ice had been
completed the statute, as passed, contained seventy-one sections,
including a number of new provisions. The political and personal
controversy of twenty years and more was directed to a single section,
which was in these words: "No coins, either of gold, silver, or minor
coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the mints other than those of
the denominations, standards and weights herein set forth." The
coinage of the silver dollar piece was discontinued in the bill as
prepared by the commissioners and the purpose to discontinue its
coinage was thus announced in the report that was made to Congress:

"The coinage of the silver dollar piece, the history of which is here
given, is discontinued in the proposed bill. . . . The present gold
dollar piece is made the dollar unit in the proposed bill, and the
silver piece is discontinued."

In 1873 I had come to believe that it was wise for every nation to
recognize, establish, and maintain the gold standard. I was of the
opinion then, as I am of the opinion now, that nations cannot escape
from the gold standard in all inter-state transactions. The value of
every article is resolved finally by the ascertainment of its value
in gold. Silver or paper may be used for domestic purposes, but the
value of that silver or paper is determined by its value in gold.

In America, as in England, all the attempts to fix a ratio between
gold and silver coins and to maintain that ratio in business had
failed, and hence it was that I determined to abandon the idea of a
double standard, reserving in mind, however, the possibility that an
agreement by commercial countries might overcome the difficulty. That
possibility has now disappeared. The history of the United States is
an instructive history. The coin ratio between gold and silver was
fixed in Mr. Hamilton's time and with the concurrence of Mr. Jefferson.

In 1870 silver was at a premium upon the legal ratio between gold and
silver coins, and such had been the fact from the year 1837, and
probably from the year 1792. Indeed, there has never been a day,
from the organization of the government, when the actual standard was
silver. Until the act of 1878 was passed, silver coins had had no
appreciable influence upon the volume of currency or the business of
the country. The total coinage of silver dollars had been 8,000,000
pieces only. The coinage was suspended in 1805 or 1806, and the silver
dollars had been expor