Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-09-29
FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON. Sept. %, 1898.
SENATE.

The duty of having q quorum pres
ent this morning before the reading of
yesterdays journal began was under
taken by Mr.. Dolph. When the roll
call closed there were still six Senators
lacking; but after fifteen minutes wait
ing it was announced by the Vice Pres
ident that there were 10 Senators-an
exact quorum-present. Then the
journal was read, and the routine morn
ing business proceeded.
Mr.. Cameron presented petition
signed by Mr.. Wharton Barker, of Phil
adelphia. and many business firms OF
that city, asking Senators to legislate
so as to preserve the protective charac-
ter of the tariff and the integrity of sill
yer as money metal; and he asked
that it be read and printed in the Rec
ord. Objection was made to that re-
quest and then it was ordered that the
petition be printed as document.
The silver purchase repeal bill wa s
taken up at 11:25, and Mr.. Harris, a
member of the finance committee, made
an argument against the bill, Mr.. PEI
fer having yielded the floor to MI.
Morgan, and Mr.. Morgan having yield
cd to Mr.. Harris. He asserted that the
Sherman act had no more to do with
the business troubles of the country
than the lighting of friction match
had to do with a cyclone. No one
doubted that the government would
pay all just demands against it accord
ing to its contract in proof of which he
needed only refer to the fact that dur
ing the panic all kinds of money were
boarded, silver certificates and silver
dollars, rs well as gold certificates,
greenbacks and gold. The great, the
real question was whether gold alone
will be the basis of circulation and sill
yer be totally abandoned as money ex-
ctpt as subsidiary coin. The passage
of the pending bill meant, and, in
his opinion, was intended to mean that
the American people should have no
more legal tender silver dollars, and
that hereafter silver shall be used only
as fractional currency. 1t meant prac-
teal demonstration Of silver, mono
metalism and gold standard. In his
opinion the passage of the repeal bill
was much more likely to be followed
by proposition to strike down the lie
gal tender quality of the existing silver
dollars than by one to coin more silver.
The Chicago platform had denounced
the Sherman act as "cowardly make
shift $50 do t. said Mr.. Harris. ut
also declared for the use of both gold
and silver as standard money, and for
the coinage of both, without discrmin-
alton against either. Can it be-" said
be, that the proper effect of the pend
ing bill would be TO secure parity be-
tween the two metals, when its only
object is to degrade, more and more,
the one metal, while it booms the 9th.
er? ~ He deprecated the idea of ask
ing foreign governments to give their
consent to an international financial
policy. "Let u.s." he said, formulate
and establish our home policy and
maintain it. We are, in my opinion,
able to do so, and it is our high and SOL
emn duty to Our own people to estab-
lish and maintain a bimetallic stand
ard. We legislate for the people of the
the United States, not for the people Of
other countries. Let US coin ali our silver
into legal tender money, at some
fixed reasonable rate. So far as | am
concerned l am quite satisfied with the
ratio of 16 to /.
In the course of his discussion Mr..
Harris referred to q statement Of Mr..
Sherman when he was Secretary of the
Treasury as to what would be the eff,
feet of the Bland bill.
The Senator Mr.. Sherman interrupt
ed) has referred to statement made
by me that the Bland bill would in my
Judgment tend to make silver the sole
standard. l have no doubt of it at all.
But the remark which the Senator has
quoted must apply to what was called
the Blaad-Allison act, which was en-
tirely different. The Bland bill did
provide for the free coinage of silver.
do not see how any one can differ
with me in thinking that the free coin
age of silver would make silver (the
cheaper metaD the only standard. But
the remark could not be applied TO the
Bland-Allison act; and l never applied
it. On the contrary, l was very glad
to escape from the free coinage of silver
by the Bland-Allison act.
docs the Senator" Mr.. Harris in
quired, "mean to be understood as say
ing that the limited coinage provided
for by the Biand-Allison act would
bring us to the silver standard 2"
81 said" was Mr.. Sherman's answer