Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-14
THE SENATE WILL WAIT.
No Hurry Now That the House Has a
Definite Object.
Matters That VIII Occupy the Atten-
tiOn of the Senate TOday-What
the Free Silver Men Say.

The fixed agreement reached on the silver
question by the House, by which some def
nate action on this subject will result in
two weeks, has materially aided the demo
cratic caucus steering committee and
cleared what appeared to be a rather cloud
ed sky for them. They were almost con-
tinuously in session for three days without
arriving at any concerted action. Ii is un-
derstood that they have not attempted IL
consolidate their forces with a view TO car
ryins out the desire of the President but
have been discussing a number of schemes
in the form of a compromise which would
give the heretofore free-silver Senators an
opportunity to placate their constituents
and enable them to say that this was the
best that we were able to obtain The ac-
tion of the House places the Senate in the
position of delaying the question, AMI many
say now that the onus of lost time must
rest with them.
1t is now believed that the Senate will
wait until the House has disposed OF the
silver question before anything of a definite
character will be put forward by the demo-
Gratis. In the meantime the Senate will
drift along. If there are any Senators who
desire to give vent to their feelings on the
financial situation it will not be necessary
Tor them TO wait for the committee on n
nance to report a measure, they can CT II
up the Presidents message, and Upon this
they can deliver speeches on silver or gold
II Is not unlikely that this will be done. and
In this way some of the lorg-windcd
speeches which are certain to be delivered
during the next month will be out of the
way, so that when the House finally acts
the heavy material VIII be disposed of and
the sharp fighting will begin at once Ii
this plan is adopted it is not probable that
the committee on finance will report fl
nancial bill for the present but will devote
itself to the consideration Of other meas
ures which more directly affect the national
bank question.
Appointed Senators.
On thu republican side there is q desire to
decide the cases of the Senators in whose
states the legislature failed TO elect and
where the governors appointed men to fill
the vacancies. This matter is one of the
highest privilege. and can be called up at
any time through the resolution in the case
of Senator Lee Mantle. This problem will
have to be decided by the Senate sooner or
later, and as the decision might affect the
vote on the silver question il seems that IL
should be brought forward at once 1t is
quite probable, therefore, that if the demo-
cratic steering committee finally decides TO
wait Tor the House TO act which is the
present plan, before the finance committee
reports, that the time could be most fit
tingly filled in by the discussion and set
tiement OF these cases.
AT present any speedy action on the
financial situation in the Senate would seem
impossible. The democrats apparently be-
lieve it to be better policy to have some
concerted plan with a definite object in
view than to go ahead hlindly as though
In q fog without having any idea where
they are coming out. 1t is therefore likely
that the Senate proper will be asked to
wait until the steering committee has
finally decided what they will recommend
to their caucus.
The rabid free silver men still insist that
unconditional repeal in the Senate is an
utter impossibility, and il would seem as
though their statements were about cor
rect. With almost all OF the members un-
willing TO take a firm stand on the financial
question. and SO announcing thernseises.i it is
not possible to make a close canvass of
how the Senate would stand on direct
vote on unconditional repeal; but, as nearly
as ii can be learned there is a small ma
jority against il. Even We're il otherwise
the dozen SO free silver Senators, who
say that they will never allow the sherman
law TO he wiped from the statute books
until they obtain something better, can hold
the Senate in check indefinitely without a
closure rule in that body. and ii is generally
conceded that the adoption OF such a rule
cannot be carried. SO that. just as in the
case of the anti-option bin last session.
when a handful of Senators talked that
measure TO death, the larger number of
silver Senators can keep the Senate from
coming to a vote on that matter, and il
would therefore appear that the uncondi-
tional repeal of the Sherman law might be
accomplished and that the final result of
this extra sessions work may be the adop-
ton of a compromise, the nature of which
has not yet been decided upon.