The Kosciusko star. (Kosciusko, Miss.) 18??-1898, 1895-05-17


of silver were coined into dollars.
This is pure fiction. Neither
Jefferson nor Jackson ever made
any such recommendation. MOI
was there any scarcity of silver
at that time. The reason why sill
yer dollars were not coined by oul
mint. between 1905 and 1896 has
already been stated.
Next after this false statement
about Jefferson and jackson comes
the following:
During this struggle to get
more silver" continued "Coin,
"Frarce made a bid for it by es-
tablishing a ratio OF ISL to I, and
as our ratio was 10 to i this made
silver in France worth SI.o318
when exchanged for gold, and as
gold would answer the same pur-
pose as silver for money, it was
found that our silver was leaving
/ us.
The French ratio of 49, to
was established in 1855, and was
merely re-enacted in 1903. Our
ratio of IS to I was established in
1892, and that of 10 to I in 1884.
So France ''made a bid for our
silver seven yenrs before we had
any ratio or any coinage at all, and
40 years before we had the ratio
that Com" says enabled her to
get it away from us. OF course
she did this in the spirit of proph-
ecy or with the eye offaith. For
this reason" says "Coin," lit was
found hat our silver was leaving
us" The debates in our congress
on the act of 1884 furnish us a bet
ter reason. Our fathers wanted to
get rid of their heavy and bulky
silver money and to bring gold in
its place, and they purposely adop-
ted a ratio that would have that ef-
feet.
Com quotes the law, which he
says sustains his statement, thus:
"And be it further enacted, that
from and after the passage of this
act the following foreign silver
coins shall pass current as money
within the United States and be
receivable by tale for the payment
of all debts and demands at the
rates following, that is to say: the
Spanish pillar dollar and the dol
lars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia,
etc"
The act referred to is that OF
March 3, IS43. The lie here con
sists in the insignificant ''etc.",
which is intended to include all
other foreign silver coins circula-
ting in the United States prior to
1860. In order to show the falsity
of this we quote the remainder of
the section of this law, which is
left to the readers imagination in
the innocent ''etc. "
"Of not less than S97, -1C00 in
tinencss and 4l5 grains in weight,
at 100 cents each, and the five
franc pieces Of France Of not less
than 100000 in fneness and 3S4
grains in weight, at SO cents
each"
By putting these two pieces to-
gether the reader will see that the
only foreign silver coins made le-
gal tender by tins act were the
dollars of Spain, Mexico, Peru and
Bolivia, and the fve-franc pieces
(not the smaller coins) of France.
Yet the writer says that it,
lmeaning the foreign silver circu-
lation here at that time), had ali
been made legal tender in the Uni.
ted States by act of Congress-"
The truth is that Congress made
only two foreign silver coins legal
tender, the dollar of Spain and the
franc piece of France. The
Spanish dollars, which found their
way hither being mostly coined in
the Spanish American nints, it be.
came necessary, when those colo.
MES achieved their independence,
to include their names in the list
to avoid ambiguity So it came
about that the dollars of Mexico.
Central America, Chilli, Peru, and
Bolivia were added to cur legal
tender list at different times. The
reason Why the dollars of Spain
and the five-tranc pieces of France
were made legal tender was that
they were here and in general use
before the Constitution was adont-