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0 t t 0 m s t i m a l llccont. F I F T Y - T H I R D C O N G K R E S S , The Midsummer Money Panic of Ninety-Three. S P E E C H or H O N . M. N OF NORTH J O H N S O N , DAKOTA, I N THE H O U S E OF REPRESENTATIVES* Thursday, August 1893. The House having under consideration the bill (H. R.1) to repeal a part of an act, approved July 14, 1890, entitled "An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes"— Mr. JOHNSON of North Dakota said : Mr. SPEAKER: Among the representatives on this floor, and among the people of this country, there are two kinds of monometallists. On one extreme we have the very few who really believe that gold alone is worthy of use and confidence as a money metal. On the other extreme, we have the free silverites, some of them avowed monometallists, and all of them supporting a doctrine which, if enacted into law, would as surely as night follows day drive gold out of circulation as money and bring about silver monometallism. Neither of these policies, can command the approval of my judgment. I believe that for the transaction of the business of this country we not only need to use all our silver and all our gold and all our paper, and in addition thereto such expansion of each as shall keep pace with the growth of population and business, but more than anything else wq need such an expression and execution of the legislative power of the nation as shall guarantee not only the stability but also the parity of all our nine differing kinds of money at all times and in all places, utterly regardless of the ever-fluctuating values of the materials out of which the money is made. I do not know what Pickwickian meaning the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLAND] may attach to such expressions as "struckdown silver,11 44 demonetized silver^'.'idestroyed.one-half of the money metal of the country," etc., but I do know that such expressions, constantly reiterated in speech and in print, have created the very erroneous impression in the public mind that the silver legislation of the last twenty years has had a tendency to diminish the use of silver money in this country. The first so-called and falsely called "demonetizationof silver act" was passed in 1853. It applied only to the subsidiary coinshalf-dollars, quarters, dimes, and half-dimes. On account of a slight undervaluation of silver between 1834 and 1853—2 or 3 per cent—it was almost impossible with free coinage to get enough of these coins into circulation to do the business of the country. Up to that time the subsidiary coins contained as much metal proportionally as the dollar piece. It was profitable to export them or to melt them at home and use the bullion in the arts. 241 F I R S T S E S S I O N " . To meet this difficulty three radical changes as to these coins were enacted in the act of 1853: First. The amount of silver' put into a dollar's worth of these small coins was reduced from 412i to 384 grains. Second. Free coinage .on private account was stopped, and unlimited coinage on Government account was substituted therefor. Third. The legal-tender character of these coins was limited to amounts of $5. (In 1878 the limit was raised to $10.) The intention and purpose of Congress in making these changes was to preserve and increase that kind of silver money. The effect was magical. The result fully justified the hopes and expectations of Congress. The law has worked so satisfactorily that from that day to this no man in Congress, or out of Congress, has ever seriously proposed to go back to the old method of freecoinage as applied to these coins. Where free coinage was a failure, unlimited coinage has proven a success. For forty years the Government has not only furnished the people an abundance of small change by always standing ready to manufacture it in unlimited quantities for any person who wanted it and was willing to give an equivalent for it, but has also maintained its parity with our best money by always standing ready to redeem it in any other kind of money, at the option of the holder. The free coinage of silver dollars continued for twenty years longer, and came to an end in 1873. Then for five years we coined the trade dollar of 420 grains on Government account only, and in limited quantities. In 1878 we restored the legal-tender character of the silver dollar to any amount and resumed its coinage, but on Government account and in an amount limited to $2,000,000 worth per month, instead of the former practice of free coinage on private account. In one respect the abandonment of free coinage had the same effect upon the silver dollars as it had formerly produced on the subsidiary coin, namely, to enormously incroase the use of silver as money. There were only 8.015,838 silver dollars coined at our mints during all the eighty-one years that free coinage was the law of the land, and the bulk of these eight millions went, not into circulation, but straightinto the melting pots of the silversmiths. Since that time, since silver was ''demonetized," "destroyed," and " struck down,'! as these men tell us, we have poured into the circulation of the country 427,390,637 of silver dollars, and about $150,000,000 worth of silver bullion, not a dollar of which has been melted, except by accident, and every dollar of which, either bodily or by its paper representative, has actually entered into the channels of trade. The * dollar of the daddies," for the return to * which we are now so lustily called upon, never entered as a practical factor into our coinage or our commerce. There^ were only a very few of them in circulation at any time. I would like very much to know how many members of th is House ever saw a silver dollar of a date earlier than 1873. Many of you have been in business forfiftyyears, and several of you were members of Congress more than ten years before the free coinage of those dollars ceased, and yet I very much doubt if there are three men in this House who can stand up here and state from memory whether the eagle on that dollar was represented with wings pointing up or down, or whether the image of Liberty was represented -by a head or by a full figure. If there is a man here who can do that simple thing I shall be very happy to yield him 2 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. time to do so from the few moments allotted to me in this debate. [After a pause.] There are 356 members of this House, and not a man of you has a clear and distinct recollection of what a free-coinage silver dollar looked like. I venture the assertion that there is not a public school in the land where half the scholars could not without previous notice go right to the blackboard and draw from memory a fairly good representation of the buzzard oagle on the Bland silver dollar with which the people have become so familiar since we " destroyed," "demonetized," and " struck down " silver. You may by some mental reservation attach in your own minds incomprehensible meanings to these words, but you shall not forever deceive the people by coining and sounding phrases. I inquired of the Acting Director of the Mint the other day if he could give me an estimate as to how many of the eight million silver dollars coined prior to 1873 were in circulation at that date. He could not. There were no official figures; probably less than half a million. When the people once understand that the effect of the silver legislation since 1873 has been to increase the amount of silver money in circulation among- them a thousandfold, then you can talk at them till the end of time aboutthe "crime of 1873," " destroying half the money of the people," "contracting the currency," "doubling the purchasing power of money," and "demonetizing silver," or even yell " gold bug," " Wall street," and "plutocrats," and thoughtful men will never wink an eye. : Not only have we by this legislation increased the amount of silver money a thousandfold, but we have