Show TELLER TALKS ABOUT SILVER No Financial Legislation Possible Possi-ble Without Assent of Bimetallists 1ETAL IS GAINING FRIENDS THE SENATOR OUTLINES HIS PLAX OF RELIEF Difllonltle1 That Beset the Conntry Confidence in the Administration Must First Be Restored at This Stnge the People Have lint Very lattlc Silver nnils Better Than a Gold Basis I asked Mr Teller writes J W Clark of the New York Recorder what value he placed upon the reported Wil aingness of Mr Clevelanu and I Carlisle to make a large concession to iihe silver men in order t get their votes for a bill authorizing the issue of 500000000 of bonds and the retirement retire-ment of the greenbacks > lji No Confidence in Grover I do not place any faith at all in sudh suggested schemes The bill outlined out-lined toy Senator Jones of Arkansas seems to Jiave had la its basis some sort of intimation from the administration administra-tion that it was willing to accept a renewal of silver coinage to a limited yet considerable extent But the trouble with this administration is that 110 one feel any confidence in its in < timatlons its The iat1Dns or even promises Oliver men know < by experience that h cannot be depended upon lat It woulO oe willing to offer one week in urder to get a bill passed it would refuse f re-fuse to yield the next week when its purpose was served For purpos example go bade to the debate in the extra session of 1893 Tn that debate senators who spoke for the adiminlstration promised prom-ised that if the Sherman law were repealed pealed there should 0 further legis1 E5 lation following that rep < eal by which silver would e given large 1 cognition cogni-tion in the monetary system of ths country Many votes for the repeal were ItS influenced Fifteen months have passed and not a step has been taken t fulfill those promises Tare T-are all treated as though they had never been made When therefore Uhe ie friends of Silver are asked to vote for I new currency measure designed to turn over the national function of issuing is-suing money to banking corporations completely and to fasten the goAi L standard still more firmly upon us in return for a new promise to do something thing for silver we cannot forget the broken pledges of the past I then Mr Senator there is no Jtt fiiope of getting any currency bill 1 trough the Senate at this session rdtCi I the revenues lalllng far short of the expenditures and still decreasing what t 3s going to be the outcome Are w ito I i-to have an extra session called That replied the senator is for the president to decSde He ha publicly pub-licly dclart That if Congress d3s i not act he U seek another loan and 1 nnother and keep on adding to the f national debt in time of peace to PlY the punning expenses of the government govern-ment I is only ostensibly that these 0 loans wil be made like the two ai I ready made for maintaining the pal I ity between gold and paper money I i They will Se made i fac to pay the current expenses oi the government The prospect at this mint is that j I within SO days the demand upon us for another bond iosue of 350009030 wfill be u pressing as t was on the 24th of November Cost wlfen the sac ond issue was rnada Mr Tellers Plun By what measure would it be practicable prac-ticable Mr Sana tor in your judgment judg-ment to relieve he treasury and SiOp the perpetual raiding of the gold reserve re-serve serveThe The first thing needed is to rertore confidence in the administration of the treasury The country must feel that the secretary of the fireasury has con fldence in himself and a welldefined policy that he means to carry out As I aye said elsewhere if the treasury keiartment does not have confidence Atent to manage the affialirs of t1i government the people will n3t Jrhave And it is the fact today hate hat-e people lack confidence in the conduct con-duct of the treasury department I away back at the start the secretary of the treasury haul firmly taken > his stand and announced his determination deter-mination to protect 1S stock of 5old by means that were plainly at his command the situation now wouldJ have been far different He has the right and the power to say that the treasury notes of the act of 1890 would ha redeemed in silver and in silver only > < < That was all they called for fheyj t Vere issued against silver and there was no obligation of any sort to redeem them in gold Then Ihe had the right and the power t g > further and say that the treasury would redeem the greenbacks or legal tenders in gold for all American citizens who wanted gold for ordinary business ues but that it would not furnish gold freely for foreign export Tn taking that stand the gold standard would not have bean abandoned Our treasury in refusing to part with the gold for export would have been simply following the establ liffiied rule of France and Germany both of them gold standard countries The Bank of France does not allow the holders of its paper to call for its redemption re-demption wholly in gold at any time 3t insists upon cashing its notes part in silver and part in gold and it fixes the proportions of the two kinds of coin which it uses in redeeming them according ac-cording to its own convenience from day to day Gold Iioeltctt Vp in Europe Is there not a possibility Mr Senator Sena-tor that the Administrations policy or want of one may land us at last and suddenly on a silver basis a There is of course was the reply j1he treasury cannot keep its gold Kb I amount of bond Issues can prevent it I d aDt if the 500000000 of gold that is talked of being raised on bonds could be obtained if it was called for But in any case as long as we are debtors to Europe to the extent that we now are eo long our gol d < can and will be drawn away from us This idea that there is an immense stock of free gold somewhere some-where that we have only to call for with our bonds to the extent of half a billion or more just when We please 3s a pure hallucination The gold of the World is too much Socked up in iuropean war chests to permit any