Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-11
The Unit of Value.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
The history Of the dollar of the daddies''
the most important item in Its history. The
dollar was made the unit Of value by the
act of April 2 1792-not the silver dollar.
said in his celebrated report in 1871: TT
seems to be most advisable not to attach
the unit exclusively to either of the metals"
This advice was followed by the wise men
who framed and passed the first mint and
coinage act. approved April 2, 1872. which
made d the dollar the unit Of value and
SHOULD be wholly Independent of the
a to sed or so oar COIN that
gard they differed widely and wisely from
the British parliament, which stopped at
unit of value). but never attempted to fix
its value. Consequently the value of the
sovereign, or pound sterling. has always
been and is now the same as the value of
so much gold as commodity, and accord
ing to the unanimous report of the royal
commission in England. has advanced fully
the sovereign or pound sterling, a standard
A true standard should be fixed and uni
form like the pound weight. or the yard
stick.
And that was just what Hamilton and his
colaborerS thought when that clause Of the
Constitution was drafted which coupled the
power to coin money and regulate the value
thereof, and of foreign coin. with the power
to fix the standard of weights and meas
ures. They knew that there must be a fixed
standard of value. for without 1t CONNER
cial transactions would be attended and
confused by unending uncertainties And
therefore although they could not make an
absolute standard of value. vet they came
as near to II as was possible by declaring
that the value of the unit dollar. should
lar as now april 2. 1922 current''-not as
II might be current the next week. or the
next year. or the next decade. but as cur
rent April 2, 1IS2-and this was to be the
value of the dollar-not of the gold or silver
in the dollar-for all time to come or until
Congress should repeal the law. or make a
was to be wholly Independent Of the rise or
fall in the value of gold or silver. They
might continue to fuctuate. as they had in
past ages. but the dollar. as defined April 9
1872. was to remain fixed and unchanged
that any one who entered into a time
contract could always tell what he would
years and never be overwhelmed with
1.-The subtle and furtive increase" In the
value of the dollar.
The dollar continued to be the unit of
value until the act of February IL, 1873
was passed, which unwisely made the gold
dollar the unit of value. and stopped the
coinage Of the old silver dollar.
A still further change occurred when the
dsiinitioH of the value of the dollar was left
gu out Of the Revised Statutes. approved June
1874. and was thereby repealed leaving
US ever since without any law fixing the
value of the dollar.
BY those same Revised Statutes the old
shNer dollar was demonetized, so that IL
VAS no longer legal tender for anything
ere. tnen. was the beginning of our
financial woes-leaving out of viey, the Tor
rioie contraction S of our circulating medium
from 1867 to 1913. Having no longer a def
OF gold called the gold dollar has been ris.
Ing In value since 1873. with the English
sovereign until II Is now worth one dollar
1878. III
These are the great and pertinent facts
which ought to be seen and kept in mind in
all the efforts that are making to bring
about an adequate remedy for our terrible
financial evua VIM RICHARDS