The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-01-30
the bill. it was agreed to; there being

(See speech of Senator Hereford of
west Virginia in Congressional Rec
ord, December IA, 1877 page 2O6.)
The bill as it first passed the
House in the section relating to silver
coins read as follows:
That the silver coins of the United
States shall be DOLLAR. half dol
lar or fifty cent piece, quarter dollar
or twenty-five cent piece, dime or
ten cent piece. The weight of the
dollar shall be 1874. The half dollar,
the quarter dollar, and dime shall be
respectively One-half, one-quarter,
and tenth Of the weight of the
dollar. Which coins shall be a legal
tender at their nominal value for any
amount not exceeding five dollars in
one payment.
1t will be noticed that the words
grains troy" are left out, evidently
with the intent, also that while the
dollar is retained as a coin it is de-
prived of its legal tender except in
sums of five dollars.
This section was stricken out in the
Senate committee and the following
substituted:
That the silver coins of the United
States shall be A TRADE DOLLAR,
nall dollar or fifty cent piece, a quar-
ter dollar or twenty-five cent piece, a
dime or ten cent piece. The weight
OF the trade dollar shall be 42O grains
troy. The weight of the half dollar
shall be twelve and one-half grammes.
The quarter dollar and the dime shall
be respectively One-half and one fifth
the weight Of the said half dollar.
Said coins shall be legal tender at
their nominal value in any sum not
exceeding five dollars in any one pay
ment.
The bill contains siXty-seven sec
tlonS. The other section which shows
intent to demonetiZe silver and es-
tablsh the single gold standard is
Section IA which reads:
That the gold coins of the United
States shall be a one dollar piece which
at the standard weight Of TWEEN ty-five
and eight-tenths grains shall be the
unit Of value, etc.
SENATOR sHERMAN's BILL.
Senator Sherman had in 1868 intro
duced a similar bill SO far as its OBJ
ject, the demonetization of silver.
was concerned This was soon after
his return from Europe where he had
| been in conference with European
flnancierS, and attended an interna-
tional conference called by Louis Ma
poleon in 1867, the principal object of
which was apparently for the discus
sion of the question Of the establish
ment of the single standard exclusive
y Of gold.
The bill was entitled, "a bill in re-
latlon to the coinage Of gold and sill
ver.' In urging the bill upon his fell
low members Of the Senate commit
tee on finance Mr.. Sherman appealed
to their patriotic vanity in the idea
that, as he said, The single gold
standard is an American idea yielded
reluctantly cat the Paris conference)
by France and other countries where
silver is the chief standard of value.'
The ostensible purpose of the Sher-
| man plea as a whole was the "great
| object of the unitication of coinage"
The real object was to demonetiZe sill
yer in the interest of the money power
as outlined by Monsieur Grenier.
The pet scheme encountered stub
born snag, however, in the person of
the chairman of Mr.. Shcrman's COM
mittee, New York's energetic war
| governor, Senator E. D. Morgan. Mr.
Morgan appears to have seen pretty
we'll through the Sherman scheme.
and he put his foot on it instantly.
He submitted minority report, in
which he opposed international regu-
latiOn" of money as something that
would "fettcr ourselves" and pro-
nOuced the coinage of the United
| States "the simplest Of any in circu-
lation." OF the silver dollar he said
we should do we'll to increase rather
than discontinue coinage" and he
showed that the 1.-TWO streams of the
precious metals should be poured in
to the current of commerce in full
volume"
AS a consequence the bill was never
| called up for action. This ended the
open attempt to demOnetiZe silver.
Defeated in the open the next step
was to skulk decentralization through,
| hid in the mint bill
| The following is the text Of Sher-
mans original 1868 bill as it relates to
coinage and the demone tzation of
| silver. 1t will be noticed that in in
tent at least it is identical with the
mint bill of 1878:
With view to promote uniform
currency among the nations, the
weight of the gold coin of S.
shall agree with Freneh coin of
twenty-five francs; and the
other sizes or denominations shall be
in due proportion Of weight.
In order to conform the silver coin
age to this rate, and to the French
valuation, the weight of the half dol
lar shall be 119 grains and
lesser coins be in due proportion
But THE COINAGE OF SILVER PIECES
| OF ONE DOLLAR, FIVE CENTS, AND
THREE CENTS, SHALL BE DIsCON-
TINUED.
Gold coins to be issued under this
act shall be a legal tender in all pay
ments to any amount: and the silver
coins shall be legal tender not ex-
ceeding $40 in any one payment.
The devices of the coins shall con-
sist of such emblems and inscriptions
as are proper to the Republic
but plainly distinct from those now in