Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1893-09-16
THE SILVER DEBATE.
synopsis of the Discussion in the United
States Senate.

| states Senate,
On the 5th Mr. Pener (pop, Kan) concluded
| his argument IN support OF his free coinage
| amendment to the repeal bill, He was followed
| by Mr. Stewart (rep, New in opposition to the
| repeal OF the Sherman act
Touching on the decentralization act OF 1873 he
| intimated that Senator Shermnn's vote against
| that bill was because he knew IL would pass and
| wanted 80 conceal from the senate Knowledge
| OF the fact that 1t omitted the silver dollar
| from the list Of coins. He claimed to have
| shown that the leading members of the two
| houses who were present during the considera.
| tion OF the bill were ignorant of the fact that
| the silver dollar was omitted in the Codihcation
| OF the mint laws
| THE senate and the country must Judge"
| said Senator Stewart "whcther y fair oppor.
| tunlty was afforded the members OF the two
| houses to know of the omission OF the silver
| dollar from the list OF coins, No reference was
| made in the debate in the senate to the omission
| OF the silver dollar" He said the fact that
| Senator Sherman, who did so much TO Sc.
| cure the recommendation of the gold stand.
| ard by the Paris conference, introduced in
| 1868 bill with harmless title adopting the
| gold standard claiming that the gold standard
| was an American idea-that he had charge
| the mint bill from beginning to end and failed
| to inform the senate that 1t demonetized silver
| was most astonishing The legislation was
not demanded by the people. They knew moth.
! ing of it. 1t remained profound secret 80
| fer as the masses of the people were concerned,
/ for more than two years.
| Coming to the recent election, Senator Stow.
| art said the contest between the two great par.
| ties was sham battle over the tariff and the
force bill to secure power to be used for another
| and very different purpose He had told the
people, he said, that 1t made no difference which
party succeeded The result would be the same.
| The power and patronage OF the administration
| would be used 10 destroy silver
| Referring to the Sherman act Senator Stew.
art said that notwiths landing the numerous
t.Ng
| had added $780, 600 OF legal tender money to
| the currency OF the country, There was no evi.
| dence that the Sherman act had up to this
time inflicted any injury upon the country.
The bankers panic, he said was inaugurated
| to force congress to demonetize silver The
| president in his message failed to inform con-
| grcsS that the upprehended evils which pro.
| duced the panic existed only in the imagination
| of the bondholders, the bankers and their news
| paper organs who had created the present dis.
tress for their own selfish and sordid purposes.
| The immediate duty of the hour is to relieve
| that distress There is an honest remedy and
u dishonest remedy. The honest remedy is TO
| restore silver; or il that could not be done, to
| utilize the silver in the treasury by issuing sill
| yer certificates on II, and by issuing enough
| greenbncks TO relieve the distress The dis
honest remedy is 10 pass the repeal bill to sane
tify to infamous act OF 1873 and to fasten a per
petual golu standard upon the country
Before the conclusion OF Mr. Stewards re-
| marks the senate nd .ourned
On the 6th Mr. Stewart rCp.. New con-
| tinued his speech. After talking for an hour
| he paused for a rest and Mr. Teller rep, Coll
came to his aid by suggesting the absence Of
quorum. The roll was called and Ca majority
| Of senators trJoping in from the cloak rooms
| hfty.nine senators answered
| Mr.. Teller explained his reason for calling
| attention 10 the absence of n quorum. He in.
| sisted that those who opposed the measure
should be heard and that the friends OF the
| measure should be in the chamber while II was
being discussed. There had not been a mem
Der Of the finance committee who was in favor
of the bill in the chamber for the last hour. He
intended while this debate went on to see that
| there was aQuorum present
| Mr.. Stewart then resumed the floor. and,
showing no symptoms of bringing his speech to
q close at p M, Mr. Voorhees, (his patience
| apparently eXhausted) asked him whether he
wished to continue his remarks during the
evening The reply was that he hoped TO be
excused Senator Voorhees, then said that
with the senator's permission he would move
TO proceed to executive business. The motion
vas agreed TO.
on the 7th Mr. Stewart rep, New post.
poned the continuation Of his speech until Mr.
Walthall dem, Miss.) had spoken.
MIR. Walthall then argued in favor of bmet
alism. He expressed his readiness to cooper
ate in prompt action on the bill, and suggested
that there was n simple mode of arriving
at prompt action. II the declarations OF
policy. he said which the substitute contained
were embodied in the form OF an enactment
he believed vote could be reached in half
the time He argued that the bill should be
addressed to some other legislation than the
mere repeal of the Sherman act that con.
gress should strike at the root, not merely at
the fruit" II It were found that the Sherman
law, and not the Mckinley law, had been the
Illuminating atrocity of recent legislation haste
should be made 10 supplement the educational
feature OF the campaign OF 1892 by teaching the
I
Quoted to success on q mistaken issue.
MIR Stewart then resumed his remarks open.
| ing with TRADE against the owners OF two
! New York newspapers for presuming TO dictate
the policy of the senate aud reflect public SEN
timent Then he took up Mr. Voorhees, record
on the silver questi and quoted from his auto
biography in the Congressional Directory TO
show his Inconsistency. He read documents
and newspaper clippings to show the tariff and
the force bill We're the oyershadow ing issues
in the presidential campaign.
At4:l5 Mr. Stewart announced that he would
now close saying: ''There are several branches
of the subject which have not yet touched and
which l wish TO speak upon, but will close
this speech here
On the sth Mr. Faulkner dem. w Va
spoke on the silver question. He announced
his intention to vote for the repeal bill, but IL
. doing so expressed his belief in silver as
money metal and declared his intention o
, bringing in an amendment to the pres
elI Dlli DIONluIIS lOT luc COlluBt VI dOuJO'
900 of silver per month until
the aggregate circulation of silver OF thC
, country shall reach OO,OOOOOO No evidence
was furnished, he said, TO show that the charge
: so freely made, that the purchase of 10000
, ounces of silver per month has been the chic
2 disturbing element in our financial system wa
, | true and he contended that the want of con
| tdence which had been manifest by the people
was want OF confidence in our financial insti
, tutions rather than in any particular kind o
money.
Mr. Turp.e dem. Ind) advocated bimetal
lism. The issue which confronted congress
e was not whether silver should be furthe
n used as money, but whether its purchas
!, should be continued. The very act o
= purchasing was q discrimination agains
silver, because gold wss brought to the treas
g ury He predicted that an epoch OF free trad
: was about to appear and of freedom Of the bal
a lot and there could be no doubt that whe
= these two things were secured the free coinag
c of silver would necessarily be brought about
:, Mr., Jones dem Ark.) favored the repeal q
q, | the Sherman act not in mart but the whole