throughout all the mutations and fluctuations of these eventful years kept that money steadily at par with gold and all our other money, while silver bullion has fallen in value over 40 percent. Wo were often threatened in the last Congress, as we have been twice in this Congress, by the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLAND], the chairman of the Committee on Coinage, that if we voted against his judgment of what was for the public welfare we would be overtaken by the vengeance of the people at home, and not one would ever be honored with a return. It is not necessary to withhold approval from such methods as-ideals of statesmanship or to draw inferences of unsoundness in a cause that needs to be bolstered up by such substitutes for argument; but the survivors might be pardoned now for calling attention to the fact that that prophecy has proven untrue in at least eighty-seven individual instances. I observe many familiar names and faces of men in the Fifty-third Congress who stood up and were counted against the Missouri idea on the famous tie vote of March 24,1892. The only Democrats returned from the great agricultural States of Iowa and Minnesota [Messrs. H A Y E S and H A L L ] voted with us. Fidelity and ability in the cause of free coinage of silver did not save either the two Republicans f ?om Colorado and Nevada or the Democrat from Montana. The only party that made the campaign on a free-coinage platform, and voted solidly for it in Congress, cast 9 votes for Mr. Watson for Speaker of the Fifty-second Congress, but could only muster 7 votes for Mr. S I M P S O N for Speaker of the Fifty-third. The Republican party, nine-tenths of whose Representatives were opposed to free coinage in the Fifty-second Congress; has gained forty additional seats in the Fifty-third. In my own great agricultural district, a district that produces one-tenth of the entire wheat crop of the United States, equal in value to the entire annual silver product of the United States, the free-coinage candidate got only 7,434 votes out of a total of 36,150. These results call not for more terrifying threats, but for more convincing arguments from the gentleman from Missouri." The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman from North Dakota has expired. On motion of Mr. PICKL.ER and Mr.- TRACEY, the time of Mr. JOHNSON of North Dakota was extended. Mr. JOHNSON of North Dakota. These sturdy, level-headed wheat-raisers want every cent of good money they can possibly get. But they draw the line at good money. They are not tempted by the offer to revolutionize ourfinancialsystem in such a way as to give them 58-cent dollars, even if they are offered a few more of them. They know that in every country in the world where there is free coinage of silver there is no gold money in circulation, and the silver money is worth exactly the same per pound as the bullion, and fluctuates with it. They do not want any such money, and do not believe in any kind of monometallism, least of all silver monometallism.' There is not a country in Europe to-day whose mints are open to the free coinage of silver. Germany demonetized silver in 1871-1873. contains people 42,000,000 France stopped silver coinage in 1874 and has filled up with gold, people 88,000,000 241 Italy stopped silver coinage in 1874 and has filled up with gold, people Belgium adopted gold standard ten years ago, p e o p Y o V " " " " Switzerland and Greece adopted gold standard ten years ago, people Scandinavia demonetized silver in 1872, people Holland demonetized silver in 1875, people )le Austria-Hungary demonetized silver in 1879, filling np "with gold, people Roumania adopted gold standard in 1890, people Russia stopped silver coinage in 1876 and is filling up with gold, l>eople British India stopped silver coinage in 1893, pgopfe I. Great Britain demonetize! silver in 1816 and all its colonies have followed the example, people 30,000.000 6,000,000 4,000,000 10,000,000 4,000,000 38,000,000 5,000,000 100,000,000 280,000,000 50,000,000 Total, 000,000,000 of people, besides those in the United States. The late action by British India leaves the United States and Mexico as the only countries in the world which continue to purchase silver and coin it into legal*tender money, and Mexican silver coinage really cuts no figure, because those coins are largely melted down by persons who use them at their bullion value. I use the term '* demonetized " here to designate a method of coining, circulating, and sustaining silver as money, other than by free coinage on private account. A glance at the following table, taken from the evidence given by the Director of the Mint before the Coinage Committee of the last Congress, shows conclusively that free coinage means monometallism, and that coinage of silver on Government account only, limited or unlimited, means bimetallism. In Europe and the United States we find enormous amounts of silver and also gold money, while in India and China there is no gold in circulation, and in Mexico not enough to be worth taking into account. Table exhibiting approximately the stoclc of gold and silver in the principal countries of the world. [Furnished the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures by E. O. Leech, Director of the Mint,] Stock of silver. Countries. Stock of gold. Full legal tender. Limited tender. *f686,845,000 tS4G5,512,003 $76,560,000 United States 550,000,000 100,000,000 United Kingdom 900,000,000 650,000,000 50,000,000 France 500,000,000 102,000,000 102,000,000 Germany 05,030,000 48,400, C O O 6,000,000 Belgium 140,000,000 25,800,000 34,200,000 Italy 15,000,000 11,400,000 3,600,000 Switzerland 2,000,000 1,800,000 2,290,000 Greece 100,000,000 90,000,000 35,000,000 Spain 40,000,000 10,000,000 Portugal 40,000,000 90,0C0,000 Austria-Hungary.. 25,000,000 3,200,000 61,800,000 Netherlands 32,000,000 10,000,000 Scandinavian Union. 190,000,000 38,000,000 23,001), 000 Russia 50,000,000 45,000,000 Turkey 100,000,000 7,000,000 Australia 100,000,000 15,000,000 5,000,000 50,000, C O O Mex?co 500,000 Central America. - 25,000,000 45,000,000 South America 50,000,000 90,000,000 Japan 900,000,000 India 700,000,000 China 100,000,000 The Straits 5,000,000 16,000,000 Canada 800,000 1,200,000 20,000,000 Cuba, Haiti, e t c — Total 3,711,815,000 3,395,412,000 •Includes $82,212,000 in gold bars. Total.5542,078,000 100,000,000 700,000,000 204,000,000 55,000,000 60,000,000 15,000,000 4,000,000 125,000,000 10,000,000 90,000,000 65,000,000 10,000,000 60,000,000 45,000,000 7,000,000 15,000,000 50,000,000 500,000 25, C O G O O, O 50,000.000 900,000,000 700,003, C O O 100,000,000 5,000,030 2,000,000 544,160,000 3,939,578,000 t Includes $53,969,000 in silver bars. The advocates of free coinage state that wheat and silver are both cheaper now than in 1873, which is true; that the fall of silver has caused the fall of wheat, which has not been piwrea and may be true or false; and that the fall has been simultaneous, like the mercury in two thermometers placed side by side,which is false. I have raised wheat on my farm in North Dakota for the past nine years, and always marketed it at the same place, Petersburg, to the same buyer, JohnH. Terrett, direct from the thrashing machine, in the fall. In 1884 I got 52 cents a bushel for my No. 1 hard wheat. Some of my neighbors who held their wheat until winter had to sell for 42 cents. Silver was then worth about $1 an ounce. In 1888 I sold my No. 2 northern for $1 a bushel. My neighbors who had No. 1 hard got $1.10. Silver went down about 18 per cent, while wheat went up over 100 per cent in those four years. Silver is now worth 72 cents and wheat on my place 44 cents, but can be contracted for October delivery (our usual thrashing time) for 50 cents, only 2 cents less than in October, 1884. In 1873 we exported no wheat from North Dakota. Now we raise from forty to sixty million bushels annually. May not the law of supply and demand have something to do with prices? In CONGRESSIONAL BECOED. 