Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-17
AMERICAN GOLD COINS.
Why They Do Net Bear the Effisies Of
ahe Presidents.

WY ahSJ 5SS tSSl Tie GHiSiSS OF
The Presidents.
On Get. 81. 1901, the senate of the
UnieaI States appointed Messrs. Nor.
ris, King. Cabot and Henry commit.
tee to report bill for the creation vi
a mint. Seven weeks later Mr.. Nor
ris reported a bill to establish a mint
ana to regulate tile national coinage.
/ The senate debated the bill Dec. &c
and q AMI Jan. ?, 3, 4, 5, and again
Jan. 9. On the last named day there
was proposal to place upon the OBJ
verse of the silver and copper coins a
design of clasped hands and linked
chains, emblematic Of the union of the
states, and upon the reverse the fig
ure of Justice bearing the scales, but
it was defeated.
On Jan. IL the bill passed the senate
with a provision that the coins bear
upon one side the head Of the president
of the United States for the time be-
ing, with an inscription to express the
initial letter Of his Christian name and
his surname in full. together with the
succession of the presidency numer-
ically expressed" On the other side
were to be an eagle and other devices.
This bill came to the house Jam 10,
1892, and was referred to the commit
tee of the whole. On March "a the
bill came up in committee of the whole
and an amendment was proposed strik,
ing out all that looked to the impress
ing of the presidents effigy and name
upon the coins and providing in lieu
OF 1t an emblematic head of Liberty
with the word .Liberty.''
This amendment brought on debate
IN which a good many members took
part the men who afterward called
themselves Republicans or Democratic
Republicans in favor of the amend
ment, the Federalists mostly in OPP
position. One member objected to the
presidents head on the coinage as
savoring Of the practices of monarch
les, which had taken this method Of
handing down to the ignorant the
names and succession of their mon
archs The Scriptural phrase, q Render
unto Caesar the things that are Gaze
sar's. unto God the things that are
Gods, was recalled.
It was argued on the other side that
the proposed efigy was a proper trib.
ute to Washington. to which a mem
Der responded that. while every one
might be glad thus to honor the great
man then president, there might be flu
ture presidents whose heads the PEG.
pie would not care to see upon the
coins.
After the question had been ridi-
culed by one Federalist as too trivial
for SO much waste of time and the
amendment had been seriously urged
in speeches ornate with references to
Roman history the question was divid.
ed, and the house voted, 26 to 20, that
the name and efigy of the president
should not appear upon the coins. II
was then voted, AZ to 6, that the EN-
blematic figure Of Liberty should be
substituted for the design proposed by
the senate. Two days later the bill as
amended passed by a vote of 80 to %.
On the very same day the senate re-
turned the bill to the house, with notice
Of dissent from the amendment. The
house was not pleased at this prompt
actien of lhe senate. AS the sessions OF
the latter body were secret In those
days and very briefly reported in the
published official Annals of Congress- =
the nature Of the debate ia the senate
is unknown.
There was more discussion In the
house this time, with further denuncia-
lions of all signs and symbols Of roy
atty. Mr.. Mercer thought 1t would be
well to have for the house Of repre-
sentatives some such rule as that OF
the British house of commons forbid
ding the mention Of the sovereign's
name in debate, and Mr.. Page said he
would rather cut off his right arm than
sign the mint bill without the house
amendment.
The house adhered to it's amendment
by a vote Of "a to 80, and next day,
March ~, 1892, the senate receded
from its disagreement. New York
Sun.
& To Be Exact.
"Jane," asked Mrs. Hiram Offen,