FREE COINAGE OF SILVER.

Mine Owners could Demand Gold in Payment for Bullion-The Silver Lobby at Work.

The twenty-five silver mine owners who are the chief parties in interest in the free coinage of silver, have bitterly contested the claim of their opponents that free coinage would benefit them as a class, on the ground that they would receive silver dollars in payment for their bullion, which would not be of any special advantage to them if silver did not go to a parity with gold. This claim can best be answered by reference to certain proceedings had in the Senate in 1891, when the bill to prevent the contraction of the currency was under discussion. Senator Stewart, the leader of the free-coinage agitation, stands committed to two propositions which illustrate the interest of the mine owners in the strongest light.

Bullion Payable in Treasury Notes.-In January, 1891, Mr. Stewart offered the following amendment:

“That any owner of silver bullion not too base for the operations of the mint may deposit the same in amounts of the value of not less than $100 at any mint in the United States, to be coined into standard dollars or formed into bars for his benefit and without charge; and that at the said owner's option he may receive therefor an equivalent in such standard dollars in Treasury notes, to be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in the same form and description, and having the same legal qualities, as the notes provided for by the 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.' And all such Treasury notes issued under the provisions of this act shall be a legal tender for their nominal amount in payment of all debts, public and private, and shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and when so received may be reissued in the same manner and to the same extent as other Treasury notes."

The Scheme Exploded by Senator Sherman.-Senator Sherman delivered an exhaustive speech on the text of this amendment, the tenor of which is apparent from the following extract.

Mr. Sherman said: "It will be perceived that this proposition is that the United States shall pay $1.29 for every ounce of silver bullion which may be offered to it from any part of the world. By this proposition the United States is not at liberty to pay for this bullion in silver coin, in silver dollars, of which we now have 300,000,000 in the Treasury, but the option is entirely with the holder of the bullion to demand either coin or bars or Treasury

Iotes. There is no option left to the Government of the United States as to the mode of the payment for this bullion. The price is fixed, and, as a matter of course, the holder of the bullion will take the most valuable mode of payment, and that probably will be United States notes. The Treasury notes are promises to pay money. They are made a legal tender for all debts, public and private, for the public debt as well as for private debts. They are made the highest standard of value, and in some respects they are better than United States notes, because they have behind them this volume of bullion, while United States notes are only supported by certain reserves. They are better than silver certificates, because silver certificates are specifically payable in silver coin. So that not only is the United States bound to purchase all the bullion that is offered at the price of $1.29, but it has no option as to the mode of payment, for the option is in the hands and in the power of the owner of the bullion."

Parliamentary Trickery Resorted To.-This amendment was offered in such a way as to make it subject to no parliamentary changes, as was pointed out by Senator Sherman in the following language:

"This amendment is offered in such a way that it is not open to an amendment. It is an amendment in the second degree. It is offered as an amendment to an amendment to the fourth section of the bill, which relates to an entirely different matter, that is, to an issue of $200,000,000 of bonds for refunding purposes, so that as it now stands the amendment is not open to the striking out of a word or syllable, or to anything whatever. It was presented to the Senate in that shape the other day, and there is no chance for the Senate to modify it. The provision is without limit as to time. It is to exist as long as grass grows or water runs. It is unlimited as to amount, The whole field of silver, $3,800,000,000, in sight of the world is to be drawn upon. What amount will be presented is a matter for discussion. There is no power on the part of the Secretary of the Treasury or the President of the United States to suspend the operation of this provision in time of danger or difficulty, such as we have had in the condition of the Treasury within a month or two, but the payment is imperative, without qualification or conditions, all optional with the owner of the bullion The market price is fixed at $1.29 an ounce. To-day, according to the quotations I see in the paper, the value of the silver bullion in the markets of the world is something less than $1.05 an ounce, and in our market it is quoted at $1.05. Here is an offer, therefore, that at $1.05 we must pay for this silver 24 cents an ounce more than its market price, and the market price in New York now is a shade higher than the market price in London, Mexico, China, and India."

