Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-10-12

any now pending This bill does not
now touch amy personal question; it
relates alone to the laws of coinage
and the government of the minis and
assay siliees OF the country. An
amendment has been suggested to me,
which | shall now move This bill
was proposed in the year 1871; there
fore an amendn MT is necessary to
section seventy-two. This section
now reads, this act shall be known
as the coinage act, 1871 | move to
amend by striking out 1871. and
inserting 1872 " which amendment
was agreed to.
Now, i'm view OF these statements of
Mr.. Kelley. it is perfectly certain that
the bill introduced 10y him March 9th.
1871, was the same bin, in substance
at least, or at least he understood it
to be, which was prepared by the
Treasury Departments and sent bv
Secretary Boutwell, to the Senate in
1870, as stated above. and in my
former communication. and that bin.
rs we have seen, provided for the
cessation Of the coinage Of the silver
dollar of 4l2! grains, because it could
not be kept in circulation, but went
into the melting pot as fast as coined,
to the great profit of those persons
who engaged in that business. and the
consequent equal loss by the people
And it will also be seen that the au-
thority to which | referred in my
former communication was perfectly
correct in stating. as it did. that shat
bill, after having passed the senate.
January 10, 1871 by 36 ayes to IL
nays. and failing to pass the House.
by reason Of the expiration Of the
session. was re-introduced' March
9th, 1871. by Mr. Kelley. And il il
equally certain that Mr.. Mills did not
know what he was saying when he
stated that the bin introduced by Mr.
Kelley would. if passed. shave re-
duced the value of the silver dollar to
a parity with the gold one. or he de-
liberately misstated the facts That
bill did not provide. nor attempt TO
provide for keeping any of the silver
coins, to be thereafter coined. AT pari-
ty with gold, or that any of them
should be a legal tender. except in
small sums as | stated above. The
silver coins were all to be subsidiary,
as they all were at that time. except
the silver dollar itself and worth
-four per cent at least less than gold
instead Of 3 per cent more. as the
silver dollar was. This does not rest
upon my assertion, but on the testi-
mony Of Mr. Kelley. delivered during
that same discussion. on January 9th,
1872. ("Globe. volume as above.
p. 325.) In reply to a suggestion
from Mr. Clarkson y. Potter. To the
effect that the bin provided that all
the base coins, as he called them.
meaning all coins which were not to
be Of full legal tender value and quail
ity, We're, as he supposed to be made
OF nickel alone Mr. Kelley said No.
sir The silver coin remains as the
gentlemen'~ party friends wisely made
it "A subsidiary coin worth four per
cent less than it, intrinsic value in
gold. And ON p. 322, IN reply TO a
question from Mr.. Potter whether il
made "any change in the value
of the coin issued in pursuance of its
provisions. from the value Of the coin
which now eNists?' Mr.. Kelley
answered: 1T does not And on
the same page he said that there were
one or two things in the bill which
he personally would like to modify.