The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1895-06-20

| Ill 1873"
A bright looking hid was now seen
stan'ling on chair in the back part Of
the roon holding up his hand and crack,
ing his finger and thumb. He was
asked what no wanted ana said.
II want to know what il meant by
standard silver
Corn then explained that this meant
with the government a standard rule for
mixing alloy with silver and gold. And
when so mixed is called standard silver
or standard gold Before it is mixed
with the alloy it is called pure silver or
pure gold. The standard of both gold
ami silver is such that by ] l,000 parts by
weight, 900 shall be of pure metal, aud
100 of alloy. The alloy Of silver coins
is copper. la gold coins it is copper
and silver, but the silver shall in no case
exceed one.tenth Of the whole alloy.
Standard silver and standard gold is the
metal when mix ID with its al!oy.
81 now think we understand" said
Com, "what the unit of value was prior
to 1873. We had the silver dollar as
the usit. And we Tad both gold and
silver as money walking arm in arm into
the United States minis.
ave now come to the act Of 1873,
continued Com. "Ou February y,
1873, Congress passed an act purpordng
to be revision Of the coinage laws.
This law covers Is pages of our statutes
1t repealed the unit clause in the law Of
> 1892, and in its place substituted law
in the following language
THAT the gold coins of the United States
shall be one>dollar piece which at the
standard weight of twenty-five AMI eight
c tenths grains shall be the unit of value
at then deprived silver of its right to
| unrestricted free coinage, and destroy ed
Q it as legal tender money in the payment
Of debts, except to the amount Of five
/ dollars.
i Sat that time we were all using paper
money. No one was handling silver
!. and gold coins. Ii was when specie
,; payments were about to be resumed that
i the country appeared to realize what had
been done. The newspapers ON the
n morning Of February l3, 1873, and at
u no time in the vicinity of that period
NJ had any account of the change. Gen,
1t ersl Grant, who was President of the
1t United States at that time, said after
n wards, that he hau no idea of it, aud
i would not have signed the bill if be had
"A known that it dcmouetzed silver.
u '1n tn, language Of Senator Daniel of
Virginia, it seems to have gone through
~ Congress like the silent tread Of cat
II "Au army of half million of men
d invading our shores, the warships of the
% world bonbarding our coasts, could not
have made US surrender the money Of
the people aud substitute in its place the
u money Of the rich. A few words EN-,
II hraced in fifteen pages Of statutes put
Of through Congress in the rush of bill'
+ did it, The pen was mightier than tn,
d sword.
y ''But we are not here 10 deal will
sentiment. We are here TO learn facts
: Plain, blunt facts
n, "The law of 1873 made gold tn,
N amt of values. Aud that is the law to,
ID day. When silver was the unit of val
At uc, gold enjoyed free coinage, and wa,
N legal teuder in the payment of all debts
ID Now things have changed. Gold is III,
al uuit and silver does not enjoy free coin
he age. 1t is refused at the mints. W,
lie might get along with gold as the un,t
t. if silver enjoyed the same right gold die
. prior to 1873 But that right is nov
denied to silver. When silver was tht
unit, the unlimited demand for golc
= to cola into money, made the demanC
y. as great as the supply, and this held "
10 the value of gold bullion
1t Here Victor L. Lawson, Jr., of tn,
IN Chicago E're'ling Ne,cs, interrupted tn,
little fnancier with the statement tha
his paper, the NcIcs, had stated timr
and again that silver had become 5,
\, plentiful it had ceased to be preciou
it metal. And that this statement be
at lieved by him to be fact had more 4
or do with his prejudice TO silver thar any
thing else. Aud he would like to knoy
- il that was not fact?
4 "There IS no truth in the statement,
to replied CoIN. "0n page 2l of m,
r. Handbook you will ind table on thi
re subject, compiled by Mulhall the Lon
d don siatisiician, II gives the quaniit