Full text of The Money Question of the 53rd Congress : Remarks of Hon. Arthur P. Gorman of Maryland, Debate in the Senate, v.1, A-H

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E E M A K K S
of

HON.

ARTHUR
OF

IN
On the

THE

P.

GORMAN.

MARYLAND,

S E N A T E OF T H E U N I T E D

STATES,

B i l l to Repeal the Purchasing Clause of the So-Called
Sherman Act, and in Opposition t o Cektain Resolutions Tending t o D e l a y Action Thereon,

August

8 and 28, September
Tuesday,

27, and October

August

88t

1893:

8,1898.

Mr. HALE submitted the following resolution; which was read:
Resolved, That on and after Thursday, August 10, 1893, until otherwise ordered, the hour ol the meeting of the Senate shall be at 11 o'clock in the torenoon.

Mr. GORMAN said:

M r . PRESIDENT: I can not, f o r o n e , p e r m i t the r e m a r k s of t h e

Senator from Maine to pass without notice. This Congress has
been assembled by the President in extraordinary session because of a great emergency, one that appalls not only the people
of this country, but all the world. The President has said, and
said well, in his message that the remedy which is to be applied,
the measure intended for relief, is above and beyond party in its
consideration. I am not astonished, and have not been, ut some
of the resolutions looking to haste which have emanated from the
other side to-day, so that partisan advantage may come from
such movements. The mover of each of the resolutions understands as well as I do, and as the country does, that it is only
small politics which suggested their introduction.
I am amazed that the Senator from Maine, with all of his experience and patriotism and desire to serve the country, as I have
no doubt he has, should have been carried away by the little current which seems to have swept over the other side of the Chamber during the morning hour. As the Senator from Maine knows,
and as the country knows, we can not dispose of this question on
the moment, and to-morrow. The Senator knows full well that
members on both sides of the Chamber are divided in opinion as
to the proper remedy to be applied. The President has presented a view clear and emphatic upon one side, but there are other
views, and Congress is to determine precisely what shall be done.
That decision can not be reached to-day or to-morrow; and in
my judgment it is belittling the question, it is trifling with the
great commercial interests of this country, for us to seek small*
advantages on either side of the Chamber.
Mr. HALE. I agree with wnat the Senator says about the importance of this subjfect and the fact that men are honestly divided in opinion about it; but does not the Senator,who is equally
patriotic with any of us, agree with me that the sooner we can
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get this matter before the Senate and begin the debate, wherein
every Senator will and should have an opportunity of expressing
his mind, the better? The resolution I have offered does not in
any way involve any time when we shall stifle debate and bring
the question to an issue, but it is in the interestof commencing the
discussion of the subject-matter and disposing of it as promptly
as possible. Is not the Senator in favor of that?
Mr. GORMAN. If the Senator from Maine had been present
and had listened to what has occurred to-day, he would have
known that the Senator in charge of the great financial committee of the body, the Senator from Indiana [Mr. VOORHEES], freely
accorded the right to the Senator from Oregon [Mr. DOLPH] to
open the debate upon this question. Not a moment is to be lost.
No moment has been sacrificed. We have list3ned to the message of the President, and referred it at ones to the Committee
on Finance; but before that committee can have time to read the
message in cold print or consider the suggestions which have
been made on the other side of the question, an attempt is made
for partisan advantage—it can not be for anything else—to show
that the other side is most anxious to go on.
The Senator from Maine knows that we can not proceed with
greater haste. I say to the Senator that whatever differences
may be developed—and there are wide differences of opinion on
this question, and we all know that fact—the subject should be
considered and acted upon without undue haste.
Mr. HALE. Does the Senator see any reason on the single,
distinct proposition of the repeal of the purchase part of the
Sherman act why the majority of the Committee on Finance
should not report its conclusions one way or the other on Thursday next?
Mr. GORMAN. Mr. President, the legislation.which we are
called upon by the President of the United States to repeal is
legislation which wis considered, not in a partisan spirit, but it
took time to enact it, and it will take time, as we all know, to get
the committee together, to ascertain their views, and obtain their
report to this body. Nobody can know batter than the Senator
from Maine that the universal experience of this body has been
that we absolutely gain time and h as ten the moment when we
can come to a vote by giving our committees ample opportunity
to confer and by giving Senators ample time to confer with each
other.
I hope when a measure comes here to be voted upon, in whatever form it may come, that it will come after a conference of
members on this side and members upon the other side of the
Chamber. I trust that we may all rise above mere partisanship
and settle the matter in the interests of the country. I hope
that nothing will be done upon the other side to excite party
feeling upon this. Whilst we might go back and say that the
present condition of affairs is the result of your action, I think
anything like crimination or recrimination ought to be discarded
at this session.
Mr. President, I do trust that from this time forth it will be
thoroughly understood that we are all here to serve our country;
it is a serious and awful condition of affairs which we are confronting, and we must take the question up deliberately and
calmly, with a view to the enactment of legislation which will
give relief.
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Wednesday, August $3,1893.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair lays before the Senate
the resolution submitted by the Senator from Kansas [Mr. PEFFEB], coming over from a previous day. It will be read.
