The Pawnee Dispatch. (Pawnee, Okla.), Vol. 1, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, September 6, 1895 Page: 4 of 8
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# F**
HORS AND HARVEY.
foovrai-KD raoic un wkek.
spsschss tn printed without being ao-
tMlIr delivered. or that Mr. Hooper
read from manuscript and omitted in
the delivery certain passages that were
afterward printed. While the record
disclosed the Intention to change the
■alt to gold. It nowhere revealed the
letentlon to clone the mints to silver.
Mr. Hooper, on the same day (April I),
goaded to It by an Inquisitive member,
■eld (Vol. 1, page 2306) that the bill
“re-enacted existing laws la regard to
silver, except that'it changed the size
of the silver dollar from 412(4 grains
standard silver to 284 grains." Mark
yon, I have quoted his exact words.
He stated as a reason that this would
1 member It. 1300,000.000 of silver ; It was
| la consideration' of the fact that that
‘ was about to be done that the people
! of the world set to thinking and acting
, upon this silver question. There was
no conspiracy about It I want to say
to this audience and to the American
people that laws of that hind are never
planned by conspirators. There Is no
such thing as a great “money power*’
either In this or any other country that
dominates the people of that country.
(Applause.) The people of the United
8tatee act independently.
(This ended the debate for the day,
and on request of Mr. Horr the debate
was adjourned to 1 p. m.. Saturday.)
Chicago. July 20.—The Horr-Harvey
silver debate was continued today be-
take the 3 per cent premium out of the 1 for* the largest and most enthusiastic
silver la the present silver dollar as
compared with gold. In other words,
ke conveyed the exprees understand-
ing that silver was to be favored. Less
silver wss to be put In a dollar. He
did not say that the silver from which
these silver dollars were to be coined
was to be purchased nor that the mints
were to he closed, but be did say that
the bill re-enacted existing laws, ex-
cept to change the size of the silver
dollar. This Is the clause providing
for the 384-grain dollar, with the right
to unlimited free coinage, that was sur-
reptitiously erased from the bill in
1873 before It was enrolled. By the
erasure of this provision or by its omis-
sion In enrolling the bill the mints
were to be closed to silver. This was
now the plan of the conspiracy.
The bill had re-enacted the law of
1853 providing for the purchase of sil-
ver for fractional silver coins, but that
law had left the mints open to the sil-
ver dollar, but by striking out the sil-
▼er-dollar clause, the mints would be
closed to silver. This wss the point on
which the minds of the conspirators
were focused.
If the change of the unit from silver ‘
to gold passed the gauntlet they were •
safe; with a copy of the bill sprung at j
the last moment omitting this sen-
tence and possibly a further part of i
a Sentence la one other section that re-
ferred to It, or with a willing clerk to
fraudulently make this omission on en-
rollment, and their object would be ac-
complished.
Mr. Horr—Now, Brother Potter did
speak on that debate, and he spoke the
words that my friend has quoted.
Mr. Potter, In the course of his re-
marks, says Just what he (Mr. HArvey)
l»ss read, but afterwards ho went on to
state: "In the next place this bill pro-
vides for the making ef changes In the
legal tender coin of the country, and
for substituting a legal tender of only
one metal. Instead as heretofore of two.”
You didn’t read that part of it for tho
same reason that you left off a part of
the statute we talked about yesterday.
It w*6not necessary for the points you
were making now, but It you bad rend
that It would have shown that toe point
you were making was not correct at all.
Now, I submit to this audience there la
right there In that speech that you re-
fer to, positive proof that that bill was
well understood by the people who were
legislating upon it. Mr. Pdtt?r op-
posed the bill, but he was frank
enough to state that one provision in
the bill met with his hearty approval,
nnd that was the very provision we aro
debating here to-day.
Met with Approval.
Potter only suggested that it was not
necessary at that time, because we were
not using either silver or gold as mon-
ey, At the same time be afterward
supported the bill and aided in chang-
ing the sliver coin to the trade dollar.
