The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-06-29
VIEWS OF SENATOR PETER
He Thinks the World Is Rapidly Drift
ing to an Exclusively Gold Basis,
And Predicts General Disaster Sooner or
Later-Action Of the Indian Council
Tariff Out Of Sight.

Senator w. A. PETER, of Kansas. was reg
istered at the Sherman House yesterday.
having arrived on the early train from the
West. When seen by q Journal reporter
he said that he was on his way to the East,
and sitter stop of day at Harrisburg.
would proceed to New York city. He is en-
gagged IN work in conn ecti"n with one OF
the Senate committees. He left on the
afternoon Pennsylvania train for Harris
burg. He was very ready to talk after
mailing q quantity of letters in the hotel
mail box. in q sort of easy way. as if he were
accustomed to that sort of thine. The Sem
ator then gave his enormous black beard q
turn out of the way. set his soft. high bell
crowned black hat somewhat back upon
his head. adjusted his gold glasses ana
pApared to be questioned. There is
nothing arlstooratic about Senator PETER.
and IN appearance the oft-noted lack of
senatorial bearing and dress 10 borne out
by the facts He wore loose lifting alpaca
coat and lark trousers. and there as no
telling whether his shirt was negligee or
not. or whether he had on q collar or not
for his beard hid all that.
''What is agitating the statesmen most
during these warm daysp was asked.
81 suppose there is nothing" said he.
action of the Indian authorities in demon.
etizing silver. The act is just In line with
the tendency that has been manifest for
some time. We are drifting surely toward
the gold standard. and gaming upon the
sad end in an increasing momentum"
What will be the effect of thisW was
asked.
.It means still further stringency In the
money market and final disaster. 1t may
be some time before 1t reaches this coun-
a n a n
not gold enough to do the bust
Tess of the country. and to
thrust silver out entirely is like trying TO
strongest financially will of course. be sf-
footed last. but the only fellow who will
stand mp under the strain will be he who
has the gold. He won't be hurt. Indeed,
he will profit by the conditions of gold
standard. because as gold becomes scarcer
1t will 60 up in price. and the owner OF
gold will profit accordingly. His invest
ments will increase In value In 80 far as
they are too substantial to be affected by
the fall ia prices; and he will not need to
have any other"
what Will be the effect of midas action
in reference to the repeal of the purchase
clause In the Sherman acti'
1T will help the friends OF the repeal.
look for she lower house, when Congress
meets In September, to 20 at once into con-
sideration of the money question. and the
bill repeating the purchase clause Will not
be long in passing. There will be bitter
fight against the repeal in the Senate. l
believe, however, that while Senator
Voorhees, has long been q strong advocate
of the free coinage of silver. there is ground
to believe that the Democratic leaders have
come to @ determination to repeal that
measure. The report from the finance CON-
mittee Will. believe. recommend the re-
peal of the sherman law. The friends of
free silver will measure their opposition
upon the nature of the substitute. If
nothing Is offered to them favorable to
surprised to sec the free-siiver Senators.
from q kind of desperation, join with the
advocates of the bill for the repeal OF the
en-per.cent. tax upon State banks Such
q bill 10 sure to be offered, and q strong
effort will be made to pass 1t, but the re-
suit 10 somewhat In doubt. That plank in
the platform was inserted at the demand
of the Farmers Alliance members from the
South. 1t was In the South that the sub
treasury plan was frat sprung. The far
mers there wanted q local money for use at
special times for the movement of crops.
That was one motive and the other was
that il would be . cohesion to the States
rights idea. For myself. l am opposed to
national bank laws should be thoroughly
overhauled, for the reason that the issuing
of money is purely q governments function,
and no other source OF money should be
recognized"
"Do You think that the increasing string
ency you predict will have the the effect to
strengthen the demand for an international
agreement as to silver ratio with goldp
There is no such demand. except in our
own country. The truth 10 that our politi-
cal leaders know that there 10 no demand
for q stipulated ratio in European ooun-
tries, and they have not been honest with
Us. There 70 no hope or proper expectation
of such an arrangement. The countries
which control tho finances of the world are
England and Germany, where the bankers
have been In actual control of monetary
affairs for centuries back, as witness the
Bank of England. They do not want silver
to be recognized, for they are interested in
keeping up the price of gold, because they
have the gold. There is great fsllacy as
to the good effects OF certain ratio. There
ought to DO NO ratio. | favor letting
gold as well as silver stand upon its
own bottom. so to speak. and be known to
the government only as bullion. That is
the only wsy 1t is considered In the bal
ances of nations. Ii is paid out to foreign
countries when the balance of trade Is
against us according TO its weight. The
people upon such plan would soon learn
that il is not ne essary to have q stamped
value for gold. but that 1T should be al
lowed to bring Its price In the open mar
ket. Our business dealings and our popu-
lstlon are increasing much faster than the
supply OF gold. so that an arbitrary stand
aEQ lOT SOlu 40 uouuu W al lOcTSh6-
ing disparity of values. This would not
happen If gold and silver were upon q
bullion basis. But If this is not feasible
the friends of free silver will be content
with the law governing the coinage of sill
yer previous to 1873 or the law of 1887, W hen
silver had . full legal tender value for all
sums"
What effect will this money strin gen.
CT and the Indian movement have upon
tariff tinksringP
The action of India IL q godsend to the
Democratic party. During the camp align
every Democratic speaker. and every DEM
ocratic editor aintained that the tariff
caused all our ills. But very soon after the
announcement Of Mr.. Clevelsnd's election,
it was suddenly discovered by these same
persons that something else was the cause
OF the cOuntry's troubles. Before his in.
auguration. and several occasions since,
the President let it be known that the
monetary questions were to receive con-
siderarion. and the last word to the coun-
try. through the agency of the press asso-
Citations. was that Congress would be called
together. not later than Sept. l5 and that
In the meantime the people ought 10 be
thinking about the money issue
There was not word about
the tariff. Upon the heels of
this we have the assertion from MIR. Ed
ward Atkinson that the tariff 10 to be re.
formed just as soon as the money question
is settled. In my opinion this let's the
Democrats out of q hole, and there will be
no tariff unsettlements for some time
to come"
Speaking of parties. what is the status
of the Peoples psrtyP
ut is in q peculiar condition. All party
lines are breaking MP, and the party known
as the PeOples party was only n temuorary