The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-07-21

Why and How tho Act of is73 Passed,
Let us begin at tho beginning ind SEQ
bAttly what was the "crlmc OF 1884,"
II was an act OF Congress dropping tho
standard silver dollar from the coin
age. Congress recognized TINT the SILL
yer dollar wna not In circulation. II
hnu not circulated for sixty years, Il
had more than n dollars worth OF silver
II lit, and II person who had Il would not
pny II out for u dollar when lc could
sell II for moro than that, Trade had
"dcmonetiZed" tho silver dollar, TINT
IN TO say, had taken its money quality
away from II. To put too much value
Z In a dollar coin win demonetIge II rs
certainly MS to put too little IN Il, and
then leave II to its fntc. Tho act OF
Congress raised no protest from the
oliver producers, because they were
selling their silver for moro M u CONF
modify thRn IL would have brought
them II coined into dollars. II the gov
ornmont were offering the farmers OF
I jackson county n dollar Il bushcl for
their wheat and the general market
would pay 81 OF, not n bushcl OF It would
nc sold TO the government Silver pro.
ducers know their Interests quite az
We'll They discovered later that IL
Z crime had been committed, That waa
when they could not get hundred
cents anywhere FOR the amount or silver
IN u silver dollar. They discovered also
that the dreadful work had been done
Iii secret
S The measure had been before Con-
gress and tho country for three years.
II was first recommended by the Srcrc-
tnry OF the treasury, II was printed
ana sent TO monetary experts FOR their
opinions ana advice. II was offered In
Congress April 26. 1870. and PASSED
finally on February L.. 1879. The dis.
cusslon takes up morn thnn no columns
or the printed official record. II passed
Doth houses twice In consequence OF
( amendments. The six senator's from the
Plciiic coast voted for It. Senator
Stewart, OF Nevada, II silver producer
and now n leader of the free silver
craze. was one Of Its six. Instead of
being Slipped through secretly 1t had
muSh more than the ordinary publicity
ana careful consideration, II Is an In
tercstinS fact thnt the votes from the
silver states were for the measure.
senator Stewart, of Nevada. who has
since spent 30 much time and money In
,the free silver cause, voted for Il.
Senator Stewart u Year AfrrIS7J,
Senator Stewart was no: deceived. The
oillwas Just what he wanted. A year
after, February H. 1874, In n speech In
Congress. he said: Il want the stardnrd
gold. and no paper money not rctlecmn-
Die In gold" Nine days later the Seva-
da senator said In another speech, also
9 printed In the Congressional Record:
by this process we shall come TO n
specie basis, and when the laborIng man
receives II dollar II will have the pur-
chasing power OF n dollar and he will
NOT be called upon to do what Is imp0s-
sihle for him or the producing classe3 to
90, figure upon the exchanges, figure
upon the fluctuations. figure upru the
gambling Ii New York. but he win know
+ what his money is worth Gold Is the
universal standard of the world Every
body knows wha; a gold dollar Is
worth. This everybody knows now,
s just as everybody did In 1874. The
Nevada senator has changed. not every
4 body else.
There was no Crime" about the act Of
1913 until 1t was seen that the prize. OF
I silver continued to fall, and the pro-
Z ducers-who kept on producing In spite
OF the fall-could think OF no other way
TO put II up expect to have the govern
ment undertake the Job.
What was Done for Suysr,
Yielding 10 the demand OF the silver
producers Congress- passed two acts, the
act OF 1878 and the act OF 1890, by which
the government sought to stop the fall
In the price of silver. The government
bought $i6i. 900. 900 worth OF silver at an
average cost OF dollar an ounce. But
that did not stop the fall. Production
went on Increasing. The supply was far
beyond the demand. II the growers OF
wheat raise more than the market
wants, the price OF wheat goes down.
So II was with silver. and no govern
ment was powerful enough TO repeal this
natural law of trade. II the govern
ment were TO sell Its silver to-day It
Il would lose thir;y-ona cents an ounce on
it-nelrly third OF the whole purchase
price, or about $50. 900, 900: but this does
not satisfy the silver producer. He
wants the government to do more for
him--more than 1t Is asked to do for
anybody else, more than It can do II It
tries.
There Is more than twice as much
Z money In the country as there was In
1873. There is as much silver money as
gold money. For every silver dollar we
had then we have ffty-three silver dol
lars now. and every dollar of Il Is AZ
good as gold dollar because the gov
eminent keeps It so. The government
keeps It so because 1t Is ready tn ex-
change n silver dollar for gold dollar
3 IT does this because 1t has coined the sill
4 Yer dollar for Itself, and In limited NUM-
herS. When II coins the silver dollar fur
private persons, and without limit the
government will bc1unabie 10 hold the
silver dollar UP TO the gold dollar. Three
years. ago We had panic Everybody
was In dread. People who had money
held fast to It. 1t was feared that we
boI oil hn Ia, f,np
par with gold. We were paying out
& gold that We wanted for silver that we
did NOT want. but the producer did want
to sell. and everything stood still II we
y be .unwlSc enough 10 so into the free and
unlimited coinage Of silver the high
wind OF three years ago will swell into
tornado.
The Fall Of Prices.
The fall Of prices began eight years be-
fore 1873. This Is the record and the free
Z silver men cannot upset the record .ln-
stead OF saying that the fall In the price
of silver caused the fall In the price OF
general products. the silver advocates
would be more logical II thcy said that
the fall In the general prices knocked
down the price OF silver. But that
would knock out the foundation OF their
argument
Silver Not n General Regulator.
The price OF silver does not regulate
the price OF other commodities. II It diI
all other prices should 20 up when the
price OF silver goes up. stay UP while the
price OF silver stays up. and come down
when the price Of silver comes down;
and they should rise and fall In the
same degree as silver rises and falls.
IL .F ,btu tIp1 ha npn, hny