3 1884 I paid $250 for a Piano binder. This year I bought a Buck- deposited in banks. To remove the latter fear and give the same eye, a bettor machine, for $150 (both sales on time payments). absolute confidence in a certificate of deposit as in a national In 1884 I paid 22 cents a pound for my twine; this year I bought bank note, I am in favor of Government guaranty of certificates it for H i cents. In 1884 I paid my harvest hands $2 a day; now of deposit, the same as of bills with a national bank tax on deI pay $1.50, and at Casselton and Valley City, N. Dak., I see by posits sufficient to pay all depositors in failed banks promptly. my home papers that going harvest wages are from $1.25 to $1. Probably a tax of one-fourth of one per cent per annum on deThe cheapening and improvement of machineryTand the fall posits would be ample. To remove the fear that money invested in industrial enterof 50 per cent in wages and in the price of binding-twine are ample causes to account for the result, if indeed the slight de- prise will be lost requires time and patience to remove the cause that threatens our industrial life. An economic system, under cline of from 2 to 7 cents a bushel in nine years calls for any exwhich we have increased our national wealth from sixteen bilplanation at all. The tables published by the free silverites to prove that wheat lions in 1860 to sixty-three billions in 1890, has been declared by has gone steadily down in sympathy with silver must be manu- the party now for the first time in thirty-three years in full confactured to fit a theory. The report of the statistician of the trol of the Government to be a "robbery," a "fraud," " unconAgricultural Department for 1892, page 59, gives the following stitutional," and a £ (culminating atrocity," which they are solas the average farm price of wheat in North Dakota from 1884 emnly pledged to repeal. That pledge will never be redeemed; to 1891: 1884, $0.46; 1885, $0.63; 1886, $0.52; 1887, $0.52; 1888, $0.91; but for another year it will remain a standing menace, intimidating capital and paralyzing labor. 1889, $0.60; 1§90, $0.70; 1891, $0.72. Until there is a chance to reverse all this by the election of a Wheat was, as every farmer in North Dakota knows, higher Republican Congress in the fall of 1894 there is an inviting field in 18S8,1890, and 1891 than in 1884,1885,1886, and 1887. The price of silver, as reported by the Director of the Hint, for the in which to train the noble virtues of pious humility and philsame years is as follows: 1884, $1.11; 1885, $1.06; 1886, $0.99; osophic fortitude while we endure temporary tribulation in the severe school of adversity. [Applause.] 1887, $0.97; 1888, $0.93; 1889, $0.93; 1890, $1,04; 1891, $0.98. Under the general leave to print I shall take the liberty to inThe prices of the two commodities show little sympathy, sert a few extracts and tables. much less the relation of cause and effect. It has often been said that free coinage would make the United The existing debts in North Dakota were all contracted since 1873 for dollars as good as gold. I know of no man there who States the dumping ground for the silver that foreign countries wish to get rid of. wishes to pay back a poorer dollar than he received, and a bushel As an illustration of the extremes to which fanaticism will of wheat will go just as far now in paying debts as it would in 1884. Nearly all the mortgages made in North Dakota in recent lead men in the support of a wicked cause, and to show how utyears are made payable " i n gold coin," while the $5,000,000,000 terly unscrupulous these men have become in presuming upon due the depositors from the banks of this country are all payable the ignorance and child-like faith of those who have trusted to their leadership in the wilderness, I call attention to the method " in current funds." The liabilities of the life-insurance companies, amounting to employed by the Populists to answer the "dumping-ground" $8,000,000,000, and all similar obligations of the great, rich debt- argument north of latitude forty-six. In a manifesto, dated "Attorney-General's Office, Bismarck, ors due to the "poor" creditors are all payable in current funds. I am not yet ready to cast my vote in favor of a legalized rob- July 26,1893," and published in the columns of some of the leading dailies, and as a supplement to scores of the weekly papers bery that will enable the banks and insurance companies to swindle the poor people who have trusted them out of $5,000,- of the State, the Populist attorney-general of the State of North 000,000. by coining ior them, free of charge, 58 cents' worth of Dakota, a man by the name of Wm. H. Standish, deliberately silver bullion into a legal-tender dollar to take the place of the states that it was the free-coinage law of this country prior to 1873, 100-cent gold dollar, or its equivalent, which they have received the practice of the mints, and also the provisions of the Bland free*coinage bills pending in recent years, for the Government as deposits and premiums. The purchasing clause of the Sherman law is designated by to take out one-tenth of the pure silver or gold bullion brought the Republicans as a "temporary expedient," and by the Demo- to the mints for coinage as Government toll and substitute therecrats as a 4' cowardly makeshift." It has disappointed the hopes for a like weight of cheap alloy. The least investigation of the of it3 friends, and fulfilled the evil prophecies of its enemies. law and the practice of the mints will show that there is not a Nobody thinks that we could go on forever buying 154 tons of word of truth in the attorney-general's statement of law or fact. silver every month and piling it up in the Treasury vaults. We THE FABLE ABOUT ERNEST SEYD. have reached and passed the danger point. It is time to call a halt. That part of the Sherman law which authorizes the coining of Ernest Seyd was one of the ablest champions of silver and the silver bullion in the Treasury it is not proposed to repead in bimetallism produced in Europe during this century. In fact he the pending bill. Let us sustain every dollar of our silver laid down his life on the altar of silver and for the cause of silmoney at par, and coin every pound of our bullion. It will take ver by rising from a sick bed, when he was unfit to be up* and the mints several years to do that. In the meantime there going to attend the Paris Monetary Conference of 1881, where would be no'harm and a vast expansion of the currency in allow- he died in harness, fighting for the cause of silver. ing national banks to issue bills up to the par value of their bonds. When he had been many years in his grave a lot of unscruI also have great hopes of the pending so-called Johnson bill, pulous men in this country, ignorant of his works and heedless which authorizes any holder of Government bonds to deposit of his honor, invented and circulated a cunningly devised fable the same in the ^Treasury and receive Treasury notes in ex- to the effect that Ernest Seyd had come to this country in 1873 change, with right to return the same and recover the bonds at with $500,000 in English gold, and by bribing the American will. Such a law, coupled with a law for unlimited coinage of Congress had caused silver to be secretly demonetized. silver dollars on Government account, like the law that has In story they published what pretended to be worked so admirably for the last forty years inrelation to dimes, an exsupport of this Banker's Magazine of August, 1873, to the quarters, and halves, would give us not only a sound and stable effecttract from the that Ernest been successful in his mission to demoney system, but b>flexiblecurrency capable at almost instan- monetize silver ih Seyd had by bribing Congress with $500,000. Ameriea taneous and indefinite expansion or contraction, according to the This story, supported with such prima facie evidence, was used needs of commerce