Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-12-20
TERMS, s2.oo PER YEAR
WHOLE NO. 1910.

Fconsideratlon1m Congress as this one.
None, perhaps have passed with few.
err signs OF hasty or surreputions act
ion. Practically 1t has. PASSED twice
in the Senate and twice III The House
having been iundesH eonsideration by
two Congresses, iir the course {. which
it was printed no less Tthah thirteen
times, and all the time, beth in com,
mittee and in open session, the section
1 dropping the silver dollar 4f2I grains
stood unchanged, aahhough frequently
the subject of debate. 1918 aid IL a.,
The bill was before, the o Senate
from April Is, 1870, till January 10,
1871 receiving full discussion aud
consideration 1t passed that body
| by yeas 36, nays Ii, In the House of
Representatives it was taken in
charge by MIR. w. d. Kelley, of
Penn, who engineered" il through
the committee and through the
House, and who is now, in his cham
piouship oithe"dollar of the fathers, :"
fit subject for laughter for code
and men, Iu Que seuse Mr.. Kelley
may be called the father of the bill,
since he introduced it in the begin>
ming of the Forty-second Congress.
rescuing il from the rubbish heap
into which it had fallen at the expir-
alton of the Forty first. % Mr..
Kelley's motion it was referred To
the Committee on Coinage, aud
by him reported back from that
committee January O. 1872 Mr.
Kelley stated to the House that the
bill had been very carefully consid
cred by the committee of the former
Congress, and had been re-examiDed
in all its parts by the new commit
tee, who approved it and recommend
it's passage. The bill was then re.
committed. On the 9th of February
it was reported back with an amend
ment. and again recommitted. On
the 18th February it was report sd
back with further amendments and
made the special order for March IL.
The task of explaining the bill by
sections was assigned to Mr.. Hoop
err, of Massachusetts, who made q
speech on it filling eleven columns
OF the Globe. A protracted debate
ensued upfn the various subjects
embraced in il, and attention was
called to the fact that the silver dol
lar had been droppeu from the list
of coins, this being in1 Mr.. Kelley's
opinion, one of the most meritorious
clauses of the bill. The old silver
dolars, he said, would be worth 81
cents more than gold dollars, If any
of them could be fonnd, but they
were not to be found, they existed
only in collections OF curiosities. AS
for the double standard, he added
that such thing was impossible.
We quote his exact words from the
debate on this bin April 9th, 1872:
"The silver coin of EugIandis ten
per cent below the value of gold
coin: and acting under the advice
Gfniglaff ssrFid Of Wis eoun.ry and OF
made her silver coinage within tue
last year twelve percent below the
value of gold coiu, and for this, rea-
son ii is impossible to retain me. doaotes
standard. The values Of gold and
silver continually fucinate. You
cannot determine this year what
will be the relative values of gold
and silver next year. They were
l5! TO short time ago. They |
are Is to j COW, Hence all expert
ence has shown that you mast fOpe
one standard coin ,chich shall be b -le-.l
qa1 tender for all Others, and then |
sou may promote your domestic
convenience by having a subsidiary |
coinage of silver which shall circn-
hate 10 all parts Of your country o. as
legal tender for limited amount,
and be redeemable at it's face value
by your government"
Mr. Hooper speaking TOR the Com
mittee said: - 30
"The silver dollar Of Az! graius,
by reason of its bullion or intrinsic
value being greater than it's nominal
value, long since ceased TO bea coin
of circulation and is melted by man
ufacturers as silver ware. 1t does
not circulate now in commercial
transactions with any country, and
the convenience Of these manufac-
.urers in this respect can better be
met by supplying small stamped
bars OF the same standard, avoiding
the useless ex 1ense OF coming the
dollar for that purpose" T LII
This was a sound and philosophIc-
al reason for dropping an obsolete
and useless coin, but our present
purpose is merely TO show how utt7
erly reckless and -untruthful is the
statement that the bill, or this feature
of it, was passed inn surrepltous
manner. Mr.. Potter, oflNew York.
called attention to the fact thai the
bill made legal lender coin of only one
metal. and not rs heretofore, OF two.
But the House seemed to DE entire
lly4satisfied with Mr.. Kelley's expia-
nation that double standard was
impossible, and finally passed tho
bill, May q 1872, by yeas no. nays
I3 I'd, ,.e.
Bat this WAS not The end of the
surreptitious action. Coming for
ward in new Congress as an orig
inai measure, the bill required to 60.
through tho Senate again as though.
it had never been there before. The
House, moreover, had adopted Ger
tain amendments requiring. careful
consideration, among others, one
making the government responsible
for the loss resulting from the abra-
sion of gold coin, and another pro-
viding for the coinage of q new doi-
lar of 384 grains, proportTohate 40
the value of the subsidiary ceieage
| and legal tender for only FIVE dollars
These and other amendments suffi.
ced to secure for the bib q second
consideration in committee and in.
the senate as thorough as the first
had been. On the 18th of January,
| 1873, this measure, which had been,
surrepititiously shutting about The,
Capitol and sneaking in and ont Of
] the public printing-ofice nearly
three years, was passed the second
time by the Senate--with amend
ments, however, so that it wgs pee.
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