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R E M A R K S OF HON. JOHN OF G. OTIS, KANSAS, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Thursday, March U, 1892. The House having under consideration the bill (H. R. 4426) for the free coinage of gold and silver, for the issue of coin notes, and for other purposes- Mr. OTIS said: Mr. SPEAKER: I most heartily agree with the gentleman from Illinois, when he says this is the " most important bill yet brought before this Congress or that is likely to come before it this session." I only regret that so brief a space of time has been applied to its consideration. I desire to send up to the Clerk's desk a bill (H. R. 7272) and simply ask that it be read for information, and I give notice that at the proper time I shall offer it as a substitute for the bill under consideration. A hill fixing the unit of value and providing for a free coinage of both gold and silver, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative* of the United States oj America int Congress assembled: That the dollar shall be the monetary unit of value in the United States of America. That the American dollar, with all of its multiples and fractional parts, shall under the seal or stamp of the United States be fashioned from metaA or expressed upon paper in the following denominations, to wit: One and two cents to be formed of copper; live cents, of nickel; and all ten cents, twenty-five cents, fifty cents, and the one dollars to be formed of silver or paper; all five dollars, ten dollars, and twenty dollars to be formed of gold or aper; and all two dollars, fifty dollars, one hundred dollars, five hundred ollars, and one thousand dollars to be formed 6f paper only. That all the metallic money mentioned in this act shall be of form, weight, and quality such as now provided by law. „ That all the paper money herein mentioned shall be absolute upon its face, and not in the form of a promise, and otherwise fashioned in such manner and with such design as the Secretary of the Treasury may see fit to prescribe to suit the demands of business and to prevent any portion of said money from being counterfeited. That all money specified in this act shall be a full legal tender in any and all sums for any and all debts, public or private: Provided, That fractional currency, whether metallic or paper, shall only be a legal tender in sums to the amount of $10 in any one transaction. That the fractional currency herein mentioned shall be provided by the Secretary of the Treasury in such volume as the demands of business require. BEC. 2. That the mints of the United States shall be open to the free and unlimited coinage* of both gold anl silver bullion to any person presenting the same in sums of not less than S10, to be coined in such denominations as herein specified of not less than 81. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide the superintendents of all mints of the United S 2 States with a sufficient volume of paper money to exchange for gold and silver bullion, at the option of the owner of said bullion, at the time the same is presented for coinage, at the rate of $1 for every 25.8 grains standard gold or 412| grains standard silver; Provided. That in such case the gold and silver bullion so obtained shall become the absolute property of the United States and shall be coined into bars and bricks instead of mdney and exposed for sale at the Treasury and subtreasuries of the United States in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, at cost price of same. SEC. 3. That the volume of paper money provided for in this act, other than fractional currency as specified in section 1. shall not exceed 25 per cent of the assessed valuation of the property of the United States, and shall be issued under the direction of the Secretary ol the Treasury; and each series issued shall at the end of every ten years be called in and its place supplied with a new issue, and the old issue burned to ashes under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. SEC. 4. That from and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful to Issue or reissue gold or silver certificates, Treasury notes, or any other form of money obligation except the paper money as in this act specified: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to change, modify, or. alter the legal-tender character of such certificates or notes now issued, otherwise than is specified in section 5 of this act. SEC. 5. That after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Treasury shall call in and cancel Treasury notes, national-bank notes, and every form and character of paper money now in circulation and issue in lieu thereof, paper money as specified in section 1 o! this act, giving reasonable notice to the holders thereof, and fixing a day in the future beyond which such forms of paper money as are now in circulation will not be received by the Government, except in exchange as is provided in this act. SEC. 6. That the act of July 14,1890, entitled " A n act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes," and all other laws and parts of laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. SEC. