Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-11-02

Oilet >laNNtE WuOiG congress. the
innocent and the guilty alike. and
shelter himself from Just prosecutions
by the innocent by refusing TO name
those known TO him tG be guilty. for,
if he paid money, he knew to whom
he paid it, come to the considera-
tion Of the story itself. In substance
il is that Mr.. Seyd was sent here .'in
the winter Of 1872, 49, by the Bank
of England and certain German bank
ers with 100000 pounds sterling.
(nearly S500,000.) and authority to
draw for as much more as might be
necessary for the purpose Of bribing
enough members of our Houses of Con-
gross to pass bin ''demonetizing sill
YER Under our law, rs it then was.
as we have seen, our minis co uld coin
but one silver coin, that was a full leg
al tender, and that was worth so much
more than its gold brother. that it was
coined at loss to the government and
when coined did not circulate. and
never had. at least since 1858, circu-
lated among us as money. All OF our
other silver coins were mere subsid-
iary coins, meant for use and used
only as change, and not legal tender
except in small sums. Therefore,
while theoretically we were under a
double standard and had two dollars.
a gold and silver one, each of them
full and unlimited legal tender.
practically we had but a single stand
ard and a single debt paying, unlim-
tied legal tender dollar. and that was
the gold one. Recognizing the eX-
istence of those facts, and that no one
then was benefited by the coinage of
the silver dollar but the bullion deal
ers, the Treasury Department, in
1869, as we have already seen, had
caused bill to be prepared providing.
among other things, that the silver
dollar should no longer be coined, and
in 1870 sent it to the Senate with a
long report, which was published in
both Houses. urging its passage.
Let Us not forget that that bill passed
the Senate January 10th, 1871, by SO
ayes to l 4 nays, but was not reached
in the House for consideration that
session. Therefore, it was known
as early as January 1871, that there
should be no reasonable doubt, tnat
should the bill pass the House. il
would also pass the Senate, as it had
done before, without the assistance OF
Mr.. Seyd, or the use Of British gold.
Let us also remember that there does
not appear in the Globe the slight
est evidence, that any body at any
time in the House, made the slightest
objection to the bill because it
dropped the silver dollar, or because
it adopted the single standard. and
that il passed that body by 10 yeas
to Is nays, May 27th. 1872. many
months before Mr.. Seyd arrived with
the .'British GOLD. and we are pre-
pared f. appreciate the inconceivable
! Stiffness of the entire story. What
was the need Of Mr.. Seyd and his
'British gold in the winter of 1872.
1852 The bill had passed each House
many months before his arrival, by a
vote SO decisive as to leave no room
for DOUBT that it would pass again,
and yet. according to Mr.. Luckenbach,
the Bank of England and certain
German bankers, are so ineffably silly
and so reckless with their British
gold" as to send Mr.. Seyd over here
to buy bill through Congress, which
our own Treasury Department ur-
gently desired should be passed, and
took pains to make that desire known,
which had already passed each House,
and which, practically speaking, was
unopposed. What a faithful servant
and valuable Financial adviser of the
Bank Mr.. Seyd must have been, to
spend such a sum Of the Bank mon
ely, to bride our legislators to pass a
bill which they had already passed,
and which was practically unopposed.
A more absurd and ridiculous story
was never told outside of an insane
asylum. whether its author was really
Mr. Seyd, or Mr.. Luckenbach. Be
sides. what interest a banking insti-
tuition such as the Bank Of England
is, or certain German bankers.
could have. in the cessation Of the
coinage Of that single coin. to justify
the expenditure Of 5000, 600, or q
larger sum to accomplish it, | cannot
imagine. Nor can imagine in what
way they have reaped benefit from
that act, or gotten back the money
Mr. Seyd paid if he paid any | viii
only add, that. if Mr.. Seyd really did
pay any Of the money Of the Bank Of
England, to procure the passage Of
that act, there ought to be no Difficult
ty whatever in procuring the proof Of
it. The Bank is corporation, and
not only keeps books showing what
money it receives and pays out, but
must account to the holders of its
shares of stock. and show them, from
time to time, what disposition is made
Of its money, which belongs to them
and not to the managers. At the very
least. the books of the Bank ought to
show, if any such thing occurred.
whether or not 1000 pounds ster-
ling or any other sum Of its money,
was placed in the hands of Mr.. Seyd,
at or about the time in question. Mr.
Mills, however, informs us, that no