The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-09
THE TALsEHooDs OF ONE PAGE.

Professor Coins statements, ever on
the same page, do not consist with
themselves, much less with the facts of
history. For instance. in one para
graph on page 10 he says:
During the struggle to get more silver,
France made a bid of establishing a ratio
Of 1919 to 1. and as our ratio was is to /,
this made silver in France worth 10Sh when
exchanged for gold, and as gold would an
1t was found that our silver was leaving
US. SO Congress, in 1853, had our fractional
silver coins made light weight to prevent
their being exported.
Passing by the assumption that
France and other European govern
ments adopted the ratio of 151a to 1 after
we had made the ratio 16 to /, which is
a falsehood. because the European ma
tions adopted their ratio long before
Congress established the ratio of is to
/ in 1884, and the change was not made
to secure silver, let us copy a part of
the mex paragraph, as follows:
So we had, prior to 1873, sos, 600 600 Of sill.
foreign silver. or about sos, 900. 900 in silver
in the United States. . 1t should be
circulation between 1850 and 1873. Two hum
dred and five millions were in circulation
before 1861.
Thus it appears that silver was so
rapidly leaving us in 1852 that the weight
of the half dollars was reduced from
206A grains to 1872 grains, and the
smaller coins in like ratio, and yet
while this rapid expectation of silver.
worth here 100 and 1O3h in Europe, was
going on there were those who insisted
on bringing us nearly 500, 600, 900 of
foreign silver coi~n-bringing it to the
lowest market for silver in the world.
There was no time from 1884 until 1873
that the silver dollar of 412k grains was
not worth from 102. 25 to 1862 as pull
lion. Professor Coin told the truth
when he said our silver was leaving
u.s. in 1852. 1t had been leaving us
since the change of the ratio in 1884,
and even before. AS a matter of fact,
there was no considerable part of $685.
600, 600 of silver in circulation or in the
country in 1861. July 1, 1861, all the
specie in the country was $3.50. 900, 900,
and before the close Of the next fiscal
year that had disappeared except $685.
900, 900 in gold in California. When
specie payments were suspended paper
money at 90 drove out gold at 100, and
the subsidiary silver soon after, both
going to Europe.
Th subject was discussed in Congress
in 1850. Pending the reduction of the
weight of the subsidiary coins the sill
yer dollar was worth 104 as bullion, two
halves the same. A five-dollar gold
piece was exchanged by bullion dealers
for ten half dollars. and the profit by
the exchange was 25 cents when the
half dollars had been melted into bars
for export. On this point Mr.. Durham,
chairman of the HOUSE committee on
ways and means, in 1858 said:
There is, then, a constant stimulant to
gather up every silver coin and send it to
market as bullion to be exchanged for gold,
and the result is that the country is almost
devoid OF small change Tor the ordinary
transactions.
In the same speech Mr.. Durham said:
I'VE nave but a single standard for the
last three or fou years. and that has
been and now is gold" The same day
Mr.. SHELTON, of New Jersey, said:
.Gold is the only standar of value by
which all property is measured; it is
virtually the only currency of the coun-
try"
These quotations are made not in de-
Tense of a gold standard. but to show
that all the assumptions of Professor
Coin ana MS coterle 10 the eHecl tnat
there was at any time III fifty years
before 1873 any considerable quantity of
full legal-tender silver meme in the
country are false. utterly so. In an
other paragraph ON the same page the
Professor" says:
On account OF the scarcity of silver both
Jefferson and Jackson that
dimes. quarters and halves would serve the
people better than dollars until more silver
bullion could be obtained. This was the
reason why only 100000 Of the Sic5. $1,000
OF silver were coined into dollars
That was not the reason or any part