The Secretary read the resolution submitted yesterday by Mr.
PEFFER, as follows:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury he directed to inform the
SenateFirst. Whether, and in what respect, the national hanks, or any of them,
In the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia are being now conducted
in violation of law.
Second. Whether said banks are paying depositors' checks promptly in
lawful money.
Third. Whether said banks, or any of them, are demanding rates of interest higher than those provided by law for the loan of m o n e y or in discounting notes and bills.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on agreeing to the
resolution.
Mr. GORMAN said:
Mr. PRESIDENT: I am aware that it is the custom of this body
to pass any resolution asking for information from a Department
of the Government that any Senator may think he requires in
the discharge of his public duty, but I submit that there are exceptions to all rules. There comes a time, as it has come before,
when patriotic duty would require nonaction if action were to
bring further distress upon the people of this country. There
are some things, Mr. President, that we are bound to take note
of. They are as public as if they were in the written law. For
the third or fourth time during our present monetary system we
have reached a period when the nationai banks of the country
are powerless to furnish sufficient currency to provide for the
current business.
Mr. President, it is not a new case. The same thing occurred
in 1873,1877, and 1890, and now, in 1893, when it was impossible
for the banks to literally comply with the law. They violated
it by refusing to paychecks when presented, though the amount
was on deposit. They issued clearing-house certificates by the
millions, as they are doing to-day. They did it openly. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency,
whose sworn duty it is to enforce the law, may not have had official information of it; but they must know that the strict enforcement of the law would close the doors of many of the best
banks in the country. Such action would not only impair the
usefulness of the banks; but would affect injuriously every commercial interest. Mr. President, never during the existence of
the national banks has a period arrived half as threatening as
the one which confronts us now.
Mr. HOAR. Will the Senator from Maryland allow me to ask
him a question?
Mr. GORMAN. With great pleasure.
Mr. HOAR. Suppose the Comptroller of the'Currency shuts
up the banks, will not the result be that everyone of them will
have to be put into the hands of a receiver and nobody will get
uny money until the receiver pays it out?
Mr. GORMAN. Why, Mr. President, the Senator states the
law. He knows that is the law: and the mover of this resolution, and every gentleman of intelligence in the United States,
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understands that that is the fact. There is not a man I know of
outside of this Chamber, no matter what his views m,ay be as to
the remedy, who does not know that there is a technical violation of the law, and that it is the patriotic duty of the Secretary
of the Treasury to forbear and not add to the distress, but wait
until we shall act and give relief.
Now, Mr. President, heretofore on each of the occasions when
there was such action as the banks are now taking, there wasbut one remedy. There is but one remedy under the system of
finances by which the country is operating. The banks are powerless to act except as they have done. No relief ever has beeu
given the country except through the Treasury Department,
which came to their relief by the sale of bonds and the deposit
of the currency in the national banks, or anticipating the interest on the public debt, thus increasing the currency in circulation. That was the action.on each of the occasions of congestion
and panic during Gen. Grant's Administration, and afterwardsby the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN] during the Hayes Administration. When he was Secretary of the Treasury, he wascriticised for placing hundreds of millions in the possession of
the national banks.
Under Mr. Cleveland's former Administration, Mr. Manning,
Secretary of the Treasury, deposited sixty-odd millions within a
few m jnths in the national banks, because the banks were then
helpless as they are now. They could not then honor all demands. The relief given by the deposit of Government fundsstayed the panic. But now Mr. Carlisle, the Secretary at the
head of the Treasury Department, is powerless to give relief for
the reason that the money is not in the Treasury and bonds can
not be redeemed. You have left nothing there to redeem them
with. No deposit can be made in the national banks, because
the money is not in the Treasury.
And now, Mr. President, by the action of this august body, by
the passage of a resolution of inquiry so drawn that it would be
understood by the country—and I take it it would be understood
by the Executive—to mean an expression of opinion by the Senate that he must enforce the law—to do this, without first having provided the Treasury with money to relieve this distress,
means increased embarrassment. ^ Congress had better never
have assembled than that such action should be taken.
As I understand this matter, we have met here not to add to
the embarrassment of the people of the country, not to bring
further distress upon financial institutions or to throw more labor
out of employment, but we have met for the purpose of giving relief. In whatever form it comes, divided as we are on both sides
of the Chamber as to the details of the bill to be passed, I do not
doubt (as I never have doubted the widsom of any Congress) that
we can rise above our own views, our own partisanship, sink it
all in this hour of distress—a distress greater than any which has
occurred from 1861 until now. Mr. President, under such circumstances the rule of the Senate, the custom of the Senate, more
binding than law, that every member shall have what information from a Department he may deem necessary for his public
duty, ought, in my judgment, to be set aside in the interest of
the common weal.
Mr. President. I trust the resolution will be referred to tha
Committee on Finance tor its consideration.
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Wednesday, September 27,1893.

