St. Paul daily globe., 1893-08-27

last" members of congress returned to
their homes III country blessed with
universal prosperity. And yet, in a
period when everything that ought to
produce prosperity existed here the sky
overhead had been darkened. If the
cause of the disaster were sought moth
ing could be found in the character of
provldential Intervention to prevent the
continued march of the country toward
prosperity.
1t was now the duty of congress not
TO seek partisan advantage in this con-
dition of things, but to apply the
remedy. lie did not agree with the
gentleman from Name that such re-
curing panicS were inseparable from
the progress of the human race. He
did not join in the tone of levity in
which the political platform of the
Democratic party had been treated. He
believed that declaration of political
faith was binding on a party. And
when he stood here today, opposed to
the measure Of free coinage, he stood
Oh the Democratic platform with both
feet; while he who proposed such an
act was trying to push him off it. He
had assented to the deliberations of the
Democratic convention [ironical laugh
ter from the Republicans and had had
a good opportunity to discover with
what vigor it
Had Put Its Feet
on any one who undertook to interfere
with the free course of its operations.
And he remembered that when the
financial part of the platform was read
delegate from Colorado proposed, as
all amendment, the insertion of the
word free" before the word Coin
age" and had supported it in speech.
But it did not poll ten votes when the
convention took action upon it. Talk
to me-" Mr.. Cochran said, ''abOut the
Democratic party having declared for
free coinage. l believe that the claim
for free coinage came from Colorado
and Nevada. But why did Colorado
and Nevada take to the woods during
the election of 1892? Laughter Why
did they turn their backs upon both
parties and enlist in the Popnlist
branch? l stand by the Democratic
platform, which declares for the ''use"
of silver, and l believe in it. As TO BIZ
metaIlism in the United States and in
France, there never has been bi-metal-
ilsm IN the sense argued for''
Mr. Cochran quoted from Locke and
Mile TO show that both gold and silver
cannot be at the same time the measure
OF value in the same country, because
ha ,,,F,
and invariable. France was practically
Oh gold basis, and the United States
must do what France has done-close
her mints to the free coinage of silver.
IN order to maintain the value and par
lty of silver. Applause Both gold
nd silver fuctuated in value. The
advocates of
The Wilson Bill
wanted the metal which had the
minimum of fuctuation; its op-
ponents wanted the metal which
had the maximum of t1uctuation. [Ap-
plause, The silver men wanted
to give the farmers 371I grains of
pure silver. He wanted to give them
651A grains because he knew G51L
graius would enable them to buy dol
lars worth of anything in any part of
the world. He believed in Internal ional
blmetallism. On economic questions
there should be no party lines. When
the economic laws were laid down as
clearly as they had been laid down by
the gentleman from Maine (Mr Reed)
they should be accepted not only by
his house, not only by this country, but
by the whole world.
MIR. Cochran told the story of how the
British government had tried to have
Jonathan Swift indicted for writing
against the proposed debasement of
COIN, through the patent to William
wood, on the pretenSe OF lack of cur
rency, and of which Swift wrote that
The remedy would be to cure a scratch
on the flnger by cutting Off the arm.''
The only two lurieS that live in Irish
history, SAID Mr.. Cochran, and they are
enShrned in the affections of the Irish
people, were the FIRST grand iury that
threw out the bill, and the second grand
jury, which, instead of presenting
Swift, presented those who attempted
the ruin of the currency. Never be-
fore this time" Mr.. Cochran exclaimed.
chad the attempt been made to debase
the coin o. country. One of the
causes that led to
The French Revolt
against royalty was that the king had
debaSed coinage. And itWas inIS65. when
1t was suggested in France, in order to
keep silver in the country. to reduce
the amount Of gold in the twenty franc
piece, that the French people. with the
memory of what they had suffered from
the debasement of coinage, made such
determined protest against the sugges-
ton that even the slavish court of the
Second Empire respected that protest.
and the coin remained untouched.
Never in the history of the world had
gold and silver circulated side by side.
They never could so circulate, and they
never would. 1t was said that tre.
mendous wrong had been committed in
1873, and that then silver had been
demonetized. Did not the gentleman
from Missouri (Mr. Bland) know that
silver had been demonetized in 1884 by
the simple process of undertaking it
nc the mintss The gentleman was too
familiar with the history OF the develop
ment of human civilization not to be
aware that instead of the demonetization
of specific enactment, the method pur-
sued by nations to accomplish the
demonetIzatiOn had been that of under
valulng it at the mints. Between 1884 and
1873, although we had had free coinage,
we had no bi-metalliSm. The gentle.
man from Nebraska (Mr. BIyan) had
said that we could not have an honest
dollar and that there was no snch