The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-05-21

been presented for the consideration of
! the American people during this gener-
alton; and that question now con-
fronts US.
THE face coinage of silver and the
substitution OF new unit and measure
OF value for the existing one In the
business transactions OF the country Is
not an ordinary experiment which can
be safely tried to-day and abandoned
TO- morrow II found injurious, because
che immediate consequences of such
step would be 30 fer-reaching and 60
enduring that they would continue to
be felt for years after the policy had
been reversed.
The allegation, even II 10 were true,
that great crime WAS surreptitiously
committed In 1878, or at any other time,
does not prove, or even conduce to
prove, that the free coinage of silver at
the ratio OF 16 to 1 would be beneficial
to the country under the conditions now
existing. But, gentlemen, it Is not
true that the act Of February 10, 1873,
which made the gold dollar the unit of
value and dropped the standard silver
dollar from the coinage, was passed by
stealth, or that its purpose or effect was
to deprive the people of the use of any
coin then in use or then in existence in
this country. That bill was pending in
Congress nearly three years and was
under consideration during i've sessions
OF that body; it was distinctly recon-
mended in two reports OF the Secretary
OF the Treasury, aud the Director of
the Mint, and 1t was officially printed
and laid on the desks OF the mem bora
OF the House and Senate thirteen differ
emit times before the final vote was
taken On 1t.
The plain truth is that this act Of
1879, which has been the subject of so
much Misrepresentation and denunci,
alton, was simply legal recognition OF
monetary condition which had existed
in fact in this country for about thirty
live years, or ever since short time
after the passage of the coinage act OF
1894. From about the year 1888 until
after the passage OF the Bland Allison
Act In 1878, no silver dollars were in
circulation in this country, and our
whole currency consisted of gold coins
and bank notes, except from 1862 to
1878, when our active circulation, out,
side OF California and It's neighboring
territory, was all paper.
Our first coinage law was passed In
1892, and 1t provided for full legal ten.
der gold and silver coins at the ratio of
10 to /; that Is to say, Is pounds of sill
yer were to be considered as equal in
value to one pound OF gold, and the
weights OF the coins were adjusted to
that rule.
I'm May, 1905, President Jefferson
stopped the coinage OF the silver dollar,
and during period of thirty-one years
thereafter not single standard silver
dollar was coined ct the mints of the
United States.
"Gold having disappeared from circu-
lation, Congress- determined in 1894, to
bring 1t back by changing the ratio.
The act OF 1894. supplemented BY the
act OF 1887, provided that the legal "a ito
should be 16 to /; that Is, that sixteen
pounds OF silver in the coins should be
equal to one pound of gold in the coins,
and the effect of this was to drive silver
out of circulation and Substitute gold in
Its place, because silver was under
valued and gold was over-valued in the
statute.
THE gold basis was established in
1884, by the practical operation of the
ratio just as completely and effectually
as II IL had been expressly declared in
the statute. Here, then, were two ex.
periments in the free coinage OF the two
metals in this country, covering period
OF eighty-one years, at legal ratios very
nearly corresponding to the real rela.
tive values in the commercial world.
and they both fsiled-in one case be.
cause silver was over-valued, and in the
other case because gold was over. valued.
I'm 1853 Congress, in order to msin-
tain the circulation OF. su bsidiary coins
half dollars, quarters and dimes-re-
duced the weight of the metal contsined
In them and made them legal tender
only In the payment OF sums not exceed.
Ing five dollars in amount. Under this
act the value of the bullion contained
In TWO half-dollars, four quarters, or ten
dimes was not equal to the value of the
bullion contained In either q gold or
silver dollar. and consequently these
small limited legal.tender coins went
into circulation and remained in use
until expelled by the cheaper paper
currency issued during the war; not
being full legal tender, they could not
drive out the gold coins.
This was the condition of monetary
system at the time the act 1873 was
passed. Our legal position was bime-
taliic, but our actual measure of value
was gold, and our actual circulating me.
alum was paper, with purchasing
power measured by the gold standard.
we had no silver and 1t had no influence
whatever or our prices, or on our ability
to pay debts.
1.-THE act Of 1873, therefore, did not and
could not take away from the people of
United States any advantage they then
possessed, but 1t did prevent the coin.
age Of full legal tender silver dollars
thereafter, and the act OF 1874 DESTROYED
the debt paying power Of the old stand
ard dollar coined before 1873, excent
In sums not exceeding FIVE dollars. n
there had been any such dollars in cir.
culation or In existence here this latter