The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-10-03
THE GREAT SILVER DEBATE.
AN ATTACK ON GROVER CLEvE-
Sc LAND.

+ A Republican Senator Charges the
President with Ignorance and I'm
becility-Dcmocrats Repel the False
Accusation and Expose the FAmsy
Statement.
Senator Stewart, of Nevada, In the
course of speech on the silver ques.
tion, made violent attack upon Presi.
dent Cleveland, alleging that he is In
competent and tyrannical. He began
with citation from President Cleve-
lands speech on the occasion com
memorating the hundredth anniver-
sary of the laying of the corner stone oi
the Capitol. This speech had been
made by the President, having more
than one hundred thousand Federal
offices to dispose Of, and with veto
power which had been designed only
Tor extraordinary occasions, backed
by concentrated capital and encourag-
ed and flattered by yenal press, He
as turning his face towards the Senate
wing OF the Capitol, and in anger with
menacing tones using the following
language:
If the representatives who are
here assembled to make laws for their
fellow countrymen forget the duty of
broad and disinterested patriotism,
and legislate in prejudice and passion,
or in behalf of sectional or selfish in
terests, the time when the corner
stone of the Capitol was laid and the
circumstances surrounding 1t will not
be worthy OF commemOrating."
This declaration, Mr.. Stewart said,
had been scheered and encouraged by q
thoughtless multitude and construed
by venal press as q rebuke from the
of TInf fofa 10
Senate, The struggle for ,constitu-
tional liberty, he continued, of the
Anglo-Saxon race which has been long,
arduous and attended with many sacri-
ces had lasted now for nearly thous-
and years. He went on to quote at
great length from Macauley's History
of England as to the parliamentary
struggle with the Stuart kings. Com.
ing back to the present times, he
charged that the President, in disre-
gard Of his oath of office to execute
the laws, had permitted the Secretary
of the Treasury to violate the law of
July Ia, 1890, which made the purchase
OF 4, ,500,0 900 ounces of silver bullion per
month mandatory. In proof of this he
cited the short purchases of silver by
the treasury during July and August;
He could not conceive how this could
be- justified, in view of the scarcity
of currency which should have been in
creased by the issue of treasury certifi-
Gates for silver bullion. He knew that
an excuse was made that silver bullion
was not purchased because the holders
asked more than the market price, but
he insisted that the market price OF
property was that at which the owner
was willing to sell.
However much, he said some Sena-
tors might deprecate the law of July
IA, 1890, as King james had deprecated
laws on the English statute book, all,
both high and low, had to obey the
law if civil liberty was to be maintain
ed and If constitutional government
was to exist. The Presidents oath of
Office commanded him to see that the
laws were faithfully executed; but
here was plain mandatory law that
had been disregarded. Was it not
time, he asked, to sound thealarm? If
constitutional liberty was of any value,
it seemed to him that all, friends and
foes, should stand up and say to the
President of the United States:
"You have overstepped the mark.
We cannot afford to have the laws of
Congress disregarded."
Mr.. Stewart then drifted to the anti
Chinese bill, and asked whether the
executive had enforced it. Whatever
might be thought of that law, it was
in force and If the executive might
violate one law, he might violate an
other. Was the President, he asked,
to have the option to obey or to refuse
to obey an enactment?
Mr.. Stewart quoted remarks made
by Cleveland at different times, some
Of them, in what purported to be inter-
views, which he construed to indicate
that Cleveland held Congress in rather
low estimation that he assumed
that Congress was ignorant. This as
sumption led Mr.. Stewart to inquire
where and how the President had
learned all that he knew. Where had
he the opportunity of possessing Him
self of the science of money and econ
omics. Where and when, and in what
school had he studied it? He believed
that Cleveland was the only President
of the United States who had not pos
sessed q liberal edcation, either In
some college or on q farm whore he
ture's laws. He did not believe that
the education of clerk, or of lawyer,
w ithout prior liberal educationein
college or without liberal education
in studying the works of nature, fitted
u man to preside over the destinies of
this country. The President is requir-
ed to take wider view of the laws of
money 3nd of nature than could be OBJ
taine1 I'm lawyers Office or in q
sher,lfs office, or in the office of
mayor or any other such place where
the great book of nature was closed.
Washington, Jackson and Lincoln were
at'duced by Mr.. Stewart as great ex-
amples of Presidents who had not had
collegiate educations, but had acquired
their extensive knowledge of govern
ment by close contact with the people.
Overwhelmingly" he continued,
"our President was denied both a col
legiate education and that grander and
better education, communion with the
great producing classes OF the country,
communion with pioneers OF the West,
communion with those who are the
bone and sinew of the country.
"If he had the knowledge which
ple as Washington knew, and as Jack
son. he would not haved uttered the re-
marks which have read, and would
not have talked about the ignorance OF
Congress. But his environments have
been peculiar"
Mr.. Stewart then read from the Con-
gressional directory Of the present ses-
sion the Presidents biography, max
ing amusing or sarcastic comments
a,pon it as he read. When he read the
sentence that Cleveland had, when fif-
teen years old become q clerk and as-
sistant teacher of the blind In New
York city, his comment upon 1t was
that Cleveland had not entirely gotten
over that habit yet. Uaughter.).
DON CAMERON SUGGESTS A REMEDY