The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-08-18

UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES THE SILVER
DOLLAR WAS DBMoNETIzED.-The market
ratio between the money metals changed
but little during that time. Silver counted
for more as bullion than as coin, and con-
sequently but little Of it was coined except
in fractional parts of q dollar as "chauge."
Although coinage of both the metals was
free, only S,O45,S3S of the silver dollar
pieces were coined from the establishment
Of the mint along to 1879 while the coinage
of gold was sometimes in that period FIVE
times that much in single year. This was
the situation of affairs when the silver dol
lar was demonptized in 1873:
The silver Denomination Act of 1873, il
is frequently said, was passed "surrepti-
tiously, and the movement which led 10
1t has bc,n called conspiracy and n
''crimc." Let us see if there be any basis
for these charges. John Jay Knox, an off.
ciai of the treasury department and later q
comptroller OF the currency, was requested
oy the secretary Of the treasury to prepare,
In outline, revision of the statutes govern
ing the mints and assay offices Of the coun-
try, and in 1870 the measure was placed in
the hands of the secretary, George s. Bout
we'll, who sent it to The Senate, with the
recommendation that it be passed. In the
enumeration of the coins to be issued from
the mints the standard silver dollar was
omitted. But Mr.. Knox in letter accom-
panying the bill made particular mention
OF this fact. The coin was omitted becanse
there was no demand for it. Although they
could be coined on the came terms as gold
pieces, only little over 100000 of the
silver dollars hal been coined in the eighty
one years ending with 1878. There was no
demand for their coinage because in each
dollar, at the ruling price for silver iu 1870,
when the so-colled decentralization bill went
to Congress, there would be about $1.O3,
as measured in gold
The bill omittiug the silver dollar from
the list Of coins was before two Congresses :
1t was exhaustively discussed between 1870
and its passage in 1873 in both branches of
Congress and through the press, and every
member of Congress, who attended 10 his
duties, knew that the silver dollar was drop
ped from the list of coins and every reader
OF the newspapers knew it who had any
interest in the question. There was nothing
"surreptitious" about it. Most of the men
in Congress at that time who are now free
| silver men voted on the bill, which became
law on February IL, 1873. Nobody dis
covered it was conspiracy" until two or
three years later the silver in the dollar
went far below the 10O-cent mark relatively
to gold, and the silver miners saw that there
would be large profit in silvsr on private
account. -.-'
In the latter part Of 1873 silver started
downward, and has, with an occasional
rally for year or thereabouts, been going
down ever since. When the silver demon
etization bill was passed on February IL,
1873, the quantity Of silver in the dollar
was worth in the market about $l.O2. I,
was worth SO cents on an average in 1876,
81 cents in 1880, 81 cents in 1886, 80 cents
shortly before the passage of the Sherman
law 10 1890, and its average in the past
week has been about 90 cents. The market
ratio between the metals, which was about 1G
to !, the same as the legal ratio around the
middle of 1878, has been about % to 20 to l
in the past week---St Louis Globe Democrat.