Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-02-17
What Il Signifies.


The defeat Of tho free silver clause
tackled onto the bond bin was expected at
the hands of the House But its defeat by
vote OF 2l5 TO 90 was not expected by
most people and surely not by the free
silver men themselves Ii was an over
whclming victory not only for sound
money but for sound government
And In this latter sense it may be well
to consider a few features of the situa
tlon. The House in response to the de-
mands of the country had passed wise
measure to permit the government, when
ever it might be Obliged to issue bonds to
do so under the most advantageous terms
When the bill reached the Senate the free
silver men tackled on a free silver CLAUSE
They did the same with the tariff for de-
f,it bill, imperatjvely demanded as the
only feasible means whereby to protect
the credit of the nation. They gave notice
to Congress and the country that they pro
posed to shut off its sustenance, to choke it
into submission to the mandates OF a few
silver mining states and factions in some
other states. Not the merits of free
silver, not the request of the majority of
the people but the sheer force of political
highwaymen was resorted to. The Re-
publican party was threatened. The can
IntN fD,, yvh n MIC a
speaker chair in the House, was in
directly given TO understand that if he
knew when he was well off he would not
interfere with their hold up of the
government.
Their profound ignorance of the prin-
ciples which animate the Republican
party-an ignorance that shows they have
no place within its ranks while plying the
trade of political free booter-their mis-
conception of the quality of Speaker
Reeds backbone proved fatal to them.
They have gone down under an adverse
majority of 1875 votes in the House. More,
this decisive defeat has turned the light
of common sense upon the shameful rule
or ruin policy. 1t was not necessary for
the House and Speaker Reed to decide
the merits or demerits of free silver
The people will decide that and
had already said enough upon it to
demonstrate the fact that the great
majority do not believe in free coinage at
any 16 to l ratio. Neither the House, nor
Speaker Reed nor the adverse majority of
the voters have any wish to gag discussion
OF theories upon the currency, but they do
object to q small minority blocking all
necessary legislation and attempting to
bully, kick, cudgel and starge the country
into submission.
There are honest men whose opinions
upon the currency We should distrust,
there are many who believe that silver can
be restored by legislation to value it had
before vast improvements and facilities
for mining it were discovered. But among
even these we believe the prevailing
sentiment favors a manly presentation Of
their theories. Certainly the general scnti-
ment of the people is against such dis
graceful efforts as have characterized the
free silver leaders in this Congress. The
reaction has already set in among them
and the vote of the House on Friday will
give it tremendous impetus.
Another significant feature of the vote
is that to the Republican party must
those look who believe in businessiike
| legislation and administration of national
affairs, But 95 Republicans voted for free
silver while 1874 We're against it; whereas
5S Democrats voted for it and but 81
against 1t. Moreover the country will
not fail TO note that Mr.. Reed fully ap-
preciatcs the responsibilities of his posi-
tion, the duties entrusted to him: also
that from the first he has not wayered in
the performance of them, has not allowed
personal consideration to swcrve him a
hair 5 breadth from doing all in his power
to enact such laws as are needed and to
prevent such as are not only not needed
but dangerous.