St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-22
MIR. CRIsP,s COMMITTEES.

Speaker CRISP has announced the
house committees. He could hardly
have made a better ways and means
committee: he mighthave made worse
coinage committee. The goodness of
the first fairly balances the badness of
the latter The composition of the
ways and means committee gives aSsur-
ance to the country of an Intelligent.
wise and honest treatment of the tariff
question. The makeup. of the coinage
committee insures whatever weight and
Influence it may have to the side of a
fiat metallic money.
1t is an affront to the Democracy of
the nation TO put at the head of that
committee man so inoculated with
POpuliStic ideas of government that he
fanatlcally insists that it is within the
power of the government. and is a
rightful exercise of that power, to Gre
ate values by its simple decree.
Whatever Mr.. BLAND may conceive
TO be his partisan standing; whatever
professions of party allegiance he may
make; his Democracy must be judged
by the PRINCIPLES underlying the meas
ures he advocates. Free coinage of
silver at any ratio less than the COM
mercial one is not intended to provide q
sound currency for the people, but is
intended TO provide for the producers of
silver an unearned share of the wealth
OF the people, taken from them cOn-
pulSorily by process of law. 1t is as
Interpretations as anything to be found
within tha SahaAnlno Of ha fox
act. 1t is cut off from the same piece
with the demand of the Populists that
the government buy their produce and
lend them its money.
MeSSrs. TRACEY, RAYNER and HAIR
TER are the only names of Democrats
OH the committee which carry with
them an assurance of sound treatment
of the coinage question. The intima-
ton given to the public some time
since, and Oh which hope of sound
action was based, that if Mr.. BLAND
were retained as chairman of the COM
mittee he would he anchored by ma
jority of men on the committee whose
fealty to sound money was Unques-
toned, is thus shown to have been
without foundation.
But the composition of the committee
is serious only so far as it shows the
bias of the speaker. The committee
will have no Importance at this session
as body formative of either policy or
legislation. The house has taken action
without waiting for the formation of the
committee. and of its decision on the
WILSON repeal bill there is fortunately
little room for doubt. With the reiec-
ton of Mr.. BLAND's proposed amend
ments and the adoption of Mr.. WILSON'S
repeal of the purchasing clause of the
SHERMAN act, there will be an end, for
this session at least. of coinage legisla-
ton.
1t is when we turn to consideration of
the composition of the ways and means
committee that every Democrat and
every revenue refOrmer in the nation
takes fresh heart aud confidence in the
assurance it gives of the presentation to
congress of tariff bill which will en-
body the spirit of the Chicago eonven-
ton. No better man could have been
found in the house TO lead the commit
tee than is WILLIAM l.. WILSON, the
scholar, the economist. the statesman.
Hardly name on the Democratic side
of the committee but has been denti-
fed for years with the battle for tariff
reform. With MCMILLIN, TURNER,
BYNUM and BRECKENRIDGE as Mr..
WILSON'S aides. the country may conf
IDENTIFY expect a bill in which the pur-
pose of raising revenues will have the
only consideration.
Minnesota fares i'll at the hand of
Mr.. CRISP. Neither Messrs. HALL nor
BALDWIN get place upon any OF the
leading committees. while MIR. FLETCH-
Err is placed al the end of the interstate
commerce committee. Mr.. HALL was
certainly entitled to more consideration
than he seems to have received. Whether
this is due to MIR. HALLS well known
indisposition to urge his own claims, or
whether it is due to Mr.. CRiSP's long
memory, is, Of course, uncertain, but
the standing that Mr.. HALL gained dur
ing his first term, and the recognition
of it by his fellow members since the
opening of this session, warrant the be-
lief that Mr.. CRISP remembers that in
the last congress Mr.. HALL did not
''pick winner"