Treasury Department
Document No. 907.
Director of the Mint.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, BUREAU OF THE MINT,
Washington, D. C., October 20,1886.

Hon. DANIEL MANNING,
    Secretary of the Treasury:

SIR: The duties of Director of the Mint were entered upon by me at the beginning of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886.

While the volume of the work executed during the same year by the several mints and assay offices of the United States was greater than that of the previous year, the total expenditure was less by $197,089.71. I proceed to exhibit in detail the performance of the mint service and its expenditures; this being my second annual report, the first having been made for a period under the administration of my predecessor.

APPROPRIATIONS, EARNINGS AND EXPENDITURES.

The specific appropriations made by Congress for the support of the mints and assay offices of the United States during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, amounted to $1,169,350.

Of this amount there was expended $947,369.04, leaving unexpended in the Treasury of the United States of the specific appropriations the sum of $221,980.96, as shown in the following statement:

In addition to the amount expended from the annual appropriations made by Congress for the support of the mints and assay offices, the sum of $119,976 was expended by two of the coinage mints from the indefinite general appropriation contained in the act authorizing the coinage of the standard silver dollar, passed February 28, 1878.

This amount was expended solely for defraying expenses incidental to the coinage of the silver dollar, as provided in that act.

For the support of the mints and assay offices, including the cost of the mandatory coinage of the silver dollar, the total expenditures from the two classes of appropriations, specific and general, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, were, as exhibited in the following statement, $1,067,345.04.

The total amount expended during the previous fiscal year was $1,261,601.29. Thus there was a reduction of expenditures in the mint service during the past fiscal year amounting to $194,256.25. A comparative statement of the coinage executed during the same years will presently be introduced. It was considerably greater during the last than the preceding year.

The reduction is exhibited in the following table:

In addition to the expenditures of the mints and assay offices, the expenses of the office of the Director of the Mint, including the salaries of officers and employés, expenditures for examinations of mints, for books and incidentals, and on account of Laboratory, were $34,197.85 in 1886, against $37,031.31 in 1885, a reduction of $2,833.46.

This reduction of expenditures is exhibited in the following table:

In addition to the amount expended at the mints from the standard silver dollar appropriation, there was expended at the Department, for daily quotations from London by telegraph of the price of silver, the sum of $918, which is the exact amount expended for the same purpose during the preceding fiscal year. Quotations so received are indispensable in making purchases of silver for the silver dollar coinage.

The total reduction of expenses effected in the adminstration of the mint service during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, from the expenditures of the prior year amounted, as already stated, to $197,089.71.

The appropriations for the fiscal year 1886-'87 amount to $1,092,100, against $1,169,350 for the fiscal year 1885-'86, being a reduction of $77,250. The appropriations for the fiscal year 1886-'87, as distributed among the various institutions, are exhibited in the following table:

EARNINGS AND EXPENSES OF THE REFINERIES OF THE COINAGE MINTS AND THE ASSAY OFFICE AT NEW YORK.

Paragraph 8, chapter 327, of Vol. I, Supplement to the Revised Statutes United States, provides as follows:

And refining and parting of bullion shall be carried on at the mints of the United States and at the assay office at New York.

And it shall be lawful to apply the moneys arising from charges collected from depositors for these operations pursuaut to law so far as may be necessary to the defraying in full of the expenses thereof, including labor, materials, and wastage; but no part of the moneys otherwise appropriated for the support of the mints and the assay office at New York shall be used to defray the expenses of refining and parting bullion.

Under this provision of law, which was passed originally in the appropriation act approved August 15, 1876, the charges for parting and refining bullion were so fixed at the several coinage mints and assay office at New York that collections should equal as nearly as possible the expenses of the operations. The charges have been reduced from time to time with the reduction of cost of acid and other materials consumed, and as rendered practicable by extension of the scale of operations. The charges collected from depositors have since the 1st of July, 1876, been deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of a fund denominated "parting and refining appropriation." Monthly advances have been made from this appropriation to the officers in charge of the various institutions, by whom monthly accounts of expenses have been rendered.

During the last fiscal year the charges collected from depositors for parting and refining bullion amounted to $162,855.53, while the total expenditures were $167,571.97, so that the expenses exceeded the receipts by $4,716.44.

This was occasioned by a ruling of the First Comptroller that the proceeds of the sale of blue vitriol and spent acid should be covered into the Treasury on account of sales of by-products as old material, these by-products having previously been taken at their market value by dealers in acid in part payment, and credited in their accounts.

The sum deposited on this account during the last three quarters of the fiscal year was $17,178.81. Deducting this credit from the expenditures for last year leaves for net expenditures $150,393.16. The net profit of parting and refining amounted accordingly to $12,462.37.

The amount to the credit of the parting and refining fund in the Treasury of the United States at the close of the fiscal year 1885-'86, being the excess of the charges deposited to the credit of the fund over and above the amount drawn from the same for expenditures during the period of ten years commencing July 1, 1876, was $184,436.57.

The charges collected and the expenditures at each institution during the fiscal year 1885-'86 are exhibited in the following table:

EARNINGS AND EXPENDITURES.

In the Appendix will be found the annual statement for the fiscal year showing the earnings from all sources at the mints and assay offices, as well as the expenditures and losses of all kinds.

The total amount earned was $6,032,680.39, of which $5,763,851 consisted of seignorage on silver dollars coined during the year, and $62.38 on subsidiary silver. The total expenses and losses of all kinds amounted to $1,429,591.82.

DEPOSITS AND PURCHASES OF GOLD AND SILVER AT THE MINTS AND ASSAY OFFICES.

The total value of the gold deposited at the mints and assay offices during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, amounted to $49,606,534.65, of which amount $4,696,785.42 consisted of bars of the several institutions re-deposited, leaving the net value of the gold deposited $44,909,749.23 against $52,894,075.09 in the preceding fiscal year, a falling off of $7,984,325.86. Of the deposits of gold at the mints and assay offices for the fiscal year 1885-'86 the sum of $32,456,493.64 was classified as of domestic production, and $4,317,068.27 as foreign bullion; $393,545.28 consisted of United States gold coins remelted, and $5,673,565.04 of foreign coins. The remainder, $2,069,077, consisted of jewelers' bars, old plate and jewelry, and miscellaneous old material.

