Q. David Bowers
"(1) The secretary is instructed to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver, or so much thereof as may be offered in each month, at the market price, not to exceed our coining rate. "
(2) Payments for silver purchases are to be made in a new form of paper money denominated Treasury notes.
"(3) The Treasury notes are to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and may be held by any national bank association as a part of its lawful reserve.
"(4) It is declared to be the policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other at the present legal ratio, or such ratio as it may be provided by law. "(5) Two million ounces of silver bullion purchased shall be coined monthly into silver dollars until July 1, 1891.
"(6) After July 1, 1891, the compulsory coinage of the silver dollar ceases except as may be necessary to provide for the redemption of the Treasury notes.
"(7) The provision in the Act of February 28, 1878, requiring the monthly purchase and coinage into silver dollars of not less than $2 million nor more than $4 million worth of bullion is repealed.
"(8) The moneys on deposit with the Treasury for the redemption of national bank notes, are covered into the Treasury and retired bank notes are to be redeemed from the current cash.
"Immediately upon the passage of the act, regulations were prepared with the approval of the secretary of the Treasury, looking to the purchase of 4.5 million fine ounces of silver monthly by the Treasury Department.
"The following are the regulations issued:
"REGULATIONS FOR THE PURCHASE OF SILVER BULLION.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, "Bureau of the Mint, August 1, 1890.
"Purchases of silver bullion under the Act of February 28, 1878, will cease at the close of business on the 12th instant.
"The superintendent of the coinage mints will proceed, as fast as the current business of each mint will permit, to coin the silver bullion on hand at that date, purchased under the aforesaid act, into standard silver dollars, and the account of silver purchases and coinage under the Act of February 28, 1878, will be closed.
"On and after the 13th instant offers for the sale of silver bullion, under the provisions of the Act of July 14, 1890, in lots of ten thousand (10,000) ounces, and its delivery at one of the coinage mints of the United States, located respectively at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City, and New Orleans, will be received by telegraph or letter and considered at the Treasury Department on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of each week at 12 o'clock noon.
"All bids should be addressed to the director of the Mint, and should state the quantity in fine ounces, the price per fine ounce, and the mint at which the silver is to be delivered.
"Bidders will be notified by telegraph of the acceptance or rejection of their offers.
"The right to reject any and all bids is reserved, and also to accept any portion of the amount offered instead of the whole. No silver coin, except mutilated and uncurrent coin of the United States, will be received on account of purchases.
The delivery on the purchases must be completed within ten days after the acceptance of the offer, unless otherwise specified. Payment will be made by check drawn by the Superintendent of the Mint on an assistant treasurer of the United States to the order of the seller, payable in Treasury notes.
"When the bars delivered bear the stamp of well-known refineries, such approximation of the value of the bullion delivered as in the discretion of the Superintendent may be regarded safe and proper will be paid, pending melt and assay. When the bullion delivered on purchases requires parting or refining, the usual mint charges for these operations will be imposed. No bars weighing over twelve hundred (1,200) ounces will be received. The record of the purchases of silver bullion will be kept in the office of the director of the Mint, and all correspondence in regard to the same should be addressed to him.
"The superintendents of the mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City, and New Orleans are authorized to purchase, under the provisions of the Act of July 14, 1890, silver bullion in lots of less-than ten thousand (l0,000) ounces, at a price to be fixed from time to time by the director of the Mint and treated as a purchase of silver bullion under the provisions of the Act of July 14, 1890.
"Silver received in payment of charges on silver bullion deposited for bars, and in bar fractions, will be purchased at a rate to be fixed by the director of the Mint, and will be treated as a purchase of silver bullion under the provisions of the Act of July 14, 1890.
"Edward O. Leech, "Director of the Mint. "Approved:
"William Windom, "Secretary. "
Silver Dollar Distribution
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1890, gave the following information concerning distribution of silver dollars in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890 in the Philadelphia Mint: July 1, 1889, 23,445,618, coined during the fiscal year 21,385,860, total available for distribution 42,406,434. In the Philadelphia Mint June 30, 1890, 39,448,758, distributed, 2,957,676.
Coins dated 1889 reserved for the February 1890 meeting of the Assay Commission included the following silver dollars: 175 1889-CC; 5,938 1889-O; 846 1889-S; and 14,589 Philadelphia Mint coins. From these dollars, amounting to over 20,000 pieces, samples were selected for testing.
Cost of Producing Coins at Various Mints
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1890, estimated that the cost of producing each coin, not including minor coins, at the Philadelphia Mint was $0.0215, San Francisco $0.0404, New Orleans $0.0183, and Carson City $0.0816. In other words, it cost about 8 cents in expenses for salaries, wages, and incidentals (the items included in the cost per piece) to coin a silver or gold coin at Carson City, nearly 2 cents at New Orleans, 4 cents at San Francisco, and slightly over 2 cents at Philadelphia. Further:
"It is inequitable to draw comparisons between the relative cost of coinage at the various mints, as exhibited in the above table, for the reason that the character and amount of the coinages executed at them is so dissimilar.
"At the Philadelphia Mint, in addition to a great variety of gold and silver coinage, all the minor coinage is executed, the blanks for which are purchased under contract ready for striking, so that the only mechanical operations necessary to convert them into coin consist in heating and cleaning the disks and striking the coin.
"At the Mint in San Francisco, on the other hand, the bulk of the gold coinage is executed, which requires greater care and skill.
"At the Mint at New Orleans, where the coinage consists exclusively of silver dollars, a fair estimate of the cost of coining silver dollars may be obtained-1.8 cents per piece.
"The expense per piece of coinage at the Mint at Carson is very much greater than at the other mints, partly because the operations are very limited on account of lack of machinery as well as a stock of bullion, but also for the reason that the cost of repairs and renovating of the building, which has been closed for coinage purposes for four years, is included in the cost of coinage."