Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1886-02-06
w..roRY OF THE AMERICAS
DOLLAR.

The history of the adoption OF the doi
lar or the unit Of American money, says
,be ,Jo.rnal of Finance. is q very snor'
and simple one. From the control Dy
soa;n Of nearly oil the American SILVER
mines during the 10th, 18th and lSth
Centuries. it happened, naturally that
soauish coins, and especially silver coins'
as the American mines yielded chieny
silver. were circulated over the mime
cial world.
As early as l226 the Spanish Govern
ment Gained a silver piece containing 4oo
grains OF fine silver, which was reducei
ubout 1890 to $40 grains. Tbs piece
known An the dollar, aud sometimes
called the pillar dollar, has been the most
widely distributed of any eoin known u
the history Of the hunan race. II was
early introduced into the British NORTH
American colonics. in consequences oil
,b,;r trade with tho Spanish American
~oouutrios, and in l704 it was made' TO-
gat
oetber with its fractional parts, a lawini
money in those colonies by 4 royal proc
lamation issued by Queen Anne.
After the independence Of these col
onics had been acquired by the American
ravolutinon. it became necessary 10 Tx
the unit of money for the newiy-createa
nation, the United States. and IN 1903
Congress- adopted, upon the suggestion OF
Thomas Jefferson, the silver dollar, TO be
Of the weight Of the Spanish dollar as
then actually current here.
Ia 1871 Alexander Hamilton, then
Secretary OF the Treasury, caused the
average amount of fine silver ID several
hundreds of such dollars in circulation
in this country to be ascertaIned by
weighing and sssaying, and ne found 1t
to be 37lb grains. He therefore recon-
mended that our dollar contain that num-
Der Of grains of fine silver, so that 1t
might be exactly the same as the coin
which had been in use.
Congress adopted his views, and the
frat Mint Act passed in 1892 fixed the
amount of fine silver in the dollar ac-
cordingly, and it has never been changed
from that day to this.
The present silver dollar weighs Ala
grains, but as it is nine-tenths tine, 1t
contains 37li grains of pure silver, pre-
cissly AZ described by the Mint Act OF
1892, and corresponding to the actual
amount of pure silver in the Spanish dol
lars which had been circulated here in
colonial times.
1t is thus true that our present silver
dollar, which il denounced by British
~goldbugs as a "clipped. deprecated and
fraudulent coin," is the old and time.
honored money Of the country. which
has existed here for two centuries, and,
that is now, to quote the report OF the
United States Silver Commission, as
much one Of our traditions OF America as
is the flag. or "a its military air.
Il there q man in the United States
that is ready to this late day to give up
the old "Star.spangied Banner Of the
Union. q flag that has so long waved
ovor us in many ~well.fought battle.ields,
where victory has perched upon it over
and over againf No! Let the flag still
wavc. aud the song it suggested be still
sung. aud the silver dollar still circu.
lated an our fathers intended they
should, and thus continue to show our
admiration and respect for their wisdom
and unfaltering patriotism.