The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], July 27, 1892, Page 3, Image 3

About The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1894

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TJI22 AJDVOOA.TZB,
3
from General Grant, who was twice hon
ored with the executive chair of this na
tion. It is dated February 22, 1878, and
is addressed to Judge Long, of St. Louis,
and was first published in the Globe-Dem
ocrat, March 30, 1878. He says, speak
ing of the silver bill:
But if I were where I was one year ago
and for the previous seven years, I would
put a moet unqualified veto upon the repu
diation bill, called silver bill, if it should
receive the vote of congress. I fear it has
passed, but hope, if so, all business men in
the country will work to defeat its operation
by refusing to make contracts ezoept to be
paid in gold coin.
I do not know what he meant by "an
unqualified veto," unless he was going on
the principle that if you want to shoot a
long way you must pull the trigger hard.
Laughter.
Now, there has been great talk on this
floor about "revolution," and for my part
I deplore such agitation to a degree that
la almost akin to horror. It seems to be
a privileged question here, however. It
Intrudes Itself upon our consideration at
every moment and at the most inoppor
tune times. I deplore everything like
revolution or the disturbance of tran
qullity anywhere, in congress or out of
It. But I say here, as an ex-soldier who
fought under General Grant's command,
that to incite any portion of the Amer
ican people to combine to defeat the op
eration of law, or to advise them to do
so, carries with It all the moral guilt of
revolution, and revolution of the worst
kind. Applause.
The speaker pro tempore, (Mr. Harris,
of Virginia.) The gentleman's time has
expired.
Mr. Gillette I ask that the gentle
man's time be extended.
The speaker pro tempore That can
only be done by unanimous consent
There was no objection and Mr. Weav
er's time was extended.
Mr. Weaver Talk about the extrava
gance of the people ! The author of that
letter Is spending more money to-day in
his trip around the world than most of
our poor constituents who labor for a
living, will ever see or handle, and yet
he advises the money kings of this coun
try to combine and crush them. The
New York clearing house and other fi
nancial organizations took him at his
word; and the secretary of the treasury,
although an officer not even named in the
constitution, being a mere cabinet min
ister whose highest duty and pleasure
should be to obey and enforce the laws,
shook hands with Wall street and Lom
bard street, and struck hands with Gen
eral Grant across the water, and with the
men of this country who have fixed In
comes, and says he will not pay out sil
ver. Let me show you what he says.
Here Is a letter written by this eminent
cabinet officer addressed: "To the Hon
est Money League at Chicago." Laugh
ter. Honest money! The letter Is
dated the 30th January last Jle says:
I have a clear conviction that the forced
payment of the silver dollar to public cred
itors would tend to depreciate it and cause
it to be Bold in the market at less than par.
While it is the duty of the
government to ooin different kinds of
money, a publio policy dictates that it
should be within the power of the citizen at
his option to demand either form of lawful
money.
Tnus the secretary stands up in his
place not to obey the law, but to say. "I
have a conviction that If I obey the law
It will Injure the value of silver I " This
reminds me of an incident that happened
when an effort was being made to launch
one of our great steamers. A sub engi
neer In charge of part of the work feared
that there was some defect or fault in her
construction which would prevent her
from being safely launched. There was
great confusion when the chief officer
came upon the scene saying, "Launch
her 1 Launch her ! I'll take the respon
sibility." Applause.
Now, the American people say to the
secretary of the treasury through the law
of the land, "You are our servant; you
have no law making power; we have
told you to pay out the money and you
must do it, and we will take the responsi
bility." Let me call particular attention
to this remarkable language of the secre
tary:
While it is a duty of the government to
ooin different kinds of money, a public pol
icy dictates it should be within the power of
the citizen at his option to demand either
form of lawful money.
You will see that this places an abso
lute veto against silver In the hands of
the public creditor. The law says that
it shall be legal-tender money for the
bond. The secretary Is bound by It, but
he says the public creditor shall deter
mine what he will take, and not the law.
