The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-01-23

/ the greatest financial revolution OF modern
| times was IN contemplation and about to be
| accomplished against their highest and dear
est rights! The tax payers OF the United States
| were no more notified or consulted on this
/ momentous measure than the slaves on a
| southern plantation before the war, when
| their master made up mis- mind to increase
their TASK a. or 10 Snange them nom corn to q
this government has law OF such vital and
tremendous import, or indeed OF any impor-
furtively and SO noiselessly as this. Its enact
| ment there was as completely unknown TO
the people, and indeed to four-ffths OF con-
1 gress ITSELF as the presence of burglar in the
| house at midnight Is to its sleeping inmates.
| This was rendered possible partly because the
pected, and partly from the nature OF the 6ilI
/ In which II occurred. The silver dollar of
american history was oenonetlzed In an act
entitled -AR act revising and amending the
laws relative TO the Inints, assay offices and
| coinage of the United States" The avowed
and osteRstble purpose OF this act Is set forth
| by DIR. Linderman, the director of the mint, in
his recent work on money and legal tender.
After citing very fully the legislation of this
country on the SUBJECTS OF minis and coinage,
he says:
"There were, however, provisions of law,
| conflicting In their character, as to the rela-
| tive powers and duties OF the secretary of the
! treasury and the director of the mint. To
| remedy this and to consolidate coinage enact
ments were the chief objects of the act APP
| proved February Il, 1873, revising and amend
| Ing the laws relative to the minis, assay
| offices, and coinage OF The United States"
This act embraces sixty-seven sections, and
| hlls twelve closely printed pages of the seven
| teen tn volume OF the United States Statutes at
| Large. From this voluminOus and prOlix
measure, proclaiming, as 1t did, other and
/ totally different objects TO accomplish, it was
| only necessary to silently omit the few words
that for nearly a hundred years had doated the
\ old familiar dollar as a full legal tender down
1 the stream of time. This was done in the If
| teenth section, which quote In full in order
that the people may see for themselves exact
ly how this great wrong was effected. Ii reads
/ as follows:
l ttrrl,
shall be a trade dollar, half dollar fifty cent
piece, O quarter dollar or twenty-five cent
| piece, dime or ten cent piece; and the weight
of the trade dollar shall be APO grains troy the
/ weight of the half dollar shall be twelve grams
| (grammes) and one-half of q gram (gramme)
| the quarter dollar and the dime shall be re-
| spectfveIy one-haIf and one fiftn of the weight
/ OF said half dollar; and said coins shall be a
/ legal tender at their nominal value for any
amount not exceeding five dollars In any one
payment"
Thus il will be seen that In declaring what
| the silver coin of the United States should be,
| the dollar, so long imbedded in our history,
was dropped, literally thrown away useless,
and another coin, styled trade dollar, OF no
service to the people as a legal tender, was in
| serted In its place. or, as the director OF the
| mint expresses it
.Under the provisions of this act the coinage
and issue was discontinued of the silver dollar
of 4l2% grains, the three cent silver piece, the
| FIVE cent silver piece, and the two cent bronze
| piece"
| And by a subsequent act of congress, July p
1876, the legal tenuer quality of the trade dollar
| for even the small amount OF five dollars was
| repealed, and now it is not a legal tender for
| But, sir, having pointed out the false pre-
| lenses under cover of which the American sill
| yer dollar was eliminated from our money sys-
| tenn, 1t yet remains to inquire into the real
| reasons for such an act. In the first place, had
1 silver failed in Its functions as specie basis
any more than gold? Had IL been found any
lees capable than its twin metal in upholding
| a paper currency on which the commerce and
business Of the world has been transacted since
the. beginning OF civilization? These two
| metals OF gold and silver have come down to
| US together, from the days of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. They were in great Abundance and
| in high favor when Israel built her temple and
| adorned the city OF Jerusalem. They crept
| along the shores and islands of the Mediterra-
mean, hand in hand, as arbitrary factors In
| human affairs. They spread over Europe, as
inseparabLe allies, during the dark and bsroar-
| fall OF Rome and the discovery OF the art Of
printing. the revival of learning, in the hf-
teentn century. The cupidity of man has
delved into the. earth, toiled across the
stormy seas, broken solemn treat
les, eo sworn false oaths, murdered h,r
alike for them both. The Spaniard and the
Portuguese swept whole races in the West In
into slavery and then out of existence in their
accurSed greed and thirst for gold AMI silver.
Throughout all our colonial history these
that no convuisio1 could tear asunder. Ana
| when our government emerged, weary and
| blood stained, from the revolution, cur fai hers
found them both standing together on our
threshold as a mighty tradition of all the past:
| They were adopted together as our measure of
values because other nations had done the
same. They entered their career as American
money together, equal In dignity before the
they were introduced into each new incoming
| state II our expanding Union on terms of abb
solute equality. We find by article 1, section
"No state shall coin money; emit
bills of credit; make anything but gold and
silver coin q tender in payment of debts"
Il n IL
lenge every page Of American his
tory to show single instance in which the
| and as r. liable as the gold dollar. L challenge
| the sad records OF every financial alarm, panic
or crash that ever befell us to show where for
| a single day or hour silver was not as intrepid
| and fearless in the money market as gold.
From 1872 to 1873, from the coinage of the
| American silver dollar to the day of its insid-
ioas destruction, 81 years. gold and sill Ser never
| nuctuated In their relation to each other bat q
fraction over per cent, and during most OF
that time silver money ranked higher than
| gold money, and did so the day IL was destroy
| ed. II is true that both these metals, so pre-
| cious in the traditions of mankind, broke
, down al once when this government was call
| ed on to fight or Its life, when the ultimate
and extreme necessity of the honr demanded
| a money stronger than them both, based on
the confidence of the people that their gov
eminent would live and not oiei yet
| when they fell, they fell together. Meth.
| ar the one nor The other nor both
united were sufficient 10 make even a respect
} able struggle for nation Il existence, and they
cannon, but silver did not fee any sooner MOI
get under cover any quicker than gold. II
may then, 1 think, be safely assumed in The
light OF all experience that the real reason fol
demonetiZing silver Is not to be found In III
) failure to be the peer under all circumstances,
in all ages and in all nations of the other
precious metal which has now become sc
strangely, 50 suddenly, and so surreptitiousy
exalted In the eyes of the money power as the
sole standard of values.
! Pursuing our inquiry, therefore, on this
point we come next a on one of the principal
reasons nov assigned for Abandoning silver
| coin money. IL is ne that the sincerity OF
! | this reason is open to the suspicion which
, always taints an argument brought forward
E as an after thought 70 justify an act
E time of its passage, but nevertheless IL shal
: | be fairly considered even at this late day. II
1 | is now urged with great vehemence by the
4 | advocates of the gold standard alone, that be