Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-09-02
THOMAS B. REED
Elucidates the Financial
Question.
DEMOCRATS TAKE WATER
On Wildcat Money and Free
Coinage.
From our regular correspondent

lFrom our regular correspondent
WASHINGTON, d. c., August 81, 1885
The all-absorbing silver fight has now
been transferred to the Senate, the House
having passed the Wilson bill for the I'M
conditional repeal of the purchasing
clause of the silver law, as it has been
plain for week that it would do The
Wilson bill now gees to the Senate where
it will be referred to the Finance COM
mittee; never to be heard from again.
The reason why this bill will be shelyed
by the Senate committee is that the ma
jority of Senators who favor uncondi-
tional repeal prefer the VOORHEES, bill for
the same purpose, with its tail-piece de-
claring it to be the policy of the Govern
ment to maintain a himetallic currency
As matter of fact this declaration car
ries no weight without additional legis-
lation, but it implies that there will be
future legislation and that implication is
relied upon to gain the votes of Senators
who would otherwise not vote for uncon-
ditional repeal. Whether this will prove
to be true only time can tell.
There are many rumors of OBJECTIONS
among the Southern free coinage Sena-
tors, and the claim is boldly being made
that number of them will, after max
ing free coinage speeches, vote for uncon-
ditional repeal. Senators Call and Pasco,
of Florida, are said to have made posi-
tive promises to that effect. So confident
are the administration Senators that they
can get enough votes from the South to
pass the bill, if they can only get it TO a
vote, that proposition has been made
to Republican Senators to try to get them
/ to use their influence with the Republi-
can Senators who favor free coinage, not
to vote for unconditional repeal, but
merely to agree to allow a vote to be
taken. 1t was stated to them that if they
would secure that agreement the Demo
cratic Senators would agree that the tar
! if should not be disturbed at this session
of Congress. The proposition was de-
] NiIhNh' IL NAMING DiOpOoitIcii tiiC
administration men showed that they
realize the difficulty in getting the bill
| through the Senate, even if they can get
the promise of the votes of majority
of the Senators. Under the present
rules of the Senate, which will not be
changed, twenty Senators can, if so dis
! posed, stave off Indefinitely the taking Of
vote on the bill, and that more than
that number are at present so disposed
there can be no doubt. The outcome of
this matter depends upon whether the
men who now stand for free coinage or
nothing can be persuaded or coerced into
allowing a vote to be taken. Mr.. Cleve-
/ land will return to Washington this week
for the purpose of adding his personal
influence to that already being brought
to bear on the Southern Senators to vote
for repeal.
Here is one good piece of news that
ought to please every man interested
in the welfare of the country There
will be no wildcat money authorized at
this session of Congress, the House com
mittee on Banking and Currency having
a majority against the bill for the repeal
/ of the tax on State bank currency.
Whether knowingly or not does not mat
ter, but Speaker Crisp certainly did the
country a great service when he made up
that committee by selecting a majority
opposed to wildcat money.
Mr.. Reed, of Maine, on Saturday last
addressed the House on the silver ques-
ton. Following is synopsis of his re-
| marks:
In beginning his speech Mr.. Reed con-
fessed doubts of the wisdom'of the House
to deal satisfactorily with the question
before it, but expressed his comfort at
being able to fall back upon the well-es-
tablished belief in the wisdom of the de-
csions of Congress. Crises like the
present, he said, were inseparable accom-
| paniments of all human progress, with
series of upward starts and of falls of al
most proportionate length. The former
may be characterized in a word, " con
dence :" the latter in another word, dis
/ trust"
THE underlying cause of the present
condition of affairs is: At the last cleo
ton the Democratic party was brought
( into power by curious combination of
circumstances as the result of hundred
causes, not with careful and candid de-
| liberation, but as the result, in a large
measure, of the apathy of the American
people The vote shows what | declare
and the recollection of every individual
! to whom am speaking can be safely APP
pealed to- While this thing has not been
/ specallymanifest during this discussion,
while there has been little talk with re-
gard to it, neyerth eless, the consciousness
of this fact underlies our entire situation.
What the Democratic party proposes
to do with the power which is in their
hands, nobody can say. They do not
! even know themselves; and hence they
are not able TO impart the knowledge to
others. For my part, do not expect the
| Democratic party to be utterly bad. do
not believe they will be permitted to be
so if they should so desire.
"Sueh is the restraining influence of
the people, even after election, that be-
lieve that through all the DISCUSSES,
through all the masks which this election
has thrown over the wishes of the peo
pie, nevertheless those wishes will be car
ried out But at this present moment no
man can know what will be the result of
the action of this Congress upon the
manufacturers of this country.
81 will not undertake to dwell at this
present time, for do not want to confuse
the issue, upon those unfortunate parts
of the Democratic program which are at
present in allegiance, like the establish
ment of State banks, and other financial
measures, which we may possibly have to