The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-07
COIN AND TILE UNIT OF VALUE.


in the senate and house frequent OBJ
lection was made by the silver men to
what was termed fastening the gold
standard on the country" as if the
! president and secretary of the treasury
were trying to do something new and
unheard Of The sun says that the
users of the phrase are possibly not
aware that the gold standard was
fastened on the country in 1884 by
an act of congress, and again more
completely in 1853. The silver men are
aware of the legislation OF 1884 and
1858, but they are not aware that that
/ legislation fastened the gold standard
on the country The Sun continues:
To be strictly correct, the com
mon phrase, the dollar of the
dads, should be changeG to the
dollar Of the grand-6ads' since
from 1884 to 1878 the silver dollar was
rare coin, found only in numismatic
collections, and the nalf-dollar. etc,
were the only American silver coins
they knew. But in 1853, after gold had
become plentiful and silver dollars
were no longer in mems minds, con-
gress, as already stated deprived the
Si6,OOOO0O of fractional silver of its
unlimited legal tender quality. 1t was
made legal tender only for sums of So
and under. This was the real de-
monetization of silver which our silver
orators mistakenly place in 1873. Con-
gress in 1858 demonetized the only sill
yer coins then in use, whereas in 1873,
when the silver dollar was dropped
from our list of coins, such dollars
were not in use, irredeemable green
backs being at that time the currency
in popular use.
The act of 1873 made the gold dollar
OF 25.S grains, the only unit of value
the one thing with which all other
values are measured. Since that time
there has been no law passed changing
or repeating the clause of the act of
1873 which made the gold dollar the eX-
elusive unit of value The silver dollar
was in 1873 ordered to be coined, but it
has not been made the unit of value,
since its value has always been re-
ferred to and sustained by the value of
the gold dollar. Since 1884 the gold
standard has been fastened on" us de
facto, and since 1873 it has been fast
ened on us both de facto and de lure
To talk about its being fastened on us
now by declaration that a debt is
payable in gold whenever the contract
makes it payable in COIN is accord
ingly insincere and misleading. 1t is
like seeking to alarm a man by telling
him that the atmosphere presses with
a weight of 10 pounds on every square
inch of his body. 1t is a great and i'm
portant fact, but one which we are
accustomed to and which we do not
ind at all injurious, but, on the con-
trary, so far as we can see beneficial I
The persons who passionateiy object
to the tyranny of gold" are exciting
themselves over something that hap |
pened in 1884, an act passed deliberately |
by a hard-headed congress, which |
contained, we believe, a larger ratio
OF common sense and patriotism than
falls to the present senate. The silver /
ties propose a revolutionary change /
They ask reversal of the policy of /
the statesmen of 1884 and the adoption /
of fraudulent ratio. Their idea is TO /
substitute the worst for the best cur
rency7ra proposal comparable with a |
programme of substituting clay turn :
pixies for railroads as means of efficient /
transportation.
1t is true the law of February u, 1873. /
declared that the gold coins of the
United States shall be a one-doIlar
piece, which, at the standard weight of
twenty-five and eighteenth grains.
shall be the unit of value" etc. If that
put the United States on a gold stand
ard basis, then the law of April ,. 1872.
put the United States on a silver basis.
for that law declared dollars or units
each to be of the value of a Spanish
milled dollar as the same is now cur
rent, and to contain three hundred and
sevepty-one grains and four-sixteenth
parts Of a grain of pure, or four hun
dred and sixteen grains of standard
silver"
Tho low Of 1924 ,a,,o-o,7 49,, ;14 - i
the eagle and the other gold coins, and
no matter what the cause for the
change, whether as stated by the Sun
Or otherwise, its purpose was not to
change the standard. The Sun says
that when the silver dollar was dropped
from our list of coins in 1873, such dol
lars We're not IN use, irredeemable
being at that time the cur
rency in use. Very true, but the gold
dollar was not in use either.
The Sun says that the act of 1873 es-
-ablished the gold standard, and it car
-ies the inference that coin" is syno-
lymOus with gold" and hence coin
should be paid in gold If
his be So then were not all obligations
prior to that time which were payable
n coin" strictly speaking. payable in
silver? But we would like some gold
standard casuist to answer this ques-
ion: If it was proper to pay coin
in either gold or silver
when the country was on the silver
)asis under the act of 1892 (and it was,
" analogy, by the Suns reasoning re-
,arding the standard established by the
aw of 1879, why isn't it proper to pay +
coin obligations in either gold or sill
-er when the country is on a gold ba-
is? What was sauce for the goose up
o February u, 1873, must be sauce for /;
he gander since that date. !