St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-23

for the purchase of bonds for the bene-
tit OF capitalists seeking Investments,
who couId be induced in no other way
TO support their government in the hour
OF its deadlieSt peril. The bar sinister
WAS written on It's eSculchPOD when it
was made non-receivaUle for customs
dues aud interest on the public debt
and disgraced before the world. Mr.
Voorhees, cOntrasted with this unjust
and diShOnOrable arrangement the
craftsmanship OF France in issuing as
signats after the Franco-Prussian war,
with
Full Legal Fender
qualities, which enabled her to main
ain The strongest financial credit in
Europe.
He said he had referred to these
things to illustrate the power OF duty of
the government in furnishing reliable
and constitutional money for the people.
At this point, he said. he was confront
ed by a law without precedent or
parallel III American history. a law
which for months past had been the
theme of all tongues and pens, and in
whose nam financial panic, alarm ana
distress had been invoked, and for
whose repeal this congress had been
convened.
Mr. Voorhees, briefly stated the birth
OF the law which resulted from a com
promise, and said that i'll an evil hour,
the worst and darkest that ever befeIl
the cause OF b metallism, or the honor
and existence OF silver money, this per
niciouS compromise was enacted and
fastened on the country.
The senate from Ohio Gir. Sher-
man), 1t was true, now claimed credit
for his repeated assertions of late that
there had never been an hour since the
compromise was effected that he had
not stood ready to violate 1t by voting
for its repeal. In other words, having
induced the producers of silver TO sur
render their right to its free coinage. in
, exchange for the right to sell 4,5U0, 600
OnnceS per month of bullion, the SEN
atOr from OHIO and the followers on
that side of the chamber had been will
ing and anxious ever since to break the
compact, repeal the consideration OIL
which the compact was made, and leave
their victims of misplaced confidence
empty-handed, without either the privi-
lege of coming their silver or selling it
as a mercantile commodity to the gov
ernment. The act was not intended in
| good faith for the coinage of silver at
all. On the contrary, it emanated from
/ the
Enemies of Silver
money, and its purchase was TO degrade,
dlsnonor and disgrace this, one of the
precious metals, until it could no long +
hold its place with gold as a part of the
specie basis of this country and of the
world. In reducing silver to a mer-
charitable commodity, on the level with
the products of the field and farm, and
issuing treasury certificates on it accord
ing to its market value, there could be
but one effect upon the dignity and sta
bility of that great money metal. 1t
reeled and staggered under the blow,
until now Its enemies predicted with
JOY its speedy and total destruction.
Mr. Voorhees, said that he had spoken
in no partisan vein, but yet it was with
great satisfaction that he quoted from
the record that not a single vote
on his side of the chamber was
cast for the act which bore the name of
the senator from OHIO to such a peculiar
eminence. He then quoted the yea and
nay vote by which this most dangerous
makeshitt" ever known in our financial
history passed the senate. He wanted
the grave responsibility for the violation
of every sound principle of finance
which such a measure created to be met
L TIA 1lISll II pSORA0 hAAOoN
who were shown by the record to have
assumed it. As a firm, unfaltering be-
lever in b~imetalilSm, and as an undevI-
ating supporter of the coinage and use
of both gold and silver as the standard
money of the country, without diScrlm-
mating against either metal, Mr.. VoOr-
hees SAID he voted against the passage
of the Sherman act, and for the anne
easOn he would vote for its repeal.
! The Cutlery
In certain quarters at this time that
those who vote for the repeal of this
Measure are enemies of silver as money,
and in favor of its decentralization, was
not only false SO far as he was con-
cerned, but, in the light of what had
happened in the past, it was absurd.
Beginning with the first speech he had
made in the senator, and down to the
present hour, he could recall no vote OIL
words on the subject of the coinage and
circulation of silver which he would
now change or blot from the record
if he could, and now, in this the darkest
day ever known for silver, he avowed
his mistaken faith that it would re-
main forever one of the worlds most
potent factors of finance, commerce
traffic and daily business trans
actions. 1t would neither be de
monetiZed nor driven away from
the h~abitatiOnS of the labOring masses
of mankind. 1t had come down from
immemorable ages, and would continue
to exist as one of the precious metals
u%pholding the credit of the nations anC
bringing blessings to the sons anC
daughters of toll when the scene:
through which we were now passing
had grown dim in the light and prog
ress of distant centuries. He should
vote to repeal the Sherman act as hs
would remove a dead fly from a box Of
sweet ointment; as he would abate
nuisance and wipe out an obstruction Il
rational, wholesome legislation. /
tainted and vitiated the entire tinancia
system, and destroyed confidence in al
business transactions every hour it re
manned a part Of the law. The question
had been asked whether a vote shoulC
be given for its unconditional repea
or whether. as before, a substi
tute must be agreed upon. He (Mr
Voorhees, would at once eradicate thii
Confessed Evil
from the body of our laws, with n,
other condition than his light and free
agency to secure in connection with it
repeal or afterwards by an Independent
measure. as the success of its immediate
repeal, the primary duty of the hour
might at the time dictate, a soun(
d financial system, embracing the coinagt