The advocate. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1894-1897, 1896-02-12

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pieces was not allowed, as shown In
section 5.
"Section 6 of said act required q
charge of one.half of / per cent. for
coming all gold coins and all silver dol
lars.
"Section provided for the coinage
of SO gold pieces of standard weight.
"The act Of February 81, 1857, re-
pealed all laws which had declared for.
eign coins legal tender.
"These are the only laws and parts of
laws enacted by Congress affecting the
coinage of the United States Except In
the cases of few minor silver coins
and some Of the coarser metals) until
we reach An act revising and amend.
ing the laws relative to the mints, as
say offices, and coinage of the United
States, approved February II, 1873.
That act contains sixty seven sections,
but only few Of them need be referred
to in this connection. :"
The Senator quotes a number Of sec
tions and among Others section Is,
which Is as follows:
"SECTIoN Is. That the silver coins of
the United States shall be trade dol.
lar, q half dollar or 50-cent piece, q
quarter dollar or 25.cent piece, q dime
or 10-cent piece; and the weight Of the
trade dollar shall be 420 grains troy;
the weight Of the half dollar shall be
twelve grams (grammes) and one-half
of q gram (gramme); the quarter dollar
and the dime shall be, respectively,
one-half and one-ffth of the weight Of
said half dollar; and said coins shall be
q legal tender at their nominal value
for any amount not exceeding So in
any one payment.
at will be observed that there Is no
provision In this act concerning the
silver dollar. 1t is simply omitted from
the enumeration Of silver coins, and It
is provided that no coins other than
those therein set forth shall be is.
sued from the mint. A new silver coin
Ia, however, added-a trade dollar
which Is seven and one-hRlf grains
heavier than the standard silver dol
lar of 4l21S grains.
"The revision act of 1874 provides
that the silver coins Of the United
States shall be legal tender for sums
not exceeding $5 (sectlon $780,"
The Senator then referred to the
Bland Allison act passed February %,
1873, which provided that the coinage of
the silver dollar should be resumed that
1t should be a legal tender and that the
of the Treasury should pur-
chase not less than 81, 000, 900 nor more
than 100000 of bullion per month
and cause the same to be coined. He
continued:
"This act was repealed July IA, 1890,
by what was commonly known as the
Sherman law, which required the pur-
chase of, 500, 900 ounces Of silver month
" and the coinage of enough of it to
redeem the treasury notes paid for it,
with the clause that tits the established !
policy of the United States to maintain
the parity of the two metals.
"The purchasing clause Of the Sher-
man lRW-that is, 30 much Of 1t as 8u-
thorized and required the purchase Of
bullion-wss repealed at the extra ses-
sion of Congress August z, 1893.
"This concludes the collection OF
laws of the United States relating to
our coinage so far as the weight and
fineness of the legal tender coins is
concerned, and it will be observed that
the quantity of pure gold in the gold
coins was once reduced 10y the act Of
June %, 1891 and that the quantity Of
pure silver in the dollar coin has never
been altered In the least degree. The
first silver dollar coined contained 37lA |
grains of pure metal and Sthe last one |
contained precisely the same amount.
And so with nearly all Of the A SOC, 900
silver dollar pieces coined since the
FIRST mint was opened-more than q
hundred years ago.
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