except for limited purposes.
Gold was the standard in California, and we thought the people of
that state ought to continue to pay the old and reasonable rate
for coinage of one-fifth of one cent to the dollar. No action was
taken on the bill in the House of Representatives, and it failed
to pass during that Congress. At the beginning of the next Congress
the bill was introduced by Wm. D. Kelley, and reported by him
favorably to the House of Representatives. It gave rise to
considerable debate, especially the section defining the silver
coins. No one proposed to restore the old silver dollar, but the
House inserted a coin precisely the equivalent of five francs, or
two half dollars of our subsidiary coin, and this franc dollar, as
it was called, was made, like other subsidiary coins, a legal tender
only for five dollars. On the 9th of April, 1872, Mr. Hooper,
having charge of the bill, called especial attention to the dropping
of the old dollar and the substitution of the French dollar. He
said, on April 9, 1872:

"Section 16 re-enacts the provisions of existing laws defining the
silver coins and their weights, respectively, except in relation
to the silver dollar, which is reduced in weight from 4121/2 to 384
grains; thus making it a subsidiary coin in harmony with the silver
coins of less denomination, to secure its concurrent circulation
with them. The silver dollar of 4121/2 grains, by reason of its
bullion and intrinsic value being greater than its nominal value,
long since ceased to be a coin of circulation, and is melted by
manufacturers of silverware. It does not circulate now in commercial
transactions with any country, and the convenience of those
manufacturers, in this respect, can better be met by supplying
small stamped bars of the same standard, avoiding the useless
expense of coining the dollar for that purpose. The coinage of
the half dime is discontinued for the reason that its place is
supplied by the copper nickel five-cent piece, of which a large
issue has been made, and which, by the provisions of the act
authorizing its issue, is redeemable in United States currency."

When the bill was sent to the Senate it, in compliance with the
memorial of the legislature of the State of California, inserted
in place of the French dollar, of 384 grains of standard silver,
a dollar containing 420 grains of standard silver, called the "trade
dollar." This was urged upon the ground that, as the Mexica