ehIng of that sort to be done Russia alone keeps a large slice of the worlds stock of gold locked up earning 110 in1 terest ready far a war What effect would a European war whirli released bha intents of those great chests have The same effort the senator replied re-plied as a sudden expansion of the worlds stock of circulating money would have no matter by what IMKSK it was produced It would raise prices in Europe at once stimulate consump tion and demand and therefore production pro-duction of all kinds and in this country the ama effects would speedily be felt o I c No matter what kind of metal money it is that is added to the circulation gdld or silver the larger the addition is the more prices will raise and rising prices are synonymous with prosperity Better Off with Silver If TVB were to end by reaching a silver sil-ver basis would that be a calamity I am satisfied said Mr Teller Chat 1C we should go to a silver basis with free silver coinage < we should toe immeasurably better oft than we are on a gold basis without gold As I said before our indebtedness to Europe I is such That we cannot ihold our gold Our debts call for a shipment to Europe I Eu-rope of 120000000 for interest every year I believe that is a lov I estimate 03he balance of trade Is only apparently in our favor Actually It has never I been in our favor American travel takes over 100000000 of our gold away I to Europe each year and leaves it there American domestic servants 1 send 15000000 more of our gold annually annu-ally to their poor European relations i We pay not less than 200000000 a year I more of our gold to foreign ship owners for freight Add all these items to our I yearly gold interest payment of 120 000000 and you find an aggregate standing demand for American sold I for export of ovc 400000000 And the Democratic revenue policy of increased imports means an increased gold ex j I Dart coreBut I I But then Iklr Senator you do not allow for the increased exports of our I American productions which the Democratic Demo-cratic statesmen insist will follow and keep pace with increased imports 7 As to that rejoined the Colorado statesman titer is no possibility that while we adhere to the gold standard and prices continue to fall as they must we can ever make the value of our experts ex-perts overcome the real balance of trade I that is against us In round numbers we exported agricultural products kit year I of the value of 600U090W That was 73 per cent of the total value of our I exports But what did we get for that I vast volume of exports Only six hundred j hun-dred millions at gold standard prices J The fame commodities if old at tne bimetallic j bi-metallic prices ot twenty years ago would I i have given their American producers i twice six hundred millions That would I j have trebled the expending power of the American farmers and tne paralysis of industry and business would never have I j happened Ao More Consiirontiscs What then is fp be done to set the I country firmly on its feet again I answer that question ithout any I hesitation and ay that no real solu ticn to our difficulties has been proposed pro-posed and none can be proposed except ex-cept to restore silver not cnly to its I old place in our currency but in the currency of the world There must be i no more compromises Nor can there be any relief if we era to wait until II England can be brought to give her assent i as-sent to ft We must act for ourselves The choice of a way out lies between a broadening of the basis of money by I putting it back on the two metals on 1 which it rested securely for ages > and I generations or else larger and larger issues i j is-sues of paper money based upon a single foundation of gold That v ill grow narrower nar-rower and narrower and all the time aker relatively to the superstructure I that is reared upon it I Do you believe Mr Senator that frei I silver coinage is in sight j It is j not immediately in sight but I am confident that it is coming The lesson I les-son of our recent political history is for the Republican party to digest and I apply Since 3890 within four year we have seen the people decree a revolution I j I against each of the great partlie dchll atiEartJ efide 8W 1 They voted no confidence in 3890 I against our party In 1894 they voted no i confidence in the Democratic party Both votes were negatives popular pro I I tests notices of general popular dissatisfaction The people have turned I from the Democratic poiCv because I it has done nothing to relieve their distress The Republican partys opportunity oppor-tunity grows out of the Democratfc par tys failure If it can find the remedy for the peoples condition and apply it the Republican party will come to power and remain there a long time But if it cannot relieve the popular discontent by removing Its just causes it will fail and be turned out as the Democratic party has been Gaininc All Round I Is the cause of free silver coinage making headway in the east 3Ir Teller I It is gaining in the east and everywhere every-where It is gaining even in England The growth of bimetallic conviction in that country as shown by its leading financial journal and by the strong tS I bimetallic utterances of such leaders I as Mr Balfour and others who are likely before long to be the ruling statesmen I states-men over there is remarkable Speaking Speak-ing of the east I will say here that among the influences that have helped to inform the public mind correctly on this question I count the New York Recorder i Re-corder It has done brave intelligent and strong work for the cause of the people and there are many evidences 1 that its work has told It is no longer as it once was the solitary eastern newspaper news-paper with a great constituency of readers read-ers and a widely felt influence to advocate advo-cate silver restoration There are a few others and the work of conversion is going on We shall because we must ultimately recover our bimetallic basis of money and the Recorders vindication I will be complete |