The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-05-16
WILL THE yIRGINI, sUN QUESTION
ORR STATEMENT Al N I"fsE

ing silver CAS- 81 IS called. we stated that
the record showed that Congress kne"
,o,soc,lv veu what Il was about when il
droppcd the provision for the silver DOL
lar The Virginia sun, the Populist week
~ nublished az Richmond. IN It's issue oil
May 10Th. commenting on our statement
has the following.
n,nd NOW we call our distinguished
f,le.1 10 time. His contention is that the
conrressionaI Record shows that Congress
WAS fully aware OF the provision 20 drop
the standard silver dollar from the com
ace. We have carefully been over me
Record. and there IS not one line OF u
which sustains HIS contention Ihere 49,
on the other hand. a great deal Whl-H
goes 20 show that Congress had not tne
remOtest idea Of dropping out the stahd-
ard silver dollar"
The issue between ms being thus square
~ made up we shall proceed no" 10
prove our statement from the records.
whoever viii read the debates that took
place in Congress in 1873, when Mr.. Hunter
brought forward his report for reducing
the silver in our minor coins 20 a point
that would cause expectation Of them to
cease. will see that on account OF the
differentiation which our laws had al
ways put upon silver. it was conceded Oh
all hands that We were upon the gold
basis. and that this country had come
then to be a single standard, gold basis
country
In 1861 the Director Of the Mint ex-
Governor James Pollock, says in his re-
port Of that year:
"rhe gold dollar Of the United states.
co,for,nine I'm standard value and decimal
character to all the gold and SILVER com
ace of the country. except the silver dCi-
lar has been prop rly selected ana shouId
De- retained as the standard Of value lot
aU foreign coins used or employed Al
commercial or governmental TRANSACTIONS
with other nations. The silver doliaI OF
tbe United states, differing as IL does
in commercial and decimal value from
the other silver coins OF the country ,
cannot. without disturbing our decliii Al
system and producing CONFUSION III inc
relative value of our gold ana sliNei
COINAGE be- used as standard. The ietal
weight Of the silver dollar is il2 Il grdlns'
Of two half dollars or other component
fractions Of the dollar, 3S4 Brains-a dllIeI-
ence of 2S II grains.
"Tbe silver dollar. as II now is, has
actually three values: Cd II Is by law
"a dollar simply. or TOO cents. 90 by
the mint price Of silver IL is lO3.55 CENTS
which is fits true commercial value as
compared with gold. 90 Ii has am IN
terror or mint value which IS determined
bv fits relation TO the silver contained ln
the half dollar. which makes il lol 25-'d
Cinlrla UIefNE
are paid out at the mint at the even
price of Jos cents
CAS- the dollar. which is the unit Of cur
money is represented in gold coin. u would
seem desirable not 10 have another dol
lar i'm another metal. The itd-
sons for IT'S retention having ceased elmer
we should cease TO coin the silver Hol-
lar. or il should Joe made 90 conform in
weight and value TO our lesser silver
coins" Finance report. 1851, b. 6-5.
This was in 1851 The country soon
passed away from specie basis to q
paper one, and no more was ever heard
of either gold or silver coinage until we
resumed specie payments in 1919. But
when the matter was last before the
couutry's attention we We're on gold
basis: there was 40 silver I'm our currency
except the overvalued token coinage used
for change. and the Director of the Mint
had i'm 1851 officially advised that the pro-
vision for coming the silver dollar should
be dispensed with.
In 1866 the Secretary Of the Treasury
Mr. licCuloch. sent Hon. John Jay Knox.
afterwards well and most 1avorabiy
known 10 the whole country as Comp
troncr Of the Currency, to the Pacific
coast to investigate our trade relations
there. He gave a great deal of attention
TO our interchanges with China and Japan
and concluded that our silver laws re-
ouired revision, and. I'm a report TO the
Treasury. which attracted much notice
he recommended a thorough revision Of
all the coinage laws. The demonitizing
act grew out Of this recommendation
I'm conformity with it, Mr.. Boutwell,, who
was then Secretary Of the Treasury in
1869 directed Mr.. Knox, Assistant Score
tarv of the Treasury Richardson and d.
Iinderman. Director of the Mint, 10 revise
and codify the coinage laws. They did
so presenting one complete bin to cover
the whole field as a substitute for all
pre-exisung laws. AS the silver dollar
had never been used in our country
and. so far as specie concerned ms at ALL
the gold dollar was our standard, then
/ bin omitted all provision for the silver
dollar. but am elaborate report which ac
companied their bin as a part Of it. called
especial attention to this fact and stated
the reasons for it, and used the following
/ language:
"The coinage of the silver dollar piece
| the history of which is here given is ans
/ continued i'm the proposed BILL IN.
/ present gold dollar piece IS made the dol
/ lar unit I'm the proposed bin, and the sllFel
| dollar piece is discontinued.
The report had paragraph after para
/ Graph headed i'm large capitals, "Discoa
/ tinuance of Silver Dollars 1.-THE silvd
Dollar. It's Disconhnuance as stand
ard" No man could possibly have read
/ the report and have failed to know thai
il dropped the silver dollar.
The Secretary Of the Treasury on the
18th April, 1870. transmitted the bill an,
report TO Senator Sherman. chairman OF
the Senate Finance Committee, with ,
letter recommending that tine bin shout,
| be uassed Elm the form presented
The reader viii find an of this set cu
i'm detail i'm the report Of the House
/ Coinage Committee ON the Senate bin
1910. sor free coinage of silver. i'm the see