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Mr. Speaker, there are three separate, distinct money schools in this country to day, to wit, the monometallist, the bimetallist, and the industrialist. The first believes in a single gold standard. The second believes in a dual standard of both gold and silver. The industrialist believes that the currency of the nation should be based on all the wealth of the nation; that labor is the only true measure of value. Money is purely a creation of law and can be fashioned of any material whatever, and should be based not only upon gold and silver, but upon iron, lead, copper, coal, land, cotton, and wheat, and every conceivable value, and more than that, upon the faith and credit of a sovereign nation. Our money should be the national credit duly coined, ".coined labor," so to speak. Be* tween the metallic school and the industrial school there is bound to be an irrepressible conflict. Interest on money is the life of one system. Interest in all mankind is the life of the other. One is founded in selfishness, the other in broad philanthropy. One believes in usury, and the other believes usury is a sin. The one is ever striving to do the business of the country through the agency of private credit. The other is ever struggling to have the business of the country done through the agency of public credit, coined into dollars. One is in the interest of capitalists, the other is in the interest of the common people. One of the principal objects of the People's pai*ty in their monetary policy is to lower interest; in fact, to do away with usury altogether, and make the furnishing of money by the General Government at a low rate of interest, direct to the States, counties, and individuals a source of revenue, national, State, and 188 3 county. We hold that the greatest tax upon the American people to-day is high interest; that the second highest tax is high transportation, telegraph, and telephone charges; and that the third great tax is the so-called PROTECTIVE TARIFF POLICY. Our support of this silver hill is along the line of an increase in currency. But we would not quarrel about the kind of money, If the volume can be made adequate and placed back where it was in 186£, over $50 per capita. If our gold friends want gold, let them have it. If our silver friends want silver, let them have it. But we demand a money untainted with interest or usury. Labor is the true measure of all value, and the only true measure. W e demand an industrial currency that shall overthrow interest, for to our mind, in the language of another— Interest is usury. Usury is robbery. Usury pays no taxes. Usury posseses no soul. Usury never works. Usury produces nothing. Usury consumes everything Usury pays no doctor bills. Usury never goes on the battlefield. Usury lives in fine houses that labor builds. Usury wears fine clothes that the laborer fashions. Usury concentrates wealth. Usury undermines free government. Usury mocks at liberty. Usury make3 the rich richer. Usury makes the poor pooreir. Usury mocks God, wrecks manhood, destroys womanhood, stifles childhood, and robs humanity. It is the Upas tree that is poisoning the whole fabric of free American Institutions. It is the giant of giant robbers, threatening every phase of our national life and demanding toll on every dollar's worth of production. Let the ungodly thing be banished from our midst and labor be brought at once to the front. Herein lies the whole contention. Mr. Speaker, we lay it down as a proposition that can not be successfully controverted, and one that the Eleventh Census corroborates, that high interest, high transportation, and high tariff ha\^ greatly impoverished one section of country while they have built up another; that banks, railroads, and manufacturers are controlling the distribution of wealth in this country to-day. Let facts be submitted to a candid, thinking people. This table we desire to incorporate as a part of our remarks upon this occasion. These figures are all from Mr. Porter's census bulletins: 188 States. Maine „• New Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania 1Total nine wealth States Indiana Illinois.... Iowa Nebraska Alabama Georgia Mississippi Louisiana North Carolina Total nine produce States Florida Kentucky Kansas Total twelve produce States Tennessee Virginia : West Virginia Total fifteen produce States Missouri Ohio Arkansas South Carolina Population, 1880. Population, 1890. 