The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-09-20

4 commodities. The business word was aHA-S
/ iOusly looking forward to the time when
1 they could have q stable currency, one that
did not fuctuate in value from week to
week 50 that one large fe
/ prises and men could go forward VIII more lore
/ confidence. .
The Act Of 1873 WINS Not i New Act,
It was essentially coaidcation Of acts then
in existence Like the act of 1885,, it omit
/ ted ali reference to the dollar Of 4121s grains
Of standard silver. In the first draft Of the
! bill a silver dollar of 3S4 grains was pro
yided for; that is, a. silver dollar on q the
same ratio as the subsidiary coins, and sub
iect to the same limitations as to legal
tender In other words, it was proposed to
1 substitute a silver dollar that would clrcu-
/ late for one that would not and had not for
/ nearly forty years. But the argument was
advanced that the subsidiary coinage would
serve every purpose that could be q. served ,,;s
| ion Of the bill no reference was made to a
silver dollar just as none nag 9e en- maze l!
pie plain statement, how childish appear
certain charges. What need was there for
secrecy? Who needed to be bribed to do
Lest there should be any doubt in the
amount Of consideration given yen this Pil, let
! in the winter Of 1S69-7O 1t was brought
before the United States senate in April,
1870; It was printed and "a sent out It to large
tries who were regarded as experts in mint
/ age operations. 1t was printed thirteen
fered Dg nfns i've 9t sessions Of
house and senate The DEBATES on the Dill
occupy 1874 columns Of tbs Congressional
| Globe. Editorials lnnumerable were WIN WIZ,
Fen Teb a1 e. 1873 s. WAS no' many passs0 en'
That is was carefully considered is shown 81 "
by the following statement Of Hon. W. D.
Kelly, chairman Of the committee on coin
age, weights and measures Of the house,
who said in reporting the bill Jan. s. 1S12'
,r,s+1 !, r30fS hot
'sIt was referred to the committee on
coinage. weights and measJ res, and re-
ceived as careful attention as I have ever
known committee to bestow on any meas
ure. - The committee proceeded with
great deliberation to go over the bill, not
only section by section but line BY Line ana "a
retain the double standard. The values of
gold and silver continually fuctuate: You
relative values of gold and silver next
II Senate Miscellaneous Documents, No:
) page ii, we find in the discussion Of the
bill the following explicit statement:
+ .s'The coinage Of the silver dollar piece is
} both a gold dollar unit and a silver dollar
unit, differing from each other in intrinsic
made the dollar unit IN the proposed bill;
and the silver dollar piece is discontinued;
In H. R. Executive Documents No. 3o7,
, contains the correspondence Of the treasury
; department. relative to the bill, we find on
page 20 the following statement by E. D
had been referred
), 'The bill proposes, the discontinqance Of
the silver dollar, and the report which :; &C
, trade coin of intrinsic value equivalent tt
pag 70 df hs same or eo Volume
find the following statement by Robert Pat
: terson. another of the experts to whom thu
bill had been submitted:
: 1.-THE silver dollar, half-dime and Seen
! piece are dispensed with by this amend
l ment. Gold becomes the standard now, @
which lhsI the gold dollar is the unit Silver
e Senator Stewart, who then, as now, REP
!, resented the little State of Nevada, in on
e Of his speeches in 1873, made use of tn
. following language:
n 81 want the standard gold. and no pape
:. money that is not redeemable in gold. B.
= this process we shall come to a specie basis
and when the laborer shall receive his dol
h lar it will have the purchasing power of
|. dollar Gold is the universal standard 0
= = This is the same Senator Stewart who nov
4 talks SO necessarily against gold.
The Ernest Seyd Myth.
d In the campaign Of 1892 a story was re
K peated and believed by many honest pee
PIE and by Others not honest te Ct the etfss
5. Ernest Seyd came over from England wit
J 100000 Of English gold, which he e, suces:
l. fully used to debauch congress. There
a certain class OF people to whom an
3 story that lowers an honored name is a
!, ways welcome. For them no proof Wa
ID needed in support Of this story. There al
Ee others who are slow to believe as true thu
+ which ought not to be true, but who ha'
heard this story 50 frequently n yam and SO pos
ID gretfully half admit to themselves thu
- there must be a modicum Of truth in
Th M ne aa to pc i
le study of the subject, that the whole story
Ut an unmitigated falsehood, without even Il
L shadow of foundation.
4, The facts Of Mr.. Seyd's connection wit
"a the act Of 1873 are simply these: He VS.
W one Of the eminent specialists to whom Il
az az gestions. Like the others, Mr.. Seyd /
~ ~ turned his views in writing. His lett
t; covers nine colmns of fine print in the Co
portant suggestions. Mr.. Seyd discusse
with the vigor and clearness Of a maste
en- such practical questions. pertinent to Il
~ bill, as the proper size Of gold pieces, the
g. value and denomination, questions relati1
h, to mintage, the question Of mint charg
Sc, the question whether Il, the coin should S :!
ed cast separately, etc. Many Of his sugge
ey tons were so evidently wise, like sugge
by tions received from the other critics
m eminent ability, that they were Incorporate
nv in the bill.
ed The story Of bribery by Ernest Sc
SldTIcU III DeuNcf,E EOOlO. IL was man
nd featured out of whole CLOTH Senator Tell
cts one of thelablest advocates in this count
Of the free coinage of silver, lives in De
up yer and repudiates the story.
lat Before leaving the act of 1873 may S
that it did not take away the full les
1872 tender quality of the silver dollar 1t simI
ed omitted all mention of that coin. The col
nd whose legal tender was limited to So We
yer specified All silver dollars then in ext
nd ence (of which there We're probably not
the thousand all told retained their full lie,
ut tender power. 1t was in the revision Of
vas statutes in 1874 that tall silver coins Of
on, United States were placed in the catege
ed, of those having limited legal tender.
90 Act of 1873 Not Unfriendly. to silve
an It will be remembered that in 1873 we /
nee neither gold nor silver in circulation
md deed, practically the only objection made
the the consideration of the bill at that til
was on this very ground, that inasmuch
on neither metal was in circulation it seen
ace unnecessary to take the trouble to cod
all our mintage laws. But there was mi
IN confusion in these laws, and the mint {
rec. GERS were anxious to have them codifed &
ex. simpliied. There was one technical chan
be- too. Though we were using neither gold
unit silver in our circulation, large quantities
1nfI1 h1,iT1o inod ut ,%c,@