The total value of the silver, computed at its coining rate in standard silver dollars, which is the accounting rate at the mints, deposited, purchased and parted at the mints and assay offices of the United States during the last fiscal year amounted to $37,917,026.36 (32,584,944.61 standard ounces). Of this amount the sum of $2,422,843.12 (2,082,130.83 standard ounces) consisted of fine and unparted bars of the several institutions re-deposited, leaving the net value of the silver deposited, purchased and parted during the year $35,494,183.24 (30,502,813.78 standard ounces) against $36,789,774.92 (31,616,212.91 standard ounces) in the preceding fiscal year: being a falling off in the net deposits of silver of 1,113,399.13 standard ounces of the value of $1,295,591.68. Of the net value of the silver deposited for bars, parted from gold and purchased for coinage during the year, namely, $35,494,183.24, the sum of $32,454,644.56 was classified as of domestic production, $1,480,425.43 of foreign bullion, $279,292.39 United States coins melted, $812,664.50 of foreign coins, and the remainder, $467,156.36, of old jewelry, plate, &c.

A very marked increase is to be noticed in the deposits of gold bullion at the Mint at San Francisco. The total value of the gold, exclusive of re-deposits, deposited at this institution during the fiscal year 1886 amounted to $27,319,837.25, against $20,774,252.86 in the preceding year, an increase of six and a half millions. This is the first year since 1882 that there has not been a decline in the deposits of gold at this institution, the marked decline since 1881 exhibited on page 4 of my annual report for the fiscal year 1884-'85, having amounted in the four years ended June 30, 1885, to $8,072,438.07. This is now very nearly offset by the large increase during the last fiscal year.

The most marked falling off in gold deposits during the year was at the Assay Office at New York, where the value of the gold deposited, exclusive of re-deposits, mounted to only $13,791,632.29, against $26,419,503.11 in the preceding year, being a falling off of about one-half.

In the Appendix will be found a statement showing the value of the foreign gold coin, by denomination of pieces, deposited at the Assay Office at New York in each of the eleven fiscal years 1875-1885 inclusive: also, statements showing the value of the foreign gold and silver coins deposited at the Mint at San Francisco in each fiscal year 1879-1886 with the countries of their coinage.

COINAGE.

The coinage of gold, performed exclusively at the mints at Philadelphia and San Francisco, amounted during the past fiscal year to 5,050,814 pieces, of the value of $34,077,380, against 1,748,158 pieces, valued at $24,861,123.50, in the preceding year. Of the gold coinage of the year, the sum of $27,080,000 was executed at the Mint at San Francisco; the rest at Philadelphia.

Of the gold coinage $4,871,680 was in double-eagles; $10,428,470 in eagles; $18,758,145 in half-eagles; $303 in three-dollar pieces; $10,215 in quarter-eagles, and $8,567 in dollars.

The silver coinage during the year amounted to 31,627,157 pieces, of the value of $30,022,347.95, against 31,699,096 pieces, of the value of $28,848,959.65, in the preceding fiscal year.

Of this amount $29,838,905 consisted of silver dollars, $3,052.50 of half-dollars, $3,626.25 of quarter-dollars, and $176,764.20 of dimes. The silver coinage was executed principally at the mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans. The Mint at Carson was closed during the entire year, although the coinage of 28,000 silver dollars is credited to that institution. This coinage was really executed prior to June 30, 1885, but not delivered by the coiner to the superintendent until after July 1, 1885, which brought it into this year's statement of coinage.

In addition to the gold and silver coinage, 1,706,651 minor coins were struck, of the value of $17,377.65. 1,696,613 pieces, of the value of $16,966.13, consisted of 1-cent bronze coins; 4,519 pieces, of the face value of $135.57, of 3-cent nickel pieces, and 5,519 pieces, of the face value of $275.95, of 5-cent nickel pieces. The minor coinage was executed at the Mint at Philadelphia.

The coinage executed was as follows:

MANUFACTURE OF GOLD AND SILVER BARS.

In addition to the coinage executed by the mints, the value of the gold and silver bars manufactured during the fiscal year 1886 amounted to-

The production of bars in the previous fiscal year amounted to-

The production of gold and silver bars was less by $14,308,743.41 than in the preceding year.

EXCHANGE OF GOLD BARS FOR GOLD COIN.

Under the provisions of the act of May 26, 1882, the mints of the United States and the Assay Office at New York were authorized to exchange gold bars for deposits of gold coin. The value of the bars so exchanged during the year amounted to $31,598,748.81, of which over $31,000,000 was exchanged at the Assay Office at New York.

The following table exhibits the value each month of the fiscal year of the fine gold bars given in exchange for gold coin at the Mint at Philadelphia and the Assay Office at New York. The total value of the bars thus exchanged ($31,598,748.81) was largely in excess of the amount exchanged during the previous year, which was only $2,065,021.78. The large increase was occasioned by the demand for gold bars for export.

COINAGE AND MEDAL DIES MANUFACTURED.

The number of medals manufactured at the Mint at Philadelphia during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, was 765, of which 54 were gold, 404 silver, and 307 bronze.

The number of medals sold during the year was 876, value $4,652.19; and of proof sets 3,358, value $4,515.92. A detailed statement of the same will be found in the Appendix.

The number of coinage and medal dies manufactured was 528, of which 183 consisted of gold coinage dies, 280 of silver; 28 of minor coinage, 26 of proof-coinage, and the others of medal dies.

The number of coinage dies manufactured for each of the coinage mints is exhibited in a table in the Appendix. Heretofore the cost of engraving these dies has been paid from the appropriation for the support of the Mint at Philadelphia, but under instructions as intimated in my previous report, has, since the commencement of the present fiscal year, been paid from the appropriation for the support of the mint to which the dies are furnished.

REFINING BY ACIDS.

The number of ounces of bullion sent to the acid refineries of the coinage mints and the Assay Office at New York to be refined during the year was 7,246,795, from which was separated gold and silver bullion as follows:

This sum was against $37,050,049 in the previous year. In the value of the bullion required to be refined at the mints and assay offices during the year, there was a falling off of $9,264,043.

