CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



143 



tion of the public faith or ' in derogation of 

 the rights of the public creditor.' 



" Sir, the very propounding of such a ques- 

 tion is astonishing, and exhibits at least a doubt 

 in the minds of its proponents of the propriety 

 and justice of the measure referred to. This 

 resolution belongs to a declaratory class of acts. 

 Declaratory legislation is never to be favored, 

 and is to be regarded as rather vicious in its 

 character, in that it tends to trench upon the 

 prerogative of the judicial branch ; for, while 

 the legislative branch have the power to use 

 what words they please in framing an act, it is 

 not their duty to pass upon the meaning of 

 that which they have framed. That is the 

 duty and prerogative of a distinct and inde- 

 pendent branch of the Government, which 

 may not be invaded. But this resolution, be- 

 ing of a declaratory nature, is more remarkable 

 in this, that it proposes to expound an act 

 which is not yet in existence, and in that re- 

 spect is without precedent to my knowledge. 



" Mr. President, history will yet record the 

 almost incredible fact that, with a people 

 emerging from an exhausting and terrible 

 struggle, those who had charge of their finances 

 were guilty of the folly I will not call it by 

 a harsher name one of those blunders worse 

 than a crime, of the rapid, unnecessary prepay- 

 ment of a debt not yet due, at prices far above 

 that which its face called for. Men will stand, 

 I say, in wonder at the fact that upward of 

 $500,000,000 of gold coin was sold out of the 

 Treasury of the United States in these last nine 

 years, to pay for bonds not due, not demanded, 

 and which had been forced above their value 

 by a class of legislation intended to have that 

 and no other effect. And while those obliga- 

 tions not due were thus sought to be prepaid 

 at a rate high above their face value, the de- 

 mand notes of the Treasury, the currency of 

 the country, the money of the people, the 

 measure of value in their daily contracts, was 

 dishonored year after year, and no provision 

 whatever made for their just payment. Such, 

 sir, has been, in my judgment, the unwisdom 

 of legislation in the past nine years. It has 

 been this unwise financial course that has made 

 such a resolution as this possible. Here we 

 are asked whether a law proposed, overshadow- 

 ing us already, is or is not an act of national 

 dishonor. 



" Mr. President, any act that weakens the 

 credit of the nation adds just so much to the 

 burden of the laboring men, and takes away 

 just so much from the just rewards of labor. 

 On the score of cold economy, a weakening of 

 public credit is the most wasteful of conceiv- 

 able proceedings. A man's good name is his 

 chief possession, and our laws give remedies 

 and award recompense to every citizen who is 

 damnified by slander or by libel. But a nation 

 has no such remedy, and its sole defense must 

 be found in the jealous care of its citizens of 

 public honor and credit. 



" Now, let it be noted that by the terms of 



the act of 1870, known as the funding bill, the 

 bonds therein authorized, to the amount of 

 $1,500,000,000, were made expressly payable 

 'in coin,' principal and interest, not designat- 

 ing gold or silver coin, but including them both. 

 Why were not the metals nominated or one of 

 them designated ? Because by the regulation of 

 the Government and the laws relating to coin- 

 age, the two metals, the two units of value, the 

 silver and the gold dollar, were equivalents, or as 

 nearly so as human statutes could make them, 

 and were intended to be maintained at an equal 

 relative value so long as both of them should 

 be used. The intent of the law, well under- 

 stood by all parties to the contract, was to pay 

 the debt for which these bonds were issued in 

 gold coin or its equivalent in silver, or in silver 

 coin or its equivalent in gold. The Government 

 that borrowed this money and issued these 

 bonds had the power and the duty so to regu- 

 late the value of its silver unit of value and 

 gold unit of value as to make them equivalents. 

 No advantage was slyly contemplated, but all 

 was open and clear in the sunlight of honest 

 contract; and when the Government in 1873 

 dropped the silver dollar out of its list of au- 

 thorized coins, it preserved for its creditor the 

 equivalent in gold as it had agreed to do. This 

 was the bargain ; this was the intent. There 

 was no advantage contemplated either way. 

 The Government was dealing in equivalents. 

 It did not intend that any derangement of the 

 relative values of the two should inure to the 

 gain or the loss of either party to the bar- 

 gain. 



" The preamble before us recites the laws up 

 to 1875 relating to the issue of these bonds ; 

 but it is incomplete. It is not true historically. 

 More is needed to complete this history. The 

 preamble, with its many recitals, still fails to 

 recognize an act of Congress quite as formal, 

 just as constitutional, just as binding as any 

 which are therein mentioned ; and that is the 

 act of February, 1873 ; and therefore I submit 

 to the honorable Senator, the mover of this 

 resolution, that to make his recitals complete 

 the following or its substance should be in- 

 cluded : 



And whereas from and after the act of Congress ol 

 1834, and until February 12, 1873, the silver dollai 

 of 412i grains of standard value having been found 

 to have "a greater intrinsic value in public market 

 than the gold dollar of 25.8 grains, silver bullion 

 ceased to be brought to the mints for coinage and 

 silver dollars already coined could not be retained 

 in circulation ; and whereas ? the silver dollar of 412t 

 grains having become practically obsolete, the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States by act of Congress 

 passed on the 12th of February, 1873, and duly ap- 

 proved by the President, abolished from its coinage 

 the silver dollar of 412i grains as a unit of value, so 

 that for nearly five years the same has ceased to 

 exist. 



" Is not that true ? Is there any man within 

 the sound of my voice who questions the accu- 

 racy of that historical statement ? No, sir ; no 

 one will question it. It is simply and precise- 

 ly the truth, and is a part of the history which 



