The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-04
The SAGE OF EN0REE.
ExHAUsTIvELY REVIEWS TIE SILL
YER QUESTION.
Ee Claims that Silver Has Never Been
Demone tized aad that Free Coinage OF
Silver Is Legally in Force Nova
Logical Argument.

OemOO0IlLeO 8slS2 Eo0 SOAHofs0 Va
Silver Is Legally in Force Nova
Logical Argument.
We are told in the sacred writings:
my people are destroyed for lack O
knowledge" Hosea sc.
This is strictly true of the people o
the United States at the present time
The members of both Houses Of Con
gress have asserted time after time
and it has been flashed on the electric
wires throughout the world and carried
by the press to every nook and corner
of the earth that silver, the money o.
the people from the earliest records
has been demonetiZed by the act o
Congress of Feb. II, 1878. This has
greatly appreciated gold and unsettled
values to the ruin of business OF al
kinds.
We propose to show that this IS en-
tirely erroneous-that silver has no'
been demonetized in the United States
by any law of Copgress-that it is ful
illegal tender" and under the same
rights of coinage at our mints that gold
has, which is free and unlimited. BY
reference to Webster's Unabridged
Dictionary it will be seen that to de.
monetize means to deprive of value,
to withdraw from use as currency
We all know this cannot be said OF
silver, for it is in daily use and the
standard silver dollar is 4 full legal
tender.
That our solution of this important
question may be absolutely correct, let
US calmly consider the fa is apd ana
lyze all the coinage laws enacted by
Congress, beginning with the first mint
act of April 2, 1892 and ending with
the act of November, 1898, repeating
the purchase clause of the Sherman
law:
First, what are the facts?
Nothing is better established IN his
tory than that no mint existed IN any
of the colonies in colonial days. None
of the colonies had any metallic money
of their own coinage. They used the
coins Of other nations, chiefly the old
Spanish milled dollar and its fractional
parfs, which Queen Anne, by her royal
proclamation in 1904, made lawful
money throughout all the colonies OF
British North America. These. coins
were more widely known in the com
mercial world than any other coins
known to the human race.
After the establishment OF the lloer-
ties of the people and the sovereignty
of the State in 1888 and the formation
of the United States government by
the adoption and ratification of the
Constitution of the United States in
1889 it became imperative that we
should have our own coins, our unit
of money, our dollar Of account.
To accomplish this the statesmen of
that day went industriously to work.
Thomas jefferson and Alexander
Hamilton, then Secretary the United
States Treasury, led in the great work.
On investigation it was found that
the old Spanish nilled dollar had been
recognized as the standard unit OF
money, the dollar of account from li04.
when Queen Anne issued her royal
proclamation making it and its fraction
al parts lawful money throughout
British North America. That the
English Parliament in 1850, duriDg the
reign of George H., by act "declared
all contracts, debts and dues whatso-
ever payable in silver at 6s., Sd. per
ounce, and all Spanish milled pieces OF
full weight shall be counted, taken and
paid at the rate of IS. per piece for the
discharge of any contract or bargain to
be made after the said 3lst day of
March, 1850, the halves, quarters and
other pieces of the same coin to be &C.
counted, received. taken or paid in the
same proportion"
By this act the Spanish milied dollar
and its fractional parts were made a
full legal tender throughout England
and all her dependencies. The Con-
tinentaf Congress, by an act May 3,
1875, recognized the Spanish milled
dollar as the money unit, under which
act bills Of credit were issued promising
to pay in Spanish milled dollars.
The Continental Congress on June
%, l775, resolved "that sum not to
exceed $2,OOO,00G of Spanish milled
dollars be emitted by the Congress in
bills of credit for the defense OF
Aaerica.
In July, 1775, the Congress author
lied the issue of bills of credit to the
amount of Sl,OOO,0o0, Spanish milled
dollars.
Many other acts were passed by the
Continental Congress recognizing the
Spanish milied dollar as the unit OF
money, the dollar of account.
We are told by Washington in bis
Life of Jefferson, Vol. l., PIP. l62 and
l65. that that foremost statesman in his
day, speaking of the establishment OF
our unit of money and the Spanish
miIled dollar, said: "The unit or dollar
is a known coin and the most familiar
of all to the minds of the people. 1t IS
already adopted from South to North,
has identified our currency and there
fore happily Offers itself as unit al
ready introduced. Our public debt, oul
reouisitions and their appointments
have given it actual and long possession
of the place of unit"
After it was decided to adopt the
Spanish milled dollar as the unit o
money, the dollar of account Of the
nation, very large number of then
were collected and semitic the mint ano
assayed. They were found to contain
on an sverage three hundred and seven
ty-one and twenty-five one hundredth:
grains OF pure silver. That is why thai
humber of grains of pure silver was pu
in the standard silver dollars in the
beginning of our coinage and has con
tinued to be SO put to the presen
time.
The above facts are imbedded in tht
history of the times to which they re
fer and are incoutrovertible.
will nov proceed to analyZe ths
coinage laws enacted by Congress be
ginning with the first one and ending
with the last one, and quote coplou:
extracts from each one so as to make
perfectly clear the solution of the ques
ton before US.
The act of April ,, 1892, established
the first mint in the United States
Section 9 shows the coius that were
authorized to be struck and coined anc
the metals out Of which they were Il
be coined. 1t reads as follows:
And be it further enacted, Tha
there shall be from time to time
..,>.1- ,,S oD;po6 of tho eaiS mint