The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], July 27, 1892, Page 7, Image 7

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

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
7
to provide for the free ooinage of gold and
silver bullion, and for other purposes," and
if said bill shall not be disposed of on said
day, then the consideration thereof shall be
oontinued during the next legislative day.
The yeas on the adoption of this reso
lution were 136; the nays were 154.
The affirmative vote was made up of
117 Democrats, ten Populists and nine
Republicans. The negative vote was
formed of ninety five Democrats and fifty
nine Republicans. Counting the recog
nized pairs, an analysis of the party
strength as shown in this vote, displays
the fact that 13 per cent, of the Republi
can representatives were for free coinage;
. 54 per cent, of the Democratic and 100
percent, of the People's party. This
half score of men are Baker, Clover,
Davis, Otis and Simpson, of Kansas;
Halvorsen, of Minnesota; Kem and Mc
Keighan,of Nebraska, and Watson and
Winn of Georgia.
WHITEIAW REIDV TRIBUNE EDITORIAL.
The following Is taken from the New
Ycrk Tribune of July 14, 1893:
The defeat of the free coinage bill in the
house, thanks to the Republican members,
is complete. It is a curious faot that some
of the Democrats, who would not have
dared to vote against free silver coinage
directly, were able to muster pluok to rote
against the motion to take up the bill, so
that those Republicans probably turned the
scale who decided to kill the bill at the first
chance if they could, and not to wait for the
final vote. It was the best opportunity to
put an end for this year to all anxiety in
business quarters about this dangerous
measure, and the Republican minority
served the country rather than party, as it
usually does, and rightly.
Everyone knows that the Democratic vote
against taking up the bill was not cast ex
clusively, nor even mainly, by Democrats
who are opposed to silver coinage. Much
the largest part of it came from Democratic
representatives who mean to vote for free
coinage whenever they think they can afford
to do so, but who do not dare now, with a
presidential election close at hand, to face
the consequences" such a vote. After the
November election more than half of the
Democrats who followed ex-Speaker Reed
yesterday, can be expected to vote for any
free coinage bill, no matter how extreme or
absurd, and a change of less than twenty of
them would have passed the Stewart bill
yesterday.
An obvious purpose of the Democratic
minority was to get the silver question out
of the presidential canvass. But they are
wasting time. If there were nothing else to
make the question prominent, the Allianoe
agitators certainly would, compelling Dem
ocratic candidates in western and southern
states publicly to pledge themselves for free
silver in order to avoid loss of votes. But
these things cannot be done in a corner,
and the east will know what the west and
south are doing. Pledges and speeches
made in the regions where silver fanaticism
prevails will be quoted and will have their
rightful influence upon public opinion, and
upon the confidence of men in the Demo
cratic party in the eastern states.
No vote in the house this year could be
expected to show the full strength of free
coinage among the Democrats. Soores of
Democratic representatives who would vote
for the measure at any other time have felt
oompelled to vote against such a bill this
year, on the ground that its passage would
hurt the party in the presidential election.
In the language of Senator Vest, they want
the Democratic party to get full power first
and it will then settle the silver question in
its own way. These men want delay, but
they would vote for free ooinage next win
ter or at any future time. If these, with the
small minority of Democrats who really op
pose free ooinage, prevent the passage of a
bill this summer with the aid of Republi
cans, they hope to get strong enough to pass
a free coinage bill hereafter, and they do
not believe that, a Democratic president will
ever set himself against the declared wishes
of his party.
Henoe the question cannot be taken out
ofthecaavaes.no matter what leaders at
Washington may desire. The whole busi
ness world sees that the overwhelming ma
jority of Democrats stand ready to enact
free coinage as soon as they can without
sacrificing the presidential election. If the
party can get power, it will not hesitate to
do what Democratic masses of the west and
south passionately demand. It will bring
to bear upon any president eleotod by Dem
ocratic votes a kind of coercion which no
such president has ever resisted, namely,
the dictates of a party caucus, with an ap
peal to save the party from overthrow in the
states where the silver craze prevails.
In the light of this and previous votes,
one thing seems to be plain. The men who
desire a sound currency in this country can
not afford to put the Demooratio party into
power. What its prejudices and tendencies
are they must now know. What restrain
ing force there may be, at any time, with
that party in oontrol of the government, no
man can safely calculate. There is but one
safe thing to do, and that is to intrust the
government to the only party which has up
held and still upholds honest money, by the
election of the Republican national candi
dates and a Republican congress.
On March 24, 181)2, Hon. Edward H.
Punston voted with the silver men; but
the Tribune of to-day speaks of him as
follows:
Mr. Funston, Republican, of Kansas, who
voted against laying the Bland bill on the
table, to-day voted against consideration.
