The herald., 1893-08-10

the subject Of silver repeal will no
figure in the senate, for the purpose i
to adjourn from tomorrow till Monday
Immediately after the adjournment o
the caucus German called into consulta
tion Senators Blackburn. Gray, Ransom
Voorhees, and Cockrell. Although Ger
man had not made bis appointments a
the time of consultation, their presence
gave color to the expectation that the,
would be named as members of the eau
Gus committee tomorrow.
THE FREE SILVER CAUCUS.
The hall of the house was closed short
ly before IL, and the friends of free silver
began to caucus. The attendance was
small. Up to 12 80 not more than 5C
members had made their appearance.
The door keepers were instructed to
notify each who applied for admission
that the meeting was confined to "free
coinage" members. Before the caucus
met Bland eaid the purpose for which it
had been called was to organize the ell
yer forces, appoint committees and pre-
pare generally for the struggle before
them.
To the suggestion that some silver men
would not attend the caucus for the
reason that they did not want thereby
to seem to separate themselves from
their respective parties, Bland responded
1t was not expected that much aid or
comfort was to be derived from those
who had not the courage of their convic-
tions.
"There will be many scalps taken by
the people before this fight is over"
continued the spostle of silver. There
are men here representing free silver
constituencies who are panic-stricken
and ready to yield to the clamor against
silver. The people are not go affected.
They will look upon the matter dispas-
eio1ately whom it is ended, and ask their
representatives what allied them. The
people do not consider the attack upon
the Sherman law as sincere, nor ia it to
them the question of first Importance.
They look upon it as fight between the
gold men and bimetsllists, and they are
willing to see the present laws relating
to coinage unconditionally repealed.
What they want first OF all is the free
coinage OF silver. That's the main ques
tion."
Discussion developed the fact that at
present some are not tied to the 16 to l
ratio. A motion was made looking to
the preparation of a bill by which the
Sherman law should be repealed, and
free coinage of silver at ratio with
gold to be agreed upon, provided for.
The discussion developed that q ratio of
20 to l would be acceptable to those who
felt that the old ratio should be changed.
At1 80 no conclusion had been reached.
It was noticeable that the attempt to
draw to the caucus members OF both par
ties was failure, for but one Republi-
can member, Bowers of California joined |
in the deliberations of the silver men.
Culbsrson of Texas acted as chairman of
the caucus, which was the first of its
kind held in the house for several years.
The caucus adjourned at 2:45, after
having adopted the following resolu-
tions:
Resolved, That we will support bill
repeating the purchasing clause of the
Sherman act and concurrently proyid-
ing for the free and untrammeled coin
age of silver, with full legal tender
quality, at such ratio as will provide
and maintain parity between gold and
silver. Be it further
Resolved, That q committee OF seven
be appointed by the chairman OF this
conference to draft and introduce such
bill and take proper steps to secure free
and full discussion and consideration |
thereof and a vote upon the bill and all
proper amendments.
The committee provided for in the
foregoing resolution was composed as
follows: Messrs. Bland, Sibley, Boat
ner, Lane, Bankhead, Bryan and Bailey. |
By vote of the caucus, Judge Culber-
son, chairman of the caucus, was added |
to the committee. The only Re- |
publican member present was Repre-
sentative Bowers, of California. The
Populists were represented by Jerry |
Simpson and KEN, of Nebraska.
Speeches were made by Messrs. Culber-
son, of Texas; Bland, Hatch and Heard
of Missouri; Craig and Bailey, of Texas;
Simpson, of Kansas; Oates and Bank |
head. Of Alabama; Bryan, Of Nebraska;
eibley, of Pennsylvania Boatner and
of Louisiana, and others, all
In support of the object for which the
caucus had been called.
Besides the action reported, motion
by Bland was adopted authorizing the
appointment of committee OF whips"
one from each state. whose duty it shsll
be to canvass the house and discover
each members standing upon the pro-
posed bill, and zee that every friend of
the measure is in his seat and ready to
vote when the time comes.
Bland stated after the caucus that it
had been in every respect satisfactory to
the friends of free silver coinage.