There bad never been but 8,000,000 sil-
ver dollars coined, not quite 8,000,000
up to the passage of that bill.
Voice In the Audience—Coin or sil-
ver?
Mr. Horr—I said silver dollars coined.
There bad been a large amount of sub-
sidiary coin, but w'e lost all cf it ly
1853, and we made it subsidiary, ODd
the coinage after that remained in the
country.
Now, England. It is true, had de-
monetised silver in 1816. They had
done It because the men who under-
stood that subject beat In England bad
concluded It was best; they were the
clearing bouse of the world, they were
seeking to get control of doing the
business of tbe world and they had been
nges trying to And out what was the
trouble when you coin money at a cer-
tain ratio. They found that when a
ratio varied, when It waa different from
the commercial ratio, one metal or the
other disappeared from use among tha
people and scientifically they decided
It was best to havs only one money
standard, and they had adopted this
away back in 1816. Now, my friend In
bis book Is mistaken; he tells ns that
Germany followed the United States.
Why, Germany demonetised silver In
1671, not In 1873. Tbe edict
was In 1871 and Germany coined
no silver (freo coinage silver)
after 1871. In 1873 the bill was
passed by tha legislature, but tha law
was In forco before that. That la tha
record of that government. It Is true,
the subject bad been agitated In this
country aver since 1870. We neither
followed Germany nor did aha follow
us. After the Preach war, Germany
threw upon tbs markets, as 1 saw re-
audience since the discussion began.
Tbe act of 1873 was gone Into extensive-
ly. Tbe essential points are covered in
tbe following condensed report:
Utautim of 1S7X.
Mr. Hsrvey—The debate so far Is of
value In this: It sbows that gold and
silver is the money of the
constitution. 2. That the silver
dollars of 371(4 grains of pure sil-
ver was the unit of value In our mone-
tary system and regulated the other
coins In our coinage system from 1792
to 1873. 3. That silver and gold in con-
current coinage was until 1873 tbe stan-
dard and measure of value of all other
property and the basic principle of our
monetary system. 4. That prior to 1873
when one metal Increased In exchange
value over tbe other the debtor bad the
right to pay in the cheaper metal. 5.
That silver was not demonetised by-the
act of 1873 on account of the overpro-
duction of silver. 6. That $143,000,000
of silver was coined by our mints prior
In 1873. This degate is of great value
in removing these points of doubt, that
i are now more or less subjects of gen-
eral discussion, and brings us nearer
to the issue in tbe controversy.
Mr. Horr, In his closing speech at the
last session, refers to what Mr. Potter
says as to the support of the bill before
tbe House, and accuses me of unfair-
ness in not reading the whole of Mr.
Potter’s speech. I called your atten-
tion to Mr. Potter’s speech to show you
that the introduction of this mint bill
nt the time It was before the House ex-
cited his suspicion, showing that it was
Inappropriate to be considered at that
period. Mr. Potter was suspicious. It
was a Congress in which It was natural
to be suspicious. Mr. Potter waa satis-
fied that something was wrong back of
the bill, and by following his speech
through you see that Potter thought it
was a speculation In nickle; that the bill
prlvided for the recoining of the cent
pieces the way Hooper had it then be-
fore the House, by making these cent
pieces largely of nickel, and Potter,
from tbe experience of that Congress
and tbe numerous Investigating com-
mittees there were then in session, sup-
posed that that was where there was
something wrong or corrupt. Mr. Pot-
ter was not a bimetallist In the sense
of understanding bimetallism, or he
would have seen what waa behind the
bill, and later in his discussion I a«ked
Mr. Horr to explain the Inconsistency
between Mr. Hooper’s assertion as to
the bill being fair and Mr. Potter’s sug-
gestion that it made a change in the
coinage system. That was on April 9.