The VICE-PRESIDENT.
The Chair lays before the Senate
ti resolution coming1 over from a previous day, which will be read.
The Secretary read the resolution submitted yesterday by Mr.
DUBOIS, as follows:

Whereas several sovereign States are without fuU representation in the
Senate, which they are entitled to: Therefore,
Be it resolved, That the consideration of legislation relating to the Federal
election laws, tariff, and finance, matters which materially affect the partially unrepresented States, be postponed In the Senate until Monday, the
15th d^y of January, 1894, to enable the States of Washington, Montana, and
W y o m i n g to have the votes, influence, and protection in the Senate which
are guaranteed to each sovereign State by the Constitution of the United
States.

Mr. GORMAN said:
Mr. PRESIDENT: W e all understand perfectly well that the
pending resolution is one of a series that has been introduced
into this body
Mr. DUBOIS. Will the Senator from Maryland yield to me
just a moment?
Mr. GORMAN. I have but five minutes, and I desire to occupy the time.
Mr. DUBOIS. Several Senators desire to discuss the resolution, and I was going to ask that it might go over until to-morrow.
The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Senator from Maryland is entitled to the floor.
Mr. GORMAN. I am always glad to accommodate the Senator, but can not yield now. Mr. President, this resolution is
one of a series which has been introduced in this body which
serve the purpose of consuming the two hours of the morning
hour. It is .perfectly well understood that it is part of the programme of the gentlemen who represent the minority of the
Senate, as I believe, those who are opposed to the pending bill,
for the purpose of using up the time of the body. That is not
strange. That is their right. Nobody can object to it. It has
occurred in this body over and over again, and will occur, I suppose, until time is no more with us.
But, Mr. President, the manner of conducting the debate, the
scenes that we have witnessed in this body in the last week, are
without parallel in the history of the Senate. I beg to call the
attention of the Senators who are indulging in this acrimonious
debate to the fact that they are doing that which has never occurred before in the history of this Chamber. They are doing
more, Mr. President, to belittle this great body in the eyes of
the people of the country than anything which has heretofore
occurred. I believe the time will come, and that speedily, when
some of the actors in it will regret the part which they have
taken and will atone as best they may for having brought this
great body from a deliberative assembly to the level of a county
convention or a board of aldermen.
Mr. President, I have not taken part in this discussion except
upon a resolution offered by the Senator from Kansas [Mr. PEFFER], which I believe if passed would have had the effect of adding untold distress to the people of this country. I therefore was
amazed that the distinguished Senator from Colorado [Mr. WOLCOTT], for whom I have had great personal respect and fondness,
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should so far forget the great duty of an American Senator as to
bring into this discussion matters that did not belong to it; that
he should indulge in insinuation that Senators were controlled
by motives which are not proper. When he first did it I thought
perhaps, as he comes from a State whose people are intenselyinterested in this question, he was wrought up to a state of excitement by a desire to serve them and ought not to be held to the
strict account for the expressions made in his speech that Senators ordinarily are held to in this body.
Mr. WOLCOTT. Just one word. May I ask the Senator from
Maryland to what he refers? I am unconscious of any intimation
of the kind.
Mr. GORMAN. The Senator has intimated that Senators on
this floor changed their votes upon the question of the admission
of Senators from the three States that are named in this resolution; and he repeated this morning, as did the distinguished
Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. CHANDLER], that while he
had respect for one Senator who had changed his vote in favor
of their admission or against it, he did not know what to think
of two others who had changed their votes in an opposite direction.
Mr. WOLCOTT. I ask leave to interrupt the Senator. I beg
to say that if the Senator will read my remarks as they were uttered he will utterly fail to find anywhere the slightest suggestion of impropriety of motive, for I had none in my breast, I
cherish none, and I certainly uttered none.
Mr. GORMAN. I of course will accept the disclaimer of the
Senator from Colorado, but I venture to say that no man who
can read the English language and understand it would have
drawn any other conclusion from his rem irks a few days since
and those uttered to-day. But I accept his disclaimer, if he did
not mean it.
Mr. CHANDLER. Mr. President
The VICE-PRESIDENT. The hour of 2 o'clock having arrived, the Chair lays before the Senate the unfinished business.
The SECRETARY. A bill (H. R. 1) to repeal a part of an act approved July 14,1890, entitled " A n act directing the purchase of
silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for
other purposes."
Mr. GORMAN. Mr. President
The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Senator from Florida [Mr.
PASCO] has given notice that he would address the Senate on the
pending bill. Does the Senator from Florida yield to the Senator
from Maryland?
Mr. PASCO. I yield to the Senator from Maryland.
Mr. GORMAN. Mr. President, even with the disclaimer of
the Senator from Colorado, which I accept with the further fact
of the declaration of the Senator from New Hampshire to-day, I
can not permit the matter to rest as it is. I wish to tell each of
those Senators and the Senate and the country, if they have any
interest in it, that the question of the admission of Senators
from a State under the conditions that obtained in Montana,
Washington, and Wyoming was a new question in this body. It
was a question that taxed the best legal minds of this body. It
is no secret that the distinguished former chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. HOAR], who reported the resolution, frankly stated
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that he, great lawyer as he is, had had the other view some years
ago, but on a further study of the question changed his mind and
thought that the right existed for the governor to appoint. I
