146 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



silver dollar or unit. The act of 1853 reduced 

 the weight of the half dollar from 206 grains 

 'to 192 grains, and the smaller coins propor- 

 tionally. It took away from them their full 

 tender quality, and made them a lawful tender 

 for sums not exceeding $5. Up to 1853, there- 

 fore, the silver dollar was the only unit of 

 value ; both metals were in full use, and the 

 only laws upon the subject were those which 

 adjusted the relative value of the metals coined. 

 The causes leading up to the legislation in the 

 several years named are given in the official 

 reports of the times. In January, 1833, the 

 Director of the Mint says 'that from 1792 to 

 1821 gold and silver remained at par with each 

 other, and that the first notice of a premium 

 on gold measured in silver in this country ap- 

 peared late in 1821.' It then advanced to 5 

 per cent. Between 1821 and 1832 it ranged 

 from 2 to 7 per cent, premium, and during the 

 month in which he was writing it stood at 3 

 to 4 premium. The relative value of gold to 

 silver in the coins of that day was 1 to 15 by 

 law, and he states -the actual average relative 

 value covering a period of years at 15.65 to 1. 

 Following this, in December, 1833, the same 

 gentleman is most distinct and emphatic in his 

 views as to the purposes of the proposed legis- 

 lation and in regard to silver as the standard. 

 He unequivocally recognizes and insists upon 

 it. His language is : 



No purpose is presumed to be entertained of chang- 

 ing in any degree the standard measure of value re- 

 siding in our silver coins, the acknowledged basis 

 of contracts. To do this by a diminution of the fine 

 / silver in those coins which constitute the measure 

 of value, would obviously produce to that extent a 

 deterioration of the metallic currency. Both gold 

 and silver have during the existence of the Govern- 

 ment been a general legal tender, while silver alone 

 has been the standard of value familiar in our con- 

 ception of price. Any modification of the gold coin- 

 age will be safe which shall leave this standard of 

 value undisturbed, and none could be contemplated 

 without concern which would impair it. The design 

 entertained, therefore, in the change of ratio now 

 proposed, is that silver shall remain the basis of our 

 currency and the controlling standard of value ; that 

 gold shall be, as at present, a legal tender for all 

 amounts, but estimated in such a proportion to sil- 

 ver that the former will be exported by a slight pref- 

 erence when occasional circumstances shall induce 

 the export of a portion of the national coins. 



" Acting upon this principle, the weight of 

 the gold coins was reduced the eagle from 270 

 grains to 258 grains, and the others propor- 

 tionally, while the fineness was reduced from 

 91 6f to 899 J. This, clearly, was an adjustment 

 of gold to the silver basis, and not of silver to 

 gold. The act of 1837 was recommended by 

 the Director of the Mint. Its purpose was to 

 adjust the standard of fineness to round num- 

 bers. Gold was about 899J parts in 1,000, and 

 it required no appreciable change to fix it at 

 900; but^silver, standing at 892.428, required 

 a change in the number of grains if it was made 

 equal to 900 parts in 1,000. This was done, 

 and the silver dollar of 416 grains was made 

 one of 41 2| grains. This left the value of the 



silver dollar precisely as it stood before. The 

 addition to the fineness made up the 3 grains 

 of weight taken from it. 



" There was therefore no change whatever 

 in the unit of value, the silver dollar, but the 

 gold coins were by these acts of 1834 and 1837 

 reduced in weight and fineness, so that the rel- 

 ative value of gold to silver adjusted by the 

 act of 1792 at 1 to 15 was by this process ad- 

 justed at 1 to 15.988, or nearly 1 to 16. This 

 again demonstrates the basis of our system to 

 be silver, with gold as its auxiliary. 



" During these four years, 1834 to 1837, the 

 silver dollar was worth an average of 101.4 

 cents in gold, and from 1837 to 1853 it ranged 

 from 101 to 104. The quarter and half dollar 

 were of equal fineness, and as a result of this 

 undervalue it became difficult to keep silver 

 coin in -the country. It was sold as bullion 

 and fled from us. France and Germany had a 

 relative value of 1 to 15, and our silver stand- 

 ing at 3 per cent, above this made it profitable 

 to export. It was to remedy this, and not to 

 tend toward a gold standard, that the quantity 

 of silver in the silver coins less than one dollar 

 was reduced by the act of 1853. The Director 

 of the Mint in his report in January, 1853, ex- 

 pressly states the necessity for such legislation, 

 and instead of advising the gold standard, Mr. 

 Hunter, chairman of the Finance Committee 

 of the Senate, in his report March 9, 1852, em- 

 phatically asserts the necessity for the double 

 standard of gold and silver. These were ini- 

 tiatory to the legislation of 1853. This was an 

 end of the legislation on the subject until the 

 act of 1873 ; in it all, from beginning to end, 

 the silver dollar of the original value maintain- 

 ed its place as the unit of value and base of our 

 system, and the astonishing fact is presented 

 that from 1772 up to and including 1873, the 

 years 1809, 1810, and 1815 are the only ones 

 in which this dollar has not been worth more 

 than 100 cents in gold. The use of the word 

 ' coin' in our statutes during the war and since 

 may be understood when we recall the language 

 of the Director of the Mint in his report in Oc- 

 tober, 1861. He says : ' The silver dollar as it 

 now is has actually three values : 1. It is by 

 law a dollar simply, or 100 units or cents. 2. 

 By the Mint price of silver it is 103.98 cents, 

 which is its true commercial value as compared 

 with gold.' It was, when the war began, worth 

 nearly four cents more than a gold dollar. 



u If gold was then the standard, why not 

 say so in the statutes ? "Who required ' coin ' 

 to be inserted ? Perhaps, in a review of the 

 legislation and of the truth that this dollar, if 

 coined, would flee from the country because of 

 its actual value during all of those years, our 

 friends will find some reason for their cry that 

 it was obsolete ; but can they give us any rea- 

 son why 'coin' was the word used? I com- 

 mend to them the inquiry, was it not an honest 

 dollar when our credit was pledged? From 

 1862 to 1873 the silver dollar of 412 grains 

 was above par in gold ; when our credit was 



