Morning journal and courier., 1892-07-14
FREE SILVER BEATEN.

L
and Force the FIghting-The Hous
| Rejects the Bill BIZ a Vote OF I54 q.
| 1875 and Thus Ends All PossibiIit,
of Free Coinage Legislation at Thi
Session of Congress.
WASHINGTON, July 13.-The fight in tn
house to- day over the silver bill opene'
with a contest between e1-Spesker Rec,
and Mr.. Catchings, silver leader, for tn
right of the floor. The speaker decided il
favor of Mr.. Catchings, who yielded tn
| floor to Chairman Bland of the coinag
committee for fifteen minutes.
Mr.. Bland offered an amendment to tn,
resolution, having for its object the open
ing of pathway for the amendment Of
the Stewart bill, to meet alleged defects in
it, and also to apply the cloture rule to the
bill. He paid his respects to those mem
bers who he knew were going to oppose
his program on the ground of antsgonism
on principle to q cloture rule, and declared
that cloture lin the form of the previous
question: was fifty years old. This remark
was received with applause by the repub-
licans. Mr.. Bland, in closing, said that he
would vote against the previous question,
and that whatever gentlemen might say,
the vote on the previous question would
align squarely the friends and enemies of
free coinage.
Mr.. Bartine of Nevada spoke in the same
strain as Mr.. Bland.
Mr.. Clark of Alabama recognized the in
expediency of trying to pass bill now
which could not by any possibility become
q law.
He was followed by Mr.. Foreman of
Illinois, who said that he should stand by
the national platform and vote against
the resolution. Mr.. Patterson of Tennes-
see placed his objection to the Stewart
bill and to the resolution on the ground
that the democratic party was squarely OPP
posed to the republican party on the tariff
and the force bill and he would cast no
vote that would bring forward another
issue. He would march under the banner
that public Office is public trust"
Mr.. Catchings of Mississippi now yield
ed fifteen minutes to Mr.. Reed, who was
reluctant to accept the time. and sarcas-
tically said that he should feel obliged if
the gentleman from Mississippi would wait
until somebody had spoken in favor of the
bill. He did not want to stsrt with q
negative. He was, however, compelled to
do so, Mr.. Catchings insisting that the re-
publicans should now be heard from.
Mr.. Reed, in his usual effectively sarcas-
tic style, sincerely congratulated the dem
ocratic party on its attitude of repent
ance," a remark which launched him into
the debate with the attention of the
whole house. He said that his mind
was occupied by the picture of the
democratic party as minority i'll
the last congress. He remembered how
fierce they were then for free coinage. he
remembered the announcement by the dis
tinguished gentleman who had since be-
come the presiding officer of the house
(Mr. Crisp) that the one thing which the
democratic party yearned for was free
silver. He remembered how many demo
Gratis said how earnest and vigorous they
were for free coinage, and for a moment 1t
actually seemed as If they had struck q
level which might possibly be called a level
of principle. But Mr.. Patterson had
cleared it all up and explained the real
principle of the party, only he had en-
bellished the principle in order to make
quotation. That gentleman said that the
great principle was public Office" and
added that it was a "public trust, declar-
ing thereby principle and making quota
ton as we'll. Mr.. Reed then endeavored to
score point for the republican party by
declaring that il existed for principle
(which remark the democrats jeered) and
saying that il had taken the lead in this
fight and would enable the democratic
house to do better service than repub
lican senate had done.
Mr.. Reed was followed by Abner Taylor
of Illinois, who spoke against the silver
bill as measure providing for debasement
Of the currency.
Mr.. Pierce of Tennessee declared that
the democratic party was free silver
party, and he agreed with the remark of
the gentleman from Maine that in the last
house all except seventeen democrats had
voted for free coinage.
Mr.. Culberson of Texas said that this
debate was attracting general attention be-
cause it was "battle of the common peo-
pie" against monopoly. He asserted that
the democratic party was not in favor of
the currency, but was the defend
Or of sound currency.
Mr.. Bland closed the debate and then
Mr.. Catchings of Mississippi moved the
previous question on the resolution.
On motion of Mr.. Tracy Of New York
the yeas and nays were ordered
1t resulted 1853 to 1919 for ordering the
previous question.
The motion to adopt the resolution was
defeated. This ends all possibility of free
coinage legislation at this session. The
The vote was not strict and absolute
test, some silver men being against the
,loture or amendments of the bill 1t was
expected that the next vote would be tax
IN on a motion like that originally made
BY Mr.. Reed to enable the resolution re-
ported by the committee on rules making
the silver bill a special order.
Mr.. Catchings was again recognized,
and moved the adoption of the resolution.
This time the silver men voted yea, as the
defeat of Catchings' motion meant the
death of free coinage for this session.
The silver men were less than ten votes
stronger on the direct proposition, and the
resolution reported by the committee on
rules was defeated by vote of 1856 yeas
against 154 nays, or a majority against
of the Stewart bill of Is.
This vote Is the death of silver legislation
at this session. The Stewart bill remains
at the foot of the long roll of bills, sleep
ing the sleep of death on the over-burdened
Mr.. Tracey of NewYork made the formal
motion to reconsider the
vote and to table that motion, and then
the house proceeded to other minor bust
ness.
An analysis shows that the affirmative
votes were cast by 11S democrats Cincluding
the speaker), 10 alliance and s republicans.
The republicans were Bowers, Cheathsm,
Clarke of Wyoming, johnson of Iowa,
Jolly, Post, Sweet and Townsend. The
vote was cast by "a democrats
and so republicans.
Committee on Water.
The committee on water met last even
ing and voted to establish watering troughs