do not misrepresent the Senator, I know.
Mr. HOAR. The Senator substantially represents me correctly. The view which I avowed first was an answer to a question thrust upon me suddenly in debate as a supposed question,
and I stated that immediately after the conclusion of my remarks
on reflection I came to the conclusion that I had made a wrong
answer. But it is the substance.
Mr. GORMAN. It is the substance. I only used the Senator
as an illustration because he is recognized in this tody as one of
the great lawyers here. He is not the only distinguished lawyer
who has changed his opinion on this subject. The question
came here and was take*i up by both sides of the Chamber with
a view of determining it in this high court, without reference
to politics, without reference to auy measure that was pending
in Congress or out of Congress or that was likely to come here.
It was in that spirit that it was taken up at the last special session and continued at the present session.
I want to say to those two Senators that, so far as I know and
believe, every Senator upon this floor under his oath voted ES
he believed to be right in that case. With great doubt ill my
own mind as to what my duty was I preferred to follow the majority of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. I am one
of the few members of this body who is not a lawyer. I leaned
necessarily and naturally upon the great men on that committee
for my instruction. I followed the majority and voted for the
admission of the appointed Senator from Montana, as did my distinguished friend, the chairman of the Finance Committee.
When that vote was taken, without pressure so far as I know,
without an attempt to influence any member of this body except
by fair debate#on the legal proposition involved, the verdict of
this court was that the governor had not the right to make the
appointment.
There was no question as to the vote of any Senator in the
body, except the pair of the distinguished Senator from Alabama [Mr. MORGAN], who was absent upon a public duty and
paired, and it turned out that his vote was announced in the opposite direction from that which he would have voted. But
that vote would not have changed the result. It would not have
changed the result if the Senator had been present and voted.
There would still have been a majority of 2 against the seating
of the contestant from Montana.
I call the attention of the Senator from New Hampshire and
the Senator from Colorado to the statement I am about to make.
When the motion was made to reconsider the vote which had
excluded the contestant from Montana for the purpose of changing the verdict of this great body, the Senator from Indiana and
myself at once said, doubtful as this question has been and is.
we will not consent, though we voted for the seating of this gentleman, that any other question shall be brought in here to
change the verdict of a body which has been given without
reference to silver or gold; and we changed our votes that the
record of this great body might remain perfect and appropriate,
Mr. DUBOIS. Will the Senator allow me a moment?
Mr. GORMAN. With pleasure.
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Mr. DUBOIS. I think the Senator is mistaken in regard to
the vote. Those who were contending that Mr. Mantle should
be seated insisted that the Senator from Alabama would vote
that way, and so they moved to reconsider. My recollection
is that had the Senator from Alabama been voted correctly there
would have been a tie on that vote, and the decision left to the
Vice-President.
Mr. GORMAN. No; the Senator is mistaken.
Mr. DUBOIS. My recollection is that there was a majority of
but 2 against seating Mr. Mantle on the first vote.
Mr. GORMAN. But there was a majority of 5; and the change
would not have affected the result. I have stated it accurately,
and if the Senator will examine the record he will find it so.
Now, Mr. President, so much for that.
The Senator from Colorado, not content with this, goes one
step beyond. I think the Senator will agree to change his statement. I do not believe that the Senator will stand upon the
speech which he made to-day, for, I take it, he alluded to myself
and to the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. ALDRICH] when he
described the gentleman on the other side as being on a steering
committee and the leader of the protectionists on his own side.
1 ask him if he meant me.
Mr! WOLCOTT. I will state I have been advised there has
been a consultation of Senators going on for some days. On this
side of the Chamber we are advised that the Senator from Rhode
Island is marshaling the forces of the friends of repeal, and we
have been advised that on the other side of the Chamber the
Senator from Maryland has been marshaling the members on
that side who are in favor of repeal, with a view of an agreement
upon some further and more rigorous measure which shall compel the Senate to sit longer hours than at present, with a view,
if possible by that method, to force a vote. I shall be very glad
if I am misinformed.
Mr. GORMAN. Mr. President, I have been a member of this
body for oyer twelve years. I have been connected with it from
the time that I was twelve years of age. I have seen in the last
forty years all the great men who represented the sovereign
States of the Union on this floor. I have witnessed scenes in this
body of great excitement, where the interests of States and sections of the Union were involved. I have seen great measures
affecting the currency, of the country disposed of. I have seen
taxation levied that was a burden which crushed a great section*
of our common country, as we thought. This is the first instance
in that time that I have ever known a Senator to use information
obtained at committee-room doors or from information received
from eavesdroppers, tell the Senate of the private conferences of
Senators upon any subject. It. is not necessary, Mr. President,
to say more of such an instance as that.
Mr. President, let me say to Senators on the other side that
this great measure is being managed and conducted by one who
has grown venerable in the public service, whose ability is equal
to that of any of his colleagues upon this floor, who has managed it, surrounded as he has been with divisions on both sides
of the Chamber as well if not better than it could have been
managed by any man within the sound of my voice, with a degree
of fairness and liberality to the minority that I have never seen
surpassed in the Senate Chamber. Kind and courteous and will701




