The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873, 17 Stat. 424, was a general revision of the laws relating to the Mint of the United States. In abolishing the right of holders of silver bullion to have their metal struck into legal tender dollar coins, it ended bimetallism in the United States, placing the nation on the gold standard; because of this, the act became contentious in years, was denounced by some as the "Crime of'73". By 1869, the Mint Act of 1837 was deemed outdated, Treasury Secretary George Boutwell had Deputy Comptroller of the Currency John Jay Knox undertake a draft of a revised law, introduced into Congress by Ohio Senator John Sherman. Due to the high price of silver, little of that metal was presented at the Mint, but Knox and others foresaw that development of the Comstock Lode and other rich silver-mining areas would lower the price, causing large quantities of silver dollars to be struck and the gold standard to be endangered. During the three years the bill was pending before Congress, it was mentioned that it would end bimetallism, though this was not concealed.
Congressmen instead debated other provisions. The legislation, in addition to ending the production of the silver dollar, abolished three low-denomination coins; the bill became the Act of February 1873, with the signature of 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 matter became a major political controversy that lasted the remainder of the century, pitting those who valued the deflationary gold standard against those who believed free coinage of silver to be necessary for economic prosperity. Accusations were made that the passage of the act had been secured through corruption, though there is little evidence of this; the gold standard was explicitly enacted into law in 1900, was abandoned by the U. S. in 1971. The Mint Act of 1792 established the Mint of the United States; the Mint, in its first decades, only coined gold and silver in response to deposits of that metal by citizens, returning the bullion to the depositor in the form of coins.
Either gold or silver could be presented for conversion into currency, as both metals were a legal tender, a dollar was equal to both a defined weight of silver, another defined quantity of gold. Having a currency be defined in terms of two different metals is called bimetallism; such a system may experience instability as the price of gold and silver on the world market changes, this took place in the first decades after 1792, as the relative values of gold and silver in Europe changed. At that time, gold or silver U. S. coins were seen in the nation, as they were exported because of such shifts—most pieces in circulation were foreign in origin. In 1834, Congress made a dollar worth less, thus lightening U. S. gold and silver coins, making them uneconomical to export, they were seen more in commerce within the U. S. With this greater circulation, Congress re-examined the existing statutes relating to the Mint, found many provisions to be obsolete, it enacted the Mint Act of a thorough revision of the statutes relating to the Mint.
New provisions included the establishment of a bullion fund, allowing depositors to be paid without waiting for their metal to go through the coining process. The ratio of value between equivalent weights of gold and silver was adjusted allowing coins of both metals to circulate within the U. S; when silver prices rose relative to gold as a reaction to the California Gold Rush, silver coinage was worth more than face value, flowed overseas for melting. Despite vocal opposition led by Tennessee Representative Andrew Johnson, the precious metal content of smaller silver coins was reduced in 1853, allowing them to circulate; until depositors of silver could choose to have their bullion struck into silver coins of any denomination of five cents or above. Depositors could still choose to have silver struck into dollar coins, but since there was more than a dollar's worth of silver in a dollar coin, it was more profitable to sell the bullion to manufacturers and jewelers. So long as silver prices remained high, this placed the United States on the gold standard.
Although the Mint received deposits of silver for striking into coins after 1853, it purchased silver bullion using the new lightweight silver coins at above-market prices. This was illegal, as Congress had ordered that the new lightweight coins only be purchasable using gold, a provision intended to limit quantities sold to actual demand; as the silver pieces had a legal tender limit of $5, if excessive numbers were circulated, they might choke commerce. This in fact occurred, merchants and bankers complained that the legal tender limit was causing them to have to sell accumulations at a discount to brokers; the glut was replaced with a shortage when most federal coins were hoarded amid the economic chaos of the Civil War. Slowest to vanish was the base-metal cent, which only had value because government said it did, at that time, confidence in government was shaken, it too vanished from circulation and commanded a premium for change. A variety of makeshifts replaced the vanished coins, such as fractional currency and merchant's tokens.
Beginning in 1864, Congress began to authorize base metal coins. It reduced the weight of the cent, causing it to be made of bronze, required a two-cent piece of the same m
"Peaches" is a seminal punk rock song and single by The Stranglers from the album Rattus Norvegicus. The track peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. "Peaches" was controversial because of its anarchist, non-conformist, "sexual" content aimed at shaking up the establishment and poking the eye of the new politically correct punk movement. The song's narrator is girl-watching on a crowded beach one hot summer day, it is never made clear if his lascivious thoughts are an interior monologue, comments to his mates, or come-on lines to the attractive women in question. The critic Tom Maginnis wrote that Hugh Cornwell sings with "a lecherous sneer, the sexual tension is so unrelenting as to spill into macho parody or censor-baiting territory"; the lyrics include a word that sounds like clitoris, albeit pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable: "Is she trying to get out of that clitORis?" The song is driven by a distinctive bass line. The single was a double A-side with pub rock song "Go Buddy Go", played on UK radio at the time and on the band's BBC TV Top of the Pops appearance because the sexual nature of the lyrics of "Peaches" caused the BBC to ban it.