Mr. Potter and Mr. Brooks, both sus-
picious of the hill, defeated its being
taken up on that day. and the hill went
over, and on May 27 it again came be-
fore the House, not in the form of the
bill which Mr. Hooper had been press-
ing, but in the form of a new bill. This
time Mr. Hooper presented It in the
form of a substitute. Mr. Hooper called
up the bill offered as a substitute and
closed with this proposition: “I move
that the rules be suspended and that
the substitute be put on its passage.’*
Whether the change of the unit from
silver to gold was In the bill up to that
moment is not certain. We have only
Mr. Hooper’s manuscript speech; It may
have been in tho substitute.
Mr. Hon— Before commencing the
regular work of the day I desire to call
the attention of my opponent and of the
people who may read this discussion to
a statement made by Mr. Harvey on the
day before yesterday. It Is in sub-
stance this: That whenever he Bhould
make any statement which I should
fall to deny he should take It for grant-
ed from my silence that I admitted tbe
truth of what he said. Mr. Harvey,
you huve no power to force me Into such
n position.
The Paris Coslmira
I now proceed with the discussion of
the law of 1873. My opponent, after
spending the whole, nearly as I recol-
lect, of the last session In trying to
smirch the people of the United States
—not only the American Congress, but
the people of the city where he now
lives—begins to back water and wants
it understood that he does not Intend
to make out that everybody Is wieked.
I have shown you that thla bill had Ita
inclplency among the experts on coin-
age In the United States. I should hava
atated that previous to 1873 there had
been n monetary conference bald In
—1 think he haa referred to that
conference—and said that Senator
Sherman was present at tha conference.
I quote here from W. A. Skew’s ’’His-
tory of Currency,” peg* 171:
"Tha Brats widely embracing inter-
national conference proper, however,
was the outcome of an expression of
public opinion in the conclave of the
Latin Union. It was called at the in-
vitation of Prance nnd met at Paris on
the 17th of June. 1887. The states rep-
resented were"—now listen!—“Austria.
Baden, Bavaria. Belgium. Denmark,
8paln. tbe United States. France. Great
Britain. Greece. Italy, the Netherlands.
Portugal. Prussia. Russia. Sweden and
Norway. Switzerland. Turkey, and
Wurtemburg- The eight sessions of the
conference occupied till the 6th day of
July. 1867. All the states except Hol-
land declared in favor of the gold stan-
dard.”
It was after that action that our ex-
perts commenced to examine the ques-
tion and see what legislation should
to onseted. The bill of 1873 simply car ’
rlod oat a resolution of all these clvill-
xed nations of the world.
Mr. Harvey—I am going to hold this
argument on the track if I can. (Ap-
plause.)
The report of the monetary confer-
ence at Paris in 1867 will contradict the
history that Mr. Horr has read from.
I leave him with that.
I continue with the presentation of
tho substitute by Mr. Hooper, that he
waa so solicitous should not be read.
The record shows that the clerk be-
gan to read the bill, when he was In-
terrupted and the reading stopped with
the interruption. Members then satis-
fied themselves with asking him ques-
tions and the reading of the bill was
never continued. Mr. Holman asked
this question:
“Before the question is taken upon j
suspending the rules and passing the
bill, 1 hope the gentleman from Mas-
thtng ever more contemptible than
proposition of that kind?
sachusetts will explain the leading , “tlc applause.)
Tbe SabatMote BUZ
Bat I must proceed. That bill became
n law by the substitution of the trade
dollar; the law in reference to making
the gold dollar tbe unit of value was
never changed at any stage tn the pro-
cess of the bill. They haven’t even
had ingenuity enough to put such a
provision in brackets, and I will now
aay for the benefit of the country that
there is not one word of truth in that
whole bracket business. No such
thing ever occurred in tbe United
8tates. and there is no proof of it
either; it is innuendo.
