The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-21
CARLISLE'S Great Speech
He Is Given an Ovation al Coy yiugtOn,
Kentucky.
THOUSANDS HEAR HIN TALK
Central Garden in COvington Is Crowded
with a Large Audlcnce-Thousan
Unable to Gain Admittancc
to the Garden.
concluded from Page IL

yolved 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 allegation, even II it We're true that
q great crime was surreptitiously commit
ted 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
/ would be beneficial to the country uhaer
No "Cri,ue" Committed in 1878.
the conditions now existing.
But, gentlemen, 1t is not true that the act
of Feb. i2 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 for nearly three years ana was
under consideration during five sessions
of that body; 1t was distinctly recommend
ed in two reports of the secretary OF the
treasury, and the director of the mint,
and it was officially printed and laid on
the desks of the members OF the house ana
OF the senate thirteen different times be-
fore the final vote was taken on 1t. 1t
was read at length in the open senate
several times, and in the house at least
w
ported from committees seven times, and
the discussion upon it in the house fills
sixty-sx columns of the Congressional
Globe, and in the senate seventy-eight
columns. AS first reported to the senate
and passed by that body in January, lS!l,
the bill did not provide for the coinage OF
any silver dollar whatever, but expressly
limited the coinage of that metal to sub
sidiary pieces-half dollars, quarters. ana
dimes In this form, without any proVi-
sion 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
call Of the yeas and nays, and the record
shows that the two senators from Ken
tucky, Hon. Garrett Davis and Hon.
Thomas c. McCreery, the distinguished
Democratic senator from Ohio, Hon. Allen
G. Thurman, the present senator from Ne
vada, Hon. William NJ. Stewart, together
with all the other senators from the Pa
cific SLOPE voted in the affirmative, while
Senator Sherman, Senator Morrill,, and
twelve others voted in the negative. The
reason given by Mr.. Sherman for voting
against the bill was that the senate had.
in obedience to the demands of the SEN
ators from the Pacific coast, so amended
the bill, a1ter it was reported from the
committee, as to abolish the charge of
one-ifth of one per cent. for coming gold,
thus making the coinage of that metal
entirely free The bill went to the house
of representatives, but 1t was not disposed
of during that congress, and at the first
session of the next congress Mr. Kelley
of Pennsylvania, introduced it in the
house and 1t was referred to a committee
So far as the coinage of the silver dollar
was affected, the bill introduced by him
was precisely the same as the one that had
provision for such a coin. However,
when the bill was finally reported back
from the committee to the house it was so
amended as to provide for the coinage of
a subsidiary piece, to be called dollar
and to contain 3S4 grains of standard sill
yer, the same the French 5-franc
piece, and it was to be legal tender to
the extent of So, and no more. In this form
1t passed the house by a very large major
from the committee to the house it was so
weak that the yeas and nays were not
even called. The senate struck out the
5-franc subsidiary dollar and substituted
for it another subsidiary coin, called the
trade dollar, containing 42O grains of
STANDARD silver, and provided that 1t
should be legal tender to the amount of
S., and no more. A committee of confer
ence was appointed, the senate amendment
was agreed to- and the bill became law
by the approval of President Grant on the
18th day of February, 1873 This brief
historical statement of the proceedings,
which is fully sustained by the official
record, shows that it was well understood
IN congress Una. the oiu sta.uu 80.
doliar OF AKA Grains was hol ~ os
a1ter coiheu aI our iiliiits an. hnu wa. nc "a.
only oiHerehce Vi opiiiioh 'nat
1steu' even Temporarily, oe'"een .''o So
ate and mousse was "hether .ney wouia
substitute In its place subsidiary Com
containing 3si grams OF supsiu,aiS com
containing 49o grains Oh sh'er. No piop-
osition was iiaue III eithe, oouy " eo.i
tinue the coinage Oh tne oiu uotiar, vi "
make any SILVER com the unit oi 'aiue VI
q full legal tender III the payment VI
debts.
No Silver in Circulation.
The truth Ia that this act of 1873 which
has been the subject of so much misap-
prehension and denunciation, was simply
a legal recognition of a monetary condi-
ton which had existed in fact in this coun-
try for about thirty-fiye years, or ever
since a short time after the passage of the
coinage act of 1884. From about the year
1898 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 hank notes. except from 1862 to 1878.
when our active circulation, outside of
California and It's neighboring territory,
was all paper. There was during the latter
period about s25 900, 900 In gold in circula-
tion ON the Pacific coast, and the United
states was collecting customs dues in
gold and using II in the payment of inter-
eat on the public debt. but there was no
silver in circulation anywhere in this coun-
try. not even the lightweight subsidiary
coins. The value of the United States
note or greenback was always measured
by gold and not by silver. and the COM
modities had gold price and paper
price. but never silver price, because
silver, except the half-dollars quarters,