extra session the immediate repeal of the silver-purchasing clause, there was forthwith a change of base as sudden as it was radical. The dismemberment of the silver forces under the persuasions of this hour reminds me of a combat said to have taken place during the siege of Troy, and the result is summarized by the poet as follows: Full twelve, they boldest, in a moment fell, I do not desire to disagreeably locate anyone, and the excerpt from Homer just cited does not, as used by me, pretend to fix the destination of those who have so quickly altered their opinions, but is designed to signalize the effectiveness of recent arguments. The able junior Senator from Kentucky [Mr. LINDSAY], to whose character and ability I am glad to testifv, unsuccessfully, it seems to me, charges inconsistency upon those Democrats who have spoken against unconditional repeal. He points out that many of them ODDosed the Sherman law, and is, therefore, surprised that they now object to eliminating it from the statute book. It is unnecessary, after the magnificent presentation made by the Senator from Virginia [Mr. DANIEL, to answer this argument in detail. But does not my friend appreciate that the existing legislative conditions are greatly different from those which prevailed when the Sherman bill got into the statute books? Is he not aware that the result of defeating that bill at that time meant at least the retention of the Bland-Allison act? Does he not know that had there been no legislation in 1800, the Bland-Allison law would have remained in operation, and that, therefore, those Senators who voted against the Sherman act and who preferred no legislation at all to the enactment of that measure, placed themselves in a position which simply amounted to this: that they deemed the statute then in force better than the proposed bill? They were right about that. The Bland-Allison law was better for silver than the Sherman act. But when the Bland-Allison law was struck dead by the same power that summoned the Sherman measure into life, the status of affairs became such that the repeal of the latter meant that the Treasury had no use for more silver. The Senators who voted against the Sherman law because they wanted more favorable terms for silver are not inconsistent when they refuse to repeal that act unless some concession is made to silver. Mr. COCKRELL. Will the Senator permit just one suggestion? Mr. COCKRELL. The question then pending was with reference to a bill for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Mr. WHITE of California. I fully appreciate that, but I will say to the Senator that the point I am reaching is this: True, Senators desired free and unlimited coinage, but they found, because of the views of another branch of this Government, that they could not get the free and unlimited coinage of silver. So the issue finally became, so far as they were concerned, whether they would prefer the Sherman bill to the Bland-Allison act. That was the situation as I understand it. The Senator who professed in the discussion of 1890 to be opposed to the Sherman act because it was not just to silver, and who preferred to depend upon the Bland-Allison law, is decidedly incon sistent when at this time he is willing to indorse a proposition which leaves us neither the Bland-Allison nor the Sherman act, nor a substitute therefor. Can we convince the people that we are friends of silver, and at the same time sit here and talk and talk and urge nothing except the destruction of the only legislative provision which provides for the disposition of any new silver? If the Senators who advocate unconditional repeal mean what they say, and we cannot doubt their good faith, it follows that they hold that not only should the Sherman bill have been defeated in 1890, but the Bland-Allison act should have been repealed without a substitute. Such is their position, and the country knows it. ARE THE CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS TO JUSTIFY THE APPREHENSION THAT THERE IS A SURPLUS OF SILVER? In the course of my address upon this and other topics I will refer to several tables, some of which, and perhaps all, are familiar to the Senate. However, I deem this matter necessary to the intelligent discussion of this important subject. The majority of those who have advocated unconditional repeal notify us that there is such an enormous supply of silver that the necessary result must be depreciation. The able Senator from Iowa [Mr. ALLISON], who was also a delegate to the Brussels conference, does not share this view. Although his sentiments, as I construe them, are anti-silver, he declares that he does not believe that the question of overproduction of either silver or gold affects the issue. This is a candid statement, but while it destroys the arguments of many of his colleagues, it is a tribute to his integrity and discrimination. Within the last few days the able Acting Superintendent of the Mint has furnished the statement to the Senate showing the amount of silver and gold heretofore produced by the States of California. Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado, and the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. It is as follows: Production of gold and silver of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. NOTE.