Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-09-26

Gladstone considers to be contrary TO
the interest OF England as the great credit
tor OF the countries of the world Is the
attempt to maintain or restore TO silver
the function OF serving rs money. l am
tempted to sit down and leave this speech
OF Mr.. Gladstone's TO stand alone as the
ground for the vote | shall give on the
bill now before us. II is ground enough.
To my mind II carries conviction as TO
the true course OF an American. The
officially-avowed policy OF England IS to
prevent the restoration OF silver 10 its
function as money, because the moneyed
interests OF England require, or think they
require. monometallic gold standard. l
have stated the case with great modera-
ton, and have passed not word OF
blame on Mr.. Gladstone. who merely
represents a policy which England has
always followed and avowed. Any fur
ther measure which tends to discredit
silver Is. at least for the moment,
furtherance of the British polcy--lt tends
10 support the monometalic gold stand
ard"
MIR. CAMERON'S REMEDY.
Mr.. Cameron, in conclusion. stated his
remedial propositions thus: We all agree
that. with Europe and Asia In their pres
ent critical state OF equilibrium, any sill
yer or paper currency needs "A larger
guarantee than usual. For that purpose
| propose a gold loan of so many hundred
million dollars as Congress may decide,
to be bought at the market rate and held.
| In the Treasury as a gold reserve is held
I'm the Bank of France and by the gov
ernments Of the Latin Union.
II propose to open our mints to the
free coinage of American silver. imposing
a duty on the importation OF foreign sill
OF the poorer and weaker States. es-
pecially in the South. to repeal the tax
on State-bank circulation-a measure
which is intended to give them a free
hand In moving their own crops. de-
Veloping their resources, and relieving
them from their servitude to the great
capitalist cities. l look for no effect, or
but little, from this step as far as the
North Is concerned.
Il would also press once more for
action in favor OF our shipping. The
bill for that purpose Is known TO you,
and neither its object nor it's methods
should be matter of party division.
ITO meet, In part, the deficit of our
income for next year. l would reimpose
the duty Of two cents pound on sugar
and repeal the bounty. Then | would
wait a year to see how the system worked
and how far We were affected by foreign
| influence. AZ for our foreign exchanges.
they are automatic and will take care OF
themselves under any system They have
done when We had no currency at all;
when We had gold: when We had ire
deemable paper, and when We had silver
II Europe wants our gold let her have II,
II she can pay for 1t, that is TO say all
except the gold I'm our treasury. No gem
eral or special legislation is likely % pass
| this Senate unless it IS comprehensive
enough to command practically universal
/ assent. To that object | have addressed
myself II any other Senator brings for
ward a scheme more comprehensive. more
| liberal, conceived in u spirit OF wider or
more generous union. l will give him my
support.
BOTH THEORY AND CONDITION.
Mr.. Bate then addressed the Senate In
/ opposition to the bill Mr.. Bate began his
speech by referring 10 one of the senten-
| tous sentences used by Mr.. Cleveland a
\ few years ago. adapting Ii 10 the sltua-
! ton to-day, and asserting that the coun-
| try was now confronted with both a
/ theory and "A condition which were barring
/ the way to IA great and pressing reform.
/ A copgested condition of trade demanded
/ imperative relief, business confidence
| prayed for restoration, the one precious
/ metal left 10 our currency by unwise
! legislation came and went like the ebb
and How Of the tide.
Under the Constitution, said Mr.. Bate.
! there was no discrimination against either
metal. and the Constitution did not au-
! thorlZe Congress to hold one TO be pre-
Cious and to make the other a mere
token. The sovereign power to coin these
( metals into money resided I'm the inde-
pendent States and was by them trans
ferred by specific grant TO their agent,
( the Congress. and that power was not u
coin money for gold or silver. but from
I gold and silver In regard to the legal
tender quality of coin, he said that the
proposition that Congress could deny ~
one metal a legal tender quality. while
the States, under the Constitution, We're
required to recognize both, was unwar-
ranted.
SILVER DOLLAR THE UNIT.
Mr. Bate then took up the history OF
the origin Of our money. holding to the
fundamental proposition that the silver
dollar. and not the gold coin. had been
made the unit OF value. BY the legis-
lation of t7g2 he said. It was thus in
tended that the dollar should always be
37lh grains OF pure silver. just as the
/ yArd-stick was to be thirty-siX inches
: long. This measure Of value, therefore,
/ remained. whether the coin represented
by It was Of silver or gold, greenback,
| national bank note, or Individual cheek.
IL was fixed no matter what the price,
/ with no regard 10 ratio. and remained
I 50 until altered by unhallowed hands IN
! 1873. Although the coin dollar varied with
| the rates the dollar OF accounts remained
fixed and permanent. The legislation which
I repealed this wise work OF Hamilton
and Jefferson was Of dark and devious
character, and by circuitous and sus-
picous proceeding No greater crime. II
IL was designed, and no greater error,
II it was from ignorance, was ever com
mitted in legislation.
Mr. Bate then gave a history Of the
decentralization Of silver, which. he said,
was first made public through the re-
sumption act Of 1873. The outcry against
II continued from that day TO the present,
and found expression In the Bland bill
in ls75. and the proposed demonetization
OF the silver dollar Of 4l2l2 grains In lsl7,
| both OF which measures passed the House,
but were lost in the Senate. The agita-
ton was kept up until the passage OF the
| Bland Allison act, which unfortunately,
| did not restore the definition OF the dollar,
but left il liable to contract or expand
with the rise or fail OF the price Of silver
! bullion. This popular demand Tor SILVER
| he said. was not less now than IL was
twenty years ago. When Congress, by
law made gold the single standard, as
was contemplated by this repeal, It re-
strlcted silver as a debased token when
paid the wages Of labor In a deprecated
currency, while the profits of capital were
| reaped In gold
Mr.. Bate believed that IL was because
Congress was bound by considerations OF
public equity as well as those of national
| interest. to restore the money measure
to what it was before 1873 that the plat
form OF the political parties declared en-
phatically for the free coinage or SILVER
and the maintenance OF parity between
gold and silver. HIS people were for free
| silver. and. in voting Gnd speaking as he
! did he believed he but voiced their SEN
| timents. All laws that demonetlzed SILVER
or forbid its coinage as freely as gold
were, in his opinion, unconstitutlonal. IL
was not any particular section or the
sherman law that had been denounced
by the Democrats in convention as
"makeshift." but the law in Its entirety.
and now It was proposed TO repeal the
only section that in any way commended
| itself 20 the people.
| CAUSE OF THE PANIC.
The general cause OF the depression
and business stagnation Mr.. Bate found
4 4