794 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. 



current receipts. In the aggregate, there was an 

 increase of $65,885,105 of assets, of which the in- 

 creased holding of gold alone was $62,005,275, large 

 importations of that metal having occurred in the 

 last few months of the calendar year. Of the amount 

 of gold held Dec. 31, 1896, $100,000,000 is elsewhere 

 reported as the reserve accumulated under the Ke- 

 sumption Act to meet the redemption of the United 

 States notes, and as a liability is included as a part 

 of the general Treasury balance. 



The debt of the United States is of two kinds, one 

 with reserve and one without. To the extent thai 

 a reserve is maintained the aggregate is necessarily 

 reduced. Of the debt without reserve, there was aii 

 increase during the calendar year of $51). lxi;.76 :. 

 In this class of debt is included the amount of United 

 States notes outstanding, of which the coin reserve 

 held for their redemption on Dec. 31. 18%, was re- 

 ported as $100,000,000 : also the national bank re- 

 demption account, being the balance due from the 

 Government to national banks on account of legal 

 tenders furnished the Government by the banks for 

 redemption of their notes, the amount of such legal 

 tenders being included in the general Treasury bal- 

 ance subject to the official check of the department. 

 The details of this class of debt are set forth in the 

 following table : 



OUTSTANDING DEC. 31, 



The debt with reserve is represented entirely by 

 obligations employed as a part of the monetary" cir- 

 culation of the country against which the p'ublic 

 Treasury holds an equivalent of cash. This class of 

 debt_ increased during the last year $49,523,632, 

 causing, of course, an equivalent increase in the 

 cash of the Treasury. Included in this class of. 



debt is $100,000,000 of the United States notes, 

 being the portion of such notes for which a reserve 

 is held. The details of such debt are set forth in 

 the following table : 



The monetary circulation of the country consists 

 of gold, silver, and minor coins. United States notes, 

 gold, silver, and currency certificates, Treasury and 

 national bank notes. A large proportion of these 

 issues is held in the Treasury, as has already been 

 shown. The amount in circulation outside of the 

 Treasury on Dec. 31, 1895 and 1896, is set forth in 

 the accompanying table: 



It will be seen that there has been in the aggregate 

 an increase during the period of $71,016,676. The 

 only significant change in the circulation is the per- 

 sistent increase in the amount of the silver certificates 

 and the decrease in that of the Treasury notes of 

 181)0. not wholly evidenced by the table. At the time 

 of the repeal of the act authorizing the issue of Treas- 

 ury notes, Nov. 1, 1893, there had been issued of such 

 notes in payment of silver bullion $155,931,002. On 

 Dec. 31, 1896, there was outstanding of these notes 

 only $ 11 9, 8 16,280, a reduction of $36,114,772. This 

 reduction was brought about by retiring the notes 

 and issuing in their place silver certificates author- 

 i/cd by the act of 1878. Under the authority given 

 the Secretary to coin such portion of the silver bul- 

 lion purchased under the act of 1890 as he might 

 deem necessary, there has been coined to Nov. 1, 

 1896, 56,306,876 silver dollars, yielding a seigniorage 

 or profit of $13,304.635 ; on ail of which dollars sil- 

 ver certificates could be issued, thus easily enabling 

 the change from notes to certificates to be made. 



