The record-union., 1896-01-28

for the opening prayer by the blind
Chaplain of the Senate, Mr.. Milburn,
this morning.
AS soon as the journal of Friday was
read the credentials of Frank J. Can
non and Arthur Brown, as Senator's
elect from the new State of Utah, were
presented, read and placed on file, and
the new Senators were then escorted to
tn Vice PRESIDENTS desk by Senators
Dubois (Rep.) of Idaho and Burrows
(Rep.) of Michigan, and took and sub
scribed the oath of Office. They make
the whole number of Senators now in
Office eighty-nine, there being still a
vacancy from the State of Delaware.
On motion of Mitchell (Rep) of Ore
gon, the drawing took place between the
two Utah Senators to determine their
relative terms of services, and the Vice
President announced that number one
(the long ternn) had been drawn by Can
non and number three (the short term)
by Brown.
Hansbrough Rep.) of North Dakota
then took the floor and proceeded with
a speech relative to matters pertaining
TO the Department of Agriculture. His
subject was the failure of the Secretary
of Agriculture to execute the law on the
subject of seed distribution The es-
sence Of the controversy, he said, lay in
the proposition whether an executive
officer of the Government has the right
to willfully, deliberately, designedly
and, as in this case, premeditately ig-
more solemn statute of Congress. He
believed it could be shown that the Sec
retary of Agriculture has disobeyed the
mandate of the legislative branch of the
Government.
The last Congress had made an ap-
preparation Of $130.000 to be used In the
purchase and distribution of field and
garden seeds. trees, cuttings, bulbs, etc.
as required by law. The Secretary had
first showed his deliberate purpose to
evade that law when he asked the At
torney- General for an Interpretation Of
the statute with reference to the pur-
chase of seeds. There was nothing at all
in the opinion of the Attorney General
which was inconsistent with the proper
work of the department, so that the Sec
Tetary derived but little consolation
from the opinion of the Attorney-Gen-
eral
In accordance with that opinion. the
Secretary had proceeded to advertise
Tor bids, but in the Secretary's adver-
usements there were no specifications.
no descriptive lists of the seeds desired:
he simply advised the public that bids
for seeds would be received. Each and
all the bids were rejected on the ground
that the list did not show that the seeds
were rare and uncommon In the pro-
ceedings which took place a few days
ago before the two Committees on Ag-
rjculture of the two houses. the Sec
retary of Agriculture had stated, when
asked why he did not readvertise for
new bids, that he did not believe he was
obliged to do so.
1t was the plain duty of the Secre-
tary, if he were faithful in the per-
formance of his duty, and desired to
execute the laws of Congress, to have
Teadvertised, and to have earnestly en-
deavored to aid bidders in Offering
seeds of the kind and character that the
law demanded the Secretary required.
Instead Of this, he rejected all bids
upon technical grounds, forthwith abol-
ished the seed division of his depart
ment, and announced that there would
be no seeds purchased and distributed
under the appropriation bin for the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1896.
''The great question above all others
was the contumacious conduct of the
Secretary. Could an officer of the ex-
ecutive branch of the Government. who
was in effect a high salaried clerk, de-
family and stubbornly refuse to carry
into effect the Acts of the Congress of
the United States?"
George Denl.) of Mississippi made an
argument against the pending joint res
olution which directs the Secretary of
Agriculture to carry into effect the pro-
visions of the Act.
At , p. N. the Vice-President inter
rupted Georges speech and laid before
the Senate the House bond bill with
the free silver substitute
Nelson (Rep.) of Minnesota addressed
the Senate-his first regular speech in
the body He said: "The free and un-
limited coinage of silver at the ratio
OF 16 to by the United States alone at
this time. and under existing conditions,
viii destroy the last vestige and last
hope of genuine bimetallism, and will
reduce US to a pure state of silver mono
metallism, with Mexico, China and
Japan as our chief metallic money as
sociates
Complete bimetallism implies not
only equal privileges. but also equal
faculties of circulation. Both metals
freely circulated A metal may be
freely coined, and yet be powerless to
maintain itself in circulation. Though
both metals may be freely coined. yet
il for any cause only one of these is
in active circulation, then there is a
failure of that bimetallism which seeks
an abundant currency and enhanced
prices-the chief grounds upon which
free coinage is placed
in this full and pienary. sense we
have never had complete bfmetallism
in this country. We have been subject
TO that law from which no nation is
exempt, that where two kinds of metal
lie money, of equal coin value but of
unequal commercial value. circulate
side by side, that money which Is in
trinsically and commercially cheauess
win drive the dearest out of Circulation
unless the two are, as a matter of law
and fact. incontrovertible with each
other. Our own experience and our
own financial history make this plain
and manifest AT least three times in
our experience we have suffered fhe
penalty of this law and sought TO over
come its effects''
He concluded by saying: The silver