as registered in the pulsating arteries of with great effect throughout the West in the campaign of 1892. trade. The Populist leaders were perfectly safe in assuming that no it is unreasonable to expect to sustain all our paper and silver in North Dakota could reach up on top shelf of his on a gold reserve of only a hundred millions, when that reserve is farmer and take down the back numbers of the Banker's Magalibrary the subject to encroachments, as has actually taken place this sum- zine ol twenty years ago and for himself verify the truth or exmer. I am in favor of authorizing the Secretary of the Treas- pose the falsity of their brazen fabrication until after the votes ury to sell bonds at his discretion whenever necessary to redeem were counted and they had made off with the spoils of office seany of our outstanding obligations and to keep our gold, silver, and paper currency at par. Nothing that we can do will go cured as the fruits^of falsehood and fraud. The back the iarther to restore confidence. We are the richest nationin the accessible tonumbers of timeBankers' Magazine for 1873 were not me at in the West, so I cut out the preworld and can afford the best and safest currency. Let us serve tended extract as itthe appeared in the official organ of the Popunotice on all the world that we mean to have our full share of list party in North Dakota and sent it to Mr. Spofford, the Lithe gold. That would bring England to time, and open the way the examinafor international bimetallism and a free coinage that would be safe. brarian of Congress, and requested him to makekind was to be tion for me. His reply was that nothing of the It should be borne in mind, also, that our present unhappy lot found either in the Banker's Magazine of New York or of Lonis not due to a scarcity of money, but to a stoppage of its circula- don for August, 1873. tion ; not to any lack of confidence in the quality of the money I did the best I to stem the tide meet falsehood with itself, but to a fear of losing it, whether invested in business or truth, by reading couldSpafEord's letter and my audiences, but I Mr. to 241 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 4 am sure that the fake cost us hundreds of votes. How long can a political party stand built upon such sand? In order to show that the dropping of the silver dollar from the coinage act of 1873 was neither secret nor accidental, but deliberate, and in order to show how earnestly and eloquently Mr. Ernest Seyd pleaded for the retention of the silver dollar, I will give an extract from a letter written by him to Mr. Samuel Hooper, chairman of the Committee on Banking: and Currency, in charge of the bill. The bill was before Congress for three years and printed for the information of Congress and the country thirteen times. Copies of the bill were sent to hundreds of the leading financiers and economic writers of this country and Europe, asking them to examine it and send in their criticisms and suggestions, among them Ernest Seya. Mr. Seyd in reply wrote a long letter, covering nine columns offineprint in the C O N G R E S S I O N A L RECORD, making many important suggestions. The writer of the letter discusses, as a master of the subject, various practical questions, among them the question of the proper size of gold pieces, their value and denomination, questions relating to mintage, the question of mint charge, the question whether the coin should be milled or shpuld be surrounded by a rim cast separately, all of which are very instructive. But Mr. Seyd then goes on to say that the fifteenth section of the bill is the part which after all is of the greatest importance. He says it is a matter of giganticlmportance; that it is the great question of the century. He avows himself earnestly in favor of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 14 to 1—a little less than the rate then existing in the United States. He implores Mr. Hooper to reconsider the subject, and says the great fault of Mr. Hooper's bill is that it abolishes the coinage of the silver dollar with the full legal-tender quality; and he says that America, being a producer of both metals, is the nation upon whom the world must depend to resist the enormous danger which menaces mankind by the threat of adopting a single gold standard. He says that, although many of the English writers are monometallists, several English and continental writers whom he names have recently, he thinks, come around to his own views. No advocate of the doctrine of bimetallism, if that doctrine means the coinage of both metals on an equality freely at the old rate, could express more earnestly, more powerfully, more persuasively the importance of that doctrine. I will here insert so much of the letter as relates to the dropping of the silver dollar out of our coinage: L A PRINCESS STREET BANK, London, February 17,1872. DEAR SIR: YOU were kind enough to forward to Mr. Alfred Latham a copy of your coinage bill for the United States, to be sent to me. and you expressed a wish to receive criticisms on its provisions. * * * * * * r SEC. 15. I now come to the most important part of the hill—that of the valuation—which, according to section 15, omits the coinage of the silver dollar, and confirms the debased silver coinage of half dollars and below, tinder the tender limit of £5. I am aware, of course, that through the amendment of 1853 the same debased coinage was already established; but, although the actual coinage of the silver dollar had practically ceased, still that piece was not abolished by law. As this new bill presumably repeals all previous enactments, X suppose that the total abolition of the silver dollar is contemplated. In my book (Suggestions) I enter fully into the discussion of this matter and show the gigantic consequences to international as well as national trade through the demonetization of silver, to which the United States would thus lend a helping hand, and for a number of years this subject of the abolition of silver as tender coin has occupied the attention of European economists. It is the question of the age and takes precedence of every other matter involved in monetary science. Unfortunately the subject requires not only a thoroughly practical knowledge of exchange matters, the principles of valuation, for which very few people have inclination, and so it happens that even the framers of ihint bills do not grasp its importance, as I have found before. You yourself; 111 your letter to Mr. Latham, referring to my book, made the remark, "As to the theory of the double valuation, I do not understand it." I infer from this that you have remained a stranger to the controversy; that you hare not as yet formed an opinion as to the merits of it, and that you have framed your bill in favor of the absolute gold valuation according to that which has been of late the practice in the United States, if not the law. Permit me to beg that you will first investigate the question of double vs single valuation. Chapter3of my book, "Suggestions, etc. "opens the Question; appendix, notes 8 (page 201), the consequences of the gold valuation and 9 (page 212), the injustice of the gold valuation, Treat the matterin their international and national aspects, and they may furnish you sufficient -materials for reflection. Other writers, such as Mr. Wolowski,ln France, and several other French, Itatch^ and German authorities, defend the double valuation on the same The great portion of English economists defend the gold valuation, but several of them have lately come over to my views; ana one -of them, the most important and a staunch defender of English institutions, to whom I shall presently allude, has agreed with me as to the advisability of modifying the English gold valuation, which is even less strict than that adopted by yoar bill for America. These pages do not afford room for the whole discussion of the subject, therefore I beg you will read the parts of the books quoted, so as