New-York tribune., 1886-01-20
COLD AS A MONETARY UNIT
SIDNEY WEBSTER ON SILVER COINAGE.

N, ,sh,,gton there was an argument by the Attorney
EanesA Me- Evarts and Sidney Webster concerning the
capiny and effect OF law OF Congress OF 1873, which
declared that year the Director OF the Mint shall
cs nate and the Treasury Department shall declare
,ba va,ae OF foreign coins In the of account OF the
States aud required the Mint Director to ascertain
spch value by ascertanng the pure metal OF such coin
NJ standr value The Court decided l23 Wallace 251
int the value thus declared is 10 be received and en-
foreed every in this country, whenever the equVa
lent in our currency of foreign coin in question
The Court In arriving this decision also said: The
basis OF our dollar is the standard gold dollar
NJ 25 $40 grains containing one-tenth alloy, gold
having become the general medium OF international
exchange while sYer is led more as domestic
e,in and is usually male legal Ior only h'ou
amonpts That decision was given at the emu oi 1874
or at tho beginning OF 1879 after Congress had by the
Coinage Law OF 1878. adopted the mono metallic gold
and rejected the hi metallic standa in force
fam 1892 to 1873 That law and decision are operative
% ,av and on each returning year the Treasury
ronarment declares equiv aent in our gold dollars,
OF all foreign coins
Mr. Webster was asked yesterday by representative
q, TIE TRIBUNE whether not there was in tue case
anv discussion of the use of silver instead OF gold
standard in appraising foreign coins. He replied that
there was and for the reason that the law required
e anpraisal TO he expressed in the money OF account
o, the United States. which was then, ana Is now,
doars" and the only dollars then known to our law
were gold dollars Afer the Coinage Law o. 1873 and
nm to 1878 no silver dollars excepting commercial
traae dollars y could be coined aud none were current
Of old coinsges Only 14895l7 dollars of the standard
silver variety we're coned between 1898 and 1906 None
ware coined between 1906 and 1885, and after that last
date only 63o6,32l of theM up to 1874 when tina COIN
ace ceased six years, between 1878 and 1881 more
than twenty times many we're coined as In all
our whole previous history Aud that too. although up
TO 1884 we were practically silver basis, owing to
in in
gold and silver aG one to fifteen.
But Mr.. Webster, We have had more than 2l5oOo
600 OF full legal tender standard silver dollars coined
since 1873"
The law" replied Mr.. Webster. did not in 1879
change the monetary unit (Which in 1873 was declared
90 be gold dollar contauing % % 100 Troy grams oi
pure eol even although the law In 1878 made tae ola
syer dollar Of 81 25l00 grains OF pure silver then
second time authorized full legal tender.
sThat monetary unit contentlon, said the reporter
sis what makes Secretary Msnnings annual report 80
dry"
aYes but the Secretary was discussing question OF
scienee AS well as of law and he could not well deal with
q, in the terms OF Balzac and Ouida The monetary
uoit-tne equivalence of the two units when a double
unit existed,-is the pivot OF his contention
aRnt what have the monetary unit the standard OF
value the money OF account and the ega tenier 10 uo
with stopping the coinage of 80 cent silver dollars
why answered Mr.. Webster, do you say s0-cent
oliver doarsY Only because tho law declares that oar
nnt ot vslae and of account, shall be DOLLAR and
tnat dollar shall contain % 22loo grains OF puro
gold Up 10 1873 you had double unit-one OF gold ana
one OF slver-ust If you had two yardstcxs one VI
wood and ose OF something else"
But does one speak ot unit OF measuroinen'o VI
weight, or capacity Z
@Yes The law OF New York says Just that. In 1895
Congress directed complete set OF standard weights
and to oe the Governor OF oach State
and thereupon New York adopted them and prescribed
that yard shall bo the unit OF measurement the gallon
the unit OF capacity for liquids the peck the unit oi GER
tain other commodities and so on defining each unit
And so to day your only monetary measure OF value
