The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-10-03
HOW SILVER wAsDEMoNErIz
An Open Letter on the Subject Quoting
from the Record to Show
How Silver was De-
stroyed in 1873.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE,

credit that portion of the Congressional
Record recently quoted by me conC8nA
ino the statements of Senator Noor-
bees. the letter of General Cne
speech of Mr.. Groesbeck, the eolCorlal
of the Chicago Tribune, and the
mont IF Murat Halstead, all going to
show that the act stopping the coinage
of silver was put through Congress Dy
stealth and deception, and by the Il
of proceeding that a burglar uses when
he enters a house and robs It's inmates
You object to the public receiving
testimony Of such high character that
has been a matter of record for htteen
wears. and ask that I proceed further
and quote something that was said and
done in the passage of the act stopping
h coinage of silver; I accept your re-
quest, and here is the result which L
trust will be found worthy of pubilca-
ton in your columns.
1t has been urged that the act stop
ming the coinage of silver was pending
before Congress for nearly three years
before it was passed; but you will OBJ
serve this claim was eve urged until
of late. and 1 will tell you why. The
bills that are introduced in Congress
are not printed in the Record ana
therefore the evidence of n tney
contain is not preserved, except the
record Of what is in them at the time
of their enactment into law.
The bills that had been introduced
into Congress which are referred to by
MI. Sherman and his defenders were
long since destroyed, and we have no
evidence outside of their word as to
what they contained; but we do kno"
that while they were before Congress
no one but Sherman, Hooper and
Ernest Seyd discovered that they
omitted to authorize the coinage OF
silver on the terms heretofore existing,
and the claim made by them that the
bills that had been pending before Con
gress for three years under the title OF
stAn Act to Codify the Coinage Laws
of the United States and Regulate the
MINIS Thereof" was the same bill that
finally passed on February 18th, 1873,
is expressly disproved by the Record
and the word of Senator Sherman and
his defenders in this respect Is shown
to be totally false and devoid of any
truth by tho express declarations OF
Mr.. Hooper, Of Massachusetts, spoken
when the bill passed the House, in
which he said that this bill was not the
bill that had received its first and sec
ond reading and had been printed, but
that it was a substitute bill that had
been prepared by the committee, and
that the material difference between it
and the bill that had been pending and
been read was, that it omitted only a
single section, which single section that
had been omitted he failed to explain,
but we have since found it to be the
section authorizing the coinage of sill
yer, and to show that we do not mis-
quote the language of Mr.. Hooper we
give it Uerbatim, book and page Of the
Congressional Record where it can be
found.
We quote Mr.. Hooper's remarks
from vol. z, part 2, page 889, 45th Con-
gress, in a speech of Carter Harrison,
where the Record on this subject is col
lated.
On the 9th day of May, 1872, (printed
73), Congress having agreed to adjourn
on the goth, and within less than forty
eight hours of adjournment, and in the
hurry and confusion always preceding
adjournment and during the time it is
in order to suspend the rules, Mr..
Hooper called up the bill reported by
the committee on coinage, weights
and measures and offered O. substitute.
"a substitute of the bill reported by the
committee). He said:
ST desire to call up House Bill No.
1427, I do so for the purpose OF offer
ing an amendment to the bill in the
nature of a substitute, one which has
been carefully prepared, and which /
have submitted to the different gentle
men who have taken a special interest
in the bill. X + x I move that the
rules be suspended and the substitute
put on its passage"
Objection was made. Mr.. Hooper
said It was not necessary that the bill
@ d be read, that it had been care,
f-lr examined by those desiring to
inc it's provisions. The House re
% to allow the bill to pass that way.
lie forwards called it up and moved
10 6 spend the rules and pass the sub
eesgH e.
F Holman put the following ques-
5iou o MI. Hooper:
- Holman: Before the question is
taxed UPON ~suspending the rules and
Daqs, lg the bill, I hope the gentleman
- M~ossanhI1satts will explain the