On 12 July 1873 the demonetization of sil ver was effected by an act entitled °An Act Revising and Amending the Laws Relative to the Mints, Assay Offices and Coinage of the United States.* When this law was passed the business of the country was being transacted with paper money, both gold and silver being at a pre mium— silver at a greater premium than gold. In making provision for silver coinage it omitted the coinage of the standard silver dol lar and substituted for it a trade dollar of 420 grains which was intended for use in the Orient, it being thought that the trade dollar would compete with the Mexican dollar in China and other Eastern countries. In 1874 the Federal statutes were revised and in this revision a clause was inserted limiting the legal tender of silver coins to amounts not ex ceeding $5, The suspension of silver coinage by the United States alone would not have caused a fall in the price of silver as measured with gold, but other nations joining in the demon etization of silver it soon became apparent that the mints of the world still open could not utilize all the silver available ,for coinage, and the gold price of silver began to decline. An effort made to reopen the United States tnints to silver resulted in the passage of what was lcnown as the Bland-Allison Act. The bill, as it passed the House, under the leadership of Richard P. Bland, of Missouri, restored the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. The opposition in the Senate was sufficient, however, to defeat the bill in its original form, and to compel the ac ceptance of a substitute framed by Senator Al lison, whose name was thus connected with the law. This compromise measure provided that there should be °coined at the several mints of the United States silver dollars of the weight of 412% grains troy of standard silver as provided by the Act of January 1837,* and also provided that suth silver dollars °together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States of like weight and fineness" should be °a legal tender at their face value for all debts and dues public and private, except where otherwise stipulated in the contract.* In order to secure the bullion out of which to coin the dollars mentioned in the Act of 18'78, the law provided °that the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pur chase, from time to time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than $2,000,000 worth per month nor more than ,000,000 worth, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars.* The purchase of silver for coinage under this act retarded the fall in the price of silver, but as it did not consume the entire surplus it was not sufficient to restore the price of bullion to the coinage value of $1.29 an ounce.
The Bland-Allison Act remained on the statute books until 1890, when it was repealed by what was known as the Sherman Purchase Act, which provided for the purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of silver per month, or so much thereof as might be offered at a price not exceeding the coinage value, the bullion to be paid for by the issue of treasury notes, re deemable in coin; and after 1 July 1891 only so much of the silver was to be coined as was necessary to redeem the treasury notes presented.
This act immediately increased the demand for silver and the price of silver bullion, not only in the United States, but all over the world, rose to about $121 an ounce. But when it was found that even this demand was not sufficient to utilize all the surplus silver, the price again began to fall.
The treasury notes issued in the purchase of silver were made a legal tender for the pay ment of all debts public and private, except where excluded by contract, and were redeem able by the Secretary of the Treasury °in gold or silver coin at Ins discretion.* It will be
seen that the option as to the coin of pay ment was reserved to the government, but an other clause in the measure which declared it to be °the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio 9r such ratio as may be provided by the law* was afterward construed by the Treasury De partment to deprive the Secretary of the option.
This ruling of the Treasury Department was followed by the presentation of treasury notes and a demand for gold, and the drain upon gold which followed was used as an argument in favor of the repeal of the pur chase clause of the law.
What has sometimes been called °the silver movement* began with the discovery of the effect of the law of 1873, and has continued with varying force ever since.
It might better be designated as the bi metallic movement, because it was an effort to restore bimetallism, and the supporters of the movement asked for silver nothing more than was already granted to gold.
During the period following 1873 three international conferences have been held with a view to the restoration of silver (at Paris in 1878 and in 1881, and at Brussels in 1892), but they have been unsuccessful, largely because other European countries have hesitated to act without England, and England, being largely a creditor nation, has been unwilling to surrender the. advantage which a rising dollar has given her in the increased purchasing power of her credits.
In the summer of 1893, the President, giv ing as his reason the suspension of the coinage of silver in India, called Congress together in extraordinary session and recommended the un conditional repeal of the purchase clause of the Sherman Law. Congressman Wilson, chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and leader of the administration forces in the House, introduced a bill identical in purpose and almost repealing the purchase clause of the Sherman Law without substituting any provision for the further coinage of silver. After a pro longed contest this bill became a law in Novem ber 1893.
The campaign of 1896 resulted in the elec tion of the RePublican ticket by a large major ity, and as that party had committed itself to international bimetallism, the verdict at the polls was considered a victory for the double standard rather than for the single gold standard.
In the pursuance of the promise contained in the Republican platform, President McKin ley, immediately upon talcing his seat, sent a commission to Europe to solicit co-operation in the restoration of silver to its former place by the side of gold, but this commission failed to secure any concessions from England and no formal conference was arranged. See DEM OCRATIC PARTY ; REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Bibliography.—Andrew, (An Honest Dol lar> (184A); Barclay, (The Silver Question and the Gold Question> (1890) ; Darwin, (Bi metallism' (1t387); Giffen, 'The Case Against Bimetallism> (1896); Laughlin, (History of Bimetallism in the United States' (1897); Miller, (Gold or Silver' (1896); Stokes, (Bi metallism> (1895); Taussig, 'The Silver Situa tion in the United States' (1893); Walker, (International Bimetallism' (1896). Also the reports of the three international monetary conferences in 1878, 1881 and 1892.
BIN, bail, Emile lean Baptiste Philippe, French painter: b. Pans, 10 Feb. 1825; d. 1897. He was a pupil of Gosse and Cogniet. In 1878 he was made a member of the Legion of Honor, and in 1N1 was conspicuous as one of the founders of the Society of French Artists. His (Prometheus Chained' is in the Museum at Marseilles. Among his portraits are those of MM. Clemenceau and de Marcere.