As pointed out in my special report on the Production of the Precious Metals for the calendar year 1885, it is apparent that a larger portion of the refined production of the mines of this country found its way to private refineries than heretofore. While most of the bullion, especially gold, was eventually deposited at the mints and assay offices of the United States, it was more in the nature of refined bullion than heretofore.

The following table exhibits the weight of the bullion sent to the refinery of each of the mints and of the Assay Office at New York during the year, and the weight and value of the precious metals extracted:

PURCHASE OF SILVER FOR THE COINAGE OF THE STANDARD SILVER DOLLAR.

The act passed February 28, 1878, provided-

That there shall be coined at the several mints of the United States silver dollars of the weight of 412½ grains Troy of standard silver. * * * And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase from time to time silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than $2,000,000 worth per month, nor more than $4,000,000 worth per month, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars.

Prior to the commencement of the present fiscal year the Director of the Mint was charged not only with the supervision of the details of the purchases of silver bullion, but also with the reception of weekly bids by telegraph for the sales of silver bullion to the government, to be considered by himself and the other members of the Commission constituted March 9, 1878, by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of considering and recommending to the Secretary purchases of silver bullion.

On July 10, 1885, I had the honor to address you a communication in which I recommended that all bids be addressed to the Treasurer of the United States, and that the executive duties of the Commission be transferred from this Bureau to the Treasurer, except so far as these duties were in actual relation with the mints. It was also proposed that bids be invited on two days of each week, instead of one day as previously, with a view of preventing combinations in the silver market unfavorable to the government. Both of these recommendations were carried into effect by your order of July 14, 1885, since which date bids for the sale of silver bullion in lots of not less than 10,000 ounces have been addressed to the Treasurer of the United States on every Tuesday and Friday either by telegraph or by letter. The practical details of all transactions remain, as heretofore, in charge of this Bureau.

The amount of silver purchased and delivered during the fiscal year 1885-'86 in the manner stated was 24,296,413.76 standard ounces, costing $22,547,582.60, being an average cost per standard ounce of $0.928002, or $1.031113 per ounce fine. The average London price during the same period, computed from daily cable despatches to the Bureau of the Mint, was 47.038 pence per ounce, British standard. This, at the average rate of sterling exchange, $4.8751, was equivalent to $1.03295 per ounce fine.

In addition to the purchases by the Secretary of the Treasury on the recommendation of the Commission, silver bullion was also purchased, under authority given the superintendents of the coinage mints to purchase lots offered of less than 10,000 ounces, at a price fixed from time to time by the Director of the Mint to conform as nearly as possible to the market price of silver. The amount of silver purchased in lots of less than 10,000 ounces by the officers in charge of the coinage mints during the fiscal year 1885-'86 was 239,174.56 standard ounces, at a cost of $221,707.65.

The silver contained in gold deposits, called "partings," is also purchased for use toward the specific requirements of law for the silver-dollar coinage, at a price fixed from time to time by the Director of the Mint. The amount of silver representing the charges on deposits of silver bullion for bars, as well as the minute fractions of the deposit over and above the value of the bar returned, is, by authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, also purchased for use in the silver-dollar coinage, at the rate of $1 per standard ounce. The total amount of silver purchased during the year in partings and charges and bar-fractions was 141,311.41 standard ounces, costing $129,436.93.

In addition, there was transferred from the Assay Office at New York to the Mint at Philadelphia during the year, for use in the coinage of the standard silver dollar, silver bullion amounting to 534,936.87 standard ounces, at a value or cost to the government of $550,232.83. This silver had accumulated at the Assay Office at New York from partings and bar-charges and fractions.

Thus it will be seen that the total amount of silver purchased in these different ways for the silver-dollar coinage during the fiscal year was 25,211,836.60 standard ounces, at a cost to the government of $23,448,960.01, the average cost per standard ounce being $0.930077, equivalent to $1.03342 per ounce fine.

In addition to the silver purchased for the silver-dollar coinage, the Melter and Refiner of the Mint at Philadelphia, under instructions from this Bureau, deposited with the Superintendent 1,980.12 standard ounces of silver bullion, costing $1,936.62, which was the exact amount and value of three silver bars missed by this officer during the fiscal year 1884-85, and supposed to have been stolen, reference to which was made on pages 14 and 20 of my report for the fiscal year 1885.

This amount, 1,980.12 standard ounces, costing $1,936.62, formed a portion of the stock of silver bullion used in the coinage of standard silver dollars during the year.

This, added to the amount above stated, 25,211,836.60 standard ounces, costing $23,448,960.01, gives as the total stock of silver bullion acquired for the silver-dollar coinage during the year 25,213,816.72 standard ounces, costing $23,450,896.63.

The purchases of silver bullion for the silver-dollar coinage during the year are exhibited in the following table:

The stock of silver bullion on hand at the several coinage mints July 1, 1885, available for the silver-dollar coinage was 3,731,901.12 standard ounces, costing $3,627,682.32 (not including 1,980.12 standard ounces, costing $1,936.62, carried in "suspense account.") There was delivered at the mints on purchases during the year as stated 25,213,816.72 standard ounces, at a cost of $23,450,896.63, making the total amount of silver applicable to the silver-dollar coinage 28,945,717.84 standard ounces, costing $27,078,578.95.

The number of silver dollars coined during the year was 29,838,905. The amount of silver consumed in this coinage was 25,642,808.98 standard ounces, costing $24,075,054. The silver wasted by the operative officers and sold in sweeps during the year was *44,413.20 standard ounces, costing $42,555.93, making the total consumption of silver during the year 25,687,222.18 standard ounces, costing $24,117,609.93. The balance of silver bullion on hand at the coinage mints June 30, 1886, available for the silver-dollar coinage was 3,258,495.66 standard ounces, costing $2,960,969.02.

The average cost of the silver consumed during the year was $0.938895 per ounce standard, equivalent to $1.04321 per ounce fine.

In addition to the purchases of silver for the silver-dollar coinage, the amount of silver parted from gold at the Assay Office at New York and received in payment of charges and bar-fractions during the year

Of the amount of silver partings and bar-charges purchased at the Assay Office at New York during the year, as above mentioned, 123,848.82 standard ounces, costing $116,088.80, were transferred to the Mint at Philadelphia, and are included in the silver purchases of the year as already stated.

