last year, that the retirement from circulation of United
States notes with the capacity of legal tender in private contracts is
a step to be taken in our progress toward a safe and stable currency
which should be accepted as the policy and duty of the Government and
the interest and security of the people.

At the time of the passage of the act now in force requiring the
coinage of silver dollars, fixing their value, and giving them
legal-tender character it was believed by many of the supporters of
the measure that the silver dollar which it authorized would speedily
become, under the operations of the law, of equivalent value to the
gold dollar. There were other supporters of the bill, who, while
they doubted as to the probability of this result, nevertheless were
willing to give the proposed experiment a fair trial, with a view to
stop the coinage if experience should prove that the silver dollar
authorized by the bill continued to be of less commercial value than
the standard gold dollar.

The coinage of silver dollars under the act referred to began in
March, 1878, and has been continued as required by the act. The
average rate per month to the present time has been $2,276,492. The
total amount coined prior to the 1st of November last was $72,847,750.
Of this amount $47,084,450 remain in the Treasury, and only
$25,763,291 are in the hands of the people. A constant effort has been
made to keep this currency in circulation, and considerable expense
has been necessarily incurred for this purpose; but its return to the
Treasury is prompt and sure. Contrary to the confident anticipation of
the friends of the measure at the time of its adoption, the value
of the silver dollar containing 412-1/2 grains of silver has
not increased. During the year prior to the passage of the bill
authorizing its coinage the market value of the silver which it
contained was from 90 to 92 cents as compared with the standard gold
dollar. During the last year the average market value of the silver
dollar has been 88-1/2 cents.

It is obvious that the legislation of the last Congress in regard to
silver, so far as it was based on an anticipated rise in the value
of silver as a result of that legislation, has failed to produce the
effect then predicted. The longer the law remains in force, requiring,
as it does, the coinage of a nominal dollar which in reality is not
a dollar, the greater becomes the danger that this country will be
forced