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History of the Currency, 1848 - 1873 by Walter G. Watt, 1898

History of the Currency, 1848 - 1873 by Walter G. Watt, 1898, Page 8

6.
do, but instead decreased the weight of the fractional silver coins, leaving the silver dollar, which contained 371.25 grs. of pure silver, untouched; but reducing the pure silver in two half dollars to 345.6 grs, and the other fractional silver coins proportionally. Continuing the process of reducing the fractional silver coins to a subsidiary currency, Congress enacted that there should no longer be any free coinage of them at the Mint, but their amount should be left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. The final step taken in carrying out the policy which had been entered upon was to limit the legal tender power of fractional silver to payments of five dollars. It can not be doubted that Congress acted wisely in thus reducing the fractional silver coins to a purely subsidiary currency; for by doing so that part of the circulating medium so indispensable in carrying on the

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6. do, but instead decreased the weight of the fractional silver coins, leaving the silver dollar, which contained 371.25 grs. of pure silver, untouched; but reducing the pure silver in two half dollars to 345.6 grs, and the other fractional silver coins proportionally. Continuing the process of reducing the fractional silver coins to a subsidiary currency, Congress enacted that there should no longer be any free coinage of them at the Mint, but their amount should be left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. The final step taken in carrying out the policy which had been entered upon was to limit the legal tender power of fractional silver to payments of five dollars. It can not be doubted that Congress acted wisely in thus reducing the fractional silver coins to a purely subsidiary currency; for by doing so that part of the circulating medium so indispensable in carrying on the