The difference between this amount and the total amount transferred from the Assay Office at New York during the year (534,936.87 standard ounces, costing $550,232.83), viz., 411,088.05 standard ounces, costing $434,134.03, consisted of silver parted from gold at the Assay Office at New York and of silver received in payment of charges and bar-fractions prior to the commencement of the fiscal year 1885-'86.

At the average monthly price of silver, it was necessary to purchase during the fiscal year 25,642,462 standard ounces in order to obtain $2,000,000 worth of silver bullion monthly, as required by law. The amount actually acquired was, as stated, 25,211,836 standard ounces. It may be well to note that this latter amount represents the deliveries at the mints during the year on silver purchases (including the transfers and local purchases), and that the amount actually purchased (contracted for, including the transfers, partings, &c.), was, in round figures, 25,783,200, being slightly in excess of the minimum amount required by law to be purchased.

The deliveries during the year on purchases (25,211,836.60 standard ounces, costing $23,448,960.01) at the several mints are shown in the following table:

There has been no purchase of silver bullion for the silver-dollar coinage at San Francisco during the year except such silver as was necessary for the special requirements of its refinery, and the silver parted from gold deposits and contained in charges and bar-fractions on silver deposits for bars.

At the Mint at Carson the purchase of silver was suspended prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, the only silver purchased during the year amounting to 229.58 standard ounces, at a cost of $223.12, and consisting of partings and bar-charges. The purchase of silver, as well as the coinage of the silver dollar, has been confined exclusively to the mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans, where the silver could be more economically obtained and the coinage executed with greater advantage to the government.

SUBSIDIARY SILVER COINAGE.

No silver was purchased during the year for purposes of the subsidiary coinage.

Uncurrent silver coin, however, in the Treasury, weighing 115,169.65 standard ounces, possessing a coining value in subsidiary silver of $143,290.39, was transferred from the Treasury of the United States to the Mint at Philadelphia for recoinage into dimes.

The amount of silver bullion on hand at the mints July 1, 1885, available for subsidiary coinage was *37,144.16 standard ounces of the value of $45,958.71. Adding to this the amount of uncurrent silver coins transferred from the Treasury, the total amount of silver at the mints available for purposes of the subsidiary coinage during the year was 152,313.81 standard ounces of the value of $189,249.10. Of this there was consumed in the coinage of subsidiary silver 147,442.28 standard ounces, costing the mint $183,380.57, and making subsidiary silver of the face value of $183,442.95, being a profit of $62.38.

The character of the subsidiary coinage executed during the year was:

The balance of silver bullion on hand June 30, 1886 (all being at the Mint at Philadelphia), available for the coinage of subsidiary silver, amounted to 4,871.54 standard ounces, costing $5,868.53.

In explanation of the cost of the silver used in subsidiary coinage, as compared with that used in the coinage of the standard silver dollar, it is proper to state that most of the silver used in the coinage of subsidiary silver consisted of uncurrent silver coins in the Treasury. When coins of this description are transferred from the Treasury to a mint for re-coinage, the full coining value in subsidiary silver of the pieces transferred is allowed by the mint and becomes the cost to the institution by which such silver is coined.

There has been a demand for some time past for dimes. The mints have therefore been called upon to recoin other silver coins into dimes. The fact that there is a large accumulation in the Treasury of fifty and twenty-five cent silver pieces tends to indicate that the coinage of those denominations has been in excess of the requirements of the public.

The stock of subsidiary silver in the Treasury consists almost exclusively of these two denominations. It seems desirable, therefore, instead of buying silver for the coinage of dimes, for which there is a pressing demand, to re-coin the worn twenty-five and fifty cent pieces in the Treasury, and uncurrent three, five, and twenty-cent pieces which may be presented to the Treasury for redemption.

This could readily be done by act of Congress appropriating a sufficient amount to pay the loss on such recoinage, being the difference between the face value of the coins as received in the Treasury and the amount of silver which they will actually produce in coin when recoined.

DISTRIBUTION OF SILVER DOLLARS.

In the accompanying table is exhibited in detail the distribution of silver dollars by the mints of the United States during the fiscal year.

It will be noticed that during the fiscal year 30,250,000 silver dollars were transferred from the coinage mints to the Treasury of the United States, and that there were actually paid out at the mints to individuals 11,361,979.

Owing to the very large amount transferred to the Treasury of the United States, the balance of silver dollars at the mints has, notwithstanding the coinage, been decreased during the year, being $50,482,787 on June 30, 1886, against $62,255,861 on June 30, 1885.

SEIGNORAGE ON SILVER COINAGE.

The seignorage on the coinage of silver dollars during the fiscal year - being the difference between the cost of the bullion and the face value of the pieces coined - amounted to $5,763,851. The seignorage on subsidiary silver coin manufactured at the Mint at Philadelphia amounted to $62.38. The total seignorage on silver coin manufactured during the fiscal year was $5,763,913.38.

The balance of profits on the coinage of silver remaining in the possession of the officers in charge of the coinage mints on the 30th June, 1885, was, as stated on page 9 of my report for the last fiscal year, $725,366.07. Adding to this the above-mentioned profits of the year - $5,763,913.38 - makes a total of $6,489,279.45 of silver profits to be accounted for by the mints during the fiscal year. Of this amount the sum of $167,763.42 was, paid for expenses in distributing the coin, all of which, except $457.85, was for silver dollars. In addition, the sum of $16,966.87 of the profits was used to reimburse the mints for the losses arising from the wastages of the melters and coiners in the manufacture of silver dollars, and the loss on the sale of silver in sweeps during the fiscal year.

The sum of $5,751,347.72 was deposited in the Treasury of the United States, as shown by the warrants in the statement of seignorage in the Appendix to this report, leaving a balance of $553,201.44 in the coinage mints at the close of the fiscal year, as follows:

The above balance was verified June 30, 1886, by representatives of this Bureau, who were sent to each of the coinage mints in operation, for the purpose of ascertaining by actual weight and count whether or not the officer in charge had in his possession the moneys called for by the books of the Treasury Department, as well as to superintend the annual settlement between the superintendent and the operative officers. Of this balance the amount at the Philadelphia Mint, $346,834.99, has since been covered into the Treasury by certificate of deposit No. 37286, and the balance at New Orleans, $184,499.49, by certificate of deposit No. 37129, leaving the remainder at the Mint at San Francisco, which it is expedient to keep at that institution. No silver coinage having been executed at that mint for the last eleven months of the fiscal year, it is necessary to retain a portion of the silver-profit fund to pay the cost of distributing the coin still on hand.

