Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-07-18

This was en- page 10 Of the School"
Then Horr quoted frcm page 10 the table
frcn Mulkall, the London statis.ician, In
which YOU show silver was not scarce at
that time. You show il was with one ex-
ception the NEST plentiful that it had been
at any one time during the experience Of
the government" Herr proceeded to say
that If Harvey had turned to the mint re-
ports for 1898. page SIS. he would have
found that the director of the mint says:
mo issue Of silver dollars was made from
the mint from 1Sc5 to 1896, the coinage
l.. Wing been suspended by the direction ct
II esident jefferson. owing to the fact
now mark-'that their bullion value being
greater than their face value they were
purchased for export
In explaining his statement that silver
was scarce when the coinage CT the dollar
was suspended, Harvey said that it was
scarce in the United States. although
abundant in the world. He then returned
to silver demonstration in 1878. but gave
Herr the floor. In taking UP the subject
Herr said he proposed to show that no
law has ever been passed by the American
Congress which was freer from faint.
which was more carefully examined. which
was more completely and fully understood
than the law Of 1873. The statement
which he read to you that the scheme
was concccted in London is a simple as
sertion upon which he cannot produce one
scintilla OF respectable truth, not one
word"
The law Of 1873 had its origin, as all
such laws have. in the brains Of experts.
The question Of coinage, mintage. is most
Intricate one; a complicated one, and usu-
ally it has been decided by few men who
have studied the problem labCriously. All
the men who ever assumed to be able to
discuss the matter intelligently lin the ear
ly days OF the century, could be counted on
the fingers of my two hands. At their
head stood Hamilton, the Morrisses. JET
ferson and Gellatin. And SO complicated
was the question that no two Of those pa
trio:s agreed about any one feature OF the
measure when they first commenced dis
GUESSING il. In 1884 the law as to rinta sc
was changed in a material manner for the
first time; Ii was done by decreasing the
amount Of gold in the gold dollar. 1t was
icne because experience showed those peo-
pie that the cheap dollar. which was sill
yer, had driven the geld currency out of
the United States.
Several members of that Congress in
sisted that If the ratio was made 10 to l
silver would leave the country and that we
would be doing business very soon upon
a gold basis and with gold currency only.
But 1t was done. and, as those men pre-
dicted, silver ceased to be the masure OF
values in the United States. l don't say,
Mr.. Harry, ceased to be the legal meas
ure.' Why? Simply because they could
sell TIE silver dollar and get more gold
dollars for a quantity of gold dollars than
no foca IF ell for
They changed the ratio then, and it was
not changed again until perhaps 1853,
when they Passed Z law providing for the
subsidiary coinage of silver.
This was dine. Herr said. to prevent
people from melting the subsisting coin
and selling it as bullion, thus getting
more fer it than could be obtained fer il
as coin, as it was as good in weight and
oneness as the silver dollar. To keep sub
sidiary coinage inc:rcIlatiCn Congress re-
sidiary coinage III circulation Congress re-
Harvey here took up the talk and said
referring to Horrs statement that here
was no proof Of the alleged characterization
conspiracy, that he once heard a lawyer
say that to detect the criminal, look for
the Ian that IS benefited by the crime. u
England first densnetized silver. Lon.
don bankers initiated the Paris conference
of 1867, at which Mr.. john Sherman was
present. therefore l have the right to say
the conspiracy originated in London
Referring to Horr's statement that the
science CT money was hard to understand
Harvey said that was the argument Of the
selfish money lender. He said: you who
study chemistry and can understand the
most difficult problems Of science-chem.
istry and other sciences that would make
a bankers head dizzy to contemplate, you
we are ted. cannot understand the simple
proposition Ct money, that which you come
into the use Of every day" He quoted enc
member Of Congress in 1878 as saying OF
the characterization act that the introduc.
ton of this bill at the present time either
means trick or is farce worthy Of being
caricatured by Thomas Mast
This closed the debate. and half an houI
CT so was spent il replying to questions
from TIE audience.
Among these asked was one by 3. Gunr
of Kansas City, whether during the period
from the time jefferson closed the mint.
to the coinage Of the silver dollar fh1s40-
81 ycars-there was free and unlimited
coinage of silver.
Harvey said: Mr.. jefferson did no,
close the mints, that could only be done b,
an act Oh congress. MT. Jefferson directed
the mint directors to coin the silver thai
came, at the option Of the people, in fifty
cent pieces and less. You need not coir
single unit, and yet by law the 371A
grains of silver could be the unit Of value
regulating all other coins. all compared te
it in legal and commercial ratio. The ac
1873 made tie gold dollar the unit, and
now, by the act of September Is, 1889, 1t 1.
unlawful to coin a gold dollar. So thai
We now have a unit Of 80 2-10 grains Of
gold, and Congress has said that the mint,
a question by James Ballinger was
shall net coin any OF them
why have l had SO little silver or GOLD
since the passage of the act OF 1892" Il
was to both Horr and Harvey Horr sait
he couldn't tell unless he was informed
how Bollinger had been behaving sine,
that time. Harvey said: Because We
have been on a gold standard"
Mr.. Mctsmyer CT Shoals, Ind, asked Il
the debtcr previous to 1873 had not til;
right to pay his debts In the cheaper met
al! The reply was from Herr that it wa.
perfectly proper and natural to SO pay.