The Crime of '73.-Mr. Aldrich, in the course of the same debate, commenting on the Stewart amendment, said:

"It has been constantly repeated in this debate that one principal object of the legislation sought is to restore the status which existed prior to 1873, for the purpose of undoing a great wrong or crime which was committed by the passage of the coinage act of 1873. It is sufficient answer to this to say that the people, if any, who suffered in 1873 are not the same people who will be benefited by the provisions of the pending amendment.

"The claim has been made upon this floor for the first time to-day by the Senator from Nevada that the mine owners and producers of silver are entitled to compensation on account of the fact that silver has been selling for less than $1.29 an ounce since 1873. I do not care to discuss that question at any great length now, but I will suggest to the Senator that if he believes that this new claim of his constituents or other producers of silver is a good one, he should present a bill for their relief and have it sent to the Committee on Claims, or refer the matter to the Court of Claims, and ascertain if he can establish their claim in law or equity."

Cost of Mining Silver.-Senator Sherman commented specifically upon the influence which the silver mine owners were then exercising to secure the sort of legislation Senator Stewart had projected. Referring to the large profits of the Granite Mountain Company, as shown by their report to the Director of the Mint in 1887, he said:

"Thus in this single case where the cost of production was over $368,000, the price that would be paid for it under this bill would be over $3,500,000. Here is another matter in relation to this mine. In the report of this company itself to the Director of the Mint for 1887, they give the sale of their silver bullion at 96 cents per ounce. That was the market price per ounce. Upon their own showing the percentage of labor to profit was, for labor 13.28; profit 86.72."

The Silver Lobby in Washington.-"There have been some statements made to me," continued Senator Sherman, "that these powerful corporations have such great profits as to be able to maintain in this city a kind of organization which I believe they call the National Executive Silver Committee, which has sent out all over the country, at its own expense, circulars inviting the farmers to sign petitions praying for the free coinage of silver. I should think they could afford to do it, because with the free coinage of silver they would get, instead of 96 cents for which they sold this great bonanza, $1.29. This lobby is now here in force. In order that I may be relieved for a moment, I will ask that what was said about this lobby by Mr. Conger, the Chair

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man of the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures in the other House, may be read by the Secretary."

The Silver Lobby Graphically Described.-The secretary read the following statement of Mr. Conger from the Congressional Record:

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"As I said before, the bullion owners were not satisfied with this, and I wish that my colleagues upon this floor could understand, as I believe I do, and as I am sure they do not, the pressure that has been brought to bear by the men who own or speculate in bullion in this country to have some sort of silver legislation, and that legislation immediate, free, and unlimited coinage. You can not point to a single locality where free silver resolutions have been adopted, nor a single paper which has advocated the free coinage of silver, except you find in that locality the foot-prints of the silver bullion owner or his agent, or else the mark of the men who are employed by them in pressing this legislation. Why, Mr. President, during this winter there has been about this Capitol the most persistent, courageous, and audacious lobby upon this question that I have ever seen since my term of service here began And not only have these paid lobbyists been plying their avocation here, but various other means have been resorted to by men interested in restoring the price of bullion to secure the legislation they desire. Pool after pool has been organized here in this city to speculate in this metal. Money has been deposited in the banks in this country by the thousands and hundreds of thousands, lying there ready to purchase bullion with as soon as this legislation shall pass, but they oppose our bill. Why? Simply because if our bill passes they have got to trust to the market value of that product for the profit; while if free coinage passes Congress the Government of the United States fixes the value at 30 per cent above what it is worth, and they may bring in all the bullion they can buy. Why, Mr. Chairman, I have been invited time and again to join silver pools, but as long as I hold a seat upon this floor or stand here, my vote shall be cast and my voice raised for the people of this country, for the savings bank depositors of this country, for the crippled and scarred soldiers of this country, instead of for a few bullion owners."

To Benefit the Silver Barons of the West.-When Senator Stewart's scheme to have the United States fix the market price at $1.29 an ounce, payable in United States Treasury notes, had failed he was not discouraged. On December 10, 1891, he introduced his bill (S. 51) “To provide for the free coinage of gold and silver bullion, and for other purposes." In the course of an unusually heated debate, and toward the close of the discussion,