Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-07-01
THE CRIME OF '73."
EXISTS ONLY IN THE MINDS OF THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW
 THE FACTS.

osrressuan McCleary Exposes ths Alb ksrxa Publications About the Act of 1873. mn was Discussed Fer Three Years-No ore Thought of Rsmonstixins Silver, xyhich Was Prsetically DsEnenettzed In 1eSs-How the Act Went Through Con- rrsss "xiks She Silent Tread of Cat" For the benefit of the thousands Of Intelligent people who honestly believe that crime was committed surrepti- dously against silver in 1878, Congress nan J. T. McCleary of Minnesota de- pfed considerable time, in his great beech of Feb. f2, to a presentation of lae Important facts connected with the fassage of the coinage act of 1878. The cts stand out so clearly and tell such straightforward story that 1t would sem Impossible that any fair minded .a1a should, after reading them, con- nue to believe that there was any zconspiracy" by anybody that caused le passage of this act. We can give but few of the more salient points from r MoC Cleary's speech on this point:
 The original. bill was prepared in the essury department in the winter of .A69-70. by John Jay Knox, then deputy mptroller of the currency, under the rection of George s. Boutwell,, then retary of the treasury. The laws re- ing to the mint had not been revised more than 8 generation, and much afusion existed. This bill was largely ratification of existing law. with such ssz zprovements as experience suggested. The first draft of the bill was sub tied to leading experts on coinage currency in this country, and to nc in Europe. In this way the views more than 80 men were obtained. leir answers were transmitted to the use in June, 1870, as a supplementary s5ort on the bill. The consensus Of fnion of these experts, and of those 10 discussed the bill in congress, was at it was simply to recognize legally lat had practically existed. since the of 1858 made gold the single stand l of yaiue and made silver subsidiary legal tender only for sums not ex- ding s.
 The bill as introduced distinctly dis ltinued the silver dollar. One of the Hht headings to the divisions in the orts accompanying the bill was as N lows: .s(5) DISCONTINUANCE OF WEIR DOLLAR. " This was printed capitals. The discontinuance of the Id Ter dollar was specifically referred to h. four places in this report.
 = Jontrary to the suppositions and ,. tements of many leading free silver ns, the old standard dollar of 4121e Bins was never in the coinage bill sed in 1873, and therefore it could ------, as they allege, have been omitted reptitiousiy. In May, 1892, 8 silver lar containing 384 grains was in- duced into the bill. Like the silver f dollars it did not have free coin s'' or full tender. This was the dol
 which was afterwa ard dropped out of
 bill and in place of which the trade lar of 420 grains. with unlimited coin but limited tender, was substituted. from the contemporary records 1t is 1T that the bill was before congress
 abont three years; that it was print h times separately and twice in re- tsof the comptroller of the currency i; it was considered at length by the
 nce committee of the senate and by
 coinage committee of the house dur
 i've different sessions; that it was . ;,sfully debated in both houses, the ates in the senate occupying 66 col sEMns and those in the house occupying columns of The Congressional Globe,
 1t finally passed substantially as it originally introduced. Every fea- Leof the bill was thoroughly explained fhe original report accompanying the VI and repeatedly afterward in the
 ates on the bill itself.
 suS here doubtless were persons ill both
 SOS who did not pay attention to ger the report or the discussions, for
 hat time such subjects were regard
 of interest only to experts, but it z ainly cannot be truthfully said that d1d not have full opportunity to
 " all about it.
 liar as concerns the coinage of gold
 silver, there were just two impor-
 provisions in the act of fl873-name-
 he unlimited coinage of gold and
 limited coinage of silver. Both of
 Provisions have endured and will
 re, because. as I have shown al- u 7, this IS the only way in which we have the use of both metals as money
 la same time. And though some
 excellent gentlemen in congress in
 when the wave of free silver''
 atened to overwhelm every one op-
 d to 1t, may have said some foolish
 gs about the act of 1873, it is sig
 ant fact that not single Republican
 ose quoted as saying these things, B.. he lives in silver producing
 has ever voted to repeal the essen
 'rovisions of the act of 1873 above
 Except as to the trade dollar
 sh was inserted as special conces-
 the silver producers), the act of
 based upon the experience of cen A s. Framed by men pre-eminent for A y and integrity. discussed in all SsE8 ks, 5111ixau Tha +k-