River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-09-21
THE SILVER DEBATE.
Synopsis of the Discu ssion In the Unite'
states Senate.

On the lith Mr.. Pugh fdeLl.. Ala spoke in
opposition TO the repeal bill He said il was
the determined and unalterable purpose OF the
opponents OF repeal TO stand upon their con-
/ vietions OF public duty and fidelity TO their
I pledges 10 the people WHOM they represented.
and who had honored b can with their coni-
denee on the vital question, until their physical
] strength was exhausted
Mr. Teller rep. Col resumed his speech
againt the repeal biz He asserted, and he be-
/ lieyed il could be Demonstrated. that Il. it had
/ not been for a preconcerted effort in the
money center of the country TO prevent
( il, the LIST of September would have
seen better times in the finances OF the
country than the people were experiencing To-
4 day The calling Of congress did not relieve
/ the country; in fact the condition became
worse from the time congress was called In ex-
iraordinary session. Mr. Teller said he would
l at some other time give TO the senate his con
I eeption OF the cause for the recent distressed
/ condition In his opinion il was due 10 legisIa-
! tive misconduct
/ Mr. Teller next directed himself to stock OPP
erations. New York paper had published
/ daily for some time the depreciation In value OF
/ stocks or the destruction OF values occasioned
by the Sherman law, as the paper said.
I The paper had finally got the amount
up 10 s9O0,0O0000 In his opinion a great
many stocks were selling on the market
to-day for more than they were worth He
cited Northern Pacific, which he said had
! fallen from 20 TO II. II was said all the great
owners connected with il unloaded when it was
i 20 That company had s250,O00,OO0 OF in
debtedness; as eeo, 900 held an Germany;
great amount owned in Holland aud
/ England He then instanced Erie stock.
/ He did not suppose anybody pretended
that Erie would ever pay out He next
/ referred to Reading. Did any intelligent man
/ believe that any of those three great concerns
were solvent? Did not everybody know they
| were nsolvent? This disturbance did not come
I ha laW frnu no mis-
conduct OF officials Mr.. Teller said
/ he did not mean TO saw criminal misconduct,
\ but that they did not deal fairly with their in
vestors- ii behooved congress, he said, when
| IL came TO legislate upon this subject TO find
/ the cause Of The evil, and, If within its power.
/ 10 remove the evil
Mr. Teller then yielded TO motion 10 go into
/ executive session, saying that he had reached a
point where he could quit for the present and
/ he would take up another branch of the subject
| some other DAY.
On the lath Mr.. Mitchell (rep, Orel spoke in
/ opposition to the repeal bill He said that the
/ fundamental problem 70 be solved was: Are
! we to become nation of monometallists, and
/ if so. whether gold or silver monometallistsg'
/ He denied rat the Sherman act had been the
cause OF the panic The causes leading up
! TO IL were in part world wide and their
/ origin not in this country, but in specu-
lative dealings between London bankers and
the people OF South America. which resulted
fall Of securities) in bringing ruin to the doors
/ Of the Earrings aud other moneyed Institutions
/ The same causes-overtrading and land specu-
/ lation - brought bankruptcy to Australia.
/ These great and unexpected shocks TO the
! business world caused a sudden boarding. not
| alone OF gold. but Of gold silver and paper; a
I general calling in OF loans ON the
| part OF bankers, refusal not only
! TO make new loans, but TO extend old
/ ones. while general distrust seized upon
every financial community. These we're
some Of the causes which, in his judgment, In
/ itiated the panic, whose storm center had
/ passed from South America, Australia and GER
/ tain European countries, and which so recently
/ spent its fury in the United States, and the
| Sherman act had no more, in his 1udg-
/ ment, TO do with it than had the man in the
/ moon the recent n-tailed comet The fear
/ of tariff revision and of the Inauguration of a
/ free trade policy had also had much TO
/ do with the panic The trouble was in a
/ large measure started by the banks New
/ York bankers nudged the chamber Of commerce
] ot the city OF New York and the metropolitan
4 press The chamber OF commerce, in turn, gave
I tie cue 10 boards of trade and chambers of
I commerce throughout the country. The howl
/ started in perfect unison-all inspired across
/ the seas-and finally the thing got away from
them, proved boomerang, and the banks suf-
/ fered along with the rest Mr.. Mitchell devoted
some time to showing that il would be impossi-
bic to secure international bimetallism
Mr.. Hawley (rep., Comm declared himself
/ for the pending bill first, last and always.
