The Van Buren press., 1898-02-05
TeTeRY FOR sILYER.
senate Declares IN Favor Of Pairing
Bonds in ~iIFeY-AiI Amend
menis Voted D0nn.
From tae agtnn Post

- - M - VI = Ft+A#J - ~ 49,
declared that the bonds q the United
States are payable In standard silver
dollars. and that sach payment 4 not
IN violation Of the public faith or in
aerogation Of the public credit.
This result was reached shortly Be
fore : o'eloek Last night. after nearly
nine hours Of steady and exhaustive
debate. in which no less than twenty
FIVE senator's participated. Had the
record been confined to the Teller
resolution. It would have been
sufficiently significant To warrant care
ful attention. "a matter Of fact
the majority n the senate went farther
than this simple Endorsement of the
payment Ct bonds Ia silver. L delioeT-
ateIY voted down half dozen pr9posl
tions, ranging from declaration that
the bonds should be paid II gold 70 ar
assertion that they should not be paid
IN deprecated currency. OF al the
amendments offered the one proposed
By Senator Lodge, to the effect that the
bonds should be paid only n gold Or it,
equivalent. received the least support,
only twenty four senator's. all Repuo-
licans except Mr.. CaIery, coming 10 fts
support. while fifty three voted against
It. II was Senator Hoar who proposed
that bonds should not be paid In
deprecated currency or in anything but
the best money IN the world. but this
uas also voted down by an adverse
majority of thirteen. In fact. the
amendment which commanded the
greatest favor was Senator Nelson =,
which declared for the maintenance Of
the parity between the two metals. and
az against forty two votes TO lay this On
the table there were thirty seven
negatives. It will, therefore. be seen
that the silver majority In the senate
was At all times in confident position.
Not once was its superiority actually
threatened Its lines were well formed.
and no threatening sortie or allunng
persuasion on the part Of the enemy
could break its solid phaianx.
PARTY LINES BADLY SMASHED.
The intense interest manifested in the
final roll call can be best illustrated by
the statement that every senator Of the
seventy nine who voted WAS In his seat
and answered to mis- name when II WAS
first uttered by the clerk. The
galleries. too. were thronged, a. indeed
they had been all day. and the floor Of
the senate was crowded with members
Of the house. who, despite the lateness
of the hour, remained until the settle.
ment Of question which mas prena
t1rely opened up the congressional
campaign Of the present year and laid
the foundation for the great contest Of
1900.
Party lines were smashed. Only
twenty four Republicans. az already
stated. voted for Senator Lodges gold
standard amendment. while thirteen
we're against 1t. including Messrs.
Perkins. Thurston and Wilson. OF the
forty seven senators who made mp the
the affirmative column on the Teller
resolution. twenty eight were Demo
Gratis. seven were Populists, three we're
silver Republicans. eight were Repub-
licans who have hitherto been aligned
with the administration, and one was
an independent Mr.. Kyle, Of South
Dakota The negative vote was com
posed exclusively Of Republicans, with
one exception, Mr. Caffery, Of Loaisi.
ana OF all the so called gold. Demo
Gratis, including Mr. Gray and Mr..
Lindsay, Mr. Caffery was the only one
10 remain faithful to the anti silver
cause unto the end Mr. Murphy, Mr.
Smith. and Mr.. Gorman. the Demo
Gratis whose positions we're until yester
day a matter Of more or less doubt,
ranged themselves with their party and
voted without deviation on that eide
from the beginning Of the vote until
the end. Mr.. Gray and Mr.. Lindsay
huctuated. They voted with the Re
publicans against laying the amend
ment 10 maintain parity on the table.
On the vote 10 lay ON the table Mr..
Hoar protest against paying bonds In
deprecated currency Mr.. Gray vas
silent and Mr. Lindsay joined the Re
publican opposition.
SENATOR'S WHO DID NOT VOTE.
1t has already been stated that on one
amendment Mr.. Gray sat silently In his
seat. He was not the only one who
found the atmosphere growing too
warm for comfort, as the Republicans
pressed amendments calculated to dis
tnrb senators whose political fortunes
hung In the balance. For instance. 1t
was noticeable that Senator Pritchard, ,
of North Carolina, who voted for the
Nelson amendment 10 maintain parity
which was the first test question dis.
appeared from the senate chamber
during all the other roll calls upon
propositions dealing with the gold
standard, but was in his seat again
when the Teller resolution was taken
up. and on this he voted aye His
presence on the first and last vote. and
his absence meanwhile. may, however.
have merely been coincidence
The Lodge amendment. declaring