REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.

19 F

REPORT

OF

THE DIRECTOR OF THE
THE MINT.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

October 20, 1876.

SIR: In compliance with the provisions of the coinage act of 1873, I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the mints and assay-offices for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876.

The amounts of gold and silver deposits and purchases, coins struck, and bars manufactured, were as follows:

Deducting redeposits, (bars made and issued by one institution and deposited at another,) the deposits were:

The distribution of the gold and silver bullion deposited and pur

chased, including redeposits, was as follows:

The coinage at the different mints during the fiscal year was as follows:

The bars made and issued at the mints and assay-offices were as follows:

3, 520, 454 40 8,514, 233 22 6, 213, 306 79 2,071, 480 30 11,050 68 20, 330, 525 39

Compared with the previous year, there was an increase of $14,327,686 in the amount of gold operated upon, $10,211,296.72 in the amount of silver operated upon, $4,624,997.50 in gold coinage, and $9,056,134.50 in silver coinage.

The expenses of the mints and assay-offices for the year were

$1,495, 815 59

479, 771 19 1,724, 181 26 188,494 00

2,392, 426 45

INCREASE OF COINAGE.

Nearly half of the month of July last was occupied in completing the annual settlement of accounts, and coining operations did not get fully under way until toward the close of that month.

Immediately after the passage of the appropriation bills you directed that the mints should be run to their utmost capacity, in order to execute with promptness the laws in reference to the issue of the silver coinage.

The superintendents of the mints were instructed accordingly, and the officers and employés responded with alacrity and zeal. Notwithstanding the employés have been required to work, in addition to the regular day's work of eight hours, as many extra hours as they could endure, not a single word of complaint has been heard from any source. The silver coinage during the months of August and September of the current fiscal year has largely exceeded in amount that of any corresponding period of time in the history of the Mint. The coinage of trade-dollars was $1,082,200, and of subsidiary silver $4,398,210. The gold coinage during the same period was $8,675,100, and the minor coinage $18,450. The silver coinage was at the rate of $32,882,460 per annum. The largest silver coinage in any year preceding the establishment of this bureau was in 1853, immediately after the change of the standard, and amounted to $9,077,571.

There has been some disposition to question the necessity for increased appropriations for the support of the mints. The extraordinary coinage referred to should be a sufficient answer to the same.

It is proper to state here that in the German Empire, where a new coinage has been in progress since 1872, eight mints have been and still are employed, while we have but three at which coinage is executed.

Should any laws be enacted at the approaching session of Congress contemplating the issue of silver in any other mode than the redemption of fractional currency and in exchange for gold coin, the necessity of providing for the coining of silver at the New Orleans mint is respectfully submitted for your consideration. That establishment could be put in condition for such coining in about three months, and at an expense of about $75,000. This could be done to meet the present requirements, and postpone for a time the establishment of a mint for the coinage of gold and silver at a convenient point in the Mississippi Valley.

MANUFACTURE OF MEDALS AND DIES.

During the year 18,640 medals were struck and 1,843 dies manufac tured at the Philadelphia mint. The increased coinage of silver has heavily taxed the capacity of the engraving department in furnishing a sufficient number of dies to insure a creditable appearance to the coin issued. New specimen-dies for the silver coinage are in course of preparation. The best artistic skill has been secured, and every effort is being made to bring this branch of minting operations to a high standard of excellence.

COINAGE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

Recent assays made at the Philadelphia mint of Belgian twenty-franc gold and five-franc silver pieces exhibited an exact correspondence with the legal standard of fineness. Assays made at the same mint of Russian gold coinage showed a close approximation to the legal standard of that country.