The seignorage on the coinage of silver from July 1, 1878, to the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, has amounted to $31,102,303.35. To this is to be added the balance on hand at the coinage mints July 1, 1878, the beginning of the fiscal year following the passage of the act authorizing the issue of silver dollars, This balance was $424,725.47. There is also to be added $9,237.54, refunded by Adams Express Company for overcharges in their bills for shipping silver dollars, and $4,560.30, consisting of surplus silver bullion and profits arising from the adjustment of silver values, which sum, while not strictly seignorage on silver coinage, was carried to the credit of the silver-profit fund. These items make a total of silver profits to be accounted for of $31,540,826.66.

Of this amount the sum of $651,541.65 has been paid for expenses connected with distributing silver coins. The sum of $187,917.02 has been paid for wastage in connection with the silver-dollar coinage and for losses on sale of sweeps attending that coinage, thus leaving the net profit for the eight years, including the balance in the mints on July 1, 1878, on the manufacture of silver coins, $30,701,367.99.

Of this amount the sum of $30,148,166.55 has been covered into the Treasury of the United States by covering warrants as profits on the coinage of silver prior to the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886. The balance, amounting to $553,201.44, was, as previously stated, in the possession of the coinage mints at that date and verified by actual count.

Of that balance all except the amount at the mint at San Francisco has since been deposited in the Treasury of the United States.

In the Appendix will be found a statement showing in detail the profits on the coinage of silver during the fiscal year, and the disposition of the same.

COURSE OF THE PRICE OF SILVER.

At the date of the passage of the act authorizing the coinage of the standard dollar, February 28, 1878, the London price for silver was 55 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $1.20566 per ounce fine, at which price the intrinsic value of the United States silver dollar, was $0.93¼.

At no time since the passage of the act has the price of silver reached 55 pence, the tendency having been steadily downward, with occasional temporary advances which were not maintained for any considerable time. During the past year the decline has been very marked, especially since January 1st of the present year.

On July 1, 1885, the London price of silver was 49¼ pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $1.07961 per ounce fine, while on June 30, 1886, the London price was 44 11/16 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $0.9796, showing a decline during the year of over ten cents per ounce.

Since the close of the fiscal year there has been a further decline, until on July 31, 1886, the price of silver reached 42 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $0.92068 per ounce fine, which was the lowest price silver has ever reached. At the latter price the bullion value of the silver dollar, measured by the market price of silver, was $0.712088.

The price has since advanced until at the present writing (October 20, 1886) it is 45 1/16 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent at the par of exchange to $0.9878 per ounce fine.

In the Appendix will be found a table showing the ratio of silver to gold each year since 1687.

Also a table showing the highest, lowest and average price of fine silver in London and its equivalent in United States money each year since 1833.

Also a table showing the highest, lowest and average value intrinsically of the United States silver dollar measured by the gold standard, and the quantity of five silver purchasable with a United States silver dollar at the average London price of silver since 1873.

REVIEW OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE MINTS AND ASSAY OFFICES DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1886.

MINT AT PHILADELPHIA.

The deposits and purchases of gold and silver at the Mint at Philadelphia amounted during the year to $23,800,679.85, against $18,101,424.04 in the preceding fiscal year.

The coinage executed consisted of 24,997,460 pieces, of the value of $27,660,039.40, against 42,864,328 pieces, of the value of $18,509,280.25, in the preceding fiscal year. While the total number of pieces coined was less than in the previous year, owing to the falling off in the demand for minor coins, the number of pieces of gold and silver coined was largely in excess of the previous year, the falling off being in the minor coinage.

The gold and silver coinage executed, consisted of 23,290,809 pieces, of the value of $27,642,661.75. In addition there were struck 10,038 nickel pieces (five and three cent pieces), and from blanks ready prepared 1,696,613 bronze cents.

It will be understood that in comparison with the coinage of gold and silver pieces from crude bullion the striking of bronze pieces from ready-made blanks supplied by copper works is a simple operation. The excess in the number of pieces struck in 1884-'85 over the output for 1885-'86 was mainly of bronze pieces, viz, 17,572,120 in the former year, against 1,696,613 in 1886.

The Melter and Refiner operated on 1,396,820.218 standard ounces of gold during the year, with a wastage of 421.603 standard ounces. The same officer operated on 39,693,151.81 standard ounces of silver during the year, and at the annual settlement returned over and above the amount charged to him a surplus of silver during the year of 4,384.42 standard ounces. The same officer operated on 2,604,286.24 ounces of metals used in the minor coinage, with a wastage of 4,456.12 standard ounces.

The Coiner operated on 1,118,730.030 standard ounces of gold during the year, with a wastage of 24.541 standard ounces. The same officer operated on 39,005,873.90 standard ounces of silver bullion during the year, with a wastage of 3,413.63 ounces.

The work of the melting and coining departments of the Mint at Philadelphia during the past year has been on a scale never before attempted. The total amount of melting and refining, expressed in a tabular form, may be exhibited as follows:

From the fact that the above weight of gold and silver is handled sixteen times while passing through the Melter and Refiner's hands, and fully as often in the coining department, it may be considered that upwards of forty thousand tons of gold and silver were handled by the operatives of the mint during the year.

The work of the assay department exceeded that of any previous year. As 12,867 melts of ingots were made for coinage during the year, and as these melts are always assayed in duplicate - and in doubtful cases in triplicate - it may be said that over 26,000 assays for silver coin alone were made. As all bullion received must be assayed, as a basis for paying the depositor, as well as for enabling the Melter and Refiner to calculate his melts, about 15,000 assays were made on account of silver bullion deposited and purchased.

The assays of gold ingots for coinage, while not nearly as large as in former years added some 1,500 assays to the work. The receipt of gold deposits was in advance of that of late years, and as these are assayed for silver as well as gold, duplicate and, in the majority of cases, triplicate assays were made. As a result, the total gold assays numbered over 21,000, making an aggregate of over 41,000 assays in silver and 21,000 assays in gold: a grand total of 62,000 assays.

