St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-22
A DAY IN THE HOUSE.
Large Audience Listens to a Dull
Silver Debate

DtUStC.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2l.-The COM
mittees were today appointed by the
speaker, and, taken as whole, are ap-
proved.
The silver debate was dull, and the
the large audience which had assem-
bled to listen to Mr. Breckenridge, of
Kentucky, was disappointed.
Mr.. Powers rep, VT spoke for the
Wilson bill; Hooker {Dem. Miss
against it; Cooper Dem. Ind thought
it inexpedient to adopt the free coinage
at this time, and Mr.. Sperry Dem.
Conn., took the opposite view. Mr..
Coke CTenn.) advocated free coinage,
and Mr.. Little rep, n. c. spoke III OPP
position.
After the reading of the journal Mr..
Powers rep, VIZ took the floor in sup
port of the repeal of the purchasing
clause of the Sherman act He referred
to the Chicago platform and to the in
depreciation placed upon it by various
Democrats. The gentleman from Penn
sylyania (Mr. Sibley) had referred to
the Savior of mankind as the first Dem
ocrat and had taken the utterances of
the Savior for his platform. The gen.
tIeman from Massachusetts (Mr. Ever
etD had taken Grover Cleveland as ms
platform, and had gone around mis- dis
trict singing at the top of his voice.
'Oh, isn't he dandy?'
Fgr. Powers
went on to argue that the purchasing
oIopca - fI,a. I>;lI xx,oe
in principle, and dangerous in aLpIica-
ton. If free coinage were adopted the
gold bugs could corner the market just
as easily as they could today. 1t did
not do merely to say that the Repub-
lican party was responsible for it. The
only solution of the problem was at
once 10 suspend the coinage OF silver
which the world had discarded, until we
could bring the world to its senses.
Then the nations of the world would
come to recognize that there was not
enough gold in the world to act as cur
rency, and they would come to BIZ
metallic basis.
MIR. Hooker (Dem., Miss opposed the
unconditional repeal of the purchasing
clause. The president spoke about re-
storing confidence. Where was conf
dence lacking? 1t was not in the great
masses of the people. it was IN the
money situations of the country that
locked up the currency. If labor was
distressed it was attributed to the action
of the banks. The repeal of the Sher-
man law would not restore trade or
commerce. nor would it relieve the
wage-earners. The present deprS sion
was not attributable so much to the
Sherman act as to the Mckinley act.
He would admit that the free coinage
of silver would not give absolute relief,
but he contended that it would give re-
lief to very great extent.
The debate was then suspended to
allow the speaker to announce the
standing and select committees for the
present congress.
Then on motion. Mr.. Bland, SATURDAY.
next was set apart for general debate of
the
Wilson Bill
instead Of debate under the fve-minute
rule.
Mr.. Cooper dem, Ind.) spoke in oppo-
sitiou to the free coinage of silver. He
would rather favor policy which would
give the country safe, recogniZed stable
currency than enter upon experiments
at this time. If congress repealed the
purchasing clause it would not strike
down or kill silver. in his opinion it
would lift up silver and make it the
equal of gold. He suspected that the
arguments that this course would strike
down silver meant that it would strike
down the silver industry and not the
silver money. He then argued IN sup
port of the proposition to repeal the tax
on state banks.
Mr.. Alexander Dem., n. CO. adj
vocated free silver coinage and
spoke for alarger currency. If some
relief were not given to the eoun-
try there might be trouble. But he did
not think that the repeal of the Sher-
man act nor the abolition OF the tax
upon state banks would give this relief.
Mr.. Sperry (Dem., Comm opposed
free coinage and advocated the Will
son bill. He called attention TO the
fact that when the ratio of Is to was
dQOPlCo bllC wac APOAi lAiC
whether the ratio should be 1858 to or
16 to l. Now the silver men did not
seem to care whether the ratio should
be 16 or 20.
Mr.. Cox Dem. TENN argued agains
the pending bill, and recounted
The Hardships
to which the people of his district had
been subjected since the war. Never
by his voice nor his vote would there be
another featherweight placed upon
their backs. He was speaking, he said,
in behalf of the poor colored men or his
country. The gentleman on the other
side might claim to control the negroes,
but at last the negroes had got to the
other side.
Mr.. Chickrine (Rep., \. y asked if
that was the reason the gentleman
spoke for them.
Mr.. Cox replied that he had come to
the conclusion that the negroes consri-