to form an opinion of it. Apart from the theory, why should America have given up her silver dollar? The cause of its disappearance from circulation is due to the original error of there being too much silver in the piece (see page 52 of Suggestions); that cause would have been removed if the dollar weighed 400 grains, that 241 being the true proportion of 1 to 15* gold to silver, instead of 412} grains, as by the old law. Why should it nofc be reintroduced at its true full weight of 400 grains and become again one of the active agents of commerce? The charge of weight as against the individual piece does not hold good when two half-dollars are of nearly equal weight and same value. Railways and steam transport large masses with great facility when compared with previous times. Do you fear its undue exportation? If so exported, America will get its equivalent for it, and the rich silver mines of the country can give any fresh supply of it; therefore, the more it is exported the better it is for America. I think that the United States, with both her gold and silver milieu, is in the eminently favorable position of upholding the full use of both gold and silver, and that the double valuation (as it existed before) would be of great benefit to the country; but you may, nevertheless, giving way to the onesided arguments of English economists, incline to the gold valuation and express the fear "that if America adopts the silver dollar and lays itself open to the coining of these pieces for the public to whatever quantitv of silver may be sent in for coinage from abroad, and if full legal-tender value is given to such pieces, it may be placed in danger of losing gold and obtaining too much silver currency." That is the only fear to be apprehended, and certainly as long as England and other countries are in conflict as to the systems of valuation this may be the case. France, however, by her system of double valuation, accumulated more gold bullion than any nation has ever had; having within the last twenty years coined two and a half times as much as England, and if the universal valuation wab'the double one, i . b o t h metals in equal use, these fluctuations would altogether cease. Against this danger of too much silver America can guard itself without the total abolition of the full valued silver dollar. It is but necessary so to modify the severity of the gold valuation as to admit of a reasonable use of silver dollars. Supposing that a certain amount of silver dollars of full value (400 grains) were issued, coined for the owner at a charge of, say, 1 per cent mintage, and that the limit of tender for such pieces were fixed at, say, fifty to one hundred dollars, would this in any way interefere with the supremacy of the gold valuation? I contend that the gold valuation would remain supreme with either of these restrictions, viz, either a certain limited issue and giving full tender weights to the coin, or with unrestricted issue limiting the tender value. Both restrictions combined will undoubtedly prevent any excess, and if under them certain amounts were so issued and used the issue of more might be made dependent thereon; so that while for the present the gold valuations were maintained in full force the door would not be shut abruptly and forever on silver, and pending the future international settlement of a universal system of valuation the pure double valuation might be found not only practicable, but necessary. I urge this upon you not only on cosmopolitan grounds, but also in the interests of American silver mines; for if America, so important a part of the world, rushes blindly and irrevocably into the gold valuation, and thus contributes to the general terrible error, the value of silver must fall greatly (see appendix, note 8, the consequence of the gold valuation) , and all the arrangements made even with the debased silver coinage fall to pieces. America, then, should hesitate to enter upon this course without a full previous investigation of the immensely important considerations appertaining thereto. The proper issue of silver dollars might be provided for in the bill by the introduction between sections 14 and 15 of some such— SECTION—. "That of the silver coin the weight of the one-dollar piece shall be 400 grains, which coin shall be legal tender at its denominational value to any amount not exceeding one hundred (or fifty) dollars," and this would have to be followed between sections 21 and 22 by— SECTION—. "That the charge for converting standard silver into silver dollars whenever the mint is ready, according to section —, to coin such silver dollars shall be 1 per cent." The object of these clauses will be apparent to you. The Secretary of the Treasury may commence, for instance, by authorizing the coining of one million of silver dollars. The holders of the silver bullion would gladly pay the 1 per cent charge rather than send the bars to Europe. What risk would the holders of these dollars run? Even supposing that the public positively refused to take these coins, the holders could sell them as silver to Europe; but I believe that they would be welcomed, even without the law of tender. And if you succeed by the force of legal tender in compelling people to take in payment coins debased by 4 to 5 per cent to the ampunt of So, why should not you succeed in placing coins of full and honest value into healthy ^ ^ t f t h e first million succeeded, the Secretary then might authorize more, encouraging it even, while at any time, by ceasing his advertisement, he could foreclose the mint against an excessive importation of silver from a l ? o u w i l l also perceive that the relntroduction of the silver dollar, is a necessity, seeing that the one-dollar gold piece is an unsuitable coin, and that it can take place without disturbing clauses 14 and 15, the latter providing for the issue of debased half dollars, quarters, and dimes, as they are now. Indeed, I must wish also that the half dollar should be of full value, so that the issue of those pieces should not be guided by the more or less faulty human iudgment of the Secretary of the Treasury, but by the pure action between supply and demand. I put the u supply " first as the active "demand*creatlngElement iii all miOters of commercial intercourse. But as the debased half dollar is already in use it may be nest not to dlssupb it now, whilst the whole silver dollar can be introduced again without any disturbance in the other coinage. * * # I am, dear si^, yours, very obediently, ERNEST SEYD. T o SAMUEL HOOPER, E s q . , M . C. •p o —I have sent to you in parcels by book post, addressed "Samuel Hooner Eso M C . B u l l i o n and Foreign Exchanges, Suggestionsion Ameri c a C o i ^ Demonetization of Silver, several pamphlets, reference to which is made in this letter. This letter not only proves that there was nothing secret about omitting the silver dollar from the act of 1873, but how vigorously Mr Seyd argued with the committee about it. From the action of Congress in 1834 in purposely undervaluing silver and in'1353 overvaluing our subsidiary coins, we are driven to the'conclusion that our fathers purposely adopted the gold standard in 1834. That we were upon that standard from that time until the suspension of specie payments during the war there can be no controversy. The silver dollar, about which we have heard so much, was practically no part of our circulation up to 1873. From the time we first opened the Mint to 1873 there was 5 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. Here we have the remarkable and unprecedented situation of coined but 8,031,000 silver dollars, while there was coined $137,1,000,000 of people, with a total annual production worth at mar000,000 of minor coins and $852,214,507 in gold. When the question of a change of ratio was under considera- ket price $42,000,000, demanding free-coinage privileges which will enable them at the present prices to get for their product tion in the Senate Mr. Benton said: He aid not think it necessary to descant and expatiate upon the merits and 40 per cent more than its present market value, while 64,000,000 advantages of a gold currency. These advantages had been too well known of their countrymen must drink the dregs of misfortune and bear from the earliest ages of the world to be a subject of discussion in the nineteenth century; but, as it was the policy of the paper system to disparage the burdens of hard times in order that 1,000,000 may be prosthat metal, and as that system in its forty years' reign over the American perous and grow rich. people had nearly destroyed a knowledge of that currency, he would briefly enumerate its leading and prominent advantages. , 1. It had an intrinsic value, which gave it currency all over the world, to the full amount of that value, without regard to laws or circumstances. 