Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-17

iieve to be the cause of sound finances. It IS on its face the blsckest public contract 1 ever made by the government of the United States. Eut those very facts that our credit has been asssiled by the presidents that | such contract had been made with syn- l dicate of bankers, giving them an undue and gigantic profit, seem to me to make 1t 1 only more imperative that the congress Of | the United States should say in languas @ | which cannot be misunderstood that every 1 one of its coin obligations, whether bonds l or demand notes, is payable as they were 1 understood to be issued, in gold or silver,
 at the option Of the holder; that is, in the
 best money-in gold if 1t should be de-
 handed. That, cir, is simple honesty" 1 Replying to Mr. Wolcott on the presi- dent, Mir. Hill said: Fl know it has been l fippantly said here and elsewhere that the l president of the United States should have 1 done this and he should have done that,
 and il has been asked why did he not issue l bonds for less term of yeafsf Why did 1 he not secure a less rate of interest? Sena- tors forget ana the public forget that the l president Of the United States was ham pered by an Old statute that absolutely do- | tAted to him substantially the terms under
 which be could issue bonds. If he has l been driven into n corner; If he has been 1 compelled to mako harsh bargain in be- 1 half of this country, 1t is because of tho
 on-aclion of this congress, supposed to be 1 controlled by the democratlc party.
 | 'We deliberately waited and refused, and put off the discussion of this question until we found ourselves in minority in | this body. Mr. President, there have been l various efforts made 10 bring this question | to an issue. It has been suggested that
 the old act of 1875 should be amended so | that the president might have boen able to l get better terns- Congress has refused to
 amend that law; congress has kept the l president bound oy this old statute, and if 1 because the situation has compelled him to
 do so. At least this much is proper to be
 said in defense of the prssident's action. | 'Bnt, Mir. President, what do we hear?
 We hear tho senator from Colorado de- l nouncIng the president in uumeasured. l terms as having made an attack upon the l credit of this country, and in the next 1 breath he tells us that in very short time | after this alleged secret contract has been | made the credit of the country, instead of l being impaired, has been increased, and 1 the bonds, he tells us, are about to be sold | in the market for from 115 to 120. Aud | this is the attack that has been made l by the president of the United States upon 1 the credit of the country. The credit of
 the country has immediately advanced and
 its bonds are selling at higher rate thau I they have been In many long years. Men | may be blind to the signs of the times il they have mind to. Men eau shut their | eyes. Without at this lime approving | because it is not necessary for me to express l an opinion on that point-the details of
 this contract, without approving some of | the suggestions made in the message of the 1 president, am here to say that the president
 has undoubtedly endesvored to do his duty 1 as he understood 1t. am here to state that | the statement is unwarranted and uDjusti- | fled that the president has desired or en- l deavored to give to the syndicate higher l rate of interest than he felt obliged to do. 1 'Mr. President, it is unworthy of sen l ators upon this hour to make such au at- l tack. It is not necessary that should re- | ply to it. MT. Cleveland has his faults, kx.. l~nn utx ~f.t he has deliberately gone to work aud given | higher rate of interest for the bonds | than ne was compelled or feit constrained l to do. It ought not to have been said. | What do we know of the efforts that have been made except as we may glean them from some statemonts in the public press, which may or may not be entirely reliable. ''Do they pass ever such charges as suo- | stantially unworthy of notice? It is sufii- | eient for me that the president and seere-
 tary of the treasury teii us that they ob- | taned the best terms possible under all l circumstances of the case, and am dis posed to accept that statement in good faith.
 "Mr. President, no prejudice can be stirred up, and the senator who thinks he can stir u3 prejudice ngainst this adminis- tration simply because contract has been
 made with the Rothschilds is mistaken. I am defender of tn. Rothschllds, but say the attitude of congress has compelled the financial office of this government to
 make contract with whoever has the money.
 ''ls it the first time in the history of this country that we have borrowed money from the RothschHds? No, the records of this government show that repeatedly, over and over again, republican adminis- trations borrowed money from the Roths-
 childs and from other money lenders of Europe. The attempt to stir up some prejudice among the people because the administration borrowed this money iu
 London, say, is uncalled for and nnwar- Fanted.' '
 At2 2o'clock the agricultural appropria- tion bill was taken up and Mr. Teller, avsiling himself Of the liberal rules of tbe ssoate, began to speak in reply to MT. Hill.
 MT. Hill's resolution sought, MT. Teller said, to accomplish in an indirect way what the house Of representatives had re- fused on two occasions to do. For the past ninety days there had been evidences of an intention to put the country or gold basis and the senator from New York appeared to be party to that effort. There had been an effort for several months to sell gold to premium, and after that had been reached 10 demand the payment of
 government obligations in gold.
 Mir. Teller characterized the bond trans
 action as one oS the most scaudalous that
 has occurred in public affairs in fifty years.
 and asserted that il is the first time in the
 history of this country when the people
 nau rignt to cnarge aoSotutely lack Of
 honesty on the part of an administration
 in dealing with it's financial affairs. MT.
 Teller said that the new bonds should and
 could have been sold in this country for
 1l9A, the figure which Secretary Carlisle
 has stated as the value Of per cent
 thirty-year bond.
 Continu nuing his speech, Mir. Teller said:
 "It will not do, MT. President, to insist
 that the president of the United States aud
 the secretary of tue treasury have dope the
 best they could. l am not charging that
 the president of the United States has
 profited financially by this transaction, or
 that the secretary of the treasury has done
 sp rannot cnncaiva xvhat ipa,.no.,