Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-01

When the senate resumed it's session at 7:30 the attendance was quite small,
 but gradually it swelled, until half an
 hour afterward there were twenty-two
 senators present. The galleries were pretty well filled. MT. Pasco resumed his speech where he had left off at the close of the afternoon session, and continued It to the end, which was reached at S:05. MT. Palmer, democrat of Illinois, gave notice of an amendment declaring 1t to be the policy of the United States to
 maintain the parity between the gold and silver dollar and to maintain the equal power of both gold and silver in the markets and in the payment Of debts; and 1t directs the secretary Of the treas ury to exercise the discretion vested in him so as, in his judgment, to better e>- vance and promote the policy thus de- clared.
 MT. Caffery, democrat, of Louisiana, addressed the senate in opposition to the free coinage substitute. He admitted that there was a remote danger Of the silver movement succeeding, but he thought it was fraught with more evils than the imagination could portray. He hoped that the discussion going on in congress on the musings, in the press, Tn the lecture room and in periodicals would dispel the illusion which had captured the judgment of large portion of the peo- pie, He would adhere to the present standard-the standard of the civilized world-with silver as subsidiary cofn and with it's present legal tender quality MT. Caffery was interrogated by Sena- tors Daniel and Harris as to point made by him that at the time of the demone- tization of silver in 1873 the silver dollar
 was more valuable than the gold He denied their assertion that silver had been destroyed by that act, and said that on the contrary more silver had been
 coined in the United States since then 4l,. l,, T in O period from 1792. He declared that no country in Europe had ever demonetized gold; but in that assertion he was con- tradicted by MT. Mitchell, republican, Of Oregon, who said that Germany had de-
 monetized gold, and by MT. Teller, repub- }ican, of Colorado, who said that Holland had also done so.
 MT. White, democrat, Of California supported the free coinage substitute The president of the United States, he said, proposed to retire the greenbacks and to trust the financial affairs of the government to the national banks. But whenever the financial affairs of the country were placed in the keeping or national banks or of any private bank ing system, free government would cease and deliberate malfeasance would rule imperiously and undisputably. He as- serted that the utter futility of maintain ing a gold basis in this country would give rise to disaster, and would bring about further concentration Of gold ana all the direful consequences or a con gested and inadequate currency. He could not understand how any follower of Jefferson or Jackson could stand the new departure of the administration. He thought a majority of the senators was opposed to issuing bonds at all The gen eral sentiment of the country was that
 gold, obtained as the result of taxation or by the issuance of bonds, was not
 pIft
 standard. and if silver was to be further
 debased, then Mir Cleveland was right. He should have authority to issue gold bonds and should retire all greenbacks and Sherman notes and the crisis would then be reached He declared that 1t was not the aim of silver advocates to force silver on the government creditors, but they belived that the debtor had also some rights. And the time must come, he declared, when the government will
 take control of the matter and will refuse
 to subject itself to the public and to
 avail itself of those whose impudent dic-
 tation it now tolerates.
 At the close. of Mir Whites speech the senate at 10 D. m. took recess till II a. m. tomorrow. The House.
 The house in committee of the whole entered upon the consideration of the bill making appropriations for the Dis trict of Columbia for the year ending
 June 30, 1897. Much of the time was
 spent in discussing the provision report ed by the committee for opening to com- petition the gas and electric lighting or
 the city of Washington, each of which is now, it was asserted, practically mo- nopoly. Objection was made to the pro- vision on the ground that 1t changed ex- isting laws and therefore had no place
 on the appropriation bill; such provision
 should be made in a separate bill. The
 chairman of the committee of the whole,
 MT. Payne. republican, of New York,
 ruled that the provision was change of
 existing laws and it was stricken out.
 Before finally disposing of the lighting
 schedules of the bill the committee rose and the house took a recess until o'clock
 for the consideration of the private pen
 sion bills.
 the day:
 Authorizing the secretary of the treas ury to exclude from the operatioSs of the
 internal revenue, except as to the pay
 ment of taxes, brandies made from all fruits as well as that made from apples,
 peaches or grapes, as provided in the present tariff law; changing the time of holding district and circuit courts in the Northern division of the Eastern district of Tennessee; joint resolutions to permit the Society for Christian Endeavor to use White lot during it's national convention in washington next July; autnor1Zing the secretary of the navy to appoint ex- Naval Cadets Ryan, Morris and Wells as assistant engineers.
 The contested election case of Rosen- thai vs. Crowley, from the Tenth Texas district, was settled in favor of the sit ting member-Crowley. democrat-upon the unanimous report of the committee
 on elections No. 3. MT. Rosenthal did not avail himself of the privilege accorded him yesterday of addressing the house for an hour in his own behalf.
 Evening Session.
 At the night session of the house two
 private pension bills were ordered laid
 aside with a favorable recommendation.
 The session lasted two hours and a half,
 the major part of the time being con-
 sumed in filibustering by the opposition.
 The house at 10:30 o'clock adjourned un-
 til tomorrow.
 Mir. Champions Bill Killed.
 Jackson, Miss, Jan. 31.-The Missis-
 sppi legislature spent large part of
 yesterday and today in discussing bill
 introduced by MT. Champion of Hinds
 urging the appropriation of $S0,000 for
 the purchase of not less than 1000 nor
 more than Il ,000 acres of land in addition
 to tho 2000 already cOmDrised in the