The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-04-07

CONGRESSMAN CHARLES A TOwNE.
one can see, but why should the calls
for Judge Terry's short essay on silver
be many times more numerous than
those of any other representative? The
member for the Little Rock district is
one of those sarcastically quiet men like
Brown of Calaveras, and, like him,
he occasionally ''cleans out the crowd
very unexpectedly.
In a rather close acquaintance Of two
years I have never known him to laugh,
and very rarely to smile, and his speech
has not In it a grain Of humor or a
single sentence Of what may be called
popular claptrap. Yet 20, 900 copies of
IL have already gone out, and the de-
mand continues. Georgia alone ordered
40, 900, but when the Atlanta Constitu-
ton published 1t in full some of them
were recalled. Georgia and Alabama
have together taken over 80, 600, and it
is believed that Arkansas and Texas
will equal it. 1t is probably the best
condensed speech in the silver series,
and therefore convenient for textbook.
A Silver TOnEued Orator.
OF all the silver speeches, however,
that of Hon. Charles A. Towne Of Du
luth was by far the most catching. 1t
would be rash to pronounce it the best
ever delivered here in favor of silver,
for ones prepossessions may mislead
him, but all the silverites so consider it,
and it is the safest of prophecies that its
circulation will run far into the hun
dreds of thousands. In fact, the demand
was so great within few hours after
it was delivered that Mr.. Towne decid-
ed to revise it very thoroughly and con-
tract for printing it by the bale. 1t will
be a textbook next fall in every district
where the silver issue is up. To height
en- the interest the best reply to it was
made by another Minnesota man, Hon.
James Thompson McCleary of Mankato,
who used the same charts to prove the
exact opposite of Mr.. Towne's conten-
tion-a delightful illustration of the
sad truth that figures will lie. 1
hardly dare sag that these two speeches
rank with that historic contention of
Lincoln and Douglas, but do believe
they will occupy similar place so long
as the silver question is prominent.
I have never witnessed just such
scene in the house as that when Mr..
Towne was speaking. His time was
twice extended by unanimous consent
and finally made unlimited, and when it
was questioned if this could be done un-
der the rules a member ON the gold side
offered to surrender all his time to the
speaker 1t was amusing to watch such
old goIdites as Dingley, Cannon, Gros-
venor, Boutelle and Walker, who never
took eyes off the speaker or interrupted,
but sat like enraptured amateurs listen
10 sill q
member insisted on asking a question,
there was a general growl of displeasure,
and if am not greatly mistaken New
York member shouted in stage whis-
Der, keep still, you id Hoosier -
When Mr. Towne closed, business was
impossible for several minutes. In vain
did Chairman Serene Payne handle the
9aveI. Men of all faiths crowded TO
shake hands and congratulate, and the
next speaker, Hon. y. 8. Hall of Mis-
souri,, whose remarks were expected TO
be of intense interest, as he was to an
nounce his own conversion to gold, talk
ed five minutes before we could hear
word in the galleries. Mr.. Towne is ~
years old and never ran for office till
1894, but Minnesota men tell US that he
was an eloquent debater In college at
Is, popular speaker in campaigns at IL,
ran for congress on a silver platform in
q gold district and received nearly TO-
900 majority.
What Congressman Bailey Proved.
Another speech for which the demand
Is great and the circulation is expected
to run we'll toward $4,000 is that of
Hon. Joseph W. Bailey Of the Fifth
Texas, the boy Of the house when he en-