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MR. WOLCOTT'S SPEECH,
IHH STRONG AHGVM.ENT OF THE
TOUNG COLORADO SPEAKER.
THE VIEWS OF THE FAR WEST.
The Views of the West Forcibly Presented by
the Brilliant Champion of Silver—A No
table Speech, One Woith Studying.
Washington, September 2—(Special Cor
respondence.)—Senator Wolcott, of Colo
rado, macle a magnificent speech, urging
the free coinage of silver, and, as he voices
not only the sentiment of the people of
Colorado, but of the entire far west, there
has been quite a demand from the south
for the Congressional Record containing
Iris speech in full, lie has given the ques
tion as close study as any man in the
senate, and is probably as fully able to
discuss the question of coinage as any man
in the country. To supply the demand for
his speech, the following is herewith sent
as taken from the Congressional Record:
Mr. Wolcott —Mr. President, it is said
that a financial panic is invariably ac
companied or followed by a widespread re
ligious revival. Up to this time we are
unfortunately without tiiat beneficent oc
currence. The ready and complete change
of heart, however, on the financial question
which we have witnessed in this chamber
gives evidence that this is a time when
men are especially open to conviction.
And if the administration, with its petty
spoils and patronage, has been able to
make so many converts, what may we not
hope when the assurances of future happi
ness will be, not for four short years, but
for eternity? The misfortune under which
the silver men suffer is that the adminis
tration conversion came first. For if the
hearts of senators had first been impressed
with the littleness of the things of this
world and the glory of things supernal, the
people, who are to be the sufferers, would
not have been deserted by their representa
tives.
Except as patronage may be used to affect
the action of congress, there is no criticism
to be made respecting the policy of the
administration. There has been much
comment upon the present attitude of the
secretary of the treasury, because while
he represented a constituency in congress
he was an earnest advocate of the free
coinage of silver. Such criticism is mis-
I placed. lie is a member of the president’s
household, and committed to carrying out
the president's policy, or to withdrawal
from the cabinet. The secretary of the
treasury is not the only member of the
cabinet who must have radically changed
the views of a lifetime in subordination to
those of his chief.
Nor is the president of the United States
open to stricture because of his message.
He had been a consistent and persistent
opponent of silver coinage since his first
entrance into public life. There has never
been a moment’s doubt as to where he
stood. 'Hie platform of his party, it is
true, declared in favor of silver, but) the
platform meant no more to him than the
wind that blows. AVe of the west knew
perfectly well last fall that whoever of the
two candidates should be successful, we
were powerless, and that our reliance must
be placed in congress, which had already
w on more than one occasion shown its will
ingness to rise above the personal wishes
t? of the executive.
The friendship for silver expressed by
every member of each house of congress
who has spoken on this question is remark
able and unanimous. No senator in favor
of the unconditional repeal of the Sherman
act has failed to announce in solemn words
his belief in bimetallism. The statement
may be soothing to his conscience, but it
serves no other purpose so far as favorable
legislation is concerned. The senators who
state that they are bimetallists, but that in
ternational agreement is necessary before
M we can adopt the double standard, mis-
B state the proposition.
International agreement must depend on
I the attitude of Great Britain. If. then.
Great Britain consents to a double stan
dard. they are bimetallists. If she adheres
to gold, they are monometallists. The
policy of Great Britain, which they are
powerless to shape or Io control, is the pol
i-y they advocate. ' They are willing to
s i orifice not only a great) region of our
country, whose resources are of infinitely
more material value to the east than all
our trade with Great Britain, but the wel
fare and prosperity of every farmer and
toiler in the land, in order that we may be
in entire accord with Great Britain in our
financial policy.
Nor are the friends of silver in the slight
■ e-t degree carried away by such utterances
as those of the senator from Now York
the other day. Who is not for us is against
us. It would have been far more satisfac
tory if, instead of arguing in favor of sil
ver and likewise in favor of unconditional
repeal, the senator had argued against sil
ver and then announced his Intention of
voting against unconditional repeal, and
his speech would have been equally logical.
Silver has been compelled to bear every
body's burdens for many months, ami it
seems now involved in some fashion with
ttie democratic differences in New York.
The senator from New York knows per
fectly well thgt free coinage by separate
act is impossible during the incumbency of
tiie present executive, ami that any assis
tance he may desire to render must come
now or not at all. Those who believe in
the principle of free coinage of both gold
and silver care not a bawbee about the
local fights in New York, and, for my own
part. I prefer an open foe who asks no quar
ter ami gives none, who has been steadily
opposed to silver and has never concealed
bis views, to one who “keeps the word of
promise to our ear, and breaks it to our
hope.”
The most remarkable and most ominous
o. eurciice, however, has been the change of
front by the senator from Indiana (Mr.
Voorhees), chairman of the finance com
mittee. For nearly a generation, in sea
son and out. he has posed as a friend of
the people. Many and varied have been the
remedies he has proposed; but until last
week, if consistent in nothing else, he has
everywhere and at all times found occasion
to denounce the national bank system, and
t<> advocate the free coinage of slver. I
have been examining the files of The Rec
ord for the past decade and longer, with a
view of reminding the senator of the days
of which Charles Lamb wrote; those “red-
I ttej- days, now become, to all intents and
| purposes, dead-letter days.”
But what is the use? The banks were
molochs and everything else that sounds
bad and wicked, and no matter what other
gentlemen might do. he would never vote
to extend their charters, or enlarge their
powers, and looked forward with hope to
I the time when they would be wiped out al
together. He even opposed the amend
ment permitting them to issue notes up to
90 per cent of "ffieir bonds on deposit with
ti e treasury. Aud during all these years
the senator from Indiana has been also ap
parently the unvarying friend of free coin
age. The Record contains speech after
speech in which he shows the necessity for,
and the availability of, the use of silver.
