Evening star., 1933-12-17
Con eress to Force ROOseuelt's
Ans,cer to Siluer Money Demand
Observers Say PresidentMus Act Quickly
if He Is to Staue Off Passage
of Reconciliation Bill.

will ask that the President continue 10
be allowed this free rein in matters
relating to the currency. But 1t is clear
that many members of Congress are not
willing to let the matter drift, partic-
ularly those who believe that silver
should be remonetized. They insist that
the country needs and demands the
reconciliation of silver without fur
ther delay and they are pRrfectly will
ing to take the responsibility Of writ
ing 1t into law.
Must Meet Issue.
Demand for infiationary legislation
is likely, therefore, to center in the
and his advisers are intent upon pre-
venting the enactment of such legisla-
ton, they will have to meet this issue
and take steps to halt the movement as
promptly as possible.
Senator Thomas said he was strongly
In favor Of what the President has been
doing with regard to gold and the value
OF the dollar. He added, however, that
he hoped the President would press
forward without delay and bring the
dollar down as soon as possible to the
value desired to be established.
If the President will only say that
he is willing to sign a silver bill, Con-
gress would pass such measure within
a week after it assemblies" Senator
Wheeler said last night. The Montana
Senator undertook no prediction as to
what the President would say on the
subject. 1t is known, however, that he
believes President Roosevelt would sign
silver bill If it were passed and sent
to him at the White House.
He Pa1Ipd atlantic. 49,
Governors of nine States had recently
gone on record in favor of the
reconciliation of silver. The Legisla-
ture Of Washington, he added. had
passed a resolution favoring such ac-
ton, and the Legislatures of other
states, including Indiana and South
carolina, had taken. or would take,
similar action.
Silver Sentiment Strong.
Il have spoken all over the West in
the last few MONTHS said Mr.. Wheeler.
lin the Pacific Coast States, the Noun
tain States and the Middle West, and
I fnd great sentiment for the use Of
silver as money. This sentiment Is
stronger than for any other monetary
reform. The textile industry in this
country Is interested in the question.
Tor the low price of silver is a menace
TO American textiles. The world mar
kets are being flooded now with cheap
textiles from the Orient. And they will
continue to be so flooded as long as
silver remains at its present state of
depreciation
Senator Wheeler continued that some
members of the Senate in favor Of re-
monetization of silver had held back
at the last session of Congress hoping
that something material would be done
with regard to silver and bimetalism at
the London Economic Conference. These
Senators now, he said, would feel per-
fectly free to go forward with their
demand for silver bill.
Senator Thomas pointed out that the
value OF the dollar had been materially
changed with relation to gold by the
operation of the administration policy
OF bidding up the price of gold in the
world market. For that reason, he said,
the old proposed l6-to-1 ratio of silver
and gold might have to be materially
ncreased-perhaps up to so to l, or
silver would be given a value far too
high and the silver dollar would be
little larger in size than the 50-cent
piece of today.
Silver Opposed Abroad.
Speaker Rainey expressed the opinion
that the opposition to the remonetiza-
ton Of silver was to be found abroad,
particularly in England and France. He
called attention to the fact that under
the Thomas amendment, the foreign
debtor nations are entitled to pay part
of their debts to this country in silver,
and to have those debts charged off at
a higher price of silver than now pre-
walls in the world markets.
why hasn't England availed her
self of this method of settling her
debt?" he asked. She and other debtor
nations could have gone into the mar
ket and bought silver at AZ cents an
ounce and turned it over to the United
States and covered its debts at so cents.
There would have been real saving.
But they did not want to use silver"