9
ing to give you all the time you wanted and to suit your own
^convenience, he has made it impossible for the Senator from Colorado or for any other Senator to say that he has not been treated
with perfect fairness. I have been simply content to follow him.
I am not managing or leading for him. He is more able and
•capable to do it than any man I know of. Yet in return for that
generosity, for that forbearance, for that consideration of your
personal convenience and your public duties, I repeat there never
has been witnessed in this body so much want of consideration
for the manager of a bill as has been shown the distinguished
Senator from Indiana.
I have as a silent member of this body during the consideration of the measure regretted the fact to which I have just alluded, and hoped that reason would resume its sway and Senators would come back to the rule that has always governed this
body. I have not thrust myself into the debate. I have not
criticised anyone of you. I had hoped that the time would
come, possibly not upon this bill, but come immediately after if
not upon this bill, when something might be done that would
conciliate and accommodate your views. I have stood in that
position, and I get for it, uncalled for, the remarks of the distinguished Senators to whom I have referred.
Mr. President, as was well said by the Senator from Indiana,
this extraordinary treatment of the case is not confined alone to
intimations of want of good faith on the part of Senators, but it
has gone farther. It has gone to the extent of attempting to
indict the Chief Magistrate of the Union, by making a declaration that he has used the power and the patronage of the Government for the purpose of forcing this bill through.
Mr. President, I am not the mouthpiece or the spokesman of
the Presiaent of the United States. His patronage I know
nothing of. I care nothing for it. I neither have it nor wish it.
But there is no man in the whole Union, and it is due to him to
say so, who, during the whole time he has occupied the Presidency. has been more careful to avoid using the great power of
his office. If I may criticise him at all, it would be to say that
he has been so careful of it that he has scarcely done his party
justice.
Mr. President, I trust that notwithstanding the great interests
and the warm feeling Senators have upon this question we will
yet, and that speedily, after full and fair debate, come back to
that unwritten law of this body which has always heretofore been
more binding than the written rules—the rules so well and so
ably described by the distinguished Senator from Indiana [Mr.
TURPIEJ—and after all, while hardships will come to your people possibly if you are right, and further distress may come to
the agricultural as well as to the mining sections, let us remember that is as nothing compared \yith the duty of sust aining the
Senate in unimpaired vigor and in keeping its reputation for
fair dealing, for full and free discussion, and for securing final
action without personalities.
Mr. President, but for the allusion of the two Senators I should
have contented myself with simply going on with the business
of the Senate, and would probably have not participated in the
discussion. Notwithstanding what has been said, I still occupy,
as I bave always done, upon all occasions and upon all measures,
a position where I can at any time meet a question such as this,
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or any that may come, without personal interest, without personal feeling1, and with a full desire and determination to do, sofar as I know how to do, exact justice not only to this, but t o
every other interest that is involved in legislative action.
Saturday,

