The Monitor-register., 1896-08-14
The Crime of '73."

HISTORY OF THE DECENTRALIZATION
ACT" RETOLD- WAS PENDING FOR
THREE YEARS-DEBATED IN BOTH THE
FoRTY-FIRST AND FoRTY-SECOND
MISREPRESENTATION STEWART, OF
NEVADA. VOTED FOR THIS SPEECH
YEAR LATER ADVOCATING THE GOLF
STANDARD
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Ledger thus writes of what
is now called the crime of '73:
Several inquiries have come to me from
correspondents for information in regard
to the time and manner of the passage Of
INC act OF 1910, unueI wuIvn VIZ sl.,v.
dollar was dropped from the list ol
United States coins. This act is popu.
larly known as the decentralization
act," and by Senator Stewart it is de.
bounced with great frequency and volu.
bility as the crime of '73.'
1t is alleged by the free coinage adyo-
Gates that the act in question was passed
through Congress by trickery and decep.
tion; that it was rushed through with
such degree Of stealth and expedition
as to make it impossible for those not in
the secret to know its character and pur-
pose. This charge has been made with
so much persistency that it has come to
be believed by many persons
So far from having been rushed through
the two branches of Congress, the act OF
1878 was considsred with greater deliber-
alton and with greater expenditure of
time than was given to many measures
considered of greater importance in those
days. 1t was desirable at that time to
make revision or codifcation of the
laws relating to the coinage and the gen.
eral administration of the mints, and the
act of 1878 was the result.
The bin was prepared at the Treasury
Department, where all measures of this
kind are usually prepared, and intro
duced in the Senate in April, 1870. 1t
was reported from the Finance Commit.
tee upon subsequent date, and taken up
for consideration at the next session of
that Congress (the Forty first) and, after
two days of debate, was passed by a vote
of 36 to IA. 1t failed to receive action
on the part of the House at that session.
The Forty second Congress assent bled
March 4. 1871, and the Coinage bill was
introduced into that body ths same month
and referred to the Committee of Coin
age, Weights and Measures, of which
Hon. William D. Kelly, of Pennsylvania,
was the Chairman. At the second ses
sion, in January, 1872, the bill was
reported from the committee, nearly a
year after its Introduction, and in May,
1879, it was passed by the House, after
considerable debate, by vote of ITO to
IL. 1t was subsequently passed by the
Senate with amendments, Senator Stewart
voting for the bill, and in January, 1878,
nine months after it's passage by the
House, the bill with the amendments
occupied the attention of the two Houses
upon report ofa Conference Committee,
and became law in February, 1873. The
bill was printed thirteen times by order
of the two Houses. 1t was considered in
the proper committees and debated in the
two House during the four years covered
by the sessions of the Forty. first and
Forty. second Congresses, the debates in
the Senate filling sixty-six columns of the
Congressional Record and the debates in
the House covering seventy. eight columns
of the same official publication. This in
brief is the official history of the much
abused act of 1878.
SENATOR STEWART AND THE GOLD
STANDARD.
One year after the passage of the act,
which, as previously stated, received the
vote of Senator VIM. M. Stewart, of
Nevada, that Senator made a speech on
fiscal affairs in which he said:
"Let everybody know what dollar is
worth. The farmer will then know how
to measure the difference in price between
his wheat in Illinois and the wheat in
Liverpool. The wheat will be measured
by the same standard-gold-in Illinois
as it is 10 Liverpool, and any man can
figure it up. But now it is mystery
the whole subject of finance is mystery
and what do we see every day? We see
those who devote their attention to it
making large fortunes out of this mystery
Let us do as all the people of the world
have been doing from the beginning
measure our values by gold, adopt the
standard that all can understand, and get
rid of this mystery"
Mr.. Logan. What does the Senator
want?"
Mr.. Stewart. 81 want the standard
gold, and no paper money not redeemable
in gold, no paper money the value of
which is not ascertained, no paper money
that will organize gold board to specu.
late in it."