The president had a qualified veto of the
bill and the veto failed. But the secre
tary, like an autocrat, confers upon the
public creditor more power than the
president possessed. He gives him an
absolute veto. If that Is to be the law
the bonds can never be paid. Again, he
has coined under the law the minimum
instead of the'maximum amount
I shall, if lam recognized for that pur
pose, at the proper time, offer the follow
ing amendment:
The secretary of the treasury is hereby di
reoted and required to cause to be paid out
without discrimination standard Bilver ooin
the same as gold ooin in liquidation of ooin
obligations against the government.
This amendment should be incorpo
rated into this bill, and then I am in favor
of passing it And those who take the
responsibility to defeat this measure, de
manded by every consideration of public
duty and justice, and by the almost unl
versal public sentiment, will have to do
so. The American people shall under
stand it
The national Greenback party is not
in favor of undue expansion of the cur
rency. We believe in a trinity In finance
gold, silver and legal-tender paper all
Issued by the government and not by
banking corporations, and all full legal-
tender. Applause.
The gentleman from Indiana, Mr. De
Lamater, introduced a petition here;
but he disclaimed upon the floor that It
was his bill or that he indorsed It; yet
the most Indecent allusions that a man
would dare to make on this floor have
been indulged toward him. He seems
to be the center of their abuse and detraction.
Mr. Thomas Turner Did the abuse
come from this side of the house?
Mr. Weaver No, sir. Loud cries of
Oh, no 1 " from the Republican Bide of
the house. I hope the gentleman from
Indiana will pay no attention to the
abuse. The post of honor Is the post of
danger. You may fire off your blank
cartridges from the guns of your syndi
cate. Fire I We are here, and the na
tional Greenback party has come to stay,
I notify you of that Applause. The
workmen may fall but the work will go
on. There is no doubt about that
The gentleman from Michigan Mr.
Horr pranced down the aisle the other
day, and facing the little party In the cen
ter, poured out the vials of his wrath.
His effort was full of Impotent rage and
utterly void of argument I wondered if
there was any stringency in the money
market up In his district, if there has
been any banrkuptcles there? Then the
distinguished gentleman from New York
Mr. Chittenden yeeterday delivered a
very amusing speech, and I suppose he
considers it a crusher; as a philippic it
.was a success; but It was as devoid of ar
gument as the exhumed skull of a mound
builder. The gentleman styled himself
a "capitalist and a robber." He was
careful to say that he was a brother to
any man who "owned" a bank, who
"owned" a house, or who "owned" a rail
road. But he expresses no sympathy
for the vast army of the unemployed who
"own" nothine but their labor. He
claims no fellowship with them.
Gentlemen, if you want to discuss this
question do it in a gentlemanly manner.
Let us discuss the question calmly and
logically. You cannot sneer this great
movement out of existence. Ridicule
has been your only argument thus far.
Over the wires this morning was
flashed the news that the worklngmen'a
party has carried California by ten
thousand majority. Applause. And al
though the worklngmen's bill to enforce
the eight-hour law was defeated In this
house yesterday, let me tell you that your
action will recoil upon you, and will come
back with redoubled force. The eyes of
the people are upon you, and you cannot
escape. Remember that when the Amer
ican congress says that we will not en
force a law which was passed in the In
terest and at the behest of the working
men of this country, but we will allow
the heads of departments to violate that
law, and then turn around and say that
the workingmen must obey the laws of
the country, you are setting an example
that may be dangerous. You are sowing
dragons' teeth; you are sowing to the
wind and will reap the whirlwind. I
hope the house will reconsider their ac
tion.
Joseph Cook, In a lecture In Boston,
says that if the workingmen of this coun
try demand legal-tender currency we
will disfranchise them if It has to be done
at the end of a bloody civil war.
4
I want to read a short extract from
Scribner'g Magazine of April last This
is from a man who claims to be a Chris
tian, who has the control of one of the
great periodicals of the country:
We cannot do what the French govern
ment once did under similar ciroumstanoea,
banish fifty thousand of them to colonial or
penal servitude; and it is a great pity that
we cannot. If we could gather the whole
disgusting multitude, wash them, put new
clothes upon them, and under military sur
veillance and direction, set them quarrying
stone or raising born and cotton for teu years
we might save some of them to decency and
respectability, and relieve the honest people
of the country of their presence and their
support. If we cannot do this, however,
there are things that we oan do. Every state
in the union can gather these men where
ever found into workhouses where they oan
be restrained from scaring and preying up
on the oommunity, and made to earn the
bread they eat and the clothes they wear. It
is necessary, of course, to throw away all
sentimentality in connection with them.
