MONETARY COMMISSION OF TILE 11. S. CON GRESs. The fall in the value of silver after 1873 was the source of mach debate in the Forty fourth Congress, and in August, 1876, a joint resolution was passed for the appointment of a commission of three Senators and three Represen tatives, together with experts chosen by the former, to inquire into: (1) the causes and economic effects of the deeline in silver; (2) the policy of restoring the double standard; (3) the policy of retaining in circulation the legal tender notes; and (4) the best means for resuming specie payments. The commission as organized consisted of Senators dohn P. Jones, Lewis V. Bogy, and George S. Boutwell; Representatives Randall L. Gibson, George Willard, and Richard P. Bland. William S. Groesbeck of Ohio and Prof. Francis Bowen of Massachnsetts were the expert members of the commission, and George. M. Weston of Maine was appointed its secretary. The meetings of the commission were held in New York and Washington in the winter of 1876-77. The majority report of the eommission declared that the recent production of silver relatively to gold had not been greater than formerly, but that the decline in the value of silver had resulted mainly from the demonetization of silver in Ger many, the United States, and the Scandinavian States, the closure of the mints of Europe to its coinage, the temporary diminution of the Asiatic demand, the exaggeration of the yield of the Nevada silver mines, and the fear of further action against silver coinage by the governments. The policy of adopting the gold standard was con demned in severe terms, a ml the unrestricted coinage of both metals was recommended.
report further stated that an attempt to introduce monometallism would result in a ruinous contest for a gold standard with the European nations, while if silver were remonetized by the United States the effect would be to attract that metal from other countries while it was cheap, in exchange for what the United States had to export ; and that the latter country would thus have the benefit of the rise which t he commission believed would take place in its value when the temporary causes of its depression bad passed. Bout vell made a minority report against re monetization of silver except on the basis of in ternational agreement, and Prof. Francis Bowen dissented from the majority report, arguing hi general fur the gold basis, but declaring in favor of the remonetization of silver on adding to the quantity of pure silver in a dollar enough to make its bullion value equal to the then value of a gold dollar.
The Government published a summary of this report together with papers prepared for the vommission on "Asiatic trade and flow of silver to the East ;' "Constitutional powers of Congress and the States with respect to metallic money:" "Legislation on subsidiary silver coin:" and "The Trade Dollar." In addition to these the Govern ment published a collection of valuable statistics gathered by the eommission relating to the pro duction, distribution. and relative value of the two metals and to the monetary systems of for eign countries.