The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-10-05

Seyd, WOlOwski and Cernuschi were the
three great champions of silver in Europe.
They fought for it as knights of old fought
for heir lady loves. And it is the basest
ingratitude for the friends of silver in this
country to
Blacken the Fair Name
of the greatest champion of the cause. ]
hold in my hand letter from the son OF
Ernest Seyd showing that his father had
not been in this country since 1856. A
garbled statement has been going the
rounds pretending to be an extract from
the Congressional Record. 1t has misled
many honest people. When l was here two
years ago l took it for granted that it was
a correct extract from The Record. 1t il
as follows:
Ernest Seyd of London, distinguished
writer and bullionist, is now here, and has
given great attention to the subject OF
mints and coinage, and after examining
the first draft of the bill made various sen.
sible suggestions, which the committee
accepted and embodied in the bill"
These words were attributed to Mr..
Hooper, who was at that time chairman
of the committee of coinage, weights and
measures, and are alleged % appear in the
Congressional Globe of April 9, 1872.
Even if that extract had been quoted
literally from The Record it would have
been an evidence of innocence, and not CT
guilt. The very fact that Mr.. Hooper told
of the presence of Mr. Seyd and the con.
situations of the committee with him,
would have been evidence that there was
nothing about such companionship and
consultation to be afraid or ashamed of.
Conspirators do not advertise the presence
and actions of their companions in crime.
Last winter took occasi n to examine
the Congressional Globe of A ril g. 1872,
and give you now the sentence as it &C
tually stands in that record. 1t is as fol-
lows:
Mr.. Ernest Seyd of London, distin-
guished writer who has given great atten.
ton to the subject of minis and coinage,
after examining the first draft of the bill
furnished many valuable suggestions.
which have been Incorporated in the bill. y
Looking at the alleged extract given be-
fore we notice that the words, sis now
here" have been interpOlated. They are
not in the Record, and the Interpolation is
done so clumsily as to betray the fact that
the one who did it was as ignorant as he
was INSCRIPTIONS.
The story of bribery by Ernest Seyd
started in Denver, Colo. 1t was manu-.
featured out of whole cloth. Senator
Teller, one of the ablest advocates in this
country of the free coinage of silver, lives
in Denver, and repudiates the story.
l almost feel like apologizing to you fol
spending so much time on this miserable
fabrication. But so many good people
have believed it and have been influenced
by it, that determined to state the facts
in the case: That Ernest Seyd has not
been in this country since 1856; that his
only connection with the bill was to write
letter to Mr.. Hooper, just as scores OF
other experts did, and that so far as his
influence went it was against the omission
of the silver dollar. And now having done
justice to the memory of an honest man,
dismiss the story with the full conviction
that those who have heard this simple
statement will never again allow the story
to go unrebuked and unrefuted
Before leaving the act of 1873 may say
that it did not take away the full lega
tender quality of the silver dollar. Il
simply omitted all mention of that coin
The coins whose legal tender was limited
to SIS were specified. All silver dollars theL
in existence (of which there were probably
not LOCO all told) retained their full lega
tender power 1t was in the revision OF
the statutes in 1874 that "all silver coins
of the United States" were placed in the
category of those having limited lega
tender.
Act of 1873 Not Unfriendly to Silver.
1t will be remembered that in 1873 we
nod LOT
Indeed, practically the only objectiC4
made to the consideration of the bill al
that time was on this very ground, thai
inasmuch as neither metal was il
circulation it seemed unnecessary tt
take the trouble to codify all oul
mintage laws. But there was much
confusion in these laws, and the mint off
GERS were anxious to have them codifieG
and simplifed. There was one technical
change, too. Though we were using
neither gold nor silver in our circulation
large quantities of both were being coined
at the minis This coinage was simply
for the purpose of securing the govern
ment stamp which certified to the finenes:
of the metal, and thereby facilitated sales
The act of 1878 made change in the
mintage charge, or seigniorage. Unit
1858 the expense of changing bullion into
coin was borne by the government; bu
the act of 1858 inserted a charge of one
half of per cent on all but subsidiary sill
yer coins The act of 1878 reduced this
charge from one-half to one-ffth of pei
cent. This is one evidence of good will
toward TIE producers of both gold anC
silver.
But still greater evidence of it is found
in provision for the coinage of the trade
dollar" AS | said before we were usine
neither gold nor silver at that time in oul
currency. We were building up at that
time large trade with China. The Chi
nese use silver as their standard money
The Mexican dollar was their favorIte, be
cause it was of uniform ineness and wa:
thus reliable, and had, moreover, the at
tractive quality of being the largest of the
silver dollars. Our silver producers fell
that if they could be furnished with nee
essary facilities, they could find in the Chi
nese trade valuable market for their sill
yer, which even in 1878 was beginning tx
feel the effect of greatly increased produc
ton. The Mexican dollar contained Al
15-17 grains of standard silver slightly ovel
9-1O fine, or 377 IA grains of pure silver
the act of 1878 provided for trade dollar
of 400 grains of standard silver, 9-10 fine
or 378 grains of pure silver. And thus W.
see that instead of striking blow at sill
yer, the act of 1878, by reducing the mint
age charges and by providing for a new
market for it, did everything that could
Ia 6ona i'm tc intopoct