Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-02-24
MCKINLEY ON RECORD
HE DECLARES HIMSELF FOR THE
SINGLE GOLD STANDARD.
The President Demanded the Payment
Ofths Bonds In Gold, the Teller Reese
luton Declared Them Payable In 81.
var. Gold Il is.

V0rs GOld u IS
The currency question has once more
sprung to the front as the one all-ab-
sorbing political topic. President Nc
Kinley may no longer be charged with
hesitancy, for in his speech at the din
ner of the National Association of Man
ufacturers at New York Thursday
night of last week, he put himself
squarely on record as favoring the sin
gle gold standard lie demanded that
the question be settled now, or "else
face the alternative that 1t must be
again submitted for arbitration at the
polls" The address was made with an
eye to the Teller resolution, then pend
ing in the senate, and these words
were intended to forestsll any effect
which possible action by the senate
might have: 1.-THE money of the Unit
ed States is and forever must be un-
questioned and unassailable. If doubts
: remain they must be removed. Moth
ing should ever tempt us--nothing ever
will tempt us--to scale down the sac
red debt Of the nation through legal
technicality. Whatever may be the
language of the contract, the United
States will discharge all its obligations
in the currency recognized as the best
throughout the civilized world at the
times of payment"
But the senate was uninfuenced,
and the Teller resolution was passed
the next day by vote of forty-seven
to thirty-two Twelve of the forty
seven were Republicans, and one of the
thirty-two Democrat, and the vote
shows clearly the impossibility of any
legislation at this time which does not
consider silver as one of the monetary
standards Bimetallism, the restora-.
ton of silver, is the clear purpose of
the Teller resolution, which reads:
THAT all the bonds of the United
States issued or authorized to be issued
under the said acts of congress herein
before recited are payable, principal
and interest, at the option of the gov
eminent of the United States, in silver
dollars of the United States containing
412H grains each of standard silver;
and that to restore to its coinage such
silver coins as legal tender in pay
ment in said bonds, principal and i'm
terest, is not in violation of the public
faith nor in derogation of the rights of
the public creditor"
The issue was clearly joined The
president demanded the payment of
the bonds in gold. The Teller resolu-
tioh declared they were payable in sill
yer and called for the restoration of
silver to the nations coinage, which,
as Mr.. Dingley pointed out, meant the
re-esta blishment of the double stand
ard. Action on the part of the lower
house was not long deferred, although,
as the phrase went at Washington,
Mondays vote, which buried the Teller
resolution, was veritable slaughter
of the neutrality-suspicious. mem
bers who live in districts favorable to
silver, and who fear themselves doom
ed to defeat next fall as consequence
Of their vote. And there is no doubt
but that, had the Teller resolution
ended with the frat clause, and de-
clared only for the right to pay the
bonds in silver, it would have passed
the house by a good majority. But
the restoration" clause gave republi-
cans al excellent excuse for sticking
to party lines, and the resolution was
rejected by 1872 nays to 132 ayes. AS it
was, Speaker Reed used the party lash
freely to compel doubling Thomases to
stick, and the results showed that par
ty discipline is not yet a lost art at the
national capital
The occasion gave opportunity to the
party leaders to voice their sentiments,
and the scenes in the house were inter.
esting and at times exciting. Dingley
of Maine read a carefully prepared
speech, which presented the opposition
side in clear and comprehensive form,
and Lailey of Texas created great en-.
thusiasm on the democratic side by his
four-min ute speech, in which he said.
addressing the republican side of the
house: 1--WE are ready to meet you on
this issue-the issue that the money
which is good enough for the people
who produce the wealth is good enough
for the idlers who spend it; that the
money which is good enough for the
poor is good enough for the rich; that
the money the laborer receives for hts
toll and the merchant for his wares is
good enough for the bondholder, and,
by the Eternal, he shall be compelled
to take it."
The result of this event, taken in its
entirety, it is difficult to estimate. On
the one hand, it emphasizes the fact
that the single standard will not be