lver bullion, and the payment therefor with
treasury notes redeemable in gold or silver coin at the discretion
of the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the reissue of said notes
after redemption. He stated that up to the 15th of July, 1893,
such notes had been issued for the purpose mentioned to the amount
of more than $147,000,000. In a single year over $40,000,000 of
these notes had been redeemed in gold. This threatened the reserve
of gold held for the redemption of United States notes, and the
whole financial system of the government. No other subject was
presented in the message of the President, and Congress had to face
the alternative of the single standard of silver, or the suspension
of the purchase of silver bullion.

I had foreseen this inevitable result and had sought, as far as
possible, to avoid it by the inserting of sundry provisions in the
act of July 14, 1890. No portion of that act was objected to by
the President except the clause requiring the purchase of silver
bullion and the issue of treasury notes in payment for it. In this
I heartily concurred with him. From the date of the passage of
that law, to its final repeal, I was opposed to this compulsory
clause, but yielded to its adoption in preference to the free
coinage of silver, and in the hope that a brief experience under
the act would dissipate the popular delusion in favor of free
coinage. Joseph H. Walker, of Massachusetts, a prominent Member
of the House of Representatives, who was one of the conferees with
me on the bill referred to, and agreed with me in assenting to it,
wrote me a letter, my reply to which was in substantial accordance
with the subsequent message of the President and with the action
taken by Congress. I insert it here:

"Mansfield, O., July 8, 1893.
"Hon. J. H. Walker.

"My Dear Sir:--Yours of 28th ult., inclosing a copy of your statement
of the causes that led Mr. Conger, yourself and me to agree with
reluctance to the silver act of 1890, is received. An answer had
been delayed by my absence at Chicago. You clearly and correctly
state the history of that act. The bill that passed the House
provided for the purchase of $4,500,000 worth of silver at gold
value. The Senate struck out this provision and provided for the
free coinage of silver or the purchase of all that was offered at
the rate of 129 cents an ounce. As conferees acting for the two
Houses, it was our duty to bring about an agreement, if