St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-05
CHAMPION OF SILVER
MIR. BLAND WILL INTRODUCE A FREE
COINAGE BILL
WHEN EXTRA SESSION OPENS

Other Prominent Members
Very Lively Struggle for the
House Offices Going On Tom
Reed to Be Compiimented.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4. "A S soon after
congress meets as it becomes practic-
able, Mr.. Bland, the leader of the silver
forces in the house, will introduce bill
embOdying the views Of the silver men.
1t W II provide for the repeal of the
Sherman purchasing act and substitute
therefor the free coinage of silver at the
present ratio Of Is to l.
That" said Mr.. Bland, evil be the
ground upon which we will make the
fight, although there has been no def
mite plan agreed upon"
lie recognized that men could hon.
estly differ as to the ratio, but that was
matter that should be settled in the
party itself. Upon the use of both gold
and silver as money at parity the
| Democratic party could not differ. If
a compromise measure increasing the
ratio was reached, he said, he saw no
reason why the present dollar should
not be. kept in circulation as il was now.
He proposed, however, with all his
! power, TO resist any increase in the
ratio.
The attitude of the treasury depart
ment in refusing to buy silver was ar
bitrary and uncallcd for, Mr.. Bland
slid, but there was no ground for the
talk that the secretary could be i'm
| peached. The law gave him the discre-
ton he was exercising, and that was one
OF the mistakes OF law that was. as he
IoJk If, full OF mistakes. He had
warned the
Friends Of silver
on this very point when the bill came
up for consideration in the house.
The Bland Allison act was superior
in that respect in that it did not give
the secretary this power, but required
him to purchase 4 specific amount. Ii
the United States, Mexico and South
American countries, together with the
countries of Asia on our west. were to
agree upon common ratio, Mr. Bland
thought we would have all the trade we
wanted, and would thereby force Eu-
rope to come to the use of silver as a
money.
Mr.. Bland said that he had not seen
the speaker, and when it. was suggested
to him that some of his friends in the
East would be glad to see him off the
committee on coinage, he only smiled
and replied that they could not, at any
rate, run him off the floor Of the house
The champion Of silver declared that
there would be bitter fight against any
attempt to change the rules SO that a
clOture provision might be incorporated.
Representative Henderson. of North
Carolina, has plan for the readJuSt-
ment of the silver question that he holds
out to be satisfactory to the persons
who wish to see the Democratic plat
form declarations carried into effect
without creating divisions in the party.
AS the platform calls for the equal
treatment of gold and silver, and as
some Democrats dOn deem it safe to
provide for the free coinage 0f silver, he
would withdraw that privilege from
gold and provide for the
Coinage of Both Metals
on account of the government exclu-
sively. This might be accomplished, he
thinks, by passing q bill requiring the
absolute purchase of a certain proper
ton of each metal every month and the
coinage of all the metal purchased.
Congress might, from time to time,
change these proportions as the needs
of the country seemed to require and
thus adjust the circulation to the de-
maadS:
Representative Cultivate, Of Ohio, Is
| one Of the few Western men who de-
clares himself in favor of an Immediate
and unconditional repeal of the silver
! purchase section of the Sherman law,
but after that is done he says he would
Immediately turn his attention to some
legislation intended to secure the more
extended use of silver as money metal.
One point upon which Mr.. Cultivate
takes strong ground is that the silver
bullion now in the treasury should be
coined at once and put into circulation,
and thus relieve the money stringencv.
He says that as the secretary of the
treasury has taken the position that
coin notes issued in payment for silver
bullion purchased are redeemahle in
gold alone, it does not appear that there
is any reason to retain this bullion in
the treasury for redemption purposes.
Ohe of the first of the contestants for
a seat in the house has arrived in Wash
IngtOn in the person of Mr.. Belknap.
Republican, of Michigan. Mr.. Belknap
is contestant for the seat of the Fifth
Michigan district, and asserts that he
was elected by the narrow margin of
nineteen votes. He has the certificate
~ Z T, tot ,,rtO al Hlo&
Richardson, his opponent, should have
been required to
Make the Contest.
but the clerk of the house has placed
Mr.. Richardson's name OH the rolls, and
that puts the onuS of the contest on Mr..
Belknap. The latter, however, expects
to have an objection entered when Mr.
Richardson comes forward to take the
oath of Office, and thus throw the case
Immediately into the hands of the COM
mittee OH elections or special commit
tee appointed to deal with the matter.
The canvass for the nomination for
the two contested places in the house
organization was resumed this afternoon
with renewed vigOr by the candidates,
the incoming of personal friends putting
more life into the fight than has yet APP
Feared. Mr.. Hurt. for the first time,
comes out with the positive statement
that he will win in the race for door
keeper. while Mr.. Smith appears to be
as sanguine as ever.
Amos Cummings is doing some ener-
getic work against Mr.. Turner, of his
state. The friends of Turner say that
Mr.. Cummings opposition is due to
| personal reasons, and that it will not
affect his canvass.
In the contest for sergeant-at-armS
Mr.. Cultivate and three other Ohio
members, it was said this afternoon,
would repudiate Mr.. Yoder's nomina-
ton if the state saw fit to indorse him