The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-09

gold was not So, COO, 900, but SIS. 377,-
900. In 1854 the silver coined at the
minis was IS, 6l9,270. In 1860, the year
Of Mr.. Lincoln's election, the silver
coinage of the United States was g.
259, 800, while gold was $23, Ala, 654.
1t thus appears that Professor Nc
Cleary's figures are grossly incorrect.
II the free coinage of silver was dis
continued in 1858. why was it neces-
sary to pass the act of 1873. which pro-
hibited the coinage OF silver dollars!
We fear the Professors statistics are
made to order. and that he presumcs
very strongly upon the ignorance of
his hearers. The act Of 1853 did not
concern the silver dollar at all. 1t
lowered the weight of silver pieces OF
less value than one dollar to the ex.
tent of g per cent in the United
States and limited their legal tender
to IS. This applied, it will be seen, to
the halves and quarters and ten-cent
pieces; but the Professor tries tomake
1T appear that the silver dollar was
demonetizcd in 1853 instead Of 1873!
1t was not, and the Professor knows
| it.
The next point in the Professors
argument is as follows.
| 1.-The act Of 1873 was q codifyinQ act:
and it made the gold dollar the stand
ard unit. because that was the pur-
port Of the act OF 1853. In 1906. when
Jefferson was president of the United
States lie issued an order, discontinue
ing the coinage Of silver dol rs. This
| same thing was continued through
the admins trations of Madison, Mon
roe, John Quincy Adams and Jackson.
| From 1905 TO 1885 not a silver dollar
| WAS issued from the minis. Is there
d Democrat in this hall tonight, who
believes that Jefferson was under the
influence of Wall street. or that Old
| Hickory or any other Of those preSi-
Lombard street? No. They discon-
tinued the coming of silver dollars
| for good reason, and that was for
the welfare Of the country"
The Professor says that the act Of
1873 was "codifying" act. We all
| know what "codifying" act is. It is
not the making Of a new law, but the
rearranging and making clearer eristing
tdW. That was part OF the trick by
| which the crime of 1873 was accom-
plished. When the men who had the
bill in charge, said to the members Of
| Congress, (who had not been bought,)
| that the act was simply "codifying"
act, they threw them off their guard,
| and while the act was under discus
| cussion in the two houses, it was
nothing but ''codifying" act. The
trick was accomplished through a
| committee Of conference, after the
bill had passed both houses. Three
| men were appointed from each House
| to arrange an adjustment of those
| particulars, in which the action of the
| two Houses had differed. BY parlia-
mentary law. the report Of the Com
mittee Of Conference has precedence
| Of all other business; and it is usually
assented to, for the reason that if they
cannot then agree in support of the
report Of the Conference Committee,
the action Of the two Houses is likely
| to come to naught.
1t was at this stage that the de-
| monetiZa tion of silver was accom-
plished. 1t was not a "codifying' Of
existing law, but change of law and
a making of new law SO radical that
it has been for years past the all-ab-
sorbing question in our politics. 1t
was predetermined swindle upon
the American people, most cunningly
contrived, and unquestionably worked
through Congress by corrupt means.
| The discontinuance Of coinage Of
dollars, referred to by Prof. McCleary.
| from 1905 to 1885 was because the ratio
fixed by our Jaw was higher than tina
of Their countries, but during the
same period, immense amounts of sill
YER were coined into half dollars and
quarter dollars. 1885 there were
$2,676,CO3 of silver coined into half
| dollars and $4SS, 800 coined into quar-
| ter dollars. Our ratio for the dollar,
Of Is to /, ought to have been I51 to /.
We quote the following from Arm
strong's Little Statesman"
1--WE had no need of coin, for so
| much came from abroad. The way
metal money flowed here during the
wars between England Spain reads
| like a fairy story. The treasures Of
Mexico and South America passed
through here and gave much temper.
| airy and fitting coin deposits. Then
| from the opening Of the Napoleonic
| wars until 1920 the most of Europe, in
Guiding England, was using paper
money. So coin came and stayed here
| In fact, coin stayed back in our West
ern WlldS often when it was scarce in
Eastern sections and large cities.
! Through all 'smaShes' and wildcat
times, Western banks paid coin until
| 1922. Those were good times for
| planters ON new soil. The old Vir-
ginia planter, in his blue sWallo " tail
coat with brass buttons, and his ruff
| fled shirt, always had pile of doub-
| looms on his desk. He did not know
that European war and paper money
put it there"
|, Congress had made the silver coins
of Spain, Mexico, and Central America
legal tender, and these we had in i'm
mense quantities; and so we did not
feel the necessity for our own coinage
Of silver dollars.
Prof. McCleary says that Jefferson
and Jackson discontinued coming Of
| silver dollars "fOr a good reaSOn'-the