The Coinage Act of 1873 placed the United States firmly on the gold standard, rather than bimetallism, by ending the right of individuals to have silver bullion struck into fully legal tender coins. In 1869, silver was expensive, and not much of it was being presented at the Mint to be struck into coins, but Deputy Comptroller of the CurrencyJohn Jay Knox and others foresaw that cheaper ore from the Comstock Lode and elsewhere would soon became available. To replace the outdated Mint Act of 1837, Knox drafted a bill that took nearly three years to pass. It was rarely mentioned during Congressional debates that the bill would end bimetallism, though this was not concealed. The bill was finally signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. When silver prices dropped in 1876, producers sought to have their bullion struck at the Mint, only to learn that this was no longer possible. The resulting political controversy lasted the remainder of the century, pitting those who valued the deflationary gold standard against those who called the Act the "Crime of '73", believing the free coinage of silver to be necessary for economic prosperity. (Full article...)
... that DART's Kinki Sharyo SLRV(pictured) conversion project saved over $50 million compared to the cost of buying new accessible light rail vehicles?
... that storing fossils of Dlusskyidris in castor oil changed the amber's refractive index?
A betafite octahedron collected in Bancroft, Ontario, Canada. Betafite, a mineral group in the pyrochlore supergroup, typically occurs as a primary mineral in granitepegmatites, and rarely in carbonatites. Though there is no applicable use for the accepted betafite species, it is an important ore of thorium, uranium, and niobium.
This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001 (2001), it currently contains 5,171,259 articles. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
.jpg)