2. It had a uniformity of value, which made it the safest standard of value of property which the wisdom of man had ever yet discovered. 3. Its portability, which made it easy for the traveler to carry it about with him. 4. Its indestructibility, which made it the safest money the people could keep in the houses. 5. Its inherent purity, which made it the hardest money to be counter, felted and the easiest to be detected, and, therefore, the safest money for the people to handle. 6. its superiority over all other money, which gave to its possessor the choice and command of all other money. 7. Its power over exchanges; gold being the currency which contributes most to the equalization of exchange, and keeping down the rate of exchange to the lowest and most uniform point. 8. Its power over the paper money; gold being the natural enemy of that system, and, with fair play, able to hold it in check. 9. It is a constitutional currency, and the people have a right to demand it for their currency as long as the present Constitution is permitted to exist. "Tot only was gold recognized as the standard from 1834 to 1860, but it was so recognized after the war and even after the act of 1873, about which so much has been said. On the 11th of February, 1874, Senator S T E W A R T of Nevada said: I want the standard gold, and no paper money not redeemable in gold; no er money the value of which is not ascertained; no paper money tl^at organize a gold board to speculate in it. a the 20th of the same month, on a resolution to instruct the On Committee on Finance to report a bill providing for the convertibility of the Treasury notes into gold coin or bonds, he said: By this process we shall come to a specie basis, and when the laboringman receives a dollar it will have the purchasing power of a dollar, and he will not be called upon to do what is Impossible for him or the producing classes to do, figure upon the exchanges, figure upon the fluctuations, figure upon the gambling in New York, but he will know what his money is worth. Gold is the universal standard of the world. Everybody knows what a dollar in gold is worth. On the 1st of April of the same year, Senator JONES, of the same State, said: * Does this Congress mean now to leave entirely out of view and discard forever a standard of value? Did any country ever accumulate wealth, achieve greatness, or attain a high civilization without such a standard? And what but gold can be that standard? What other thing on earth possesses the requisite qualities? Gold is the articulation of commerce. It is the most potent agent of civilization. It is gold that has lifted the nations from barbarism. So exact a measure is it of human effort that when It is exclusively used as a money it teaches the very habit of honesty. It neither deals in nor tolerates false pretenses. It can not lie. It keeps its promises to the rich and poor alike. These two Senators are still in the Senate from the State of Nevada. They both voted for the act of 1873. Then they wanted gold monometallism. Now they want silver monometallism. Then gold was the cheaper metal at 16 to 1. Now silver is the 1 cheaper metal. . Then they wanted Congress to favor their gold mines. Now they want us to make laws for the benefit of their silver mines. Then they urged upon Congress the adoption of a gold standard. Now they are tireless in talking about the crime of 1873, when silver was secretly demonetized. This S T E W A R T of Nevada who voted for the act of 1873, and who so eloquently praised the gold standard in the United States Senate on the 11th of February, 1874, is the same Senator S T E W ART who told the constitutional convention at*Bismarck. N. Dak., on the 5th of August, 1889, that " In 1873 a bill waB Bmusrgled through Congress demonetizing silver in this country~ (Debates, page 403.) Our country produced last year 58,000,000 ounces of silver, worth at present about $42,000,000. One million ounces of this was produced in small lots by several States. All the rest was produced in seven States and Territories, as follows: Statement showing the amounts of gold and silver coins and certificates, United States notes, and national-bank notes in circulation July i, 1893. General stock, coined or issued. 8513,743,623 $110,109.923 $403,633,700 $408,767,740 419,332,450 362,302,707 57.029,743 56,799,484 77,256,212 11,855,944 65,400,268 62,3H6,518 94,041,189 1,071,170 92,970,019 141,235,339 330,957,504 4,468,339 326,489,165 326,880,803 Gold coin Standard silver dollars Subsidiary silver Gold certificates Silver certificates Treasury notes, act July 14, United States notes Currency certificates, June 8,1872 National-bank notes Total Amount in In Treas- circulation Amount in circulation ury. July 1, 1893. July 1,1892. 147,190,227 6,528,533 140,661,694 98,051,657 346,681,016 25,805,333 320,875,683 311,814,840 act 12,365,000 178,713,872 430,000 11,935,000 29,830,000 3,982,733 174,731,139 167,306,957 2,120,281,093 626,554,682 1,593,726,411 1,€03,T)73(338 Cost of recoining the standard silver dollars to change the ratio from l to 16 to 1 to 20. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D, C., August 19,1893. SIR: Referring to our conversation relative to the probable cost incident to the change from the present coining ratio between gold and silver (1 to 16 for the standard silver dollars, and 1 to 14,95 for subsidiary silver) to a ratio of 1 to 20, you are respectfully informed that the number of silver dollars coined since 1878 aggregate 419,332,450. Without any allowance for abrasion and loss Incident to melting the same, the coinage value of these dollars at a ratio of 1 to S would be 833,222,162, or O 184,110,228 less than their present face value. To recoin these dollars at a ratio of 1 to 20 would require the addition of 81,376,700 ounces of new bullion, which, at the average price paid for silver under the act of July 14,1890 ($0.93i), would cost 175,883,700. In addition to this I estimate that there would be a loss from abrasion and in the melting of these dollars of at least $3,000,000, which amount, together with the difference in the face value of the coins ($84,110,28^), would have to be reimbursed to the Treasury by an appropriation for that purpose. From the fact that the silver dollars are distributed throughout the country it would be necessary, as they are redeemed at the several subtreasuries, to transport them to the mints, and the expense of transportation for $300,000,000, the amount outside of the stock on hand atthesubtreasuries and mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans, would average at least U per cent, or $4,600,000. I therefore estimate the cost of recoining the silver dollars already coined as follows: New bullion to be added Loss by abrasion and melting Cost of the coinage (labor, materials, etc.) Copper for alloy Transportation of dollars to mints 175,883,700 3,000,000 6,290,000 68,200 4,500,000 Total 89,741,900 The stock of subsidiary silver coin in the country is estimated at 577,000.000, which at full weight would contain 55,699,875 ounces of fine silver. This amount at a ratio of 1 to 20 would coin $55,843,802, or $21,156,197 less than the present face value. To recoin $77,000,000 of subsidiary sttver into an equal amount of fractional coin at a ratio of 1 to 20 would require the addition of 18,797,625 fine ounces, which, at 93± cents per fine ounce, the average price paid for silver .under the act of July 14, 1890, would cost 817,528,785. The*wTO>Mia Toe a lass aboutSf per cent by abrasion from the face value, or about $1,925,000. I would, therefore, estimate the cost of recoining the subsidiary silver in the country, at a ratio of 1 to 20, as follows: New bullion Loss by abrasion... Cost of coinage (labor, material, etc.) Copper for alloy Table showing the States and Territories, with their population, which produced Cost of transportation the silver for the year 1892. Total Ounces of PopulaStates and Territories. silver. tion. 617,528,785 1.925.000 2,500, ooo 15,636 1,155,000 23.124,421 RECAPITULATION. Arizona Colorado .. Montana Nevada . New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Utah Totals 241 - !.._.