Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-06-02

tsle common sense Of th0 peop.e ia too strong to iustiIy or even excuse this course of treatment.
 WAS NO CRIME OF 1873.
 "The allegation, even If 1t were true, that great crime as surreptitiously committed In 1873, or at any other time, does not proTe or even concuee to prove, that the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to would be beneficial to the country under the conditions now existing. But. gentlemen, it's not true that the act of February 12, 1873. which made the gold dollar the unit of vAlue and dropped the standard silver dol lar from the coinage, was passed by stealth, aF that Its purpose or effect was to deprive ths people of the use of any coin then In use CT then in existence in this country.
 That bill was pending In congress for nearly three yehrs and was under considera- ton during Ave sessions of that body it V ae distinctly recon mended in two reports ot tho secratnry of ths treasury aud tho director of the miRt, and it was officially printed and laid on tks doRks of I'll sm hers of the house and os the senate thirteen different times before tks hnal vote as taken on it. It was read At length in the open penate several tames and In tho house q { leaHt onre as shown by the record it was reported from the commit tsea ssy eR times and the discussion upon it tn the house 1iis Eixty-six columns of The Con
 
 eight columns.
 "As first reported 10 the senate and passed by that body h January, 1871, ths bill did not provide for the coinage of my silver doi- laP whatever, but expressly limited the coin age Of that metal to subsidiary picces-hslf dollars, quarters 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 January, 1871 upon the cali of the yRas Rld nays,and the Record shows that the two senators fro ID Kentucky, Hon. c 0srrett DnTisand Hon. Thomas (. McCrseIy, the distinguished dem' ocratic senator from Ohio, Hon Allen O. Thurm0ni the present senator from Nevada, Ion. Willa m M. Stewart, together with all the other aenators from the Pacific slope. voted in the afi rlnstivs, while Senator Sher man, Senator Morrill, and twelve others voted in the negative.
 PACIFIC COAST SENATORS DID IT.
 "Tho reason airen by Alr. Sherman for voting against the bill that the senate had in obedience to the demands oi the sen atafs from the patif1e coast, 70 amended the blll after 1t vas reported from the commit tee, Q abolish the charge af one-tfth Of one per cent. fur coinlDg gold thus making the coinage of that metal entirely free.
 "The bill went to the house of reprssen ta- ttves but 1t not disposed Of during that congress, and at the first session Of the next congress Nr. Kelleg, Of Pennsy lVan nss. introduced it in ths house and it wns referred to a committee Sc far ns the coinage 0f tho silver dollar was affected. the bill lntl 0r duced bY him wns precisely the game Ha the one that had passed the senate-that is. gt m ado no provision for such coin, How ever, hen.tha bill was finally reported back from the committee 10 the house 1t wHs SC amended to provide for the coinage of 3 substdisfY piece. to be called a dollar, and to contain 8S4 grains of standard silver. the same as the French 5-fEanc piece. and ie was to ba a legal tender to the extent of 90, and no more.
 "Ln shia form it passed the house by yury large M Maj0iity-tn fact. the oppoaltion 70 it was so weak that the yeas aud nays were not evOn called. The senate struck out She 5.franC subsidiary dollar and substituted for il another subsidiary coin. called the trade dollar, containing APO grains of atAnd. ard silver and provided that # should be g l legal tender to the amount of S5, and no more A committee of conference was aps pointed tho senate amaadmens was agreed to, and the bill became a law by the ap- pFovai of President Grant on the a2th day of February, 1873.
 "This hrief historical statement Of the pro- cesdings. hich Is fully sustaineo by the of1- Cial record, shows that 1t was well under
 
 TeR dollar of 412 1-2 gvaiHs was not to be theEeaftnI coined st our niiBts and that tbs only difference of opinion that ever ex' isted eEeB temporarily, between the senate and house waa whether they would substi. ute in it's place a suheidinry cola containing 8s4 grains subsidiary coin containing 42o RyaiBE of a lYer. No pr position wad made in either toIy to continue the coin age of the old dollar, or tn make any silver ofata hat nif 1g v,tu frtiI dos in the payment of debts.
 THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT 1873.
 The plain truth Ia that this at of 1873
 which has been the auhiest of 10 mueh mis apprehension asd 6eHunciation, waa sim pIy l a leg al recognition of C monetary condition
 which had existed in fuct in tbts country sol 1 about thirty-fve years, oF ever since hort tune after tho passage of the coinage act E 1 1884 From about the year 1898 until after l the passage of the Bland-Allison act in 1878 l no Eilyeg dollars were in circulation in thiS l country, and our whole currency cOnsiat ted l of gold cpins and bank notes, except fgOm 1 1889 to 1878. when our aetiyo circulation
 sutside of California and it's ciahhoring tel l gbtory. was ei paper. There whs during tho 1 latter period about $25. 900 ,000 in.goldIu cir. culatien on the Pacific eoast, and the United 1 States was collecting customs dues in goA l and using 1t in tho payment Of interest oG l tho public deht, but there waB DO silver fn l circulation anywhere iB this country, not 1 even the liaht-weiaht subsidiary coins. 'sThe value oi the United States note or 1 EIsenback wns always measured by gold 1 and not by silver. and commodities had q 1 gold price and paper price, hui never 2
 silver price because silver, except the sl | dollars, quarters and dimes coined nndar the 1 act of 1853, had been out 0f here soi | more .than twenty years before the com
 mencemcnt of the Hr, and even these RubKB | diary coins had not been in use for eleven l yesrs prior to 1873.
 THE INEVITABLE NATURAL LAW "Our own monetary hlstory had already furnished two most striking illustrations G 1 the operation of the natural law under 1 which the coins mich are orer-valled by statute alw ays drive out of cirvuIAti ton the 1 coins which are MndeT-yslued. Our own ex- | perience had again demonstrated, what the history of the would already Ehowed, that whenever the coinage laws of any country 1 permit tka free coinage of both metals with full legal tender qualities nj q Fattu of value which does not conform enthusiastically to their intrinsic commercial ratio in the markets of the world, 10th kinds of coen |