The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-05-16
AS TO WHAT WAS THE UNIT OF
VALUE IN THE UNITED STATES
FROM 1892 TO 1875.
VIEWS OF HAMILTON AND JEF.
FERSON ON THE UNIT.
The Unit is the Starting Point in the
Recoining Of Money-The Bet De-
cided in the Affirmative.


well known Democrats Of this city, ex
Mayor Hopkins and William Forrest al
10 the unit Of value of from 1892 to 1919
This bet has attracted considerable atten
ton here and throughout the country. II
has been asserted in editorials that Mr.
Nincents reputation was such as not tC
admit Of confidence in his opinion. lie
was at one time chief justice of the
supreme court of New Mexico and was
removed by President Cleveland owing
to his appointment Of Stephen Dorsey as
jury commissioner. His dismissal was
due to an acknowledged misapprchension
of the facts as shown by the accompany
ing letter from the president;
Executive Mansion, Washington, Jan. $,
1895.
Hon. William a. Vincent-Dear Sir
have always said TO your friends, as well
as to you, that your removal from the
office Of judge Of the territory of New
Mexico did not in the least imply any
charge Of conviction of dishonesty or in
capacity or judicial misconduct. In the
condition of affairs at that time deemed
it my duty to promptly pursue the course,
unfortunate for you, and which was
adopted by me upon the mere showing of
the fact alleged without inquiry as to your
motives and purposes.
My action was unfairly harsh, but ]
then thought | was justified Often since
the time as all the facts attending the
incident have become known to me, as
reflected upon your otherwise uncXcep-
tional judicial career, so far it has come
10 my knowledge, | have been impressed
by the representations of your friends
that your removal had subjected you to
suspicion which was unjust and unwar-
ranted. So far as | am concerned, not
withstandng all that has passed, | am at
this time willing to express my confidence
in your ability and uprightncss. There
is now n vacancy in the chief justiceship
of Montana SO far as regards your tit
ness | should be entirely willing to see
YOU in that place. | write to ask you
therefore, whether if | should think 1t
well to do so, if | am at liberty to submit
your name to the senate for that Office.
/ make this proposition with a reservation
for reasons not in the least connected
with your qualifications, and l shall be
glad TO know your views upon the subject
MS soon as possible. Yours truly,
~ GROVER CLEVELAND"
The following is Judge Vincents decis-
ion of the bet: During recent discus
sion at the Iroquois club between Hon.
Washington Hesing, Hon. John L. Hop
kins, Sigmund Zeisler and w. ). Forrest,
the truthfulness of certain statements in
regard to the unit of value in the United
States from 1902 to 1893 was ques-
TONED. This argument resulted in
controversy which by agreement of the
parties was referred to me for my de-
cision. At my request, the question to
he determined was reduced to writing,
and is as follows: "Sigmund Ieiser
states that under the statute of l1o2
both gold and silver were made units of
value in the United States. John i.
Hopkins denies the allegation"
IL I hn1
the ineXpediency of the free coinage of
silver by the United States without in
ternational agreement, at the ratio OF
10 to /, which was well known to the
parties at the time, | had absolutely no
opiniOn as to the precise technical ques-
ton involved in the controversy above
stated. In my consideration of this sub
ject | have had the benefit of the views
of advocates on each side and it seems
to me that the matter has been carefully
and exhaustively presented. In April,
1889, the congress referred certain mat
tiers relating to the establishment of a
mint to Alexander Hamilton, then secre-
tary of the treasury. January %, 1892,
he communicated the result of his inqui-
ries and reflections to the house of rep
resentatives. This report is an exhaust
i've treatise on the subject of currency
on which Hamilton was almost univer-
sally conceded to be the best Informed
and most profound student of the nation.
He evidently asked Thomas JeersOn to
examine the report and express his judg
ment upon it because on February, 1902, or
two months before the passage of the act
under discussion, Jeerson wrote to Hamil
ton: 81 return you the report on the mint,
which | have read over with great deal
of satisfaction. | concur with you in think
ing that the unit must stand on both
metals, that the alloys should be the same
in both; also in the proportion established
between the value of the two metals"
Under the question, "What ought to be
the nature of the money unit Of the United
StatesW Hamilton says, among other
things: "As long as gold, either from its
intrinsic superiority us metal from its
greater rarity or from the prejudices of
mankind, retains so considerable a pre-
cminence in value over silver as it has
hitherto had, natural consequence of
this seems to be that its condition will re-
main more stationary. The revolutions,
therefore, which may take place in the
comparative value of gold and silver will
be changed in the state of the latter,
rather than in that of the former. But
upon the whole it seems to be most ud-
visable as has been observed, not to attach
the unit exclusively TO either of the metals
because this can not be done eectually
without destroying the Office and char
acter of mere merchandise, which ac-
cordingly at the different times has been
proposed from different and very respect
able quarters, but which would probably
be a greater evil than occasional variat tons
in the unit, from the fluctuations in the
relative values of the metals, especially if
care be taken to regulate the proposition
between them with an eye to their average
commercial value.
The conclusion to be drawn from the OBJ
servations which have ben made on the
subject is that the unit in the coins OF the
United State ought to correspond with "A
grains and three-fourhs of a grain Of pure
gold, and with 81 grains and one fourth
of a grain of pure silver, each answering
TO dollar in the money of account.
lnasmuch as the number of grains in a
silver dollar was suggested to be exactly
10 times the number of grains in Il gold
dollar, Mr.. Hamilton's report necessarily
recommends the adoption of bi-metal-
lie system ut the ratio of Is to 1 and his
reflections are certainly of greater value
than those made by others before that
time. Based upon the Hamilton report.
congress enacted the law of April >, 1892.
The unit is simply the starting point in
the reckoning of a money. In England
the unit is the pound sterling, in Germany
the mark, in France the franc, while
section 20 of the act of 1892 provides
that the money of the United States shall