The herald., 1896-02-01
THE F|FTY-FOURIH CONGRESS
Villas Speaks on the Silver
Bond Bill
THE BILL is A MERE SHAM
And Senate Amendments Only Make
II Worse
HE BILL IS A MERE SHAM
Late Financial Distress and Public Misery
Are the Direct Results of Legislation
Favoring Silver

Associated Press Special Wire.
WASHINGTos, Jan. 31.-The final vote
on the bond silver bill will be taken in the
senate at o'clock tomorrow. an agreement
to that effect having been reached today.
This brings to conclusion a debate cover
ing many days. The agreement came
rather unexpectedly at the close of Mr..
Villas speech. He had talked for three
hours and was about to be followed by
Bate when Chandler precipitated the ques-
ton of a final vote by stating that he
would ask unanimous consent for a recess
from to 1880 o'clock. Mr.. Harris of
Tennessee put the voting proposition in
more definite form by asking that the
agreement cover recess from to 1880
o'clock tonight, and further recess until
i o'clock tomorrow, then the five.minute
debate rule to apply except to Mr.. Morrill,,
the veraple head of the finance committee
and finally a vote on the bill and all
amendments at o'clock.
The presiding officer declared the unani-
nous consent to the agreement to be in
force.
Aside from this The day was given to
speeches on the pending bill.
When the senate convened the silver
bond bill had the immediate right of way.
Allen of Nebraska called attention 10 the
absence of quorum. This necessitated a
roll call, which brought senators from the
committee and cloak rooms, and disclosed
forty-six senators present, one more than a
quorum.
Villas then addressed the senate in oppo-
sition to the bill
SIT will,' said Mr.. Villas, "doubtless
never be necessary to discus. this bill as It
came from the house. But it may be said
that it deserves it's fate. strangled by sill
yer. 1t was but the fraudulent pretext of
response to the exigency which it pro-
fessed to meet, and to the reasonable sug-
gestions of the president. which it denied.
while it avowed their wisdom. With the
exception of the provision for emergency
certficates-which ought to stand in the
permanent statutes-the house bill con-
tanned nothing commendable; everything
else was but mockery of the legislation
demanded by our fiscal conditions.
And so again, as a year ago. partisan
ship or imbecility, or both. has stricken
congress with paralysis, and the rescue of
prosperity from it's recurring peril has
been thrown upon the executive. 1t is
almost as fortuitous that an old statute
has remained untouched during our tinan-
cial madness, which can again serve the
the turn. and, although in clumsy way
when considered with reference to existing
conditions and suitable measures of relief,
yet it shows hat Gods pity and mercy are
not wholly Withdrawn from us.
"lf." he continued, "any trusted agent
in private affairs should so deny duty and
abuse trust as congress did year ago and
now repeats, no judgment in their con-
demnation would be too severe. Over
| $l6.O00,OO0 of the public debt was then
thrown away in the reckless rage of parti-
| sanship; and the injury that must now be
sustained by the people for the same rea-
son is probably no less, although the exact
measure of it is not quite SO clear. Then
Republican management was able to show
the pretense that except for the Populists
and free silverites there might have been
relief. 1t was true, then, that this bill has
now unmasked the fact, by denying under
Republican dictation the only remedy
available for the increased mischief"
Declaring that the bill as it came from
the house was mere sham and fraud, Mr..
Villas proceeded to show that the senate
amendments made it worse than the origi-
nal measure.
ut was a bad stock" he asserted,
''though it has been budded with worse
scion. The best hope is that both will
shrivel and die in the desert air of the sem
ate. In the senate Midas is the horror of
horrors; everything turns to siver.'
He said he had hitherto concluded that it
was the wisest policy to sit and allow the
silver advocates to do the talking, as they
we're in the habit of doing, at the ratio of
about 16 to l. but he had heard it asked
why the opponents of free coinage did not
Justify their faith in debate. He then pro-
ceeded at considerable length to discuss
the free coinage provision of the pending
bill, declaring that the financial distress
were the direct product of the efforts to
force silver upon the country.
"And," he said. "our course of relief is
a return to sound principles"
He believed especially that every step
on the fatal progress in error had been op-
posed to the cardinal doctrines on which
the Democratic party is based and by
while the spirit flies from our institutions
of liberty.
He divided the silver advocates into
three classes.
First, those who were interested in silver
mining; second, heavy debtors, and third.
those who believe IN the principle of BIZ
METAL SIN.
OF the first class, he said that they were
few in number, but wond erfully potential;
of The second, that they might observe
sympathy if thy did not shock 1t.
The third class he described as honestly
mistaken, and to them he addressed his
argument.
He contended that the silver mine own
ers were largely responsible for the agita-
ton for fee coinage, and after asserting
that silver mining was confined to the
western states, he stated that the mines
we're owned by comparatively few people
| and largely by corporations, who, by the
employment of labor, often made large
profits on a comparatively small outlay.
The keenest and best trained intellects, he
said, were enlisted by this solid interest,
which ua n0saaasad Of. tetra ,f