At the end this is my claim for the Mint Bill of 1873: It established the gold standard for the United States for all time. All the subsequent legislation has rested upon the fact that the Statute of 1873 made the gold dollar the standard of value in the United States. XXXV BLACK FRIDAY--SEPTEMBER 24, 1869 So much time has passed since September 24, 1869, that there may be a large public who may become interested in a review of the events of the spring and summer of that year which culminated in Wall Street, New York, in the transactions and experiences of the day known as "Black Friday." When the Forty-first Congress assembled in December of that year, the House of Representatives directed the Committee on Banking and Currency "to investigate the causes that led to the unusual and extraordinary fluctuations of gold in the city of New York, from the 21st to the 27th of September, 1869." The committee made a report which was printed under date of March 1, 1870, and which may be found in a volume entitled "Garfield's Report on the Gold Panic Investigation." From that report it appears that certain persons in the city of New York entered into an arrangement, or understanding, or combination, as early as the month of April, 1869, for the purpose of forcing the price of gold artificially to a rate far beyond what might be called the natural price. The committee, of which General Garfield was chairman, characterized the combination as a conspiracy. Technically and in a legal point of view the parties concerned could not be treated properly as conspirators. It does not appear that they contemplated the violation of any law, but only a policy by which gold might be advanced from time to time, and out of which advance large sums of money might be realized by those who were holders of gold. Upon that theory Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr., who were the leaders and organizers of the combination, with their associates, made large purchases of gold at prices varying from thirty to thirty-five per cent premium. At the close of the month of April, the price of gold, not then, as far as known, under the influence of any speculative movement, was at a premium of about thirty-four per cent. The indications were that, during the months of May and June, the parties interested in the combination made large purchases. By the 20th of May the price had reached a premium of forty-four per cent. From that time onward, until the last of July, the premium diminished, and at that date the rate was thirty-six per cent.