One of these speeches was delivered only
last year, since the passage of the Sherman
act. in which he utters no word of reproach
respecting that law, but urges a continued
and increasing use of the metal as coin.
This is a brief summary of the utterances
of the senator from Indiana on these sub
jects. But “his words were writ in water,”
and the pitiful outcome of it all are the
two bills now before us: The bill to permit
national banks to issue notes to the par of
their bonds, and the bill for the uncondi
tional repeal of the purchasing clause of
the Sherman act.
For the first time in the legislative his
tory) of either of them, the senator from
Indiana and the senator from Ohio are in
complete accord in financial matters. For
a generation they have both served in pub
lic life, the one, in public estimation, stand
ing for the masses, the other for the class-
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA. GA.. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 12, 1893,
es, yeti both meet at last on common
ground! It has not been always so. Since
the passage of the Sherman act and just
prior to the last presidential election the
senator from Indiana, in a warm and im
passioned article in The North American
Review, in favor of free coinage, described
his colleague as follows:
Now, however, those who eighteen years
ago wrought under cover for the destruction
of one-half the honest, debt-paying money
of the American pc..pie. are as well known
as if a calcium light had been turned on
them, and are as universally distrusted by
the plain, laboring and productive masses
as if they had been caught in the commis
sion of crime. This feeling of distrust is
confined to no one party. The ablest and
most distinguished opponent of silver money
in the United States, and, more than any
other one man, the author of the legislation
of 1873 ou that subject—
But I suppose the amende honorable of
the senator from Indiana yesterday may
possibly be held to cover this article as well
as the utterance of four years ago, of which
the honorable senator from Ohio com
plained—
has been before three national conventions
of the republican party seeking a nomination
for the presidency, and seeking it in vain.
Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, is always to be
spoken of with respect as a man of ability
and large experience, and more especially
so in connection with the finances of the
country. It is true that he hits been on both
sides of every financial issue for more than a
quarter of a century pasi; but it is also true
that he has always veered from one point
of the compass to the other at the exact
time when his services wer»» most valuable
to the money powe-. amt most oppressne
to the laboring, overtaxed, debt-paying farm
ers ami wage workers of the country.
I hope the senator from Indiana will not
bo able to catch up will) him. (Laughter.)
And vet. with all his eminent services in
behalf of the financial centers, as they are
called, banking corporations, usurers, inter
est-eaters ami parasites on human iabot gen
erally, the leaders of the Republican party
in New York have never dared in national
convention to cast the vote of that state
for him. , ,
The opportunity was presented in 1880,
1884 and 1888, and the weight of obligation
which the moneyed Interests were under to
Mr Sherman was not denied, but a whole
some fear that the plain people would resent
at the polls his hostility to their interests
restrained the impulse of gratitude, it, in
deed. such a sensaMon as gratitude is ever
known to organizeiF wealth. .
But it is different now. Ihe wolt is
dwelling with the lamb, and the leopard
is lying down with the kid. (Enughter.)
This delightful harmony, 1 fear, will not
long continue, and when they arise they
will be fewer in number. (Laughter.) There
can be but one chairman of the finance
committee, and without in the least under
rating the abilities of the senator from
Indiana, those of ns who have watched
the course of financial legislation for the
past twenty years, commencing with the
demonetization of silver in 1873. must be
pardoned if we look forward to tlie ie
sumption of the control of the committee
by the senator from Ohio, and if we recall
in this connection old I’haraoh s dream oi
the lean kine.
In what I have said 1 beg to be under
stood as offering no harsh personal criticism
respecting the senator from Indiana. lie
has been so long the advocate of silver
that 1 cannot yet believe he "ill deceit
the cause or east his vote for unconditional
repeal. I only venture to remind him in
view of his past utterances, that old Solo
mon did not belie his reputation for " is
dom when he said: “It is belter t .toil
shouldest not vow than that thou shouldcst
vow aud not pay.”
The report) ot the finance committee,
signed by two democrats ami by four re
publicans, and not concurred in by four
democrats and one republican, is bedecked
with plumage which it has no right to
wear. The’issue is clear enough and no
body is deceived by the verbiage of the re
port.
Silver is to be demonetized —the Sherman
law to be robbed of the purchasing clause.
There is always a tomorrow, and it is un
wise to close our eyes to the character of
the proposition.
No man can be a bimetallist iu the sense
that he believes in the further coinage of
both gold and silver by the United hi ates.
and advocate the bill. The president ot
the United States will undoubtedly veto
nnv independent measure for the free coili
ng!. of silver, and there is not a senator m
this bodv who does not believe tins to be
true The only possible chance to save
silver is to couple any provision looking
to a change in the Sherman
act with some measure recogniz
ing and establishing silver eoia-
Anv man "ho "ill vouch for Ml.
cTeveland as a bimetallist would vouch
for the man in the moon-.
It is urged upon ns that we have been
called together for a special purpose, and
tlrit it is <»ur duty to accomplish that,
and that only, and then go home. It is
everywhere admitted that we need fuith •
legislation respecting silver; but it is g.
said that we can have that later. \\ hj
not now? Congress is in session to d<.
with the financial question., e arc a
of us advised as to tile situation. W e shall
never know more than we know no"
about silver. It is conceded on every hand
that the Sherman act had nothing to do
with the existing financial panic. 1 lien
whv nor at this time determine the policy
which this country should follow,, aud
bring the subject to a finality ?
\Ye are told that it is essential that we
act quickly- Very true, and if we are all
bimetallists aud all favor the repeal
of the Sherman act, no obstacle stands m
the wav of speedy action. Aud 1 may bo
permitted to snggl'st to the gentlemen who
are in so great a hurry- that if time be
of value to them tin y- may. perhaps, secure
the repeal of the Sherman act far more
quickly bv Coupling with it some fair
provision for silver coinage than in the
wav suggested by the financial committee.
