Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-01-02


on both metals but Congress did NO,
adopt his recommendation. He rec
commended that the unit should be
based upon both metals, and therefore
recommended the coinage Of . gold
dollar and silver dollar as well but
when Congress passed the Mint act
of 1892 they omitted the recommends.
ton of Mr.. Hamilton, and continued
the unit of value upon the silver dol.
lar established in 1856, reducing the
number of fine grains of silver from
1854 to 81 4 grains.
In lS49 the coinage of q gold dollar
was authorized, but that coinage was
not made the unit of value, nor was
| gold coin made the money of account
by law. Then again in 1853 this gold
dollar was found not to be sufficient
to supply the wants of the people in
the way of small currency, and it be-
came necessary for Congress to de-
base the fractional silver coins in or
der to keep them in circulation. The
law Of 1853 was passed for that ress-
on and from that time forward our
debased silver coin continued In cir
culation, and the silver dollar, being
undervalued, was not coined at the
Mint, because the holders of silver
bullion could make . profit by export
ing to countries where silver was
more highly valued as compared with
gold but by law the silver dollar re-
NAMED the unit of value and full
legal tender until the act of February
10, 1873, made the gold dollar the unit
Of value. OF course, the practice of
the country was to estimate all values
upon gold coin before la6O aud after
1850, because that became, owing to
its generalization, the chief metallic
currency of the country.
Therefore take it for granted that,
40 far "a the law is concerned, the
purchasers of our bonds must have
understood that both gold and silver
constituted the coin of this country.
They not only understood it from the
law itself, but from the statements and
representations of the men who at the
time negotiated these loans on behalf
Of the Government. / have here .
report made by Mr.. Chase, then Sec
retary of the Treasury, on the lst of
December, 1862, in which he discusses
at some length paper money, and
then says:
The Secretary recommends, there
fore, no mere paper-money scheme,
but, on the contrary, series of meas
ures looking to safe and gradual re-
turn TO gold and salver as the only per-
manent basis, standard, and measure
of values recognized by the Constitu-
ton, between which and an irredeem-
able paper currency, az he believes,
the choice is now to be made.
| Therefore the Secretary of the
Treasury, in his annual report, after
large loan had been negotiated by
him in 1862, under the act of Febru.
ary %, 1862, states that the money of
this country must be the constitution
al money Of the nation, namely, gold
and silver.
| But the people abroad who pur-
chased our bonds labored under NO
mistake with reference to the laws of
this country. In 1867 there was an
international monetary conference in
France, at which conference the Uni
ted States were represented under the
authority of the Secretary of State.
The American delegate in that con-
ference undertook to make tho assem-
bled delegates from the nations of the
earth believe that in this country we
had but single standard. read
from the report of Samuel B. Rug
giles, made to Secretary Seward:
Mr.. Ruggles excused himself from
voting upon an important question
"because he does not understand the
question. The United States would
not consent to accept any fixed rela-
ton between gold and silver. The
double standard is abolished when
this relation no longer exists"
The president Of that conference "re-
minded Mr.. Ruggles that the double
standard still exists in the United
States, and of course the relation be-
tween gold and silver, which is to
1872
/ There were representative from all
or nearly all of the civilized nations
of the world assembled in the city of
Paris with a view Of establishing an
international money, and with view
of having a uniformity of money, at
which the president of that confer
ence reminded the American delegate
that we had in this country double
standard-silver and gold-and that
the relation fixed was l6 to /.
Can it be claimed, then, that the
purchasers of our bonds from 1860 to
l773, if you please, were ignorant oi
the character of our legislation with
reference to the coin of our country
The chief purchasers of our bonds be-
l lQE1 n~I 1919 ~,,ouc Hn11a nd
Germany, and France, and In each
and all of these countries the single
silver standard existed, or the double
standard of silver and gold. Ger
many by the conference Of 1857, es.
tablished the single standard of sill
yer. They never changed that stan
; dard in the slightest degree until
1871. Therefore, when Germany be.
came the purchaser of our United
States bonds, Germany had sole sill
yer standard, and knew nothing, 90
far as the money of account was con.
cerned, of gold at all. France had the
double standard and Holland had the
single standard Of silver. Surely
then, it cannot be claimed for sin,
gle moment, it seems to me, that be.
because at that time it was worth
more than gold, our statute laws did
, not contemplate a. the coins of thil
country both silver and gold and the
established relation by the taw Of
d 1884 Of 16 to1.
As I said before, the whole argu
, ment of the Senators who oppose thii
resolution, 10 based upon the idea tina
: 4l2h grains Of silver will not b,
| worth as much as 25.S grains Of gold
, That will depend upon the legisla
ton hereafter to take place. Who il
there that doubts for . moment bu
! that il we limit carefully the amour
of the coinage Of silver tha
will be at par with gold
III need not 60 back int,
the musty past for the proof o
this statement. l have before me tn
: report of the Secretary Of the Treas
) ury for this year, in which he recon
! mends that the limit Of $50 90
! shall be taken off the present debase,
/ silver coinage of this country. Nov
4 only $5OO0O,OOO of the present cebas
! ed coin, half dollars, and 90 forth, cal
a be coined. He says that the limi
!. should be taken of. Why9
r "It Is submitted that the Limitation
I upon the amount of such fractions
!. coin to be issued in exchange 70
n United States notes should be repeal
ed. This coin is readily taken, is Il
r great favor with the people, its issu
: is profitable to the Government, an,
r experience has shown that there is n
8 difficulty in maintaining 1t at pa
h with United States notes"
ell Iheard the Senator from Vernon
q Mr.. MORRILL, the other day say thu
It we proposed here to establish . coir
!, age which would be worth'5 per cen
], less than the present greenbacks; "
3, here is the report Of the Secretary
10 the Treasury which tells us that