The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-08-17
THE SHERMAN ACT.
A History ofthe circumstances Attend
ing Its Passage and Some Account
Of Its Provisions and Its
Workings.

than as money IL had therefore disap.
peared from circulation and no objection
was made at the time to the provision OF
the act stopping its coinage The silver
mine owners found IL in fact more profit.
able TO sell their product In the market
for bullion than to the Government. The
worlds average annual production o'
silver from 1866 to 1870 was ESQ, $50.
600, and OF gold si33. $50, 900. During
lsfl.lStO the annual figures were re.
spccuvely ssS, ,025, 600 and tl lp 900 900,
wnile during the period lS1O-lSSO thev
were Sll26OO, 900 and sllq.p7b. 600.
Naturally after the passage of the act of
1878, owing to the great Increase in
silver production and the standstill in
that OF gold, silver fell rapidly IN value
and the silver mine owners found tnat
CONDITIONS were reversed and that il
would be more profitable to sell their
product To the Government for coinage
purposes than as bullion on the open
market as before, Il fact which had large
large influence In securing the passage OF
the act OF 1873. In 1873 the gold value
of the bullion In a coined silycrdollar was
$1,000, In 1873 IL was only sol
The act of 1878, as has has been men.
toned, contained a provision for the
issuing OF paper certificates of not less
than 10 IN exchange for silver coin de.
posted and rcdcemablc in the same The
issue OF silver certificates OF one. two and
five dollar denominations In lieu OF Ger.
tihcatcs OF larger denominations ON
April $, 1850, the House rejected by
vote OF l63 to l"G bill for the free coin
age OF silver. In ms message TO Con-
gress on December y, 1855. prcsi-
dent Cleveland said that since FEB.
ruary, 1873. the Government had under
the compulsory provisions OF the Bland
law purchased silver bullion and Cuiucd
the same at the rate of more than S2,.
600, 900 every month BY this process
up TO the date Of the message oI5,T3n,.
ADJ silver dollars had been coined The
necessity for such an addition To the sill
yer currency, the President said. as was
compelled by the act. was ucpatived by
the fact that only about 10000 900 of
the silver dollars So coined had actually
found their way into circulation. leaving
more than l65. 900 900 OF them in the
possession of the Government. tue Gus.
.ody OF which had cntdilcd considerable
expense for the construction of
vaults of deposit. Against this
standing silver certificates amounting
TO about Sg3OOO,OOO. Mr Cleveland
predicted very evil effects from the con
tinuanci OF tn, coinage under the act
and said that gold would eventually be
driven out of the country or be boarded
lie therefore recommended the Suspcn.
dollars.
owing to the retuudiug OF me Govern
ment's bonds at much lower rates OF IN.
terest. the National banks greatly cur.
tailed the circulation OF their notes based
on such bonds In his message To Con.
gress OF December 3, 1889. President
Harrison said that the total amount of
money OF all kinds IN circulation ON March
], 1873. was SSO5, 118, SO7, while on
October | $50 the totN was 81 400
0lS000 There was an increase of
s293.4l7,652 In gold coin, of So7,55i,-
100 in standard silver or Bland dollars,
Of S72.3l ,240 in gold certificates. OF
t2!0,0iv,7l5 in silver certificates based
on Bland dollars deposited In the Treas.
ury, and OF $li ,073,7 7S7 in United States
notes making a total OF S7l3,976. i09.
There was during the same period a de-
crease OF Sll i,l00.729 in bank cir
culatlon. and OF s042,i isl in sub
sd!ary silver. The net increase
was $500.22i. 1913 The circulation per
capita had increased about 60 The price
oi silver when the Bland law was passed
was sligo 40 per ounce, making the
bullion value of the dollar g3 cents
Since that time the price had fallen a.
low as 0l.9 cents, making the bullion
value OF the dollar Tu6 cents. Within
the past few months the price had some.
what advanced. and the value of the dol
lar as bullion ~ the date ot the message
was az cents. The President said that
some favorable conditions had contrib.
uted to maintain the practical equality
iu their commercial use between
the gold aud silver dollars,
but some of these We're trade con
IItions that statutory cudctmcuts did
not control and of the COutiuuduC" of
which we could not be certain. II we
should make the coinage of silver At the
visiting rates free we must expect that
The difference in the bullion value OF the
gold and silver dollars would bc taken
account OF in commercial transactions,
Lud 4 was - he feared tndt the same re-
suit would follow any considerable in
'.case of the present rate of coinage per
month such a result Wuu.d be dlsCrcd-
table TO our financial management and
disastrous to all business inter
ests. Nothing more harmful could
happen TO the silver interests.
Any safe legislation upon the
subject must secure the equality of the
Two coins IN their commercial uses. The
President further said that he had al
ways been an advocate of the use of
silver in our currency; we were large
producers OF thdt metal ana should not
iiscrcdit il. He then referred to the
9!au 10 he presented hy the Secretary OF
he Treasury for the issuance OF notes or
certificates upon the deposit of silver
bullion at It's market value. saying II had
'ctu lnl HlNldAcu 50 ldlc tUdl nc Udh not
Gad time 10 carefully consider it's details.
Tue bill prepared by Secretary Window
IN the above lines was introduced in the
House 10y Mr. CougCr. of Iowa, on Jan.
nary 20 1850, and referred TO the Com
mittee on Coiuegc, Weights and
Measures, which reported II baCa
March HG. On June a substitute,
which had been agreed upon by a kcpub.
tcan caucus, WAS passed by the House,
the title being, IAN act 10 direct the pur-
chase OF silver bullion and the Issue ot
silver notes thereof and for other pur-
poses On June y the Senate passed 4
substitute by way ot amendment provid-
ing among other things tor the free
coinage OF silver and the title Of the
measure was changed TO read, - bill
10 provide for the free Colndgc of silver
bullion and other purposes. The House
refused TO concur IN the Senate ameud-
ments ana conference committee was
appointed which agreed upon a bill
which was passed by both Senate and
House and received the Presidents ap.
proval on July Il, 1890, and which has
ssH.t1 Il.