It mar be true, as the senator from New
York last week foretold with confidence,
that the purchasing clause of the Sherman
act will be surely and unconditionally re
pealed: but it is equally true that he may
possibly find it necessary after a. time to
revise his prophecy.
Since this subject was thrashed over dur
ing the last congress two reasons have
been advanced why silver should cease to
be either purchased or coined at our mints.
They lire persistently presented to us by
the advocates of thu bill reported by the
finance committee. They are, first, that
our abandonment of silver will compel Eng
land to agree to an international con
ference, and to the restoration of silver
as a money metal to be freely* coined as
offered; and the other, that the repeal of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman act
will restore confidence in our finances and
our institutions to the people, who have
lost faith in both-
We are constantly assured that our
abandonment of silver will force England
to an international agreement. This may
be true. There is not gold enough in the
world to do its business, and some day
this will be recognized by monometallist
countries. But the time is far away.
Capital is strong and selfish. This senate
chamber today is the best possible exempli
fication of its power, and a long period ot
suffering and of shrinkage will pass before
we return to the double standard.
Meanwhile, the sections heretofore de
voted to the search for silver will become
largely depopulated. Tin* mines will fill
with water, the timbers which sustain
their walls will rot, the vast industries
dependent for success on the mining regions
will become bankrupt, and ft generation
will not serve to renew their prosperity,
even after silver may be remonetized.
The investments in railroads, mines,
smelters and other property directly and
fatally affected by the action recommended
hv the finance committee aggregate more
than $1.000,01 10,000, and they are all to
be sacrificed that we may make our finan
cial policy in exact accord with Great
Britain, the creditor of the world!
The argument is as if one should say,
protection is wise, and must be the bul
walk of our prosperity- It is threatened
vear after year by the advocates of free
trade- There is one way to settle the
agitation finally and forever. Submit to
free trade. A few years will show the
folly of it. The country will then return
to protection, and you will not be again
distuAed- 1 picture the eagerness with
which New England would grasp the
suggestion, the warm-hearted welcome she
would extend to the friends who thus
advised her-
Since I have referred to the subject of
protection, another word may as well be
said- There is no analogy between free
coinage and protection. They rest on es
sentially different principles, are based on
separate foundations. Yet if this great
country, with its enormous area and
wealth and population and resources, is
to change its monetary policy to follow
and to be in accord with that, of Great
Britain, it alters the whole basis of our
relations with foreign countries-
I speak Wftli. hesitancy and reluctance;
but as the shuject now presents itself, if
this bill shall pass, and silver bo, as it
must be, absolutely dethroned and de
graded, I know of no reason why any
senator who believes in free coinage should
ever east another vote in favor of pro
tection in any form. If we are to have
a steadily appreciating currency and con
stantly lowering prices, it is better for
our farmers and wage workers that they
have the opportunity of buying, untraiii
meled and unrestricted, in the markets of
the world. In the light of the proposed
policy, bounties are iniquitous, protection
an oppression, and free ships desirable.
This is an era of experiment. Let us ex
periment all around-
Even if it were true that our abandon
ment of silver would, in time,
compel other nations to re
habilitate it and renew ils coin
age, the taking of such a stop by this people
wniil'i, in my opinion, be ruinous and unne
cessary. We have a. vast area of country,
with many and varied resources and con
staidly increasing needs. Our great cities,
the centers of the commerce of the country
surrounding them, are remote form, and large
ly independent of each other. The number
less new enterprises everywhere springing up
and the constantly increasing avenues of
trade demand a steadily enlarging volume of
cutler,cy to keep pace with our growing de
mands.
We produce of gold, available for coinage,
loss than $18,000,000 annually. We can ab
sorb the silver offered ns for coinage without
inflation of the currency and without impair
ing our financial credit at home or abroad.
The silver held in Europe is in coin and need
ed there, and surely not to be returned at
a less. We cannot get the gold to furnish
tlie needed increase: and wo beleve in hurl
money, gold and silver, in preference to tlie
only other alternative, irredeemable fiat mon
ey. based cnly on credit. The two metals
together would furnish us. If our mints wore
reopened, a stable, enduring, and adequate
currency. France for seventy years main
tained their parity. With an area seventeen
times greater Ilian France, and a vastly
larger population and far greater resources,
who shall say that tlie United Stalos can
not coin both gold and silve at her mints as
offered, and maintain their parity and her
own financial integrity?
To those timid people who look to interna
tional conference for sanction before they
are willing to embark upon the coinage of
our gold and silver. I commend tlie fol
lowing excerpt clipped from a recent paper:
“Tiie increase of out* population in the brief
period of ten years from 18.80 to 1890 exceeds
the entire population of Mexico; an increase
of population in tlie United States in ten years
of more than 30 per cent of the entire popula
tion of France, more Ilian 40 per cent of the
population of Italy, nearly 70 per cent of the
population of Spain; an increase equal to
twice the population of Belgium, three times
the population of tlie Netherlands or European
Turkey, four times the population of Switzer
land. and six times tlie entire population of
Denmark or of Greece.”
Tn the face of such a showing, I can im
agine no more cruel, or unnecessary or un
businesslike proceeding than to hold our
whole financial system In abeyance until Eu
rope determines what policy "’ill be satisfac
tory to her.
The other additional reason for repeal. Mr.
President, presented by the advocates of tlie
hili reported bv the Finance committee would
lie droll, if the times were not tragic. Oiw
Senator after another tells us, and tlie other
house echoed with the same statement, that,
tlie existing law. known as tlie Sherman law,
lias absolutely nothing to do with the pres
ent deplorable financial panic, but that some
other people, who are not designated by name
or calling, think it has; that there is a woeful
hick of confidence, not in our silver eertifi
e.ates. but in our flmimdiil istitutions, and
that this departed confidence will return
if congress will repeal the purchasing
clause of the act of 1890.
