Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-06-25
"THE CRIME OF 49,"
TT EXISTS ONLY IN THE MINDS OF
THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW
THE FACTS.

Congressman McCleary Exposes the Alb
surd Fabrications About the Act of 1873.
Bill Was Discussed For Three Years-No
One Thought of Remonctizing Silver,
Which Was Practically Demonetized In
1s53-How the Act Went Through Con-
press Like the Silent Tread of "A Cat"
For the benefit Of the thousands of
Intelligent people who honestly believe
that q crime was committed surrcpti-
tiously against silver in 1878, Congress
man J. T. McCleary Of minnesota de-
voted considerable time, in his great
speech of Feb. II, to a presentation of
the important facts connected with the
passage of the coinage act of 1878. The
facts stand out so clearly ard tell such
straightforward story that it would
seem impossible that any fair minded
man should, after reading them, con-
tinuo to believe that there was any
conspiracy by anybody that caused
the passage of this act. We can give but
few Of the more salient points from
Mr. McClcary's speech on this point:
The original bill was prepared i'll the
treasury department i'll the winter Of
1SG9-10, by John jay Knox, then deputy
comptroller of the currency, under the
direction of George S. Boutwell,, then
secretary Of the treasury. The laws re-
lating to the mint had not been revised
for more than a generation, and much
confusion existed. This bill was largely
codifcation 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 i'll this country, and to
some in Europe In this way the views
of more than 30 men were obtained
Their answers We're transmitted to the
house i'll June, 1870, as supplementary
report on the bill. The consensus of
opinion of these experts, and of those
who discussed the bill i'll congress, was
that it was simply to recognize legally
what had practically existed, since the
act Of 1858 madc gold the single stand
ard Of value and made silver subsidiary
and legal tender only for sumS not ca
cecding 50.
The bill as introduced distinctly dis
continued the silver dollar. One of the
eight headings to the divisions i'll the
reports accompanying the bill was rs
follows: go DISCONTINUANCEO OF
SILVER DOLLAR. " This was printed
i'll capitals. The discontinuance of the
silver dollar was specifically referred to
i'll four places i'll this report.
Contrary to the suggestions and
statements of many leading free silver
ties, the old standard dollar of 4l21e
grains YVES never i'll the coinage bill
passed i'll 1873, and therefore it could
not, as they allcgc, have been omitted
surrcptitiously. III May, 1892, II silver
dollar containing 3S4 grains was i'll
troduccd into the bill Like the silver
half dollars it did not have free coin
age" or full tender. This was the dol
lar which was aftcrward dropped out of
the bill and i'll place Of which the trade
dollar of 1870 grains, with unlimited coin
age, hut limited tender, was substituted.
From the contemporary records it is
clear that the bill was before congress
for about three years; that it was print
ed IL times separately and twice i'll 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 five different sessions; that it was
carefully debated in both houses, the
debates III the senate occupying G6 col
umnS and those Ill the house occupying
rs columns of The Congressional Globe,
and it finally passed substantially as it
was originally introduced. Every fea-
turc of the bill was thoroughly explained
i'll the original report accompanying the
bill, and repeatedly aftorward i'll the
debates on the bill itself.
There doubtless We're persons i'll 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 it
certainly cannot be truthfully said that
they did not have full opportunity to
know all about It,
So far as concerns the coinage Of gold
and silver, there were just two inpor-
tant provisions i'll the act of lS13-name-
ly, 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 III which we
can have the use OF both metals rs money
at the same time And though some
IN,