The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-02-13
SPEECH OF
Hon. MARION BUTLER
OF North Carolina,
~ Int
United States Senate.
OF North Carolina,
TLfSbai. JtSLApY 10, IssS

W uuiHtTllt lIlt l7-ldi'f' VI
oi indebtedness To meet temporary lie
hcienciea of reyfnur.
The NIoF-PEE-IpEST. The pend
tug question - on the amendment in
the natur,. of "A substitute reported by
the 1onimitt,,' on Finance, upon which
the senator from North Carolina Mr..
Hutler is entitled To the f0Or.
Mr.. HOTTER. I gave notice that !
should Oilcr an amendment To the sub
titutc reported by the committee on
his bill. ! send the amendment to
'hr desk and ask that il be read. I
only wish tO offer one amendment at
This time.
The NICE-PREsIDEST. The amend
urnt submitted by the Senator from
North Carolina To the amendment
will be- stated.
IuE SECRET AIRY. II is proposed to
amend the amendment reported by
'hc committee by striking out section
ana IN lieu thereof inserting:
Hl.. T. That the issuance of interest bear
bonds of the tnited States for any pur-
pose whatever without further authority
ut Congress, i9 hereby prohibited; and that
'hr Secretary of the lreasury when redeem
uk l nlted States notes, commonly called
'rcenbaCks, and Treasury notes issued un-
der the provisions of the act OF July IL,
$50, and when liquidating either the inter
"'t or principal of any of the Government y
com obligations is hereby directed to make
such payment in gold coin whenever the
market value of Z5.S grains OF standard
gold ~ less than the market valve of 4l21
grains of standard silver, and TO
continue to pay in such gold coin
until the market value Of 2).S grains
OF standard gold shall be equal to the mar
hct value of il2l grains of standard silver
but when the market value of 25.S grains
of STANDARD gold shall bp Irrpatpr than the
market value of il2i grains of standard
SILVER, he shall pay the interest and princi-
pal of said coin obligations as they become
due in silver coin, and continue to pay the
same in silver coin until the market value
ut il2! grains of standard silver shall be
equal to the market value of 25.S grains of
standard gold, and said notes, commonly
called grecnbaCks, when so redeemed, shall
be- reissued, as provided by the act of May
ol lS1S.
Mr.. BUTLER. Mr.. President, certain
~ every man who is opposed to further
Increasing the public debt favOrs this
amendment. And | can not see how
even those who favor further issue
of bonds can oppose it. The effect of
IT is simply to prohibit the President
from issuing more bonds without the
advice and consent of Congress. de-
ny that he has the power now, but in
asmuch rs he claims that he has that
power, and inasmuch as some Sena-
tors on this floor admit the same, while
many others deny or question the au-
thority, we should promptly pass this
amendment and settle the cOntro-
versy. II the President has power to
issue the bonds which he has already
sold. under this Law of 1875, then he
has the power to issue thousand mil.
lions of such bonds without the ad.
vice or consent of Congress. Such tre-
mendous and dangerous power can
not safely be put in the hands of any
one man. 1t is the power to bankrupt
nation at one stroke of the pen.
The power to control our finances
was vested by the Constitution not in
he President, but in Congress, and
We should lose no time i'm assuming
our sworn and constitutional duty in
this respect. The language of the
constitution is as follows
congress shall have power to bor.
row money on the credit of the United
states
But now here does it give that power
to the President, and nowhere does il
authorize us t. delegate that power tC
the President. 1t is the duty of Con-
gress To- deal with these questions. Ii
is the duty of Congress to decide, first
whether or not bonds shall be issued to
borrow money, and if they are to be is.
sued it is the duty of Congress to deter
mine how and under what conditions
offered bill containing this same
provision before the President made
his last call for bonds. If Congress
had promptly passed 1T then $l0O,O00,-
uuO Of debt, with the interest that will
accumulate, would have been saved
the American people. We do no,
know what day or what hour the Pres
dent may see tit to again burden the
people with debt without their con.
sent or the consent of their represen.
tatiyes in Congress.
II we are opposed to bonds let us bt
honest and say so: let us pass thi:
amendment, and do it now. Neither
the Democratic party nor the Republi
can party can escape responsibility by
claiming not to have a ma jOrity of thi
body. | pledge six Peoples Part.
votes in this Chamber to either party
that will vote To stop the further ISSUE
of bonds, aud six votes will give I,
either side a ma jority. In fact, eithe
party can have ajOrity in this bod
any hour that they desire to pass an,
law in the interests of the America
people. The Democratic party had
majority in both Houses of the las
Congress, and yet they sat still an
saw the President issue over SlG2 900
600 of interest bearing bonds withou
raising protest or passing any law
prohibit it. Only the other day "
were confronted with the remarkab
spectacle of Republican leaders crit
cising the President in his cOurs
they seem to be crticising him an
the Democratic party for having ii
dorsed and pursued, in the main, tt
financial policy fastened upon tn
country by the Republican party, an
when they were asked to go squarel
on record in favor of bonds or again
bonds on an amendment which Otfe
ed to the resolution submitted by IL
senator from West Virginia, we fOun
it impossible to bring the question
vote.
This body did not act at that tim
The next day the President issued
call for bids Oh the $lOO,OOO,OOO bor
issue, and he called it "a popular loan
'rhe distinguished Senator from n
yada Mr.. Stewart showed conclusiv
y in his masterly speech few da.
ago that the terms of the call are sue
that it is next to impossible Tor tl
p"Ople to subscribe or pay for Il
Oonds. The denomination of the bon,
is too large; the price at which Il
bonds are to be sold is not fixed; al
bid may be refused, and, besides,
kind of money will be taken for tl
bonds except gold, while there is pro
ably not as much as $l00,0OO,OOO OF 60
in circulation among the people of T.
whole country. Everybody admits th
the gold is cornered by syndicate.
What would Senators say il t.
President was to advertise to sell bon
Tor wheat only, and they were to di
cover that had corner on the whe
of the country? The people are arOu
eel, and Justly SO, against such CO
dilct. The President seems to
smarting under their criticism, al