[128] While Harrison approved of the law and its intent, his administration was not particularly vigorous in enforcing it.[129] However, the government successfully concluded a case during Harrison's time in office (against a Tennessee coal company),[d] and had initiated several other cases against trusts.[129]
One of the most volatile questions of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver, or by gold alone.[130] The issue cut across party lines, with western Republicans and southern Democrats joining together in the call for the free coinage of silver, and both parties' representatives in the northeast holding firm for the gold standard. Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold, taxpayers paid their government bills in silver, while international creditors demanded payment in gold, resulting in a depletion of the nation's gold supply. Owing to worldwide deflation in the late 19th century, however, a strict gold standard had resulted in reduction of incomes without the equivalent reduction in debts, pushing debtors and the poor to call for silver coinage as an inflationary measure.