The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-15
GOLD BONDS OPPOSED
House Takes a Stand Against Issuing of Them blythe
 Government.
DEBATES ON THE MEASURE.
MIR. WILSON DESCRIBED THE IT.
 NANCIIL SITUATION.

He Supported the Resolution and Then Re-
 viewed the History of the Gold Reserve
 Beginning With the Law For the Re
 sumption of Specie Payment-He Was
 Replied to by MT. Reed of Maine in a Most
 Telling Speech That Was Greeted With
 Applause-When a Vote Was Taken it
 Resulted In the Defeat of the Bill.
 Washington, Feb. 14.-Mr. Catchings,
 dem. of Mississippi reported in the
 house the resolution agreed upon by the
 committee on rules for the consideration
 of the joint resolution of the committee
 on ways and means regarding the issue
 of gold bonds.
 The gold bond resolution was read by
 the clerk, and the speaker stated that
 he would recognize Messrs. Wilson,
 dem., of West Virginia, and Reed, rep,
 Maine,f for two hours in the affirmative
 and Messrs. Bryan, dem, of Nebraska,
 and Hopkins, rep, of Illinois, in the
 negative for the same time; the other
 hour to be divided among other gentle
 men.
 MT. Wilson, in opening, said that the
 situation was this;
 The secretary of the treasury, having
 decided that an emergency had arisen,
 provided for in section 3,7OO, revised statutes, he had agreed to issue some
 thing over sixty-ive millions of bonds, at the net rate of 8 3-4 per cent. interest, for the purchase of 3,500,000 ounces of gold It was further agreed that these bonds might be exchanged for per cent gold bonds, should congress give the secretary authority to issue them. The resolution supported by the com mittee on ways and means provided that none of the gold thus realized should be used for the payment of cur rent expenses of the government.
 In considering the necessity for the passage of the resolution MT. Wilson went into a showing of the condition of the treasury This morning, he said, there was an available cash balance of 165. .000, 900 of dollars, which was greatly in excess of the balance of other peri ods In the history of the treasury. For instance, on the 31st of May, 1892, the available cash balance was $126, 0,O0O. So 1t was not due to any financial strin- gency in the treasury itself. But when we came to consider the gold reserve, said MT. Wilson, we found this morn ing that it amounted to buS $42, ,217OOO. As a. bank of issue and redemption, therefore, it had been compelled to do as other institutions of the kind-it had been compelled to go into the market and nl1rchase that with which 1t must redeem it's notes.
 MT. Wilson reviewed the history of the gold reserve beginning with the law of 1875, providing for the resump- 1 lion of specie payment. Secretary Sher- man. in his reports had said that the | power of the secretary of the treasury | to maintain the gold reserve was a | continuing power, and in his estima- | tion it should amount to 40 per cent | of the outstanding liabilities. This was | not the first time, said MT. Wilson, | that the treasury had suffered from | loss of gold.
 In December, 1890, according to the speech made by Secretary Windom in New York city on the night he died, there had been a run of $24,000,0 900 on the gold reserve, and the available cash in the treasury had been reduced to the fifty-four million of bank trust funds. Three times within the past thirteen months Secretary Carlisle has found 1t necessary to go into the market and buy coin with which to carry out the terms of the Sherman law of 1S90 and of the law repeating the purchas- ing clause of that law, which required him to maintain the parity of all the dollars of the government. He did just what Secretary Sherman did time and again in carrying out the law for the of the public debt, and bought gold from other markets than our own.
 If Secretary Sherman in 1879 deemed B 40 per cent. gold reserve necessary, said MT. Wilson, certainly the $100,000,- 1 poo set apart in 1882 apparently in pur suance to the declaration of congress | for the redemption of the greenbacks alone in view of the addition of five hundred millions of legal tender, that the hundred million of silver notes z and of all the national banks to the ' of obligations of the govern S nent must be considered as a modest t md proper reserve. MT. Dingley, rep., of Maine-If the t of the treasury has bor- f owed 117, ,0O0, 900 of gold, as I under c Jtand the gentleman to say, for the S of the gold reserve, will s le explain how the government has t provided revenue for the $1O9, ,0O0, 900 of deficiency within the past two years? s MT Wilson-Still harping on my s laughter. I explained that in my t peech on the bill repeating the differ b ntial duty. t. Mir Dingley-No, but this is an inn F ,ortant matter and I think ought to b ,e properly and clearly set before the ouse. Has not the money obtained by s he sale of these bonds been used to u neet the deficiency in revenues? u MT. Wilson-Of course the gentleman Ii partly correct. l showed some days W go how under the operations of 'the h ndless chain" the money thus ob- - aimed entered into the available cash C f the treasury and was used to pay urrent indebtedness. tl MT. Dingley-But how could that st endless chain" work if the greenbacks ce were held in the treasury tc nd not paid out again? T MT. Wilson-But doesn't the gentle tt