The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1895-05-23
DECENTRALIZATION WAS A TRICK.

Some one in Michigan recently endea-
vored to secure the names Of the members
OF the U. S. senate and house who voted
in favor Of the bill to demonetize silver,
also the date OF the passage OF the bill.
The New York World takes up the matter
and gives the following lucid explanation
which will be found instructive as well as
interesting:
No bill was ever passed "to demone-
the silver" Silver was demonetized by
a trick, and not more than three men in
the city Of Washington knew when it
was done or within a year thereafter,
even, that it had been done. This de-
monetization was the result Of q combi-
nation among half dozen OF the leading
gamblers of the Gold Board. which had
its ramifcation abroad. The coinage
committee Of the house reported "bill
to codify the mint laws" The necessity
for that codifcation was well known, and
the chairman explained that no change
had been made in any of the laws, but
that the different acts bearing upon the
mint had been brought together under
one section. The bill was not even read
except by title. 1t was passed without
one dissenting vote. In the section
enumerating the different lawful silver
coins of the United States the word "dol-
lar" was omitted, beginning "the half
dollar" etc. No one noticed the omis-
sion. Even careful reading Of the bill
by every member of congress would not
have revealed the trick to any one of
them. No one was thinking of the de-
monetization OF silver. No human being
on the face OF the earth had ever suggest
ed such thing. The silver dollar was
at three cents premium over the gold
dollar, and when the gold dollar was
quoted at 116 the silver dollar was quoted
at 1l9. The word had been stricken out
by some member of the committee with
out the knowledge OF his unsuspecting
colleagues; but who did il has never been
discovered. In after years each member
OF the coinage committee expressly
disclaimed any knowledge Of the trick or
that he knew or had heard that the word
dollar" had been omitted The bill
went to the senate, was referred TO its
committee on coinage, examined perfume
torily. reported by Mr.. Sherman 1.-THE
chairman) to the senate, and passed by
the senate on Mr.. Sherman's assurance
that it made no change in the law. only
bringing all the different laws together.
After the bill was passed the secret that
silver had been demonetized was care
fully kept. No member of the govern
ment knew 1t. Six months after, and
again q year after, President Grant, not
knowing that silver had been demone-
tized, advocated the coinage of more sill
yer dollars. At that time there were
some in the country. The secretary of
the treasury also advocated the same
thing. To their intense establishment
they were shown the report Of the direc-
tor OF the German mint, in which he
stated that America had demonetized its
silver coinage. The statement had been
laughed at as the blunder OF foreigner,
but upon the examination Of the mint
laws as codified under the act of the year
before, it was discovered that silver had
been demonetized for a year. Every
effort from that moment to this to take
the back track has been defeated.