Morning journal and courier., 1894-02-10
GLANDS EXPLANATION.

| He Says That the SeiG Gniorage Bin Does Not Go as Far as tho sherman Act He Was Frequently Intercepted and at the Close Of Ills Speech Was Ap- P1auded.
 WASHINGTON, Feb. 9-After the call of
 committees for reports had been concluded
 in the house to day Mir. Bland, dem, of
 Missouri, at 12:27 o'clock moved to take up the consideration of his silver seiguior-
 age bill in committee of the whole, and the motion was agreed to without serious ob-
 jection.
 NIT. Bland was recognized to conclude his remarks In support of his measure, and said, by way of preface, that he was re- ported in the papers as being willing to strike out the last section of his bill pro viding for the coinage of the bullion in the treasury purchased under the Sherman law and remaining uncoined. That state ment was untrue, for he considered that the most important feature ot the measure. The secretary of the treasury was of the opinion that 1t would take about Ave years to carry out this provision of the bill.
 MT. Bland was surrounded by e crowd of members and was rapidly piled with ques- tions. The principal object of his bill, he said, was not to redeem the notes issued under the Sherman law, but to coin the silver now remaining in the treasury. The proposed bill did not go so far as the Sher man law, nor give the secretary of the tressury such wide discretion. The close of his speech was marked by applause from his sympathizsrs.
 He was followed by MT. c. W. Stone of Penn, one of the republican members of the committee on coinage, weights and measures, who antagonizsd the bill. He went into legal description of what con- stituted seigniorage, holding that there could be no seigniorsge until all the silver was consumed. You could not, he said, take out portion of the silver in the treas ury and say that 1t was seigniorsge until it ceased to be bullion. This view was dia- metrioally opposed to that held by MT. Bland. MT. Stone illustrated his position by saying that you could not take 6 bullock in the field and cut piece off his nsuncnes and call 1t leather and the remaining portion bullock. But after while, when the bullock ceased to exist, 1t might become leather. So you could not segregate from the 140, ,000, ,000 ounces of silver in the treasury 55 ,000, ,O00 ounces and call it seigniorsge and the bal ance bullion. This bullion constituted collateral trust fund and for the redemp. tion ot the notes issued upon 1t; and If any portion of this fund should be taken and used for the necessary expenses of the government or for any other purpose than that to which it was dedicated, 1t was not only perversion of the trust, but was embezzlement of trust funds.
 The democratic party in congress. said MT. Stone, had drawn up 8 tariff bill which created deficit, and now they pro- posed to pilfer from that trust fund in order to cover up the deficit.
 MT. McKeighan, ind, of Nebraska sup ported the bill. He arraigned the finan- cisl policy of President Cleveland and pre- dicted that 1t would lead the democratic party into disaster. He pleaded for equal ity of gold and silver.
 MT. Hsrter, dem., of Ohio, one of the committee who signed the minority report, spoke in opposition to the pending bill.
 MT. Harter spoke in favor of tax of one cent pound on sugar, an increase of thirty cents in the tax on spirits and heavy tsx on beer. He said the tax on beer, which he proposed, would make c difference of only one fifth of cent per glass, and this would bring 8 revenue of $27, 900, 900 sn- nually. Also an increase of $29, ,000, ,000 annually could be collected from tea and coffee, while putting tax on the people of only one-tenth of 8 cent @ cup. Another way of meeting the temporary deficit was by making temporary loans at a low rate.
 Mir. Harter referred to the decline in sil- yer and said that but for the repeal of the silver purchase act the condition of the country would have been ten times as bad as it is now. MT. Hsrter pictured in an amusing way the misfortunes which would come upon the democratic party if 1t passed the Bland bill.
 MT. Kilgore, dem, of Texas, advocated the bill.
 The committee soon rose and the report of the sergesut-at-arms announcing his performance of the order of the house relative to the arrest of absent members was read. The house then adjourned.