Q. David Bowers
"That there shall be coined, at the several mints of the United States, silver dollars of the weight of four hundred and twelve and a half grains troy of standard silver, as provided in the Act of January eighteenth, eighteen hundred thirty-seven, on which shall be the devices and superscriptions provided by said act; which coins together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States, of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender at their nominal value, for all debts and dues public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. And the secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than two million dollars worth per month, nor more than four million dollars worth per month, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars; and a sum sufficient to carry out the foregoing provision of this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. And any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing laws relative to the subsidiary coinage: Provided, That the amount of money at any one time is invested in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting coin, shall not exceed five million dollars: And provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the payment in silver of certificates of deposit issued under the provisions of section two hundred and fifty-foul of the Revised Statutes.
"SEC.3. That any holder of the coin authorized by this act may deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than ten dollars, and receive therefor certificates of not less than ten dollars each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin deposited for or representing the certificates shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, when so received, may be reissued.
"Under the Act of 1878 the United States government purchased a total of 291,018,018.56 ounces, fine, of silver, at a cost of $308,279,261.71, the average price per ounce being $1.0583. The coining value of the silver thus purchased was $376,265,722.
"The Act of 1878 was not entirely satisfactory to the advocates of silver. It had not conceded enough in favor of that metal. For nearly ten years the repeal of its purchasing clause was recommended by the presidents in their messages and by the secretaries of the Treasury in their reports. But while the presidents and the secretaries were pointing out the danger of the act to the monetary condition of the country strong endeavors were being put forth in both Houses of Congress to find means to still further increase the coinage of silver. Efforts were made for a series of years to procure the passage of a bill providing for the free coinage of silver, but were unsuccessful, After much agitation and discussion, extending from the time of the passage of the Act of 1878 until the middle of 1890, the Act of July 14 of the latter year was approved by the president. It was a compromise measure between the adherents of the unlimited coinage of full legal tender silver and their opponents. "The Act of July 14, 1890, is here given:
"AN ACT directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes.
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion to the aggregate amount of four million five hundred thousand ounces, or so much thereof as may be offered in each month, at the market price thereof, not exceeding one dollar for three hundred and seventy-one and twenty-five hundredths grains of pure silver, and to issue in payment for such purchases of silver bullion Treasury notes of the United States to be prepared by the secretary of the Treasury, in such form and of such denominations, not less than one dollar nor more than one thousand dollars, as he may prescribe, and a sum sufficient to carry into effect the provisions of this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
"SEC. 2. That the Treasury notes issued in accordance with the provisions of this act shall be redeemable on demand, in coin, at the Treasury of the United States, or at the office of any assistant treasurer of the United States, and when so redeemed may be reissued; but no greater or less amount of such notes shall be outstanding at any time than the cost of the silver bullion and the standard silver dollars coined therefrom, then held in the Treasury purchased by such notes; and such Treasury notes shall be a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract, and shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and when so received may be reissued; and such notes, when held by any national banking association, may be counted as a part of its lawful reserve. That upon demand of the holder of any of the Treasury notes herein provided for the secretary of the Treasury shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, redeem such notes in gold or silver coin, at his discretion, it being the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law.
"SEC. 3. That the secretary of the Treasury shall each month coin two million ounces of the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act into standard silver dollars until the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and after that time he shall coin of the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act as much as may be necessary to provide for the redemption of the Treasury notes herein provided for, and any gain or seigniorage arising from such coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury.
"SEC. 4. That the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act shall be subject to the requirements of existing law and the regulations of the Mint service governing the methods of determining the amount of pure silver contained, and the amount of charges or deductions, if any, to be made.
"SEC. 5. That so much of the Act of February twentyeighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, entitled 'An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar and to restore its legal tender character,' as requires the monthly purchase and coinage of the same into silver dollars of not less than two million dollars, nor more than four million dollars' worth of silver bullion, is hereby repealed.
"SEC. 6. That upon the passage of this act the balances standing with the Treasurer of the United States to the respective credits of national banks for deposits made to redeem the circulating notes of such banks, and all deposits thereafter received for like purpose, shall be covered into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt, and the Treasurer of the United States shall redeem from the general cash in the Treasury the circulating notes of said banks, which may come into his possession subject to redemption; and upon the certificate of the Comptroller of the Currency that such notes have been received by him and that they have been destroyed and that no new notes willbe issued in their place, reimbursement of their amount shall be made to the Treasurer, under such regulations as the secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, from an appropriation hereby, created, to be known, as National bank notes Redemption account: but the provisions of this act shall not apply to the deposits received under section three of the Act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, requiring every national bank to keep in lawful money with the Treasury of the United States a sumequal to five percentum of its circulation, to be held and used for the redemption of its circulating notes; and the balance remaining of the deposits so covered shall, at the close of each month, be reported on the monthly public debt statement as debt of the United States bearing no interest.