October 28s 1893.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Senate resumes its session.
The Chair lays before the Senate the unfinished business, which
will be stated.
The SECRETARY. A bill (H. R. 1) to repeal a part of an act,
approved July 14,1890, entitled 4t An act directing the purchase
of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for
other purposes."
Mr. GORMAN said:
Mr. PRESIDENT: I have not detained the Senate many momen ts
in the discussion of the pending question. I have studiously
refrained from doing so. But I can not help observing the very
remarkable attitude of the distinguished Senator from Ohio y
who is the acknowledged leader on the other side of this Chamber, and of more than half the Senators who support the bill for
the repeal of the purchasing clause of the so-called Sherman law.
His anxiety for its repeal, his support of its repeal, is perfectly
well understood; but at the same time that distinguished Sena^
tor has well known the fact that the passage of the pending bill
was impossible at any time except as a nonpartisan measure, except by the support of the twenty-five or twenty-six Republicans
on the other side of the Chamber and the twenty-one or twentytwo Democrats on this.
Its only hope of success from the beginning until now has been
unity of action between gentlemen who have such diverse views
upon general political questions, and not to bring in the mere
party question and attempt to take party advantage of the delays, of the mistakes, if there have been mistakes: and now, in
the closing hours of the struggle, which will go down in history
as one of the most remarkable that has ever taken place in this
Chamber, that distinguished leader tells us and tells the country that the measure itself will be impotent, that it eliminates
silver or the further use of it for the present.
Mr. SHERMAN. I did not say a word to that effect. On the
contrary, I spoke strongly in favor of silver to its largest extent*
so that it would not demonetize gold.
Mr. GORMAN. If 1 have misunderstood the Senator, all
around me here seem to have shared with me in misunderstanding him. He has said that the passage of the bill as it stands
will not give the relief to the country that the country has expected.
Mr. SHERMAN. I said it might not meet the expectations
of the people.
Mr. GORMAN. If his argument was understood at all on this
side of the Chamber, he said that when the bill is passed the
Treasury will not be in a condition to meet the wants of thecountry, or to keep the finances in a healthy condition; and the
only relief suggested by the Senator is to issue bonds, authorize
ing the Secretary of the Treasury to use them not only for the
purpose of maintaining the parity between the two metals, but
for the ordinary expenditures of the Government.
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Mr. SHERMAN. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a
question?
Mr. GORMAN. With great pleasure.
Mr. SHERMAN. How does he propose to pay the deficiency
in the revenues of $50,000,000, reported by the Secretary of the
Treasury?
Mr. GORMAN. I will come to that, if the Senator will pardon me a moment.
Now, Mr. President, if I understood the position of the Democratic party in the beginning of this controversy, it was that
wo pledged ourselves to the repeal of the Sherman law.
Mr. BUTLER. A part of it?
Mr. GORMAN. No, sir; the whole law. Our platform demanded it. Every newspaper that has breathed a Democratic
breath at first demanded that Congress should carry out the decree of the party. I take it that other Senators like myself were
questioned by the great metropolitan press as to whether we
were in favor of the absolute repeal of that law, the whole law,
without conditions. When that was being strongly urged I do
not think I am mistaken when I say that the distinguished Senator from Ohio in a speech or an interview in his own State denounced the repeal of the entire Sherman law, and stated that he
would favor the repeal of the purchasing clause alone. I am not
mistaken in that. If I am, I ask the Senator to correct me. The
Senator says that now?
Mr. SHERMAN. I believe that is what the bill professes
to do.
Mr. GORMAN. Yes; that is what the bill professes. I am
coming to that. The President of the United States, anxious
and earnest in his desire for its repeal, was too astute and learned
a statesman not to know that he had not the power in his own
party or with his own party to repeal any portion of that law,
because the division is so sharp and great among both parties
that neither party would have the power to deal with this question and make the repeal, and we were compelled to take the
terms offered by the Senator from Ohio. He held the key of the
position. You have dictated the terms to us. It was the only
thing we could get you to agree to for the relief the country.
Then, Mr. President, when Congress met, we came here with
forty-four Senators on this side of the Chamber, elected as Democrats, only one-half of this body, with the perfect knowledge
on the part of every intelligent man in the Union that the party
was hopelessly divided upon this question, as your party is also
hopelessly divided. It may be said with truth that a large majority of the Democrats were at the beginning of the session
against the repeal even of the purchasing clause of the Sherman
act.
Mr. BUTLER. Unconditionally.
Mr. GORMAN. The unconditional repeal. It was known
that you had from thirteen to fifteen Republicans opposed to repeal. It was believed, and I think it was a fact easily made
perfectly plain to everybody, that a clear majority of all the
Senators elected were not in favor of the unconditional repeal,
but they wanted some modification.
Complaints have been made of delay in this matter. I am glad
of the opportunity to say, and I say it in justice to those who
have fought this Bill, that those of us who intended to vote for
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its final passage believed that we were in the minority, and a delay of weeks became necessary that we might convert enough to
our side to pass the bill. It was not brought into this body from the
Committee on Finance until days after we had met. The Senator
from Ohio, a great member of that committee and an authority
in this body on financial questions, and with a reputation such
as few men have ever had in the country, was too astute a man
to try to force its early consideration in this body. When his
colleagues on the other side, impetuous and anxious to put the
Democratic party in a false position, demanded a vote upon the
bill the first week of the session, the chairman of the Finance
Committee, and even the Senator from Ohio, checked their impetuosity, and s lid, "Oh,no; let the Committee on Finance first
consider the bill."
The fact of it was that we were not ready for its consideration.
As time went on the debite became sharp. And, Mr. President,
I want to remark right here that it has been a great debate.
The annals of Congress will not show one equal to it, and those
who participated in it will go down to posterity as men who were
equal to any who have preceded them. When the contest became sharp the doubt was then expressed as to the power of the
Senate to pass it, not as to the power to reach a vote, but the
power to pass unconditional repeal with a majority. In the very
midst of the fight, in the hottest of it, when men were anxious,
when every Senator was desirous that something might be done
(and when I say every Senator I mean all on both sides of the
Chamber) to relieve the great distress in the financial interests
and in commercial affairs, the first note of warning that we had,
publicly uttered, came from the Senator from Ohio, the Senator
who led more than one-half of the repeal column, that it was
impossible to pass it. Here is his interview, published October
5,1893, in a telegram to the Cincinnati Enquirer dated Washington, October 4:
[Cincinnati Enquirer, October 5,1893.]
washington, D. C., October 4,
I called o n Senator Sherman to-night. More than any other quantity in
the Senate he represents his party. I asked h i m bluntly if he believed the
law which bore his name would be repealed?
His answer was frank—direct:
" I do n o t , " said he.
" T h e n , " said I, " w h a t n e x t ? "
" I can n o t , " said he, "be explicit as t o what next. The position of the
Republican members of the Senate is n o w passive. The Democrats are en*
deavoring to arrange a compromise. If they succeed, they can pass a compromise measure no matter if the Republican Senators are solidly arrayed
against it. Our side, or rather the large majority of our side, stand ready
to vote for unconditional repeal whenever the Democrats fix the time to
vote. W e are even ready to support a closure."
Have y o u any idea," I asked, " o f the terms of compromise?"
" N o , " said the Senator, " I am n o t in the secrets of those arranging it.
There have been several propositions involving the issue of bonds and the
reduction of the monthly purchases of, silver. My judgment is, and it is,
however, a judgment, that in the end the Democrats will unite on a proposition to extend the provisions of the Sherman law three years, with a reduction of the monthly purchases of silver to 2,500,000 ounces of silver instead
of 4,500.000 ounces as n o w . "
" D o y o u think the President would sign such a bill?"
" I have no reason of knowing. Yet I am impressed he will yield to a fair
compromise. If he does not he will destroy his party, and his Administration will be broken down.