It is believed that an amount of equally critical and accurate work has seldom, if ever, been performed in the same time with so small a force.

The engraving department, as usual, has been mainly occupied with the manufacture of dies for all the coinage mints.

The following table, prepared by its bookkeeper, exhibits the expenditures of the Mint at Philadelphia, as well as the output of coin and bars, for the fiscal years 1877-'86:

The execution of so large a proportion of the coinage of the year by the Mint at Philadelphia has not been without the necessity of resorting to expedients to meet the extra requirements imposed upon this institution.

At the beginning of the fiscal year the force of adjusters was increased by a second shift, with working hours from 4 to 10 p.m., an exchange of hours being made every week by the two shifts. This expedient became necessary for want of capacity in the adjusting-room, through the diversion some years ago of a part of its space for wardrobes and other conveniences. A division of the force of adjusters in this manner is not desirable. Steps have therefore been taken to vacate the space previously appropriated for other than practical purposes, and to provide for the same by erecting a loft above the present room, the work being executed by the mechanical force of the mint.

Preparations were made toward the close of the last fiscal year for a second shift in the Melter and Refiner's and Coiner's departments; a change which, however, did not go into effect until after the close of the year.

All mechanical labor performed in the mint during the fiscal year has been by the regular force of the mint. This circumstance becomes notable from the fact that for the six years previous to the beginning of the fiscal year over $54,000 was paid out to a single firm for extra mechanical labor, at an average daily rate of wages of $4.73, against the average rate of $3.25 paid the regular mechanical force of the mint.

However exceptional the year may prove as one in which no considerable expenditures for machinery have been incurred, I deem the fact as here implied worthy of note.

The act of Congress, providing for a new steam plant and engine outside of the mint-building, beneath the level of the court, did not pass until after the close of the fiscal year. The removal of this plant will provide space for the construction of coal vaults under the gangway on the west side, and also for the proper location of vaults for the storage of coin and bullion in the centre of the building, instead of along the outer walls as at present.

Reference was made in my last annual report to the fact that three silver bars, numbered 7087, 7093, and 7113, containing 1,980.12 standard ounces of silver, were missed by the Melter and Refiner during the fiscal year 1885, and that the value of these bars, $1,936.62, was carried in a suspense account opened for the purpose until the exact facts relative to their disappearance were ascertained.

On March 26, 1886, Dr. James C. Booth, the Melter and Refiner of the mint, deposited with the superintendent 1,980.12 standard ounces of silver bullion, closing out this suspense account.

While the Melter and Refiner of the Mint at Philadelphia was only technically responsible for the bullion stolen, it was necessary, in order to prevent a deficiency in the bullion fund, that he should place with the government silver in lieu of that stolen, which had been charged to him and for which he had receipted. It is to be hoped that Congress will reimburse the personal loss thus entailed upon this venerable and efficient officer.

STORAGE AND CUSTODY OF STANDARD SILVER DOLLARS AT PHILADELPHIA.

In my report for the last fiscal year attention was invited to the exigencies of the storage of bullion and coin, with special reference to the Mint at Philadelphia, where two-thirds of the mandatory coinage of silver dollars is executed over and above the coinage of minor coin and the larger part of the subsidiary.

Without repeating the considerations there presented, it proves important to urge the same considerations, as the Department is again called upon to meet an emergency similar in kind to that described at the beginning of the last fiscal year. From the emergency at that time relief was found in the provision of two empty vaults connected with the vacant apartments in the United States post-office building in that city. These vaults were fitted for the reception of silver dollars and made ready for occupation about December 1, 1885. At the instance of the Department they were supplied with time-locks and metallic lattice work, and consigned to the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia for the storage of silver dollars in excess of what could be kept at the mint, and the delivery of which to the Treasury or sub-treasury might not be called for.

The anomalous course has thus been forced upon the mint service of retaining the immediate custody, under the personal responsibility of the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia, of the bulk of the output of that institution, instead of delivering the same according to custom to the United States Treasury. The anomaly is all the greater that the storage of this treasure is not upon the promises of the Mint itself, but in a separate building with separate environments, thus requiring a special watch for its safety.

Up to the 30th October, 1886, a date subsequent to that of this report and while it was in press, the amount of silver dollars thus stored in the post-office building was $20,250,000. This is the sum of the daily output of the mint for less than a year, the vaults of the mint proper, including a number of provisional vaults without special safety appliances, having been filled to repletion and in a manner very objectionable, from the fact that sufficient space for gangways has not been available for examination and count.

On the same date I forwarded you a communication from the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia stating that the vaults in the post-office building will be completely filled at the end of twenty days, when they will contain some $21,500,000, and that no further space will be available for storage of silver dollars in the mint building except by recourse to the very objectionable expedient of piling solid vault No.6. This vault contains 1,733,000 pieces, which, from the circumstance that it is without safety appliances and that it is upon the outer walls of the building, are all that can be stored therein, with the usual requirement of gangway spaces necessary for purposes of examination and count.

Even if this vault be filled to its cubical capacity, storage can be found for the output of less than two months' work. The emergency is thus forced upon the attention of the Department either to provide space, with suitable safety appliances and guard, for the storage at Philadelphia of the further output of the mint, or else to provide for its transfer from time to time, at short intervals, to the custody of the United States Treasury.

The vaults in the United States post office building still remain in the custody of the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia, owing to the impracticability of their transfer to the custody of the United States Treasury while open to the reception of the daily output of the mint. When these vaults, however, be finally filled, I have to recommend that the custody of the same be transferred to the United States Treasury.

Owing to the bulky character of the silver treasure, for the storage of which temporary and unsuitable expedients have had to be adopted at the Mint at Philadelphia, I took occasion in my last annual report to point out as the greatest danger to which this treasurer is exposed whatever, danger there be from popular disorder. In order to be prepared for any contingency of the kind, however remote, I undertook to secure, through the co-operation of the War Department, a suitable defensive armament for the Mint at Philadelphia. The armory was early in the year newly equipped with Gatling guns mounted on tripods and with repeating rifles, &c. An armorer has been detailed from the roll of the mint and a portion of his time given to the proper care of these arms.

MINT AT SAN FRANCISCO.

