The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-08
COIN NOT IGNORANT.


tack on the first chapter in Coins Finan>
cial School,, in which the impression is
intended to be conveyed that the finan>
cial law adopted in 1892 by the United
States congress did not fix the unit on
silver. but did fix it on gold. The Times
Herald Is wrong and the book is right
My quarrel with the Times-Herald is
that 1t does not state the proposition or
the authorities fairly, and draws conclu-
sions which will not bear investigation
for moment. The substance of the dis
cussion which led up to the fixing of the
unit may be found in the state papers Of
that period, the principal ones Of which
may be found in the report of the inter-
national monetary conference of 1875
and consists of the following documents:
Il. Mr.Jeffersons notes on the establish
ment of a money unit and Of coinage
for the United States.
"2-Report Of grand committee on the
money unit.
"3-The coinage system reported to
congress April S,17S6, by Samuel Osgood
and Walter Livingston. who constituted
the Board Of Treasury.
'4-The resolutionsp on coinage of Aug
3, 1856.
"5-Report of Alexander Hamilton On
The establishment of a mint.
"6-Miscellaneous documents.
From these you will see that Mr.. JEFF
terson on page 43s advises the following
coins:
81. A golden piece equal in value to $40.
20. The unit or dollar itself Of silver.
SO. The tenth Of dollar of silver also.
~. The hundredth of dollar of copper.
1.-The above Is his exact language. Fur
kher on MIR. Jefferson says:
1.-The unit or dollar is known coin and
the most familiar of all to the mind Of
the people. 1t is already adopted from
north to south, has identified our cur,
rency, and therefore happily offers itself
as a unit already introduced. Our public
debt, our acquisitions and their appor-
tionments, have given 1t actual and long
possession Of the place Of unit. The
course of our commerce, too will bring
lus more of this than any other foreign
coin, and therefore renders it more wor>
THY Of attention.
"If we determine that dollar shall be
our unit we must then say with precision
what dollar is.
1.-THE quantity Of fine silver which shall
constitute the unit being settled and the
proportion Of the value Of gold to that of
silver, a table should be formed from the
assay before suggested, CHASING the sew
Neral foreign coins according to their fine
ness.
ITO prepare an ordinance for the es-
tablishing the unit of money within these
states; for subdividing it and for striking
coins of gold, silver and copper on the
following principles:
THAT the money unit of these states
shall be equal in value to the Spanish
milled dollar, containing 50 much fine sill
yer as the assay before directed shall
show to be contained on an average in
dollars of the several dates circulating
with us.
'"That this unit shall be divided into
tenths and hundredths.
I'm the report of the grand committee
on the money unit that fixed the silver
dollar as the unit we find on page 441
the following:
1.-THE quantity Of pure silver being fixed
that is to be in the unit or dollar and the
relation between silver and gold being
fixed, all the other weighs must follow.
ION the Sth Of April, 1856, the Board Of
Treasury directed to the president of
congress their report on certain princi-
Dles for establishing mint accompanied
by q letter to the president of congress.
The report was in triplicate and con-
tanned as will be seen below, three dis
tinct schemes, each of which was set
forth in the report with great particular
ity. Each of these reports pro-
posed a silver dollar as the unit
ALEXANDER HAMILTON'S VIEW.
"The opposite view of the question was
presented by Alexander Hamilton, and
his report is in the book referred to
and now before me with the other doc
.uments above referred to. On page 456
he says:
but if the dollar should. notwithstand-
ing. be supposed to have the best title
to being considered as the present unit
In the coins, it would remain to deter
mine what kind of dollar ought to be
understood; or, in other words, what pre-
else quantity of fine silver.
1.-The next inquiry toward right de-
termination of what ought to be the
future money unit of the United States
turns upon these questions: Whether 1t
ought to be peculiarly attached to either
of the metals IN preference to the other
or not; and If to either, to which Of them.
lone gold piece equal in weight and
value to 10 units or dollars.
"One gold piece equal to a 10th part OF
the former and which shall be Unit or
dollar.
lone silver piece which shall he IN
weight and value a 10th part Of the
silver unit or dollar.
"Mr. Jefferson at one time came very
near yielding to the arguments Ut AR.
Hamilton but the whole matter went into
the American congress at us IlfSt SEES
sion, and out of the recommendation and
discussions that had been had, the result
was the enactment Of the law of 1882,
ond section of that act is the one that
settled this question. 1t is as follows:
"And be it further enacted, That there
shall be from time to time struck and
coined at the said mint. coins of gold,
silver and copper of the following de-
nominations, values and descriptions,
viz.
"Eagles-Each to be of the value Of
$40 or units, and to contain 247ls grains
of pure or 270 grains of standard gold.
Half Eagles-each to be of the value
Of IS, and to contain 1884 grains Of pure
or 1876 grains of standard gold.
Quarter Eagles-Each to be of the
value of $3.50 and to contain 61% grains
Of pure or 81 4-8 grains of standard gold
Dollars or Units--Each to be of the
value of a Spanish milled dollar, as the
same is now current, and to contain
1871 4-16 grains of pure or 416 grains of
standard silver.
Half Dollars-Each to be of half
the value of the dollar or unit and to
contain 1S5 10-16 grains OF pure, or EOS
grains Of standard silver.
Quarter Dcllars-Each to be OF one
fourth the value of the dollar or unit
and to contain 80 13-16ths grains Of pure
or 1O4 grains Of standard silver.
THE section closes by fixing the size
of the minor coins.
WAS THE LAW TILL 1873
1T will thus be seen that the unit was
settled on silver and remained the law
until 1873. when 1t was changed to read
as follows:
10 :,