6o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Althougli the double eagle was not authorized until 1849, fifty- 

 seven years after the act which authorized the eagle, half eagle, and 

 quarter eagle, more double eagles have been coined than of any 

 other denomination of gold, and the intrinsic value thereof is more 

 than twice that of all the other gold coins put together. The total 

 value of all gold coined in the United States Mints, except the double 

 eagles, from the organization of the Mint in 1792 to June 30, 1897, 

 is $548,840,918. The value of the double eagles coined since 1850 

 (the first year of their coinage) to June 30, 1897, is $1,337,498,040. 



A circular issued by the United States Treasury Department 

 says, " The total coinage of gold by the mints of the United States 

 from 1792 to June 30, 1897, is $1,886,338,958, of which it is esti- 

 mated that $671,676,250 is now in existence as coin in the United 

 States." The pamphlet explains in detail the basis upon which the 

 estimate of the gold coin in the United States was established, and 

 says, " It will be seen that more than two thirds of the gold coins 

 struck at the mints of the United States have disappeared from cir- 

 culation." This is an astounding statement. What has become of 

 all this vast store of gold, amounting in value to $1,214,662,708, 

 or more than ninety per cent of the value of the entire issue of 

 double eagles? 



It is not a mere theory of mine that the disappearance from cir- 

 culation of about two thirds in value of all the gold coins struck at 



^^rtjssgmAgk,^^ 





$20 gold piece. Clark, Gruber & Co., Denver. 1861. 



the mints of the United States is due in part to the preponderance of 

 coinage of double eagles. Thirty-seven years ago the director of the 

 Mint called attention to the matter in his official report as follows: 

 " The chief design of a N'ational Mint is to subserve the interests of 

 the people at large preferably to a few large owners of bullion or 

 coin. The interests of the public and of depositors are not always 

 concurrent in the matter under discussion. . . . The plain effect of 

 issuing gold coin of a large size is to keep down the circulation of 

 specie, and increase the use of paper money." 



