, 1876-09-09
THE SILVER QUESTION.

1874, was eifcctc without discussion, aud with
out tho knowledge II tho country, Ia, as q INIT
ter Of fect, perfectly notorious. The people of
tlie United States know well when n,nttcr is
debated and when It Ia not debated, und they
know that this silver question was not talked or
written about until 1870, two full years afte
the mischief Of demonctiz!ug silver was con-
summase.l, 60 fur as laws Of Congress eau do
that.
Mi. Holman, Of Indiana, declared recently,
upon his responsibility rs member Of the
United States Housa Of Representatives, that
MS fatc rs March, 1870, "a Ie,liny scnator Of The
United State, " insisted to him TINT silver ha,l
not bcon lemotlctfzcd and would not believe It
until lie was shown the laws which do denonc-
TIC It. 1t Is, In fact, not certain TINT even now
majority Of the people Of the country know
TINT 1t is 90. All tenders nrc made In
grccnbucks, Bnd the Revised 6tatutes of the
United Stntes make lnrge volume which not
one person III Thousand ever las seen, or ever
will sec. Even OF the legal profession, only n
s,nnll minority possGsa It. 1t Is tr,,e tl,at tho
Coinage act of Feb. IL, 1873, did receive news-
paper publication, but that net did not dcnouc-
tze the old sverdo,lar, and It's prohibition OF the
further striking Of that roin was by general
clu,sse, the effect Of which would be understood
Qlllf " " cHIHlul C4uliluAtOU+
It Ia sald that the net wlcl, was approved
Feb. 10, 1873, was before Congress- tllrco or four
sessions, aud printed several tmes, aud that the
fact TINT this net "a1o'lshedn anl "dtn,outtxed" 1"
the old silver dollar should not have escaped ut
tenlion. That the abrogation Of the double
standard did csenpc attention Is shown by the
entire absence Of discussion, III and out Of Con-
gycss, aud Il Is idle to controvcrt that by tho
md f1Sfn NJ
might havu attractcl attention, or cvcn ought
to have attracted attention. It did not, as q
matter Of tact, and that Is The cnd of It,
The time selected was slelllfuly chosen to
escape attention. In 1873 and 1874 the cutirc
circulation was paper. No gold or silver coin
whatever was IN t,se as mutcy, ind the cxpccta-
ttun VI the time When any would be was only u
s!iatlowy hope, With no time, place, or circun-
sin,,Ce liked for the realization of II. What, nt
such a time, to thi: Illnsx Of members OF Con-
eress, or ol the people, could have been more
unintcrrstlnE than coinage acti And, pro-
vldcd such sn net WIS long cnuugh,-and this
contains scTenty-fo tedious SECTIONS, whit OPP
t,orsnnItynotc ad.urAblc could be conceived Of
1or slipping in alriost anything, With the con-
ntyancc OF the few men having tic mattcr In
charged
THIS aet was debated, but by whom and upon
what'rofnts It was fought over In tho soMntu
Pacific scnators and tic Chairman OF tho r.
nance Committee, on tho question Of sciK,lor-
ageon the gultttotns, ,-nmnttcr uf Importance to
the mining interests. Not one word about de-
nlonetiz!ng silver, 1r nbrorating the double
but aom I'D III th[s act :3tna5neiiss' or "anoli.ar
the old nllyer do!lara
1t did mt "de.noHt'izef u the, old silver tiollar
at all. Every colu struck at tho Mint as full
lfgal-tcidcr, Including alf pieces lcss than dol
lar Of full weight, str,,ek prior to 1859, remained
y full legal tender as before. What the art OF
Feb. u, 1873 lid, and all thnt 1t did. was to de-
dcmunetiztug IT tic old silver dollar was accom-.
pltsllctl, as we shall presently ace, not by the
net OF Fob. 7, 1873, but by cnuso In the Revised
Statutes adopted tn june, 1874.
tlc oI silver, 50 il dli not Abolish II, in any
way calculated To ATTRACT attention. II contains
no clause or word specially naming or referring
TO the o'a silver dollar: What it contains, after
tis section speeitynG tle aldoront soins Of gold
regulates, is d general clause prohibiting the
Issue VI any coins not specified III the act. THIS
general CLAUSE. Of course, Include. The old silver
oasE aosf and sa u shst THy s frtsr her
future, unit. there SHOULD be new Legislation.
