Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-19
Those Who Spoke in the House
Today.
MESSRS. McCREARY and CATCHINGS
Both Came From the South and
Represent Silver States.
THE ARG UMENTS USED.
THE HOUSE.

aoeSeAoh III tne Rouse this morning, but II
was an interested audience. owing to the
prominence of the speakers. Gov. Nc
Creary of Kentucky opened the debate,
and advocated the immediate repeal of the
sherman act. His remarks were listened
to with considerable interest by the House
as voicing the sentiment Of a community
which might be considered conservative on
this question
MI Catchings Of Mississippi followed him.
MS entire speech. Representing a south
be very partial to silver. Mr. N catchinss'
attracted considerable attention The
friends Of repeal take considerable comfort
In the aid and encouragement which they
There will be night session Of the House
this evening. at which four members are
billed for speeches on the silver question.
They are Curtis Of Kansas. Brookshire of
Indiana, Champ Clark of Missouri and Nc
Laurin of South Carolina.
me silver debate was resumed immedi-
ately after the reading of the Journal, ard
Mr.. McCreary RyD took the floor m ad-
vocacy of the repeal of the purchasing
airy financial situation. he said. had induced
the President to convene Congress In extra
ordinary session. 1t mattered not how gen.
had brought on the trouble which now eS.
listed. They all agreed that the trouble was
widespread. reaching and full Of peril
" Tic "HOle country. Iney agreed also
that 1t was their duty as Represen ;atives
to find a remedy. 1t might be that the
sherman act. so called. was the prime
cause of the trouble
IN EUROPE the shrinkage of values in many
parts of the world. the failure of the Bar
serious monetary condition which now ex-
isted He had voted against the passage
OF the Sherman act. That act had been a
Ing clause of the bill should be Immediately
Iepeaied. 1t should be repealed uncondi-
,u nc Let the free coinage bill stand on
tne sherman act as a hostage for the free
coinage Of silver. He was heartily in favor
OF C1., tne Wilson bill. Let the purchasing
clause be repealed and then other legisia,
tion could follow. II a mans house was
on nre he would not stop to decide whether
ru,s %ou y. use the cistern water to extln-
partment. He would hasten to extinguish
the flames. Let Congress repeal the nIr.
lation: The Wilson bill did not dsrnn =
tlze silver or strike down the double stand
ara ne Mr McCreary) was here az q
friend or silver and not as its enemy.
he was in favor of International bime,.
aiiism; He was In favor Of the repeal OF
une sherman ne .aet. because such action
to help on an International agreement To.
day England hoped that the United States
would adopt free coinage bill and would
come TO silver basis. because then she
would get our $3.50. 900 600 Of gold. The
United States could not afford to adont q
Tree Tree, coinage policy now. No country alone
couid maintain such q coinage The only
path to free coinage was through inter
national agreement and the ONLY way 10
CHASING Clause Pst Of sb to repeal the
bimetallist he did not wish to see this coun.
TRY reieg , to silver basis.
MI; Biand lioD inquired whether the
gentleman position was that unless every
European nation was in favor of silver he
would be in favor Of a single gold standard.
had misapprehended his position. He was
today as much in favor of silver as was
the gentleman from Missouri. and he was
which led to the free coinage of gold and
the free coinage Of silver
MI Bland inquired why the international
meeting from May until November. "
Mr.. McCreary replied that 1t had been
postponed In order to allow the policy of
bimetallism to grow in England II had
been postponed in the interest of bimet
allism. 'e
Mr.. Bland made another inquiry, and
that the meeting OF the Conferences mse I had
been postponed for the purpose of de-
mSnetizing silver in this country.
gentleman II he insists on misrepresenting
my position. I have already stated that
the the poStponement was in the interest of
Continuing his speech. Mr. McCr,ary ex-
pressed his regret that the ques:ipn OF a
change or ratio between gold and silver
had been injected into this discussion. He
had no sympathy with those who now de-
sired to change the ratio from I6 to l 20 20
70 l. TO change the ratio would he to
international agreement To change the
ratio would be to discredit every dollar ~
silver in the United States. The first duty
OF Congress was to act without delay repeal
the purchasing clause of the Sherman act.
the second duty was to let free coinage
alone for the present its third duty was to
to advance the prosperity Of the people
and the welfare of the nation
Representative Cntchinxs.
Mr.. Catchings NIiss.) said that he would
vote for the unconditional repeal Of the
purchasing clause of the Sherman act and
he would vote against any proposition d.
rectly or indirectly looking to the free COIN
age of silver in this country at this time.
at any ratio that could be suggested He
had come to this determination after care
full consideration and after a careful study
OF the Chicago platform. 1t had been said
that no democrat could vote against free
coinage. He was n democrat. His dem
ocracy was as good as that of any man on
this floor, and he would not allow any man
to challenge or question ii. He stood by
every plank of the Chicago platform; but
that platform now here demanded the free
coinage Of silver at this time. He re-
viewed the silver legislation of the country,
and expressed his opinion that the act of
1873 miscalled a demonstration act, had not
ut.InOnetlzed one dollar OF silver In the
whole globe.
If We threw our minis open to the free
coinage of silver would not the experience
of India be repeated in this country, and
would not there be repeated here a fall
in the value of the silver dollar? The
United States was the greatest nation on
the face of the globe and contained the
proudest people. Every man who took a
silver dollar today knew that this great
and proud people did not intend to have it
deprecated in value. Every man who
took a SiIvQr dollar hat
redeemed even il the government had to
issue bonds to draw gold from other coun-
tries.
The silver dollars were obligations of the
government just as We're the greenbacks
The reason that the world did not take sill
Yer was that the world did not want it. ex-
cept In limited quantities He was in favor
of the repeal Of the purchasing clause of the
Sherman act. beause 1t would tend to re-
and say that 1t would restore confidence
and unlock the money that had been
boarded up To the Sherman act he ar
tributed the present depression.
He did not believe that the failure Of the
Barring Brothers was responsible for the
panic in this country. There was no panic
in England, which would naturally be the
panic was attributable to the failure Of
Australian banks. There was no panic in
Australia or Great Britain. He therefore
disregarded both these events as being tbe
cause of the situation in which the United
States found itself
He contended that 1t was absolut ely i'm
possible for this country single-handed and
alone to drag down the price Of gold and
enhance the price of silver.