The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-09-17
plain to every one. The wisdom or
unwisdom of such action I shall speak

plain to every one. The wisdom or
unwisdOm of such action shall speak
of later. ~
"To tender" means to offer. Any,
thing which may be lawfully offered in
payment OF debt is said to be illegal
tender" If it can be offered to Ger
tain amount it is said to possess linn
tied legal tender. II it can be offered
in any amount no matter how large,
it is said to be full legal tender. Now
these are the six technical points and
when speak Of Free Coinage I shall
cover them all.
Theoretical Bimetalllsm VS.. Practical b.
| metalllsm.
| Theoretical bimetallism is, if both
metals may be coined, both metals will
be coined, on private account, and if
both metals are coined on private ac-
count we will have more coinage and
so more money. The simple fact is,
that experience has shown that if we
have both metals coined on private ac-
count, one will come to the mint and
the other will not. 1t has been tried
in the United States, France, Germany,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia,
Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Mexico is
trying it now, and it has always
worked the same way without a sing lie
exception, and why? In 1892 the ratio
was fixed at Is to l, but when our
mints opened two years later the ratio
| was 1858 to l, and therefore the silver
went to the mint and the gold went to
the market. In 1884 our congress
changed the ratio and made it 1898 to
1. BY that law the silver was under
valued and gold overvalued, and silver
gradually retired from circulation as
money. In 1853 congress succeeded in
framing a law which gave for the first
time in our history the circulation Of
both metals side by side, The method
was this: One metal (gold should
have unlimited coinage and tender;
that the silver coins for fractions Of a
dollar (halveS, quarters, etc., should be
reduced in size, their coinage to be
made on government account only,
and their legal tender quality to be
limited to S.. This gave US the con-
current circulation of both metals and
a practical bimetallism.
Crime OF 1873.
We now come to an act which has
been more frequently nlisrepresented,
more misunderstood, and more things
told about it which are untrne, than
any act in the history Of the country.
It is the ATT Of February 18th, 1878,
called the "Crime of 1873" Just let
me explain one thing: The act Of 1873
was Il codifying act. The mintage laws
had not been coditied since 1887. The
original bill Of 1878 was prepared in
the treasury department by John j..
Knox, then deputy comptroller OF the
currency, under the general direction
of George S. Boutwell,, then secretary
OF the treasury. This bill was largely
I. codiflcution of existing law, with
such improvements as experience sug-
gested. 1t was introduced in the SEN
ate April 25th, 1870. Throughout all
| the discussions OF the bill. and in every
form Of the bill these fWoo provisions
| (making the sold dollar the unit OF
value and that omi ting from coinage
| the silver dollar Of 412aa grains) re-
manned unchanged. It has been charged
| that the omission OF the silver dollar
was done "surreptitiously" and as a re-
suit Of bribery. But the story is not
true. The 412l grain dollar was never
in the bill from first to last. It was
not in the original bill Of 1870 and it's
omission from that bill was plainly
pointed out in the report accompany
ing it, / have that original bill and /
shall be glad to show it to any one who
desires to see it. TO any one who will
find any form OF that bill, from the
time it was introduced in 1870 until it
was passed, Feb. IL, 1878, which con-
tanned the 4125 grain dollar, will give
$500. There was no "crime of '73.
Mr.. McCleary then went on to show
that even if by the act OF 1873 silver
was demonetized, it was remOnetized
in 1878, and that most of the silver now
in circulation had been coined since
1873, and shows conclusively, that Il re-
turn to the free coinage Of silver in
stead of giving us "bimetallism" would
result in the worst kind Of silver
"monometallism."
He also showed clearly that even il
the claim of the silverites that free
coinage of silver would result in doub-
ling the value Of property, was true, il
would then result in benefitting the
rich and not the poor. The man who
had million dollars, if his property
was doubled, would have two millions
but the man who had nothing, double
that and he would still have nothing.
He showed that the Republican party
Of 1896 was advocating the same mon
etary system that has been pursued
since 1858, and hence the absurdity O.
the claim made by these men wh<
claim that they were Republicans III
to the time that the Republican party
adopted the financial plank in st
Louis in 1896, and then the Republican
party left them and left their con
science with them.
He demonstrated plainly that con
gress could not legislate value int
anything and that the present depre
citation is not due to lack of currenc!
to do business with, and that what w
need at the present time is to start tn
factories and mills and not the mints
and that the cry for the free coinage o
silver did not in fact come from tn
people but from the bonanza silve
mine owners.
In conclusion he said: "We hav'
made no change in our money system
the only change we have made is il
our protective tariff; and the way tt
change it is to change back again t.
the protective tariff system. Let u
return to the protective tariff Of VIM
Mckinley and the reciprocity of j Jame