Governing the Philippine Islands 



279 



in the United States. There is no 

 scarcity of such material, and if it be 

 sent I feel that there can be no question 

 as to the final result." 



PHILIPPINE CURRENCY 



As an illustration of how both Wash- 

 ington and Manila work through the 

 Bureau, let me make mention of the work 

 necessary to be performed in the United 

 States in carrying out the orders of the 

 Secretary of War and the enactments of 

 the Philippine Commission putting into 

 effect the act of Congress providing for 

 a monetary system in the Philippines, 

 which had been under consideration by 

 Congress for two years. 



Under the authority of sections 76 to 

 83, inclusive, of the Philippine govern- 

 ment act and of the act entitled ' 'An 

 act to establish a standard of value and 

 to provide for a coinage system in the 

 Philippine Islands," approved March 2, 

 1903, by instructions from the Philip- 

 pine government the Bureau supervised 

 the coinage of 14,145,000 silver pesos, 

 3,100,000 50-centavo pieces or half 

 pesos, 5,350,000 20-centavo pieces, 

 5,100,000 10-centavo pieces, 8,850,000 

 5-centavo pieces, 10,600,000 i-centavo 

 pieces, 11,950,000 half-centavo pieces, 

 making an aggregate in face value of 

 1 7, 883, 250 silver pesos, each of the face 

 value of one-half an American gold dol- 

 lar and having an aggregate face value 

 of $8,941,625 gold money of the United 

 States. 



The coins were made from designs by 

 Melecio Figueroa, a Filipino artist of 

 distinction, and both in the artistic 

 quality of the designs and in perfection 

 of workmanship they compare favor- 

 ably with anything of the kind ever 

 done in America. The silver bullion 

 purchased for this coinage amounted to 

 [3,520,895.82 ounces. The cost of the 

 bullion amounted to $7,372,990. 11. Of 

 the amount purchased, 1,115,234.52 

 ounces were purchased from the Mexi- 

 can Pious Award fund in the hands of 



the Department of State. The remain- 

 der was purchased from various firms 

 and corporations upon offers tendered 

 twice a week in response to a public 

 invitation. 



The total quantity of silver bullion 

 actually consumed in making the coins 

 above specified was 13,478,448.07 ounces 

 and the cost thereof $7,342,588.89. 



The purchase of bullion for the pres- 

 ent has been suspended. In the mean- 

 time the old Spanish-Philippine coinage 

 is being collected and shipped to the 

 United States for recoinage. It is esti- 

 mated that there are some 12,000,000 

 pesos of this coinage. Mexicans were 

 demonetized on January 1. 



The price at which this silver bullion 

 was purchased ranged from 49. 10 cents 

 per ounce to 60.47 cents per ounce. 

 The average price paid was 55.193 

 cents per ounce. This makes the cost 

 to the Philippine Government of the 

 silver in each peso coined equal to 43.05 

 cents. The difference between the 

 actual cost of the bullion consumed in 

 making the coins above mentioned, in- 

 cluding the cost of base metal for alloy 

 and minor coins, and the total face 

 value of the coinage is $1,495,644.85. 

 The total cost of coining, transporta- 

 tion, insurance, packing, and miscel- 

 laneous expenses was $256, 930. 35, leav- 

 ing a seigniorage or profit to the Phil- 

 ippine Government, consisting of the 

 difference between the face value of the 

 new coins and the total cost of the new 

 coins delivered in Manila, amounting 

 to $1,238,714.50. This sum will go 

 into the special fund for the mainte- 

 nance of parity between the new coins 

 and the money of the United States. 



Section 8 of the act of March 2, 1903, 

 authorized the treasurer of the Philip- 

 pine Islands, in his discretion, to re- 

 ceive deposits of the standard silver 

 coins of 1 peso in sums of not less than 

 20 pesos, and to issue silver certificates 

 therefor in denominations of not less 

 than 2 nor more than 10 pesos, retain- 



