New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-03-06
THE SILVER BILL.

HE SILVER BILL.
Full Text of.hePresident'sve Veto MESA &c.
To the House of Representatives -
After very careful consideration of
House bill 1913, entitled, s1sAn act to author
ize the coinage of the standard silver dol
lar and to restore its legal tender charac-
ter" | feel compelled to return it to tie
House OF representatives, in which it orig
mated with my objections to its passage.
Holding the opinion which depressed in
my annual message that neither the inter
ests of the government nor the people of
the United States would be promoted by
'disparaging silver as one Of the two pre-
cious metals which furnish the coinage of
the world, and that legislation which
looks. to maintaining the volume of in
trinsic money to as full measure OF both
metals as their relative commercial values
will permit, would be neither unjust nor.
inexpedient, it has been my earnest desire
to concur with Congress in the adoption
OF such measures to increase the silver
coinage OF the country as would not i'm
pair the obligation of contracts either
public OF private, nor injuriously affect
the public credit. I'll only upon con
viction that this bill does not meet these
essential requirements that I feel it my
duty to withhold from it my approval
My present official duty as to this bill
permits only an attention to specific OBJ
jections to its passage which seem to- me
SO important as to justify me in asking
from the wisdom and duty of Congress
that further consideration of the bill for
which the constitution has in such cases
provided. st
The bill provides 4or the coinage of sill
yer ldollars of the weight of 412 1-2
grains each, Of standard ksilver, to be le-
gal tender at their nominal value for all
debts and dues, public and private, ex-
cept where otherwise expresslylstipulated
in the contracts. It is we'll known that
the market value OF that number of
grains OF Standard silver during the past
year has been from ninty to ninty-two
cents, as compared with the standard
gold dollar. Thus the silver dollar, au-
thorizedah y this bill, is worth s to 10 per
cent. lesslthan it purports to be worth and
is made a legal tender for debts con
tracted when the law did not recognize
such coins as lawful money. The right to
pay duties in silver OF in certificates of
silver deposits will when they are issued
in sufficient amount to circulate put
an end to the receipts of revenue value in
gold and thus compel the payment Of
silver for both the principal and interest
Of the public debt. $l,143, 493 400 dol
lars Of the bonded debt now outstand-
ing was issued prior to February, 1878,
when the silver dollar was unknown in
circulation in this country, and was only
convenient form of silver bullion for ex-
portation.
$583,440,350 Of the funded debt has
been issued since February, 1878, when
gold alone was the coin in which both
parties to the contract understood that
the bonds would be paid. These bonds
entered into the markets of the world.
They were paid for in gold, when silver
had greatly deprecated and when no.
one would have bought them if it had
been understood they would be paid in
silver. The sum OF 1926, 100000 Of these
bonds has been sold during my admins
tration for gold coin, and the United
states received the benefit of these sales,
by a reduction OF the rate of interest to
4 per cent. During the progress Of these
sales a doubt was suggested as to the
coin in which the payment of these bonds
would be made. The public announce
ment was thereupon authorized that it
was not to be anticipated that any furth-
er legislation Of Congress, or any action
Of any department Of the government
would sanction or tolerate the redemption
of the principal of these bonds, or the
payment of interest thereon in coin Of
less value than the coin authorized by
law at the time of the issue of the bonds,
being the coin exacted by the govern
ment in exchange for the same. In view
of these facts it will be justly regarded
as grave breach of the public faith to
undertake to pay these bonds, principal
and interest, in silver: coin, worth in the
market less than the coin received for
them.
It is said that the silver dollar made a
legal tender by this bill, will, under its
operations, be equivalent in value to the
gold dollar. Many supporters Of the bill
believe this, and would not justify an at
tempt to pay debts, either public or pri-