Evening star., 1896-08-15

came necessary to revise the various COIN
ese laws OF the United States. This was
promptly and very carefully done by .
while Mr.. Boutwell, was Secretary. It
was thoroughly considered by the expert9
of that department. and was printed and
who to 1ea a to
with the coinage laws. The bill. contain
Ing sixty-seven'sections,a accompanied by a
mass OF Information that fills volume
Secretary Boutwell, and it's passage was
strongly recommended by him.
This bill omitted from the coins Of the
as was done I'M 1853. but provided for the
coinage Of the fractional parts of the dol
lar In accordance with the act OF that year.
Ihis bill was pending in Congress for three
| years. was carefully considered In both
| houses, and special attention was called
to the omission of the 4121z-grain silver dol
| lar, which was never in the bill at any
stage, and the reasons for this omission
| given. 1t was finally determined at the
| urgent request Of members from the Pa
| cific coast to insert among the silver coins
| trade dollar containing 42O grains OF
standard silver, but this dollar was made.
like the minor coins, a legal tender for s.
| only. There was but one yea and nay vote
| On the bill. and that was on the proposition
t. repeal the charge made by the mint for
the coinage Of geld. l voted against Its
| repeal. The bill passed both houses and
became a law February II, 1873, by prac-
| tically a unanimous vote Of both parties
and was specially supported and voted Tor
| by the Senators and members from The
| silver states.
This has been called the "Crime of
| 1873" and as the bill was under my charge
IN the Senate l was held to be the CHIEF
criminal. 1t was, in fact. wise measure
of public policy, carefully discussed and
considered during three years.
When we test the outcry against this Act
| with the sober facts shown by official
records. 1t appears simply ludicrous. The
| total number of silver dollars coined from
1872 to 1873 was s.O31.23 while the num-
Der of trade dollars issued under the coin
silver than the old dollar. was 35.O65. .024,
and the number of standard silver dollars
coined under ths Bland-Allison act of 1878
was 430, 0,79O.O41. or "a times the number
| Issued before 1873.
1t is strange that the very men who
supported and urged this coinage law of
1873 and demanding the exclusive coinage
OF gold are the very men who now demand
the free coinage of silver and denounce as
| "goldites' and robbers" all those who be-
lieve In the coinage of both gold and sil-
| yer.
1t has been said that the dropping of
| the silver dollar in the coinage act of 1873
was surreptitiously done. This charge is
shown to be false by the debates in Con-
gress, and especially by the declarations of
the men who now make the charge
Silver Men Now Gold Men Then.
Sixteen months after the passage Of that
act Senator Jones of Nevada. in debate
In the Senate June II, 1874. said:
II am opposed to any proposition. come
in whatever form it may, that attempts to
| override what God himself has made for
money. I believe the sooner we come down
to purely gold standard the better it
\ will be for the country
| ho SoiI
gress mean now to leave entirely out Of
view and discard forever a standard Of
value7 And what but gold can be that
| standard? What other thing on earth pos
sesses the requisite qualities? Gold
Is the articulation of commerce. 1t is the
| most potent agent Of civilization. 1t is
gold that has lifted the nations from bar
| barism.
ut is the common denominator Of values.
1t makes possible the classification of la
Dor and the Interchange Of commodities.
| Gold has INTERVIEWED in bargains made be-
tween men since the dawn Of civilization,
and 1t has never failed to faithfully fulfill
Its part as the universal agent and SER
want want G, of mankind The value of
| government AZ
Senator Stewart Of Nevada. in the same
debate, on the 18th of June. 1874:
Sir. the laboring man and the producer
| Is entitled to have his product and his Ia
| Dor measured. by the same standard of the
world that measures your national debt.
Give him such a standard: give
| him money as you require from him. You
require 1t from the producer. You require
from the Iaboring man gold to pay the in
terest on your national debt which Is
mean to save national honor; but, then.
pay that debt. ''h -'i ~. i@.f~7i
1.-The question will never be settled until
| you determine the simple question whether
the laboring man is entitled to have a
gold dollar If he earns it, or whether you
are going to cheat him with something
else. That is the upshot of the whole
| thing. Everybody had to say that the la
boring man was entitled to a good dollar.
That was fought over. They will fight it
over again. and the same party will win.
There have been great many battles
fought against gold. but gold has won
every time. Gold never has compromised.
Gold has made the world respect 1t
all the time. The English people once
for while, but they had to come back to
it."
On June /, 1874. Senators Jones and
| Stewart and all the Representatives and
Senators of the silver states were urgent
and honest in saying that gold was the
best and only standard of value, but they
changed their minds when the largely in
In Nevada and other states reduced the
market value Of silver below that of gold
at the established ratio Of 16 to 1.
Then they wanted a market for their
|
and obligations contracted upon the gold
basis in silver, but took care in their con-
tracts to stipulate for the payment of gold
to them, and this has been and Is now the
general practice in the silver states
When the coins ge law of 1873 was enact
ed all of the states except those on the
Pacific coast conducted their business upon
the basis of greenbacks or United States
| notes. then at discount of about 13 per
cent. Neither silver nor gold was used in
| domestic transactions but we collected our
| customs duties in gold coin and conducted
our foreign commerce in gold. the money
| of the world. 1t was not until January,
| 1915, that the first step was taken to re-
| srme specie payments, nor did We resume
| until January, 1879.
The Fall of Silver's Price.
During this period silver rapidly fell in
| market value below gold at the ratio of 16
| to /. Prior and subsequent to 1873 many
| changes were made in coinage by the lead
ing countries of the world. Germany in
| 1912 changed its standard from silver to
gold France, Italy, Switzerland and Bel
| gium had in 1865 entered into a treaty call
| ed the Latin union, to which other nations
| became parties, and by which the coins Of
each of these countries were received and
| paid out by all of them. This important
q,