The Lamar register., 1893-09-09
THE GREAT DEBATE In CONGRESS
SILVER SENATORS STAND FIRM
Beaten In the House the Cause OF silver
is now Transferred to the
senate.
weane.s... Auru.. soth.

| SENATE--fhe Dill 10 repeal the snrIniSn
act wa. laid before the Senate and Mr. sher-
| man proceeded 10 address the Senate. lie
said the Immediate question was whether the
| United States should suspend the purchase Of
silver bullion under the act of July, lssg. ~
| was to so decide that question that the tresl-
dent had called Congress together. II that
| were the only reason for the extra session IL
would seem to him insufficient
| The mere addition of 5000, 600 ounces OF
silver to the mass OF silver in the treasury, and
those outstanding, would hardly Justify the
call The cali Was justified however, by the
| existing financial strtngency growing out oi
the fear that the country would open It's
mints to the free coinage OF silver, This was
| the real issue. The gravity OF II could not De
stated in words II the single standard OF
| gold were had without the aid of silver the
relations between capital and labor would be
! disturbed The Industries OF the country
would be crippled. and the value of silver siill
J further reduced. On the other hand, II the
| purchase of -. .0oo,o ,oos ounces of silver ~ere
| continued. the couatry would eventually be
! brought to = single standard of silver. On
one thing Congress and the country asreed-
4 that was that these two extreme conditions
should be avoided, and that both gold and III
/ yer should be continued In ure as money, as
/ measures of value. The problem which sen
1 aiors had to solve was bow TO procure the
largest use of gold and silver without demon
I ctizing either.
Mr.. sherman went on to give history Of
] the circumstances FhlCh led lp tnc iAr--Nt
l of the act of 1880. II was fAr better law, be
said, than the bill which the House bad then
passed Senators who criticised Il ought 10
/ remember It vas substitute for a bill OF the
4 House and for bill of the Senate either OF
l which wtstld have been more dangerous In 10
| results than the Law OF 1890 ga.
Since 1880 the banking houses Of England
/ had become Involved In difficulties. England
/ had Investments amounting to huadreds Of
/ millions In the Argentine confederation BY
4 IAN n i l.
l the great banking house Of the BariHgs was
/ toppling to its fall, when the Bank Of Eng
/ land and the other banking houses came 10
the rescue and obtained money from France
4 and other countries of Europe. The lDme-
I diaie result of that that American .eeari-
| ties were sent home for sale and their pro
coed, in gold we're shipped back to pay the
| losses of Great Britain Ia 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 500
ooo, 600 The last hscAl year the balance ~As
| against the United siates Whether 1t would
/ be 80 next year no one could tell he thonght
/ with the crops nov ripcniuS the balances
would probably be in favor o, the United
States this year; and he thought the forced
economy which followed a panic would be
| protection against unusual and unnecessary
| Imports. So he hoped that next year there
would be no difficulty in the matter Of balance
of trade
Something had been said yesterday by the
senator from Colorado TTcllerl about the loss
| in the bullion purchased under The act Of 1880.
| The average price paid for Il Was s1l eents
per ounce aud the loss fcaleuiAied on the
| value OF silver today was s., ,SfS, So. Il
/ would be remembered the treasury notes had
! been Issued for the $50. .co1 0co ounces Of 81
yer purchased TO the amount Of IT, cost that
] no interest was paid 90 these notes, and that
they had 1zsaf ~ - a.
money.
Suppose" continued Mr. sherman. ''thi.
provision had not been made In $50 suppose
We had been compelled TO face the storms
which followed isg0, the loss by Investments
in the Argentine Republic, the failures Of
Australian banks, etc, without having any
Increase of currency, who can tell shAt the
result might have been
Suppose the sherman Law had not been on
the statute book, who can tell what roald
have been the consequences 10 tho country
from the great depressing facts ! have meH-
TONED
.1sIr, give the devil his due The Law OF
1890 may have many faults, but stand by it
yet and will defend Il, not a measure Of
good policy, not as a measure In which take
any pride toecausc ! was yielding to dire ne
eessityl but because without e We would have
met difficulties In 1891 and ls99 which would
have staggered US much more than the pass
Ing breeze Of the hour.
II am not blind.in regard 10 the operation
of the Law Of 1880. Long before our Demo
cratic friends ever thought OF providing any
measure OF relief proposed relief In 4 bill
which introduced In almost the same words
as the bill OF the senator from Indiana tvoor-
heesl. But did our friends on the other side
see the danger then and help Us 10 suspend
the operation OF the law OF lsqoi They can
not answer. / did think, after two years trial
that 1t was better to suspend it, and We. on
this side Of the chamber, tried TO do ii. but
We had no support on the other side II L.
therefore manifest ] am not a new convert to
the repeal Of the purchasing clause of the
act of 1890 / do not, however, vote for the
repeal with any anticipation that IL 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.
The President in the midst of the panic
appeals to Us to repeal this law, and he viii
not make this appeal TO me In vain I have
no sympathy with him ia politics, but be-
lieve in this matter he is right and IL Is my
in any measure that will tend to maintain
the harmonious OF silver and gold as
standards Of value. hope the next measure
OF relief which my friend from Indiana
(Noorheesl will provide will be broad lib
eral measure, authorizing the President or
the secretary of the treasury 10 sell securities
In order to maintain the parity of our cur
rency. There is another Thing: We must not
overlook the fact that possibly the balance of
trade may be against US next year The ap-
proprations made at the last Congress
though made after the scrutiny OF careful
economists, may exceed the revenues of the
government, and some authority to make
good the deficit twhatever it might bel ought
~ lid