Revision 1466506 of "Ernest Seyd" on enwikiquote

{{vfd-new}}
Ernest Julius Seyd ( March 7, 1830 – May 1, 1881 ) was a German-born British author, banker, and economist,
particularly known for his expertise in coinage and foreign exchange, and
for his advocacy of [[w:bimetallism|bimetallism]]. 
{{people-cleanup|2010-04-06}}

== Attributed ==
* I went to America in the winter of 1872-73, authorized to secure, if I could, the passage of a bill demonetizing silver. It was in the interest of those I represented—the governors of the Bank of England—to have it done.
** Ernest Seyd's secret confession of bribing Congress to pass the [[w:Coinage Act of 1873|Coinage Act of 1873]], according to Frederick A.  Luckenbach's 1892 affidavit (almost certainly a hoax).

=== Ernest Seyd and the “Crime of 1873” hoax ===
In 1877, a story started circulating that Ernest Seyd, a London
banker, had bribed Congress to pass the Coinage Act of 1873, which
discontinued the minting of silver dollars. For example, here is how the
Ohio Democrat explained the situation to its rival newspaper, the Canton
''Repository'':<ref>{{cite news
|title=About the Demonetization of Silver|work=Ohio Democrat
|date=July 5, 1877|page=2|location=New Philadelphia, Ohio
|url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FreePdfViewer.aspx?img=13912889&firstvisit=true&terms=demonetization
}}</ref>

<blockquote>
<p>Well, Mr. Repository, let us see; here is the “evidence:”</p>

<p>“Congressional Record, 1872, April 9, page 2034, Mr. Hooper, Chairman of
the Committee of Coinage, in his reports, states: 'Ernest Seyd, of
London, a distinguished writer and bullionist, who is now here and has
given great attention to the subject of mints and coinage, after
examining the first draft of this bill made various sensible
suggestions, which the Committee adopted and embodied in this bill.'</p>

<p>In 1872, silver being demonetized in France, Germany, England and
Holland, a capital of £100,000 ($500,000) was raised, and Ernest Seyd,
of London, was sent to this country with this fund as the agent of the
foreign bondholders and capitalists, to effect the same object, which
was successful.— Bankers' Magazine, August, 1873”</p>

<p>Perhaps our friend of the Repository will question the evidence, if so,
let him turn to the Congressional Record and read for himself.</p>
</blockquote>

By 1890, the alleged plot had been termed the
“Crime of 1873”.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Barnett|first=Paul
|title=The Crime of 1873 Re-Examined
|journal=Agricultural History|volume=38|issue=3|date=July, 1964
|pages=178-181|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3740438}}</ref>
In 1892, the case was bolstered when Frederick A. Luckenbach gave a
sworn affidavit that, when Luckenbach had dined with Seyd in 1874, Seyd
had told him just that story.  At the time, Luckenbach was selling
mining equipment to silver miners in Colorado.  The president of the
State Silver League persuaded him to give the affidavit about what Seyd
allegedly told him.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Shylock: as banker, bondholder, corruptionist, conspirator
|page=89|last=Clark|first=Gordon|oclc=26540406|year=1894
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mIPZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA89&dq=%22Colorado+State+Silver+League%22}}</ref>

Congress finally investigated the story in 1893, twenty years after the
alleged crime. It turned out that there was never any such story in
''Banker's Magazine''<ref>U.S. House.
[[w:Martin N. Johnson|Rep. Johnson of North Dakota]], 
''Congressional Record'', 53rd cong., 1st sess., 1893, 25, (August 24,
1893), p. 795.</ref> and that the excerpt from the ''Congressional Globe''
(the predecessor to the ''Congressional Record'') had been
altered—Hooper did not say that Seyd was “now here” and he did not call
him a bullionist. The original read:<ref>''Congressional Globe'',
House of Representatives, 42nd cong., 2nd Sess., (April 9, 1872), Pages
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=103/llcg103.db&recNum=516 2304-2305]</ref>

<blockquote><p>Mr. Ernest Seyd, of London, a distinguished writer, who has given
great attention to the subject of mints and coinage, after examining
the first draft of the bill, furnished many valuable suggestions which
have been incorporated in this bill.</p></blockquote>

Although Seyd and Hooper were long since dead, the letter that Seyd had
written to Hooper was found and published.<ref>{{cite book
|author=United States Senate
|title=Coinage Laws of the United States, 1792 to 1894, with an appendix of statistics relating to coins and currency
|edition=4th|publisher=U. S. Government Printing Office
|oclc=21660706|year=1894|pages=279–291
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2MIZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA279&dq=%22letter+from+ernest+seyd+to+samuel+hooper%22}}</ref> The
letter contained page after page of technical recommendations,
followed by an impassioned plea for keeping the silver dollar—exactly
the opposite of what had been insinuated. Seyd, as it turned out, had
been one of the foremost advocates of silver in England, and an expert
on bimetallism. Seyd advocated for silver in all his works and had been
consulted on the coinage bill because he had written a 250-page book,
''Suggestions in reference to the metallic currency of the United States''.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Suggestions in reference to the metallic currency of the United States
|last=Seyd|first=Ernest|location=London|publisher=Trübner|year=1871
|oclc=7262411
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QYcaAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Congressmen
distanced themselves from the story and even
issued formal apologies for their allegations.<ref>{{cite news
|last=Cannon|first=Marion|authorlink=w:Marion Cannon
|title=A Retraction from Mr. Cannon|work=Los Angeles Times
|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/323240162.html?dids=323240162:323240162&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+07%2C+1893&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=A+Retraction+from+Mr.+Cannon.&pqatl=google
|page=6|date=Oct. 7, 1893}}</ref>

Writers pointed out numerous problems with Luckenbach's affidavit
and with the story of the bribery.<ref>{{cite journal
|title=The Crime of 1873|date=June 1, 1896|volume=3|issue=13|pages=116-130
|journal=Sound Currency|publisher=Reform Club|location=New York
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rtAoAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA6-PA119
|last=McCleary|first=James Thompson|authorlink=w:James McCleary
}}</ref> Perhaps the most glaring question was stated this way, by
Hermon Wilson Craven:<ref>{{cite book
|title=Errors of populism|last=Craven|first=Hermon Wilson
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zBcpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA87
|oclc=7268848|location=Seattle|publisher=Lowman &amp; Hanford
|year=1896|pages=82-89,87
}}</ref>

<blockquote>
The bill dropping the silver dollar from our list of coins had passed
the senate on January 10, 1871, by a vote of 36 to 14. It had passed the
house on May 27, 1872, by a vote of 110 to 13. In the name of common
sense, what need was there for English and German bankers to send Seyd
here in the winter of 1872-3, to bribe congress to favor a measure that
had already passed both houses of congress without a word of opposition
from a single member? Granting that bankers are as willing to resort to
bribery as Populists claim—and the word of those who forge government
reports would, of course, be accepted as conclusive on this point—they
should be credited with having sense enough not to use bribery when
there is no necessity whatever for it.
</blockquote>

In the end, the allegations of bribery seemed implausible and
Luckenbach's affidavit was deemed as phony as the other evidence
against Seyd. The “Crime of 1873” ended up as a footnote in the history of
of the [[w:Free Silver|Free Silver movement]].
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Economists|Seyd, Ernest]]