Gold, Silver and the Coinage of the Silver Dollar. 279 



as the legal potency of a dollar, it was wholly dormant. Prof. Laugh- 

 lin, in his recent history of bi-metalism,* gives the reason as follows: 



" At no time after the act of 1353, until the Civil War, was the silver 

 dollar of 412 1-2 grains, equal to less than 103 or 104 cents of our 

 gold coins, and it was, consequently, never seen in circulation. The 

 country had willingly acquiesced in the practical adoption of the gold 

 standard, mid so well did the situation satisfy all demands that the 

 question of gold and silver dropped out of the public mind." 



It may be well for us to bear in mind that prior to 1853, the total 

 coinage of the dollar during the sixty years of operation of the mint up 

 to that date, had been only two and a half millions of the coins, f 



All merchants and bankers, whose recollection goes back to that 

 period, will remember that, from 1862 to 1879, during greenback 

 times, any dealings in specie, in any manner, was in terms of gold, 

 Gold was the subject of purchase and sale in Wall street, and the 

 " Gold room " and " Gold market" and " Gold premium " and price 

 were subjects of daily paragraphs in the public journals, and of dailv 

 and hourly quotations by telegraphic wire throughout the country. 

 Nobody would have thought of delivering silver dollars, or of having 

 them accepted in filling a sale of such coin. 



In view of this history, Congress, by the act of 1873, rec g z g 

 the mint, and bringing into one act the several statutes on coinage, 

 after long and careful deliberation, decided to drop out the silver dol- 

 lar from the future coinage of the mint, But, recognizing the fact 

 that a full-weight silver dollar was needed in the China and East India 

 trade, the act authorized the Trade Dollar of 420 grains; the legal- 

 tender potency of this coin was limited to five dollars. J 



Meanwhile the silver mining interest of the west was gaining large 

 influence and wealth. The Comstock lode was being developed; its 

 actual production of silver was large, and its promise for the future 

 still larger. § The producers, finding the coinage of the standard dollar 

 closed against them, and the London silver market depreciating, 

 employed the mint in coining the Trade dollar. About thirty-six 

 millions were coined between 1873 and 1877, as had been generally 

 « 



D. 8 V. p. 257. New York, 1886, p. 86. 



. F A a.-Tlv 5.-J..-..M i.MMi. S.-e V. S. Mint Reports, for 1886, p. 113. 



• Laws ;,f V. S.. vol. 17. p. 424. Art 12th of February, 1873, § 15. 



s The Comstock lode, in 1877, produced $37,062,252 of the precious metals. 

 < )ur i ountrv. By Rev. Josiah Strong, p. 25. In 1878, theproduct was $47,076,863 

 United States Mint Report, 1S79, p. 17. About one-third of these amounts was 

 gold, and two-thirds, silver. 



