Rocky Ford enterprise., 1893-09-07

frightful In character than ordinary psstcs.
he denied II. There was disturbed Imam
| elal condition of hnasual character and II
seemed to him the hrst thing TO do would be
to inquire what brought & about, and yet,
during the three weeks Of the session, he had
not heari anybody suggest mn intelligent
re-son for the present financial condition.
Nobody had analyzed the question, rs
70 70, whe'hs, .hn the cause .s, Nv was % q was was
see how the issue Of $3.50, 900
treasury hotes for the purchase of
silveF could have brought about the existIng
hard times. If the government had bought
| the silver and dumped 1t In ths tea IT would
have had no Influences on the finances OF the
world and the existing disturbances was as
wide ns the world. There has been no log
lcal attempt on the part Of the senators and
there would not be, to show what caused the
evil. He challenged any senator to tell, nnd
to tell the AuRrican people, he believed the
people had brought about the panic beratse
they were afraid Of their money. II hS did
he would be under obligations to cite some
instance where people had exhibited fear of
their rtohey.
Mr.. Teller went on at great length 10 dis
cuss the course taken by the New York banks
In refusing TO pay their dep6sitors' checks
in currency and In trying 10 work up public
act He noted feported Interviews with the
President Shd Secretary Carlisle and critl-
eised the Views attributed to the President
(and which he said had never been denIed)
that the people OF the country needed nn OBJ
ject lesson and were going to get 1t. With
out concluding his remarks Mr.. Teller yielded
for a motion to proceed to executive business
and afterwards the Senate adjourned.
HousE.-The entire session was occupied
In debate over the rules, participated In
raj hun Rpa
wedheAdav, August 36th.
SESATE.-The bill TO repeal the Sherman
act was laid before the Senate and Mr.. Sher-
man proceeded TO address the Senate. He
said tie Immediate question was whether the
United States should suspend the purrhase Of
| silver bullion under the act OF 3hly, iS0l 1t
dent had called Congfcss together. II that
| were the only reason for the extra session. 1t
%uuld seem to him insufficient.
The mere addition Of 5000, 900 ounces of
silver to the mass of silver in the treasury, and
the addition of $l4O, 900 900 treasury notes to
those outstanding, would hardly justify the
call The cali was justified however, by the
| existing financial stringency growing out Of
the fear that the country would open It's
the real issue. The gravity OF II could not be
| stated In words. II the single standard Of
| gold were had without the aid of silver, the
relations between capital and labor would he
disturbed. The industries of tho country
would be crippled, ind the value of silver still
| further reduced. On the other hand II the
purchase Of b,000, 600 ounces Of silver were
continued, the country would eventually be
| brought to single standard of silver On
one thing Congress and the country agreed
| that was that these two extreme conditions
| should be avoided, and that both gold and sill;
yer should be continued In use as money, ae
measures of value. The problem which SEN
| ators had to solve was how to procure the
| ctizing either
| Mr.. Sherman went on TO give history Of
the circumstances which led up the passage
| of the act Of 1880. 1t was far better law, he
| said, than the bill which the House had then
passed. Senators who criticised 1t ought to
remember 1t was n substitute for n bill of the
House and for bill Of the Senate. either OF
which would have been more dangerous In Its
results thnn the law Of 1890 was.
Since 1890, the banking houses Of England
had become involved in difficulties. England
had Investments amounting to hundreds OF
millions in the Argentine confederation. By
some sudden collapse In those investments
the great banking house OF the Barings was
| toppling to its fall, when the Bank Of Eng
land and the other banking houses came to
the rescue and obtained money from France
| and other countries of Europe. The imme-
| diate result of that was that American securi-
| ties were sent home for sale and their pro-
cecds in gold were shipped back to pay the
| losses Of Great Britain in the South American
| republic.
There had been still, another trouble. For
| the first time in many years the balance OF
trade had turned against the United States
last year. Hitherto, the balance had been in
favor OF this country to the amount OF $780,
| 100000. The last fiscal year the balance was
| against the United States. Whether 1t would
be 80 next year no one could tell. He thought
with the crops now rIpening the balances
would probably be in favor OF the United
States this year; and he thought the forced
economy which followed a panic would be a
protection against unusual and unnecessary
| imports. So he hoped that next year there
would be no difficulty In the matter Of balance
| of trnde.
Something had been said yesterday by the
senator from Colorado (Teller) about the loss
| in the bullion purchased under the act OF 1880.
The average price paid for IL was 81 cents
per ounce and the loss Calculated on the
| value of silver today was $22, ,345 1856. IL
would be remembered the treasury notes had
been issued for the $50, 100000 ounces of sill
yer purchased to the amount of its cost; that
no interest was paid on these notes, and that
they had been used by tic people as current
money.
Suppose" continued Mr.. Sherman, 'this
provision had not been made In 1880. Suppose
| we had been compelled to face the storms
which followed 1890, the loss by Investments
| In the Argentine Republic, the failures OF
Australian banks, ETC., without having any
increase Of currency, who can tell what the
result might have beena
"Suppose the Sherman law had not been on
The statute books, who can tell what would
have been the consequences to the country
from the great depressing facts l have men
tionedf
"Sir, give the devil his due. The law OF
| 1890 may have many faults, but stand by II
| yet and will defend 1t, not rs n measure Of
good policy, not MS a measure in which take
| any pride because Twas yielding to dire ne
| cessity) but because without It we would have
met difficulties in 1891 and 1892 which would
have staggered us much more than the pass
Ing breeze of the hour.
~ am not blind In regard to the operation
of the law of 1890. Long before our Demo-
cratic friends ever thought Of providing any
measure of relief proposed relief In n bill
which introduced, in almost the same words
as the bill of the senator from Indiana (Voor-
hees). But did our friends on the other side
see the danger then and help us to suspend
the operation of the law Of 1a0Q! They can
not answer. did think, afteftwo years. trial,
that IL was better to suspend 1t: and we, on
this side of the chamber, tried to do 1t; but
we had no support on the other side. 1t Is,
| therefore, manifest am not a new convert tn
the repeal of the purchasing clause of the
act of 1880. / do not, however, vote for the
repeal with any anticipation that 1t will, in
any considerable degree, relieve us from the
industrial stagnation that has fallen on us and
that has thrown out of employment hundreds
OF thousands Of people.