648,930 346,991 332,286 1,783,085 270,531 623, 700 5,083,871 1,131,116 4,282,891 661,086 376,530 332,422 2,238,943 316,506 746,258 5,997,853 1,444,933 5,258,014 168,065 14,507,407 17,401,545 2,894,138 2,192,404 3,820,351 1,911,896 1,058,910 1,513,017 1.837,353 1,289,000 1,118,587 1,617,947 214,103 7-18,480 287,281 006,508 250,512 295,173 158,003 178,641 218,197 16,366,065 2,956,898 391,422 1,858,635 1,427,096 121,929 209,945 431,000 667,100 10,323,441 ,20,043,218 3,719,772 Area, square miles. 33,040 9,305 9,505 8,315 1,250 4,990 49,170 7,815 45,215 36,850 1,978,301 56,050 3,077,871 56,025 X, 624, 615 452,402 77,510 52,250 1,262,505 59,475 1,5-12, 180 46,810 1,131,597 939,916 48,720 52,250 1,399,750 186, (M0 13,409,167 58,080 40,400 82,080 269,493 1,648, <100 996,096 Gain in population. Assessed value, 1880. Assessed value, 1890. Gain in wealth. InConPau- victs Pris- fants in juin pers in peni- oners venile alms- tentiain rejails. formahouses. ries. tories. $309,129,101 252,723,016 161,151,338 2,151,131,626 321,764,503 358,913,90;) 3,775,325,938 688.309,187 2,593,841,032 $73,150,385 87,966,835 74,744,553 569, 377,824 69.227,830 31, 730,521 1,123,385,932 115,790,836 909,382,010 1,161 1,143 543 4,725 490 1,438 10.272 •2,718 8,653 170 116 91 1,530 132 340 8.190 1,557 2,361 .302 113 30 951 239 675 1,292 783 2,386 169 102 86 698 270 626 3,675 608 1,151 7,559,928,915 10,614,691,637 3,0.54,762,722 31,143 14,477 6,764 7,388 727,815,131 786,616,394 398,671,251 90,585,782 122.867,228 239,472,599 110,628,129 160,162,430 156,100,202 782,872,126 727,416,252 478,318.348 184, 770,305 197,080,441 377,3*36.784 157,518,900 234,320,780 212,697,287 55,050,995 •59,200,142 79,649,997 94,184,523 74,2l:i,2l3 137,894,185 46,890,777 74,158,341 56,597,085 2,927 5,395 1,621 291 623 901 494 122 1,493 1,416 2,057 633 391 1,080 1,729 439 850 1,422 404 727 337 219 573 552 284 524 036 383 537 237 2,792,919,155 3,352,361,129 559,441,974 13,867 10,009 4,112 1,869 30,938,309 350,563,971 160,891,689 76,926,938 512,015,506 290,593,711 45,988,629 162, 051,535 129,702,033 24 1,578 593 374 1,235 918 270 640 432 273 208 3,335,313,124 4,232,497,284 897,184,160 16,062 12,536 5,470 2,350 1,545' 2,193 792 1,481 1,167 278 054 390 153 12,150 $235,978,716 29,539 101, 755,181 136 86,806,775 455,858 1,581.756,803 68,975 252,530, 073 123,558 337,177,385 914,983 2,051,910,006 313,817 572,518,301 975,123 1.683,459,016 86 1,542,359 1,512,565 618,457 1,767,518 1,655,980 762,794 225,159 143,415 144,337 211,778,538 308,455,135 139,022,705 347,510,103 362,422,741 169,927,587 135,731,565 53,967,606 30,304,882 776,480 19,996,827 24,229,510 4,232,683 3,995,169,502 5,112,357,715 1,117,188,213 20,593 15,465 6,667 2,350 510,804 532,795,801 471,251 1,534.360,508 325, 654 86,409,364 155,572 133,560,135 786,313,753 1,778,138,457 173, 108,497 132,182,638 253,547,952 243,777,949 85,999,133 •1,377,497 2,378 7,4(H) 223 578 1,701 1,652 833 806 505 502 3i>7 374 300 1,529 42,050 42,450 24,780 69,415 2,168,380 41.0'tO ;t. 198 062 53. Km) 803,535 30,570 995,577 2,679,184 3,673,316 1,128,179 1,151,149 Maryland Delaware So °° Total twenty-one i>roduce States. Texas (stock range). Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota 934,943 146,608 1,042,390 168,493 107,447 21,885 497,307,675 59,951,643 482,184,824 74,134,401 •15,122,851 14,182,758 1,599 299 690 00 163 139 1,061 45 985,635 28,242,922 5,345 12,210 -2,050 34,071,221 5,828,299 6,839,554,628 8,537,750,285 1,698,195,657 33,069 21,146 8,747 1,591,749 2,235,523 613,774 320,364,515 695,842,320 375,477,805 464 3,319 1,040 - 58,915 1,636,937 56, (M0 1,315,497 83,365 780,773 2,093,889 1,686,880 1,301,826 456,952 371,383 521,053 517, 666,359 438. 971,751 258,028,687 945,460,000 592,890,719 588,531,743 427,783,6U 153,918,968 330,503,05(1 1,916 2,641 36| 1,108 530 432 399 315 208 696 591 284 2,070 952 1,571 213 25 72 193 59 275 85 97 43 54 45 141 61 682 187 265,780 Total three lumber States 398,320 3,733,207 5,082,595 1,349,388 1,214,666,797 2,126,872,462 912,205,665 4,922 District of Columbia North Dakota South Dakota.. Montana Wyoming Colorado. New Mexico Arizona Utah Nevada Idaho ... . Washington. . Oregon California 70 70,795 77,650 ,146,080 97,890 103,925 122,5»'J 113,020 81,970 110,700 84,800 69,180 96,030 158,360 177,624 36,909 98,268 39,159 20, 789 194,327 119,565 40,440 143,963 62.266 32,610 75,116 174,768 864,694 230,392 182,719 328,808 132,159 60,705 412, 198 153,593 59,620 207,905 45,761 84,385 349,390 313,767 1,208,130 52,768 145,810 230,540 93,000 39,916 217,871 31,028 19,180 63,942 116,505 51,775 274,274 138,999 343,436 99,401,787 8,786,572 11,534,958 18,609,802 13,621,829 74,471,693 11,363,406 9,270,214 24,775,279 29,291,459 6,440.876 Si, 810.693 52,522,084 584,578,036 153,307,541 78,394,536 131,592,587 106,392,892 31,431,495 188,911,325 46,041,010 31,43-1,767 104,758,750 24,663,385 25,581,305 124,795.449 166,025,731 1,071,102,327 53,905,754 69.607,96t 120,057,629 87,783,090 17,809,666 114,439,632 34,677,604 12,1<M, 553 79,983,471 •4,628,074 19,140,429 100,984,756 113,503,647 486,524,291 221 35 53 132 87 1 23 62 43 20 71 99 2,600 65" 97 225 10 526 112 144 180 96 102 251 362 2,051 Total gold and silvre district... 