The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-04
Anxious for an Extra Session.

Anxious for an Extra Session.
Quite q number Of papers in different
rarts Of the country gr1 urging the call
ing Of an extra session at once TO repeal
IN Sherman silver purchase act. They
"a that the business Of the country IS
suffering greatly on account o. tn un-
certainty as TO whether the government
viii be able to maintain its gold reserve,
and that it is now pretty well understood
that il Is the silver purchase act that is
/ causing gold to fow ont of the country.
/ One Of the pgp2rs that thinks congress
. should be called together at once is the
/ St. Louis Republic. II declares that
I four months is too long to wait fora meet
. ing Of congress, assuming that it is the
/ purpose of the President 10 call an extra
I session in September. II says: -Four
months is IN itself but q short period.
but it is too much time to be wasted
when the government is in straits, its
revenues depleted and millions Of ex-
penditure necessitated month by month
for the accumulation Of silver to a con
slant drain of the gold reserve. The
:
apparent. and when the need is most obvi-
Gus remedial legislation is always most
practicable 1t may be that the situation
will become so much worse by fall as to
create an Irresistible demand for repeal of
the Sherman law and necessitate heroic
measures of relief, but to postpone legis-
lation on so dangerous a theory as this
would be the hight of unwisdom, and
the government could hardly afford to
risk the chances of intervening disaster
to the business welfare Of the country"
The Springfield Republican is another
paper that believes that there should be
no delay in calling congress together.
The present troubles it says, ARE
the legitimate product of the silver pur-
chase law If that part of the country
particularly devoted to the silver policy
is ever to be impressed with it's evil con
sequences, it must be through a practical
demonstration such as is now being ex-
perienced. Business must suffer through
the disturbance and uncertainty arising,
but better this in view of its educational
possibilities than to go on in a hand-to-
mouth way arousing false sense of secur-
ity by artificial means. Therefore we
have said, and we repeat, that before re
sorting to any bond issue of doubtful legal
authority, before the greenback reserve
has been seriously impaired before even
the banks have been appealed to for aid,
the President should call congress
together in extra session"
If the President was satisfied that con
gress would repeal the silver purchase
law if called at once in an extra session it
is safe TO say that he would not hesitate
to issue the cali Immediately But it is
clear that he is not satisfied that con-
gressmen are yet ready to repeal that law
without substituting something for it that
would be productive of greater evils than
those from which the country is now suf-
fering. There are signs, it is true, that
change in the sentiment of the country on
the silver question is going on, but it has
not yet reached a point where
it would be safe to convene
congress to legislate in respect to silver
Too many congressman are afraid of los
ing their hold on their constituents TO do
what their judgments dictate, and the
idea that free coinage of silver would
enable the debtor class to pay their obi
cations more easily than they now can
still has strong hold upon very large
portion of the people
The President, doubtless, is studying
the situation very carefully. 1t would be
a mistake of the most serious kind to call
an extra session before congress is ready
to do what is necessary to be done to re
lieve the financial situation of the exist
ing uncertainty. II is probable, there
fore, that the President is acting wisely
in not calling an extra session at present.
He will call it just as soon as he thinks
there is fair prospect of the repeal of
the silver purchase act