The Southern herald., 1898-03-18

fOrce and effect b. Senator Mat
thews, Of Ohio, then q leading Re-
publican, a lawyer Of great learn
ing, and who was afterwards ap
pointed to fll 4 vacancy on the Su-
prems Bench.
If this resolution, which was
then indOrsed BY Republican Con-
gress, was in cOnsonance with good
morals and sound political Psliey
then, il must be now. The condi.
lions were exactly the same. The
President aud his Secretary took
the same position that the present
Executive and his Secretary Of the
Treasury now take, i. E., that all
these Government obligations were
gold obligations, regardless Of the
language of the contract. The
coinage Of silver hsd been stopped,
and every effort Was being made to
put the country absolutely on a gold
basis.
The gentleman from Maine. Mr..
Dingley, in discussing thisqueslion,
said: s..
1t is well known, as / have al
ready intimatsd that 10 1878, when
the original Matthes resolution Was
adopted by both Houses of Con.
gress, the phrase "tO restore TO its
coinage such silver coins" ETC.,
was understood by many who then
supported the resolution (but now
oppose it) to refer to the standard
silver dollars which were proposed
by the Allissn.Bland bill, that be-
came a law within two weeks there.
after, that the Government should
coin on its own account in limited
volume aud maintain at parity
with gold.
Now, with all due respect for the
genIlenian's learning, he is not rus.
tained by the Record. The gentle.
man can not explain away the in.
constituencies Of his Republican col,
leagues who then voted for this res.
olution and now oppose it on the
theory set forth, the President,
even, being among those placed in
this unenviable position. At that
time there was no Bland. Allison
bill before Congress.
The Bland bill providing for the
free and unlimited coinage Of sil-
yer had oassed the House. receiv.
ing the support Of many Of the
leading Republicans, including Mr..
Mckinley, and it was then general.
ly believed that it would pass the
Senate. The Allison amendment,
which provides only Tor the LIMITED
cninage on the Governments own
account, was not adopted by Con.
gress until several days after the
passage Of the resolution.
As an evidence of the belief ths,
the Bland bill would pass Congress,
the Presidents message and the
Secretary's repor' antagonized tha,
measure. The Ppr.sident appeal
ed to the Senate while this bill was
pending, saying, If you pass this
legislation, we can not refund our
bonds as we are trying to do. We
are paying 6 and 2 per cent on the
bonds. We can not refund them
if this legislation takes place" "and
further recommended that if silver
was 10 be resusci,ated The bonds
Of the Government should be ex.
empt from the provisions Of the
act.
The records show that was then
asserted in the Halls of Congress
by many, as il is stated to-day, that
the passage Of a silver bill would
weaken our securities and destroy
confidence; that We could not sell
any more bonds without a great
sacrifice of interest, and other dis.
asters were predicted. Did the
predictions Of these modern proph.
els come true2 No. The Bland
bill was amended in the Senate by
Senator Allison and accepted as
compromise, and, remained The Law
until 1890. .... .
Under its provisions there Was a
large quantity Of silver coined, and
during that period, instead Of dis.
aster and discredit, as had been
predicted, our country developed,
our securities advanced in the mar.
kets Of the world, and a greater de-,
gree Of prosperity existed than has
been known in this country since
4 coo