Arizona citizen., 1878-02-22
THE CITIZEN.
The Silver BiII.

looming up as great Issue before the country, and has in the present Con- gress, become so prominent as to cause all other issues to disappear. It is in no way political or rather a party question, leading members of both parties being found working earnestly on either side, but it has become a sectional measure almost entirely.
 The eastern or more strictly, the northeastern States are, excepting Penn sylvania, solidly for a single metallic standard, while the western and south erD States are equally as solid for the bimetallic standard. The Pacific States, excepting of course Nevada, do not seem to have taken any defined posi- ton Tn the discussion. Senators Sar- gent and Mitchell are Tn favor of gold alone, while Senators Booth and Grover desire the remonitization of silver. The representatives from the Pacific Coast are also divided in near ly the same ratio. As the subject is of such interest and importance to the entire country a brief resume of the various Acts of Congress, bearing upon the question, is here presented 10 our readers.
 After the close of the war of the rebellion when affairs began to settle, grave doubts were entertained as to what construction would be placed upon the various acts issuing United States bonds ard providing for the pay ment thereof, as it was not decided whether the bonds and interset there on would be paid in coin or in a depreciated currency. This rendered the finances uneasy and prevented any measures being taken 10 refund the public debt, and lessen the inlolerable burden or heavy interest To remedy this eWl, therefore, the then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Hon. John Sherman, present Secretary of the Treasury, in 1868, reported a bill, which became a law, to strengthen the public credit" which provided that both the principal and interest of the public debt would be paid in coin At that time, both silver and gold were legal tender, and could be employed to liquidale indebitness equally one with the other, though, as silver was the more pondcrable coin, gold was pre- ferrcd
 The double or bimetallrc standard remained until 1873. Up to that year the coinage at the hints was made by virtue of various laws passed at many different times. For the purpose of consolidating these laws a bill was presented to the House in 1873, to regulate the coinage" This bill be- came law and, hidden away within its ample liRits, the first attack on silver coinage was well screened from public gaze. In enumerating the diff terent coins that would alone be is sued, the silver dollar was omitted and has not since, in consequence been made. In 1874, Congress approved the Revised Statutes as a whole, not considering section by section. In these statutes, in some way at present unknown, was inserted a provision limiting the legal tender quality of silver to five dollars. Thus was silver surreptitiousl t demonltized. The gold ltes, as all those who oppose the rcmon- itization of silver are called, vehement ly assert that silver was not fraudulent y deprived of its money value, but are not able, in reply to many public chal- lenges to do 50, to refer 10 a single speech by public man or q single newspaper article of 1872, '73 and '74, stating that silver was to be or had been demonitiZed. When in 1875 and '16, greenback rose in value, because Of the approach Of the date fixed for resumption of specie payments, and silver had decreased sU in value. be- cause of its demoniqzation in Ger many, that silver and greenbacks could be used interchangeably, it, for the first time, became generally known throughout the country that silver was no longer a legal tender for more than five dollars. The immediate protest that then was made against the fraudu- lent silver legislation was equalled only by the general desire, to lave silver again made money that prevail. cd throughout the west and south. What is known now as the Bland Silver Bill. was introduced at the first session of Congress following the dis cOverY, but was not much discussed ! because more information was wanted on the whole subject of money. Sena 1 tor Jones, who is the originator, cham pion and most able advocate of the i Silver Bill, then had the silver com. mission appointed of which he was Chairman. For nine months the com ! mission labored hard and collected | the vast number of data and reached l the strong conclusions embodied in | the report of the Monetary Commis- sion that has frequently been referred | to in these columns. As soon as the | report was made pubic, the west and I