The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1893-08-08

value tor sums of IS.
An act was passed in 1851 for the
coinage of the 3 cent piece. which
was to be legal tender for sums Of
30 cents and under And in ls6,
1t was amended so az to make il
legal tender for sums of 60 cents
The act of February II, 1873.
was entitled "An act revising and
amending the laws relative to the
mlnts, assay offices and coinage of
the United States" The main pro
visions of present interest are as fol.
lows:
"Sec. 10. That the standard for
both gold and silver coins of the
United States shall be such that of
1000 parts by weight 900 shall be
pure metal and 100 alloy; and the
alloy Of the silver coins shall be of
copper, and the alloy of the gold
coins shall be of copper, or of cop
per and silver; but the silver in no
case shall exceed one tenth of the
whole alloy.
"Section Ia. That the gold coins
of the United States shall be a one
dollar piece, which, at the standard
weight of 25 5 grains, shall be the
unit of value; a quarter eagle, or
two and half dollar piece, three:
dollar piece, a half.eagle or five dol:
lar piece; an eagle or ten dollar
piece, and double eagle or twenty
dollar piece" 1t then provided
that the weight of the other coins
shall be the proper multiple of the
dollar, and shall when of full eight
be legal tender for all payments,
and when of less weight shall be of
proper proportion.
"Sec Is. That the silver coins
of the United States shall be a
trade dollar, half dollar or So
cent piece, a quarter dollar or %
cent piece, dime or l0.cent piece;
and the weight of the trade dollar
shall be 42o grains Troy, the weight
of the half dollar shall be 10
grammes and one-half Of a gramme;
the quarter dollar and the dime
shall be respectively one-half and
one-ffth of the weight of said half
dollar, and said coins shall be le-
gal tender at their nominal value for
any amount not exceeding s. in any
one payment.
Section l6 makes cent piece
or nickel, a 3 cent piece and a |
cent piece the minor coins and a
legal tender to the amount of %
cents.
"Section II. That no coins, either
of gold, silver or minor coinage,
shall hereafter be issued from the
mint other than those of the de.
nominations and weights herein set
forth"
This is the substance of the act
of 1873, the cause of our financial
troubles, the Iliad of all our woes
1t will be noticed that the standard
silver dollar is dropped out and for
the first time the gold dollar is made
the unit of value. The silver dol
lar is mentioned in the law of 1892
as the unit of value and the first
silver dollars were 80 stamped. l
have a silver dollar of date 1900
and imprinted on the outer edge
are the words, "One Hundred Cents,
One Dollar or Unit" showing that
it was the idea and object of the
fathers of the Republic to make
the silver dollar the unit or
real measure of values in
the nation. Let us look a
little more into the history Of this
act of 1873 Samuel Hooper, of
Massachusetts,, was chairman OF the
committee on Coins, Weights and
Measures in 1872, aud introduced a
bill in reference to coinage, as ne
said, to simplify the laws, and drop
the useless 20 cent piece and cent
piece, etc. The bill as he intro
duced it, and as it passed the house,
retained the standard silver dollar,
but reduced Its weight to 3sl grains.
On April 9, 1872, Mr.. Hooper
called up his bill, and in the
course of his speech, called atten'
ton to the provision, producing
in weight the silver dollar from
4l2t to 3s4 grains, thus making it