The Leavenworth weekly times., 1878-02-21
REMONETlZATlON OF SILVER
THE R:NErALLsC STANDARD.

IL l. nON - boN Ob as&s-
THE R:NErALLSC STANDARD.
speech of Hon. Dudley &. Haskell.
OF Kansas, In she House Of akepre. |
Sensatives, saturday, February .,
1S1S.
The House being as In Committee Of the
whole on the state of the Union
Mr.. HASKELL, said:
Mr. SPEAKER: The right of Congress to
restore the silver dollar Of il2! grains stan
dard silver to Its original place in the coin
age of the United States seems TO be no
longer seriously questioned, though brief
review Of some of cur earlier coinage acts
may not be considered out of place here.
The Mint act of 1892 was the law uader
which our coinage actually began, and con-
tanned this provision:
There shall be struck and coined from lime
TO time, at the said mint, dollars or units each
10 be OF tine value OF a Spanish milled dollar
as the same is now current and To contain
S1l14 grains Of pure or 4l6 grains OF standard
silver.
By this act the silver not the gold IDOL
lar was made the monetary unit, primarily
then when in a contract the world dollar"
was used it meant the s.irer dollar Of STA
grains of pure silver.
This act with reference to the silver dol
lar remained in force until 1887, when its
weight was reduced to 4l2l grains and its
fineness was increased. During all these
years from 1892 to 1887 silver circulated to
the almost entire exclusion Of gold, for the
reason that the gold coins were worth more
as bullion than as coin, and consequently
went out OF circulation into the melting
pot In 1884 the gold eagle, which by act
of 1892 had been made TO contain 2.Ograins
grains with its tineness fixed at 9l6i, was
reduced to 25S grains in weight, and the
fneness was reduced to S99 225. The fine
ness was again changed in 1887 to 900, %
parts pure gold to l part alloy See
Money and Legal Tender, Linderman.)
From this date until 1873 the relative CON-
ditions OF gold and the silver dollar which
had existed from 1892 to 1887 were exactly
reversed the silver dollar became worth
more as bullion than as coin, and went out
{ + circulation into the melting pot, the pre-
MUM on the silver dollar measured gold)
about the date Of its demonetization being
lO3l2
1t will be noticed in this connection that
IN readjusting the ratio lbetween gold and
silver in 1887 the overweighted or most
| valuable coin was reduced or sought to be
| reduced to the level of the cheaper coin or
| monetary unit, the silver dollar, and that
| in this the debtor interest was protected.
We are now asked to increase the weight of
| the cheaper coin, If it is re-established at
| all, to the detriment of the debtor interest
and the enhancing of the creditor interest,
and that, too, when the public and private
debtor interest is enormously large. Ii in
1884 it was thought best for the general
good not to increase the burden of debt OBJ
legations, but rather to tighten them, how
much more does the best interests of our
debt-ridden people at this time demand that
| l. any change is to be made in our coinage
laws it be made in the interest of the debtor
rather than that of the creditor? We do
not ask this. We are not asking for the re-
lief of the debtor interest as against the
creditor, but for even and exact justice; for
| the repeal of that act whereby las it has
mated against, and the restoration OF that
status which existed at the time the great
body of our debts were contracted; but our
friends who put themselves on record as in
favor of the single gold standard and legal
tender insist that the ten billion OF public
and private Indebtedness shall be allowed
4 u llitIcdsS as thS VI Soiu
may increase and the difference between the
gold dollar and the silver one (which was
not only our monetary unit but the measure
Of the value of our contracts) grows greater
and greater.
And now since our anti-silver men are
wont to denounce our argument as weak
and untenable, let me quote from one of
| their own apostles that If perchance we "out
Il nf thair he nnpIap,v, sha,,,v thox,
may respect the logic by which it is done /:
| Debts payable in coin are in effect payable
| in commodities. A coined dollar before 1873
in this country was not an imaginary unit,
i but = physical aciuality composed of il215
grains Of silver, or 2S.S grams of gold. In all
commercial transactions common honesty
\ also requires that the dollar shall always be
treated as a commodity 1. e. that its name
| shall always indicate a given fineness and
| weight of metal. A bushel is not an imagin-
| ary measure of capacity: yard is not an i'm
| aginary measure of length pound is not an
| imaginary measure of weight, and a dollar
| ought not TO be regarded in any sense an
| imaginary measure of value. Again, debts
| payable in coin dollars are stipulated rights
| TO speci eproperty, and in both law and NOR
ais should be held equally sacred with prop
1 erty itself Any interference with the rights
| CT contracts is only form of theft or robbery.
| 1t is true that there has never been any ma
| tional law requiring that coin contracts shall
| be payable in gold and silver coins of the
| weight and fineness established by law at the
| time the contracts are m ide, but is generally
| recognized nevertheless As a moral and con-
stitutIonal obligation to pay in the same
number of grains of pure metal as the law re-
quired when given contract was made.
proclaim that this hereafter must be the
| known, conceded, and recognized rule.
There is no reason furthermore why this
| rule should not be applicable to all debts con-
| tracted when silver was a practicable legal
| tender, even If silver is permanently depre-
| ciated and if its full remsnetiza'ion will not
/ restore II to pair with go!d.-Ddrid Il. Wells in
Then he said:
But concedips all this IL would be expe-
dent for the.debtor to inquire whether he is to
be the least benefited by the proposed full
and unlimited remonetizstion of silver.
We will treat of this further on, after
quoting another anti "dollar-of-the- faith
ers" authority, (Dr. Linderman, director of
the Mint who says on page ia of his
book entitled Gold and Legal Tender:
| On the lith Of July, 1870, an act to author
| lie the refundfng OF the national debt was ap-
proved which authorized the sale, exchange
| and issue of prescribed amounts 5, AZ and 4
| per cent. bonds, redeemable in ''cOin of the
| present standard value" at the pleasure of
| the United States, after certain periods NAM
| ed, the interest payable in such coin. Strictly
| construed the words ''coin of the present
| standard va ne" as used in this act must be
| regarded as meaning the full legal tender
coins which at the time represented the mon
ey of account; that is, all the gold coins COIN
| ed at the rate Of 25S grains, nine-tenths fine
| TO the dollar, and the silver dollar of 4I2L
grains Of the same fineness.
Evidently thus far the law and the pre-
cedent are both on our side. "But," say
our anti-silver friends. these holders of our
bonds 'erpeeted to be paid in gold" To this
l reply that our obligation to pay our pub
lie debt is a statutory obligation, and not
one of expectation" or "supposition." All
are presumed In Enov tho iaw ond tho lou