The morning call., 1893-08-17
WORDS OF FIRE.
Bryan's Eloquent Plea on Behalf of
the White Metal.

lUS WHItG meIdi.
/ WASHINGTON, w Aug. I6-The financial
discussion in the House took on deeper
interest to-day than on any occasion since
the opening of the silver debate. William
j. Bryan. the eloquent young Congress.
i! man from Nebraska, added greater Iaurels
to his reputation as an orator and made n
free-coinage speech which, in The opinion
OF maDys surpassed the great tariff speech
which gave bis Hamecto fame two years
ago. For pearly three hours Bryan held
the Interested attention of the House and
galleries. and every interruption to which
he was subjected only gave new opportu-
nitirs for those brilliant bits of repartee
for which he is so famous.
The. silver discussion to-day was opened
by Mccall of Massachusetts, who made
an elabofa ta argnment for the repeal of
the Purchasing clause of the Sherman act
and denied that>sueh action could be Justly
construed as. an attack On bimetallism.
Then Co0mbss speaking for repeal, highly
E!c1mmeuded the Presidents message, which
.ip his opinion had never been surpassed
by any state paper.
In. open ing his argument against the un-
conditional repeal of the Sherman law
Bryan said: ~ Don the action of this Con-
gress might depend not only the welfare of
/, the South. and West. not only the welfare
| of: the United States, but the welfare of
humanity itself. fer. ages to come. Some
outside of this hall had assumed that the
recommendation Of the President imposed
some obligations upon the Democratic
! mem hers: to do as he desired. and some
even had been hardy enough to suggest
+ that failure TO fall in with the recommen en-
dations there made would subject the dis
senter 10 administrative displeasure. Those
persons did the President a great injustice.
The. President. would NOT: for moment
forget the Independence of the two
brancbesof Congress. Let the Presidents
own language rebuke those who would.
from false featty, change their convictions
upon the subject in order to conform to his
suggestions. The effects of our action may
be so far reaching if the United States,
the greatest silver produ ing country,
bandons silver. that it will in ali proba-
biity lead to:the annihilation of silver a.
standard money throughout the world.
The only law making any provision for
the increased use of silver money is the
Sherman law. The President has recon-
mended its unconditional repeal, but the
Democratic members are. under no obliga-
tfan 10 adopt his recomme ndation, since
they are responsible TO their constituents
only. and are in duty bound to protect
their rights and regard their interests.
ave are being dragged by the cry for a
universal gold standard toward the realm
over whose door is is'written, Abandon hope
all ye who enter herep There is no such
thing as an. honest dollar. because an hon.
est dollar would always have the same
purchasing power, ami the Government
had never attempted to secure absolu to
stability in q dollar. The most dishonest
dollar:eyer proposed Is that child of ayarice
and ignorance called the gold dollar, for it
would constantly rise in value and cheat
the debtor. But while We cannot secure
an absolutely honest dollar, we should ap
proach it as nearly as possible, and the
bimetallic standard ought to be adopted.
because with bmetallism the money unit
fluctuates less than under single standard.
International bimetallism is desirable. but
not necessary and not probable. The
other European nations wait upon Eng
land. To make our action dependent
upon hers allows her to legislate for
our people, and i. an abdica,ion OF the
right of. self-government.: We believe the
/ lCoti1CtiUu III bHC VI AtNO SSeAn~S 90
itexisted previous to 1878 would raise the
price of silver bullion to f29 cents per
ounce throughout the world and render
unnecessary any change In the present.
ratio.
"The Sherman law did not cause our
fin nancfaE. strlngency. The moneyed men
of the East, without intention: OF course,
started a panic by exaggerating the
danger of gold expectation, and when the
panic came they were Injured as much as
ANYBODY else. The trouble: now is that
deposftors have withdrawn. their money
frem fear of the banks. and the repeal of
the Sherman law will not increase the
solvency of tho banks: =:
Then BRYAN spoke in favor or the re-
tention of the ratio of 16 to i. arguing that
an increase of tha: ratio would be detri-
mental to an international agreement as to
the coinage of the two metals.
The President had been deceived. He
had said in his message that the people
demanded the repeal of the Sherman act.
He had heard from Boards of Trade
and from Chambers of Commerce, but he
had not heard from the farmers or tbe
men i'm the workshops. and he could no
more Judge of the opinion of the people
.han he could measure the oceans depth
by the foam on the ocean waves.
The President was elected upon a plat