„..._ ... ..... - 1,062,220 24,347,017 3,164,269 17,405,093 2,244,000 1,075,000 7,762,257 59,620 412,198 84,385 132,159 45,761 153,593 207,905 57,059,856 1,095,621 Estimated cost of recoining silver dollars Estimated cost of recoining subsidiary silver... Total —Very respectfully, - 112,866,321 J. G. C A R L I S L E , Hon. DANIEL W . VOORHEES, United States Senate. $89,741,000 23,124,421 Secretary. CO^GBESSIOSTAIi BECORD. 6 Monetary systems and approximate stocks of money in the aggregate and per capita in the principal countries of the world. Countries. liatio between gold and limited Population. tender silver. Ratio between gold and full legal-tender silver. Monetary system United States.. Gold and silver. United Kingdom .. Gold... Franco Gold and silver. Gold Belgium Gold and silver. Itafv Switzerland ....do Greece Spain ....do Gold Portugal Austria-Hungary.. ....do Gold and silver. Netherlands Scandinavian Union Gold Russia . . Silver Gold and silver. Turkey Gold Australia 1 to 15.98 l t o 14.95 l t o 14.28 1 to 14.38 1 to 15£ l t o 13.957 1 to 14.38 1 to 15J 1 to 14.38 1 to 15 J l t o 14.38 1 to 15J 1 to 14.38 1 to 15J l t o 14.38 ltol5J l t o 14.08 1 to 13.69 l t o 15 'ltd l t o 14.88 l t o 15 1 to 15$ l t o 15.1 l t o 14.28 1 to 15.68 Mexico Silver 1 to 16J Central America... — d o 1 to 15£ ....do South America 1 to 15J Gold and silver. 1 to 16.18 India Silver..... 1 to 15 China The Straits Canada Gold l t o 14.95 Cuba, Haiti, etc do 1 to 15J Stock of gold. Stock, of silver. Full tender. limited tender. 67,000,000 $604,000,000 $538,000,000 $77,000,000 38,000,000 550,000,000 100,000,000 39,000,000 800,000,000 *65O,"6OO"666' 50,000,000 49,500,000 600,000,000 103,000,000 108,000,000 6,100, O D 65,000,000 48,400,000 6,000,000 O 31,000,000 93,605,000 16,000, 000 34,200,000 3,000,000 15,000,000 11,400,000 3,600,000 2,200,000 2,000,000 1,800,000 2,200,000 18,000,000 40,000,000 120,000, 000 38,000,000 5,000,000 40,000,000 10,000,000 40,000,000 40,000,000 "90*666*666* 4,500,000 25,000,000 61,800,000 "3,266*666" 8,600,000 32,000,000 10,000,000 113,000,000 250,000,000 "22*666*666" 38,000,000 33,000,000 50,000,000 45,000,000 4,000,000 100,000,000 7,000,000 7,000,000 100,000,000 15,000,000 11,600,000 5,000,000 50,000,000 3,000,000 500,000 35,000,000 "45" ooo,"666* 25,000,000 40.000,000 90,000,000 50,000,000 255, O O 000 C, 900,000,000 400,000,000 700,000,000 100, ooo, 000 4,500,000 16,000,000 5,000,000 2,000,000 20,000,000 1,200,000 800,000 Total. Total. $615,000,000 100,000,000 700,000,000 211,000, 000 55,000, 000 50,200,000 15, 000,000 4,000, 000 158,000,000 10,000,000 90,000,000 65,000,000 10,000,000 60,000,000 45,000,000 7,000,000 15,000,000 50,000,000 500,000 25,000,000 50,000,000 900,000,000 700,000, 000 100,000,000 5,000,000 2,000,000 Uncovered paper. Per capita. SilGold. ver. $412,000,000 $9.01 50,000,000 14.47 81,402,000 20.52 107, 000,000 12.12 54,000,000 10.06 163,471,000 3. 01 14,000,000 5.00 14,000,000 .91 100, ooo, 000 2.22 45,000,000 8.00 200,000,000 1.00 40,000,000 5.55 27,000,000 3.72 500,000,000 2.21 1.52 14.29 2,000,000 .43 2,000,000 600,000,000 T26" 56,000,000 2.25 28,000,000 $9.18 2.63 17.05 4.20 9.02 1.62 5.00 1.82 8.78 2.00 2.25 14.42 1.10 .53 1.30 1.75 2.14 4.31 .17 .71 1.25 3.53 1.75 Paper. Total. $6.15 1.32 2.09 2.16 8.85 5,27 4.67 6.36 5.56 9.00 6.50 8.89 3.14 4.42 .17 .67 17.14 1.40 .11 $24.34 18.42 40.56 18.54 25.53 9.91 14.67 9.09 16.56 19.00 9.75 28.88 8.02 7.1C 2.88 26.75 10.43 4.91 .84 19.14 4.90 3.64 1.75 40,000,000 3.56 1.11 8.89 13.56 40,000,000 10.00 LOO 20.00 31.00 3,582,605,000 3,469,100,000 553, C O 000 4,042,700,000 2,635,873,000 O, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Bureau of the Mint,, August 16,1893. Statement of the production of gold and silver in the world since the discovery of America. [From 1493 to 1885 Is from table of averages for certain periods compiled by Dr. Adolpk Soetbeer. For the years 1886-1892 the production is the annua estimate of the Bureau of the Mint.] Gold. Annual average of period. Fine ounces. 1493-1520 1521-1544 1545-1560 1561-1580 1581-1600. 1601-1620 1621-1640 1641-1660 , 1661-1680 1 1681-1700 1701-1720 3721-1740 1741-1760. .. 1761-1780 1781-1800 1801-1810.. 1811-1820 1821-1830 1831-1840 1841-1850 1851-1855 1856-1860... 1861-1865 1866-1870 1871-1875.... 1876-1880 1881-1885 1886 1887 1888*-, 1890 1891.... 1892..... „ 186,470 230,194 273,596 219,906 237,267 273,918 266,845 281,955 297,709 346,095 412,163 613,422 791,211 665,666 571,948 571,563 367,957 457,014 652,291 1,760,502 6,410,324 6,486,262 5,949,582 6,270,080 5,591,014 5,543,110 4,794,755 5,127,750 5,093,984 5,316,412 5,746,950 5,473,631 5,830,107 6,328,272 Value. Total for the period. Fine ounces. $3,855,000 4,759,000 5,656,000 4,546,000 4,905,000 5,662,000 5,516,000 5,828,000 6,154,000 7,154,000 8,520,000 12,681,000 16,356,000 13,761,000 11,823,000 11,815,000 7,606,000 9,448,000 13,484,000 36,393,000 132,573,000 134,083,000 122,989,000 129,614,000 115,577,000 114,586,000 99,116,000 106,000,000 105,302,000 109,900,000 118,800,000 115,150,000 120,519,000 130,817,000 Total Silver. Annual average of period. Fine ounces. Value. 5,221,160 1107,931,000 5,524,656 114,205,000 4,377,544 90,492,000 4,398,120 90,917,000 4,745,340 98,095,000 5,478,360 113,248,000 5,336,900 110,324,000 5,639,110 116,571,000 5,954,180 123,084,000 6,921,895 143,088,000 8,243,260 170,403,000 12,268,440 253,611,000 15,824,230 327,116,000 13,313,315 275,211,000 11,438,970 236,464,000 5,715,627 118,152.000 3,679,568 76,093,000 4,570,444 94,479,000 6,522,913 134, &il 000 17,605,018 363,928,000 32,051,621 662,566,000 32,431,312 670,415,000 29,747,913 014,944,000 31,350,430 648,071,000 27,955,068 577,083,000 27,715,550 572,931,000 23,973,773 495,582,009 5,127,750 106,000,000 5,093,984 105,303,000 5,316,412 109,900,000 .6,745,950 * 118*666,000 5,473,613 113,150,000 5,830,107 120,519,090 6,328,272 130.817,000 1,511,050 2,899,930 10,017,940 9,628,925 13,467,635 13,596,235 12,654,240 11,776,545 10,834,550 10,992,085 11,432,540 13,863,080 17,140,612 20,985,591 28,261,779 28,746,922 17,385,755 14,807,004 19,175,867 25,090,342 28,488,597 29,095,428 35,401,972 43,051,583 63,317,014 78,775,602 92,003,944 93,276,000 96,189,000 109,911,000 105,830,000 133,213,000 144,426,000 153,062,000 Coining value. SI, 954,000 3,749,000 12,952.000 12,450; 000 17,413,000 17,579,000 16,361,000 15,226,000 14,008,000 14,212,000 14,781,000 17,924, C O O 22,162,000 27,133,000 36,540,000 37,168,000 22,479,000 19,144,000 24,793,000 32,440,000 36,824,000 37,618,000 45,772,000 55,663,000 81,864,000 101,851,000 118,955,000 120,600,000 124,366,000 142,107,000 162,690,000 172,235^000 186,733,000 196,605,000 Percentage of production. Total for the period. Fine ounces. 