1,336,050 2,080,498 3,709,532 1,689,034 968,478,688 2,274,433,100 1,305,954,412 3,447 4,221 2,045 Total U n i t e d States 2,954,450 50,155,783 £62,560,416 §12,404,633 16,902,993,543 24,219,589,801 7,346,596,261 73,045 45,233 19,538 149 206 14,816 *Four States—Illinois, South Carolina, Maryland, and Nevada—show a decrease in assessed value. In Illinois the decrease is startling being more than 159.000,000. Of this Mr. Porter says: " T h e State board of equalization declares that in 1880 the assessed value was 50 per cent and in 1890 only 25 per cent of the true value; 'hence the reduction." The writer isdisposed to challenge this statement, for the following reasons: First. It is a patent fact that farm values have decreased in Illinois. Second. The assessments of 1880 and 1890 were made under the same law. Third, The rural population has decreased, a very good index of decreasing rural values. Fourth. The State board of equalization, belonging to the party of plunder, seeing the ruin vicious legislation has wrought to that great State, have a strong incentive to shield their party and charge the cause of that State's shame to some other than the real agency. Interested witnesses are never entirely reliable. The author is disposed to think the peerless State of Illinois has suffered all that the figures imply. tNevada shows a decrease in population as well as in assessed value. The population has fallen from 62,'260 in 18fc0 to 45.761 in 1890, thus indicating tho final depopulating of the State that never should have been a State. Yet, as it requires a considerable number of old party patriots to conduct the State and county offlces and to represent the State in Congress, there is no danger of the race becoming extinct in Nevada for some days at least. ^ . . tOklahoma is not included in this total because there was no assessed value there in 1890; hence it could not be used in these comparisons. The population of the United States is the total here given plus 61,834 in Oklahoma, making 62,022.250, Mr. Porter's figures. SThe total gain in population is this total, plus 01,831 in Oklahoma, making 12,466,467, agreeing with Mr. Porter's figures. 6 Mr. Speaker, we hope that our statistical friend from New England will examine this table very carefully. It is compiled by one of our ablest statisticians and students of political economy, Mr. S. S.'King, of Kansas City, Kans., and we have carefully compared it with the census bulletins, and it can be relied upon as correct. In this table the States of the Union are thrown into groups, embracing what is called: 1. Nine wealth States. 2. Twenty-one produce States. 3. One stock range State. 4. Three lumber States. 5. And the balance of the States and Territories are classed as the gold and silver district. The table shows: 1. The area in square miles of each State and Territory, 2. Population in 1880. 3. Population in 1890. 4. Gain in population during the decade. 5. Assessed valuation in 1880. 6. Assessed valuation in 1890. 7. Gain in wealth during the decade. 8. Paupers in almshouses in 1890. 9. Convicts in penitentiaries in 1890. 10. Prisoners in jails in 1890. 11. Infants in juvenile reformatories in 1890. From these figures we deduct the following facts, and make the following comparisons: TWENTY-ONE PRODUCE! STATES contain 56 per cent of the entire population of the Union, and about 32 per cent of the wealth; they contain nearly six times the area as the North Atlantic or wealth States, of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and twice the population. And now what has been the relative gain in wealth as shown oy the assessed valuation during the last decade, taking the Eleventh Census for our guide? Why, Mr. Chairman, taking these twenty-one agricultural States of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana^ Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, a vast empire of itself, with unbounded natural resources; this vast farming territory is outstripped in wealth accumulation, nearly two to one, by a little neck of land that you could cut off from the rest of the Union by drawing a straight line from Datroit to Washington City; these six New England States, with New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have increased in wealth from 1880 to 1890, amounting to $3,054,762,722, while the gain during the same time for the twenty-one agricultural States amounts only to $1,698,195,657, or nearly double for the "nine over the twenty-one. Will