The deaths of Ames and Brooks and all of the distressing aftermath of the Crédit Mobilier exposé left a most depressing effect upon the public mind. But the dissatisfaction arising from the lack of Congressional action was increased as the same Congress passed a law raising salaries of members from $5,000 to $7,500, and that of the President from $25,000 to $50,000, making the act operative at once. All of these acts, whether justifiable or not, tended to create a lack of confidence and faith in the government which culminated in the business panic of the winter of 1873, with the passage of the new Coinage Act. For many years, paper money, “greenbacks,” had been the only kind in use. Silver dollars rarely were seen, and the small silver quarters and dimes were used only as “change.” [Illustration: _Photo. by G. V. Buck, Washington, D. C._ THE DAUGHTER OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. GRANT Nellie Grant Sartoris, who was a White House Bride] When the Nevada silver mines were discovered, the price of this metal dropped as the metal became plentiful, and in some countries of Europe the coinage of silver money was abandoned. This policy was planned for the United States, and it was advocated in Congress that only gold and silver change and copper be minted for general use. The idea did not become popular. Many people became suspicious, believing it to have been instigated by wealthy bondholders who were resolved to have their bonds paid in gold. When the government issued bonds to secure money for the expenses of the Civil War, it borrowed millions of dollars from individuals and from banks. These bonds were to be repaid with interest at the expiration of a specific period. People of all classes and circumstances purchased these bonds gladly and freely, and at the time of the negotiation of these loans, the understanding was current that the payment would be in gold. The demand for railroad construction became so insistent that more railroads were built than the needs of the country required. In some parts of the country, railroads were built that did not pay interest on the expense of their construction. Between 1871 and the close of 1873, twenty thousand miles of railway were built, spreading into five transcontinental lines. This vast project cost more than a thousand million dollars. Hundreds of people invested their savings in this project, hoping for quick profits and sudden accession of wealth.