The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-07-24
Have you that bill and those letters with

Have you that bill and those letters with
you?
Mr.. Horr-.sI have not them here today.
but have them in the city, think.
Mr.. Harvey-Will you produce them
during the debate?
Mr.. Horr: I" will If have them I don't
know whether I brought them with me.
but l think l did. Mr.. Patterson wrote
to Mr.. Knox and his letter was printed
In the public documents. I will say to
this house that every single document
l have referred to copied from the books
of the government in the city of Wash
ington, myself, individually, so I know
what I am talking about. Mr.. Patter>
son said The silver half-dime and 8
cent piece are dispensed with by this
amendment. Gold becomes the standard
money, Of which the gold dollar is the
unit. Silver is subsidiary. embracing
coins from the dime to the half dollar.
Can anything be more plain than that?
Was there any covering up of anything
in that letter."
Mr.. Harvey: "In the presentation Of
characterization l have called attention
to the condition, morally. of congress at
the time of the passage of the act; to
Impeachment charges against Vice Pres
ident Colfax, in 1873, for fraud In con-
nection with legislation, and to the res
ignatfOn of Secretary OF. War Belknap
for bribery in 1873. 1 now proceed, after
first stating that Delmar, the English
historian, says that the act of 1916 de-
monetizing silver in England had
clause in it that it might be reinstated
by the king; that that clause giving
right to reinstatement was repealed In
1871, and that the act on which 1t was
repealed was within two weeks in the
hands of Mr.. Knox, the comptroller of
the United States treasury (applause),
and was in part the basis Of the act in
this country. There was an era Of cor
ruption in congress at that time. Clinton
Colgate confessed before the ways and
means committee Of 1873 to the use Of
money to influence the Incorporation of
special features in the internal revenue
BILL testifying among other things that
Charles Sherman, of Ohio, a brother of
Senator Sherman, had been paid $4,000
by the New York stock exchange in con-
nection with the revenue bill. The Of
ficials of the stock exchange were SUBJ
poenaed, and the facts developed that
while the money had not been paid,
Judge Sherman had rendered a bill to
the exchange for his services, and, as he
claimed, for securing the services of his
brother. Senator Sherman, to put the
bill through. (Applause) It would
readily exhaust the words Of this debate
to go into all the investigations Of that
notorious congress"
Mr. Horr: 1.-The attempt of Mr.. Har-
vey to smirch the congress of the United
OIdl0S anu uldkc TIE ptOPle VI ILLS COuu~
try believe that the people who acted as
members of congress in this country, as
a rule, are corrupt, and have been subject
to purchase and sale, can be character
lied only as infamous. (Applause.) No
nation on the face of the earth ever had
a purer set of legislators than have been
in the congress of this country dur
ing it's existence. There sit before me
several members Of congress who served
with me in several congresses, and l
appeal to each and every one of them if,
during their entire services, they ever
saw or mistruSted that money was be-
ing used to purchase members Of con-
gres. 1 served six years without ever
knowing that an instance of that kind
had occurred during the congresses in
which 1 served. When men start out
with the proposition that, in order to
prove their case, they must also prove
that a majority Of the best men of this
country are thieves and scoundrels, they
had better stop before they begin.
(Applause.) The people Of this country
and the congressman is no exception
as an average are upright, honest bust
ness men. I admit that Judge Sherman
was guilty of a crime. That was never
in any way connected with his brother,
John Sherman, and you know it. They
exonerated him.
Mr. Harvey: did they impeach Judge
Sherman"
Mr.. Horn: Judge Sherman resigned
Immediately. They drove him from the
bench (Applause) The public opinion
of this country would not permit a man
to hold a public position who would do a
thing of that kind. But what has that
to do with the question whether Mr..
Knox openly and squarely presented this
bill to congress? Mr.. Knox said himself:
The coinage Of the silver dollar piece,
the history of which is here given is
discontinued in the proposed bill. 1t is
by law the dollar unit. The present gold
dollar piece is made the dollar unit in the
proposed BILL"
A voice in the audience: when was
that written?"
Mr. Horn: "Just before it was sent to
congress in 1870. It was part of the re-
port that Secretary Boutwell, sent to the
senate in the spring of 1870. It accom-
panied the bill and was printed in the
public documents as being an expalna-
ton of the bill by order of the senate.
Is there anything hidden in those state
ments?'
Mr.. Harvey: among the many
charges of corruption made at the period.
1873, there was one of significance when
we consider that silver was demonetized
by a single sentence being omitted from
the report of the conference committee
and enrolment of the mint bill; and in
dicates the power in this instance,
corrupt clerk could have. George A.
Bassett clerk of the ways and means
committee, 1873, was charged with haV-
ing demanded $3.50 per month from the
bankers and brokers of New York to
assist them in repeating the tax on bor-
rowed capital, and $4,000 when the act
passed. The Chicago Tribune of Feb 81.
1878, the very month in which silver was
demonetized, said: Turkish corruption
under the pashas and beys, or Russian
official rottenness, could scarcely be
worse than it is here (Applause)
"The salary grab bill passed March 8,
1878. The people rose en- masse and
forced congress to repeal this bill, little
dreaming at the time that another bill
had passed at that congress that was to
rob them of millions Of dollars. The peo-
pie could understand a scientific spoila-
ton of their rights (applause)
ITO make plain how the fraud was
practiced, 1 copy into my remarks Sec
tions Is and 16 of the bill as it Is sup>
posed to have been read when on it's
passage, together with the words fraud
ulently omitted in brackets. Omit the
words in brackets, and you have these
sections as they now read in the statutes.
Include the words in brackets, and you
have the sections as the bill was sup
posed to have passed congress"
Mr.. Horr: Where is that from? don't
understand
Mr. Harvey: IT take the two sections
as they now appear In the statutes, and
add between brackets the words that
were erased from the BILL
"Mr. Horn: by whom?"
Mr.. Harvey: "Surreptitiously in it's
passage"
Mr. Horn: "By whom? What proof
have you that anything was erased?"
Mr. Harvey: 9TH get to the proof of
that a little later. The standard silver
dollar was fraudulently omitted after the
bill had passed both houses. (Applause)
1t will be questioned by our best citizens
that such a fraud could be practiced, and
the hesitancy with which they accept it's
truth attest the integrity Of our citizen