The deposits and purchases of gold and silver at the Mint at San Francisco during the last fiscal year amounted to $29,011,690.38 against $25,399,707.10 in the preceding year. The increased deposits are very marked in the case of gold, the value of the gold deposited during the fiscal year 1886 being $27,320,134.72, against $20,774,459.97 in the preceding year, an increase of over $6,500,000. Prior to the year just ended there had been a marked and continued falling off in the deposits of gold at the Mint at San Francisco. The amount declined from $28,846,898.04 in 1881 to $20,774,459.97 in 1885, a total decline from 1881 to the close of the fiscal year 1885 of $8,072,438.07. The deposits of gold during the past year exceeded the value of the gold deposited at that mint any year since 1882.

The deposits and purchases of silver amounted to $1,691,555.66 during the fiscal year 1886, against $4,625,247.13 in the preceding year. This was owing to the fact that the coinage of silver at the Mint at San Francisco was, for prudential and economical reasons, discontinued the past fiscal year. The amount of silver received consisted exclusively of deposits for bars, silver parted from gold deposits, and the small amount purchased for granulating purposes in the refinery.

Fine silver bars of the value of $1,345,970.72 were manufactured at the Mint at San Francisco for depositors during the past fiscal year.

The coinage of the Mint at San Francisco during the fiscal year 1886 was, gold, 3,991,500 pieces of the value of $27,080,000, against 1,236,500 pieces of the value of $20,857,500, in the preceding fiscal year. The silver coinage consisted of 47,000 silver dollars and 20,662 dimes, of the value of $2,066.20, a total silver coinage of 67,662 pieces of the value of $49,066.20.

The Melter and Refiner operated during the year on 2,812,334.880 standard ounces of gold bullion and returned in settlement at the close of the year, over and above the bullion charged to him, 1,538.199 standard ounces. The same officer operated on 1,618,050.30 standard ounces of silver, and delivered in settlement an excess, over and above the amount charged to him during the year, of 3,376.27 standard ounces. Out of 935 melts of gold ingots made by the Melter and Refiner during the fiscal year, not one was condemned. This is one of the evidences of the care and skill with which the operations of the melting and refining department of the mint were conducted.

The following table exhibits the number of melts of ingots made and the number condensed each year at this mint from 1874-1886:

The Coiner of the Mint at San Francisco operated on 2,848,812.810 standard ounces of gold bullion during the year, and returned in settlement an excess of 124.654 standard ounces. The same officer operated on 65,709.70 standard ounces of silver, and delivered in settlement an excess, over and above the amount charged to him during the year, of 43.79 standard ounces.

As it is unusual for a Coiner to return an excess of bullion, it is proper to state that this excess arose from gold and silver recovered from old carpets in the adjusting room, which, being unfitted for further use, were burned and produced 171.672 standard ounces of gold and 44.37 standard ounces of silver. These carpets had been in use seven years. The value of the blanks handled in the room covered with these carpets during the period they were down, was, corresponding to the total coinage for the same period, namely, gold, $183,734,000, silver, $46,534,866.

The following statement exhibits the work of the Coiner's department of this mint during the last four years:

MINT AT NEW ORLEANS.

The value of the deposits and purchases of bullion at the Mint at New Orleans during the year was $9,318,643.37, against $10,243,397.18 in the prior year. The coinage, which consisted exclusively of silver dollars, amounted to 9,300,000 pieces, against 10,135,000 pieces coined in the preceding year.

The Melter and Refiner operated on 25,428.644 standard ounces of gold bullion, with a wastage of .956 standard ounce, and 16,370,688.77 ounces of silver bullion, with a wastage of 5,647.06 standard ounces.

The Coiner operated on 14,448,853.90 ounces of silver bullion, with a wastage of 1,826.65 standard ounces. No gold bullion was operated on by the coiner during the fiscal year.

The following statement shows the number of assays made at New Orleans, both gold and silver, during the fiscal year:

MINT AT CARSON.

The value of the deposits at the Mint at Carson during the year amounted to only $13,930.78.

From the table of coinage it appears that the Mint at Carson coined 28,000 silver dollars. This coinage was really executed in the previous fiscal year, but not having been delivered by the coiner to the superintendent before the close of that year, was necessarily included in the coinage of the fiscal year 1885-'86.

When operations were suspended at the Mint at Carson there were on hand in gold bullion 50,332.859 standard ounces, of the value of $936,425.17, and 666,832.99, standard ounces of silver bullion, costing $647,968.22. The amount of gold coin on hand was $20,120, and of silver coin $20,076.42.

The refined bullion, consisting of 28,563.526 standard ounces of gold, of the value of $531,414.44, and 258,241.46 standard ounces of silver, costing $250,935.12. was transferred to the Mint at Philadelphia.

The unrefined bullion, consisting of 21,694.546 standard ounces of gold, of the value of $403,619.46, and 407,017.49 standard ounces of silver, costing $395,501.88, was transferred to the Assay Office at New York.

The Superintendent's and Assayer's sweeps and flux-bars, containing 15.989 standard ounces of gold, of the value of $297.47, and 78.26 standard ounces of silver, costing $77.76, as well as the $20,120 in gold coin, and the $20,076.42 in silver coin, were transferred to the Mint at San Francisco.

The sweeps were sold, and contained 58.798 standard ounces of gold, of the value of $1,093.80, and 1,495.78 standard ounces of silver, costing $1,453.46.

The gold and silver coins reserved from the coinage of the Mint at Carson for the calendar year 1885, forwarded to the Mint at Philadelphia for trial at the annual assay, amounted to $220 in gold and $114 in silver coin. After they had been tested by the annual assay commission their value was transferred to the Mint at Philadelphia, thus closing out the stock of coin and bullion on hand at the Mint at Carson.

Owing to the difficulty in procuring silver bullion for delivery at the Mint at Carson at reasonable rates, coinage was suspended at that institution from March 1, 1879, to June 30, and from November 1, of the same year, to May 1, 1880, and from April to October, 1881.

For some time prior to March, 1885, Assistant Secretary French, Treasurer Wyman, and Director Burchard recommended acceptance of offers for sale of silver to be delivered at Carson only when the rates were such that the cost of transporting the resulting coin to the Atlantic coast, added to the price of bullion, would not exceed the cost at the Mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans.

