The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-07-27
The silver Dollar Net q Legal
TeR0ers

The coinage act of 1873 did not
destroy the legal-tender character
of the standard silver dollar, SO
far as it had been coined and was
in existence, but dropped that
coin out of our future mintage,
and thus indirectly provided for
its extinction as money. Still,
under that act, il would have been
competent for the Secretary of
the Treasury, in calling bonds for
payment, to employ all the silver
dollars he had on hand toward the
discharge of principal and inter
est. The act had limited the !e-
gal-tender capacity only of the
enumerated silver coins, by pro-
viding that ''said coins shall be a
legal tender at their nominal val
ne for any amount not exceeding
five dollars in any one payment"
AS the old silver dollar was not
one of 1said coins,' it was not in
cluded In the legal tender restric-
ton.
Subsequent legislation, however,
has altered the fifteenth section
of the act of February 18th, 1878,
in two important particulars.
That section left the trade
dollar a legal tender to
the extent of five dollars in any
one payment; but the subsidiary
coin act of July 18th, 1876, pro-
vided ''that the trade dollar shall
not hereafter be legal tender"
Further, when the Revised Stat
utes of the United States were
adopted by Congress as a code
of laws, the provisions of the
coinage act of 1873 had been so
restated as to work the destruc-
ton of the legal-tender character
of the old silver dollar in pay
ments above five dollars. Here
are the various provisions as they
stand in the revised statutes:
SEC. 3.5:3. The silver coins of the
United States shall be a trade doTlar;a halS
dollar, or fifty-cent piece; a quarter-dollSr
or twenty-five cent piece; a dime. or ten
cent piece; the weight Of the trade dollar
shall be 42O grains troy; the weight of the
one-half gram (eQual to 1872 grains);
the quarter-dollar and the dime shall be
respectively one half and one-fifth of the
weight of the half dollar.
SEC. 3,516. No coins either Of gold,
silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter
be issued from the mint other shan of the
denominations, standard. and weights set
forth in this title.
SEC. 1856. The silver coins OF the
United States shall be legal tender at
their nominal value for any amount not
exceeding five dollars in any one pay.
ment.
This last section, has degraded
the old silver dollar to a level with
the subsidiary silver coins, and
is equivalent to new act, carry
ing demonstration to q greater
extreme than was contemplated
by the act of 1873. It is certain
~ strange that such a change
should have been made. Authori-
ty to make it was conferred by
the legislation which provided for
the condition of the laws. The
object was to compile into eonsis
tent and useful whole all acts or
parts OF acts in force new legis-
lation was no part of the plan.
Congress accepted the work done
in committee room on assurances
of its legitimate character. No sus-
picion of alterations of meaning
seems to have been excited at the
time, but various changes have
since been discovered.
From first to last this silver
business has been one long enig-
ma, besides being a great blunder,
to say the very least. Fortunate
~ it is not too late to retrace our
steps and to remedy the wrong.
Public opinion in favor of remone
tization of silver is becoming
stronger from week to week.
Even in the East opposition is
weakening. A short bill passed
by the next Congress restoring
tae old silver dollar would settle
the whole controversy. It is GER
tain that such q bill will be in
troduced at the coming session,
and that it will receive a power
full support. If the general voice
of the people is needed it will be-
come q law.-Inter Ocean.