Chapter 25

OUR COINAGE BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR. But Little Coin in Circulation in 1869--General Use of Spanish Pieces--No Mention of the Dollar Piece in the Act of 1853--Free Circulation of Gold After the 1853 Act--No Truth in the "Demonetization" Charge--Account of the Bill Revising the Laws Relative to the Mint, Assay Offices and Coinage of the United States--Why the Dollar was Dropped from the Coins--Then Known Only as a Coin for the Foreign Market--Establishment of the "Trade Dollar"--A Legal Tender for Only Five Dollars--Repeated Attempts to Have Congress Pass a Free Coinage Act--How It Would Affect Us--Controversy Between Senator Sumner and Secretary Fish.