But It is easy enough to comprehend how this
might have escaped attcnti0n.
:, The uct Of Feb. II, 1873, originated In tho
As hu prepared 1t, anu as tin House passcl It,
It provided for silver dollar OF the cxuCt value
OF 4 French Ave-franc piccc, and confor1ned tho
smaller silver coins TO tho sono proportfonate
ell since 1853 the silver colns below ono dollar
were under weight, and therefore mere token
currency, aud tender for only five dollars. The
new feature introduced by Mr. Hooper was all
Hndcr.wslshs ' dollar, and 4 NJ being mere to-
power 10 dye tiolIara. III >poIut OF principie,
thern was nothing new in tllat,: There WIS no
drtnonct!1lng Of lhc' old silver dollar in NJ,
Hooper's bill sni no assertion In any form, d.
rect or implied, of IN authority In Congress 10
dr,nonct!ze any, gold or silver cosn Of full
weight and standard.
In tho scnatc, among other amendments, ono
s was aopt .sSnt viz r aae. s,n.e "S5d eSa Of dis
dollar, ulid substituting tile trade dollar. slight
" exceeding the old dollar In weight, and ut tho
sa.ue time llm!ttng, tts 1cgsl'icnd0s capacity to
o.. This was undoubtedly an assertion of .
power 1n Cnngrcas 10 denOnotiz0 silver Ut full
Weight, but tfut wns added ut tElc end of tho
lcGaIativu proceedings In relation 10 thu mattcr
It formed ilo part ot the bill, The printing Of
wh!cl. tieyen tn,ea, and ths consideration Of
ostentatiously para!et. II wan ono Of thosc
tl,tngs 30 often Slipped Into lava Ut tsa very
lat Monent, ,c1 ana % essentially changing thetr
ssryaton, and tho House never acted upon II ut
ali. dxrcpt to rcjcet 1t pro forlna mud eunu The
bill to conference co.nn.!ttee.
tize the oil ,1iycr dol!ar, sud tho fuct
Tint the prohtbiton of It's cofnagc waa
effected by. genera! clause attractctl
no attelltloli IN or out VI Congress, The actual
currency ot thp country wns papcr. Tbs Pacific
Soset, which proluced silver, hatl III tho trade
dollar lMst wllut 1t wanted for export to China
and lnd!a, suti It wus u nobody matter Of
practical hnportaure,, for tho ttma lclng, that
The eoinnso Vi the Oil silver dollar was M longer
1cnan,inblr ut the Mint. Substantially nobody,
cyecpt the few who wCrv in the secret, know
what bud beer, dong, or anticipated wliAs was
sool afler planned and executed by falsara-
tIuh Of tbs Ilcylacl Statutca,
The President Of the United 6tatea was GER
tatnly kept III lgnnraMeU, as we find him writing,
IN the 9th OF October. 1873, to ME. Cowdrpy,
banker:
~ wondcr: TINT stlyeris not already coming
into .l.s market 20 supply the do!yiersy tn ,hu
prostd that Il takss .bout sio,oo,OVo of tfae-
siollal currency 10 make thu small charge nercs-
aary foF the transaction Of the buslHeas Of tlls
c,o1n.ry, silver will gradually tak' the place q
standard Ut yilues, which will be hoardea III .
small Way. esll.nats that tlls w!l consu.ns
from SsoO. .0o0 01u tu tSoy poo 0l In tne, of this
spcctcs u ONT circulating medium. . :. !