226 



CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE SHERMAN ACT.) 



purchase of silver bullion, and that other legislative 

 action may be taken to put beyond all doubt or mis- 

 take the intention and the ability of the Government 

 to fulfill its pecuniary obligations in money universal- 

 ly recognized by all civilized countries. 



GROVEB CLEVELAND. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, Aug. 7, 1893. 



The Sherman Act. Congress got to work 

 on the task before it the settlement of the silver 

 question on Friday, Aug. 11, 1893, when Mr. 

 Wilson, of West Virginia, offered in the House 

 of Representatives the following bill : 



An Act to repeal a part of an act, approved July 

 14, 1890, entitled : ' An Act directing the purchase of 

 silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, 

 and for other purposes." 



Be it enacted, etc.. That so much of the act ap- 

 proved July 14, 1890, entitled " An Act directing the 

 purchase of silver bullion and issue of Treasury 

 notes thereon, and for other purposes," as directs the 

 Secretary of the Treasury to purchase from time to 

 time silver bullion to the aggregate amount of 4,500,- 

 000 ounces, or so much thereof as may be offered in 

 each month, at the market price thereof, not exceed- 

 ing one dollar for 371'25 grains of pure silver, and to 

 issue in payment for such purchases Treasury notes 

 of the United States, be, and the same is hereby, re- 

 pealed ; but this repeal shall not impair or in any 

 manner affect the legal-tender quality of the stand- 

 ard silver dollars heretofore coined ; and the 1'aith 

 and credit of the United States are hereby pledged to 

 iiiaiiitiiin the parity of the standard gold and silver 

 coins of the United States at the present legal ratio, 

 or such other ratio as may be established by law. 



Mr. Bland, of Missouri, pursuant to an agree- 

 ment between the advocates and the opponents 

 of this measure, offered the following resolution 

 providing for the method in which the House was 

 to consider the bill : 



Ordered by the House, That II. K. No. 1 shall be 

 taken up for immediate consideration and considered 

 for fourteen days. During such consideration night 

 sessions may be held, for debate only, at the request 

 of either side. The daily sessions to commence at 11 

 A. M. and continue until 5 P. M. Eleven days of the 

 debate on the bill to be given to general debate un- 

 der the rules of the last House regulating general 

 debate, the time to be equally divided between the 

 two sides as the Speaker may determine. The last 

 three days of debate may be devoted to the consid- 

 eration of the bill and the amendments herein pro- 

 vided for, under the usual five-minute rule of the 

 House, as in Committee of the Whole House. Gen- 

 eral leave to print is hereby granted. 



Order of amendments : The vote shall be taken 

 first on an amendment providing for the free coinage 

 of.silver at the present ratio. If that fail, then a sepa- 

 rate vote to be had on a similar amendment proposing 

 a ratio of 17 to 1 ; if that fails, on one proposing a 

 ratio of 18 to 1 ; if that fails, on one proposing a ratio 

 of 19 to 1 ; if that fails, on one proposing a "ratio of 

 20 to 1. If the above amendments fail, it shall be 

 in order to otter an amendment reviving the act of 

 the 28th of February, 1878, restoring the standard 

 silver dollar, commonly known as the Bland- Allison 

 act; the vote then to be taken on the engrossment 

 and third reading of the bill as amended, or on the 

 bill itself if all amendments shall have been voted 

 down, and on the final passage of the bill without 

 other intervening motions. 



On this resolution the previous question was 

 called for, and it was adopted by a vote of 218 

 yeas to 100 nays ; not voting, 36. 



Mr. Bland then offered the following substi- 

 tute: 



A bill (II. E. 2) for the free coinage of silver, and 

 for other purposes. 



SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after 

 the passage of this act all holders of silver bullion to 

 the amount of $100 or more, of standard weight and 

 fineness, shall be entitled to have the same coined at 

 the mint of the United States into silver dollars of 

 the weight and fineness provided for in the second 

 section of this act. 



SEC. 2. That the silver dollar provided for in this 

 act shall consist of 412i grains of standard silver. 

 Said dollars to be a legal tender for all debts, dues, 

 and demands, both public and private. 



SEO. 3. That the holder of the silver dollars herein 

 provided for shall be entitled to deposit the same and 

 to receive silver certificates in the manner now pro- 

 vided by law for the standard silver dollars. 



SEC. 4. So much of the act of July 14, 1890, entitled 

 " An Act directing the imrehase of silver bullion and 

 the issue of Treasury Tiotes thereon, and for other 

 purposes," as requires the monthly purchase of 4,500,- 

 000 ounces of silver bullion, be, and the same is 

 hereby, repealed. 



Mr. Rayner, of Maryland, began the discus- 

 sion by a speech in favor of the measure. He said : 



" Now, with great regard and due respect to 

 the views of those who differ from me, I desire 

 to state my own position, and my own position 

 alone, very frankly upon this subject. 



I am in favor of an unqualified repeal of the 

 purchasing clause of the Sherman act, without 

 any conditions or provisos whatever. I am not 

 in favor of purchasing another ounce of silver, or 

 of coining another dollar of it, cither at the pres- 

 ent ratio or at any other ratio that we can practi- 

 cally determine upon. Now, in saying this, I 

 desire to add that I have no hostility whatever 

 to the use of silver upon a proper basis as cir- 

 culating medium ; but with all the careful con- 

 sideration I have been able to devote to this 

 subject, I am convinced beyond all doubt or 

 question that its recognition by coinage, except 

 upon international agreement, is a financial un- 

 dertaking utterly impossible of accomplishment 

 except at the risk of ruin and disaster. 



" The proposition that I had had occasion to 

 maintain in this House before, and that I again 

 assert with all the emphasis I can, is, that in my 

 humble judgment the present ratio is unjust 

 and arbitrary, rendered so by conditions that did 

 not exist at the time of the demonetization of 

 silver, in 1873 ; and that it lies not within the 

 power of this Government, strong as it is, to 

 corner the silver product of the mines, to keep 

 up the price upon a constantly declining market, 

 to impress upon it a fictitious value, and by 

 legislative decree compel the people to take it at 

 a price in utter disproportion to the figure that 

 it bears in every commercial center of the world. 



" The universal experience of history, the 

 action of every sound and solvent government, 

 teach us that if we continue in this mad attempt 

 to equalize that which is unequal, to appreciate 

 a metal that is continually depreciating, to fix a 

 standard for a coin that for over twenty years 

 never has had a fixed value, but has fluctuated 

 with every new acquisition from a premium in 

 1873 to a decline at this hour of almost one half 

 of its coinage value. 



'If this desperate system of finance, with 

 nothing to justify it, with almost the whole in- 

 telligence of the country against it, with nothing 

 in its track except disaster and ruin, is to pre- 