42,309,400 69,598,320 : 160,287,040 192,578,500 269,352,700 271,924,700 253,081,800 235,530,900 216,691,000 219,841,700 228,650,800 277,261,600 342,812,235 419,711,820 565,235,580 287,469,225 173,857,555 148,070,040 191,758,675 250,903,422 142,442,986 145,477,142 177,009,862 215,257,914 316,585,069 393,878,009 460,019,722 92,276,000 96,183,000 109,911,000 125,830,000 133,213,000 144,426,000 152,062,000 Coining value. By weight. By value. Gold. Silver. Gold. Silver. 11.0 7.4 2.7 2.2 1.7 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.7 3.1 3.5 4.2 4.4 3.1 2.0 1.9 2.1 3.0 3.3 6.6 18.4 18.2 14.4 12.7 8.1 6.6 5.0 5.2 5.0 4.6 4.4 4,0 3.9 4.0 89.0 92.6 97.3 97.8 98.3 98.0 97.9 97.7 97.3 96.9 96.5 95.8 95.6 96.9 98.0 98.1 97.0 97.0 96.7 93.4 81.6 81.8 85.6 87.3 91.9 93.4 95.0 94.8 95.0 95.4 95.6 96.0 96; I 96.0 66.4 55.9 30.4 26.7 22.0 24.4 25.2 27.7 30.5 33.5 36.6 41.4 42.5 33.7 24.4 24.1 25.3 33.0 35.2 52.9 78.3 78.1 72.9 70.0 58.6 53.0 45.5 46.8 45.9 43.6 42.2 50.7 39.2 40.0 33.6 44.1 69.6 73.3 78.0 75.6 74.8 72.3 69.5 66.5 63.4 58.6 57.5 66.3 75.6 75.9 74.7 67.0 U.B 47.1 21.7 21.9 27.1 30.0 41.4 47.0 54.5 53.2 54.1 56.4 57.8 60.3 60.8 60.0 7,522,507,716 9,726,072,000 397,191,823 8,204,303,000 554,703,000 89,986,000 207,240,000 218,990,000 3i8,254,000 351,579,000 327,221,000 304,525,000 280,166,000 284,240,000 295,629,000 358,480,000 443,232,000 542,658,000 730,810,000 371,677,000 224,786,000 191,444,000 247,930,000 324,400,000 184,169,000 188,092,000 228,861,000 278,313,000 409,322,000 509,256,000 594,773,000 120,600,000 124,366,000 142,107,000 162,690,000 17^239^000 186,733,000 196,605,000 5.0 95.0 45.8 54.2 Silver coinage of the mints of the United States from 18U to 1392. [From the report of the Director of the Mintf or 18320 * Trade dollars. Year. 1844 1845 184 6 1847 184 8 184 9 1850 1851 " 1 1853 II „„i/iiriiii 241 I " " ~ Dollars. $20,000 24,500 169,600 140,750 15,000 6?, 600 47,500 1,300 1,100 40,110 Half dollars. $1,885,500.00 1,341,500.00 2,257,000.00 1,870,000.00 1,880,000.00 1,781,000.00 1,341,500.00 301,375.00 110,565.00 2,430,354.00 Quarter dollars. Twenty cents. $290,300.00 230,500.00 127,500.00 275, S O 00 C. 38,500.00 IIIIIIIIIII 85,000.00 150,700.00 62,000.00 63,285.00 4,146,555.00 Dimes. 87, m o o 198,500.00 3,130.00 24,500.00 45,150.00 113,900.00 214, m o o 142,650.00 196.550.00 1,527,301.00 Half dimes. $32,500.00 78,200.00 1,35a 00 63,700.00 63,400.00 72,45a 00 82,250.00 82,050-00 63,025.00 785,251.00 Three cents. $185,022.00 559,905.00 342,000.00 7 OOlTOBHSSIONAIi RECORD. Silver coinage of the mints of the United States from 1844 to Year. Trade dollars. 33,140 1854.. I855_ 1856., 1857.. 1858.. 1859.. 18(30.. 26,000 63,500 94,000 ""636,500" 733,030 78,500 12,090 27,660 31,170 47,000 49,625 60,325 182,700 424,300 445, m 1,117,136 1861.. 1802., 1863.. 1861.. 1865.. 1866.. 1867., 1868.. 1869.. 1870.. 1871.. 1872.. 1873.. 1874.. 1875.. 1876., 1877.. 1878., 1879., 18S0.. 1881.. 1882.. 1SS3.. 1884., 1885,. Dollars. "-firssrooo 4,910,000 6,279.600 6,192,150 13,092,710 4,259,900 1,541 1,987 960 1,097 979 1886.. 1887.. 1888,, 1889.. 1890.. 1891.. 1892.. 35,965,924 1,118,600 296,600 22,495,550 27,560,100 27,397,355 27,927,975 27,574,100 28,470,039 28,136,875 28,697,767 31,423,886 33,611,710 31,990,833 34,651,811 38,043,004 23,562,735 6,333,245 425,908,223 Half dollars. 4,111,000.00 2.228,725.00 1,903,500.00 1,482,000.00 5,998,000.00 2,074,000.00 1,032.850.00 2,078,950.00 802,175,00 709,830.00 518,78c. 00 593,450.00 899,812.50 810,162.50 769,100.00 725,950.00 S29,758.50 1,741,655.00 866,775.00 1,593,780.00 1,406,650.00 5,117,750.00 7,451,575.00 7,540,255.00 726,200.00 2,950.00 4,877.50 5,487.50 2,750.00 4,519.50 2,637.50 3,065.00 2,943.00 2,855.00 6,416.50 6,355.50 6,295.00 100,300.00 *1,652,136.50 124,587,271.50 Quarter dollars. 3,466,000.00 857,350.00 -2,129,500.00 2,726,500.00 2,002,250.00 421,000.00 312,350.00 1,237,650.00 249,887.50 48,015.00 28,517.50 25,075.00 11,381.25 17,156.25 31,500.00 23,150.00 23,935.00 53,255.50 68,762.50 .414,199.50 215,975.00 1,278,375.00 7,839,287.50 6,024,927.50 849,200. C O 3,675.00 3,738.75 3,243.75 4,075.00 3,859.75 2,218.75 3,632.50 1,471.50 2,677.50 306,708.25 3,177.75 20,147.50 1,551,150.00 2,960,331.00 43,365,893.50 •Continued. Twenty- Dimes. 624,000.00 207,500.00 703,000.00 712,000.00 $265,598 5,180 102 10 2 189,000.00 97,000.00 78,700.00 209,650.00 102,830.00 17,196.00 26,907.00 18,550.00 14,372.50 14,662.50 72,625.00 70,660.00 52,150.00 109,731.00 261,045.00 443,329.10 319,151.70 2,406,570.00 3,015,115.00 1,735,051.00 187,880.00 1,510.00 Half dimes. Tliree cents, 365,000.00 117,500.00 299,000.00 433,000.00 258.000.00 45,000.00 92,950.00 164,050.00 74,627.50 5,923.00 4,523.50 6,675.00 0,536.25 6,431.25 18,295.00 21,930.00 26,830.00 82,493.00 189,247.50 51,830.00 20,130.00 4,170.00 43,740.00 31,260.00 48,120.00 10,950.00 4,880,219.40 1,282,087.20 8,610.00 14,940.00 10,906.50 643.80 14.10 255.00 681.75 138.75 123.00 153.00 120.00 127.80 58.50 18.00 1497." 50 391,110.00 767,571.20 393,134.90 257,711.70 658,409.40 1,573,838.90 721,648.70 835,338.90 1,133,461.70 2,304,671.60 1,695,365.50 271,000 27,645,852.40 *'Includes $475,000 in Columbian coins. SILVER IN INDIA. [Extract from speech of Senator Dolph.] India, one of tlie countries until recently having free coinage of silver or coining silver on private account, has hitherto been a great consumer, of silver bullion for ornaments and coinage, and has been pointed to by the advocates of free coinage as an example of prosperity with free coinage of silver. The amount coined has been large, but not uniform, some years being a hundred per cent more than others. The following table shows the amount, expressed in dollars, of silver annually minted during the period of sixteen years, and shows the consumption of silver in India f o r coin: 187 5 $23,830,686 1885 848,487,114 1876 12,410,636 188 6 27,121,414 1877 30,518,415 1887 44,142,013 1878 78,741,556 188 8 36,297,132 187 9 28,122,004 188 9 37,927,814 188 0 40,003,173 1890 57,931,323 188 1 20,682,625 189 1 32,670,498 1882.. 29,386,322 1883 24,927,400 Total 17 years 590,. _ , 1884 17,353,531 Annual average 34,150,744 The amount coined in 1890 is estimated at 530,000,000. The silver rupee of India contains 186 grains of pure silver; the half, quarter, and eighth rupees are of corresponding weights. The coinage of both metals until the recent 241 action of the India government was practically free, provided the amount presented was equal to 50 tolos of gold or a thousand tolos in silver. There was a duty of 1 per cent upon all gold and silver brought to the mints. Gold was not comed in any considerable amount, and the business of the country was conducted upon a silver standard. The stoppage of the coinage of silver on private account in India is not an abandonment of the silver standard. Silver is still the standard;and will continue to be whether the government coins silver on its own account or not. It is said this action of the government of India is intended to have the effect to prevent the further decline of the value of the rupee, but upon what this expectation is based is not stated. The value of the rupee will be fixed hereafter, as heretofore, by its value as silver bullion in the London market. It will still be measured in all London and in all foreign transactions by gold, and the discontinuance of free coinage by throwing the silver bullion heretofore coined in India on private account on the world's markets has depreciated, and will continue to depreciate, the intrinsic value of the rupee. The claim sometimes made that silver has not fallen in value in India, and that the silver rupee in the interior of India will purchase as much wheat or as much of the other products of labor is absurd; it is incredible. The price of wheat in London is fixed in gold by the world's supply and demand. It is impossible that there could be to the exporter of wheat from India a profit equal to the fall in the price of silver since 1873. Such a state of things could not exist ten days in any country under the sun. Competition among English wheat-buyers would speedily raise the price of wheat in India to an approximation of its gold price in London.