The tramp is a man who oan be approaohed
by no motive but pain the pain of a
thrashing or the pain of hunger. Ha hates
work, he has no self -respect, and no shame,
and by counting himself permanently out
of the productive and self-supporting forces
of society he oounta himself out of his
rights. lie has no rights but those which
society may see fit to bestow. He has no
more rights than the sow that wallows in
the gutter or the lost dogs that hover around
the city squares. He is no more to be con
sulted in his wishes or his will in the settle
ment of the question of what is to be done
with him, than the bullocks in the corral
Legislation concerning this evil seems to
have been initiated in various states; but at
this writing we cannot learn that anything
effective has been done. It would be well
if the states could work in oonoert in this
matter, but one great state like New York
or Pennsylvania or Ohio has only to inaug
urate a stringent measure to drive all the
other states into measures that shall be
equivalent The tramp whose freedom is
imperiled in New Tork would fly to New
Jersey or to New England, and New Jersey
and New England will be obliged to protect
themselves. So one powerful state can
compel unanimity of action throughout the
country. The legislature of New Tork had
a bill up a year ago whioh came to nothing,
but something must be done , very soon if
we propose to have anything like safety and
comfort in our homes, or to relieve our
selves of voluntary, vicious, and even ma
licious pauperism.
And that is not all. The other day my
colleague from Iowa Mr. Gillette made
a scholarly, able, well-tempered speech,
one that was well received by the house
and those holding his views throughout
the country, a speech that was compli
mented everywhere. Now In the Even
ing Telegraph, a hard money paper pub
lished in that "loyal city" of Philadelphia,
I find the following in a column notice of
Mr. Gillette's speech:
If it were not for the ooet of the powder
and shot, his constituents had better take
him out to an open lot and shoot him.
Then further, speaking of our repre
sentatives, it says:
, If there is a way to crush them it should
be used, and if there is no way one should
be invented.
That Is the way they meet the discus
sion of this question. If a man dare to
raise his voice for the oppressed poor,
this is the aigument he meets. Well, li
this your game? Beware 1 It makes
the syndicate and subsidized presa as
mad to see a greenbacker in congress as
it does a bull to shake a red flag at him.
Mr. Kelley That is not the Telegraph
which you hold in your hand?
Mr. Weaver No, but this lathe lead
ing Republican paper of Iowa the State
Register whlsh quotes and approves
the villainous article.
Mr. Townsend, of Illinois Is not the
Telegraph a Republican paper?
Mr. Fisher I can tell the gentleman
that it is not
Mr. Weaver I guess It Is a Republi
can paper.
Mr. Sapp But here Is a gentleman
who has just said that it is not.
Mr. Weaver No matter whether it is
or not, the Register is, and both are hard
money. You might take a magnifying
glass that magnifies ten thousand di
ameters and you could not tell the dif
ference between a hard-money Republi
can and a hard-money Democrat Laugh
ter.
Mr. Haskell Let me ask the gentle
man a question?
Mr. Weaver-What is It?
Mr. Haskell You say there Is not a
particle of difference between a hard
money Democrat and a hard-money
Republican. I hope that Is true. Now
I want to ask the gentleman If there Is
any difference between a soft-money
Democrat and a greenbacker?
Mr. Weaver The same difference
there Is between a soft-money Republi
can and a greenbacker. About the only
difference Is that the one Is In one party
organization and the other is in another
If they are honest Now, as to the In
famous article from the Philadelphia
Evening Telegraph and Iowa State Reg-
iiter, I want the historian to put these
papers alongside the Okolona States,
published In Mississippi. Laughter.
Now, the gentleman from New York
Mr. Chittenden said that the people
were extravagant and got in debt The
gentleman from Massachusetts Mr.
Clafiin said the same thing. The Infer
ence is that all this business depression
is the result of the extravagance of the
people.
(Continued on tenth pace.)