St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-21

and this IS what those who have no
desire TO deceive the people mean by
taDd what Is III tacb free coinage"
Free Coinage Is Not New.
Cbe who reads what is written these
Gays i'll opposition to free coinage OF
silver" would imagine that it was pro-
Lpsed 10 lUauguIate some new, untIled
aid DANGEROUS system OF coinage, in
Stead Of the proposal TO simply return
10 what existed to the utmost satiSfac
tiOu III OUT peorlel frCm the establish
mert of Our INST coinage mint in 1892
ubtIl 1875, whln tie change was dis
honestly made. as VIII be hereafter ex-
pIaibed AID shown.
The first act ef the congress Of the
United States respecting coinage was
the act CT April 2. 17G2. BY II tic ratio
Ct TIE Two meihis was fixed at fifteen of
frce coinage" IN the following Ian
guace:
"Tha, {. al be lawful for any Yeison or
perseps 10 triug 10 Tie sad mint gold and
s..Fel tu:icn N ortieI 10 lheIT teiug coined,
and !bat the bCiHcn so brought shall he there
assayed AMI coined as speedily as may lie
after the receipt hereof and that tiee OF ex
pense 10 the person or persous ty WHOM the
same shall have been brought Aud az soon
as The said bullion shall have been coiucd
The person or persons bv whom tDe same
shalI have been delivered shall upon de
maud receive in lieu thereof Coins OF The
same species OF bullion which shall have
been so delivered weight for weight, OF the
pure gold or the pure silver therein con
tanned"
Section 16 of that act made the coin of
both metals equally legal tender for
all debts whatsoever. Ii will thus be
seen that by this first act OF congress es-
tablshing mint gold and silver were
placed upon an exact equality as money
metals, and their coinage made free
and unlimited" Of which was rec
ommended by Hamilton and Jefferson
and approved by Washington. And
notwithstanding the many changes
which were made in our coinage laws
(and they were many during that
period, from the establishments OF the first
mint TO 1873, these provisions, for the
free and unlimited coinage Of silver
and gold and placing the com OF both
metals upon an absolute equality as full
legal tender money, receivable as such
i'll the payment of all debts. public as
well as private. were a part OF our laws,
and in faIl force.
The ouly changes in our coinage laws
prior to 1873 that have any reference to
the features under discussion are that
by the at Of 1884 the ratio OF pure gold
to pure silver i'll our coin was
made 23.2 to Bill, or almost ex-
acGly 10 of silver to l OF gold,
and that of the act of Jan. lS. 1887,
which revised our mint laws, and pro-
vided that the standard for both gold
and silver coins OF the United States
shall hereafter be such that of 1000
parts by weight 800 shall be of pure
metal and 100 of alloy; and the alloy of
the silver coins shall be of copper: and
the alloy of the gold coins shall be OF
copper and silver, provided that the sill
vcr does not exceed one half the whole
alloy" Section 9 of this act (lS37) pro-
vided that the silver dollar shall be OF
the weight of 4l219 grains OF Standard
silver The effect of this last act was
to change the alloy from Az grains to
Az grains, the pure silver being left
the same (at 37l 4 grains) as it was fixed
by the original act of 1892. This state
ment is made TO answer the question,
and explain why many speakers and
writers refer TO our silver dollar OF to-
day land which are of the same weight)
as containing only 37l 4 grains OF pure
silver. while others speak of them as
containing 1927 grains.
I'll at Conspiracy.
In 1873 congress passed an act chang
ing our coinage law, which suspended
the coinage of the silver dollar, and took
away the right OF the owner OF silver
bullion TO have it coined for his benefit
Ia right which, as have already shown,
he had since the formation Of our gov
ernmenU and suSpending the coinage
of our standard silver dollar. | have
searched in vain for reason which has
the Semblance of an honest purpose to
benefit our people for thus stopping
the coinage of our silver dollar
at that time. 1t was then
Just as valuable as money metal as 1t
had been at any time prior thereto.
Silver bullion is sold by the ounce, and
our coin standard is Sl.22229 per ounce
lt might he considered unfair to go
back farther, and will content myself
with saying that from 1859 (the year
when the great Comstock lode or mine
was diseoYered) down to the passage Of
the bill in 1878, silver commanded an
average premium over gold Of AZ per
cent, ranging from not less than 2
per cent and up 10 Z. Up to
this time silver was On a par with
gold, its purchasing power being the
same, and full legal tender; the unit
of value resting upon both metals alike.
There was not as much silver money in
circulation in 1878 by one-half as there
was needed and there is now nearly
as much money per capita as there was
then, and yet not enough.
In 1873 the amount of money Ill the
United States was STA, ,610. OF which
$751;, 1881, 500 was in circulation. Our
population then was 41,677, 900, making
this money to be $lS.58 per capita. In
that year the product of gold in this
country was, according to the report of
the director of the mint for 1888, $780,
00U, 900, and of silver $50, ,750, 900, show
ing that the product of gold was then in
excess of silver, and that no danger
was to be apprehended from even
threatened surplus Of silver.
The total production of the world
that year was gold 500, 100000 and silver
$Sl, 800, 900. 1t is. therefore, manifest
that neither all actual nor threatened
overproduction Of silver i'll 1873 was the
reason for thus debasing and demonetiz
ing the dollar of OUT fathers. What has
been we'll termed the assassination of
silver money in 1872 has never been
explained land never will bel TO the sat
isfaction of the American people. That
assault upon half OF the honest
debt-paying money Of the country
stands forth i'll bold rclieT as national
crime, for which its authors should be
execrated by every citizen.
The story Of this attack (by stealth)
npon that money which has proved the
ftieud of the farmer, the mechanic and
the wage-earner is now we'll known TO
many. aud the facts are as follows:
The act of 1873 was introduced and
recommended as a bill for revising the
I.,ue ral,tiDO ff, fho mimic 0ccaU otfionc
and coinage Of the United States"
which would cOnduce to the efficiency
OF that important branch of the service.
Hon John Sherman. as chairman of the
senate committee on finance. had
charge of it in the senate. and
Mr.. Hooper, the chairman of the
house committee. had charge of it
in that branch. 1t is boldly stated that
congress passed that bill under the full
relief that no change was made in the
section relating to coinage. and that