Year: 1878

than they would tamely and silent


ly surrender the right to choos


their own rulers. The day for sue
legislation is numbered with thos
', beyond the flood, and can no NOR


be recalled or repeated than we cal
place on the current calendar O
,, time the hour when Shylock stoOC
before his judge and demanded hi
pound Of flesh.


The mill win never grind again
With the water that has passed.
The recent reconciliation of sill


yer was caused by a voice from the
people which their representative:


could not disregard. The masse,


commanded that it should be done


in tones that left no room for doubt


that they were in earnest. 1t was q


rude and shocking announcement


to mortgages and bOndhOlders OF


the forgotten fact that there were


other people in this country besides


themselves who had some rights


and that there were other interests


besides their own that had some


claims to protection.


No stone was left unturned, no


effort was left uneXhausted, to
| thWart and defeat the popular will
| in this behalf. When the bill had


passed Congress, after a memorable


struggle in which the national faith


and honor were daily marched to
| the front to do duty for mort


gagees and milliOnaires, the Presi-


dent of the United States, wholly


ObliviouS of the strength and depth


of public feeling upon the subject,


was induced to send veto message,


made up of a rehash of the stale rub.


bish of subsidized press, asking


Congress to reconsider their action.


Without explanation or apology
the representative of the people
laid his veto dead at his feet. The
corpse was removed from the sight
of men without the tribute of a tear
for its fate and silently inferred


with no hand to plant astone where
it was buried. Even the Secretary
of the Treasury, who it was thought
would be mOurner at the funeral
if no other man should weep over
its grave, had suddenly discovered
that the dark cloud of reputation,
which was charged with the thun-
derbolts of destruction to the nation
al faith and honor, has silver lining,
and sings in the Sunday evening
n1dtinees at the White House the
good old hymn:


Ye fearful saints fresh courage take;


The cloud ye SO much dread


Is Dig with mercy, and shall break


IN blessings on your head.


The prophecies that were made
by the enemies oftthe silver bill,
those profound financeers and self
appointed guardians of the national
faith and honor, of the disasterOus
results that would affiict the country
on the passage of that bill, furnish
another demonstrate of the fact
that the role Of the prophet is often
a difficult part to play successfully.
The old man gave good advice to
his son when he told him, "My son
never prophecy; but, if you do, be
sure you prOphesy right" Subse-
quent events, turned like a calcium
light upon their supercilious utter
ances and dark predictions of ruin,
expose with fearful and mortifying
distinctnegs the grOtesqueness of
their attitude before the country.
Their contempt for the opinions of
those who had the impudence and
temerity to differ with them was
sublime. 1t really seemed like a
refinement of cruelty when the Sec
retary of the Treasury, soon after
the passage of the bill, virtually adj
mitted that the President in his
message and the profound financial
experts who had given their opin-
ions of the bill had been engaged in
flooding the country with an
amount Of sublimated nonsense,
very unbecoming in those who |
knew so much about finance, that |
there was nothing left for anybody |
else to learn.


So alarmed was | at the deeply, |
darkly, beautifully blue vaticina-
tions of those wise men of the East /
that | felt much relieved on the |
morning following the passage of
the silver bill on going out to find |
that a mereiful Providence still |
suffered His sun to rise on Il land |.
cursed with such a sin as the pas
sage Of that measure. | walked to |
where | could see the river, and the |
dear old Potomac still flowed to the
sea. | cast my eyes towards the |
Washington Monument, so called.
and if there had been any increase
or diminutiOn in that noble pile |
could not discover it. l then turn
ed to the Capitol in search of the
Goddess of Liberty, and | saw that
comely damsel still standing on the
Dome, her waterfall smooth and
and the strange bonnet
she wears not even pulled over her
face in token of shameand humilia-
tiOn for the great wound the nation
al honor had received. | breathed
more freely and yet / scarce dared
hope that the great financial phil
had made a mistake.
could with difficulty conceive of the
possibility of men being mistaken
who knew so much. | felt pain
fully conscious that / knew but lit
tie Of the subject myself, and ]
knew that they were equally con-
sciOus that they knew it all. But so
it was; the earth still reVOlVed



1t is true the friends of the silver
Dlll W6Tta IIIuClI uISdp pOlHlStl III lts
partial emasculatiOn by the Senate,
But one great point was gained.
Silver was made once more legal
tender. That much, at least, is Sc
cure. None of the great-grandchil-
dren of those financial philosophers
and prophets will ever see it again
in this country; and
doubt very much if, from the bright
galaxy of statesmen whose con-
sciences were so much troubled at
the gross breach of national faith in
compelling the blessed bondholder
to receive the money his contract
bound him to take, there will bo
found a single champion bold
enough to make the proposition. 1t
some nerve to oppose the
repeal of the act of 1873, when the
secret history of its passage had
been so clearly exposed to the
country, but it will require vastly
more to make the attempt to rein
state it on the statute-book. The
provisions Of that celebrated act,
in sin and born in in
iquity, are lost to the bondhOlders
and their heirs forever. 1t is very
sad, but it is very true.


Mr.. Speaker, would not under