Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-10-19
THE crime OF '7S.
CONGRESS SECRETLY DEMONETIzED
THE SILVER DOLLAR.

|
the House of Representatives
Twenty-three years ago, by the
crafty and concealed agency of rep
resentative of the Bank OF England, q
bill was passed by Republican Con
gress, engineered steadily through by
John J. Knox, Comptroller OF the
Currency, and John Sherman, then, as
now, Senator from Ohio, which bill
is known to-day throughout the
civilized world as "the crime of '73."
That bill demonetized about one-half
the Constitutional money of the United
States and brought on an Iliad OF
woes.
Was it, indeed, crime, or is the
charge SANDER, such as is sometimes
uttered without justification in the
heat of political campaign? I am
not conyersant in the language OF
SANDER, and have prescribed for my
self an inflexible rule to make charges
against no man derogatory to his
good name without being impelled by
n sense OF public duty and able 10
substan tiate them by ample evidence.
/ repeat the charge, that the de-
monetization of the standard silver
dollar, Constitutional money of the
United States from 1892 to 1873, was
a crime; that the section OF the bill
demonetizing silver was secretly in.
serted without being read, printed or
discussed after the bill left the Com.
mittee on Coinage. Weights and
Measures, of which Judge Kelley, Of
Pennsylvania, was Chairman, and that
the House was deceived into passing
the bill under the belief that it pro.
vided for the standard silver dollar,
whereas by trick, cheat and fraud it
did not so provide.
Let us hear the Chairman of the
Coinage Committee, Judge Kelley,
when afterwards charged with having
advocated the decentralization of sill
yer. | quote from the official report
Of his remarks on the floor of the
House as found in the Congressional
Record (Forty-fifth Congress, second
session. p. 1605): SIN connection with
| the charge that l advocated the bill
which demonetized the standard sil-
yer dollar, l say that, though the
Chairman of the Committee on Coin.
age, was Us ignorant of the fact that
it would demonetize the silver dollar,
or of Its dropping the silver dollar
| from our system or coins, as were
those distinguished Senators, Messrs.
Blaine and Voorhees,, who were then
members of the House, and each of
whom, few days since, interrogated
the other: Did you know it was
droppel when the bill passed.? No.
said. Mr.. Blaine; did you?' NO. said
Mr.. Voorhees,. I do not think there
were three members in the House that
knew it. Idoubt whether Mr.. Hooper,
who, in my absence from the Commit
tee on Coinage and attendance on the
Committee on Ways and Means, man
aged the bill, knew it. l say this in
justice to him,
Judge Kelley, commonly called Pig
Iron Kelley, because of his high pro.
lection views, was man OF great
ability, sterling integrity and National
eminence. Again on the floor of the
House in the Forty sixth Congress,
| Congressional Record, first session
p. 1871 he cleared himself of all COM
plicity in the crime which had been
committed, and among other telltale
revelations which he made he used the
following memorable language: "All
can say is that the Committee on Coin.
age, Weightsand Measures, who report
ed the original bill, were faithful and
able, and scanned its provisions closely ;
! that as their organ | reported it; that
it contained provisions for both the
standard silver dollar and the trade
dollar. Never having heard until q
long time after It's enactment.into law
of the substitution in the Senate of
the section which dropped the standard
silver dollar, Iprofess 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 decentralization of the silver dollar
of the United States. [ have never
met man who could tell just how it
came about or why"
Now, gentlemen, if you turn to the
7th volume of the Congressional
Record (45th Congress, p. 5SD and
will read what Congressman Bright
had to say from his seat on the floor,
you will find out how this colossal
crime against the American people
was elfectuated and smuggled through
the House of Representatives
''It passed." said Mr.. Bright, "by
fraud in the House, never having been
printed in advance, being substitute
for the printed bill, never having been
read at the clerks desk, the reading
having been dispensed with by an i'm.
preston that the bill made no altera-
tion in the coinage laws; it was passed
without discussion, debate being cut
off by operation of the previous ques.
tion. 1t was passed, to my certain
information, under such circumstances
that the fraud escaped the attention of
some of the most watchful. rs we'll as
the ablest statesmen in Congress at
the time. Ay, sir. it was fraud that
smells to heaven, a fraud for which
some person must give an account in
| the day of retrihutnn