Rocky Ford enterprise., 1896-10-08
THE CRIME OF 1873.
HOW ACT DEMoNErIzINo SILL
YER WAS PASSED.
It Was Rushed Through Congress With
out Icing Read and Debate Was Shut
ON by tho Previous 0uest,on-foopis
Never Heard of 1t. .

Arkansas Gazette: 1t has been often |
.ehearsed. SO often indeed that one
would think every citizen Of the coun-
try was familiar with the facts. but
they are not. or If they read about it
they have forgotten the facts.
Tho act demonetizing silver was
smusgled through congress. Less than
a half dozen members knew of 1t.
President Grant, who signed the bill,
was utterly ignorant of it. Judge
Kelly, of Pennsylvania. the chairman
Of the committee on coinage, weights
and measures at the time. when
tharged with having advocated the de-
monetization of silver, said In speech
In the house: "In connection with the
charge that l advocated the bill which
temonct:Zed the standard silver dol
lar, say that, though chairman Of the
committee on coinage, was Us ignor-
ant of the fact that 1t would demone-
tie the silver dollar, or of its drop
ping the silver dollar from our system
Of coins, as were those distinguished
senator's. Messrs. Blaine and voorhees,,
who were then members of the house,
and each of whom, n few days since.
interrogated the other: Did you know
1t was dropped when the bill passed?
No. said Mr.. Blaine. did your NO.
said Mr.. Voorhees,. Y do not think
there were three members in the house
that knew 1t. l doubt whether Mr..
Hooper, who. In my absence from the
committee on coinage and attendance
on the committee On ways and means,
managed tho bill. knew it. say this
in justice TO him." This statement was
made in the For;y-tifth congress.
In the Forty-sixth congress the mat
ter was again brought to the attention
OF the house by Judge Kelly, who said:
"All that l can say is that the commit
tee on coinage. weights and measures.
who reported the original bill, were
| faithful and able, and scanned it's pro-
visions closely; that as their organ I
reported it: THAT IT CONTAINED
PROVISIONS FOR BOTH THE
STANDARD SILVER DOLLAR AND
THE TRADE DOLLAR. Never having
heard until long time after its enact
mcnt into law Of the substitution in the
|
| the standard silver dollar. / profess to
know nothing of its history, but am
prepared to say that in the legislation
Of this country there Is no mystery
| equal to the demonetization Of the sill
yer dollar of the United States. have
| never met man who could tell just
| how II came about or why. The bill
was passed without any allusion in de-
bate to the question of the retention
or the abandonment of the standard sill
yer dollar a..
| Evidently the crime was committed
| after 1t had left the hands of the COM
rlittcc, and before /: was voted on in
! the house. How 1t passed that body is
| thus described by Congressman Bright
of Tennessee: 1T passed by fraud in
the house, never having been printed
In advance, being a substitute for the
printed bill; never having been read Mt
the clerks desk. the reading having
been dispensed with oy an impression
that the bill made no alteration IN the
| coinage laws: 1t was passed without
discussion, debate being cut OFF by
operation of the previous question. 1t
was passed. to ny certain informa-
| ton. under such circumstances that
the fraud escaped the attention OF
come OF the most watc'iful. as well as
| the ablest statesmen in congress at the
| time"
Senator Allison saii in reference to
| the subject: when the secret history
of this bill Of 1873 cumes to be told, 1t
will disclose tie fac. that the house of
representatives intended to coin both
gold and silver. ard intended to place
both metals upon the French relation
instead of on our own. which was the
| true scientific position with reference
to this subject in 1873, but that the
bill aftcrward vas doctored."
Senator Beck said: THE bill never
was understood by either house of con-
gresss." Senator Thurman said: There
is not a single man in the senate, I'M
less a member OF the committee from
which the hill came, who had the
| slightest ideg that II was even squint
| toward dcmoaeti1atton.' Hrfft
Mr.. Holman, in the house, said "the
measure and the methods OF its pass
,sc was colossal swlndle. It docs
not possess the moral force of law
Representative Cannon, of Illinois,
saws the bill was not discussed and
neither members of congress nor the
people understood the scope of the
legislation.
Senator Hereford. of West Virginia,
in n speech in the senate, said ''the bill
never was read, never was discussed,
and the CHAIRMAN of the committee
said to Mr.. Holman. when asked the
question, that /: did not affect the
coinage in any way whatever"
Who was benefited by this crime
Tho foreign and New York bondhoid-
crs. Who paid for it? Let the follow
ing affidavit explain. 1t was made by
Mr.. Frederick a. Luckenbach. Il for
mer member of the New York Stocl;
| Exchange, but a resilient of Denver for
/ several years. The present editor of
.The Gazette" met Mr.. Luckecbach
often In Denver and heard him re-
haarss the matter, substantially az
r;yen in this statement:
";n 1866 l visited London, England,
for the purpogo OF placing there I-ean-
rylvauia oil properties in which was
Interested l took with me letters rs
| introduction TO many sentioman IL
I