silver bullion might have deposited his bullion at the mint, demanded its mintage free, or demanded coin notes for it at the mint value of the bullion.

Under the act of 1890, the owner of bullion got the bullion price for it on the day of deposit at the mint. Under the proposed Bland law of 1892, he got pay at the mint value of the bullion; that is, for every ounce of silver deposited, that has cost him, say ninety-five cents, he would have received one dollar and twenty-nine cents in coin. The opponents of free silver coinage put it this way The mine owners, under the law of 1890, turned in their annual product of 54,000,000 ounces of silver, say in 1891, at a value of $55,796,833, for which they received that amount of Treasury notes. Under the proposed Bland act, they could have deposited their 54,000,000 ounces, and demanded the mint value, or $71,000,000 in coin notes. Therefore they would have received thirty per cent. in excess of the market value of silver.

During the financial and industrial depression following the political revolution of 1892, the new administration charged the disastrous times to the existence of the Silver Act of 1890, or rather to the purchasing clause of said act. In this it had a large support in both political parties, though the Republicans took the ground that as the act had proven harmless under the prior administration, the disease which afflicted the country was due rather to the standing threat upon its industries than to the Silver Act.

It was well known to President Cleveland that a large and aggressive sentiment existed in the South and West, in his own party and among the Populists, in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver in the ratio of 16 to 1, and against the repeal of the Sherman Act of 1890,

provided nothing more favorable could be substituted for it. Though persuaded in his own mind that existing deplorable conditions were due to that Act and could only be remedied by its repeal, though urged by the friends of repeal to call an extra session of the Fifty-third Congress to get the obnoxious measure out of the way, the President did not feel it safe to relegate so momentous a problem to the freshly chosen and untested membership of the Congress till the full effect of the commercial and industrial crisis had been felt by the congressional districts, and had served as an object lesson to teach the necessity for party unity in favor of repeal. The crises grew apace daily.

At length, June 30, 1893, the President called Congress in extra session on August 7. It met while the crisis was at its height, and amid devastations of enterprise unparal led in our history. The President's brief message urged the Congress to adhere to the letter of the call, which was the repeal of the Sherman Act of 1890, and set forth all the arguments that had been used by politicians and business men in favor of such repeal. The paper pleased the Republicans who favored repeal. It embittered the free silver coinage men of both parties. As a large majority of these were in the Democratic ranks, he ran great risk of disrupting his own party and defeating the object of his call, but he trusted largely to his personal and administrative powers, to the value of the object lessons of the preceding months, and to the necessity for party cohesion, to sustain him in his course.

By August 28th, 1893, the debates over repeal of the act closed, and a vote was taken which stood 240 to 110 in favor of repeal. A vote was not reached in the Senate till October 30th, when it stood 43 to 32 in favor of re

Born in Wayne co., N V., August 9, 1827; attended Yale College, 1849-50; started for California and arrived May, 1850; engaged in mining; studied law in 1852; appointed District Attorney in 1853, and elected next year; appointed Attorney-General of California, 1854; located at Virginia city, Nev., 1860; engrossed in mining litigation and development of mining industry; member of Territorial Convention, 1861; member of Constitutional Convention, 1863; elected U. S. Senator, 1864 and 1869; resumed general law practice for Pacific States; reelected to U. S. Senate, as a Republican, for term beginning March 4, 1887 and again in 1893; prominent advocate of Free Silver Coinage; Chairman of Committee on Mines and Mining, and member of Committees on Claims, Irrigation, Indian Affairs and Pacific Railroads.

Born in Woodford co., Ky., Oct. 1, 1838; educated at Sayres Institute and Centre College; studied law at Lexington, and admitted to the bar in 1858; entered Confederate army in 1861; resumed practice in 1865; elected to State legislature, 1871 and 1873; elected to House in 44th, 45th 46th, 47th and 48th Congresses; elected to U. S. Senate, 1885 and 1890; candidate for re-election in 1896, but legislature failed to elect; leader of free silver coinage party in his State, and prominently mentioned as Presidential nominee of Democratic party in 1896.

peal. The country at first felt a sense of relief over this repeal. Banks felt easier and credit grew bolder. But there was now little use for money. Industrial enterprise remained in a state of paralysis. It soon became manifest that the substantial benefits expected from repeal were not to be realized, and that the causes of depression and panic must be sought for in other directions.

In the first regular session of the Fifty-third Congress, December 4th, 1893, the question of silver coinage came up again. The Treasury reserve had fallen below the $100,000,000 limit, deemed safe for redemption purposes. There was a deficit in Treasury receipts of about $68,000,000. One loan of $50,000,000 had been called for, and others were expected to follow. As a means of aiding the Treasury, Mr. Bland introduced into the House a bill providing for the coinage of the Treasury seigniorage. It was championed by all the free silver coinage men, who saw in it an opportunity they had lost during the extra session of the Congress. The estimated value of this seigniorage was $55,000,000 which, if coined into silver dollars, would be so much straight gain to the Treasury. It was opposed stoutly by Republicans and an able Democratic contingent, as sheer inflation, without a particle of security behind it, since the value of silver bullion in the Treasury, against which $153,000,000 of silver certificates had been issued, had fallen from $126,000,000 to $97,000,000. Adding the entire estimated value of the seigniorage ($55,000,000) to this $97,000,000, and the sum would still be short of the $153,000,000 silver certificates which were to be protected. This bill did not pass, but it served to show that the question of the free-coinage of silver was a rapidly growing one and that the day might not be dis