A few days since I demonstrated, as best
I could, the follv of this stateni.ent. and I
shall not weary the senate with a repetition
of what 1 then said. This panic will go
down into history as a banker’s panic.
Months ago tlie associated national banks,
as an organization, began demanding the re
peal of the Sherman act. They solemnly
assured themselves ami the country that
they would be ruined if It. were not repealed.
They charged to silver the exjiort of gold
wlie’n every dollar that went, would have gone
if we had never a silver dollar in our coin
age. They continued to clamor until the
people who had money in the banks drew it
out-bills, gold or silver, it mattered not
which, for they know the dollar stamped by
the government was good for 100 cents.
They sought to bring discredit upon the finan
cial policy of tin- government: they have
succeeded in engulfing thetniseives. If you
ask a banker today how the repeal of the
Sherman act is to restore confidence to tlie
depositors who have drawn out some SIBO,-
000.000. he cannot tell yon.
Mr. President, the depositors did not com
plain of the Sherman act, and no one of them
drew out his money because of the existence
of that law. I have no sort of hostility to
wards national banks. The system afforded
the first basis of confidence in our bonds ami
has been of vast service to the country. The
attitude of the banks towards the Sherman
law, however, In connection with some recent
occurrences, deserves mention at this time.
The banks demand, as I have said, tiie repeal
of the Sherman law. This Set Is the only
one now upon our statute books which per
mits an enlargement of the currency. In
time of panic, such as this, it would seem un
accountable that banking institutions should
not desire an increase in the volume of
money.
The fact is. however, that when the Sher
man act shall have been repealed, the banks
Intend asking congress to authorize either an
issuance of bonds or bills to the amount of one
hundred millions or more for the purchase of
gold, and they have good reason to believe
that a complaisant finance committee will
authorize a bill for the issue. Tins would
bring temporary prosperity, and aid in the
journey toward gold monometallism
Meauwhle, we ars tsked to authorize the
banks to issue notes to the par value of their
bonds deposited to secure circulation, a meas
ure which recent: disclosures would indicate
is of importance to their depositors as well
as to the banks. AVhlle waiting for this
measure to become law, clearing house cer
tificates. based on rediscounted paper, furnish
an excellent substitute for money.
Nobody was disposed to find fault with this
procedure, but when a resolution was offer
ed the other day calling on the comptroller
of the currency, whose integrity everybody
recognizes, to inform us whether the batiks
were Obeying the law or not. an extraordinary
Incident occurred The senator from Mary
land (Mr. Gorman) with bated reath inform
ed us that, as a matter of fact, all the banks
were violating the laws; that if they did not
violate the law they wold all have inclose;
and we were urged not to inform ourselves
of tlie facts, but to let the comptroller alone.
No more remarkable statement was ever
made. Congress is In session ready to en
large or change the law if necessary, but we
are informed tiiat it is our duty to blind our
selves to the facts, and to <>ur oaths, and to
suffer the law to be violated without inquiry
or rebuke.
Hid it ever occur to the senator from Mary
land that a depositor might have some rights
which the law ought to protect? And did it
ever occur to the banks that possibly the
“lack of cdiifldence” in their institutions
might not be wholly due to the Sherman act?
In the struggle which is now being fought
out on this floor, whatever may be the out
come. we have all learned something of the
divinity that, hedges around a moneyed insti
tution to an eastern mind.
A western point of view is not much valued
these days on Wall street, but I venture to
suggest, to the able financiers of that at
tractive but expensive locality, tiiat if they
will prevent a repetition of such frauds as
tlie whisky trust, and such mismanagement
as has been shown in Cordage and oilier In
dustrials; will remember that the Sherman
act, or some kindred measure recognizing sil
ver coinage, must afford them the only ave
nue possible for an enlargement of the cur
rency which they especially need; will look
at n map of these United States and observe
that they cover a broad expanse of country,
and contain many people with many views;
and will so modify their opinion as not to be
lieve that every man who differs with them
respecting financial matters must be either
a villain or a crank, we will the sooner ar
rve at that condition of niut.il confidence and
regard which ought to obtain between citizens
of tlie same country.
Tiie opponents of further silver coinage tn
the United tSatos are endeavoring to create
the Impression that there Is an overproduction
of silver in the world: that silver is cheaply
produced at a cost much loss than even its
present usariMt price ae a commodity, and tiiat
upon a return to troe coinage at the ratio of
1R to 1. the present product would bo largely
increased. No one of those statements is
true, and the falsity of each of them can be
readily demonstrated*.
When an annual product is not consumed,
lhe measure of its Increase must be ascertain-,
ed by comparison with the stock on hand.
Carefully prepared tables show that In 1872
the world’s .supply of gold produced since
1492 was $5,453,000.0(8), and of silver $<>.751,-
000,000. Os the total of these sums 44.68 per
cent was gold 55.32 per cent silver. At.
the close of last year the existing stock of gold
In tlie woixl was $7,610,000,000, and of silver
$9,097,000,000. After four hundred years of
production the gold composed 45.55 per cent
and the silver 54.15 per cent of the two met
als. 'The world's product of gold existing in
1872 has since that year increased 39.55 per
cent, while tlie Increase of the stock of silver
amounts to 34.77 per cent.
Advocates of the abandonment of further
coinage of silver must look elsewhere for
reasons why it should be discarded as a money
metal. It is not and has never been over
produced. 'l’he reasons for its full in value
are not because It is too abundantly furnished,
but because the great demand for it must ever
be for coinage purposes, ami legislation has
robbed It of this demand. If gold were de
monetized, gold as a commodity would jail
equally in value. Talk of overproduction.
