National Republican., 1888-03-15
Senator sncrmau's Grea, Speech.

Senator Shcrmab's Great Speech,
The speech Of Senator sherman In reply
10 the attack made upon his record on the
silver question and the bonded indebted
noe OF the United States ia au able exposi
tiUn OF the position OF the Republican party
and go complete viGdcation Of the sen.
ator himself from the charges made against
him by Senator Beck in regard to silver
legislation that We regret our Inability to
give II IN fun.
Senator sherman shows that so far from
the decentralization Of silver having been
done secretly and without the knowledge
Uf the public, that the act was fully dis.
Cussd In two Congresses before 1t became
law.
The coinage law was prepared In the
Tire sury Department under the supervl.
sion Of John Jay Knox, aud transmitted by
Secretary Boutwell, with report, in which
was given summary OF all the legislation
upon coinage from the foundation of the
government. This report and bill were re-
ferrCd to the finance committee, OF which
Senator Sherman was chairman, ana or.
Gcr,d printed, with 100 additional copies
for the use Of the Treasury Department.
Senator Sherman, replying to Senator
Btck's charge, says:
The senator says that the silver dollar was
fuIrCptltiously and secretly suppressed by the
operation of this bill Ii did not become law
m,il three years afterwards, and, as / will
show, 1t was printed thirteen different times
over and over again debated, and the debates
nron the bill in the Senate occupied sixty.
eight columns of the G'obe and In the House
ieventy-elght columns ofth Globe, probably
ten times as many columns devoted to it as
the senator's speech will make, aud that IL
long standard for debate. II was debated day
after day. The first proposition submitted to
uS WIS .he disseminating the coinage of the
silver dollar. The report of Mr.. Knox called
special attention to the dscontInuance of the
SILVER dollar as a standard, as may be seen
from the following paragraph on page II:
The coinage OF the silver. dollar piece. the
history (which is here given, is discontinued
in the proposed bill, 1t is by law the dollar
unit, and, assuming the value of gold to be fiji.
about the mean ratio for the past six years,
iswOrth IN gold a premium of about perce t.
Nts value being lU3.lg) ard intrinslcally more
tlan ner cent premium in our other silver
r"ir, It's value thus being 1912. The present
Laws consequent yauthorize moth gold'dollar
UIit and a sllvcT-dollHr unit, Offering from
each other in intrinsic value. The present
pUld.dOllar pic is male the dollar unit in
Ne TicICsed bill md the silver dollar piece
is discontinued. II, however, such Il coin Is
authorized, Il should be issued ouly as a COM
Mercial dollar no, as a standard unit of aa-
count and Of the exact value OF the Mexican
collar, which Is the iHTo'ie for circulation in
China and Japan Sud other oriental countries
This original bill and report were sent, az
lave stated, to all the leading spCcielists IA
milHr with this subj Ct, 10 the ol,6ers of the
,uiris all over the country, to the leading
tnrkcrs of the county,, aud tn members Of
congress, inNu!"S their criticism. In the first
hH' th9t'waS thus sent there was this section,
"hjsf'l Will read
Ihat Of the silver coins the weight OF the
Eo!!sr shall be 3't grains lnow ll2'p grains,
/tEc weight Of the half dollar or piece OF J
cents shall be- 1g2 grains, and that the quarter
dollar, and dime and hal:-dime shall be, re
srcc'Ncly, "sohH!E md one il0h, and one
ithth, of the weight Of said half.dollar.. That
u e silver coin issued IN conformity with the
tltve sections shnl, be a legal tender In any
a." pay mont of debts for all sums not eX.
rrtding 50, except duties on imports.
That was substantially the form in which
That section appeared In the last bill sent by
the House here in the spring OF 1872, two years
si'crHRrd, and that particular section which
sl0'ishcd, aS YOU say, or dropord the silver
dollar, was In the bill during aIl Its history,
from the beginning to the end.
NUlUhulng, senator sherman SAID
That was the proposition, and II was sent to
California aud other gold and silver regions.
II was objected in California that the dollar
proposed would MT answer commercial eX-
changes; that they wanted dollar even larger
than the old silver dollar of 4l2% grains; that
they wanted a convenient coin into which sill
yer, then being mined largely in that region oil
country, might be nut tor expectation. It was
FTiG FIVE would give them coin of APO grains
II would he worth about three grains more than
The Mexican dollar, and that such a coin as
hat would I'll the channels OF commerce and
enable them to export silver, at hat time only
valuable to be exported, not uitd by the peO-
pie of our country because we were then using
TaIer ard fractional currency entirely.
During his time the officers OF the san
lrGnCisCO branch mint made the following
suggestion
Would not the proposed change In the weight
Cf the silver dollar disturb the relative value
81 all our coinage, Ci!i Ct our commercial con.
NtniiODE, and possibly impair tue validity Of
contracts running through long period
Might not the dollar be TtTlincd MS meas Ire
AZ value, but the coinage OF the piece for cir.
tGl8'iUH be discontinued?
Other parties recommended the coinage
Of silver dollar with only 9Sj grains OF sil.
yer, and the result ls thus stated by Senator
sherman:
In consequence Of this diversity OF opiulon
smong experts the comptrolcroi the currency
dropped out the silver dollar entirely, said
rOthing about H. made no provision for lt, hut,
instead OF that told us that If not omitted Gu
tTc'y dollar ought 10 be inserted, az Dc.
mEndCd by the Pacific coast for commercial
IurTofcs containing l2) grains.
Mr.. President, from the beginning, from
hpril, $50, until the passage OF the law on Feb.
~, 1873, the provision disseminating tho Old
silver dollar of il2l9 grains stood in that pro-
POSED law, printed here over and over again
by both houses through nearly three sessions
Gf Congress, ana yet members Of Congress are
guoted, forsOoth, assaying that they never saw
81 whose fault was it2
Eenltor Sherman asked Senator Beck To