Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-10-14
suFHuANON THE 1878 ACT.

was not passed "surreptitiously and
clandestinely," but was openly and free
" discussed.
( Against that assertion there is the re-
corded testimony Of the Senator's col
( leagues in the Senate and members OF
+ the House directly concerned in the pro-
: grass Of the bill Their statements are
spread. on the pages Of the Congressional
( Record.
Senator Thurman said on the 18th OF
/ February. 1873: There is not a single
man in the Senate. l think, unless d
m -mber Of the committee from which
/ the bill came, who had the slightest idea
/ that it was even a sQuint towards de-
/ more. ization.' Senator Allison, on the
same day. said: when the secret his
+ tory of the bill Of 1873 CONES to be told,
+ II will disclose the fact that the House
Of Representatives intended 10 coin both
gold and silver. and intended to place
b5.h metals upon the French relation,
/ instead Of our own. which was the true
scientific position with regard 20 this
subject of 1913. but that The bill was af-
forwards doc,ored." On the same day
Senator Blaine, in answer TO question
by $ na-or voorhees,. said tha, although
Speaker OF the House when the bill pass
cd. he did no, know anything that was
in the bin at ALL" and that little was
known or cared on The subject SEN
a.or Voorhees,, in answer to similar
inquiry 10y Mr.. Blaine, said that ne did
not know that the silver dollar was de-
uoueized in the bill. Senator Beck, in
q speech in the Senate, January 10, 1873,
said the bill never was understood by
either House Of Congress. say that
with full knowledge of the fac-s. No
newspaper repOrJer-and they are the
most vigilant men I ever saw in obtain
ing information discovered that it had
been done" Senator Hereford, in Il
speech in The Senate February Is, 1878,
said The bill which demone,ized silver,
as it passed. never was read, never was
discussed, and the chairman Of the COM
mittee who reported it, who offered the
substitute. said to Mr.. Holman, when in
quirad Of. that it did not affect the coin
age in any way, whatever"
Gen. Garfield, in a speech a, Spring
field. o.. during the fall of 1917, said he
never read the bill and had no knowledge
about il. There was no call of the yeas
and nays, and nobody opposed that bill
that know of. 1t was pu, through as
dozens Of bills are in Congress, on the
faith of the chairman of the committee. "
Mr. Bright. Of Tennessee, said in Con-
gress the bill passed by fraud in the
House. never having been printed in ad-
vance. being a substitute for the printed
bill: never having been read at the
clerks desk, the reading having been
dispensed with by an impression that
the bin made no material alteration in
she coinage laws; it was passed without
discussion. debate being cut off by the
operation of the previous question. 1t
was passed. TO my certain information,
ind p such circumstances that the fraud
ESCAPED the attention of some of the
most w3tchful as well ablest statesmen
in Congress az the time
Mr.. Holman said in the House July Is,
1876: Il have before me the record Of
the proceedings Of this House on the pas
sage of that measure, a record which no
man can read without being convinced
that The measure and the method Of its
passage through this House was a CO.
Iossal swindle." A few days later, Au-
gust 5. 1875. Mr. Holman said: The
substitute which finally became a law
vas never read. I myself ask
ed the question of Mr. Hooper who stood
near where I am now standing, whether
/ i. changed the law in regard TO coinage,
and the answer of Mr.. Hooper certainly
left the impression upon the whole
House tina. the subject of coinage was
not affected by that bill" Mr. Cannon,
Of Illinois. said in the House July Is,
1876. the bin "was not discussed, as is
shown by The Record, and neither mem
6srs Of Congress nor the people under
stood the scope of the legislation.' Mr..
/ Kelley. of Pennsylvania, chairman OF
the Committee on Coinage, Weights and
/ Measures. who reported the original bill,
said May 10. 1879 that the committee
before reporting the original bill,
scanned its provisions closely" and it
then contained provision for both the
standard dollar and the trade dollar.
Never having heard until a long time
after its enactment into law of the sub
s.itut.on in the Sena.e which dropped the
standard dollar, 1 profess to know
nothing Of it's history: but am prepared
% say that in all the legislation of this
country there is no mystery equal to the
/ dsmoue iza.icn of the standard silver
lollar Of the United States. l have new
er found a man who could tell just how
/ /, came about, or why
w submit tina, all these gentlemen
are worthy Of full credence. Some Of
them were Republicans, ranking in their
party as fully as high as Mr.. Sherman.
/ Others were Democrats, whose honesty