Here la what Senator Morrill said
only a few days ago:
“There has been a loud and delusive
cry about the act of congress in 1873,
which, after three years of considera-
tion by the treasury department and
by congress, purposely omitted to pro-
vide for the further coinage of tbe sil-
ver dollar, and none having been
coined for nearly forty years, and only
8,000.000 had ever been coined. All
that time the only currency In use In
tbe United States as money was depre-
ciated paper, a legal tender for all
debts, and debts on a specie basis
could have been paid In gold at about
2 per cent less cost than in silver. It
was sought to avoid its instability,
which followed sooner, perhaps, than
waa expected, and thiz prudent and
politic act has been the ark which has
eaved our people from being wholly
overwhelmed by the silver flood.”
This is said by a man who served
through the entire time that this bill
was being discussed, and who knows
what he is talking about. (Enthusi-
You can charge a man with a thing tnat
Is such nonsense that you can’t believe
he would adopt It unless you also con-
clude that he Is a fool. This new dol-
lar that waa provided for in the bill ia
the House so It went to the Senate was
Just twice the size of the half dollar.
Am I right? Ain’t that true? Don’t
you know. Mr. Harvey?
Mr. Harvey—That is right.
Aa la
changes made by this bill in the exist-
ing law, especially in reference to the
coinage. It would seem as if all the
small coinage of the country Is Intended
to be recoined."
To this Mr. Hooper replied:
“The bill makes no change in the ex-
isting laws in that regard.”
The rules were then suspended and
the substitute passed about an hour
after It waa offered, and passed without
being read. The second session of tbe
Forty-second Congress adjourned soon
after, and the same Congress met again
in December.
la tha Senates
The bill was called up in the Senate
by Senator Sherman on Jnn. 17, 1873.
He began by saying (Congressional
Globe, part 1, third session Forty-sec-
ond Congress, page 68):
“I move that the Senate now proceed
to the consideration of the mint bill, as
It is commonly called, revising and
amending the laws relative to the
mints and assay offices and coinage of
the United States. 1 do not think it
will take more than the time consumed
In the reading pf It.”
In answer to a question from Senator
Casselry he said (Congressional Globe,
part 1, third session. Forty-second Con-
gress, page 672): “If the Senator will
allow me, he will see that tbe preceding
section provides for coin which is exact-
ly interchangeable with the English
shilling and the five-franc piece of
France; that is, the five-franc piece of
France will be the exact equivalent of
a dollar of the United States in our
silver coinage."
Mr. Horr— That is right, Mr. Harvey.
The bill that was reported to the Senate
and that they wore then discussing had
In It a provision for the coining of sil-
ver dollars, the silver dollars about
which you talked at the last session of
this debate, containing 384 grains, and
they were made with all the other sil-
ver coins subsidiary coins. There was
no provision in the bill at that time,
and I do not believe you dare claim
there was, for the free coinage of a dol-
lar of 384 grains.
Now, have you ever noticed that the
opposition to that bill in the House
came from Clarkson N. Potter, from
Mr. Brooks-
Mr. Harvey—May I interrupt you?
Mr. Horr—Certainly.
At abort Ktn(t Again.
Mr. Harvey—If you will show me
from the record of the proceedings in
the Senate on that day that the Senate
struck out that dollar we will stop this
debate right here. (Long and enthusi-
astic applause.)
Mr. Horr—I have not the record, but
I can get It. The law when it was
passed had the trade dollar In 1L Do
you deny that?
Mr. Harvey—No, sir; I do not
Mr. Horr—And don’t that take the
place of the other dollar?
Mr. Harvey—No, sir. (Laughter.)
Mr. Horr—I defy you to show a ward
anywhere that substantiates that posi-
tion. It was a simple piece of legisla-
tion. nnd bears that Impression on its
face. That bill, after It left the House,
was amended, and the trade dollar waa
put In there nt the Instance of men
who thought It could be coined nnd
used In our trade with China It was
put In nt the instance of the silver pro-
ducers of the country.
But you stopped me just aa X was
calling your attention to a fact The
only men who opposed that bill In the
House were Clarkson N. Potter and Mr.
