850 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. 



in domestic coins. During the same period the 

 imports of gold amounted to $18,516,112, show- 

 ing a net loss of gold of $67,946,768, almost en- 

 tirely of our gold coins, of which $85,285,950 

 were consigned to Great Britain, $14,450,005 to 

 France, $12,429,500 to Germany, the remainder 

 to various countries. 



During the year an important change has oc- 

 curred in the coinage of the silver dollar. To 

 Aug. 13, 1890, the purchases of silver for coin- 

 age into dollars were made under the act of Feb. 

 28, 1878, and they amounted to 3.108,199-47 

 ounces, costing $3,049,426.46. There were coined 

 during the year under this act 8.740,327 silver 

 dollars. On Aug. 13, 1890, the act of July 14, 

 1890, went into effect, requiring the purchase 

 monthly of 4,500.000 ounces of silver, and the 

 coinage per month, until July 1, 1891, of 2,000,- 

 000 ounces; after that date of only such an 

 amount as might be necessary to provide for the 

 notes therein authorized, which notes were made 

 a legal tender in payment of all debts, public or 

 private, except where otherwise expressly stipu- 

 lated in the contract, were to be issued in pay- 

 ment of the bullion purchased, one dollar for 

 371J ounces of pure silver, and redeemed in coin 

 by the United States Treasury. 



It. will be noticed that the notes are redeem- 

 able in COIN, the character of which is not speci- 

 fied, but in another section it is specifically 

 stated that the Secretary of the Treasury shall re- 

 deem them in either gold or silver, "it being the 

 established policy of the United States to main- 

 tain the two metals at a parity with each other 

 upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as 

 may be provided by law." 



During the year ending June 1, 1891, there 

 were purchased, under the above act, 53,770,- 

 125-61 standard ounces of silver, at a cost of 

 $50,577,498.44, for which notes in question were 

 issued, and there was coined thereunder, to June 

 30, 1891, 27,292,475 silver dollars, which, with 

 the amount previously stated, coined under the 

 act of 1878, and 200,000 pieces coined from 

 trade dollars, .under act of March 3, 1891, 

 makes the total coinage of silver dollars for the 

 year 36,232,802 pieces, on which there was a 

 seigniorage or ostensible profit of $6,221,333.42, 

 that sum representing the difference between 

 the commercial and the face value of the coins 

 in question. 



The fluctuations in the value of silver, as 

 compared with the gold standard, were unusual- 

 ly great during the year, making the lowest 

 value of silver contained in a silver dollar $0.75, 

 the highest $0.936, or an average value of $0.814. 



Under the appropriation by Congress of 

 $150,000 for loss of metal in the coinage of un- 

 cnrrent fractional silver coins there was recoined 

 of such pieces in face value $4,277,917.74, on 

 which the loss from abrasion was $134,676.10, or 

 about 3 per cent. 



Circulation. Of the circulation of the coun- 

 try there has been a decrease in total gold coin 

 of about $30,000,000 between June 30, 1890, and 

 Nov. 1, 1891. and during the same period 

 an increase of $40,000.000 in silver dollars, ac- 

 cording to the estimate of the director of the 

 mint. There was, however, at the same time, an 

 increase of certificates issued for which coin was 

 held, leaving the net coin in circulation, includ- 



ing fractional pieces, at the latter date, 

 004,015, against $547,594,158 on June 30/1890. 

 The amount of outstanding paper money has 

 also been subjected, meanwhile, to several im- 

 portant changes. The national banks have de- 

 creased their circulation more than $15,000,000, 

 but under the act of July 12, 1890, there has 

 been put into circulation,' for which the Gov- 

 ernment holds purchases of silver bullion pre- 

 'sumed of like value, $68,725,270, representing 

 an increase of circulation to that extent. Also 

 the fund for redemption of national-bank 

 notes, amounting on June 30, 1890, to $61,288.- 

 857, was covered into the Treasury by the same 

 act, except the small portion known as the 5-per- 

 cent, fund, established to meet current redemp- 

 tions of the notes, reducing the fund to $5,781,- 

 538 on Jan. 1, 1892, and further increasing 

 the actual paper money in circulation, making 

 an increase in the aggregate of the paper money 

 in circulation between the dates named from 

 $908,549,612 to $1,069,830,796, or in the total 

 coin and paper circulation of the country from 

 $1,456,143,770 to $1,573,934,811, a per capita in- 

 crease on the census of 1890 from $20.26 to 



(go,-; 1 Q 



Jp/iO.lO. 



The following table shows in detail the 

 changes in the monetary circulation of the 

 country between the dates named : 



