Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-08-14
NUMBER So.

II they are worth so much, then and not
therwise.
This matter came up several times dur
ing the discussion. Horr insisting on get
ting II right as he stated Harvey ex-
planned by saying that all that was done
was to tes. the foreign coins to see what
they were worth In our currency. Horr
| then referred to the law of 1857. which
required the treasury to melt up all for
eign ccins and recon them all. He had
another objection to the quotaticn In
Coin" 1t did not quote the whole law.
leaving out gold. which was merticned in
the first section. Harvey said he had
quoted the whole section, but Horr said
he had not quoted the whole law. Harvey
closed the subject for the session by saw
Ing that he quoted section 7 correctly, what
there was in another section he did not
care about
Resuming the subject Of silver demope-
tization Harvey said "the intention OF the
conspirators was to strike out secretly the
single line providing for the silver dollar
the size Of French five-franc piece, and
with the bill thus enrolled the mints
would be closed by its terms to silver, ex-
| cept 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 herein
before provided for. The trade dollar
clause could be easily repealed or limited
under the purchase clause, and this was
subsequently done"
School" as saying that ION account Of the
scarcity Of silver both Jefferson and Jack
son recommended that dimes, quarters and
halves would serve the people better than
dollars until more silver bullion could be
obtained. This was the reason why OILY
about eight millions Of the eight hundred
and FIVE millions Of silver was coined into
dollars"
This was on page 10 CT the School
Then H'rr quoted from page 10 the table
| from Mulhall. the London statistician. IN
which you show silver wss not scarce at
| that time. You show 1t was with one ex-
ception the most plentiful that 1t had been
at any one time during the experience OF
the government" Horr proceeded to say
that II Harvey had turned to the mint re-
found that the director Of the mint says:
NO issue Of silver dollars was made from
the mint from 1906 to 1886, the, coinage
having been suspended by the direction OF
President Jefferson, owing to the fact
now mark-'that their bullion value being
greater than their face value they were
purchased for export"
In eynaining his statement that silver
| was Uhpn tha ooino 90 NJ the dollar
was suspended. Harvey said that 1t was
scarce In the United States, although
abundant in the world. He then returned
to silver demonetization in 1873, but gave
Herr the floor. In taking up the subject
Horr said he proposed to show that no
Law has ever been passed BY the American
Congress which was freer from taint.
which was more carefully examined. which
was more completely and fully understood
than the law Of 1873. The statement
which he read to you that the scheme
was concocted in London is simple as
sertion upon which he cannot produce one
scintilla Of respectable truth. not one
word"
The law Of 1873 had its origin, as ALI
such laws have, in the brains OF experts.
The question Of coinage, mintage. is most
Intricate one; a complicated one, and usu-
ally 1t has been decided by few men who
have studied the problem laboriously. All
the men who ever assumed to be able to
discuss the matter intelligertly Tin the ear
ly days Of the century, could be counted on
the fingers Of my two hands. At their
head stood Hamilton, the Morrisses. JEFF
ferson and Gallatin. And so complicated
was the question that no two Of those pa
triots agreed about any one feature Of the
measure when they first commenced dis
cussing it. In 1884 the law as to mintage
was changed In a material manner fer the
first time; 1t was done by decreasing the
amount Of gold in the gold dollar. 1t was
done because experience showed those peo-
pie that the cheap dollar. which was Sill
yer, had driven the gold currency out Of
the United States.
Several members Of that Congress in
sisted that If the ratio was made 16 to /
silver would leave the country and that we
would be doing business very soon upon
gold basis and with gold currency only.
But 1t was done, and, as those men pre-
dcteL. silver ceased to be the masure OF
values in the United States. I don't say.
Mr.. Harry. ceased to be the legal meas
u.re.' Why? Simply because they could
sell :he silver dollar and get more gold
dollars for quantity Of gold dollars than
the face OF the silver dollars called for.
They changed the ratio then, and 1t was
not changed again until perhaps 1853,
when they passed law providing for the
subsidiary coinage Of silver
This was dine. Horr said to prevent
people from melting the subsisting coin
and selling it as bullion, thus getting
more for 1t than could be obtained for 1t
as coin, as It was as good in weight and
fneness as the silver dollar. To keep sub
sidiary coinage incircula:ion Congress re-
sidiary coinage in circulation Congress re-
Harvey here took up the talk and said,
referring to Horr's statement that here
was no proof Of the alleged demonetzation
conspiracy, that he once heard a lawyer
Say that to detect the criminal, look for
the man that Is benefited by the crime"
England first demonetized silver. Lon
| don bankers initiated the Paris conference
OF 1867. at which Mr.. John Sherman was
present therefore have the right to say
the conspiracy originated in London"
Referring to Horr's statement that the
science Of money was hard to understand,
Harvey said that was the argument of the
selfish money lender. He said: "You who
study chemistry and can understand the
most difficult problems Of science-chen-
| istry and other sciences that would make
| q bankers head dizzy to contemplate Won