Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1899-12-16
STANDARD ALREADY FIXED.
lished 1t and New Law Was
Eot Needed.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16.--The closing
day of the general debate on the finan-
cial bill in the house proved to be one Of
exceptional interest. At the outset a
sharp personal colloquy occurred be.
tween Representatives Wheeler and
Berry (ky.) over the recent Kentucky
election and the charges growing out OF
it. Considerable feeling was shown
Later III the day Mr.. Bailey TEX. !, I'M
til recently the Democratic floor leader,
received close attention in an hour s
speech, vigorously presenting the Demo-
cratic view and euloglzing the Demo.
cratic organization. In marked con.
trast with Mr.. Bailey's utterances, Mr..
Scudder IN. VI, who followed him, an.
nounced that as Democrat he believed
in the gold standard and would vote for
it. Mr.. Payne On. Y ) and Mr.. Dalzell
(Pa.) also spoke during the day.
Mr.. Bailey said remarkable spec
tacle was presented by the debate ON this
bill. He recalled that when in the
Fifty-fourth congress Mr.. Towne s.
serted that the Republican party had
never declared for gold standard, The
Congressional Record showed that he
was interrupted by many Republicans
with the exclamation: And it never
will. y
Mr.. Bailey said the Republican side
was SO busy studying the trend of events
that it had no time to study the science
OF money. While the first section OF
this bill purported to establish the gold
standard, the law of 1875 fixed the gold
dollar as the unit of value. This bill
was therefore simply a re-enactment put
forward to make people believe some
thing new and wise was being done.
When MIR. Bailey referred to the in.
creased production of gold, Mr.. Dalzell
interrupted to ask if in view of this IN
creased supply of gold Mr.. Bailey still
believed III silver at 16 to |. The Texan
responded emphatically in the affirma-
tive, amid Democratic applause. The
Democratic side simply asked suffi-
cheney of basic money, and it this was
supplied by either gold or silver, then
instead of refuting the Democratic
position it simply confirmed it.
Mr.. Bailey declared that the logical
outcome of this bill would be to take the
millions of silver impounded in the
treasury into the open market and sell
it, as Germany had done. If the sup
porters OF the measure were honest and
consistent they would thus offer the sill
yer for sale now, as that would be the
inevitable fate OF silver now under this
bill. He compared the appreciation of
gold values and the corresponding de-
probation of cotton and wheat.
Mr.. Bailey closed his speech with a
stirring tribute to the time honored and
undying Democratic organization, which
evoked applause from the Democratic
side.
At the evening session Mr.. Clayton
(Dem., N. " announced his intention
TO vote for the financial bill. In re.
Spouse to unfavorable references which
had been made to gold Democrats, Mr.
Clayton said there were many of that
belief in New York and the number
was growing constantly. Others who
spoke for the bill were Messrs Sullo.
way On. H. Bingham Pa ,Mudd md J
and Minor WIS.,.
Those who spoke against the bill were
Robinson (Neb.), Thomas IN. Co.,
Lloyd (Mo.), Snodgrass (Tenn.) RuckeI
(Mo.), Robb (Mo.), Davenport PA,
Lamb (Va.), Caldwell Qlls.). Stephens
(Tex.), Gordon co. and Neville (Neb.) J.