Brooks, both millionaire* from Wall
street, both representing the very men
that you aay were trying to impose that
bill upon this country for the purpose
ef aiding men who are rich. Waa aav-
H»rr«jr Claims a Point.
Mr. Harvey—The other day, when
Mr. Horr said that the bill before the
senate, as shown by the Congressional
Record, only had a trade dollar in it,
I replied that when I got to the senate
proceedings that he would have to re-
treat from that position (applause),
and now he retreats of his own accord.
(Applause and laughter.)
Again, Mr. Sherman, in speaking of
the silver dollar on that day, said:
“We are providing that it shall float all
over the world.” Again he said (For-
ty-second Congress. Vol. I. p. 672):
“This bill proposed a silver coinage
exactly the same as the French and
what are called the associated nations
of Europe (meaning the Latin Union)
who have adopted the international
standard of sliver coinage; that is, the
dollar provided for by this bill is the
precise equivalent of the five-franc
piece.”
The Idea conveyed was this: t)ur sil-
ver dollar waa above par with gold, be-
cause of the French ratio of 15(4 to 1,
while ours was 16 to 1. The Latin
Union alone had maintained the com-
mercial and coinage value of silver
and gold undisturbed at the ratio of
15(4 to 1, and by reducing our silver
dollar to 384 grains, tae same size as
the French five-franc piece, with our
mints open to it, as was that of France,
a parity of the two metals was assured
and our “silver dollar
around the world.” (Applause.) It
was in this form that the bill passed
the senate, as it had passed the house.
There was no disagreement. The only
thing that had happened that they had
not anticipated was that the debate in
the senate had forced them to show
their hqnd and to disclose the fact that
the dollar wap in the bill, the dollar
that Mr. Horr said the other day was
not in the bill-
Mr. Horr—I didn’t. I will not be
misquoted on that, and I never said
anything of the kind. I appeal to the
record. I have never denied that that
small dollar was in the bill when it
went from the house over to the senate,
never, nowhere, and If I had I would
take It back in half a minute, for when
I am shown that I am in the wrong I
always own It—I don’t try to dodge It
as Coin does.
Mr. Harvey—I refer thla dispute to
the only Just judge—the record of the
day’s debate in which Mr. Horr said it
(Applause.)
Calmlnmt Ion of Allrznl Conspiracy.
The bill had now passed both houses
with a slight disagreement on two or
three minor points 'only, but It made
a necessity for it to go to a conference
committee. Here is where the dirty
work was done and the conspiracy cul-
minated.
Mr. Horr—I wish to say now that I
nowhere have ever Intimated there was
not at one time in that bill a provision
for the small dollar of 384 grains. I do
deny that In any draft of the bill
that It was ever made anything but a
subsidiary coin, and I defy you to prove
that the clause making the gold dollar
the unit of value waa ever erased from
the bill in any of Its proceedings any-
where during the entire discussion.
(Applause.)
Mr. Harvey—I claim that It was tn
the bill the same as gold, and waa en-
titled to free access to the mint.
Mr. Horr—“Free access to the mint”
Is n quibble. I say to you, Mr. Harvey,
If you will show in any way that coin
in that bill was to be given free coin-
age In this country, 1 will give you my
time to do It In.
Mr. Harvey—I have shown It already.
Mr. Horr—Ho oan’t do it, bocause
thoro Isn’t a word of truth In that prop-
ftlUon. Look at tha phlloaopky at It
portut Point at lug*.
Mr. Honr—Well, then. Just say so.
Now, the provision existed that the sil-
ver for making such half dollars should
I be bought by the government and that
the seigniorage arising from coining
such money which was worth less than
it waa worth on Its face value should
go Into the government treasury. Do
you believe they provided for a coin
; containing double the amount of the
silver in tbe half dollar and agreed to
take all the silver that should come
i to the mint and coin it Into such dol-
lars, and in the same bill also provided
that If it waa coined into half dollars
the government should get it? Mr.
