The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-03-09
BUTLER REPUDIATES SILVER.

standard bill was under discussion in the
Senate the other day and was forced to
assume an attitude SO peculiar that it
has arrested the attention of all who
have followed the course of that mea
sure through Congress
Mr. Buffers position on the free coin
age of silver was a matter with which
every one who knows anything of politics
in this State naturally supposes himself
familiar. The declaration of the party
of which Mr.. Butler is the national chair
man, and 70 whose principles he has
protested his adherence in season and
out, has certainly, for some years now,
been sufficiently clear and explicit. That
there may be no mistake about what
that declaration is the following from
the Populist national platform of 1896 is
pertinent:
We demand the free and unlimited coinage OF
gold and silver by the overnment OF tle Chlteu
States at the present legal ratio of 16 TO l,
without reference the action financial course
OF any foreign nation.
After this declaration of the Populist
platform and the repeated declarations
of Mr.. Butler to the same purpose, on
the stump. in his newspaper and in the
Senate it would really have seemed quite
super6uous 10 question him as to wheth-
or he favored the free coinage of silver.
Yet when he was questioned by Senator
Aldrich we find from the Congressional
Record that the following remarkable
dialogue ensued;
Mr. Aldrich Is the Senator from North Cora
lima or his party in favor OF the free ana uh
limited coinage OF silver?
Mr.. Butler Mr.. President. that question was
asked me by prominent banker few days ago
Mr.. Adrich; My question was simple one me-
Senator is not willing to give me one
Mr.. Butler. | will answer it squarely-l am
glad to do sobut will answer it in my own
way The banker refused to ask me if the in
crease in the supply OF gold was as great as
would have been the increase caused 10y irce
coinage of silver, or. if necessary, to be sup,
plemented by Government paper, as dmanded
by the Peoples PARTY
Mr.. Aldrch. That is not my question:
Mr. Butler l will answer tie senator que d;o
tate or shape my ansyer. Will DO that Tor
myself Ny answer to the question OF that
banker was
Mr.. Aldrch My question is plain and sim
pie -.
Mr.. Butler. In answer TO his question, if =. !
would under the conditions he named, still
favor the free coinage OF silver, and sun tu-
Their imitation by it, | answered him, mo.
Mr. Aldrch. Now without any IFS at all, or an!
other suggestion, is the Senator from North Caro-,
lima his party III favor now OF the 1Tee anu
unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio OF 10 t. II
Mr.. Butler. ii could write the law govern
ing the financial system OF this government
L do. thn frnn
age OF anv metal or any combination OF metals,
and then further provide that the amount oi
those metals that accident and chance brought
from the mines should make the volume OF the
nations money. That kind of a system might
make too much money one year and too niue
another year. There would be nothing certain
or stable about it. Under the free and unllm-
tied coinage Of gold alone. it is possible thar
there might be such an enormous output OF goid
in one year as to initiate the volume OF money
greater than the increase OF population and busl-
ness. and therefore il would disturb values
OF course this juggling with words can
have but one meaning-that Mr.. Butler
has deserted the platform of his party
on the silver question. If he had ia
vored the free coinage of silver at the
ratio of 16 to /, according to the declara-
ton of his party, he would have said So
Why therefore this sudden coyness OF
Mr.. Butler? Why did he dodge cate
gorical answer, and hedge, and grow red
in the face and explain while his col
leagues smiled and the galleries Uttered
at his discontinue? Doubtless Mr.. But
ler's conversation with the banker was
highly edifying, probably even touching,
but it is trife difficult to see what that
had to do with the question whether he
fayors or does not favor the free coinage
of silver.
So far as the people of this State are
concerned they will easily understand
Mr. Buffers hesitancy. 1t seems to have
puzzled the Senate. possibly because the
Senate has not kept an eye on Mr.. But
ler's ricochet toward the ranks of the
Republican party. A member OF the
blacks and tans on State issues for some
time past, he has begun TO get
right on national questions as well, to
the end that he may be admitted into
full and soulful fellowship.
1t is likewise worth Wnlle 10 HOte tHdI
on the same day that Mr. Butler took the
big end of a half hour to explain to the
Senate why he no longer favors the
main plank of his party platform Senator
Pritchard, whom he tried to defeat for
election to the Senate on the alleged
ground that he was hostile TO silver,
recommended Mr.. Buffers Nnsman Tor
the postmastership at Fayetteville. This,
to be sure, was merely a happy coincld-
ence: it could not have been an indica-
ton that any of the old hostility on the
money question had been quenched be-
tween the pair. Who would dare attempt
to ouench the Hon. Marion Buffers
patriotic wrath with post-offces or any
other form of pastry? The Honorable
Marion Butler is unquenchable.
Nevertheless. the fact is bald and ug-
" that Butler no longer favors the free
coinage of silver, and that, as we'll as his
attempt TO sell them once more to the ne