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and may therein take into view such petitions, depositions, and other papers, if any, as shall, by the Constitution and now existing law, be competent and pertinent in such consideration; which decision shall be made in writing, stating briefly the ground thereof, and signed by the members of said commission agreeing therein; whereupon the two houses shall again meet, and such decision shall be read and entered in the journal of each House, and the counting of the votes shall proceed in conformity therewith, unless, upon objection made thereto in writing by at least five Senators and five members of the House of Representatives, the two Houses shall separately concur in ordering otherwise, in which case such concurrent order shall govern. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of.

SEC. 3. That while the two Houses shall be in meeting, as provided in this act, no debate shall be allowed and no question shall be put by the presiding officer, except to either House on a motion to withdraw; and he shall have power to preserve order.

SEC. 4. That when the two Houses separate to decide upon an objection that may have been made to the counting of any electoral vote or votes from any State, or upon objection to a report of said commission, or other question arising under this act, each Senator and Representative may speak to such objection or question ten minutes, and not oftener than once; but after such debate shall have lasted two hours, it shall be the duty of each House to put the main question without further debate.

SEC. 5. That at such joint meeting of the two Houses, seats shall be provided as follows: For the President of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, immediately upon his left; the Senators in the body of the hall upon the right of the presiding officer; for the Representatives, in the body of the hall not provided for the Senators; for the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk's desk; for the other officers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon each side of the Speaker's platform. Such joint meet

ing shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this act, in which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, in the manner herein before provided, to direct a recess of such House not beyond the next day, Sunday excepted, at the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon. And while any question is being considered by said commission, either House may proceed with its legislative or other business.

SEC. 6. That nothing in this act shall be held to impair or affect any right now existing under the Constitution and laws to question, by proceeding in the judical courts of the United States, the right or title of the person who shall be declared elected, or who shall claim to be President or Vice-President of the United States, if any such right exists.

SEC. 7. That said commission shall make its own rules, keep a record of its proceedings, and shall have power to employ such persons as may be necessary for the transaction of its business and the execution of its powers.

APPROVED, January 29, 1877.

No. 102.

Coinage of the Standard Silver
Dollar

February 28, 1878

THE coinage act of February 12, 1875 [No. 93], omitted the silver dollar from the list of pieces thereafter to be coined, but retained the trade dollar. A bill to provide for the free and unlimited coinage of silver dollars was introduced in the House, December 13, 1876, by Richard P. Bland of Missouri, as a substitute for a bill "to utilize the products of gold and silver mines," introduced June 3. The bill passed the House the same day by a vote of 167 to 53, 69 not voting. In the Senate the bill was referred to the Committee on Finance, which reported it January 16, 1877, without recommendation, pending the report of the silver commission. November 5, by a

vote of 164 to 34, 92 not voting, the rules were suspended to allow Bland to introduce and the House to pass a free coinage bill. The bill was taken up in the Senate January 28 and debated until February 15. The Senate added sections 2 and 3 of the act, the provisos of section 1, and, on motion of William B. Allison of Iowa, the limitation on the amount of coinage, the vote on the latter amendment being 49 to 22. The final vote in the Senate was 48 to 21, 7 not voting. February 21 the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On the 28th the bill was vetoed by President Hayes, but was passed over the veto, in the House by a vote of 196 to 73, 23 not voting; in the Senate by a vote of 46 to 19, II not voting. The coinage provision of the act was repealed by section 5 of the act of July 14, 1890 [No. 121, post]. REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XX, 25, 26. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 45th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. See House Misc. Doc. 27; Senate Exec. Doc. 3, 50th Cong., 2d Sess.; Dewey, Financial History, chap. 17, and references there given; Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, II, chap. 26; Sherman, Recollections, II, chaps. 31 and 32, and annual report as Secretary of the Treasury, December, 1877.

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An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore its legal-tender character.

Be it enacted . . That there shall be coined, at the several mints of the United States, silver dollars of the weight of four hundred and twelve and a half grains Troy of standard silver, as provided in the act of January eighteenth, eighteen hundred thirtyseven, on which shall be the devices and superscriptions provided by said act; which coins together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States, of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than two million dollars worth per month, nor more than four million dollars worth per month, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased,

1 "The previous question being ordered and the rules suspended, a single vote would introduce the bill without a reference to a committee, and would pass it without any power of amendment, without the usual reading at three separate times." (Sherman, Recollections, II, 603.)

into such dollars; and a sum sufficient to carry out the foregoing provision of this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. And any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing laws relative to the subsidiary coinage: Provided, That the amount of money at any one time invested in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting coin, shall not exceed five million dollars: And provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the payment in silver of certificates of deposit issued under the provisions of section two hundred and fifty-four of the Revised Statutes.

SEC. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act, the President shall invite the governments of the countries composing the Latin Union, so-called, and of such other European nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver, for the purpose of establishing, internationally, the use of bi-metallic money, and securing fixity of relative value between those metals; such conference to be held at such place, in Europe or in the United States, at such time within six months, as may be mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments joining in the same, whenever the governments so invited, or any three of them, shall have signified their willingness to unite in the same.

The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint three commissioners, who shall attend such conference on behalf of the United States, and shall report the doings thereof to the President, who shall transmit the same to Congress.

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SEC. 3. That any holder of the coin authorized by this act may deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than ten dollars, and receive therefor certificates of not less than ten dollars each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin deposited for or representing the certificates shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certifi

cates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and, when so received, may be reissued.

SEC. 4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

No. 103.

Act forbidding the Further Retirement of Legal Tender Notes

May 31, 1878

APRIL 29, 1878, in the House, Greenbury L. Fort of Illinois moved a suspension of the rules to allow the introduction and passage of a bill to forbid the further retirement of United States legal tender notes. By a vote of 117 to 35, 79 not voting, the motion prevailed. The second reading was voted in the Senate May 7, 34 to 23. On the 21st the Committee on Finance reported the bill without amendment. The bill was taken up on the 27th by a vote of 28 to 26, and passed the next day, the final vote being 41 to 18.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XX, 87. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 45th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. On the constitutionality of the act see Juilliard v. Greenman, 110 U.S. Reports, 421, and Thayer, Cases on Constitutional Law, II, 2267– 2273.

An act to forbid the further retirement of United States legal-tender notes. Be it enacted That from and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury or other officer under him to cancel or retire any more of the United States legal-tender notes. And when any of said notes may be redeemed or be received into the Treasury under any law from any source whatever and shall belong to the United States, they shall not be retired cancelled or destroyed but they shall be re-issued and paid out again and kept in circulation: Provided, That nothing herein shall prohibit the cancellation and destruction of mutilated notes and the issue of other notes of like denomination in their stead, as now provided by law.

All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. APPROVED, May 31, 1878.

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