172 a short history of the united states
sixteen to one. They claimed that the recent discovery of silver in the
mines of Nevada, Colorado, and Utah could easily provide the means
of achieving this end.
So in January 1875 , Congress enacted the Specie Resumption Act,
which increased the supply of greenbacks and made them redeemable
in gold, starting in January 1879. But advocates of soft money kept de-
manding the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Whereupon Richard
P. (“Silver Dick”) Bland of Missouri introduced a bill in the House
providing for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of
sixteen to one. But the Senate added an amendment, introduced by
William B. Allison of Iowa, that the Treasury coin not more that $ 4
million and not less than $ 2 million in silver monthly. This passed,
over a presidential veto, and only partially satisfied the advocates of soft
money.
But the Gilded Age was not all moral depravity. There were
some bright spots, such as the technological advances in industry and
agriculture, the growth of big business, the availability of money, the
continued attraction of foreign capital, and the increased number of
immigrants into the United States. All these developments, and more,
changed the nation dramatically. The telegraph stretched across the
continent, as did the railroads. The telephone and typewriter were in-
vented, and a cable was successfully laid across the Atlantic Ocean,
providing quicker and cheaper communication between the continents.
The Edison Electric Illuminating Company constructed the fi rst elec-
tric plant in New York City in 1882 , and soon homes and city streets
were illuminated by electricity. Technological advances in agriculture
allowed farmers to grow enough crops not only to feed the nation but
to export the surplus abroad.
As a result, the nation expanded at the same time that it engaged in
reconstructing the Union. Both these major events—Reconstruction
and the industrialization of America—occurred simultaneously. Not
surprisingly, northern states were constantly distracted from the prob-
lems of Reconstruction and the need for reform. They focused instead
on making money and those capitalistic developments that were trans-