and your money OF account, are by statute goIu
dollar" ~
~Aad vet the old silver dollar, o. 37l grains OF pure
silver, Is a full legal tender y
AYES but a legal tender and a unit OF value may he
altnougn they oaght not to be, unlike In Se"-forK
the uDt of measure s yard OF three feet, each OF
telve inches but the law could say that yard OF two
ard half feet can legal tender under contract 10
dollver a thousand yards OF silk Congress III 1919
drorped one unit OF value which was the silver DOLLAR
and did not In 1878 restore IT, That Is the dlncuty 10
day A unit of value may be an Imaginary CON- as ~
was In Russia when an unconed rouoe was the unit OF
value and a copper e0peck was the money OF account
Todv gold dollar OF % D. 100 grains OF pure gold Is
our standard CON- while all silver dollars are III one
sense and all subsidiary silver coins are III every sense
token coins. Hence you say an socent SILVER uoi''
But WAS that the intention OF Mr. Bland E
@Probably not Bat II Ia, nevertheless FROM l'oZ
IN 1s73 we were law bi metallic Dut since 1919 we
,aroh ham in law mono netalc, because the GOLD uni
s73 vet stands unrspesL To DO sure, Congress- Oy
MY Blands law, comm lndcd the Presideht lOFer MS
veto to invite all Europe to Jon US In conference TO
adopt common ratio tetween g)d AMI SILVER io' tae
purpse OF establishing, internationally th5 use ol D-
metallic money, and securing nXity % relaNe Yiue
between those metals That was Di-mot.lilsin pure
Simple and comprehensive IN 1881 We aut,Oi!Lou tle
appeintment OF commissioners and az propied money
to accomplish it. In les2 we aPpIopriaIgd 1880 more
RECENTLY instructed our diplomatic agents at lOIuOh
Paris and Berlin to continue hs work ot prgg @ aTe ,
international h metasm %ith open innts Tor ths ,fe' t
coinage silver and goll ON an ihterhatlonal rat'
Hence wien confronted with those laws sh1 Zoooo'
t0 fn legal tender silver dollars, Mr. Manning Is
Iwopetaist His report is plea ana presents plan
for accomplishing bi-Detasm. Mr.. MannnSs advice
as 10 the coming OF silver dollars Is to stop ami walt
while we try negotiate for International Dl-netaIsd
and for the free coinage OF silver
Mr. Phelps Mr.. McIan and Mr.. Pendloton seem 10
say that the chance OF International Di,fnetAsn Is
sa o long as the Treasury bays ana coins each year
nearly one. third OF the whole wOrl s annual output ol
long as there is hope INDUCED by Germany and the
Latin Union that We nay yet open our nln.S 10 Tue ifee
invite Gerir any and France TO Take VI us the dumping
ground OF quantity Of unuted European silver CONS m ~
years If you will glance at the 9hcial estimate o. thS
value of forelgn coins ade last SeW year Sou VIII
Egypt Germany, England. iAheria Norway fVrtngai,
Sweden aud Turkey ike our own, exclusively g0ld;
tbat Austria, Bolivia Ecuador, India, Japan Mexico.
Peru, Russia TrpOh and Colombia are exciiIslvely
silver and all tho others gold aud silver Austria,
Turkey and Russia suffering under an inc0n-
vertible paper currency That Germany ana England
nrc gold mono -melah well Know. The Latin Union
of France BELGIUM, Italy and Switzerland, affiliated
with spain, Greece seryia and kuma,ia gnaxng a
eonbned population OF l45 00O.0O0. although partially
under double Standard OF one to fifteen aud half
have put Limitation on silver coinage whioh makes
their standard what is called lmpng standard We
also limp because OF Treasury purchase ANA coinage OF
"a oJ0 600 of full LEGAL tender silver dollars each year
OH of which We now have accumnla alton OF
600 and OF silver dollars, the IKE of which
tie Treasury manufactures at 80 cents apiece and tries
10 I'll to us 100 cents apiece or course no one 10
use brokers term wishes to be long or those SILVER
coius There IL OF three possible aho Logical
policies open TO One is gold Standard as III IoIo
with all silver coins underweignie1 ana token coins
Another Is double standard and an honest eHort 10
maintain the two kinds OF dollars in equivalence, when
s what Mr.. Manning advocates. Tue tiifd ~ single
standard OF silver as IN India with silver dollar the
mil and money OF account which systOln sIOul