Q. David Bowers
"Coined $7,575,288. Transferred to Treasury $3,118,072. Distributed $4,457,216. Annual average distribution, $636,745.
"For the first three years of operations at the mint at Carson, from 1870 to 1872 inclusive, a considerable volume of silver was deposited for unparted bars. From 1873 to the middle of 1875 large deposits of silver were made for trade dollars, many of which passed into local circulation. For the coinage of subsidiary local coin at this mint in 1876 and the following year comparatively large purchases of silver were made. Since that time all silver coinage has consisted of standard dollars, the monthly capacity of the mint for this kind of coin being some 200,000; All of the silver coined at this mint has been deposited in an unparted state. The deposits of gold, therefore, correspond in amount to the relative proportion of this metal contained in unparted deposits known as dore bullion.
"If special purchases of unparted silver bullion be undertaken for continued coinage of silver dollars at Carson, it is extremely doubtful whether it can as a rule be bought at current rates, as now the case at San Francisco for the limited requirements of the mint at that city. These rates are generally somewhat below the rates current in the eastern states. And it is also doubtful whether offerings of silver bullion for delivery at Carson would in the future be, any more regular, or purchases be attended with fewer difficulties than formerly when required for a stated coinage of dollars at the mint at that point.
"If on the other hand proposals for the delivery of silver bullion at Carson be accepted according to the ruling of the secretary of the Treasury on the recommendation of the Treasury Commission in October 1878, only at a rate of one cent an ounce below parity of London rate, or at any rate less than current rates in San Francisco, it cannot be expected that any regular supply of silver for the mint at Carson can be secured.
"Coinage of silver dollars at Carson, from bullion there delivered at any reasonable or practicable rate, will, as already shown, be subject to a much higher cost of manufacture at the mint at Carson as compared with the cost at Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco; and also to the ultimate additional cost of transfer to San Francisco or Washington, except to the very small extent that silver dollars may be received in payment for silver purchased at the option of the seller or depositor of unparted bullion.
"It will thus beseen that the conditions of distribution of coin from the mint at Carson, which, even in the flourishing period of the mining and milling industries of the neighboring section of Nevada, so operated as to narrowly limit its output to the local requirements, are now far less favorable, owing to the contraction of these local industries during the last seven years.
"The requirements of the coinage of standard silver dollars under mandatory provisions of law are such, that regularity in purchases of silver at any given mint occupied with its coinage is indispensable. At no time since the mint at Carson has been called upon to contribute a stated monthly output of dollars by way of supplement to the larger production of the mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans has it been practicable to depend on deposits of silver without additional purchases for this purpose.
"Purchases for the mint at Carson by the Commission at this department were seldom without difficulty in procuring the necessary quantity at reasonable rates. So great had this difficulty become in 1879, that coinage was suspended at Carson from March 1 of mat year to June 30, and from November 1 of the same year to May 1, 1880, and again from April to October in 1881. This period was about the beginning ()f the decline of production of the Comstock Lode.
"The cost per piece of coinage at the mint at Carson when mainly occupied with double eagles and silver dollars was 7.28 cents in 1884 and 9.13 cents in 1885, against 1.55 in 1884 and 1.49 in 1885 at the mint at New Orleans-the two mints being occupied with about the same class of coinage. (See Report of the Director of the Mint, 1885, p. 13.)
"On February 26, 1879, the authority, which had been given to the mint at Carson, to purchase silver bullion in lots of less than ten thousand (10,000) ounces was revoked, on account, as stated, ofthe difficulty of procuring silver bullion for delivery at that mint at reasonable rates, and of the high rates demanded by the express companies for transporting coin.
"Instructions were at the same time given for the coining into silver dollars of the stock of silver bullion then on hand, and for reduction of the force of workmen, assistants, and adjusters to such number as would enable that mint to manipulate such gold bullion only as should be in future deposited, and to refine such silver bullion as should be deposited for return in fine bars. (See Report of the Director of the Mint, 1879, p. 8.)
"These instructions were communicated by the acting director of the Mint with the written approval of the secretary of the Treasury.
"Assistant Secretary French, United States Treasurer Wyman, and Director Burchard, constituting the Treasury Commission for the weekly purchase of silver, recommended acceptance of offers for the sale of silver to be delivered at Carson only when the rates were such that the cost of transferring the resulting coin, added to the price of bullion, would not exceed the cost at the mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans .... (Extract from Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, for 1886, p. 30)
"The only tangible proposition looking to a considerable or regular supply of silver bullion at Carson for coinage up to a stated quota of silver dollars has been on the part of a producer whose deposits were the largest during the period of the more active coinage operations at that mint. This proposition was for the delivery at Carson of silver partings at San Francisco rates, on the further condition that payments for both gold and silver be by remittance of United States Treasury draft on San Francisco, or otherwise, at the cost of the mint.
"Such an arrangement would be in favor of the depositor and against the mint by at least the cost of transportation to San Francisco at $3.80 per 1,000 ounces for silver bullion (or about $3 per $1,000), and from $1.50 to $2 per $1,000 on gold coin. The further effect of an arrangement of this kind would be to stop even the least distribution of silver dollars from the mint itself, thus throwing upon the mint the whole burden of their transfer to San Francisco or Washington.
"OPERATION OF THE MINT AT CARSON AS AN ASSAY OFFICE.
"The mint at Carson has at the present date been in operation more than a year as an assay office of the first class on the same footing as the assay office at New York-that is, with the adjunct of an acid refinery.
"The representations were made to this Department, and on the strength of which the mint was opened for deposits in October, 1886, have not since been borne out, notwithstanding the exercise by the depositor of gold bullion of every right which belonged to him before coinage operations were suspended. Silver deposits only could not be received in unlimited quantity except for parting and return of silver in bars.
"During the last year, as before, unparted gold bullion has been deposited for coin, and the silver partings have been purchased for cash to the extent of the supply of such bullion, which has, however, apparently kept within the requirements for local industrial disbursements. These have become less with the prevailing decline in local mining and milling industries.