The San Francisco call., 1896-03-14


certifcates-and that their exclusive pay
ment in gold was a voluntary assumption
on the part of the Secretary of the Treas
ury. If it had not been for that assump-
tion on the part of the Treasury Depart
ment there would have been no trouble.
There had been no raids on the treasury
gold prior to October 10, 1891. Why? Be-
cause of the general belief that the notes of
the Republic were redeemable in silver and
that the Government reserved the option
so to redeem them, as stated by Secretary
Sherman in his finance report in 1878. The
silver dollar had been up to that time the
watchdog of the treasury, and had been ln-
finitely more successful in keeping off gold
raiders than the Rothschilds and the Bel
monts had ever been since, and they are
still the watchdogs of the treasury in
France and Germany.
Stewart (Pop.) of Nevada suggested,
Eyes, everywhere except in the United
States" In this connection Cockrell read
a letter of October 8, 1891, from the Re-
publican Club of Boston to Charles Foster,
Secretary of the Treasury, inquiring as to
the payment of United States notes in
gold, and Mr.. Fosters reply, stating,
Treasury notes are redeemed in gold
when presented to the treasury or any
sub-treasury."
That correspondence, Cockrell said, had
opened Pandora's box, and all the ills that
since had fallen upon the country had
been simply because Secretary Foster sur
rendered voluntarily, meekly, submis-
sively, the right of the Government to
redeem those notes in silver as well as in
gold.
Secretary Foster had not redeemed a
dollar of those notes in silver after October
IA, 1891, whereas Secretary Carlisle has re-
deemed some nineteen millions OF them
in standard silver dollars, redeeming and
canceling the notes, and no harm had
come of it. If every ounce of the silver
bullion in that treasury had been coined
into silver dollars and paid out in redemp-
ton Of treasury notes, no harm would
have come. The surrender on the part of
Republican administration was, Cock
rell said, voluntary. and was in defiance of
the express letter and purpose of the law.
Cockrell proceeded to argue against the
proposition for the issue of fifty-year
bonds to retire legal tender notes as anti
Democratic and as in direct conflict with
Jefferson's inaugural 1t was the worst
remedy for financial ills that an execu-
tive officer had ever proposed. 1t would
be a tame surrender of the use of silver
and would cost the people at the end of
the fifty years over 50, 631, 600, 900.
Referring to Secretary Carlisle's recent
speech in New York Cockrell said the dis
guise had been thrown aside and that
''sound money" meant gold and nothing
but gold. He declared such mono
metallism was anti-Democratic, contrary
to the Democratic platform. England, he
declared, had been unable, with all the
resources of the Bank of England, to
carry out its gold monometallic standard
and twice had to borrow from France.
He denied that courageous advocacy of
free silver would divide the Democratic
party.
Reading from list of Democratic rep
resentatives elected in 1892 and 1894, he
showed that there had been terrible fall
ing off of Democratic representatives
elected in the latter year, due to the fact
that that election had been under the gold
monometallic standard of President Cleve-
land. Cockrell quoted extensively from
the speeches of Secretary Carlisle, and,
speaking of his speech at Covington last
summer, declared he was 10th to believe
that any Secretary of the Treasury could
make such ridiculous statements until he
read of similar statements made b other
tools in the employ of the gold bullion
company of New York. 1t was ludicrous
that Secretary Carlisle should attempt to
bolster up the theories to which he had
come a recent convert" by reliance on
such "stuff" as that, the only excuse being
the latitude always allowed for the zeal
of converts. He appealed for the re-estab-
lishment of the conditions existing prior
to 1873, for the country could not be worse
off than it had been since the perpetration
of the crime of 1873. Bimetallism was no
experiment, having been in use from the
time Abraham marched out of Chaldea
until Great Britain drove silver from use
In conclusion Cockrell appealed to the
country to declare its independence and
declare for the equality of gold and silver,
or else resume its dependence upon Great
Britain, whom it had twice defeated, and
ask her to take it under her avaricious and
selfish guardianship and protection.
iWe should" he declared, "haul down
Old Glory, the starry banner which has
waved over the power and freedom and in
dependence of the country, and hoist in
stead the gold-standard banner of Great
Britain, and cry out, Long live the Queen
of Great Britain and Empress of India"
During the latter part of this speech Sir
Julian Pauncefote, the British EN- bassa-
dor, had been an occupant of the diplo-
matte gallery and an attentive listener to
Cockrell's speech.
At 6 P. M, the Senate adjourned till
Monday.