Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-07-13
A HOPELESS STRUGGLE.
The silver Cause Has Lost serehgth
steadily since the First Free
Coinage Bill.

On November 5. 1877, in the first of
President Hayes two extra sessions of
congress, Representative Richard p.
Bland moved to suspend the rules and
pass a bill directing the coinage of "sii-
yer dollars of the weight of 4l21a grains
of standard silver, as provided in the act
Of January IS, 1887" the coins to be a
legal tender, a: their nominal value, for
all debts and duec public and private,
except where otherwise provided by
contract" With this motion Mr.. Bland
became a national character, and the
silver question became an absorbing
issue in American politics.
This was the original Bland bill. 1t
provided for the Unrestricted coinage of
silver dollars, then worth seven or eight
cents less in intrinsic value, as indicated
by the market price of silver bullion,
than gold dollars. The house in which
that bill was introduced had a demo-
cratic maiority of 20. Samuel j. Ran
dali was speaker. BlandS motion was
agreed to by vote of 1G4 (97 democrats
and 81 republicans) to 34 GA republic
ans and ten democrats). As reported
in the senate by William Il. Allison,
from the committee on finance the bill
was changed from the free coinage
form to Il limited coinage measure. 1t
provided that not less than $4,000 ,0O0
nor more than $4,0O0,GOO of silver bull
lion should be bought each month and
coined into dOllara OF the weight pre-
scribed in the house bin, the profit from
the coinage. however, to go into the
treasury, and not, as in the house bill,
into the pockets of the owners of the
silver bullion. The bill passed the SEN
ate in this shape by vote of As GA re-
publicans, 23 democrats and one inde-
pendent to 81 IA republicans and
seven democrat7), was accepted by the
house, was vetoed by President Hayes
on February 2S, 1878, in one of the
strongest state papers ever penned by
an occupant of the white house, but was
passed over the veto on the same day.
Silverism on the day when the modi-
fled Bland act was passed over the veto
of President Hayes touched its high
water mark. At that time the silver
bullion in the dollar was worth % cents.
There was only eight cents Of fiat in
the silver dollar. Many republicans
voted for the Bland bill at that time be-
cause they supposed that the creation
of an enlarged market for the bullion
by making the government a purchaser
would send its price up to Il point at
which the silver dollar would be worth
100 cents in gold. They quickly found
themselves mistaken, and then they
abandoned the silver side. The repub-
Leans did, indeed, pass the bullion de-
posit act of July II, 1890, called the
Sherman law, but this was a far safer
measure than the Bland act which il
displaced, and it was enacted to head
off the passage of free silver measure.
Three years and third afterward, find
ing the accumulations of silver cur
rency of the various sorts menace &c
the financial stability of the country
the republicans helped TO repeal the act,
and thus stopped silver absorption in
every shape by the government. The
Bland faction continued their fight for
free silver, however, and at the Chicago
convention of 1896 they secured control
of the democracy, and, for the first time
in a presidential canvass. the. contest
was specifically between the gold and
the silver standards, the gold standard
gaining a sweeping victory. 1t is now
2l wears since Richard +. Bland intro
duced his first free coinage bill. The
silver cause is to-day distinctively
weaker than it was then, or than it has
been at anv time since then. How lCng
is the deocratic party going to keep up
its fight against fate?-St. Louis Globe
| Democrat.