Still, "Peaches" was ranked at No. 18 among the top "Tracks of the Year" for 1977 by NME, it reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. The radio cut, had to be re-recorded with less explicit lyrics: "clitoris" was replaced with "bikini", "oh shit" with "oh no" and "what a bummer" with "what a summer"; the catalogue number of the radio version was FREE 4. An edited version of "Peaches", minus the lyrics, was used as the closing theme tune to many of the TV chef Keith Floyd's Floyd on... television shows. It was used as the title music in the opening sequence of 2000 British film Sexy Beast and during a party scene in the 1997 film Metroland; the song is on the sound track of the game Driver: Parallel Lines. It was used by Adidas in advertising in the Netherlands in 2002, it was used in the opening sequence of an episode of the soap opera Hollyoaks in early October 2006. The song is used in episode 16 of the BBC series Being Human, when the hungry "teenage" vampire Adam stalks three teenage girls into a game arcade.
The song is heard in episode nine of series two of the TV series Gotham. Dub Pistols covered the song on their 2007 album and Tweeters, with Rodney P on guest MC vocals and Terry Hall of The Specials singing the chorus. Audio Bullys and Liam Howlett included it in their installment of the Back to Mine series of "after hours grooving" DJ mix albums, with Simon Franks of the duo referring to it as "raw UK old school"; the 2011 film Killer Elite used the song. The single was re-issued, with "Go Buddy Go", on green vinyl and with a new sleeve for the 2014 Record Store Day
Stanley Knapp Hathaway served as 27th Governor of Wyoming from January 2, 1967 to January 6, 1975, as United States Secretary of the Interior under President Gerald Ford from June to October, 1975. Stanley K. Hathaway, or "Stan" as he was known to most of his friends and associates, was born on July 19, 1924, in Osceola, the fifth of six children born to Lily and Robert C. Knapp. Following his mother's death when he was two years old, he was adopted by a cousin and her husband Franklin Earl Hathaway; the couple farmed near Huntley, Wyoming. Young Hathaway received his early education near there in one-room country schools at Table Mountain and at New Fairview, attended Huntley High School, where he graduated as class valedictorian in 1941. After enrolling at the University of Wyoming, Hathaway left school in early 1942 to enlist in the Army Air Corps following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, was trained as a radio operator and gunner, he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force's 401st Bomb Group, flying B-17 Bombers from England, took part in 35 combat missions over France and Germany, with his unit suffering heavy casualties.
On one mission under General Jimmy Doolittle over Leipzig, Hathaway's plane and crew took heavy enemy fire while making a series of three runs at their target, an oil refinery. After managing to return to base, the crew counted 115 holes in their B-17 from Nazi fighter-plane rounds and anti-aircraft flak. During their entire Leipzig mission under General Doolittle, a total of 56 American planes and more than 500 American troops were lost, overall, Hathaway's unit suffered a 50% casualty rate during World War II. In the fall of 1944, his crew was on a mission to Frankfurt, when their plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, they lost three engines before crash-landing in a field in France, where they were rescued by the French Resistance. For his service during the War, Hathaway was the recipient of the French Croix de Guerre, U. S. Presidential Unit Citations, five Air Medals. After his discharge from the Air Corps, Hathaway enrolled at the University of Nebraska, where he earned a bachelor's degree.
He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law in 1950. While there, he met Roberta "Bobby" Harley, they were married on November 25, 1948. Following his graduation from law school, the Hathaways moved to Torrington, where Mrs. Hathaway taught English at Torrington Junior High School while Hathaway established a law practice, they had two daughters and Sandra. From 1954 until 1962, he served in Torrington as prosecuting attorney for Goshen County in southeastern Wyoming. In 1962, he was elected Chairman of the Goshen County Republican Party and Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee. In 1963, he was elected Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and served for two years on the Republican National Committee. In 1966, Hathaway was elected governor of Wyoming, was re-elected to a second term by a large margin in 1970, he declined to run for a third term. His tenure as governor was marked by significant reorganization of State government and the passage of new environmental laws: the enactment of air and water quality standards, surface mining regulations, the creation of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
Other new departments created during the Hathaway administration included a Department of Recreation to oversee and improve care of state parks and to provide support for Wyoming's tourism industry, a Department of Economic Planning and Development to promote economic growth in the state. Wyoming's economy had been in the doldrums when Hathaway was elected governor, but he set in motion a number of initiatives which turned the economy around and saw it booming by the time he left office. Another major accomplishment during his administration was the enactment of Wyoming's first mineral severance tax in 1969, of an amendment to the Wyoming State Constitution in 1974 creating a Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, that imposes a 1½% tax on the extraction of minerals in the State, the proceeds of which are deposited in the Trust Fund; the principal of the Trust Fund can never be spent, but the income from it goes into the State's general fund. Mrs. Hathaway was very active during her tenure as Wyoming's First Lady in the promotion of many new initiatives.
These included the creation of an Arts Council supported by donated funds to promote arts in the state. During his tenure as governor, Hathaway served as Chairman of the Western Governor's Conference and as Chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, the National Governor's Conference Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Management, the Federation of Rocky Mountain States. Among his last appointments in office was that of Richard V. Thomas to the Wyoming Supreme Court, a position that Thomas held from December 1974 until February 2001. After retiring from the governor's office in 1975, Hathaway was nominated for Secretary of the Interior by President Gerald Ford, taking office following lengthy and at times contentious confirmation hearings, Hathaway served under President Gerald R. Ford as Secretary of the Interior. During his brief tenure at the Department of the Interior, h