Why, in the twenty years, between 1853 and
1873, the of god in tile world ex
ceeded the production of silver by $1.441
000. but both wore equally welcome at the
mints, and no disturbance resulted. In the
twenty years from 1873 to 1893 the excess of
silver produced over gold has been but sl.«'.-
000.000, yet the gold value of silver decreased
42 cents an ounce. Overproduction has not
affected the value of silver. Legislation alone
degraded it and destroyed its value; legisla
tion. and legislation alone, can restore It.
Nor is It trnu that silver Is produced so
cheaplv that there Is a great margin between
its cost and its coinage value at. the ole mtio of
129 cents an ounce. H belittles the whole sub
ject to even stale the proposition. VVlint mis
the cost of mining gold to do with its value
as coin? As a matter of tact where go
mis been found the cost of mining it ms b i n
far less than of mining silver. 1 lie gnat l -
portion of the gold is lound In place.s and
K'delles, iquickly and profitably produced
when discovered In paying quantities .
gets valued at thousands of do. ars arc senu
tinies found by some pt >s;>‘ *ioi’ or miner in
ii day. The day’s wages or expenses of .he
man who found the nugget would have no re
lation to the cost of the gold product, mid
would have no bearing on tlie ci.nage ques
tion if it did.
Mr President, von cinn.t w< ssi re its cost
in that way. 1 could take you tc a section in
Colorado —a county whieh is ti e r< sh.ence or
my colleague -one of the fe v sections ot our _
country that produces gold >.i i*:>; .ng quanti
ties through the years in fissure veins, and 1
could lake you through a bi’-ndrcd mile: ot
sliafis and tunnels and adi.s ami levels and
cross-cuts ami drifts tbit have cost Born
$lO to SSO a foot to sink and to drive them,
which never produced i Uolnn s worth r 1 ore
shafts that were sunk for I'lin l v ms imi did
not find them, or were sunk on I'.T’ren stieak.».
tunnels that were driven through cross-country
and found nothing at. the end ot >l, drifts and
adits driven on the barren portion ot tlie vein.
Are they not to be counted? I c.iu fftte you
over the mountain, just. >ver «<c> bill, to wl ei’e
the placer miners are taking out an cvr.ee ir
day. worth S2O with wages at $3 n day. Mould
anybody say that therefore the cost of the
production of gold in Gilpin county was s.,> an
ounce? You must measure lhe losses with the
gains. The mountains of the west arc pepper
ed and scarred with shafts and tunnels and
prospect holes which brought tlie miner noth
ing. Are they not to count? Are you to meas
ure your own standard of value oy the cost
it took to get it? You mi,ght. as welt s.*.y the
value of the one-dollar bill is the cost of pa
per on which it is printed.
I have seen a mechanical invention—the
Westinghouse, for instance which has made
a vast amount of moiiey--a million dollars;
and yon might as well say that therefore
tlie profit on the mechanical patent, is a million
dollars. Go down to lhe department c.f lhe in
terior and see thousands and thousands of
models of patents that represent the wearied
work and labor of years now covered with
dust anil profitless to everybody; must you not
take into consideration the losses as well as
the gains? So it is with s lver. ’! lie sum of
all the labor and expenditure thit goes into
the production of silver in the United States Is
undoubtedly far greater than tlie u lue of the
silver produced.
But, Mr. President, as the tlatenient has
been so persistently made iu this chamber that
the cost of producing silver s so slight I be
lieve the senator from Vermont. Mr. Morrill,
who is not now here, made some statement of
lhe astonishingly low prices at whieh silver
was produced) a careful investigation was en
tered into by a committee of Iva.ii. g eitzens
appointed for the purpose, and 1 bol l *n my
hand the summary of tlie result of heir in
vestigation. which I ask to have printed at
the close of my remarks.
I'he investigation was most exhausti/.?, The
total silver product of Colorado for ls>92 was
24.000,000 ounces. <if this two comities. Lake
and Pitkin, produced 40 per cent. The re
turns from the smelters showed the value of
silver and of the byproducts, lead ami copper.
The two counties were separately tabulated as
to production, _rom ilie dare of their sittle
ment, and the total product of each can fully
ascertained. An exnmia ition of the n cords
was then made, showing the number of claims
pre-empted, the cost of sinking the shafts nec
essary before location, the cost of the survey
aud of the tiling of the notice of location’.
The law-ixu'.iires SIOO worth ot work aui.i'ally
on each claim prior to patent, 'the number
of claims not abandoned was .isr—iTauwd.
i'he law further requires at exp< i.C ii:re of
not less than SSOO of work m t ore j.iietit will
issue, and certain exp'-nses ci sm vey, etc.,
are necessarily incurred in pa'ertir.g each
claim. The number of patented claims was
ascertained from the government land oifices,
and these sums comput 'd. Prom the rtcords
obtainable of mining ami smelting op< rain > c
full tables were prepared. A ttniinaty shows
that Leadville has produ •”<! in foui tei'n rears
net, $104,515,824, M a Cost of $121,521,583,
showing a loss in stiver mining* changed into
a fair profit by the value the byproducts.
Pitkin county Is tabulated in the same way.
ami 1 commend the report to the attention
of senators who believe that the cost of min
ing has any bearing on the question of coin
age. Os course, sometimes fortunes are made
and are wildly advertised, but the failures are
numberless and are never counted. Abbot
I'.'iwrenee. fifty years ago, sta'ed tint In
Boston out of fourteen merchants who start
in business thirteen failed. The commercial
agencies will tell you that now the m*,'portion
of failures is even greater. ’! m- success 's tie
one in eighteen, or one In twenty. Would you
measure the profits of business by tlie *ortu'nes
of your merchant princes?
