St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-01
arguments, that should be attacked,
for these may be valid if the former


for these may be valid if the former
were selfish and wrong.
We shall not repeat the proofs
that establish the full publicity at
tending the various steps of the bill.
from its introduction in 1871 to it's
passage in 1873, but shall consider
some of the attendant circumstances
that served to make possible the dis
Chalmers of the congressman of
knowledge of the bill, or to impeach
the sincerity of their disclaimers.
First in order comes the fact that
after July, 1861, until Jan. 1,
1879, there were neither gold
nor silver coins in circulation
in the country. Any legislation
then touching the coinage was very
little likely to attract attention
either from the public or from con-
greSSmen. 1t was not a current
or live topic, touching a matter in
which any man felt present con-
Germ. 1t was then a matter of as
slight Importance as would be an act
now establishing the source Of the
Mississippi river.
Next, it must not be forgotten
that for nearly forty years prior to
that time the coinage of standard
dollars had been insignificant, so
much so that probably no man liv-
ingscan remember of having seen a
standard dollar prior to 1873. The
reason was that silver was under
valued by the act of 1884, purposely
done so as to retain our gold, which
was before undervalued and largely
went abroad, the producers of silver
then avoiding the minis as they now
seek them. Legislation affecting
dollar that no member of congress
had ever seen was to them a mere
abstraction in which theorists might
be interested, but which was of no
moment to them.
Another factor, and one familiar
with the politicians who get to con-
gress and their chronic attitude of
alarm at popular clamor and their
weakness before it, is that at the
time these diSavowalS were made a
craze analogous to the present one
was raging over the country. The
greenbackerS were out in force clam
oring for the issue of more paper
money. They had scared congress
into stopping the retirement of the
notes, had elected some congress-
men, had launched a national party
and had made a national campaign.
Politicians everywhere were bowling
before them or seeking safe harbors.
They lodged and evaded and
squirmed as they always do instead
of breasting the storm and Drawing
it, Is it not possible that between
the lack of interest in the act Of 1873
during it's tendency and this desire
to hedge against popular clamor
may be found the real motives of the
gentlemen who so stoutly avowed
their entire ignorance of the act?
If they did not know Of it, it was
because it treated a remote subject,
and if they did know of it the
clamor made them diSavoW it.
We do not say this because we ap-
prove of that act. With silver worth
$132 in the market and $1.29 at the
mint, it seems to us to have been a
needless thing to do. Nor do we say
this in any hostility to silver as a
money metal, for we have made it
plain that we would have it utilized
to the fullest possible extent, but be-
cause the considerable stated af-
ford a sufficient explanation why
the act of 1873 went through with
so little attention, and because we
dislike to see men we believe honest
using as an argument statements of
public occurrences that are not only
fallacious, but which the surround
ing circumstances discredit.