The daily gazette., 1878-02-08
How silver was Demoneti.ed
From the Reading Eagle.


ject the Baltimore Ne,os mentions that
in undertaking to devise remedy for a
wrong 1t is wen to understand not only
the mischief TO be redressed, but also the
manner in which that wrong has been
tio1, therefore, to the mode by which the
great wrong done to the American peo-
pie in the demonetization of silver was
effected.
1t is generally believed that the legal
tender character Of our silver coin was
destroyed by the act of February 12,1S73
Close examination of the matter shows
that this impression Is mistake. 1t is
true that act helped towards the wrong
and that the manner of its passage was
| fraud upon Congress, but the final act,
which secured the utter destruction of
| the constitutional dollar of the Republic,
was done later. IL was even a greater
fraud than the act of 1873, and found its
way upon the statute books like thief
that enters a house by night. And this
\ is the way it was done: M. ~. 1,,.,
The ac / of 1878 which was a cbiaage
act, prohibited the coming Of any more
silver dollars OF che old standard of 4l23
Igrains, and provided for the coinage III
the future Of trade dollars only, which
were 10 be Of 420 grains. and subsidiary
coins upon that basis, and then went on
TO declare that "the said silver coins of
the United States (referring TO The trade
dollar and the subsidiary coins) shall be
a legal tender at their nominal value for
any amount not exceeding SIS in any one
lpay ment. lFN y y" n
IL win thus be seen, at a glance, that
the legal tender character of the silver
dollars of 4l2s grains which were already
coined, and Of the a old Mexican and
Spanish dollars--all OF which, by the act
of January 18Th, 1887, were declared 10
be legal tender OF payment, according
to the nominal value,for any sums what
ever" was entirely unaffected by this
act; it left the law unchanged as to the
old, and simply prescribed that the new
trade dollar should be restricted in its
legal tender capacity. Even after the
passage Of this act of 1873, therefore, the
silver dollar Of 4123..grains, and the Nexi-
can and Spanish dollar were legal
tender for any amount whatever, though
no more 4123 grain dollars could be
coined. In further proof Of this, see the
revised "Customs Regulations, 1874, D..
ASS, issued by the Treasury Department. ;
where II is provided "silver dollars of the
| United States other than the trade dollar,
though no longer coined or issued are
receivable for duties at their nominal
value in unlimited sums; and this, under
! the law requiring duties to be paid in
coin. That the law stood until the adop-
tion OF the Revised Statutes in 1874.
In the act under which that cempila-
tion was made, it was distinctly declared
there would be no change in any law it
was simply designed to codify the stat
ules. When the work was completed
and submitted to Congress for adoption,
! the several members of the Committee
of the House to whom the matter was
referred, again and again assured the
r House, and by every sanction which
could secure faith in private or public
utterance, that no change in the law had
been made. Judge Poland, of Vermont,
the Chairman, stated aud protested 1t In
, the strongest terms !; and relying upon
t these assurances and the terms of the
law under which the work was done,
the House after the immense volume
was read-so many pages al time al
special night sessions, to half q dozen
oiCCHy PaooCd bNC ttCb ~ pass
l ed, the Senate by reading of its title
: only, without the bundle which contain
n ed it, and lay upon the Presidents desk
+ being even united and they, the Re
vised Statutes, became law of the land
But, when was faith ever kept by the
Republican party? Again they cheated
and, in the interest of the Plutocrats o
It the East, they struck the last deadly
v blow at The silver dollar. These codif.
= ers took from the act of 1873, which wa.
g a coinage act, the clause "the said silver
:, dollars -f the United States shall be &
legal tender Of their nominal value fol
. any amount not exceeding $5 in any
e one payment" aud which clause refer
q red exclusively to the trade dollar and it
NJ subsidiary coins, transferred it from the
n title "coinage" and put it under th,
Q, head OF "legal tender and struck out th,
.r word "said." And thus the work wa
Ia done. Heretofore, that word had re
y stIicted the operation of the clause t,
~ the new trade dollar /; by the transfer un
III der new head; and the striking out @
the limitations contained in that wor
"said, the clause read: "The silver dol
lars of the United States shall be lega
le tender at their nominal value for an
amount not exceeding So in any on
payment" and was made to refer I
m ,ma every silver dollar ever coined or hayin
I'd a legal tender character under the Go,
8, ernment. .Il.. .,
= Thus, by conspiracy entered into b
or corrupt committee was silver demon,
re tized, and the masses of the peop
~ swindled in the interests of those wi
~ profit by the contraction of the circula
rt ing medium. The crime was covert
is perpetrated by smuggling the poison in
rs the victim, not merely in the belly of
he voluminous bill, but In the body of 6
ey immense volume which the codifiers a
et serted to be correct and which eve
,or member could not criticise minute
be even If they had been ever so suspicion
ey 1t is hard TO say what is the foule
he wrong that has been done by the Repu
tor hcan party 10 the people but has the
nat ever been more Infamous act perpet.
-, c.n ted by any swindler, individual or corp
nh rate, either in the magnitude of the ro
P irn berry or the impudence of the robbt
itv since America was discovered
at And it is these people-in whose int
let est the wrong was done-who seek
Ies take advantage Of the crime and to he