Mr. SHERMAN. I think the reporter has been rather more
accurate than .usual in that interview. I think that was the sub701




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stance of what I said. I desire merely to add that I believe the
bill would not have passed but for the abortive attempt to compromise, which, falling through, left nothing else to do but to
pass it. However that is a mere matter of interview between
ourselves.
Mr. GORMAN. October 4 is the date of this interview. The
Senator from Ohio knew perfectly well, as every other man in
the country knew, that he was laying down a condition for the
Democratic party to unite. He knew to unite was as impossible
as it was to fly, unless it meant the extension of the purchase of
silver to some future period. He knew that the demand in the
country for its unconditional repeal coming to us through the
press and trade organizations in every section was such that
the entire Senate was most anxious to do something to relieve
anxiety. He knew another thing, that with the difference of
views upon this financial question between the Eastand the West
and the North and the South it was impossible to pass what we
call in the Eastern States a sound financial bill with bonds unless
we had his cooperation and the cooperation of those on the other
side who thought with us; and when you placed the conditions
upon the Democratic party, as you had the power to do, holding
the key of the situation with your 25 or 26 votes," you forced us
into a position to take a measure that would not be satisfactory
to the people for whom the Senator from Ohio speaks and whom
I have the honor to represent in part on this floor.
But, Mr. President, there was an earnest desire, there has
been from the beginning of the session an earnest desire on this
side of the Chamber, to frame such legislation as might redound
to the interest of all the people of this country. Slyirp as the
division was upon the particular measures, there is not a Democrat upon this side of the Chamber who was not impressed with
a desire to harmonize the i>arty, to sustain the Democratic Administration. All were willing to make sacrifices of opinion
and to set aside the convictions of a lifetime and unite in doing
something which would relieve the business distress and save
their Administration from defeat. They tried to get together.
They tried to do what was right. There were many of them who
shared the conviction that it is extraordinary, unusual, and unfortunate to strike down summarily, without an hour's warning,
any great interest that we had built up or made possible by laws,
no matter how vicious and bad the laws themselves. Their deliberations could have been carried to a consummation with the
bonds that the Senator from Ohio s p e a k s of.
I do not complain of him for making the suggestion of bonds
except as to the time and manner of doing it, for I from the beginning, not of this Congress, but in the last, under Mr. Harrison's Administration, believed that with the extravagant appropriations that have been made, with the growth of expenditures
for pensions, and otherwise, which can not be eliminated, there
is not revenue enough to pay the current expenses of the Government under your present laws, and at the last session of Congress 1 voted with the Senator from Ohio to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds for all these purposes.
If, Mr. President, there had been less partisanship in this Chamber when we came to consider a proposition that would have
practically united this side, if we had had a response from the
Senator from Ohio and those who associate with him politically,
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we could have passed a hill repealing the purchasing clause of
the Sherman law, no matter whether it takes effect to-morrow
or the next day, and we would have strengthened the Treasury,
given the Secretary power to issue $200,000,000 of gold, and it
would have been a notice to the world that this country, in that
matter as in all others, had the power and the will to'maintain
our honor and keep our finances to the>ery highest possible
level.
I am not here, Mr. President, to violate the confidences that
have been given to me in all the suggestions that have been
made by members of this body, or gentlemen outside of the body.
I can say, though, with propriety that there is scarcely one of
us who in the very heat of this controversy has not been most
willing to make the suggestions and look to a better bill than
the one we now have. That is past. The responsibility
Mr. SHERMAN. I wish to say a word, if I do not interrupt
the Senator.
Mr. GORMAN. Not at all.
Mr. SHERMAN. I am quite sure if our Democratic friends
on the other side of the Chamber had made any proposition, such
as the Senator now mentions, providing for the coinage of what
is called the seigniorage, and providing for the maintenance of
all forms of money at par with each other by authorizing the
sale of $200,000,000 of bonds, the proposition would probably
have been very agreeable to this side of the Chamber; but, as I
understand—as a matter of course I do not ask for any secrets—
our friends on the other side of the Chamber declined to agree
to any proposition which contained authority to issue bonds. I
think that was the general understanding on this side.
Mr. GORMAN. Air. President, as I said, I would not, to relieve myself from being misunderstood or for any other purpose
in the world, violate confidences or repeat conversations which
have been had; but I have a right to say that we have been most
unfortunate if we were not understood to say that a provision
for a proper bond issue could have been passed without much
difficulty.
I agree now with the Senator from Ohio. The day, the hour
for all that has passed. I should not have referred to this matter but for the fact that the Senator in his remarks, which will
be found in the R E C O R D of the 18th of October, on page 2758, attempted to place the entire responsibility on the Democrats.
He said:
The President suggests, however, that the first and most important measure, before further action, is to clear a-way the present silver-purchasing
clause of the act of 1890. "We have thought so too, but if the other side do
n o t think so it can not be done, for their vote is potent. They carry the matter in their o w n hands. Let them agree upon something.
In times past, when they were in the minority and we were in the m a j o r ity, we never shrank f r o m responsibility. W e were Republicans because w e
believed in Republican principles and Republican men and Republican measures, and whenever a question came into the Senate Chamber to be decided
w e never pleaded the baby act and said " we could not agree." W e m e t together in conclave; w e measured each other's opinions, some giving way,
and Anally we came to an agreement. In this w a y we passed all the great
laws which have marked the history of the last thirty years of our country,
and it was not done by begging votes of the other side. W e knew that, by
the usual and almost universal habit of the Democratic party, they would
oppose anything we should propose, even the L o r d ' s Commandments o r the
L o r d ' s Prayer. [Laughter.]
0
*
*
*
*
*
6
Sir, these are public duties that can not be avoided. Y o u must decide this
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.•silver question s o m e way o r other. If y o n can n o t d o it and will retire f r o m
the Senate Chamber we will settle it on this side, and w e will d o the best we
•can with o n r silver friends w h o belong t o us, w h o are blood of our blood and
bone of our bone. But y o u have the m a j o r i t y o n this floor to-day, and theref o r e I beg of y o u , n o t in reproach, not in anger, because I k n o w the great
difficulty and the difference of opinion that exists in the t w o parties; y o u
liave the supreme honor of settling this question now, and y o n ought t o d o
I t . That is all I care to say o n that point.

