Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-01
.F|FTY-FOURTH CONGRESS The Senate Lost No Time in
 Getting to Work. AN AGREEMENT REACHED A Vote Will Be Taken on the House Bond Bill , Today. THREE SPEECHES MADE YESTERDAY Senators Bate and Pasco Made Strong Ar guments in Favor of the Restoration of Silver as Money Metal-Mr.
 Villas Spoke Against It.
THREE SPEECHES MADE YESTERDAY

Washington, Jan. 31.-The senate was called to order by the vice-president at noon, at which time there were not over dozen senators present. As todays session, through the parliamentary de- vice of taking recess instead of an ad- journment yesterday, was but a contin- nation of yesterday the usual formali- ty of prayer, reading the journal. pre- senting memorials, introducing bills and all the other morning business was dis pensed with and the senate continued the consideration of the house bond bill, with the finance committee free coinage substitute.
 The end of the long debate on the bill was sighted when a unanimous agree ment was made that after an evening session to be devoted to clearing off be- lated speeches a recess shall be taken till Il a. m. tomorrow, and that then, after MT. Morrill,, republican, of Vermont, shall have been heard the discussion shall go on under the five minute rule until D. m., when the final vote is to be taken. There was very little difficulty in reaching the agreement, the proposition coming from MT. Harris. MT. Hill stipu- lated that the agreement should not pre- clude the offering of amendments or sub StituteS or d mOtlOn to postpone lnQen- nitely and MT. Harris accepted the stip- ulation.
 ' Three speeches were made on the sub ject today. MT. Villas spoke for two hours and three-quarters in opposition both to the bill and substitute. He yielded to an interruption from MT. Mitchell, who characterized the demand that the last issue of bonds must be paid in gold after the syndicate had obtained them at a lower price because they were specifi- cally made payable fin coin" as "bunco game" MT. Villas, however, declined to let MT Tillman divert him from his ar gument by questions He closed with 'an eulogism on the democratic party, yielding neither to the reactionary ferces of old absolutism nor the lurid fires of anarchy"
 Delivery of the speech occupied two hours and three-quarters Although 1t had been prepared in advance and lay before the senate in type-written pages, there was so much spirit and energy dis played in its delivery that it was difficult to realize it was being read.
 MT Bate next addressed the senate, declaring that he was unable to sustain either of the financial measures sent to the senate by the house. They made a combination, he said, directly in conflict with the opinions and wishes of the peo- pie as he understood the drift of public opinion. The one increased taxes not
 
 and the other imposed a heavy burden, both present and future, neither just nor necessary The finance committee, how ever, had, by its silver substitute, at tempted to bring the country back to the constitutional currency of both gold and silver, to restore the only legal tender medium mentioned in the constitution The legal tender faculty had been given to the greenbacks by adding one justice to the supreme court but the constitution h A hnofn rnd erxI1 providing for the free coinage of silver there would be no innovations upon the principles of sound money.
 It was an earnest and honest effort to restore the currency of the country, that money which had been since the days of Abraham current in all trades with all people. It was vain waste of time to tell the people that silver was not sound money Such assertion was contradicted by the lesson of history. It might be pas triotism, it might be pride, but it was also the positive conviction of the people ithat the position of the United States among the nations of the world was po- tential enough to stamp it's declared pol icy upon international exchanges, and that when this country fixed the ratio and entered upon the free coinage of sil- yer the same ratio would force itself into recognition in other nations The peo- pie believed also that the greater abund- ance of money which the coinage of the now idle silver in the treasury would throw upon the country would result in an immediate rise in values of all kinds. that prosperity would quickly take the place of depression and the country would again enter upon that wonderful career of enterprise and wealth which had been so rudely shocked and destroy ed by the legislation of 1873 The coun- try dema nded an American policy for American affairs-political, financial and commercial
 Mir Pasco addressed the senate in favor of the free coinage substitute. He asserted that the great body of the Amer fcan people was bimetallist. while the class of avowed gold monometallists was small in numbers, but influential. By monometallism he meant system which employed coins for two metals as stand ard money at fixed ratio-the two con- stituting medium to which all obliga- tions promises and liabilities may be reduced, each being a measure of value as well as a medium of circulation. A fair analysis of the democratic and re- publican platforms of 1892 would demon- strafe. he thought. that both parties had pledged themselves to such a use of gold and silver in national coinage, and the true meaning of the statutory declara- tion of the law of 1893, repeating the puri cha Sing clause of the Sherman act, was inlharmony with the same view. He be- | lieved that the true remedy for the pres 'eut financial troubles was a return to biin efallism. The coinage would then rest upon foundation of gold land silver dollars of intrinsic and exchangeable value. With that broad basis of support treasury notes would cease to be a cause of embarra ssment He should vote for the substitute in the hope that the former ra tio of 16 to 1 could be returned to with safety. The ultimate settlement of the au estion had to be upon the foundation of right and justice. History and experi- ence had demonstrated the wisdom of the fathers in establishing bimetallism, and fhere was abundant reason to believe tl1at business activity and commercial ...o.~>~ttv ~uould falIoxu jts r-estoration