The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-02-14

J
If break over the barriers erected between
f it and new fields of spoilage that lie be
= yond. The silver dollar came to u
g with the birth of our government. 1
o was devised as q unit of value b.
IS Thomas Jefferson and adopted by Con
!. gress in the days Of Washington, Ham
: ilton and Morris. 1t stood as honoreC
4 as gold through every storm that bea
g upon the government. 1t is associated
: with all our development, our strength
s our growth and our glory. With it a
= a currency, more than any other, the
. picket lines of civilization have pushed
! westward. The pioneer in the shAdOW
3 of the great forests or on the wide
prairies, toiled to lay it by, one by one
\ until the coveted sum of one hundred
lay before him. Then tightening the
girths of his saddle, he rode with speed
TO the distant land office, where the gov
eminent took his one hundred silver
dollars for eighty acres of land, which
; thenceforward became that most blessed
spot of earth, home; q home where
trees were planted, where children we're
born and grew to be men and women,
and then in turn went f ,rth into the
great world, still TO the west, there to
i've over again In labor and privation
the lives OF the father and mother lett
behind
The silver dollar Is particularly the
laboring mans dollar, as tar as he may
desire specie. When specie payments
we're authorized before the war il was
the favorite currency with the people,
and it will be so again whenever q gen
eral circulation of coin is obtained, if
that shsIl ever happen. Throughout
all the financial panics thst have as
sailed this country no man has been
bold enough to raise his hand to strike
it down; no man has ever dared to
whisper of q contemp'at' d assault upon
IL; and when the hour of its danger and
destruction drew nigh. when the l2.h
day of February, 1873, approached, :he
day of doom to the American dol sr, the
dollar of our fathers, how silent WAS the
work OF the enemy Not a sound, not
| q word, no note of warning to the
American people that their favorite coin
was about to be destroyed as money
that the greatest financial revolution OF
modern times was in contemplation and
about to be accomplished against their
highest and dearest rights The tax
payers of the u oited St1tss were no |
more notified or consulted on this nc
mentous measure than the slaves on |
southern plantation before The war,
when their master made up his mind to |
increase Their task or to change them |
from corn field to a cotton field. |
Never since the foundation of this gov
eminent has n law OF such vital and |
tremendous import, or indeed of any |
importance at all, crawled into our |
statute books so furtively and 50 noiss-
lessly as this. LIS en- 4ctment there was
as completely unknown to the people,
and indeed to four-tlfLhs of Congress it.
self, as the presence of burglar In a
house at midnight is TO its sleeping in.
mates. This was re ldered possible part Y
because the clsndestine movement WAS
so utterly unexpett I'd, and partly from
the nature of the bill in which it oc-
Cured. the silver dollar of American
history was demonetized in an act en-
titled IAN act revising and amending
the laws relative to the minis, assay
Offices, and coinage of the UnIted
States" The svowed and ostensitjfe
purpose of this act is set forth by DR..
Lindermsn, the director O. the mint,
in his recent work on Money and Legal
Tender. After citing very fully the
legislation of this county on the sub.
ject OF minis and coinage, he says:
There were, however, provisions OF
law, conflicting in their character, as to
the relative powers and duties of the
Secretary of the Treasury aud the
directors of the mint. To remedy this
and to consolidate coinage ensctments |
were the chief objects of the act ap- I
proved February IL, 1878, revising and
amending the laws relative TO the C
minis, assay ffices, and coinage of the u
United States"
This act embraces sixty-seven sec Q
tons, and fills twelve closely printed !
pages of the seventeenth volume of the {
u nited States statutes at large. From Il
this voluminous and prolix measure, a
pr claiming, as it did, other and totally,
different objects to accomplish, it was a
poly necessary to silently omit the few y
words that for nearly a hundred years a
mad q Dated the oil familiar dollar as a
'ull legal tender down the stream of p"
Time. This WAS done in the fifteenth d
lection, which quote in full IN order ="
hat the people may see for themselves o.
exactly how this great wrong was ef- p
'ected. 1t reads as follows:
"That the silver coins of tho U nited II
States shall be a trade dollar, a half b
iollar or fifty cent piece, q quarter IL
lollar or twenty-five cent piece, ssdime 0,
IT ten cent piece; and the weight of the 9
rade dollar should be 420 grains troy; CO
he weight of the halt dollar shall be Al
welve grains (grsmmes) and one-half e'
# a gram (gramme); the quarter dollar u
nd the dime shall be respectively one pi
.alf and one-fifth of the weight of said e'
Ialf dollar; and said coins shall be a lu
ooI at thar nominal valua for | re
NY amount not exceeding five dollars OF
q any one payment" ~
Thus it will be seen that in declaring
that the silver coins of the United 70
itates should be, the dollar, so long i'm III
edded in our history, was dropped, o.
terally throw away as useless; and re
mother coin, styled a trade dollar, of 10
10 service to the people as legal tender, 10
1as inserted in its place; or, as the Pt
irector of the mint expresses j.: CO
"Under the provisions OF this act the 10
oinage and issue was discontinued, OF u
he silver dollar Of 4l21 grains, the AT
hrse cent silver piece, and Ihe two cent 10
rome piece" q
And by subsequent act Of Congress, h'
uly %, 1876, the legal tender quality OF
f the trade dollar for even the email ~
mount of five dollars WAS repealed, and To
ow it is not q legal tender for any ID
hing, or any amount.
But, sir, having pointed out the false :,
under cover of which the =.
american silver dollar was eliminated :.
rom our mouAy system, it yet remains =,
D inquire into the real reasons for such ~
q act. In ths first place had silver ~
allied in its functions IS specie basis -,
ny more than gold2 Had it been "
Ound any less capable than it's twin h
METAL in UNFOLDING a psper currency Ia
n which the commerce and business OF :,
be world has been transacted since the ~
of civiliz 4tion7 These two -
Metals of gold and silver have come -