THE SILVER ISSUE 159 



could safely pronounce for bimetallism under inter- 

 national agreement, since there was little real pros- 

 pect of procuring such an agreement. The minor 

 parties as a rule frankly advocated free silver. 



In 1890, the subject of silver coinage assumed 

 new importance. The silverites in Congress were 

 reenforced by representatives from new States in 

 the far West, the admission of which had not been 

 unconnected with political exigencies on the part 

 of the Republican party. The advocates of the 

 change were not strong enough to force through a 

 free-silver bill, but they were able by skillful log- 

 rolling to bring about the passage of the Silver Pur- 

 chase Act. This measure, frequently called the 

 Sherman Law, 1 directed the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury to purchase, with legal tender Treasury notes 

 issued for the purpose, 4,500,000 ounces of pure sil- 

 ver each month at the market price. As the metal 

 was worth at that time about a dollar an ounce, this 

 represented an increase, for the time being, over the 

 maximum allowed under the Bland- Allison Act and 

 more than double the minimum required by that 

 measure, which was all the Treasury had ever 



1 John Sherman, then Secretary of Treasury, had a large share in 

 giving final form to the bill, which he favored only for fear of a still 

 more objectionable measure. See Sherman's Recollections, pp. 1069, 

 1188. 



