CONGRESS. (THE DING LEY BILL.) 



177 



Wilson-Gorman hill of the Fifty-third ( 



no of 'tariff for revenue only.' but a tariff for 

 deficit .>nly. So your revenue and financial meas- 

 .te failures, and you are continuing 

 in that pathway, which has all along been strewn 

 with the wrecks of your failures and with the evi- 

 dences of your i.neompetency. All this now being 

 history, you on the other side should thank and 

 support us when we propose to help you in your ex- 

 tremity of threatened bankruptcy. 



And the financial methods of the Cleveland ad- 

 ministration are as discreditable as the revenue 

 law it placed upon the statute books. Think of its 

 selling *<J-J.n< Kt.OOO of 4-per-cent. gold bonds at 

 sl.O-Tto a syndicate which made $10,000,000 profit 

 in the transaction. Mr. Speaker, up in my State, 

 in Philadelphia, Mayor Warwick issued and' sold to 

 .vn people $1,250,000 of bonds at 3 per cent, 

 interest, at par. and no syndicate or other pel-son got 

 one penny in commission. And the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad Company negotiated lately a large loan at 

 r cent, interest at par. All this was accom- 

 plished by competent business management, while 

 this great nation must pay 4 per cent., and in ad- 

 dition give *10,000,000 to negotiate si>2.i>00.000. 

 And with this fact in his possession the gentleman 

 from Tennessee a few moments ago compared 

 the present Secretary of the Treasury to Alexan- 

 der Hamilton, the most versatile genius our 

 country has ever produced. Shades of Hamilton, 

 what profanation ! Pygmies are pygmies still on 

 mountain tops, and pyramids are pyramids in 

 vales.' " 



Mr. Dolliver said : 



" I do not propose to enter into a controversy on 

 the subject of protection. Everybody must judge 

 that for himself; but I do say that my Democratic 

 friend from Georgia ought to be very careful 

 about attributing any very great amount of Amer- 

 ican prosperity to the operation of the law of 

 1* ( J4. If the American people can be persuaded of 

 that it will do more to popularize perfidy and dis- 

 honor than anything that has ever happened in 

 this world. 



" My friend asks the Republican majority why we 

 do not bring in a general tariff law. and he refers to 

 the leadership of this House as wanting in courage ; 

 but the leadership of this House can always be re- 

 lied on not to ' fight as one that beateth the air.' But 

 we know, and everybody knows, that a Republican 

 tariff law can not be enacted by this Congress. We 

 do not know that the President of the United 

 States would not sign the present bill. Does my 

 friend speak by some commission when he says that 

 the Administration declines this relief ? We have 

 the best reason for knowing that this law will 

 please the Chief Magistrate. We had a letter from 

 the President in the last session of Congress which 

 contains evidence that he will sign this law, restor- 

 ing a reasonable revenue duty upon wool : and if 

 my friend will listen to me 1 will read exactly what 

 he says. He says: 



" ' In these circumstances it may well excite our 

 wonder that Democrats are willing to depart from 

 this most Democratic of all tariff principles and 

 that the inconsistent absurdity of such a proposed 

 departure should be emphasized by the suggestion 

 that the wool of the farmer be put on the free list 

 and the protection of tariff taxation be placed 

 around the iron ore and coal of corporations and 

 capitalists. ' 



" The present law leaves a duty upon iron ore 

 and coal substantially equivalent to 60 per cent, of 

 the law of 1890, 



"With all his eloquence and all his ability the 

 gentleman from Georgia can not explain how this 

 great agricultural interest of the country was put 

 VOL. xxxvi. 12 A 



on the free li.-t. while 60 per cent, of the McKinlcy 

 rate was retained upon iron ore and coal. So I say 

 that there is no man who knows the heart of the 

 President as ii has been revealed to us in these deli- 

 cate communications we have had from the throne. 

 Who is authorized to say that he will put the g 

 ture of his executive di.sipproval upon this bill for 

 the relief of the Treasury i 



"Tii-day we come and offer to the uneasy Treas- 

 ury of the United States an increment of revenue 

 of $40,000,000 annually, and then we propose to 

 clothe the Secretary with discretion to make a 

 legal, salutary use of the national credit to protect 

 the solvency of the Government and to' maintain 

 the value and parity of all the outstanding curreney 

 of the United States. There can be no permanent 

 disaster in a country like this. As my friend from 

 Iowa has said, a country with assets and integrity 

 is always safe in the business world. There is one 

 thing that we ought all to be agreed upon, what- 

 ever else we are divided about, and that is that 

 the Treasury of the United States should no longer 

 be left at the mercy of the organized avarice of the 

 world without money to pay or power to borrow or 

 means for increasing the public revenue." 



The question was taken, 228 voting yea, 83 nay. 

 and 44 not voting. 



The bill was read twice by its title in the Senate, 

 Dec. 27. and referred to the Committee on Finance. 

 It was reported back Feb. 4. ls{)6. with an amend- 

 ment to strike out all after the enacting clause and 

 insert : 



" That from and after the passage of this act the 

 mints of the United States shall be open to the 

 coinage of silver, and there shall be coined dollars 

 of the weight of 412i grains troy, of standard sil- 

 ver, nine tenths fine, as provided by the act of Jan. 

 18, 1837. and upon the same terms and subject to 

 the limitations and provisions of law regulating the 

 coinage and legal-tender quality of gold ; and when- 

 ever the said coins herein provided for shall be re- 

 ceived into the. Treasury, certificates may be issued 

 therefor in the manner now provided by law. 



" SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

 coin into standard silver dollars, as soon as prac- 

 ticable, according to the provisions of section 1 of 

 this act. from the silver bullion purchased under 

 authority of the act of July 14. 1890, entitled 'An 

 Act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the 

 issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other pur- 

 poses,' that portion of said silver bullion which rep- 

 resents the seigniorage or profit to the Government, 

 to wit, the difference between the cost of the silver 

 purchased under said act and its coined value : and 

 said silver dollars so coined shall be used in the 

 payment of the current expenses of the Govern- 

 ment : and for the purpose of making the said seign- 

 iorage immediately available for use as money, the 

 Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and 

 directed to issue silver certificates against it, as if it 

 was already coined and in the Treasury. 



" SEC. 3.' That no national bank note shall be 

 hereafter issued of a denomination less than $10, 

 and all notes of such banks now outstanding of de- 

 nominations less than that sum shall be. as rapidly 

 as practicable, taken up. redeemed, and canceled, 

 and notes of $10 and larger denominations shall be 

 issued in their stead under the direction of the 

 Comptroller of the Currencv. 



" SEC. 4. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

 redeem the United States notes, commonly called 

 'greenbacks,' and also the Treasury notes issued 

 under the provisions of the act of July 14. 

 when presented for redemption, in standard silver 

 dollars or in gold coin, using for redemption of said 

 notes either gold or silver coins, or both, not at the 

 option of the holder, but exclusively at the option 



