The Nevada journal., 1852-10-15
Merclsants's Injecting .

evening last, to take into confederation
the extraordinary and oppressive /"
law Of Congress, repudiating the Issues
Of the assay Office. Beverly c. Saun-
ders was appointed President, and Col.
David s. Turner Secretary of the meet
ing. Mr.. franklin, Of the house Of Sc
lin & Franklin, suggested that some ar
rangement might be made by whi eh
merchants might continue 10 pay slugs
for public dues, and give Collector King
indemnifying bonds for his protection,
till further instructions should be re.
csivsd from the department, or till the
merchants have time to procure Amer
lean gold from the eastern states.
Ex-Governor Smith, noted democrat
ic orator and manager, here desired to
address the meeting, and permission &C
cordingly was given him. lie was pre-
pared with list Of the various acts Of
Congress as far oack rs 1899, and at
tempted to prove that the recent act Of
Congress was not intended to di.con tinus
the receipts Of ingets, and that the in
structions Of the Treasury Department
were hasty and unnecessary. lie fell
into the same errsr ~ the State Journal
N declaring the new law to 10 The same
as that Of 1850, under which ingots had
been received for dues, when the former
law simply required that the assay Office
issues should be Of sufficient fneness," {"
and containing the value Of $50 Of the
coin Of the United States-while the
new Law requires the standard fnsness
Of the coin Of the United States" Any
one examining the issues Of the assa y
Office will sec various degrees Of inensss
stamped on them, while the standard fine
ness Of United States coin is 900-l0O0.
There is no way that the slugs now
in circulation can be made available for
public dues except by the slow, difficult
and expensive method Of . new ASSAY,
causing infinite delay, and serious en-
Darrassment to .he interests of the en-
tiro state. Indeed, this new legislation
net only is unjust to the assay Office, in
that it virtually destroys their privilege
to issue coin varying in fneness while
the value is perfect, but without an
evasion Of tho law it is impossible for
the business Of the state to move on.--
Gov. Smiths desperate attempt to save
his political friends from censure was
signally unsuccessful, and the meeting
next called upon MIR. King to express
his views, and suggest remedy.
Mr.. King responded in lucid state
ment of the whole dsfheulty, completely
annihilatipg the positions of Gov. Smith.
He stated the peculiar difficulties of his
position, bat declared his willingness to
concur in the plan suggested by Mr.
franklin, if after conference with soun.
sci, he found the liabilities he would in.
cur would be simply monetary.
The meeting appointed as commit.
tee for further conference with Mr..
King. Msssrs. F. ". Maesndray, G. B.
Post, II. Haight, j. P. Haven, Robert
Rogers, B. c. Saunders, to report on
Monday evening.
The responsibility Of our democratic
Senators and Representatives, in this
matter is unqusstionabls. The Fhig
says that Senator Gwin was active to
secure the passage Of this law, in order
to defeat and break up the assay Office
in this state, because it 10 in the hands
of wings, and that Joseph McCorkle
said some months ago to A. ]. Ellis,
Esq, our delegate at Washington, that
this cause wsuld be tackled to the ap-
preparation bill, for the purpose of de-
Testing . whig assay Office, and that he
has said since his return, that the OBJ
jsct had been accomplished, in the
manner, and for the purpose desired.
The same paper further understands
that Messrs, Gwin and McCsrkls ship
ped large quantities Of American gold
to this state in expectation of its rise ia
value. These features in the trausac-
tien need no comment.