The morning call., 1894-04-09

party. which he yet has some hopes of
seeing realized.
II have been spending some weeks at a
little place which have on the west coast
of Florida, removed from the news and
hustle of American Cities" continued Mr..
Watterson. II have not read the papers.
have been taking rest and really | am
too rusty upon information pertaining t,
current events to speak with any degree of
accuracy. Florida has great charm for
me. II is wonderful place for weary
man to find rest. and then you know the
fishing is the best in the world"
Mr.. Watterson did not tell a fish story
as his preliminary remarks seemed to in
dictate. II did not catch any tarpen," was
the short sentence with which he dis
missed the discussion on that subject.
but met one old fisherman down there
whose remarks on the great question at
issue between the two parties is worthy of
preservation as a bit of philosophy which
has kernel OF truth. This old fisherman
said to me:
If l were In Congress l would intro
duce two bills-one would be an out and
out free-trade measure; the other would
contain high protective tariff, and then |
would let Congress vote for the one it
wished to become law
well. l do not think we are going to
present Congress, for the Wilson bill does
not go nearly SO far as that"
Little interest in the march Of the In
dustral army upon Washington seemed
to be felt by Mr.. Watterson. lie dis
missed it with five words: 1T is all a
farce"
The silver question is one in which the
editor of the Courier-Journal takes great
interest. He declares himself in favor of
bimetallism. but not in favor of the sort
of bimetallism which Colorado demands.
Of Senator Wolcott's proposition to open
the mints Of the United States to the COIN
age of Mexican dollars, giving Mexico the
seigniorage. and disposlng Of the coinage
product In the Orient, he said: ''Wbv that
seems to be revival of the old trade
dollar scheme with which we tried TO
cheat the Chinese, doesn't it?"
Then he proceeded to outline his views
with respect to the white metal. II would
like 10 see bimetalism adopted, but by
that do not mean free coinage. I would
like to see a greatly enlarged use of silver.
and | think this will be brought about
during the present administration. do
not desire to see such radical measures
adopted as will force the gold out of the
United States and practically reduce this
nation to a single silver standard. One
plank In the Democratic platform ado pied at
Chicago declared against the Sherman law.
that plank is concerned by the repeal of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman act.
The Chicago convention also adopted
plank pledging the Dem 3cratic party to an
endeavor to restore silver to parity with
gold. Now we wish to see that accom-
plished, but the question before the
country is: How may this be done?
IF were to advance proposition for
the settlement of the financial problem"
continued Mr.. WatterSUD, II would sug
gest conference of the great powers. and
would send our Secretary of the Treas
ury and our ablest men to that conference.
Bmetallism is growing in favor both in
Germany and England. The trouble at
previous international congresses when
the silver question has arisen came from
the fact that we did not send men who
were the best friends of silver.
John Sherman told me that an agree
ment could have been reached at the con-
ference in Paris in 1881 If 1t had not been
for George Walker. Both Sherman and
Evarts were in favor OF q proposition
favorable to silver, but Walker believed in
the single gold standard.
1--WE have about 500. 0O0, 600 of silver,
of which, think. we can take care, just
as France f0ated similar amount; but
the effort to force silver on the nation. as
the Colorado people advocate. would be to
drive gold out of the country. As friend
of silver and bimetalist, believe that
the administration will be forced to take
up the silver question. and will have to
redeem its other pledge MADE at the Chi
cagO convention. | look for settlement
of the problem within the next TWO
years."
To the suggestion that the coinage OF a
pan-American dollar might aid in the set
tlement OF the silver problem and at the