Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-07-10
"THE CRIME OF '78."
IT EXISTS ONLY IN THE MINDS OF
THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW
THE FACTS.


surd Fabrications About the Act Of 1870.
Bill Was Discussed For Three YeArs-Nc
One Thought Of RemOBetizing Silver,
which Was Practically DemonetiEed In
Eress Like the Silent Tread Of q Cat"
For the benefit of the thousands Of
intelligent people who honestly believe
that O crime was committed surrepti-
tiously against silver In 1873, Congress
man ]. 7. McOleary Of Minnesota de-
voted considerable time, In his great
speech of Feb. 10, to a presentation Of
the important facts connected with the
passage of the coinage act Of 1873. The
facts stand cut so clearly and tell such
a straightforward story that it would
seem impossible that any fair minded
man should, after reading them, con-
tinue to believe that there was any
conspiracy" by anybody that caused
the passage Of this act. We can give but
a few of the more salient points from
Mr.. McOleary's speech on this point:
The original bill was prepared in the
treasury department. In the winter Of
1s69-7o, by John Jay Knox, then deputy
comptroller Of the currency, under the
direction of George 8. Boutwell,, then
secretary OF the treasury. The laws re-
lating to the mint had not been revised
for more than q generation, and much
confusion existed. This bill was largely
a oodihcation Of existing law, with such
improvements as experience suggested.
The first draft of the bill was sub
mitted to leading experts on coinage
and currency in this country, and to
some In Europe. In this way the views
Of more than 30 men were obtained.
Their answers were transmitted to the
house In June, 1870, as supplementary
report on the bill The consensus Of
opinion Of these experts, and Of those
who discussed the bill in congress, was
that II was simply to recognize legally
what had practically existed, since the
aot Of 1858 made gold the single stand
ard of value and made silver subsidiary
and legal tender only for sums not ex-
ceeding eB.
The bill as introduced distinctly dis
continued the silver dollar One of the
eight headings to the divisions in the
reports accompanying the bill was as
follows; "(5) DISCONTINUANCE OF
SILVER DOLLAR. This was printed
In capitals The disoontinuance Of the
silver dollar was specifically referred to
IN four places In this report
Contrary to the suppositions and
statements Of many leading free silver
ties, the old standard dollar Of A12K
grains was never in the coinage bill
passed in 1878, and therefore It could
not as they Allege. have been omitted
surreptit itously. In May, 1892, a silver
dollar containing 894 grains was in
troduced into the bill Lake the silver
half dollars It did not have ''free coin
age" or full tender. This was the dol
lar which was afterWard dropped out Of
the bill and in place of which the trade
dollar Of 420 grains, with unlimited COIN
age, but limited tender, was substituted
From the contemporary records 1t is
clear that the bill was before congress
for about three years; that it was print
ed IL times separately and twice In re-
ports of the comptroller Of the currency
that it was considered at length by the
finance committee of the senate and by
the coinage committee Of the house dur
ing i've different sessions; that it was
carefully debated in both houses, the
debates in the senate occupying SO col
umns and those In the house occupying
76 columns Of The Congressional Globe,
and 1t finally passed substantially as 1t
was originally introduced. Every fea-
ture Of the bill was thoroughly explained
in the original report accompanying the
bill, and repeatedly afterward in the
debates on the bill itself.
There doubtless were persons In both
houses who did not pay attention to
either the report or the discussions, for
at that time such subjects were regard
ed as Of interest only to experts, but il
certainly cannot be truthfully said that
they did not have full opportunity 20
know all about IL
Sofar as concerns the coinage Of gold
and silver. there were just two impor-
tant provisions in the act of l678-name-
", the unlimited coinage of gold and
the limited coinage Of silver. Both Of
these provisions have endured and will
endure, because. as ! have shown al
ready, this Is the only way In which we
can have the use OF both metals as money
at the same time And though some
very excellent gentlemen In congress In
1873, when the wave Of "free silver