Tlie assertion s likewise made tiiat
If we return to silver coinage there would at
once lie a much larger firodnetion of the
precious metnls. It is not true. The west
has seen the zenith of its mining in
dustry. Tlie zones in whieh mines " may
ill- found-tlie mineral belt is as
welt or better defined than is the coal belt of
Pennsylvania. There is not a. square rod of
ground within tlie mining belt tiiat has not
linen prospected. Everywhere lias tiie hardy
miner been searching for the precious metals.
There may be other discoveries yet made, but
tlie great mass of tlie country lias been de
veloped ami Its riches extracted.
You will find Mr. President, that whatever
legislation may hereafter come, if silver shall
again be restored to its own pedestal, the
production of the precious metals, unfortun
ately. cannot much Increase. I hope it may.
So long as silver is recognized as coin, so
long will the courageous prospector search
for it. until there are no longer any secrets
of wealth concealed in the bosom of mother
earth.
Rut, Mr. President, all discussion of the
cost of production or of present or future
overproduction are beside tile mark.
Tlie people of the far northwest favor the
resumjition of tlie tree coinage of silver be
cause they believe in the principle of bime
tallism. AYe are not inflationists; we
do not advocate fiat money. We
believe, that as tli<> senator from
Nevada (Mr. .Tones) so aptly put it. tlie rude
obstacles which nature interposes offer a
better safeguard for the people than the wis
dom or unwisdom of their rulers. We oppose
the single standard because there is not
enough gold to do tlie business of tlie world
and furnish its inhabitants with the currency
thev need.
The history of all times lias shown that a
scarcity of circulating medium means a con
tinuous fall in prices depression in business
ativity. the impoverishment <>f the people, and
a decline in civiization. Tlie last twenty
years ha«S but emphasized the experience
of the centuries. Silver has not depreciated:
gold lias appreciated. The double standard
relieves the tension whieh may lie caused by
the lessened production of the one metal or
the increased production of the other. It
secures to the debtor at tlie maturity of his
debt money of tlie value he received when
his debt was incurred. The two metals to
gether furnish a standard which lias perma
nency stability, accessibility, am.! is a suit
able and adequate measure of value.
Mr. President, tlie question as to whether
silver shall bv the passage of the bill before
us lie finally demonetized is national and not
local. The'claims we urge in behalf of the
recognition of silver are not pressed because
we of tlie mountains ask your sympathy for
a region which your proposed action would
impoverish and ruin. If we represented any
other section, witli our knowledge of the pos
sibilities of the great west, we would be
equally tenacious for the preservation of the
white met al as a standard of value. No
man removed from the money centers, and
realizing Ilie illimitable resources of this
republic and its constantly expanding needs,
will ever stand for the contraction of a cur
rency already insufficient.
Our interests, our hones and aspirations are
identical with those of tlie other sections of
our country which are borrowers and not
lenders; with those of the Carolinas, of Ala
bama and Mississippi, and Arkansas and
Missouri, the Dakotas and Washington in the
remote northwest. AVe demand the coinage
of both metals, because the history of our
country and of all lands has taught us that
they afford the safest and most adequate
basis for the currency of the people.
AA'e are not influenced by our environment.
It is true that for a generation at least many
states, some of them larger iu population
than any one of three of the New Englanq
states, and having greater resources,
minerals included, than all of them put to
gether, will stiffer if this bill shall become a
law, to an extent impossible to describe,
and which in our lifetime cannot be repaired;
lint we can endure it. Tiie strong wfll sur
vive and the weak will go to the wad. It
is tlie lot of man. But before you complete
vour work, I beg of you to pause long enough
to realize that tills is tlie first time in the
history of republics—nay, even of govern
ments —that it people devoted to one or the
noblest of human industries, the search for
tlie precious metals of the world, were
doomed to destruction by their fellowmen
because they produced too much of them.
You ought: to lie proud that within the
limits of our own country tlie courage and
enterprise and Industry of your own people
have disclosed and developed silver enough
and nearly gold enough to satisfy the con
stantly increasing needs of those metals for
coinage purposes. There could be no stronger
bulwark of a country’s safety than tiiat she
produces her own coin for her own people,
and is not dependent for it on foreign na
tions. , A
If tiie mining states were alone to suffer
by tlie unconditional repeal which Is pro
posed. we would sacrifice without a murmur
our interests to a mistaken policy for the
public good; but there is no section of our
country yon are not likewise devoting to
disaster and impoverishment. Yon are en
deavoring to remove one of the corner stones
on which the fabric of our government is
based. You arc seeking to tear down one of
the pillars of the temple of our prosperity.
Yoh will find to your sorrow that whin the
western and southern walls have fallen the
eastern facade will not remain uumutilated
and secure.
The words one uses to express a proposition
in finance sound cold and formal and dry.
But the result of our action at. tills great
crisis must affect deeply every home and
fireside in this broad land. Measured against
tlio welfare of a groat people, threatened
with the misery and suffering which must
follow the projiosod abandonment of sliver
coinage, of how slight importance are party
lines, and how paltry and sordid do patron
age and the favor of tile executive appear.
'l’he battle must be fought to an end in tlifs
forum. On other occasions tlie senate of the
United States, in opposition tq the wishes of
the executive an<L a hostile majority in
another body, has stood firm and unyielding
against party and eastern clamor.
No sectional horizon obscures our vision.
If the contest for the people Is to be won. It
must be because against tlie selfish demands
of the east .are arrayed the united votes of
the south and west. The fertile acres of
your section wait for the plow of the hus
bandman: so do ours. You need capital for
tlie development of your great resources, so
do we. Both sections alike need fair prices
for the produce of the farm, and a stable
and sufficient currency.
It is for us. standing together on this
great question, to save our common country
from greater suffering and Impoverishment
than even the horrors of war could inflict,
and by onr united votes to maintain, not
alone the standard of both gold and silver
contemplated by the constitution, and con
secrated by centuries of usage, but to main
tain. as well, tlie standard of American in
depend .‘lice nnd American manhood. (Ap
plause in the galleries.)