-Previous to 1848 the gold product of the United States was estimated to have been $14,440,000, not distributed by States and Territories. (Ures Dictionary of Arts, Mines, etc., Volume II, page 647.) (Raymond, 1874, page 544.) Production of gold and silver of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.- Continued. a From 1848 to 1873, inclusive, the gold product of California was estimated to have been $985,800,000 and the product of other States and Territories $254,950,000, and of this amount $63,146,000 was from the Comstock Lode, Nevada. b The silver product from 1848 to 1873, inclusive, was estimated to have been $186,050,000, not distributed by States and Territories, and of this amount $86,462,000 was from the Comstock Lode, Nevada. c Gold and silver. (Raymond.) d Of this amount $8,990,900 gold and $13,486 silver was from the Comstock Lode, Nevada. e Fiscal year. fEstimate of Dr. H. R. Linderman. Production of gold and silver of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. Continuea. 1874..... $5,189,000 1875+. 1876+. 1877+. 1878+ 1879+.. +$4,355,000 +$161,000 *1,880,000 $500,000 307,000 1,500,000 250,000 200,000 1,200,000 650,000 Total..... 20,730,000 27,397,000 18,832,000 6,621,000 8,783,000 1,907,000 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885.. 1886. 1887. 1888.. 1889. 1890.. 1891.. 1892.. 3,200,000 17,000,000 2,400,000 2,500,000 Total..... 52,163,000 53,212,000 40,986,000 160,789,000 22,981,000 40,158,000 20,730,000 27,397,000 18,832,000 6,621,000 8,783,000 1,907,000 Grand Total... 72,898,000 280,609,CC0 59,818,000 167,410.000 31,764,000 42,065,000 *Gold and silver. (Raymond.) Fiscal year. 1,980,000 450,000 1,700,000 1,300,000 1,505,000 2,000,000 1,400,000 2,100,000 1,250,000 2,720,000 1,800,000 3,500,000 Production of gold and silver of Arizona, California, etc. Continued. 1876+. 1877+. 1878+. 1879+. 44,000 $6,801,000 65,000 5,829,000 350,000 5,075,000 392,000 5,208,000 575,000 6,250,000 #500,000 1,000,000 ......... *$487,000 700,000 $300,000 Total... 1880....... 39,000 +$2,027,000 175,000 500,000 300,000 175,000 500,000 500,000 3,000,000 125,000 600,000 800,000 3,550,000 5,338,000 29,163,000 2,014,000 3,627,000 3,787,000 1,000,000 500,000 500,000 7,850,000 1881... 1882. 1883.. 1884.. 1885...... 1886...... 1887..... 1888...... 290,000 7,000,000 872,000 3,000,000 1889...... 500,000 9,051,000 660,000 10,473,000 950,000 1,390,000 1,070,000 Total... 4,201,000 98,790,000 7,052,000 23,390,000 12,042,000 5,338,000 29,163,000 2,014,000 3,627,000 3,787,000 Grand Total... 9,539,000 127,953,000 9,066,000 27,017,000 15,829,000 54,869,000 *Gold and silver. (Raymond.) †Fiscal year. Wells, Fargo & Co. statement. Total gold BUREAU OF THE MINT, September 6, 1893. $1,662,388,000 1,022,779,000 R. E. PRESTON, Mr. TELLER. If the Senator will allow me, I will say that according to that table, Colorado is not credited with at least $75,000,000 of gold, if not $100,000,000, produced before 1874. Mr. DUBOIS. And if the Senator will allow me, I think it will be reasonably safe to say that Idaho produced $100,000,000 of gold before 1874. Mr. WHITE of California. Whatever the amount may be, it simply emphasizes my argument as showing the excess of gold production. The amount of unreported gold was very large, I have no doubt. I will add that since that statement was handed in to the Senate I have obtained from the Acting Director of the Mint further information with reference to the gold and silver production in certain other States for 1892, which I shall also append to and make a part of my remarks. This table contains the entire gold and silver output of the United States during 1892, and therefore contains some information not found in Senate Mis. Doc. 52: Approximate distribution by producing States and Territories of the product of gold and silver in the United States for the calendar year 1892, as estimated by the Director of the Mint. It will be observed that that part of the Union embraced within the States and Territories mentioned in the first of these exhibits comprises most of our gold and silver producing mines, and yet it seems that there has been obtained from these sources, since 1848, some six hundred and forty millions of gold in excess of silver, allowing nothing. for the unreported amounts mentioned by the Senators from Idaho. and Colorado. California has furnished $1,271,000,000 of gold and but $24,866,000 of silver. If any process shall be discovered adequate to enable the miners of California to explore the prehistoric river beds of the Sierras without destroying the valleys and the streams, the output will be strikingly increased. Careful surveys and scientific examinations of the gravel deposits covered by the Sierras justify this assertion. While it is probable that for several years, under the influence of favorable legislation, the production of silver will augment, it is almost, certain that this will not be lasting. Few people understand the thoroughness of the explorations which have taken place in the West. The miners of that region are active in the extreme. Their practiced eyes detect the smallest paying cropping, and there is hardly a yard of country, scarcely a fastness upon which man can rest, in which there is or has been gold or silver-bearing rock which has not been fully prospected. It is known that there are immense deposits of gold untouched in California. It is not known that |