And again to-day, wittingly or unwittingly, he endeavored to
place upon this side of the Chamber the responsibility of any
future failure, or the failure of this act, to give relief. Mr.
President, the responsibility does not belong to one party. If
the act does not meet public expectation, we must on both sides
share the responsibility; but it may turn out to be the wisest
thing that this bill shall pass just as it came from the committee.
If so, we will share the credit.
Mr. President, tha^fc there is to be further trouble with our
financial affairs everybody who has watched the operations of
the Treasury must know. We have come into power, but we
liave inherited an enormous debt, imperfect revenue laws, and
.stagnation in every industry. The Treasury is bankrupt, says
the Senator from Ohio. It was bankrupt when we accepted it
and when we came into power. Who is responsible for it?
We are $50,000,000 short, says the Senator from Ohio. Why,
Mr. President, I hold a statement in my hand showing that during the last three years there have been appropriated for various
purposes, including $49,000,000 per annum for the sinking fund,
$362,000,000 more than the revenues. The money has, of course,
n o t all been spent, because we did not have it in the Treasury;
the obligations of the Government created by law have not been
discharged; but after paying the amounts which were absolutely
necessary to keep the Government running, including the payment of pensions, there is a shortage of $50,000,000, soon to be increased to $30,000,000, which must be met. The Government of
the United States can not repudiate its debts. It is not the fault
-on this side of the Chamber as a party. Conceal the facts as you
may, you can not make party capital out of it, for the honest men
-of the country will know what the facts are.
Mr. SHERMAN. I will ask my friend, if he will allow me,
whether the last House of Represantatives was not strongly
Democratic, and whether all the appropriations for the support
of the Government did not originate there? I myself supposed
that both parties shared in the responsibility for excessive appropriations.
Mr. GORMAN. Mr. President, it is true that the last House
of Representatives was Democratic: it is true that the Republican party have had possession of the executive branch and of
this branch of the Government; and it is true that we could not cut
down these expenditures unless we had control of all branches
-of the Government. Now, that we have that control, we hope
t o cut down expenditures as rapidly as possible.
But we have inherited another thing—contracts which have
been made by law, and from which there is no escape. Obligations have been incurred on all sides. They must be met.
All I complain of now is that Senators on the other side of
this Chamber at the end of a great crisis in this body, and, I
hope, almost at the end of a great financial panic, should bring
up this question for the purpose of gaining party advantage.
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Mr. President, we shall take the responsibility of all the new
laws which will be enacted during the time we are in power.
We shall go as far as it is possible for men to go in relieving the
country of the bad laws now upon the statute books; we shall insist upon the consideration of legislation for that purpose in season and out of season if necessary, but we do object to being
held up to the country as responsible for laws which were not of
our enacting.
I trust the Senator from Ohio and Senators on the other side
of the Chamber, who unite with the President upon this one
measure, will yet withdraw their partisan efforts, and admit
that this is a question above party, and which could not be passed^
if it were a party question. "We must all share the full responsibility of whatever may come from this enactment*
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