The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1876-11-09


sertion in any form,. direct or implied,
OF an authority in Congress to demone~
tie any gold or silver coir of full weight
and standard.
In the Senate, among other amend
ments, one was, adopted without single
word Of, discussion, striking out Mr..
Hooper's underweighted dollar, and SUBJ
stituting the trade>dollar,. slightly ex.
ceeding the old dollar il weight, and at
the same time limiting its legal-tender
capacity to IS. This was undoubtedly
an assertion of power in Congress to
! demonetize silver of full weight, but
that added at the end of the legislative
proceedings in relation to the matter. It
formed no part OF the bill, the printing
of which eleven times, and the consider
alton of which diving successive ses-
slOns, are now so Ostentatiously para
ded. 1t was one of those things SO often
slipped into laws at the very last mo>
ment, and essentially changing their
character. Tne Senate adopted it with
out observation. and the House never
acted upon it at 81, except to reject it pro
torma and send the bill to q conference
committee.
The act OF Feb. 12, 1873, did not de-
monetize the old silver dollar, and the
tact that the prohibition of its coinage
was effected by general clause at.
tracted no attention in or out OF Congress.
The actual currency was paper The
Pacific coast. which produced silver, had
in the trade dollar just what it wanted
for export to China and India, and it
was to nobody matter OF practical i'm
portance, for the time being, that the
coinage Of the old silver dollar was no
longer demandable at the mint. SUBJ
stantialy nobody, except the few who
were in the secret, knew what lad been
done, or anticipated what was soon af-
ter planned and executed by q falsi6ca-
ton ofthe Revised Statutes.
The. President of the United States was
certainly kept in Ignorance, as we find
him writing, on the 9th of October, 1874.
to Mr.. Cowdrey, q banker:
Il wonder that silver is not already
coming into market to supply the de-,
ficiency in the circulating medium. Ex-
perience has proved the market takes
about SAC, 600 900 of fractional currency
to make the small change necessary for
the transaction of the business OF the
country. Silver will gradually take the
place of this currency, and, further, will
become the standard OF values, which
will be boarded in small wav. I esti>
mated that this will consume from
600, ,000. 900 to $500, ,OOO, 900 in time, OF
this species Of our circulating medium.
confess to q desire to sec limited
boarding Of money. It insures q firm
foundation in time of need. But want
to see the boarding of something that
has standard value the world over :.
Silver mas this -.
"Our n,ihes ARE now producing al.
most unlimited amounts Of silver. and 1t
is becoming. a.AuestjoD, a What shall
txs DO with :itA.. .suggest here' a solu-
tion.that will answef,fOr SOME years, to
put it in circulation, keeping it there un-
| ill it is fixed. and then we will find other
markets.
Gen. Grants more skillful with the
sword than pen. He does not write with
practiced precision Of professor OF poll.
teal economy, but it is plain enough
that he had no idea that silver was only
to be used as q token currency. limited
in its tender capacity to five dollars, and
| only to be substituted for the fractional
paper currency Of forty millions. He
looked to it As q standard Vt values, OF
which portions would be boarded,
which boarding he rather ap-
proved than regretted. He
| saw that two or three hundred millions
| would be absorbed in this way, and he
perceived in tkis, 10 addition to other ad-
| vantages, that OF . market for our
abundant mines, until we Could find
other markets" II everybody else
knew, as is now pretended. that the act
Of Feb. Z, 1873, demonetized silver. the
President who signed the act had cer-
tainly not found il 0ut in the eight month
from February to October.
The truth is, that the final and formal
demonetizing Of silver was effected BY
q clause in the Revised Statutes adopted
IN June 1874, declaring that no silver
coins of the United States should be a
tender beyond IS. That this WAS in
serted improperly and without the
knowledge Of Congress Is not attempted
to be deniAd. That it was contrived
and frandulent in the interest OF those
who pro6ted BY it, is IN inference not
difficult 70 be drawn.
What Congress had directed Was an
exact revision, or consolidation without
change, OF the laws - they existed De-
cember, 1878. The C0mmittee, assured
Il that no matter hsd been inserted.
Gen. Butler. Of the Houss Committee.
always energetic 10 language, declared,
as the Congressional Record will show,
that the volume contains mot
one word and not ono letter. Of
addition TO the old laws. Judge Poland.
Of the same Commi.tee, said the sanne
thing. il NOT with equal emphasis, cer-
tais.iy with the sAme positiveneso.
| But instead Of qo0sing what Jud1e
PoIand snid 70 ths HGase, whsa L w.
acting on ths Revised Statutes. prefer
% qsOes what b has zines more de-
fbsrstsly wFifisa, On IL 4shot Jsnaasy
1876. = : lsnsrts - ssssseaay . -