228 



CONGRESS. (FREE COINAGE.) 



cattle, sheep, and swine found to be free of disease, 

 and wholesome, sound, and fit for human food, shall 

 be marked, stamped, or labeled for identification as 

 may be provided by said rules and regulations of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture. 



Any person who shall forge, counterfeit, or know- 

 ingly and wrongfully alter, deface, or destroy any of 

 the marks, stamps, or other devices provided for in 

 the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture, of any 

 such carcasses or their products, or who shal^ forge, 

 counterfeit, or knowingly and wrongfully alter, de- 

 face, or destroy any certificate provided in said regu- 

 lations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 

 and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine 

 not exceeding $1.000, or imprisonment not exceeding 

 one year, or by both said punishments in the dis- 

 cretion of the court. 



SEC. 5. That it shall be unlawful for any person to 

 transport from one State or Territory or the District 

 of Columbia into any other State or Territory or the 

 District of Columbia, or for any person to deliver to 

 another for transportation from one State or Territory 

 or the District of Columbia into another State or Ter- 

 ritory or the District of Columbia the carcasses of 

 any cattle, sheep, or swine, or the food products 

 thereof, which have been examined in accordance 

 with the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of this act, 

 and which on said examination have been declared 

 by the inspector making the same to be unsound or 

 diseased. Any persons violating the provisions of 

 this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 

 and punished for each offense as provided in section 

 4 of this act. 



SEC. 6. That the inspectors provided for in sections 

 1 and 2 of this act shall be authorized to give official 

 certificates of the sound and wholesome condition of 

 the cattle, sheep, and swine, their carcasses and prod- 

 ucts, described in sections 3 and 4 of this act, and 

 one copy of every certificate granted under the pro- 

 visions of this act shall be filed in the Department 

 of Agriculture, another copy shall be delivered to 

 the owner or shipper, and when the cattle, sheep, and 

 swine, or their carcasses and products are sent abroad, 

 a third copy shall be delivered to the chief officer of 

 the vessel on which the shipment shall be made. , 



SEO. 7. That none of the provisions of this act shall 

 be so construed as to apply to any cattle, sheep, or 

 swine slaughtered by any farmer upon his farm, 

 which may be transported from one State or Terri- 

 tory or the District or Columbia into another State or 

 Territory or the District of Columbia : Provided, 

 however, That if the carcasses of such cattle, sheep, or 

 swine go to any packing or canning establishment 

 and are intended for transportation to any other State 

 or Territory or the District of Columbia as herein- 

 before provided, they shall there be subject to the 

 post-mortem examination provided for in sections 3 

 and 4 of this act. 



The Senate concurred in the House amend- 

 mendment, and the President approved the 

 measure, March 3. 



Free Coinage. One of the much discussed 

 measures in this session of the Congress was that 

 " to provide against a contraction of the cur- 

 rency." It was brought up in the Senate Dec. 

 30, 1890, and was reported from the Finance 

 Committee in the following form : 



Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretaiy of the Treas- 

 ury is hereby directed to purchase from time to time, 

 during the calendar year 1891, silver bullion to the 

 aggregate of 12,000,000 ounces at the market price 

 thereof, not exceeding $J. for 371.25 grains of pure 

 silver, m addition to the amount required to be pur- 

 chased by the act approved July 14, 1890, entitled 

 " An Act directing the purchase of silver bullion and 

 the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other 

 purposes," of which sum of 12,000,000 ounces there 

 shall be purchased, at the discretion of the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, not exceeding 3^,000,000 ounces in 



any one month ; and the Secretary of the Treasury 

 shall issue in payment for such purchases of silver 

 bullion Treasury notes of the United States of the 

 same form and description and having the same le- 

 gal qualities as the notes provided for by the said 

 act. And such Treasury notes shall be a legal ten- 

 der and be received, redeemed, and reissued in the 

 same manner and to the same extent as other Treas- 

 urv notes. 



SEC. 2. That the compulsory requirement of de- 

 posits of United States bonds with the Treasurer of 

 the United States by national banks having a capital 

 of not more than $50,000 is hereby limited in amount 

 to $1,000 of bonds for each and every national bank : 

 Provided, That the voluntary withdrawal of bonds 

 for the retirement of such national-bank notes shall 

 not exceed the sum of $3.000,000 in any one month ; 

 And provided further, That this act shall not apply 

 to the deposits of bonds which may be required by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury to secure deposits of 

 public moneys in the national banks. 



SEC. 3. That upon any deposits already or here- 

 after made of any United States bonds bearing in- 

 terest, in the manner required by law, any national 

 banking association making the same shall be en- 

 titled to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency 

 circulating notes of different denominations, in blank, 

 registered and countersigned as provided by law. not 

 exceeding in the whole amount the par value or the 

 bonds deposited : Provided, That at no time shall the 

 total amount of such notes issued to any such asso- 

 ciation exceed the amount at such time actually paid 

 in of its capital stock. 



SEC. 4. That the Secretary of the Treasury is here- 

 by authorized to issue, in a sum or sums not exceed- 

 ing in the aggregate $200.000,000, coupon or regis- 

 tered bonds of the United States, in such form as 

 he may prescribe, and of denominations of $50 or 

 some multiple of that sum, redeemable in lawful 

 money at the pleasure of the United States, on and 

 after July 1, 1900, and bearing interest payable semi- 

 annually in such money at the rate of 2 per cent, per 

 annum. And he is authorized to sell or dispose of 

 any of the bonds issued under this act at not less 

 than their par vp.lue for any lawful money of the 

 United States, or for gold or silver certificates, and 

 to apply the proceeds thereof to the redemption of or 

 to the purchase of any of the bonds of the United 

 States, and for no other purpose whatever. And a 

 sum necessary to pay the expense of preparing, issu- 

 ing, advertising, and disposing of said bonds is here- 

 by appropriated out of any money in the Treasury 

 not otherwise appropriated. 



SEC. 5. Whenever the market price of silver bull- 

 ion shall have been continuously for a period of one 

 year $1 or more for 371'25 grains of pure silver all 

 purchasing of silver bullion hy the Secretary of the 

 Treasury shall cease, and thereupon and thereafter 

 any owner of silver bullion not too base for the oper- 

 ations of the mint may deposit the same in amounts 

 of the value of not less than $100 at any mint of the 

 United States to be formed into standard dollars or 

 bars for his benefit and without charge ; and at the 

 said owner's option he may receive instead the equiv- 

 alent thereof in the Treasury notes of the said act 

 approved July 14, 1890. 



SEC. 6. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and 

 he is hereby, authorized to cause the subsidiary silver 

 coins of the United States now in or which may here- 

 after be received into the Treasury and subtreasuries 

 of the United States, which are abraded, worn, mu- 

 tilated, defaced, or otherwise unfit for circulation, or 

 are of denominations for which there is no current 

 demand, to be recoined at the mints of the United 

 States into such denomination^ of silver coins now 

 authorized by law as may be required to meet the 

 demand therefor. That the loss incident to the re- 

 coinage of such uncurrent silver coins into new coins 

 shall DC paid from the gain arising from the coinage of 

 silver bullion into coin of a nominal value exceeding 

 the cost thereof, denominated " the silver profit fund." 



