The herald., 1898-01-29
THE RESOLUTION OF TELLER
PASSED BY THE SENATE BY a
DECISIVE VOTE
Associated Press Special Wire

ASSOclateQ STeSS OpeCldL WH0
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2S.-After de-
bate, animated at all times and occa-
sionally acrimonious, which occupied the
greater part of the week, the senate this
evening. by decisive vote of Al to 80.
passed the Teller concurrent resolution.
The resolution is practical reaffirma-
tion OF that of Stanley Matthews in 1878,
and is as follows:
THAT all the bonds Of the United
States, issued or authorized to be is
sued under the said acts of congress
hereinbefore recited, are payable, prin-
cipal and interest, at the option of the
government of the United States in sill
yer dollars of the coinage of the United
States coinage of 412h grains Of stand
ard silver, and that to restore to It's COIN
| age such silver coins as a legal tender
| in payment of said bonds, principal ana
| interest, is not in violation of the public
right nor in derogation of the rights of
| the public credit
| All efforts to amend the resolution
were voted down by majorities ranging
| from five to twenty-nine, Lodges gold
standard substitute being defeated by
the latter majority. The vote on the
Lodge amendment was: Yeas, "a; noes,
SO.
The events of the day leading up to the
final vote were full of interest and i'm
portance 1t was a field day for the
| orators of the senate, more than twenty
five senators embracing the opportunity
| to speak upon the subject under discus
sion.
Public interest in the proceedings was
| attested by the attention in the gall
eres, which were crowded throughout
the day, and that it was important was
evidenced by the statements of several
of the speakers that the discussion was
the preliminary alignment of the great
political parties for the contest OF 1900.
From 10 o'clock this morning until
this evening the contest was continued.
When the voting began it was evident
that party lines were being broken on
both sides of the chamber, but it was on
the resolution offered by Lodge of Maine
that the most decided break occurred.
On the Republican side Allison of Iowa
and Burrows of Michigan did not ans
wer to their names on that roll call, and
many Republicans voted directly
against it.
Upon the final passage of the resolu-
ton some Republicans who supported
Mckinley and the st. Louis platform
in 1896, like Carter of Montana, Chand-
Ter of New Hampshire, Clark of Wyom-
ing, Pritchard of North Carolina, Shoup
of Idaho, Warren of Wyoming and VOL
colt of Colorado, voted for the resolu-
ton, because, as Wolcott announced,
they did not believe the resolution COM
mitted those who supported 1t to the
free and unlimited coinage of silver.
STEWARDS SARCASM
BY unanimous consent routine busi-
ness was waived and Mr.. Stewart Of
Nevada opened the last days discussion
of the Teller resolution. In supporting
the resolution, Mr.. Stewart maintained
that money, whether it be silver or gold
or paper, was the creature of law, the
creation of money being inherent in all
independent nations. He said that this
statement had been upheld by the high
est tribunals, and cited history, with
instances of such creation of money.
After a legal discussion of the money
question, Mr.. Stewart said, referring to
the speech of President Mckinley in
New York last night, that he regretted
to see that the President had not studied
this question more deeply, and that he
was utterly misguided. He quoted the
following sentence from the Presidents
speech: Nothing should ever tempt us
nothing ever will tempt us-to scale
down the sacred debt of the nation
through a legal technicality. Whatever
may be the language of the contract,
the United tSates will discharge all its
obligations in the currency recognized
as the best throughout the civilized
world at the time of payment" Mr..
Stewart thought this was a remarkable
statement, which meant simply that
nothing but gold was good enough for
the bondholders.
"Mr. Mckinley" said Stewart, ''re-
fers to the option of the government to
pay it's obligations in either gold or sill
yer as a mere technicality, and he did
this, too, in the face of his own vote in
favor of the resolution we are consid-
ering. Now the President calls this
option of the government-worth thou
sands of millions-a mere technicality."
What language for President to
use!" sneered Mr.. Stewart I'VE can
lot use the money in the treasury unless
1T is recognized by other nations of the
world as the best money. The despots
md gold syndicates of Europe are to
Inapoa the kind of money regardless OF