202 



CONGRESS. (FREE COINAGE.) 



purposes," was passed by the House under sus- 

 pension of the rules. It is as follows : 



Be it enacted, etc., That on and after Oct. 1, 1892, 

 all iron or steel sheets or plates or taggers iron coated 

 with pure tin, or with tin and lead, or with any mix- 

 ture of which these metals are a component part, by 

 dipping or any other process, and commercially known 

 as tin plate, terne plate, or taggers tin, shall pay 1 cent 

 per pound duty. 



SEC. 2. That on and after Oct. 1, 1894, tin plate, 

 terne plate, and taggers tin shall be admitted free of 

 duty. 



SEC. 3. That paragraph 209 of section 1 of an act en- 

 titled " An Act to reduce the revenue, and for other 

 purposes," approved Oct. 1, 1890, together with the 

 proviso pertaining thereto, is hereby repealed. 



SEC. 4. That on all original and unbroken packages 

 of tin plate, terne plate, and taggers tin held _by im- 

 porters, dealers, or consumers at the time section 1 of 

 this act goes into effect shall be allowed a rebate on 

 the same of 1'2 cent per pound ; and that on all un- 

 broken packages of tin plate, terne plate, and taggers 

 tin held bv importers, dealers, or consumers when sec- 

 tion 2 of this act goes into effect shall be allowed are- 

 bate or drawback of 1 cent per pound : Provided, That 

 the application for such rebate or drawback shall be 

 made within sixty days after the taking effect of sec- 

 tions 1 and 2, respectively, of this act, and under such 

 regulations and in such form as shall be prescribed by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall adopt such 

 regulations and furnish such fonns as may be neces- 

 sary for the purposes of this act. . 



SEC. 5. That there shall be allowed on imported tin 

 plate used in the manufacture of cans, boxes, pack- 

 ages, and all articles of tinware exported, either empty 

 or filled with domestic products, a drawback equal to 

 the duty paid on such tin plate, terne plate, and tag- 

 gers tin, less 5 per cent, of such duty, which shall be 

 retained for the use of the Government of the United 

 States. 



SEC. 6. That all acts or parts of acts so far as the 

 same are inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 



On the same day the House passed in the same 

 way a bill " to equalize to some extent the bur- 

 dens imposed upon the people by an act entitled 

 ' An Act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties 

 on imports, and for other purposes,' approved 

 Oct. 1, 1890." It was as follows : 



lie it enacted, etc., That the wearing apparel and 

 other personal effects (not merchandise) in actual use 

 of residents of the United States returning thereto 

 from foreign countries, not exceeding $100 in value, 

 and not intended for the use of other persons nor for 

 sale, shall be admitted into the ports of the United 

 States free of duty : Provided, however, That all the 

 wearing apparel and other personal effects of such per- 

 sons so returning as may have been by them taken out 

 of the United States to foreign countries, and which 

 have not been advanced in value nor improved in con- 

 dition by any process of labor or manufacture in such 

 countries, shall be admitted free of duty without re- 

 gard to their value upon their identity being estab- 

 lished, under, such rules and regulations as the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury may, and is hereby authorized to, 

 prescribe for that purpose. 



SEC. 2. That all acts and parts of acts so far as they 

 conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby re- 

 pealed. 



On the same day and in the same manner the 

 following measure was also passed : 



Be it enacted, etc., That paragraph 199, Schedule C, 

 of the act of Oct. 1, 1890, entitled " An Act to reduce 

 the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for 

 other purposes," be, and the same hereby is, amended 

 so that the same shall read as follows : 



" 199. Lead ore and lead dross, 11 cent per pound : 

 Provided, That all ores carrying silver and lead at the 



same time, except silver ores containing lead, shall pay 

 a duty of li cent per pound on. the lead contained 

 therein according to the sample and assay at the port 

 of entry : And provided further, That ores containing 

 silver and lead, in which the value of the silver con- 

 tents shall be greater than the value of the lead con- 

 tents according to sample and assay at the port of en- 

 try, shall be considered silver ores, and as such shall 

 be exempt from duty." 



The House, moreover, passed a bill putting 

 binding twine on the free list. 



The tariff discussion was voluminous, and many 

 speeches valuable on account of the statistics con- 

 tained in them were delivered ; but in the main 

 the debate was on old lines. 



Free Coinage. The most important subject 

 discussed by the Congress was free coinage. It 

 was important not only on account of its direct 

 relation to the finances of the country, but on ac- 

 count of the uncertain attitude of politicians 

 and parties. Early in the session. Mr. Stewart, 

 of Nevada, introduced in the Senate a bill for 

 " the free coinage of gold and silver bullion, and 

 for other purposes." On Jan. 6, 1892. Senator 

 Morrill, of Vermont, made a speech in opposi- 

 tion to the policy which the bill embodied. In 

 summing up his own argument he said : 



"I have attempted to demonstrate: First. That 

 the depreciation of silver is both so great and 

 universal that unlimited coinage could not be 

 maintained on the present standard with gold, 

 but would suddenly wreck the country by a silver 

 revolution. 



"Second. That unlimited coinage would inter- 

 dict all international silver compacts. 



" Third. That there is no scarcity of money in 

 circulation, but instead the amount is twice as 

 great as it was in 1878. and is increasing on a 

 canter. 



"Fourth. That a silver standard would be 

 equivalent to a horizontal reduction of the tariff 

 of 25 per cent., if not more, and an equal reduc- 

 tion of all pensions. 



" Fifth. That the enormous increase of silver 

 to the extent of four times the product of 1854, 

 coincident with a greatly lessened demand for 

 it, has so depreciated its value that unlimited 

 coinage by the United States must prove a dis- 

 astrous national blunder. 



" Sixth. That there is no magic in any law of 

 Congress which can make the world accept an 

 ounce of silver as worth any more in coin than 

 in bullion. 



''Seventh. That the parties to first profit by 

 free coinage would be the corporate owners of 

 silver mines only, and the parties to finally suffer 

 the largest losses by it would be the great mass 

 of our people, into whose hands the depreciated 

 coin and Treasury notes would finally pass. 



"The public credit of our great republic is at 

 stake. Shall we have the best money standard 

 of the foremost nations of mankind, or shall we 

 descend to the flickering and narrow gauge of 

 silver only for the conduct of a greater home 

 and foreign trade than that of any other people, 

 ancient or modern ? We have paid off more 

 than three fourths of our great war debt in gold 

 when our resources were far less than now, and 

 I am unwilling to forfeit our well-earned reputa- 

 tion and lose public confidence and all the an- 

 cestral prestige of our history- by paying the 



