The choice of gold as the standard was not due to hostility to silver or to the silver mining interests, but to the well grounded opinion that gold was a universal currency, while in some countries, as in England and Germany, silver coins were not a debt-paying currency.
These—within the limits of a statement—are the reasons for the demonetization of the silver dollar and the adoption of the single gold standard. The measure was in accord with my policy, and it was in accord with the unbiased judgment of the commission.
It is a singular instance in legislative proceedings that a measure that had no active support and that was free from opposition at its enactment should be assailed vigorously after the lapse of years and through a long period of time. The measure was soon followed by the depreciation of silver and coincident with that change came the attacks upon the Mint Bill, and the denunciation of the "Crime of 1873."
The charges were two:
First: The authors of the change had been corrupted by English gold through one Ernest Seyd, a writer on economic topics. It was alleged that Seyd came to this country at the time when the measure was under consideration. Seyd was not living when the charges were made, but the fact of a visit to this country was denied by his son. Hon. Samuel Hooper was chairman of the Committee on Coinage. In the search for information Mr. Hooper invited Mr. Seyd to give him his opinion. Seyd was a writer, a man of good reputation, and a bimetallist. In a letter to Mr. Hooper, which is still in existence, and which is printed in the Congressional Record, Seyd condemned the demonetization of the silver dollar. His letter was dated at London, February 17, 1872.
The second charge was secrecy. The answer to this charge was to be found in historical facts.
The evidence is this: Mr. Knox's report contained two specific statements that it was a purpose of the bill to prohibit the coinage of the silver dollar; the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the year 1872 made a specific recommendation to that effect; the bill was printed six times; it was considered in each House during the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses; the precise question in controversy was the subject of discussion, and two years and ten months were given to the consideration of the bill.
The bill was discussed in the House of Representatives. Mr. Reed has stated that the report of the debate covers one hundred and ninety-six columns of the Congressional Record. Senator Jones, in his report of 1876, as chairman of the Silver Commission, refers to the debate in these words: "In the brief discussion on the bill in the House of Representatives, the principal reason assigned in favor of those sections which interdicted the future coinage of the silver dollar was that its value was three per cent greater than the value of the gold dollar." Thus Senator Jones admits that the debate in the House of Representatives was upon the question of the abolition of the silver dollar, and he recognizes his knowledge of the fact of the debate.
Finally the bill passed the Senate without one dissenting vote.
The downfall of silver has not been due to any legislation in America or Europe, nor to any decrees or despotic policy in Asia, but to the inventive faculties of one Charles Burleigh, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the inventor of the power drill.