Hsrvey thinks that our forefathers es-
tablished a single measure of value
and that that measure was 371(4 grains
of pure silver, and that gold was made
a single companion metal of silver and
that its value was to be all the time
measured by a silver dollar. I believe
that those early patriots attempted to
establish a measure of value out of two
metals, gold and silver, and that they
supposed they had hit upon a ratio
which would secure the use of both gold
dollars and silver dollars side by side.
We agree that up to 1834 the measure
of value In actual use in this country
was the silver dollar. I assert that in
1834 the ratio was changed, that the
gold dollar was made smaller. He ad-
mits that. I insist that when the gold
dollar was cheapened it became the
actual measure of value in this coun-
try and remained so up to the suspen-
sion of specie payments; that the silver
dollar, though still a legal measure of
ICOXTINTED NI XT V E vR. I
: HUMOR.
She—And what would you be now, if
it weren't for my money? He—A
bachelor.
Persistent Bride—Will you love me
Just as well when I'm dead? Groom
(absently)—More, darling, more.
Jor.es—I understand you were pretty
well off before you were married?
Blinks—Yes. but I didn't know It.
The only thing we ran recommend to
women for the management of a hus-
band Is to feed him. and trust to luck.
“What makes you think Ethel will
never look favorably on George's suit?”
“Because her parents speak so highly
of him.”
Wife—Is that you. George? Husband
—Yes, dear. Wife—Oh, I'm so glad! I’m
always afraid there’s a man in the
house till you come.
She (bitterly)—Before you married
me I was an angel. I'll never be that
again. 1 suppose. He (sarcastically)—
Weil. I live in hopes.
Club Man (rather full)—I wish you'd
I —hie—take me home. Do you know
where—hie—I live' Policeman—What's
i the name of your cook?
Human nature is very discouraging,
would float put up this notice. "Fresh paint.” and
every- passer-by will touch It with his
finger to see whether it is dry yet.
If steaming the face is good for the
i complexion, why don't more girls do
; the family washing? One can get a
| lovely steam bath over a washtub.
"Are you musical. Professor Job-
kins?” asked Miss de Jinks. “Yes; but
if you were going to play anything,
don't mind my feelings.” replied he.
“No.” said Mrs. Fischer. “I don't call
myself a lady, but simply a plain wom-
an.” “Well," said Mrs. Condour,
“you’re plain enough; that's a fact.”
Doctor—The pellets I left were to
produce sleep. Did they have that ef-
fect? Patient—Yes. Indeed! The nurse
never wakened once during the night.
Suitor—I have come to ask for your
daughter, sir.” Father—Take her,
young man. You are the only one who
wanted more than my daughter’s
hand.
"There Is one good thing to be said
about Tompkins. He is perfectly truth-
ful." “Of course he Is. He is too
stingy to make an exiravabant state-
ment.”
Mistress—You broke my Sevres plate.
You are discharged. How did you
break it?" Servant—I carelessly drop-
ped one of the biscuits you made yes-
terday on It.
"What fools the girls are to marry!”
said a single lady of mature years.
"Very true,” replied her married friend,
“but that is the only way you can
bring them to their senses.
The Circus Manager—You're dis-
charged. do you hear? The Clown—
Eh? What for? Circus Manager—Dur-
ing the afternoon you made a new
Jokel I can stand a good deal, but not
that.”
Acre once meant any field. It Is still
used with thla significance by the Ger-
mans. who speak of God's acre, allud-
ing to the cemetery.
Little atlcks kindle a fire, hnt great
ones put It out.
* Tea Soars.
A French geographical society pro-
poses to divide tho face of the clock
Into fen hours of ten minutes and t
hundred seconds each. This Is to make
time uniform with the decimal system
or count by tens. The count by twelves
which now shows on the face of the
oloek survives from the earliest times
—probably from long before the Inven-
tion of letters. <
. .
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Peter, Will H. The Pawnee Dispatch. (Pawnee, Okla.), Vol. 1, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, September 6, 1895, newspaper, September 6, 1895; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc907573/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.