m for eight months.

The dollar was dropped from the coins in the bill framed in the
treasury department. It was then an unknown coin. Although I was
quite active in business which brought under my eye different forms
of money, I do not remember at that time ever to have seen a silver
dollar. Probably if it had been mentioned to the committee and
discussed it would have been thought, as a matter of course, scarcely
worthy of inquiry. If it was known at all, it was known as a coin
for the foreign market.

No one proposed to reissue it. The Pacific coast had six intelligent,
able, and competent Senators on the floor of the Senate. They
would have carefully looked out for the interest of silver, if the
bill affected them injuriously. The authority given in the bill
as it finally passed for coining the so-called trade dollar, met
all the demands of the silver producing states. But the silver
dollar at that time was worth more than the gold dollar. California
and Nevada were on the gold standard.

The bill was printed over and over again, finally reported, and
brought before the Senate. It was debated there for three days.
Every Senator from the Pacific coast spoke upon the measure.
Representing the committee, I presented the questions as they
occurred from time to time, until finally we differed quite seriously
upon the question of a charge for the coinage of gold. The only
yea and nay vote in the Senate on the passage of that bill, after
two days debate, occurred on the 10th of January, 1871. Those who
voted in favor of the bill were Messrs. Bayard, Boreman, Brownlow,
Casserly, Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Davis, Gilbert, Hamlin, Harlan,
Jewett, Johnston, Kellogg, McCreary, Morton, Nye, Patterson, Pomeroy,
Pool, Ramsey, Rice, Saulsbury, Spencer, Stewart, Stockton, Sumner,
Thurman, Tipton, Trumbull, Vickers, Warner, Willey, Williams, Wilson
and Yates--36.

Every one of the six members of the Pacific coast voted for the
bill after full debate.

Against this bill were Messrs. Abbott, Ames, Anthony, Buckingham,
Carpenter, Chandler, Fenton, Hamiliton, of Texas, Harris, Howell,
Morrill, of Vermont, Pratt, Scott and Sherman--14.

So on the only yea and nay vote which was ever taken upon the bill
I voted against it. It was not on account of demonetizing the
silver dollar. I did not do it because of that, but I did it
because gold was then only coined for the benefit of private
depositors; we were not using gold