The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-01-28
HOW SILVER WAS DEMONE-
TIZED.

occasionally with y mention -. the mail
n,r III whirl. silver was dcn,o:IeiiZs'd III
this country. We have seen the state
men, nI,.lc in uniformed Journals that
The hill Was under consideration far
| three years. This j. untrue. Coinage
bills were brunrl,u! in Congress for SOME
| tine previous to l>G;. hut were held in
:;.r background Ivy their prudent nmi'-
-. Is. who saw that the hour for the
'.",r was not yet come. The bill which
| finally did pass was suddenly sprung
l.nm the. rsn.:r:,te,, one ri the Mit'ni-
| l".r~ If the committee Gc.larin" in the
! House, that H.. had never seen the bill,
! and w:,S sur. ii Was not adopted III Il
! .'uli meeting. II Was never read i'll the
House, and i vain warning was given
.! IN en.!.av"r - PASS il without the
iiDil>t hnnwii,.: w!m: il was about. \
determined cii;,v; Was made in the SEN
III also. to prevent, lis printing. There
WAS 80 sur., .!c!,":c upon it as il, inn
rr.ian..t .l.ll,:t,..i,,i, and there WAS no
examination o. ii> merits in the
public press. /, Was forced through ~
rapidly and quietly a$ lcs-i'!c. Ii
.".rn,H 10 !.av, been drawn with the ex-
pres, ,,lr;,>c ., ,i;-.u,;r.! Gin. cxamin:l-
ton. I, w;.> MOI entitled ~ Ell 10 de-
n, Mniii. S!lvrr'--,I,at would nave
:.i.rn:ui The country like = fire l"ll in
tie night" |. was entitled ~ Bill Rel
a:;v"!, Assays an,! MINIS :in A!StruSc
subject aud not ralru!:.tc.i to attract at
.rn.inr. 1t was = hill. as the record
Shows. almost n. long is the cai,i:o
;,,c!f: j! had >i:ty-minc s,rtinn>, as rel
;..l:,": IL he general reader "a an OIL!
vc.,,nc": Patent Office reports. Care
July hidden away in the siXty-ninr sec
li"n>. wee tw" little paragraphs, ~iand-
in- :lar!. which contained the hleat ~
Ike whole thing. They were rs follows:
80. y. That the silver coins Of tho
Tinted. >iH;.'> shall iw Il trade i"!!ar a
i,:.i! dollar or Il .;.,y cent piece: Il quar-
Ter al Il dollar or y twtnlN-tiv" zen;
piece. 4 dime or ten cent piece: AMI ths'
weight -: il. trade dollar shall /" four
hundred ami twenty Gra.Es troy the
weight -, the ha,f ar SHALL /" twelve
:.Ia.,iS "r:,..,mr~, and nnv-hAii q! II
cram ,:r:,,..I.,r. the Z, Uar.cr dollar an.!
the slime shall i~ respectively uM-lal;
and ul,.-ii.th nf th.. weight ~ said hall
dollar; al:i sale. coins shall hr Il legal
t.n.!. i! their n"n,:,,l! va!u. for amy
amount moi exceeding five dollars in
any one payment.
SEQ. u. That n" coins. either "f gold.
silver or minor .Tina"" shall; hereafter
lie issued from the mint. other than
those "f the demon nations. standard,
:in.i weights herein set forth.
Even this says nothing about demons
.tizimg silver. With M:.ciiav.Iiam cum
ming il accomplished one OF the great
e., "i all political mra>lIr..>--t!. chang
ing Of = nations money standard, with
out. saying anything about it. The
standard dollar was left "u. of the s,,tvi-
fled coin permitted I" bc coined, and
the legal tender ri silver restricted. As
@.n'n ~ this thing was generally known
III" price Of silver dropped = per cent.
nn., that financial gloom, which was
lilte,i only when silver was rrnlone-
TIED in ls7>, spread all over the land.
The decentralization Ut silver in 1873
stands ~ the craftiest piece Of work re-
corded in Congressional history.