The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-10-27
II n
IS FREE COINAGE NOW LAWFUL


Grounds Upon Which Ono Man Bases His
Reply In the. Affirmative.
Probably the statement that the pres
emit laws of the United States provide for
the free and unlimited coinage of stand
ard silver dollars will surprise your read
ers, but will you kindly permit me to
give the laws as they now stand and let
every reader determine for himself if
that is not the case?
The act of Jan. IS, 1887, provided
among other things as follows:
Sec. g. And be it further enacted, That of the
silver coins the dollar shall be Of the weight Of
41211@ grains.
Sec. IA. And be it further enacted, That gold
and silver bullion brought to the mint for COIN
age shall be received and coined by the proper
officers for the benefit of the depositor.
Sec. is. And be it further enacted, That the
only subjects OF charge by the mint to the de-
position shall be the following: For refining
when the bullion is below standard: for tough
ening when metals are contained in it which
render it unfit for coinage; for copper used for
alloy when the bullion is above standard; for
silver introduced into the alloy of gold, and
for separating the gold and silver when these
metals exist together in the bullion.
The coinage act of 1878 omitted the
silver dollar from the list of coins of the
United States, made the gold dollar the
unit of value instead Of the silver dollar,
which had Heretofore been the unit and
repealed all acts and parts of acts incon-
sistent with its provisions, thus repeal
ing, of course, the above portions of the
act of 1887. Thus the matter stood until
the act Of Feb. %, 1878, the Bland law,
which enacted as follows:
Be it enacted, etc., That there shall be coined
at the several minis Of the United States silver
dollars Of the weight Of 1924 grains Troy Of
standard silver, as provided in the act of Jan.
Is. 1887, on which shall be the devices and su-
prescriptions provided by said act. which coins
together with all silver dollars heretofore
coined by the United States, of like value and
1neness, shall be legal tender at their nomi-
nal value for all debts and dues, public and
private, except where otherwise expressly stip-
ulated in the contract.
What lawyer can say that this pro-
vision that silver dollars should be
coined as provided in the act Of Jan. 10,
1887, did not revive all the provisions of
that act, which ! have given above, for
the coinage of silver dollars? Else what
is meant by the phrase, ''as provided"
etc., What provisions" were revived
and what not? The act of 1878 contin-
ued as follows: "And the secretary of
the treasury is authorized and directed
to purchase, from time to time, silver
bullion, at the market price thereof, not
less than 100000 worth per month
nor more than 100000 worth per
month, and cause the same to be coined
monthly, as fast as so purchased, into
such dollars
This made sure Of the coinage Of silver
dollars, whether depositors brought sill
yer for coinage or not, but there is GER
tainly nothing in this language taking
away the right Of depositors to have sill
yer coined into dollars for their benefit,
''as provided in the act Of Jan. IS, 1887"
The act of July IA, 1890, the Sherman
law, provided for the purchase by the
secretary of the treasury of 1850, 900
ounces of silver each month and the is
sue of treasury notes therefor and en-
acted as follows:
Sec. s. That SO much of the act of Feb. q.
1878, entitled IAN act to authorize the coinage
Of the standard silver dollar and to restore it's
legal tender character as required the month
ly purchase and coinage of the same silver dol
lars Of not less than $1,000 600 nor more than
100000 worth Of silver bullion is hereby re-
pealed.
With the exception Of this Requirement.
to purchase silver the Bland law stands
in full force, with it's enactment ''that
there shall be coined silver dol
lars as provided in the act of
Jan. 10, 1887" which act of 1887 gave to
depositors the right to have their silver
coined into dollars for their benefit. |
hope you will publish this letter and in
vite the comments of lawyers upon it.
B. F. Congdon in Buffalo Express.