The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-05-28

TO array one class of our citizens or one
section OF our country against another,
or by loose and extravagant statements
unsupported by facts and reasons The
questions involved are too serious, the
interests to be affected are too large,
and the common sense OF the people Is
too strong to justify or even excuse
this course of treatment. The allega
ton, even If it we're true, that a great
crime was surreptitiously committed
in 1873, 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 nov ex.
listing. But, gentlemen, it is rot true
that the act of February IL, 1878. which
made the gold dollar the unit of value
and dropped the standard silver dollar
from the coinage, was pessed by stealth,
or that its purpose or effect was to de
prive the people of the use of any coin
then in use or then in existence in this
country. That bill was pending in
Congress for nearly three years and
was under consideration during five
sessions of that body; it was distinctly
recommended in two reports of the
Secretary of the Treasury, and the Di-
rector of the Mint, and it vas officially
printed and laid on the desks Of mem
bers of the House and of the Senate
thirteen different times before the final
vote was taken on it. 1t was read at
length in open Senate several times,
and In the House at least once, as
shown by the record; it was reported
from committees seven times, and the
discussion upon il in the House fills 66
columns Of the Congressional Globa,
and In the Senate 70 columns. AS first
reported TO the Senate and passed by
that body in January, 1871, the bill did
not provide for the coinage of any sill
yer dollar whatever, but expressly
limited the coinage of that metal to
subsidiary ~pieces-half dollars, quar-
tiers and dimes. In this form, without
any provision for the coinage of any
kind of silver dollar, the bill was passed
in the Senate on the 10th day of Jan
uary, 1871, upon the call of the yeas
and nays, and the record shows that
the Senators from Kentucky, Hon.
Garrett Davis and Hon. Thomas c..
McCreery, the distinguished Demo
cratic Senator from Ohio, Hon. Allen
Thurman, the present Senator from
Nevada, Hon. William M. Stewart, TO-
gether with all the other Senators from
the Pacific Slope, voted in the affirmative,
while Senator Sherman, Senator Mer-
rill, and II others voted in the mega
tive. The reason given by Nh. Sher-
man for voting against the bill vas
that the Senate had, in obedience to
the demands of the Senators from the
Pacific Coast, go amended the bill,
after it was reported from the com
mittee. as to abolish the charge of one,
fifth of n per cent. for coming gold,
thus making the coinage of that metal
entirely free. The bill went to the
House of Representatives, but it was
not disposed of during that Congress
and at the first session of the next Con-
gress Mr.. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, in
troduced it in the House and it was re-
ferred to q committee. So far as the
coinage of the silver dollar was affec.
ted, the bill introduced by him was
precisely the same as the one that had
passed the Senate-that liz, it made no
provision for such a coin. However,
when the bill was finally reported back
from the committee to the House it
W8S so amended as to provide for the
coinage of a subsidiary piece, to be
a dollar. and to contain 3S4
grains of standard silver, the same
as the French 5 franc piece, and it was
to be legal tender to the extent Of five
dollars, and no more. In this form it
the House by a very large ma
i0rity-in fact, the opposition to it was
40 weak that the yeas and nays were
not even called. The Senate struck
out 5 franc subsidiary dollar and sub
stituted for it another subsidiary coin,
called the trade,dollar, containing 420
grains of standard silver, and provided
that it should be a legal tender { the
amount Of five dollars, and no more.
A committee of conference was ap-
pointed, the Senate amendment was
TO. and the bill became a law by
the approval Of President Grant on
the 1871 day Of February, 1873. Tnis
brief Historical statement of the pro-
edings, which is fully sustained by
the official record, shows that iG was
well understood in Congress that the
old standard silver dollar Of 4124 grain g
was not to De thereafter coined at our,
and that the only difference OF
opinion that ever existed, even tenn
porarily, between the Senate and the
HOUSE was whether they would substi-
tute IN its place q subsidiary coin con-
tanning 1854 grains, or a subsidiary coin
contain in 42O grains of silver. No
proposition was made in either body to
continue the coinage of the old dollar,
to make any silver coin the unit of
value or a full legal tender in the pay
ment of debts.
The plain truth is that this act of
1878, which has been the subject of so
much misrepresentation and denuncia-
ton, was simply a legal recognition of
a monetary condition which had exis-
ted in fact in this country for about
five years, or ever since a short
time after the passage of the coinage
act of 1884 From about the year 1887
until after the Massage of the Bland.