Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-07-19

s1SS Wneshef MI. knCx openly ana square
~ presented this bill to congress? Mr..
Knox said himself: The coinage Of the
silver dollar piece. the history Of which is
here given. is discontinued in the proposed
bill. 1t is By law the dollar unit'-you
read that yesterday-'and assuming the
value Of geld to be 15ls times that of silver.
being about the mean ratio fer the last
six years, it is wortA In gold premium Of
about per cent. its value being s1.o312
and intrirsically more than per cent pre-
MUM in our other silver coin, its value
thus being $1.0743. The present laws con-
seQuently authorize a gold dollar unit and
q silver dollar unit, differing from each
other in intrinsic value. The present gold
dollar piece is made the dollar unit in the
proposed bill and the silver dollar piece is
discontinued
voice in the audience: when was that
written"
Horn: Just before It was sent to con-
gress in 1870. 1t was a part Of the report
that Secretary Boutwell, sent to the senate
In the spring OF 1870; it accompanied the
bill and was printed in the public docu-
ments as being an explanation Of the bill
by order Of the senate. Is there anything
hidden in those sentences
Horr then gave Shermans statement in
the senate in August. 1893, showing the
course of the bill in that body. the reports
thereon. the fact that six senators from the
Pacific coast made no objections to the
bill, the frequency with which it was print
ed. ETC. Herr then followed the bill into
the house. after being passed by the senate
by yea and nay vote, Senator Stewart, Of
Nevada. voting for it. 1t reached the house
Jan. 10, 1871, and was printed on motion
oil cl,air Of 10
house coinage committee: a report in the
meantime of 4 substitute was made but
that congress expired before final action on
the bill. At the extra session in 1871 it
was introduced again, and again no action
was taken. Kelly introduced 1t.
Harvey then took the floor again and re-
ferred to the charge against George A. Bas-
sett. clerk of the ways and means conf
mittee in 1873. CT having demanded $3.50
per month from New York bankers and
brokers to assist them in repeating the tax
on borrowed capital, and quoted Chicago
Tribune Washington correspondent as fol-
lows: Turkish corruption under the pa
shas and beys, or Russian official Rotten
ness. could scarcely be worse than 1t is
here" He referred also to the salary
list" bill, and said it was at this congress
that silver was demonetiZed. Then he said
that the bill as passed was not the bill
supposed to have been passed. He quoted
sections Is and q of the bill with the
words in brackets, the omission Of which
demonet!zed silver. as he claimed.
He said: "As the bill passed both houses
the unit was on gold, and free and unlim
tied coinage of both metals was provided
fer. But as enrolled the minis were closed
to free and unlimited coinage Of silver, ex-
ot~.
ished. The standard silver dollar was
fraudulently emitted after the bill had
passed both houses
Horr said the statement was preposter-
Gus. He quoted the words of Kelly, Of
Pennsylvania, in 1872: I'VE proceeded with
great elaboration to so over the bill. not
only by sections. but line by line. and word
by word" Hooper was also quoted, April
., 1872, that section 16 rc-enacted the
previous existing bylaws, except in rela
ton to the silver dollar which is reduced
in weight from 41Sla grains to 3SI grains,
thus making it a subsidiary CON-
Replying Harvey quoted from Kelly,
May 10, 1879: 1T uhc decentralization bilD
was passed without aliusion in debate to
the question of the retention or abandon
ment of the standard silver dollar
Horn then quoted what Kelly said in the
running debate in the house mot ''by
leave'O, as follows: "All experience has
shown that you must have one standard
coin. which shall be legal tender for all
others. 1 again call the attention
of the house to the fact that the gentlemen
who oppose this bill insist upon maintain
ing silver dollar worth 31s cents more
than the gold dollar and cents more than
two silver half-dollars, and that so long as
those provisions remain you cannot keep
silver coin in the country"
The above was said by Kelly prior to the
passage of the bill. After another desser-
tation by Harvey on the wickedness Of hu-
manity. Horr followed the demonstration
bill back to the senate and to its final pas
sage, after being before congress. for three
years. Harvey then quoted Kelly as say
ing during the debate on the bill that it
made no change in the existing value OF
coins. Harvey said: while the record dis
closed the intention to change the unit to
gold, it nowhere revealed the intention to
close the minis to silver He further
said: 1.-The clause providing for the sSI
grain dollar. with the right to unlimited
free coinage. was surreptitiously erased
from the bill in 1873 before it was en-
rolled
Horn then quoted Hooper as saying dur
ing the debate: This bill provides for the
making Of changes in the legal tender coin
of the country. and fer substituting a legal
tender of only one metal, instead, as here
tofore, of two
Horr proceeded: II submit to this audi
encc there is right there i'm that speech
positive proof that that bill was well I'M
derstocd by the people who were legislating
upon it. Mr.. Potter opposed the bill. but
ne was frank enough to state that one pro-
vision in the bill met with his hearty ap
proval. and that was the very provision we
are debating here today. No better proof
can possibly be given that that bill was.
like all the bills passed in that congress,
examined carefully. conscientiously"
This ended the debate for,the day, and
Judge Miller announced that questions
from the audience would be now received.
Charles Coffin. Of Arkansas was the first
questioner. He asked Horr why he op-
posed the American people acting on the
free silver question. Horn replied that he
had never on the face of the earth opposed
such action
J. c. Sibley, Of Pennsylvania asked why