Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-17
Now Being Strongly Agitated in
 the German Reichstag.
THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT
Being Closely Watched by the Emperor and Me mber5
 of the Tribunal.

BERLIN, Feb. l4.-The victory of the silver men in tbs reichstag today was no surprise. Count Mirabach, the cgrarian and bimetalist leader, had secured 21O sig natures to his motion for an international monetary inference and the rehabilitation of silver. Therefore he opened the debate with the certainty of 8 large majority.
 Among the signers was P rince Alexander of Hohenlohe, the chancellor's son and the chief Of his private bureau in the chan celery. lie had not associated himself before with the bimetallists' agitation. He probably felt, as did many other signers who had no active interest in the issue, that the motion would do no harm and that some good might arise from a renewal of the battle standards.
 The heavy speakers in the heated two days' debate were drawn from the con- servatiye, national liberal and clerical ranks. They held the attention of the house from the beginning. The benches were not filled, bat all present displayed such intense interest as has not been evoked by another discussion of the ses- sion.
 Count Mirabach opened'the case for the silver men in imposing style. He is good speaker and had his subject
 
 now he has thought and talked only bi- metallism and tariff. He quoted statistics without end to prove the fall of prices since Germany adopted the gold stand- ard. lie argued at great length to show that under mOnometallisn, agriculture had gone from bad to worse in England and Germany ,and that English exports to silver using countries had declined steadily. His plea for silver was creditable effort, and it evoked frequent expressions of approval tl,s,r srhr nd aa tar hHlfQ QQ df1 left the radicals and social democrats on the other side quite unmoved and quite unconvipced.
 Dr. Lieber, leader of the clericals, de- fined in brief declaration the attitude of his party and the neutral deputies in gen. eral. He said: s'We believe that the present Is opportune, in view of the uni versal depression of economic life, to re- vive the international consideration of the problem affecting most yitally the trade of the world.''
 The tenor of the rest of his remarks was that he and his friends did not wish to re- tard an inquiry which could do no harm and might accomplish much good.
 The radical and social democratic speakers represented the gold men. They working for political and not economic ends. ssThis Is the agitation of the agrarian high tariff people in another guise," said Theodore Earth
 
 deceive the peasants to lead them to believe that the remedy for their present distress is to be found, not in wholesome reforms of the land laws, but in the adoption of a double standard. Such an agitation is doomed to failure. do not deny that an- other zconference like the one h Brussels may be brought together but what of 1t? The conference will result in nothing as did the meeting in Brussels.
 In the lobbfes this evening was heard Ill. ment that he had no objections to opening negotiations for money conference. The practical significance of his assurance seems to be in doubt. The bimetaliists, however, certainly expect an early decision from the federal governments empowering the i'm perial chancellor to take steps to- wards summoning a conference. Privately the chancellor has declared himself to be without bias in the matter and both mono metallists and bimettallsts regard him as a rathe slippery trimmer in the conflict of the standards. The bimetallists feel that they cannot rely op his initiative, and therefore are determined to seize every opportunity in the reichstag to strengthen their demands for international action. They will also organize series of mass meetings in Leipsic, Frankfort, Cologne, Dresden and other commercial centers. The first of the meetings will be held here next Tuesday.
 The persistence of the high tariff and su- gar agltators Of the conservative party has forced the emperor to economic subjects. He is deeply interested in the experiments making in the United States, ,as was proved by his conversation with Ambassador Ruyon at the charity ball in the Royal opera house last Wednesday evening. Immediately after entering the diplomats box bis majesty be- gan addressing the American am bassador on questions concerning the new gold loan and the sugar tariff. In rather loud tone he remarked that happily nothing had happened to disturb the friendly relations between the United States and Germany. The two great. countries were so bound by commercial ties, he said, that they could . not well be anything but friendly.