The western sentinel., 1893-08-31
WAS THERE CONSPIRACY ?


So much loose talk has been utter
ed by those who favor free coinage
that we reprint the following dispas-
sionate article from an able writer,
who has taken pains to examine this
special phase of the silver discussion:
In majority of speeches and in
many newspaper articles on the free
] coinage side of the discussion we are
met with the assertion, made with
| vehemence and no mincing of words,
that the act of Congress which, in
1878, struck the standard dollar
! from the list of coins, was the pro-
duct of conspiracy or corruption ,one
or both Is this true?
On such subjects mere assertions
count for nothing. 1t is evidence
which we ask for, and this the au-
thors of the charge attempt to give
us-in part inferential and in part
circustantial. In brief their evidence
is as follows:
1. The bill was hastily and surrep-
| titiously passed. Members who voted
for it did not know that it demoni-
tiZed silver, as scores of them have
since testified. Senator Stewart vot-
! ed for it not knowing this. So prom
| inent a man as Blaine testified that
| he did not know it. Some months af-
| ter the passage of the bill President
Grant, who had signed it, innocently
expressed his wonder that the silver
dollar was not coming back into cir
| culatiOn.
2. There must have been a reason
for dropping the silver dollar out of
| the coinage. Somebody wanted it
done There was no general demand
for it, and therefore it must have
| been the demand of few, which ex-
pressed itself in some potential way.
B. AS explaining where the inf1u
ence came from which procured this
result, Congressman Hooper's re-
marks introducing the bill we're very
significant: ''Mr. Ernest Seyd, of
London, a distinguished writer, who
has given great attention to the sub
jects of mints and coinage, latter read
ing the first draft OF the bill, furnish
ed many valuable suggestions, which
have been incorporated in this bill
| The committee take no credit for
themselves for the preparation of
| this bill"
Coupled with the above quotation,
which has been printed hundreds of
| times in the silver newspapers, we of
ten find the charge that Seyd brought
$5O0,O00 from London and used it
to buy up Congress to demonetize
silver, but we have not seen anyone
even try to produce proof of this por-
tion of the charge.
What reply is made to these speci-
fcations OF the conspiracy charge?
The following are briefly the fac ts ad-
duced:
/. The act of February IL, 1873.
was not hastily nor secretly passed
1t was really before Congress for
three years. In April, 1873, Secreta
ry Boutwell,, of the Treasury, trans
mitted to Congress a coinage bill
which omitted the silver dollar. This
| bill, with notifications, was printed
thir teen times by order of Congress,
and was discussed at five different
sessions. These discussions fill 14S
pages in the Congressional Globe.
| 2. The charge that nobody per-
ceived the omission of the silver dol
lar is baseless. There were laid before
Congress the opinions of some thirty
experts who had been asked to ex-
anime the bill, and the following are
extracts from these opinions: Mr..
Elliott-"The bill proposes the dis
continuance of the silver dollar" Mr.
Patterson-fBy this amendment gold
becomes the standard of money, of
which the gold dollar is the unit"
| Mr.. Snowden-"I see that it is pro-
| posed to demonitiZe the silver dollar"
3. The debates show that some
members of Congress at least were
aware OF the change proposed. Mr..
| Kelley, of Pennsylvania, said: Il
again call the attention of the House
to the fact that the gentlemen who
oppose this bill insist upon maintain
| ing a silver dollar worth 3h cents
more than the gold dollar, and that
SO long as these provisions remain
you cannot keep silver coin in the
country"
4. AS to the Seyd charge, it is alb
| surd to suppose that ii this person
were in Washington for the purpose
of buying up members of Congress,
| the chairman of the committee which
| must have been bought would have
proclaimed Seyd's connection with
| the bill the first time he opened his
lips? Conspirators do not proceed
like that.
5. And, finally, of all men in the
world Mr.. Seyd, who was a wealthy
London banker, was the most unlike
ly to be engaged in buying up Con
gress to demonetize silver. Why?
Because he (Seyd) was bimetalist,
and one of the few advocates in Eng
land of the restoration of silver.
From long before 1878 and up to the
time of his death, Seyd preached the
gospel of silver. For this he was com
plimented by one of the American
delegates to the International none
tary conference of 1881. So, in max
ing the bribery charge against Seyd,
the silver men are blackening the
reputation of one of their best
friends.
Now the above are the salient facts
concerning the charge of conspiracy
and corruption in 1873. The reader,
from the facts here stated, can form
his own conclusions; but as for the
present writer he, as an American,
prefers a belief which does not compel
him to assume that Congress was
bribed with foreign gold. The only
conspiracy he can see is that which is
always in operation against US, viz.
the operation OF our own shortsight- |
edness, ignorance and tpdi difference. Up |
to 1873 silver stood at a premium,
silver miners found q ready market |
for all they could produce, and, sup
posing this condition would never |
change, they did not troHble them
selves about the law of coinage, and |