790 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDIMGS. 



PLATES OF FRACTIONAL CURRENCY. 



December 13, 1877 Senate. 



Alv. A. S. PADDOCK introduced a resolution (S. 10): 



That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and hereby is, authorized and directed to 

 withhold from destruction and deliver to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, in Washington, District of Columbia, to be held by that Institution as objects of 

 interest, the following-described canceled plates heretofore used in the printing of 

 United States fractional currency: 



One fifty-cent faceplate, fifth issue, series 1875. 



One fifty-cent backplate, fifth issue, series 1875. 



One twenty-five-cent faceplate, fifth issue, series 1874. 



One twenty-five-cent backplate, fifth issue, series 1874. 



One ten-cent faceplate, fifth issue, series 1874. 



One ten-cent backplate, fifth issue, series 1874. 



Referred to Committee on Finance. 



Mr. PADDOCK. I will state that I have recently served on a commit- 

 tee appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, upon which both 

 Houses of Congress were represented, to witness the counting of these 

 plates and to examine the cancellation thereof. They are the plates 

 upon which all the fractional current-}' was printed. They are very 

 elegant specimens of workmanship, and they are all to be destroyed in 

 pursuance of law very shortly. It occurred to the committee that it 

 might be well to preserve one of each series and have them lodged in 

 the Smithsonian Institute as objects of interest hereafter. 



The Vice-President (Mr. W. A. WHEELER). The joint resolution will 

 be referred to the Committee on Finance. 



Mr PADDOCK. I ask for the present consideration of the joint reso- 

 lution. 



Mr. H. G. DAVIS, of West Virginia. I think the Senator had better 

 let it be printed and referred. It is a matter of some importance to 

 know just what should be done with the plates that have gone out of 

 use in the Treasury Department. 



The VICE-PRESIDENT. The joint resolution will be printed under the 

 rule. It goes over under objection. 



Mr. PADDOCK. It is provided by law that those plates shall be 

 destroyed, and the}" are all ready now for destruction. They are to go 

 to the navy -yard and be there melted in the furnace, and, as the work 

 is very shortly to be completed, it seems to me it is a matter of inter- 

 est which should be considered at once. 



Mr. H. L. DAWES. If this were only a question of interest, as 

 suggested by the Senator from Nebraska, there would be no trouble 

 about it; but the question of safety is so considerable that it does not 

 seem to me that it is quite safe to pass the joint resolution without 

 consideration. 



The VICE-PRESIDENT. Under objection the joint resolution has 

 already gone over. 



