The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-31

/
| dollar and to restore it's legal tender
character was under consideration, OBJ
/ served:
But when the secret history of this
Dill OF 1873 comes to be told, it will dis
| close the fact that the house of repre-
sentatives intended to coin both gold
| and silver and intended to place both
! metals upon the French relation in
| stead of our own, which was the true
| scientific position with reference to
| this subject in 1873, but that the bill
! afterwards was doctored, If may use
| that term, and use it in no offensive
/ sense, Of course
| Mr.. Sargent interrupted him and ask
! ed him what he meant by the word
| ''doctored.'
| Mr.. Allison said:
I said used the word in no offensive
| sense 1t was changed after discussion
and the dollar of 42O grains wasa sub
stituted for it. Congressional Record,
vol Z, part 2, Forty fifth congress, Sec
/ ond session, page 105S.
On February Is, 1873, during the con-
| sideration of the bill referred to, the
| following eolloquy between Senator
! Blaine and Senator voorhees, took
/ place:
! Mr.. voorhees,: st want to ask my
| friend from Maine, whom am glad to
! designate in that way, whether may
| call him as one more witness to the fact
| that it was not generally known wheth-
( er silver was demonetized. Did he
/ know as speaker of the house. presid-
| ing at that time. that the silver dollar
was demonetized in the bill to which he
! a1ludes -
Mr. Blaine: Ct did not know anything
| that was in the bill at all. AS have
/ before said, little was known or cared
on the subject. Laughter.) And now
I should like to exchange questions
with the senator from Indiana, who
was then on the floor and whose bust
ness it was, far more than mine, to
know, because Of the designation of the
house, I was to put questions; the SEN
ator from Indiana, then on the floor of
the house, with his power as a debater.
was to unfold them to the house. Did
he knOW?''
Mr. voorhees,: ct very frankly say
that I did not."-(Ibid., page 1O63.)
My term in the senate expired on the
4th Of March, 1875, and up to that time
there never was a word spoken in de
bate with reference to the demonetiza-
ton of silver. You cannot point to
single line, syllable or word pointing in
that direction. Still you accuse me OF
having advocated the demonstration
of silver If this We're your first Of
Tense might pass it by in silence, but
on the Goth of August, 1893, you used
extracts from my speeches in advocacy
of specie payment where had inadver-
tently used the word gold" for "cOin,
and commended that I was guilty of
demOnetizing silver. I attempted to
interrupt you at the time to make the
correction, but 20 uexercised your Sena-
tOrial privilege and declined to be in
terrupted. When you had concluded
your remarks I rose in my place in the
senate and in your presence gave no
tice that I would reply to your speech.
My notice will be found on page 1902
of the Congressional Record, volume
25, part 1, Fifty-third congress, first
session. and is as follows:
Mr. Stewart: If the senator from
Colorado will give way for a moment,
I should like to give notice that on
Tuesday next I shall take occasion to
give the history of the demonstration
of silver. I shall give the true history
from the records"
day appointed. delivered an address
which refuted the false charge you
had made against me, but this was an
incidental and unimpOrtant part of the
address You absented yourself from
the senate during all the time the
speech was made Neither you or any
one else has replied to that Speecn-Ihe
facts it contains in my judgment and
in the judgment of others. convict you |
of having imposed upon the senate in !
securing the demonstration of silver
You knew what you were doing at the
time. No other senator mas confessed
that he did.
what you were doing. 1 will call your |
attention to some Of the matters con- |
tanned in my speech, which is entitled, |
The True History OF the Demonetlza- |
ton of Silver.
In the spring of 1867 you went to Lon |
don You afterwards visited Paris and |
wrote a letter to Samuel r. RuggleS, |
the American commissioner to the |
monetary conference then in session at /
Paris advocating the single gold stand |
on page 407 of your autobiography, and /
extracts from the reports of Mr.. Rug /
giles to the state department show how /
Valuable your services were in connec- !
ton with the English delegation in Sc
curing the adoption by the Paris con-
ference of a resolution recommending
the gold standard. The following win
ter, in 1868. you introduced Dill IN the
senate entitled, AN act in relation to
the coinage of gold and silver" the
third section of which reads as follows:
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, |
That the gold coins to be issued under
this act shall be a legal tender in all
payments to any amount, and the sill
yer coin shall be legal tender to an
amount not exceeding $40 in any one
payment
You made a favorable report on this
bill in which you said, among other
things that the single standard of
gold is an American idea, yielded re-
luctantly by France and other coun-
tries, where silver is the chief standard
of value" Senator z. D. Morgan of
New York filed a minority report which
exposed your scheme and caused you to
abandon the bill You never called it
up for action or proceeded further to
secure the demonstration of silver
while Mr.. Morgan was in the senate,
but in your autobiography,p page 410you
cast slur upon Senator Morgan'S able
report You say:
There was no dissent from the plan
except that Senator Morgan of New
York thought it would interfere with
the profit of New York brokers in
changing dollars into pounds
ANY person who will read Senator
Norgan's report will appreciate your
unfair criticism of that senator. They
will see that his report was cOmpre- |
hensive and demonstrated the injustice
and ruin of the policy you proposed.
After Mr.. Morgan left the senate 2
committee was formed in the treasury
department with John Jay Knox at the
head. which framed bill of 20 sections
codifying the mint laws. You managed |
to secure the passage of this codiflca-
zion hill through the senate without at |