Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1899-01-22
Silver Measures
In Congress.
Dodged by Mr.. New
lands.
Mr.. NEWLANDS' TREACHERY.
His Letter to Gage Showing How
Silver Coinage Can Be
Defeated.

He Advocates Seigniorage on
Coinage and Royalty on Min
ing, Then Withdrawing
Mines From Sale.
RENO, New, Nov. /, 1895.
Hon. F. G. NEwLANDs,
Reno, Nevada.
SIR: You were elected as a silver man
to Congress for three terms, and you are
now a candidate for reelection ON two
plattorms-one Silver, and the other
Democratic-which make free coinage
at the ratio of Is to 1 by the independent
action of the United States the para
mount issue. Were you while In Wash
1ngton faithful to the cause of silvere
In the second session of the Fifty
third Congress, during President Cleve-
lands administration, Mr.. Bland. of
Missouri, introduced a bill to issue sill
yer certificates on the idle bullion in
the treasury, then amounting to over
$4,000, 900, and requiring that the silver
should be thereafter coined. The bill
passed both Houses of Congress by an
overwhelming majority. President
Cleveland vetoed it. An attempt was
made to pass the bill over his veto.
The question came before the House on
Apr. 4, 1894. The requisite two-thirds
to pass it over the veto could not be OBJ
tanned. The record shows that you
failed to vote for its passage over Cleve-
lands veto. Why was this?
On the 22d of July, 1897, another most
important question was pending before
the House of Representatives relating to
the question of silver. The Wolcott
Commission was receiving at that time
considerable attention in Europe. Presi-
dent Mckinley sent a message to Con-
gress advising the appointment of a
commission to carry into effect the IN
dlanapolis plan, the cardinal principle of
which was the maintenance of the gold
standard and the retirement of all paper
money in circulation and the substitu-
ton therefor of bank notes. The silver
men of the House resisted the resolution
tor the appointment of the commission.
Mr.. Carmack, of Tennessee, moved as
an amendment to the gold mems scheme
the following:
1.-The commission in preparing a
scheme of currency reform shall proceed
along the lines laid down in the financial
plank of the Democratic platform adopt
ed at Chicago in 1896, and it shall espe-
cially include the restoration of the
system of bimetallism by the free, in
dependent, and unlimited coinage of
both gold and silver at the ratio of rs
to l."
The House Journal shows that you
did not vote upon this vital proposition.
The resolution, however, was defeated
in the Senate. 1t might be possible for
you to make some excuse for your failure
to vote on these very important meas
ures If you had not subsequently III a
letter to Mr.. Gage, the Secretary Of the
Treasury, abandoned the cause of silver
and advocated a most drastic measure
for the destruction of silver as a money
metal.
On the 10th of November, 1897, the
Washington Post, in an editorial, quoted
a letter written by you to Secretary of
the Treasury Gage, suggesting the utter
demonstration of silver and the total
destruction of silver mining. Without
reproducing the whole of the original
communication the Post introduces GER
tain extracts by saying:
"Hon. Francis G. Newlands, of Ne
vada, has addressed a letter t. the Sec
rotary of the Treasury, in which he adj
vocates the expedient of making silver
coinage a purely American question. He
shows that the western hemisphere pro-
duces nearly four-fifths of the silver of
the world, and he argues that, through
the medium of a Pan-American agree
ment, we can regulate the price of the
metal 10 as to restore its actual parity at
IS to I or anv other ratio we may see fit
to adopt.
"An important feature in Mr.. New