Evening star., 1893-09-01
Mr.. Vanoe's Speech in the Senate
Today.
iR. CLEVELAND CRITICISED.
Democrats Accused of Violating
Their Party Pledges.
REPLY TO SENATOR GORDON

the Side OF repeal
The discussion Of this question, Mr.. Vance
said. was narrowed by the fact that all
parties profess bimetallism and have de-
ciared for the use Of both gold and silver
In their platforms The conditions attached
TO these professions Of bimetallism were
Mr.. Vance said. SO various that It could
hardly be conceived that all were acting
IN good faith. With all the grave pledges
Of their party platform. state and national
staring them In the face. as we'll as their
own speeches. promises and votes in the
past, blowing trumpet-tongued against the
deep damnation Of the taking off of silver
some Senators clamored all the fiercer and
all the louder that the only way to save sill
yer was to repeal the one law on the statute
book which gives it life. In the presence
or position so defiant of logic and Of fact
II was hard to speak plainly without appear
ing to violate those courtesies which were
demanded by feelings Of personal respect
and regard for each other. Members Of
Congress declared they loved silver money
btmetallism: therefore they slew 1t. They
wanted both metals, therefore they abol-
ished the one. They wanted gold and silver
coined on terms of equality according to
their platform. and they stopped coming
silver. They desired to maintain the parity
but cut the only cord that held silver up
and permitted 1t to drop out Of sight.
Mr.. Cleveland and the South.
If such an Interpretation Of the demo-
cratic platform as was conten6ed for here
by those who will vote for repeal and pre-
sumably by the President. had been an
nounced during the campaign of the last
year, Mr.. Vance said he was quite sure
Mr.. Cleveland would not have carried his
state (North Carolina) by $4,000 votes; and
he believed further that he could not have
carried a single electoral vote south Of the
Potomac river. 1t was said that there was
No ,Iov1 ffN.vv
In the unconditional repeal of the Sherman
law. but only a postponement. He won
dered II In any Of our political literature.
rich as 1t is in ingenuity and device. full
as 1t is Of eloquence and true genius over
burdened as 1t is with every conceivable
and inconceivable form Of wildcatism
and humbuggery. after hundred
Of free SsSs Snsrea Sas
chance to ventilate them,s anything could
be found approaching in absurdity the in
corporation in this bill Of a part Of the Chi
cago platform? Was there ever a cat trot-
ting through the tangled thickets Of the
Alleghenies, or roaming over the barren
wilds Of the Rocky mountains, SO wild and
untamable as this cat? Was there ever
any bug discovered and classified by science
with a hum equal to the hum Of this bug?
The democratic party In 1884. 1888 and again
In 1892 made certain pledges to the people
that they would make certain financial
DsdssI the II the tn poges psSee wSsne shey
could enact laws. Last year 1t promised
to secure the use Of both gold and silver as
currency and maintain the parity of the
two. These promises were contained in
one paragraph, and in good faith are not
separable. They constituted scheme by
which the financial policy of the country
was to be reformed. and honor and fair
dealing required those promises to be car
ried out together. Democrats were put in
power, and Mr.. Cleveland, though known
to be personally hostile to the use Of sill
yer, was elected, because the people be-
neved that he would carry out In good
faith the promises made for him in the
platform, and to which he acceded in his
letter Of acceptance. In the fulhllment or
these promises the first thing done was to
yield to the clamOr OF capitalists and an
ticipate the regular session Of Congress for
the sole purpose Of stopping the coinage OF
silver and nothing more.
Repeal Will Come.
Mr.. Vance conceded that the repeal pro-
gram was likely to be carried out, but
asked what would be done with the re-
mainder Of the platform. The banks and
stock broking gamblers were given all they
wanted under this bill, but the American
people were put off with still another
promise. II the promises at Chicago were
not good, how he inquired would the prom
ises inserted in the law become any better?
The President. in his message. did not in
innate that anything more was to be given,
and the promises contained in the bill were
Of so general a nature as to be evasive and
indefinite. II the party intended to enact
the laws it had promised 1t should do it
now. If the party was acting in good faith
1t would carry out those pledges now. and II
the friends Of that platform let go Of what
they had before they got something else in
exchange how could they justify them
selves before their people? II asked why
he could not trust the future for the enact
ment Of those laws which ought to come
concurrent with the repeal of the Sherman
ao Nr aofd tic
more nearly the truth than theirs-he had
no confidence. Being once deceived, he
could not accept any more promises as
those Of honest and responsible men.
Answering Senator Gordon.
In reply to Senator Gordon's query why
the friends Of silver halted between I'M
conditional and conditional repeal, Mr..
Vance said that by conditional repeal we
united the democratic party, or at least all
true friends Of bimetallsm BY the propo-
sition of unconditional repeal that was i'm
possible. Bimetallism was the most popu-
lar. II not the most potential. factor in the
last campaign; 1t was the one plank COM
mon to all platforms A comparison of
votes in Congress and in conventions be-
fore and after the proposed repeal would
form a contrast that would put to shame
the wonder inspiring patent medicine ad-
Referring to Gen. Gordon's change of
front. he said he believed he would be con-
demned out Of his own mouth, and would
be compelled to say, like the wld-eyed,
long-haired man who accompanied the
temperance lecturer, II go along to serve
as frightful example" Giving and taking
was fair but when one side did all the Civ
Ing and the other side all the taking 1t
amounted to surrender. Thirty days
from this time all Instructions to the bus
mess of the world would have passed away,
and today, according to the leading fnan-
ctal papers. an upward tendency was every
where manifested. He called upon his
friends to take heart and stand by the OBJ
ject Of their love a little while longer To
insist upon repeal in the face of the admit
ted fact that the Sherman law was not the
cause OF the trouble was an acknowledge
ment that 1t could not be repealed without
some substitute in cold blood and in times
Of reasonable prosperity.
Appealing to Democrats
In view Of the attitude of the President
he knew, and other Senators knew, that
any bill providing for either the free COIN
age or the limited coinage of silver could
not become a law. and to permit the pass
age Of this bill without attaching some
other legislation to it-knowing that the
other legislation could not be secured in
dependently and by itself-vas to con-
sciously surrender and turn their backs
upon the pledges made to the people If
democrats did this they must do 1t with
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