The Republicans who voted with the
"People's" representatives, are Bartine
of Nevada, Bowers of California, Chea
tham of North Corolina, Clark of Wyo
ming, Johnson of Indiana, Jolley of
South Dakota, Post of Illinois, Sweet of
Idaho, and Townsend of Colorado.
Brcderlck of Kansas was paired with
Hopkins of Illinois, Hermann of Oregon
with Boutelle of Maine, and Plckler of
South Dakota with Morse of Massachu
setts. Sir Thomas, speaker of the "Reed
House," two years, in the height of his
glory, made his longest speech of this
session, from which the following is ex
tracted from the Tribune:
Mr. Speaker, whenever you oome to act
ual business, the Republican party takes the
front position, as it does to-day. Applause
on Republican side. It does not shirk the
responsibility, but leads the hosts of oppo
sition at all times, and under all circum
stances, to plans and methods of legislation
which would injure the currency of the
country, and throw a cloud over its business
prosperity
But there is another class with whom I
have no sympathy; and that is the class of
men who desire to debase the ourrenoy of
this country for the purpose of paying their
debts in a cheaper ooinage than that in
which they contracted them. I refer to the
men who, in order to relieve themselves of
individual embarrassment, are willing to
wreck their country. And there is still
another, class against which I have all
possible objection, and that is the class
which is sometimes represented here, of
men who, without believing for an instant
in the doctrine they advocate, are joining
in the popular olamor in order to get for
themselves offices, or to enable their party
to assume that " public trust " whioh they
are so anxious always to secure.
The Republican party is not established
for the purpose of obtaining office. Cries
of " Oh. no," and derisive laughter on the
Demooratio side. It is established for the
purpose of carrying out principles. Tou
sneer, but look out of your eyes at the very
scene before you. To-day we are enabling
a Demooretio house to profit by our action,
and thereby, seemingly, to do a better ser
vice to the country than a Republican sen
ate, and we are doing it ourselves unselfishly.
Applause on the Republican side. There,
Mr. Speaker, is where we rise above party
in all great public questions in a manner
wherein the history of the Demooratio party
in the United States affords neither example
nor precept What we must do is that whioh
is best for the country, and that we stand
ready to do under all ciroumstanoee, Ap
plause on the Demooratio side.
"farmer" funston in junk, 1800.
A little more than two years ago, this
man Funston made a speech in the house
of representatives on the silver question,
and here are extracts from the same:
Mr. Speaker, in my opinion no question
of greater importance than this one has
been before this house since the great ques
tions growing out of the war were settled.
Along by the side of the principles of hu
man rights and the maintenance of the
government, lies its financial system. Our
fathers believed this and ingrafted into the
constitution a clause conferring upon the
general government the right to coin money
and regulate the value thereof. . . .
Now, Mr. Speaker, the alarming condi
tion of the business of the country, arising,
not by reason of the tariff nor over produc
tion, as has been claimed on this floor, but
by reason of an insufficiency of currency,
demands that the mints be thrown open and
every ounce of available silver be ooined
into standard dollars. The people are ex
pecting this; they are demanding this; and,
mark my word, the man from the west who
stands out against it will forever have hung
his political " harp on the willow tree."
The people of the west, and south and
northwest have taken up this question in
earnest, and they mean that every man in
this body from those sections, who opposes
free ooinage, shall be made .to feel their
power at the polls. Mr. Speaker, I am op
posed to this bill and shall aooept it only
when I have found it impossible to get any
thing better. The principles of it are wrong.
It reduoes silver from the rank it holds as a
coin and stores it away as a commodity on
whioh money is to be issued at its value in
gold.
Could anything be mors humiliating to
the friends of the silver dollar, than to
see it divested of all its functions as money,
and then stored away in the basement of the
treasury, dishonored and disgraced?. . .
By what authority does any one make the
oharges of the silver dollar being a 72-cent
dollar? One dollar in silver may not oon
tain 100 cents in gold, but it docs contain
100 cents in silver. One dollar in silver will
purohase as much of the necessaries of life
as a dollar in gold, and as much as it would
at any other time during the last hundred
years. One dollar in silver to-day contains
as much pure silver as it did in 1794, when it
was made the coin of the country. It has
never varied in its weight of silver, while
gold, in 1834, was changed in weight to
make it oonform to the value of the silver
dollar, and thus, if precedent be law, show
ing that silver should be the measure of
value.
Much of the time, during the life of the
government, the silver dollar has possessed
a greater intrinsic value than the gold dol
lar, and it was only when legislated against
and deprived of its funotions as money that
it and gold parted in value to any great de
gree. And why should not silver go down
under such oiroumstanoeB? If, by an act of
Congress, its use as tableware oould be pro
hibited, its value would go still lower, and
if its use for all purposes could be destroyed
it would hae no value whatever.