/ There one general statement which had
been iterated and reiterated until he was tired
of il. and that was that there somebody
who believed in the total destruction of half
of the currency of the world Ii was
terrible misstatement Everybody knew
that silver had been used these thou
sands OF years with gold. Every body
knew that although Great Britain was the
champion monometallist nation, the people OF
that country carried moro silver money Ia their
pockets than the people OF the United States
did All sena' expected to continue the
average amoi - of silver money In reply to
question by Mr.. Mitchell MIR Hawley said he
thought legislation in regard to silver neces
sary in order to carry out the views advanced
by him. but now he wanted the Sherman Law
repealed
Mr. Teller rep, COLI said he knew what
senators who talk about being bime tallists
mean They have never taken single step
leading TO bmetallism and they never will.
This lisa fight for the preservation of silver
as money am u the nations OF the earth, and
there is not man in this chamber who does not
know it. Follow Great Britain If you want to
My allegiance is TO our own peope-to the poo
pie of my section and TO the people of the
country at large 1 will devote my time to
their interests and no labor, sacrifice.
contumely that can be put upon me will
phase" me in my opposition to this damnable
bill.
Mr. Hawley replied TO Mr.. Teller by saying
that If after two or three or four months II
should appear that repeal of the sherman law
was going to desolate the west and the east il
would be quite competent for congress TO
modify its action and II would be very likely to
do so
ON the 18th Mr.. Shoup (rcp, Idaho spoke
against the unconditional repeal OF the
purchasing clause OF the Sher law.
/ To repeal the Sherm an act would b 'emove
I the United States from the head the ma
tons which produced the precious metals; IL
would be to contract the currency to such an
extent that the government would be com
PEELED to issue fiat money; IL would be to set
back the progress of the western states and
ruin thousands OF workmen. He would OPP
/ pose with all the vigor OF which he was capa-
I BILE the repeal Of the Sherman law until some
better substitute was adopted
I Mr. Dolph rep. Ore) reiterated some state
ments to the effect that the business disturb
ances were due 10 the threats Of hostile tariff
Z legislation, and proceeded to argue against the
free coinage OF silver and vigorously criticised
those senators from the silver states who had
attempted to make this question a sectional
one
On the i4th Mr. Daniel dem. Va made an
argument against the repeal bill He said he
brought 10 the discussion OF the subject rro-
found sympathy with every class Of his fellow
citizens who had been smitten with an evil
/ financial dispeusation u would be unwise TO
I
date OF its incipiency cannot be traced to any
act OF local legislation 1t began in South
America, where there is no Sherman law. IL
swept over Great Britain, gold standard coun-
try where there is no Sherman law The
panic swept on TO Australia, where the people
are the richest people in tie world per capita
where there is no sherman law. The panic got
TO Austria, Italy and India and is now going all
over Europe, without the dreaded presence OF
the Sherman law
The republican party is delighted to attribute
the panic to the Sherman law in order TO escape
/ its responsibility 70 the tariff. The Mckinley
bill sought the sheltering arms of the sherman
law. The gold monometallisis arc delighted to
hide behind il the work of their own hands
I The bankers are interested IN seeing the Sher
man act repealed so that new bonds may be Is
sued on which they can base currency.
am often asked why oppose the repeal OF
the sherman law now, after having opposed its
passage in 1890 My answer is this: as there
a man who, having patched coat would throw
! IL away in the dead OF winter before he has got
a new oneg" DO the supporters of the repeal
bill propose to restore the conditions existing
at the time of its passage2 o. no The Bland
! Allison act--a democratic measure-was re-
pealed by the Sherman law, but the repeal OF
the Sherman law will not restore the Bland
[ Allison law
The demo ratio platform does say: Repeal
the Sherma law, nut il also says: Repeal
/ the Mckinley law" But would senators
peal the tar n law ard leave the treasury with
out revenue' Would they repeal the Sherman
/ law and leave the country without silver mon.
eys do not doubt the repeal of the Sherman
law would have some beneficial effects in many