The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-07-24

our money. That is not necessary in or
der to establish the principle was stat
ing that foreign silver was legal tender
| in this country. The point is this: Our
minis tested these foreign coins and val
ued the silver that was in them. The
alloy of much Of that coin was different
| from our alloy, so 1t was necessary to
assay those foreign coins and see how
much they were worth in our money;
! that the mints did and congress put into
that act how much a certain foreign coin
was worth in our money, and that is stat
ed in that statute that he acucses me
| Oh leaVlng out what was unnecessary Tor
| me to state in establishing the principle
| that our laws made foreign silver legal
| tender" Applause)
Mr.. Harvey-"Mr. Horn accuses me of
| Misrepresentation. Now l never have
| attempted yet, in dealing with the public
| or any one else, to mislead them. And
| in dealing with this financial question
| have looked at both sides of the question
| to judge from it's merits. But l will set
| tie one question Of misrepresentation
| that l am charged with right here, be-
| cause it settles several at once, and will
leave Mr.. Horr to explain something.
| In reading this section that l quoted in
| the book as to foreign coin he asks me
why did not put gold in along with sill
| yer, and that l had stated gold. Now,
| call Mr.. Horrs attention to the statute
says silver only (Applause) A man is
not guilty Of misrepresentation every
time somebody accuses him of 1t. CAP
| plause) On that same page | said that
| the statement made by the gold-standard
| advocates that only SS,000,000 Of silver
| was in circulation prior to 1873 was not
| true. and that instead of $S.000,000 in sill
yer being in circulation prior to 1873 there
| was S105, 900. 900 in silver in circulation
| prior to that time coined at our own
! mints. Now he says that that $1O5, OOO,-
| 600 is not correct. What is the correc-
| ton? l did make mistake. The treas
urer had made mistake in the book that
l copied it from. When he corrected the
| mistake six months afterward it read
| s143, 600 O00 (Applauce.) That is the only
| Misrepresentation that the book is ac-
cused Of. We sometimes underestimate
| that which is in our favor. We think
| that it is better quality than to exag-
gerate that which is in our favor Now
proceed
THE bill to demonetze silver was
pressed. If passed through congress in
| this form the intention of the cOnspira-
| tors was to strike out secretly the single
| line providing for the silver dollar the
| size of a 5-franc piece, and with the bill
| thus enrolled the minis would be closed
| by its terms to silver, except the trade
| dollar. To make the bill operative in this
respect when the standard silver dollar
| clause was erased, a section was inserted
| in the latter part Of the measure that
| there should be no coin struck at the
| mints except those hereinbefore provid
| ed for. The trade dollar clause could be
| easily repealed or limited under the
purchase clause, and this was subse-
quently done. AS to the fractional sill
yer coin the bill would SO read as to close
the minis to silver for that purpose, as
! did the act of 1853. The right to deposit
| for coinage only existed as to the silver
| dollar. TO bride this dollar was their
object. To deceive congress and at the
| last moment destroy the standard silver
| dollar was the purpose. This was the
program that was afterward faithfully
| carried out. If that single line, giving
| unlimited free coinage to a silver dollar
| the size of a French 5-franc piece, had
| been left in the bill we would have had
| bimetallism with the unit on godl.
ITO understand why a bill changing
| the unit from silver to gold with the dol
| lar dropped out at the last moment and
| thus fraudulently changing our system
could be put through congress as against
formerly Well-recognlzed monetary prin-
cipleS one must consider the situation as
| it then existed.
There was no silver or gold then in
| circulation except in California. Paper
money was our currency. Coined money
was not daily asserting it's Importance as
| in 1884, when the money power tried to
demonetize gold If it had been in daily
| use in 1873 it would have been an object
lesson reminding congressman of the
principles on which coined currency is
founded. majority of members Of con-
gress had entered public life after the
suspension of specie payments in 1861
ITO consider the moral status of con-
gresS at that time is important also. An
era of corruption in official life followed
the war. The average congressman ap-
peared to believe that public office was
y,,;x, 70 <r;ff sd -
lied to benefit himself and those who had
assisted him to office. This condition in
1923 had led to all kinds of schemes be-
ing pushed through congress for the
benefit of private parties and special in
terests. The halls of congress swarmed
with lobbyists intent upon the passage
| of their several measures, out of which
| large sums of money were to be realized
| as the result of pending legislation. Out
| of this corrupt period came disclosures
| that caused articles of impeachment to
| be preferred against Vice President Col
| fax for completely in the Cakes Ames
| fraud, causing him to abandon official life
! in disgrace in that year 1878. The resig-
nation of Secretary of War Bel1nap for
| bribery followed in 1873. Corruption was
charged in committee reports against nu-
merous congressman in connection with
| the Immigrant swindle and a still larger
| number growing out of the Credit Mo-
| bilier scandal of 1872 and 1873, in which
| two senators and three congressman con-
| fessed their guilt
Mr.. Harvey-I am now ready to answer
| Mr.. Horn as to the statute he has claimed
is msquoted there. Mr.. Horn will YOU
| please open now Coins Financial
| School, at that disputed statute?
Mr.. HOrr-Ready.
Mr.. Harvey-"And be it further enact
| ed, that from and after the passage of
| this act the following foreign silver coins
q YYonn viii
| United States and be receivable by tale
| for the payment of all debts and demands
| at the rates following, that is to saw:
| The Spanish pillar dollars and the dol
| lars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia" That
| is as far as the quotation goes.
| Mr.. Horr-Read the rest.
Mr.. Harvey-That is as far as 1 quoted
| You said I misquoted it.
Mr.. Horr-I did not. I never claimed
you quoted it wrong at all. Let me see
| the book, please. daughter and ap-
| plause.) Here (referring to the booL)
that has gold in the first, just as 1 told
| you, and that is the one read from, and
| that is what you said had no gold con-
nected with it,
| Mr. Harvey-I said quoted it correct
| ly. Section is as I read it in the book
What appears in another section I don't
| care about.
Il am now ready to proceed with the
| argument of decentralization, and as T
| have already preceded Mr.. Horn, while
being detained on these minor questions
with him, will now let him proceed fur
| Their before do'
| Mr.. Horr-We now come to the discus
sion of the law which changed this ma
ton to a single-standard nation, the law
| of 1873. which Brother Harvey kindly
names crime" 1t has been called that
SO long that there is nothing novel in
| the name. 1 purpose to show you during
! this discussion that no law has ever been