Things are valuable only for the purpose?
they serve. Restore silver to its normal
condition as a ourrenoy by the side of gold
and gold will have less value because of its
reduoed purposes, and silver will become
more valuable because of its additional pur
poses, and thus the two ooins approach each
other so nearly in value that there would be
no observable difference.
And now, Mr. Speaker, if the charge be
true that the silver dollar is worth only 72
cents, I am puzzled to know how the gen
tlemen who make that charge are to explain
to their constituents the justice of forcing
the borrower to pay 100 cents for every 72
cents borrowed.
Either these gentlemen do not believe
what they say about the lack of value in the
silver dollar, or else they are deliberately,
and with the full knowledge of the facts be
fore them, deciding that every man who has
borrowed a hundred dollars shall pay If or
the same $138. Oentlemen who are so oon
oerned about the 72-cent dollar can take
either horn of this dilemma, and it will
leave them in a very uncomfortable position
before their constituents. As for myself,
while I admit there is a difference in the in
trinsic value of the two coins,' I deny there
is any difference in their purchasing power.
Therefore, should I be oompelled to vote
for this bill as the only thing I can get, I
will have no such ugly inconsistencies to ao
oount for. And now, Mr. Speaker, grant
ing, for the sake of argument, that the gold
dollar is more valuable than the silver dol
lar, can anyone point out the justice or law '
for demanding of the debtor that he shall
pay his debts in the most valuable ooin?
Should he not have the same right to say
whioh dollar he may pay in as the man from
whom he has borrowed?
And are we constantly to go on fitting up
the less valuable ooin to correspond with
the more valuable one,or should we not here
and now declare that the dollar of our fath
ers is good enough for us? And if there is
to be any change in either to correspond
I with the other, let us follow precedent and
make the change in the gold.
But we are gravely told that we must have
the world's money; that England and Ger
many have a gold standard.
Why should we follow England and Ger
many in preference to co-operating with the
balance of the world in the use of silver?
With England especially we have no special
interests. She is free trade; we are protec
tion. The world owes her five thousand
million dollars, and we owe the world vast
sums. Her interests lead her to demand
payment in the dearest money; our inter
ests lead us to pay in the cheapest. She
buys but little of the products of our farms
and nothing of our factories. She is our
competitor and rival in every part of the
world, and, in fact, if she were sunk Into
the sea, America would be but little worse
off.' Our interests lie with the bimetailio
countries of Central and South America and
Mexico. Their trade will be worth millions
to us when developed, and our medium of
exohange with them, if that is of any im
portance, snouia oe tne same as tneirs.
When we have captured their trade we need
bother ourselves but very little about wheth
er or not our ourrenoy is the same as Eng
land's. And after all, Mr. Speaker, it is but little
difference to us what may be the ourrenoy
of the balance of the world. Their money
ceases to be money when it reaches our
shores, and the same is the case with ours
when taken abroad. All foreign money the
world over is bullion, and is so treated, and
it makes no difference what stamp or weight
it has, it is traded in as bullion.
Therefore, the weight or value of our ooin
oan have nothing to do with our trade with
foreign countries. It is of far greater im
portance to us that we adopt the most con
venient medium of exchange among our
selves, and in quantity sufficient to transact
the business of tho country.
Our first duty is to look after our own
people in their relation to each other. When
we have done that it will be time enough to
take our bearings to the balance of the
world. Let us build up and foster our own
industries, cherish and love our own insti
tutions, ooin our own dollars of fine Amer
ican silver, and we will have but little oc
casion to bother ourselves about what the
balance of the world is doing.
Freemen of Kansas! In the fore
going brief epitome of the senate and
house record of this first half of July,
1892, on the silver question, providing
for the coinage of silver as of gold prior
to silver demonetization in the year of
our Lord, 1873 will you deliberately
look at this one little issue In the cam
paign of 1892 with the Impartial judg
ment that free coinage Uuly merits?
Can you want s "G00 grain" silver dollar
Perkins In the United States senate, af
ter the legislature of 1893, In January
next, shall elect his successor? Can it
possibly give you satisfaction to divide
your patriotic, self-respecting votes in
the Second congressional district of Kan
sas, between Horace L. Moore and Sam
uel S. King, bo that thereby that polit
ical exotic on the fair soil of that most
splendid district may continue to be
misrepresented in the Fifty-third con-
Sesa of the United States of America by
i present Incubus upon that portion of
the great body politic? It Is believed
you can solve the true problem.
j. c n.
I Washington, July 11, 1892,