ollar was of no advantage to the owners of bullion.

The Mint Bill had a new and attractive feature. It provided for the
coinage of a dollar that was to contain 420 grains of standard silver,
and was to be known as the trade dollar.

This passage may be found in my report to Congress for the year 1872:

"Therefore, in renewing the recommendations heretofore made for the
passage of the Mint Bill, I suggest such alterations as will prohibit
the coinage of silver for circulation in this country, but that
authority be given for the coinage of a silver dollar that shall be as
valuable as the Mexican dollar and to be furnished at its actual cost."

The dollar was coined and it was known as the Trade Dollar. It
contained 420 grains of standard silver.

The Mexican dollar which contained about 416 grains, was then sold at
a premium, and it was used extensively in the China and India trade.

It was my expectation and the expectation of all concerned, that the
trade dollar, from its added value, would take the place of the Mexican
dollar in the immense trade of the East. My own confidence was great.
Indeed, the thought of failure never occurred to me. Unfortunately,
the stolidity of the Chinese and the force of habit among that people
were not considered by us. From long use they had become accustomed
to the Mexican dollar. They refused our trade dollar, notwithstanding
its greater weight.

We coined and put into circulation, at home and abroad, about
36,000,000 pieces, many of which were afterwards recoined as legal
tender dollars under a special act of Congress.

With the failure of that undertaking came the crusade against the act
of 1873. Whether the two events sustained to each other the relation
of cause and effect, I cannot say.

The suggestion that Senator Stewart of Nevada was assenting to the
demonetization of the silver dollar derives support from the fact that,
in the month of February, 1874, he indorsed the gold standard in two
speeches, delivered, respectively, on the 11th and 20th days of that
month. On the 11th he said: "I want the standard gold, and no paper
money not redeemable in gold." On the 20th he added: "Gold is the
universal standard of the world. Everybody knows what a dollar in gold
is worth."

It is certain that in the month of February, 1874, when the contents
of the Mint Bill were in the public statutes, the demonetization of the
silver dollar, and the recognition of the gold d