The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-17
rotary of the Treasury under General

S. When did Senator Sherman re-
fer it to the Finance committee?
D. April %, 1870.
s. Did Secretary Boutwell, accom-
pany the bill with any report? And if
so, by whom was the report drawn up?
d. Yes. It was drawn up by Mr..
John Jay Knox. Deputy Comptroller of
the Currency.
S. Did Mr. Knox explain the pur-
pose of the bill and that it was inten-
ded to discontinue the coinage of. the
silver dollar?
1 D. He did His report says:
"The new features of the bill now
submitted are chiefly: The establish
ment of Mint Bureau of the Treas
ury Department; the repeal of
the coinage charge; an entire
change in the manner of issuing the
silver (subsidiary) coinage, discontinue
ing the coinage of the silver dollar,
etc."
S I never knew that before; It aston
ishes me. Is this the only reference
to the discontinuance of the silver dol
lar IN the report?
D. No: he says further ona 1.-THE
coinage of the silver-dollar piece, the
history of which is here given, is dis
continued in the proposed bill"
S. In SO important a matter as this
1t would seem that Secretary Boutwell,
and MI. Knox should have obtained
! the views of men who were experts in
money affairs and who were recognized
authorities as metalIists,
ID. And they did, my dear sir. Sec
retaries of the Treasury and Comp
trollers of the Currency do not propose
| momentous changes without obtaining
the views of such men as you suggest.
S. Whose views did they obtain?
d. Those of Hon. James Pollock, di-
rector of the mint at Philadelphia: Mr..
Robert Patterson, of Philadelphia; Mr..
Franklin Peale, formerly meter and
refner and chief coiner at the Philadel-
phia mint: DR.. II. r. Linderman, direc-
tor of the Philadelphia mint at the
time; Mr.. James Ross Snowden. for
merly director of the mint, and others.
S. Did any Of them remark that the
bill proposed to discontinue the coin
age of the silver dollar?
D. Yes; N1r. Patterson, Mr.. Snowden
and Mr.. George F. Dunning, at one
time superintendent Of the government
assay office in New York. Mr.. Snowden
said: Il see that it is proposed
to demonetize the silver dollar. This
S. Doctor, have already learned
much of this matter, but I desire to
learn still more. Can you tell me the
times when this bill was reported7
D. I can, but you may find the de-
tails dry, though they are essential to
a complete knowledge of the demone-
tization of silver.
December 10. 1870. the bill was report
ed from the Finance committee of the
Senate and printed with amendments.
January 8, 1871, in accordance with
previous notice, the bill came up and
was discussed that day, and the next,
by Senators Sherman, Sumner, Stewart,
of Nevada, and others, and passed the
Senate on the 10th by vote of So yeas
10 LIZ nays.
S. This was nearly a year, then, af-
ter its first introduction. What was
done with it in the House?
D. January 13. 1871. on motion of
Hon. William D. Kelley, of Pennsyl-
vania, the Senate bill was ordered
printed. February 25, 1871, MIR. Kelley,
as chairman of the Committee on Coin
IL
amendment IN the nature of a SUBJ
stitute, when it was again printed and
recommitted.
On March 9, 1871, Mr. Kelley intro J
duced the bill in the Forty-second Con-
gress; IL was ordered to be printed
and referred to the Committee on Coin
age, when appointed.
January 8, 1872. the bill was reported |
by Mr. Kelley, and in doing so he
said: "The Senate took up the bill and
acted upon it during the last Con-
gress and sent it to the House; it was
referred to the Committee on Coinage,
Weights and Measures, and received
as careful attention as I have ever
known a committee to bestow on any
measure. *We proceeded with
great elaboration to go over the bill, |
not only section by section, but line by |
line, and woEd by word: the bill has |
not received the same elaborate con-
sideratfon from the Committee on
Coinage of this House, but the atten- !
ton of each member was brought to
it at the earliest day of this session;
each member procured a copy of the
bill, and there has been a thorough |
examination of the bill again"
S. This was ''Pig IRON Kelley, was
it not?
d. The same. You can find his re.
marks in the Congressional Globe, Vol. |
100, p. 800
S. What was the further history OF
the bill?
ID. January 10, 1872, after more dis
cussion, the bill was recommitted,
and on February 9, 1872, it was again
from the Coinage committee
by Hon. Samuel Hooper. of Massa-
chusetts, printed and recommftted. and |
on February 13, 1872, reported back,
with amendments, by Mr.. Hooper.
printed and made the special order for
March u, 1872, until disposed Of
S. Did Mr.. Hooper have anything to
say on the matter?
d. He did April 9, 1872, the bill