The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-03-30
Silver I'm the House.

members on the floor OF the House was
unusually large. Mr.. Bland at the out
set told the Farmers Alliance members
that they could not be treated as a
| separate party in sharing the time for
debate because there was no party in
the silver question. Mr.. Bland was at
his best and he brought out the points
OF the silver men with unusual force.
George Fred Williams led the speech
I for the opposition inside the Democratic
party. In its economic discussion it
| was an able presentation OF the subject.
Messrs. Harter, Rayner, and other
! Democratic opponents of silver also got
! their inning. Col. Abner Taylor (Rep.) +,
: who is a member of the Coinage COM
! mittee, made vigorous speech, con-
/ trasting the way the rights Of the minor
; ity had been overridden in the present
4 House in the interest Of free silver with
! the consideration which had been shown
/ its supporters in the last Congress,
I when they were in the minority, by
! Speaker Reed. Col. Taylor said the
measure was the most vicious one ever
presented in the House. 1t has made
| the nomination of the idol of Democracy
1 impossible and had forced every
other Democratic candidate astride the
! fence, yet it must be passed to assist
| Democratic members in their election to
| the next Congress. After this prelimi-
| nary scorching, Colonel Taylor entered
| upon q searching analysis Of the effect
of free coinage. He yielded portion
| of his time to A. j. Hopkins of the Au-
rora district. Mr.. Hopkins made a con-
| else speech showing the weakness Of
free coinage and condemning the reck
less folly which would jeopardize the
financial interests Of the country and
deceive the farmer and the laboring man
in order TO try dangerous experiment.
Mr.. Bland said, in opening the dis
custom:
1t was just 100 years ago that the found
ers OF this Government adopted what we
call "the double standard" This provided
for the coinage Of gold and silver without
limit at the minis OF the United States;
that silver should be coined the same as
gold, should have the advantages and the
same recognition. The silver dollars should
consist Of 81 100 grains OF silver-pre-
cisely the dollar Of silver that Is called for
In this bill. This bill provides that gold
ane silver shall be coined at the ratio fixed
by the act OF 1887; that gold and silver
shall be equal at the minis. In order that
this equality should be preserved 1t is nee
essary that silver should be put on the
same plane In regard to the issue OF certif-
Gates at tho mint as the gold.
While this bill places gold and silver on
an equality In the matter of the issue Of
coin noteS In their deposits at the minis. 1t
also maintains that equality by providing
that when the coin notes shall be presented
for redemption the Government shall be
free to redeem them either In gold or silver
as II may prefer Thus coin notes issued
on deposit of gold bullion may be redeemed
in silver, or coin notes issued on deposit OF
silver may be redeemed in gold, just as the
Treasury may prefer
In arguing for q greater volume Of
money, Mr.. Bland said he would admit
that the refined system of credits which
has grown up in the country does to a
certain extent economic the use Of
money, but in the end the day of pay
ment Of these obligations always came,
and then we must have money. In 1881,
when we had passed bill for refunding
the national debt, the national banks of
the United States surrendered $1S,000,-
600 into the National Treasury as q
threat made for the purpose of inducing
O veto from the President-a threat
which effected its purpose-and the re-
suit OF this withdrawal Of 5000 900
from circulation put interest up in New
York at the rate Of one cent a day. Notes
and bends are not money-they are con-
veniences. The whole fight over this
issue is between the capitalists who de-
mand interest and the people who de-
mand money instead Of interest.
The gentleman denounced the periodic
attempts made for international confer
ences and international agreements
every time the free coinage Of silver is
proposed, and said:
Are we to be shackled here by the apathy
OF the governments OF other nations? Is
our financial system to be regulated, not by
our own ideas Of justice and our own con-
venences, but by the conveniences of other
nations? The moment that this great gov
eminent declares for the free coinage OF
silver the other commercial nations, too,
will solve that question. Self-interest will
compel them to do so. The restoration of
silver here means the restoration OF it ev-
erywhere-the world over The moment
you restore silver, IL gold is taken from cir
culation, prices will go down in proportion
and that necessitates money from abroad
to purchase commodities here that go down
because Of the contraction Of money. Ev-
erythng will be cheap. The man who holds
his gold lis simply holding it for silver, for
silver will take the channels of circulation.
Let silver be coined once and see what
the result will be- You may have to pay q
little more, If you have the two metals at
par, but let us remember that as a rule
when money is plentiful prices are good.
Labor, after ALL is the only money. :,
Mr.. Bland then explained the last
section Of the bill providing that when
ever France opened its minis to free
coinage of silver at a ratio OF 155 to 1, 1
the United States should adopt that
ratio. He called attention to the fact
that for seventy years France had by
its open minis fixed the price of both
metals and kept them on an unvarying
parity of 15a to 1. To allay any appre-
hension that might arise because of the
French ratio being 15a to /, while ours
was 16 to /, it was proposed that the
United States should adopt the ratio Of
153 to l whenever France did So
Continuing, Mr.. Bland declared that
the action OF the Government of the
United States on the silver question had
been an invitation to Europe to go upon
the gold standard. We began silver's
decentralization in 1872, and in all our
efforts to restore silver we had been de-
feated by limitation. When free coin
age bill was passed in the House in 1878
by two-thirds ma 'ority and sent TO the
Senate, the same idea of an international