The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-06-10
BUTLER'S BOND BILL.
Agents OF the Gold Combine Terri
bly, Exercised Over 1t.
Towards Bill Of Impeachment-Sher and
His Allies Put in Hole-Democratic
Endorsement Dangerous to the
Cause Of Free Silver.
Special to the Representative:


during the past week except the bill of
impeachment against President Cleveland,
offered by Congressman Howard. No one
questions that every charge and spec.fica-
ton contained in this bill of impeachment
IS true, but the house, though Republican,
is so welded to the gold standard and so
thoroughly endorses the position of Mr..
Cleveland on the money question that they
cannot agree to impeach him for doing just
what john Sherman did himself when he
was secretary of the treasury. If the house
were to present bill of impeachment to
the senate against the president the pro-
ceedingS before the senate would at once
assume an Importance of the first magni-
tude. No party has majority N the SEN
ate, and it is now IN better position to
act as nOn-partisan court than it has ever
been since the foundation of the govern
ment. The specifications in the bill OF
impeachment as drawn by Congressman
Howard are as follows:
/. That he has sold or directed the sale
of bonds without authority of law.
2. That he sold or aided in the sale of
bonds at less than their market value.
3. That he directed the misappropria-
ton of the proceeds of said bond sales.
4. That he directed the secretary of the
treasury to disregard the law which makes
United States notes and treasury notes re-
deemable in coin.
5. That he has ignored and refused to
have enforced the "anti-trust law
6. That he has sent United States troops
into the State of Illinois without authority
of law and in violation of the constitution.
Z. That he has corrupted politics
through the interference of federal Office
holders
8. That he has used the appointing pow
er to influence legislation detrimental to
the welfare of the people.
THE PRESIDENT vETOES THE RIVER
AND HARBOR BILL.
On last Friday President Cleveland re-
turned to the house the river and harbor
bill with his disapproval. He vetoes it on
the specious plea that he is N favor of
economy. This reminds us of the case of
Satan quoting Scripture. The man who
has piled up on the country two hundred
and sixty millions of debt without single
material thing to show for it; debt ere
ated simply for the benefit of the bond
holders; an interest bearing debt placed
upon the people and future generations to
borrow gold which was in effect presented
as a free gift to the gold combine, now
under this river and harbor bill will not be
more than ten millions for the next year.
There is no way in which this congress has
appropriated money that will be of more
direct benefit to all classes Of our people
than the money appropriated in this river
and harbor bill. In the first place the
money thus appropriated will give employ
ment to labor, VIII cause the scattering and
circulation Of money among the people,
and IN the second place, every river that is
now improved is a lasting benefit to the
farmers and people living along the banks Of
or near that river, because it gives the peo
pie water competition against the railroad
companies and enables them to secure low
freight rates for their produce to market.
It may be that Mr. Cleveland has vetoed
the bill at the request of the railroad COM
pan:es. At any rate, it is absurd for him
to say that he has done so on the ground of
economy. 1t is very probable that congress
will pass this bill by a two-thirds majority
over the presidents veto.
AGENTS OF THE GOLD COMBINE TER
RIBLY EXERCISED.
It is safe to say that there has not been
bill introduced in congress for the last
twenty years that has created as much ex
element and caused as much CONSERVATION
among the gold gamblers and their hirel!ng
agents in Washington as Senator Buffers
simple little bill Of three lines, which pre-
vents the further issuance of bonds without
the advice and consent of congress. The
gold senators have resorted to all of the
parliamentary tactics possible and to all
the cunning devices known to the oder
senators, not only to try to prevent the
taking up of this bill, but also to outwit
Senator Butler and to sidetrack it since it
has been taken up. Having failed in al Of
these efforts and realizing that they, the
gold men, were getting the worst of the
argument they went to Senator Butler on
last Friday and told him that they were vii
ing to stop debate and take vote, where
upon Senator Butler agreed that the vote
should be taken tomorrow. Between now
and then the gold men will make desperate
efforts to make converts to their side, not
by speeches and arguments on the floor,
but by other influences, and in different
manner AS soon as the time was fixed to
take final vote on the measure Senator
Butler took the floor to speak at length in
support of this bill.
Senator Butler began his speech on
Friday and will deliver it in installments
continuing today and tomorrow. Before
he closes he will go into thorough and
exhaustive history of every bond trans
action entered into by the officials of this
government since the late war, and he
proposes to prove conclusively that the
decentralization of silver was brought
about under the influence of hired lob
by at Washington, employed and sent
there by the bond holders to secure the
characterization of silver in order that
their coin bonds might be made payable
in gold alone. He will show that it was
the bondholders who had the act of 1873
passed, which first changed the contract
and made bonds which were payable in
greenbacks payable in coin; second, that
it was the bondholders who then proceed
ed to work, through devious and various
means, to strike down one of these coins
and to appreciate the value of the other
coin in which their bonds would have to
be paid His speech will be the most
complete and exhaustive expositions of
the whole financial conspiracy that has
been carried on against the people of this
country by the gold combine through the
officers of the peoples own government
since the war that has ever been made.
In beginning his speech on last Friday
Senator Butler reviewed the present po-
litical situation in very interesting
manner.
FREE SILVER WOULD BE ENDANGER-
ED BY DEMOCRATIC ENDORSEMENT
Mr.. Butler showed that when the Re-
publican party had become so odious and
distasteful to the people in 1891 and 1892
that there was revolt in the popular
mind against it's policy and that the gold