passed.
Senate bill for the relief of citizens Of Oregon,
Idaho and Washington who served with the
United Statcs troops against the Nez Perces and
Bannock and Shoshone Indians.
Senate bill to allow thirty days leave of alb
scnce to employees in the bureau Of engraving
and printing. Passed.
Senate bill appropriatina go, 302 to fulfill
certain treaty stipulations with the Chippewa
Indians of Lake Superior and the Mississippi.
Passed.
Senate bill 'appropriating cas- 500 for the
owners and crew Of the Hawaiian bark Arctic
for losses sustained and services rendered in
rescuing 176 seamen in the arctic seas in 1871.
Passed.
Senate bill authorizing tine employment Of
mail collectors at free delivery offices at COM
naaf m offs
-, House bill granting pension to VIM. F. C.
Nindemann, late Of the Jeanette expedition to
the Arctic ocean. Passed.
Senate bin directing the interstate commerce
commission to ascertain and report on O uni
form system of automatic couplers on freight
cars. Passed.
Senate bill to furnish the Gettysburg Battle
field Memorial Association at Gettysburg, Pa,
with specimens OF teams, accouterments, &C.,
used by the armies in the battle of Gettysburg.
Passed.
Senate bill for relief of the sufferers BY the
wreck OF the U. s. s. Tallapoose. Passed.
THE FREE COINAGE BILL.
At 2 o'clock the calendar was laid aside and
the bill to provide for the free coinage Of gold
and silver was taken up. There were then
about o dozen Senators on each side Of the
chamber, including Mr.. Hill ON the democratic
side.
Mr.. Sherman had been in his seat for the pre-
ceding half hour waiting for the bill to be taken
up. Messrs. Teller and Stewart were also pres
ent and were In frequent consultation.
MR.. sHERMAN's SPEECH.
Mr.. Sherman prefaced his speech on the silver
bill by saying that he did not regard it as par
tisan measure or as . political measure on which
parties were likely to divide. It was largely
a local measure. There was no question to be
compared with it In the Importance of its effects
on the business interests Of the coun-
try. Five states were largely interested
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, a
largely in the Senate in favor of the free coinage
OF silver. And SO in other parts Of
the country. Incorporating state
nearly central in population-had tested the
sense Of the people Of Ohio; and they Che
believed) were, by large majority mot
Gny bs in as n ssRuSan party but
coinage Of silver. They believed that it would
degrade the body Of the currency and
reduce its purchasing power one-third,
destroy the bimetallic system Of the country
and reduce the country to the single monetary
stauudIu VI suFcT, ueusuEcQ ~ Inc rate OF OIL
grains to the dollar.
FINANCIAL ACTION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
DEFENDED.
He went on to defend the financial ao-
ton Of the republican party and his own
part in it. Starting with the close
of Mr.. Buchanan's administration he
quoted from a. letter written to himself as
chairman Of the committee on ways and means
in the house by Mr.. Dix, Secretary Of the
Treasury, showing that the country
was threatened then with an absolute financial
collapse, and he described the measures taken
to provide means to carry on the war, including
the issue Of greenbacks, which "wild vision
aries" now wanted to resort to again.
In a passing allusion to the national banking
system Mr.. Sherman said that these banks
would soon pass away-not because they were
not the best banks in the world. but because
the United States bonds on which they rested
would be paid off.
No man had ever lost single dollar by the
failure OF q national bank on its notes. De-
pOsitors had lost something here and there, but
very little. The system, therefore, had fully
justified itself.
THE HOUSE.