Show interesting silver history at the time of the silver jubilee in boulder colorado about a year ago says the boulder miner aliner mr al A dunbar of georgetown was delegated to secure from some of those who took active part in the silver movement of the eighties the story of the attack on silver and the record of the spartan defense made by the citizens of the silver state for the money of the people in view of the cycle which has returned silver to a commanding place as a money metal and the necessity which is forcing the world to prepare to resume silver coinage this story of the silver brick case will be of interest the two men who were most prominent in handling the case backed by almost every citizen of colorado were attorney harley B morse one of the group of fa lawyers who were noted in the early history of the state and mr george C merrick student author and public man both were big men forceful resourceful and courageous and their labors wrought many surprises sup rises and worries to the financial manipulators who swelled their fortunes by cutting in half the money supply of tho the world mr dunbar finally secured the story from peter mcfarlane it is worth reading and is as follows how silver became debased dear sir your letter to mr hazard has been handed me for reply As briefly as possible here is the silver brick case A man takes gold bullion to the U S mint and requests it minted into coin that particular bullion is minted into 20 coins the applicant pays a small sum for the work and is given the coin made of his own gold with the U S stamp thereon said coin passing current anywhere on the face of the globe prior to 1873 the united states purchased all silver offered at per ounce which flooded the nation and filled its treasure vaults with coin that would not circulate sherman saw the situation and what the country was coming to and his famous bill de silver became law in that year silver per ounce went down till it touched as low as 45 cents all silver mining was completely obliterated the united states only bought silver when it needed it and only paid the london market quotation Colora doans get busy something had to be done smart men were on the lookout for a panacea we had in gilpin county hon harley B morse a noted miner and attorney at law he knew full well his privileges as the owner of gold bullion with reference to its coinage aforesaid his contention further was if he were the owner of a ounce silver bullion silver brick or any other quantity of silver and presented it at the U S mint with request that it be coined into dollars paying the government a small sum for the work that it would be obliged to mint the bullion and give into his hands the new silver dollar the same as they did then and are doing now with gold bullion if requested accordingly morse got together his silver brick it was duly presented at the U S mint in washington D C with the request it be coined for his benefit and not for the benefit of the U S government silver silver bullion was being purchased at that time for 45 cents the ounce which was then coined into a dollar that was really worth the hue and cry arose all over the nation that the government was profiteering and it was the people many of them believed the united states demonetized de silver so as to create opportunity to buy on a low market sell on a high market and thus profit enough to pay the national debt silver miner first to suffer the silver miner was first ta see and first to suffer caribou georgetown virginia city butte all went by the board the miner could not afford to pay the nations debt and he had to cease operations morse hoped to coin his bullion and to get the an ounce instead of the 45 cents the government would pay him and use as it were his own coin to transact business with much the same manner as one would pull from ones pocket a silver dollar at this time and age and use in the ordinary channels of trade the silver brick paralyzed the nation it was the entering wedge of what bid fair to become a dangerous precedent there was no law to prevent it the director was inclined to coin it and would have coined it but for the arbitrary intervention of john sherman the government answered to the fact that by purchasing silver at 45 cents and coining into a dollar whose face value was it laid itself open to an attack by some villager like bryan and it hedged the seni orage act grew out of it that act is in force now sherman act to rescue harley started something when he presented his famous brick the sherman act not the act came to the rescue of the nation at this time it had too to be created for the occasion way mr morse worked they headed him off if not by laws then existing and ready made new resolutions were quickly resorted to and passed harley had to be sat down on and lie he was it perhaps is a good thing that he did not succeed had his brick been coined and the way opened for the coinage of 0 at ab silver mined in the united states at a value of morses brick would be the pre the country would again be flooded with a money the people did not want ex capt for small change purposes sherman himself whose act provided for or the purchase of ounces of silver bilter monthly saw the folly of such a law aej after about three years of its life aided in its total repeal and as you are doubtless aware sherman was one of the watchdog watch dogs i of the U S treasury big man makes losing fight senator wolcott worked hard for tte the rehabilitation of silver and he went down domi to disappointment teller also was in tit the thick of the fight and accomplished nothing harley B threw himself into the breach only to find he was a mere bagatelle and while the others mentioned mention edlia lie under pretentious monuments morses bones rest in the potters field located only by reference to cemetery records and a fey few people poor enough to do him reverence verena re unwept and unsung he is sleeping out the silent watches of a never ending eternity while his country is prosperous in the discovery and knowledge of 0 the fact that it requires neither gold nor silver but can get along without ei either theror or both very truly PETER mcfarlane |