United States relating to loans and the currency, coinage and banking, published at Washington. He said: "A copy could be obtained by any one on writing to the Treasury Department."
He then read from page 240, as follows:
"And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, the following foreign silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be receivable by tale, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the rates following, that is to say: the Spanish pillar dollars, and the dollars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, etc. *****
"On account of the scarcity of silver, both Jefferson and Jackson recommended that dimes, quarters and halves would serve the people better than dollars, until more silver bullion could be obtained. This was the reason why only about eight million of the one hundred and five million of silver were coined into dollars.
"During this struggle to get more silver," continued Coin, "France made a bid for it by establishing a ratio of 15½ to 1, and as our ratio was 16 to 1, this made silver in France worth $1.03⅛ when exchanged for gold, and as gold would answer the same purpose as silver for money, it was found that our silver was leaving us. So Congress in 1853, had our fractional silver coins made of light weight to prevent their being exported.
"So that we had prior to 1873 one hundred and five millions of silver coined by us, and about one hundred million of foreign silver coin, or about two hundred and five million dollars in silver in the United States, and were doing all we could to get more and to hold on to what we had. Thus silver and gold were the measure of values. It should be remembered that no silver or gold was in circulation between 1860 and 1873. Two hundred and five millions were in circulation before 1861."
