The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1876-08-10
THE SILVER DOLLAR.
CINcINNATI, July p, lS16.

hi blaoT THE SILVER DOLLAR.
s-s 81 4f.- CINCINNATI, July 81, 1916.
To The Ed. of The Enquirer:
You have done me the honor to
keep standing at the head of yonr COL
umns my phrase. SHE d0ildr Of the
fatAers." From the time the United
States were first settled by "the faith
ers," the ordinary money in circnla-
ton was the Spanish silver dollar,and
all the accounts of the Revolutionary
period were kept therein. When the
Federal Mint was organized by the
act of April 2, 1892 4 Stat. at Large,
p. 24S), it was determined to make
this Spanish dollar the "unit of value"
and the basis of our currency. The
clear-ieaded Hamilton claimed that,
as debts had been contracted on that
basis, it was just, both to debtor and
creditor, that the new dollar of the
American Mint should be. of like
weight as the average Spanish dollar
then in circulation. Accordingly he
had large number of these ordinary
circulating Spanish dollars assayed,
and thereby ascertained that the aver
age weight OF these dollars was about
37l4 grains pure sitcer. That was,
therefore, fixed as the weight of the
American standard dollar IN pure SIT
Ger, and that weight has never been
altered. True, the weight of the alloy
has been changed. Originally the
tineness was ''one thousand four hun
dred and eighty..fve parts .fi,ee to one
hundred and dsecenty-ninep parts alloy"
q Stat. at Large, p. 249, Sec. 133 This
was altered by the act of January is,
1887. g Stat. at Large, p. 137), and by
this act it was wisely provided that as
our currency was divided decimally.
SO the alloy should be one-tenth, both
as to gold and silver, and as to all
coins, large and small, and so it has
remained to this day. All American
gold and silver coins Except the three
cent piece) are of equal fineness.
The original coinage act of 1892
made all silver coins dollars, halves,
quarters and dimes, and subsequent
acts made even five cent pieces legal
tender for their nominal value for all
debts, public and private.an for sums
large and small. AS to the dollar
coin, this provision remained unalter-
ed up to the Revised Statutes of 1874
(Revised Statutes page 7I2, section g.
$3.50 by which statute it was provided
that silver coins of whatever denom-
ination should be legal tender for
five dollars and no more. This was
the first time that provision had ex-
istence. True it was provided by the
act of FEBRUARY, 1873, (l7 Stat. at L.,
p.427,) that no more. standard silver
dollars should be coined, and it was al
so therein provided that the coins to
be struck in the future under that act
should only be legal tender to the
amount of five dollars. But it was
not provided that the old silver-"the
dollar of the fathers"-sould not be
legal tender. 1t. was, therefore, in
law and good morals n legal tender
for all amounts and for all debts up TO
the enactment of the Revised Statutes
in 1874. -f.z=- -.t .ss1s. .s8s3ata
90 Now as to the fractional parts Of the
dollar. Up to the act of February 81,
1858, Go st. at L., p. l60.) the fraction
al silver was of the same relative
weight and fineness as the whole dol
lar. The half-dollar and the quarter,
and so on, weighed half, a quarter,
and SO on, of.the standard dollar Blu t
by the act of 1858 the weight of the
fractional parts of the dollar was re-
duced, so that instead of the weight
being for halves 1864 pure silcer as
formerly, it and all the other fraction
al pieces were reduced, so that the half
only weighed 172 5 grains, and and
all the others in proportion. And the
weight being thus reduced it was de-
ciared TO be no longer legal tender
for sums greater than five dollars. For
the first time it was made token mon
ey. And still the law stands as to
fractional silver. 5''
The result in a nutshell is this: AL
3 American silver coinage, of every de-
nomination, has always been, and still
is, of equal fineness. Up to 1858 sill
yer coins of every denomination were
legal tender for all amounts and for
all debts, public and p rivate, and the
same was true up to the Revised Stat
utcs, except as to the fractional pieces.
which were only legal tender for So.
The coinage of the old silver dollar
was abolished in 1878, and it was re-
duced to token money in 1874. While
silver dollars were legal tender the
whole bonded debt of the United
States was contracted or the laws
creating it passed. None of the stat
utes touching the subject make .the
public debt-except the interest on the
bonds--payable. expressly in gold.
All the acts speak of coin-not gold.
The act of 1869 provided for paying
the bonds in "coin," and the Resump-
ton ct resumes in "coin." Thus all
the acts for issuing the bonds and for
paying them are alike, and recognize
.'coin" as the ':pound of flesh" which
q Inn1o n nd r,fo 81 hx,