SENATOR COLQUITT’S VIEWS.
Tie Prefers Hie Vherinnn T.nw to Anything
- Except “Free and Unlimited Coinage.’
From The Valdosta Times.
Washington. D. C., August 24, 1893—Messrs.
L. and B. F. Strickland and Others, Val
dosta. Ga. Gentlemen: I have your request
of the 21st instant asking me to vole for the
immediate and unconditional repeal of the
purchasing clause of the Sherman law.
If I believed this net was in any way re
sponsible for existing conditions I should
certainly vote for Its unconditional repeal,
but as I do not so believe, as I am a bimetal
list, unalterably opposed to the single gold
standard, or measures tending thereto, and
as the Sherman law is now the only legisla
tion between its and monometallism, J shall
not vote for its repeal unless it be accom
panied by an act in favor of tlie free and
unlimited coinage of silver as well as of
gold.
Up to August l(>th, coin notes in purchase
of stiver bullion have been issued amounting
to $150,115,985, all of which are outstanding
except $714,636. redeemed in silver dollars
since August. 3d. The number of dollars
coined from tlie bullion is 36.087.185, leaving
outstanding notes secured by bullion amount
ing to $113,141,164. To secure this last
sum the government owned 133.161,375 line
ounces of silver bullion costing $121,217,677,
and which will coin into more than $170,000,-
000. So tiiat if the administration should
carry out tlie silver act and coin ail its bul
lion it. would have dollars enough to redeem
its notes and $50,000,000 over. The Sherman
act therefore lias added $150,000,000 to the
currency of the country secured by silver
dollars, and bullion enough besides to coin
into $50,000 000 more. Where would we be
If it were not. for tiiat $150,000,000? Bad off
as we are would our condition be improved
if we now had $150,000,000 less money? Can
we relieve a financial stringency by still
further contracting the supply of money?
I challenge any one to show that there is a
want of confidence in any form of money.
The same interests inveighing against silver
in the newspapers have been paying a pre
mium for silver dollars and silver certificates
to New York brokers.
The want of confidence is in the banks—l
mean the New York batiks who started this
scare in order to force congress to wipe out
the otbly silver law on the statute books,
and who, finding themselves unable to control
the panic which they have invited, violate
the law daily by refusing to cash the checks
of their depositors.
1 am very sorry to put myself in opposition
to any of my constituents, but in tlie present
instance I tun satisfied, not only that 1 am
right, but that I am faithfully representing
tlie well-night, unanimous sentiment of the
democrats and the people of Georgia. With
much respect I am very truly yours.
A. IT. COLQUITT.
A WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT.
Mr. Cleveland Addresses the Delegates to the
Pan-American Medical Congress.
Washington, September 5. —Tlie president
of the United States gave a graceful welcome
to the Pan-American congress, whose four
days’ session commenced in the national capi
tal today, and the business of the gathering
was entered upon under the most favorable
conditions of weather, attendance and public
interest. The parquet of Albaugh's opera
house, where the congress met, was well
filled, and the galleries also had an attentive
audience, including many ladies, at 10 o’clock
a. iu., when Dr. William Pepper, of Philadel
phia, took the chair. The band ot' the Third
artillery occupied the usual place of the stage
orchestra and enlivened the preliminary pro
ceedings with familiar airs.
Many* of the more prominent delegates took
seats on the stage, but the others occupied
the body of the theater. There were prob
aoly between 800 and 1,000 doctors in at
tendance.
-Mr. Cleveland’s personal appearance was
observed with undisguised interest, many of
the foreign delegates in the body of the
theater standing up to get a good look at
him. The band, as usual, played “Hail to
tlie Chief’’ until the president took his seat.
Then Dr. Pepper called upon Bishop Paret,
of Maryland, to invoke the blessing of Al
mighty God upon the conference.
At once stepping forward and without wait
ing for the applause which greeted him to
subside, the president, speaking without
manuscript or notes, said:
“'i’he part assigned me on this occasion ad
mits of few words. It, however, affords me
opportunity to say how pleased I am to be
in any way related to an assemblage such as
this, called together tn furtherance of the
highest and noblest purposes and desires.
•‘I hope I may also be permitted to add
that the protection of the public health and
the prevention of contagious diseases are ob
jects properly brought under consideration at
the capital of ft nation whieh appreciates
fully tlie serious importance of everything
will'll aids in making Intercourse between
civilized countries and commerce between
them safe and easy. (Applause).
“It Is also fitting that those who devote
themselves to saving human life and the alle
viation of human sufferings, should consider
the modes of reaching these beneficent ends
at the seat of a government whose greatest
regard is the welfare and happiness of an in
dividual citizen. (Applause).
“It only remain for me to deciare this con
gress of the Pan-American Medical Society
open for the transaction of the business
which has called it together.”
President ('leveland then resumed his seat
amidst applause.
Lobbies In Washington.
From The Augusta Evening Herald.
The existence of lobbies nt the national
capital, the knowledge that millions of dol
lars are used there to influence legislation, is
something that causes indignation to well
up in the average citizen of the country. Lob
bies shake the faith iu the legislative branch
of the republic and wiirin time shake the re
public itself. Unless congress banish them
they will more positively than anything else
totter the fouijilation of our form of govern
ment.
COLONEL BRECKINRIDGE’S REPLY.
He Demurs to Miss Madeline Pollard's Bui*
on Technical Grounds.
Washington, September s.— (Special.)
William C. P. Breckinridge, of Kentucky,
today, by his attorney, filed his demurrer
to the declaration of Madeline V. I’ollard,
filed in the supreme court of the District
of Columbia August 12, 1893, charging him
with breach of promise of marriage and
asking damages in the sum of $50,001).
