The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-10-15

take too much risk. [ will make it i'm
possible for anyone to compel any of my
sons or daughters to accpot more than u
small quantity of this silver say $500
WORTH" Putting this into technical Ian
guage. Congress i'll 1853 closed the mint
to the coinage of subsidiary silver on
private account. and began coming on
half dollar was cut down from 2O6H
grains of standard silver to 1872 grains
of standard silver. and the smaller coins
in proportion. And the silver thus
coined was limited i'll legal tender up to
$500.
A Brief Review.
CHANGING back over the ground thus
far covered, we see that in 1892 the OK
pertinent was tried of having unlimited
coinage of gold and silver on private
account. and that the proportions fixed
were the true proportions; that is. Il dol
lars worth of silver was put into the
silver dollar and Il dollars worth of
gold into the gold dollar. or in that pro-
portion. The ratio was correct at the
time it was fixed. but it ceased = be
correct within Il year afterWard, and the
experiment failed. Its failure was due
to two facts: LIST, the constant and I'M
preventable fluctuations in the relative
values of gold and silver: >, the prin-
clple of human nature which prompts Il
person to do the best he can for him.
self. These two facts continue from age
to age. They caused the failure of the
experiment then; they have caused the
failure of the experiment whenever and
wherever it has been tried; and that
will aSSuredly be their effect if we try
the experiment again.
Having established 4 correct ratio in
ll92; having corrected the error which
had arisen in 1891: and having failed in
each instance to secure what we all de-
sired (namcly the concurrent use of both
metals as money! this country in 1893
avowedly and deliberately abandoned the
experiment OF CndeavOrlng to secure the
use of both gold and silver through coin
age of both metals on private account,
and adopted the principle of having one
tSold) coined on private account. and the
other (sllver) coined on government ac-
count. And that has been our principle
or coinage ever since.
'Ihe act of 1893 made no mention of
the silver dollar It did not specifically
FORBID the coinage of that dollar. but left
1t to the higher law of human nature
which would not permit a man to take
lo5 cents worth Of silver to the mint
to have it coined into Il form where it
would pass for 100 cents. 1t is true
that some silver dollars were coined after
!Soo; but not one of them was coined
Tor the. purpose of circulation. They
were Golned simply to facilitate their sale
as bullion, the stamp being certificate of
me nncncsS of the metal.
inns principle of the coinage of gold
on private account and the coinage of
SILVER on government account. estab-
llshed III 1893, is three years older than
the Republican party. 1t is the principle
Tor which the Republican party has al
ways stood and for which it stands to-
day.
BY reason of this principle, we had
aItcr 1898 until after the breaking out
OF the war the concurrent use of gold
and silver, gold for the large transac-
tons and silver for the small transac-
ions. The principle then established is
the only one ever devised by the wit of
man that has actually succeeded in Sc
curing at the same time the use of both
gold and silver as money.
The Act of 1878.
We now come to brief discussion of
an act of Congress which has been more
misunderstood and more misrepresented
often by people who would not inten-
tlonally state anything but the truth,
man any other act ever passed by Con-
gress. l refer to the Mintage Act of
That act omitted from coinage the old
silver dollar Of 412h grains. 1t has
been charged that the omission of the
SILVER dollar was done 'surreptitiously''
ana as result of bribery. One gen
tleman (whose books have had a very
much wider sale than their merits entitle
tnem to) has written a book to show
that the old Standard dollar of 4121b
grams was dropped out of the bill about
the 2oth of January, 1873. Another
tn lo L
1t was IN the bill at the time of its pass
age age ana that twas dropped out "some-
now while the bill was being carried
over to the White House!
II there had been any such fraudulent
actlon' It would naturally and properly
arouse the indignation of all right-mind.
e1 people. But the story is not true
tb ne ~; ifii12 gram dollar never was in
the Dill from trst to last! 1t was moi
in the original bill introduced April 2Stb
1871, and ITS omission from that bill
was plainly Pointed out in the report
accompanying it. l have an official cony
of that original bill and one of thai
original report here on the table. and
shall be glad. to show them at the close
OF the exercises to anyone who desires
to see them. Moreover, 1 have the de-
bates ON the bill, not simply a news
paper report of them, but the original
records containing the report of what
was said, taken down in shorthand al
the time. l would be pleased at the close
of these exercises to have committee
appointed, composed in part of free-sil
yer men, to examine these records and
thus silence once and forever this miser
able story!
never made bet in my life and
never expect to; but l make this offer
which will remain good as long as
live: TO anyone who will find any
form of that bill, from the time it was