some high-protective Republican or some silver-fighting Democrat please inform us how this condition of things comes about? The farmer, the planter, ask why is it? These are stubborn facts that can not be successfully controls 7 verted. Take another example drawn from this same table. Place upon one side the little State of Massachusetts, and upon the o her side we place four great Western States and five great Southern States, and stand the nine up beside the one, and what is the result, the Eleventh Census being our standard of measurement? To our mind it is simply astonishing. Here are the figures: One has 8,315 square miles of territory; the nine have an area of 486,040 square miles. Out of these nine States you can carve fifty-eight States as large as Massachusetts and have a large farm left. In 1880 the population of Massachusatts was 1,783,085, while the population of the nine States mentioned was 13,409,167, thus standing in the ratio of 1 to 7 in population. At the same period the assessed valuation of Massachusetts was $1,584,756,802, while the nine Statas was $2,792,919,155, or in about the ratio of 1 to 2. In the ten years from 1880 to 1890 the nine States increased their assessed value $559,441,974, whilst the one little State gained $569,377,824, surpassing the nine great States by nearly $10,000,000. Will some gold-standard bank president, some wateredstock railroad magnate, or some infantile woolen manufacturer rise and explain the situation, and fully convince us that in order to be a happy and prosperous people we Western and Southern farmers must pay high interest on money, a good round dividend on watered railroad and other stocks, and take the tariff off of raw wool, but be sure and keep it on all the manufactured fabrics? The Ways and Means Committee, when they reported the wool bill, must have thought all the representatives of agriculture were rustic "mutton heads." But let us draw another picture from this census table. It is a wonderful prolific little table. W e have found that nine agricultural States could not keep pace with little Massachusetts. Let us add three more to this list of nine—take Kansas, with her corn, wheat, and cattle; Kentucky,with her tobacco and whisky; Florida, with her oranges and pineapples. Now we will stand these twelve States up alongside the old Keystone State Pennsylvania, and note how they will compare. By the census of 1880 they stand thus: * Land (square miles) Latx>r (population) Capital (assessed valuation) Pennsylvania. Twelve States. Batio. 45,215 4,282,891 $1, £583,459,016 667,100 16,323, 441 93,335,313,124 1 to 14 1 to 4 1 to 3 And yet the gain in ten years of these twelve States was only $897,184,160, while Pennsylvania piled up a gain of $909,382,016. WTio says that the manufacturing interest is still a little puny infant and must still be rocked in the cradle of protection? One more example from this table will suffice our purpose at present. Let us add three more agricultural States to our list of twelve, making fifteen States that we want to place alongside the State of New York. We will add Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Now, bear in mind we have eight great grain 183 8 and stock growing States, and seven great cotton and sugar producing States, and we are uniting them to compete with the Empire State of New York. The figures stand thus: Land (square miles) Labor t population) Capital (assessed valuation) New York. Fifteen States. 49,170 5,082.871 12,651,940,006 776,480 19.996.827 $3,995,169,503 Ratio. 1 to 16 1 to 4 l to H During ten years last past the census shows a gain for the fifteen agricultural States of' only $1,117,188,213, whilst New York alone has gained the sum of $1,123,385,932, or one State has $6,000,000 more than fifteen States. Will some Wall-street Rapublican or some Wall-street Democrat rise and explain? It makes no difference which; for the gentleman from New York [Mr. RAY] a few days ago informed us that both Democrats and Republicans in his section were a unit upon protection and (what he pleased to term) "honest (?) money." How long do these representatives of Wall street imagine the Western and Southern farmers are going to rest quiet beneath such gross injustice? How long shall the contents of our cribs and granaries, of our fields and our warehouses, be emptied into the coffers of banks, railroads, and wealthy manufacturers? Mr. Speaker, our People's party leaders are sometimes called wild fanatics. But if gentlemen will carefully examine the facts and study the situation they will see we are advocating measures the mcst beneficent and far-reaching, having for their ultimate object the attainment of that general prosperity which we all so much desire and ought to labor to accomplish. 188 o
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