This was the last day, under rules of the
court, in which answer could be filed to
save a judgment being entered by default
and it was within fifteen minutes of 4
o'clock—the hour of closing the doors of
the court—that tlie demurrer was handed
to the clerk. The demurrer is exceptionally
brief and avers that the declaration of the
plaintiff was bad in substance. The demur
rer is based on the throe following points of
law, which will be argued in its support:
1. The said declaration consists of three
separate counts which improperly allege
three separate contracts of marriage and al
lege that said contracts to marry were
subsisting at one aud the same time.
2. Not more than one contract to marry
can subsist at the same time between two
persons.
3. The third count of said declaration is
bail because it alleges matters anti things
which cannot be in law substantial facta
necessary to constitute a cause of action,
thereby violating rule 26 of the common
law rules of the court.
A Voice from Georgia.
irrom The Butler, Ga., Herald.
YVe think it very probable that congress will
at no distant day, virtually grant President
Cleveland what lie asks—the single gold stan
dard. We make this statement reluctantly,
because we believe if we are correct in our
prediction, it will lose tlu* southern states to
the democratic party. Nor should this sur
prise the president and his goldbug friends.
Ours claims to be a government of, for anti
by the people. Now. there can be no doubl
that a decided majority of the people favoj
the free coinage of silver and thought the?
were electing those who would carry out
their vews. For those who were thus elected
t<> turn and say to the people In substance:
“We know that a decided majority of the peo
ple want, and last fall voted in favor of the
free coinage of silver, but yon do not know
that the single gold standard is best for the
country and we will give you that.” This
is not democratic government—it is paternal
ism run without an excuse.
Ingalls Will Run for the Senate.
Kansas City. Mo., September 4.—From on«
of John J. Ingalls's closest personal and
political friends conies the statement that the
ex-senator will be a candidate for the United
States senate In 1896 to succeed Peffer, aud
that as a stepping stone to that place, he
proposes to become a candidate for governor
of Kansas at the next election.
aS’ i A rE~KANKS.
Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette: The coun
try does not need state bunks, and will not
have them under any circumstances. The
wrecks they created once have uot been for
gotten, for evidences of them still strew the
shores of recollection of all men whose
years of life number fifty.
Chicago Record: Should congress repeal
the state bank tax law aud enact notaing
in its place tiie evils resulting from the
action could scarcely be exaggerated. But
should congress enact a law that would
wipe jut the 10 per cent tax on circulation
issued under practically flie same condition!
and restrictions as those placed ou
present national banks, tlie evil, if evil therd
should be, would be minimized.
New York Mail anil Express: Provision for
state banks under governmental supervision
will divide responsibility and may lead to
conflict of authority. Such a system intro
duces complexity where simplicity now pre
vails and where it ought to continue to pre
vail. Moreover, it is entirely abhorrent to
the ancient doctrine dint the democracy has
always Itebl upon the subject of state rights,
ami of federal interference with matters be
longing to tlie states.
New Orleans Picayune: That state bank
circulation can lie made as secure under
proper safeguards as national bank circula
tion itself, there can be no doubt. Take the
history of Louisiana banking previous to the
war. Tlie banks of this state during that
period did an immense business, and yer their
standing was second to none in the country.
Their notes were freely accepted at par all
over the United States and they possessed
as high a reputation for soundness and con
servatism as do their present successors.
St. Louis Republic: Some of tlie Washing
ton reports have it (hat tlie administration
now expects to bind tip the wounds of tlia
democracy with a state bank currency bill.
They come from sources hostile to the presi
dent, but there may be some truth in them.
Let nobody think for a moment, however,
tiiat the administration or congress or th!
country will ever indorse the revival of stat!
bank notes, save under such restrictions a!
so establish their uniformity in value anil
full security. But better adopt Mr. Harter's
inter proposition of permitting the banks in
the system already established to issue cir
culating notes nil to 75 per cent of paid in
capital and make these notes a first lien on
all assets, with redemption fund provided
from nil the banks. There is no use in
building up n new brink system entirely when
tlie foundations of a good one are already
laid.
STATE BANKS IN GEORGIA.
Washington Gazetft: Congress should at onc»
pass Congressman Lester’s bill repealing Iha
10 per cent tux on the issue of state banks.
The country demanded it by an overwhelm
ing majority last fall for the platform which
contained it.
McDuffie Journal: If congress will repeal
the tax on state banks, levy a tax on in
comes and reduce the tariff to a revenue
basis they will do more for tlie good of the
country than the combined legislation of the
last twenty five years has accomplished.
Fort Valley Leader: Any democrat who
opposes the repeal of the 10 per cent bank
lax should remember that only one construc
tion can be placed upon the plank in the
democratic platform tiiat demands the repeal
of this tax. and there will be no opportunity
for our congressmen to dodge or misconstrue
its meaning, but every one will have to stand
square on or off the platform when it comes
to a vote. If this restriction had not been
placed upon our state banks the present
scarcity of money (vonld not have beet
heard.
TALK ABOUT CONGRESS.
Waycross Herald: If congress don’t move
lively tlie fiuaffei.il pressure will be relieved
before it gets a linger in the pie.
Gibson Record •’olitleal policy is still the big
gest faction iu Washington. Confound polit
ical policy when the people are out of employ
ment and in a starving condition.
Albany Herald: One of the great troublei
with the law-makers at Washington is that
all of them are trying to have their way.
lienee undue and unbecoming stubbornness.
It is a pity that such a body would kill sa
much time in personal bickerings when the
people of the country are asking relief from
li.quitous legislation.
Lumpkin Independent: We cannot see why
congress will let millions of dollars worth ol
silver lay idle in the vaults of the government
when the people are needing every dollar of it
to keep business moving. It is strange that
the sous of revolutionary sires will submit to
the burdens that England is heaping on us
through her Wall street agents when we think
about what a “rucas” our fathers kicked up
about a little tea tax.
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