The deposits of gold bullion at the Mint at Carson during the fiscal year 1885 amounted in value to $1,505,665, and the purchases of silver to $1,159,138. During the same year the coinage was:

On March 8, 1885, the Superintendent, Mr. James Crawford, died. Business was suspended and the mint closed, pending appointment and qualification of a successor, until April 1, when the new superintendent and new coiner assumed office.

March 28, the balance of the regular appropriation for "wages of workmen" being but $7,200 for four months' operations, the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, ordered the suspension of coinage (which had not been resumed) for the remainder of the fiscal year 1885; also, that the force of clerks, workmen, &c., be reduced to the lowest possible limit. The receipt of bullion for "parting and refining," and local purchases of silver for the standard-dollar coinage, however, were allowed to continue.

May 8, by Department order, the Superintendent at Carson was instructed to discontinue the purchase of silver bullion until further notice.

May 30 the Secretary of the Treasury authorized the Treasurer of the United States to instruct the Superintendent of the Mint at Carson as well as Assayers in charge of the United States assay offices other than at New York that thereafter funds to be used by them for the purchase of bullion would be placed with the Assistant Treasurers at New York and San Francisco.

June 11 the Secretary further directed that no silver be purchased, except silver "parted" from gold and deposits of mutilated United States coin, and also that a charge be imposed on deposits of gold bullion to cover transportation to the Mint at San Francisco.

August 14 the Coiner, for want of occupation, was suspended by the President.

November 6 it was ordered that the Mint at Carson be closed to receipt of deposits, and clerks, assistants, and workmen be discharged.

November 16 the Melter and Refiner and the Assayer were suspended by the President.

The falling off in the business of the Mint at Carson, which led to the closing of that institution, will, in connection with the above statement, be exhibited by the fact that during the first three months of the fiscal year 1886 the deposits of gold at that institution had fallen to 518 standard ounces, from 23,333 standard ounces for the corresponding period of 1885.

It having been urged upon this Bureau that the prospects for business had become so greatly improved as to justify the reopening of the mint, I undertook to solicit, through Superintendent Garrard, from parties most interested in such a measure, some guaranty which might justify the Department in carrying out the recommendations looking to that end on the footing, at least, of an assay office.

The estimate by the Department for the expenditures of the Mint at Carson was for an amount sufficient alone for the proper custody of the building and its contents. But no such appropriation having been reported in the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Appropriation Bill, I took occasion, on 5th June, to submit the proposition whether it would not be well to suggest for the consideration of Congress an appropriation the same as that for the previous fiscal year. This was in view of the fact that representations had been made to the Bureau of the Mint of the readiness on the part of certain producers of bullion to deposit the same at the Mint at Carson instead of sending it to private refineries, on condition that certain benefits, which it was claimed are conferred by the law, but which during the year 1885 had been withdrawn from that institution in common with some others by the action of the Department, were restored.

The recommendation was made especially in view of the fact that the omission of the usual appropriation for the Mint at Carson would deprive that institution of the means to reopen either for the receipt of bullion or for coinage operations, if in the course of the year, at the discretion of the Department, it should be deemed expedient.

I took occasion also to say that it was doubtless true that the cessation of deposits at the Mint at Carson was largely due, first, to the payment of depositors by draft instead of in cash; and, second, to the collection of a transportation charge from depositors for the cost of transportation of refined bullion to the Mint at San Francisco, by express.

Up to the close of the fiscal year no guarantee could be obtained which seemed to justify, in the opinion of the Bureau, the resumption of operations at that mint even on a reduced scale.

Since the close of the fiscal year, however, representations have been made to this Bureau to show the existence of such conditions as might reasonably be expected to provide business for this mint conducted as an assay office. And claims have been urged on the Department of the right of producers within reach of this mint to deposit their bullion and to receive payment therefor in current funds.

In recognition of such claims it was decided to reopen this mint to depositors, and to provide for the payment of deposits in current funds.

On October 5, 1886, the President appointed Dr. David K. Tattle to succeed Mr. Stevens. as Melter and Refiner, and Mr. Joseph D. Ryan to succeed Mr. Hetrich as Assayer.

ASSAY OFFICE AT NEW YORK.

The deposits of gold and silver bullion at the Assay Office at New York during the year amounted to $22,559,482.11 against $35,248,421.34 in the previous year; a falling off of nearly $13,000,000.

The falling off in deposits of gold was chiefly in foreign gold bullion and coin.

The value of the gold bars manufactured during the year was $15,820,585.07, and of silver bars, $6,721,393.36.

The Melter and Refiner operated during the year on 929,770.775 ounces of gold, and returned at settlement an excess of 889.447 ounces, of the value of $16,547.85. The same officer operated on 5,920,653.13 ounces of silver bullion, with a wastage of 318.10 ounces.

The amount parted and refined at the acid refinery was 4,656,786 gross ounces, containing 540,041 standard ounces of gold and 3,831,572 standard ounces of silver. There were received from the acid refinery 540,408 standard ounces of gold and 3,654,582 standard ounces of silver. There was used in the parting operations, 1,729,327 pounds of sulphuric acid. There were sold 2,531,810 pounds of waste acid, and 321,477 pounds of blue vitriol, realizing $17,267.86.

The work of rearranging the apparatus in the acid refinery, commenced two years ago, was continued without interrupting regular operations. Great advantage has been obtained in increased convenience and healthfulness resulting from the changes which have been made.

The escape of acid fumes from the Assay Office at New York has been for many years a growing source of offence and annoyance as a result of the erection in its neighborhood of lofty edifices for office purposes, whereby the draft of the flues had, become impaired and the escaping gases deflected. Formal complaints of these gases as a nuisance have been repeatedly lodged with the Superintendent of the Assay Office and appeals made to this Bureau directly and through the Department. Much attention has therefore been given by all concerned to the removal of this difficulty through the introduction into the operations of the refinery of more effective appliances for the suppression of acid fumes by confining them within chambers and by dissolving them in water.

The following statement on this subject, from the Melter and Refiner, possesses technological importance as well as an interest for all who have been troubled by the escape of irritating gases, as it will go far toward showing the earnest efforts that have been made to remove all cause of annoyance and complaint:

In connection with the replacement of worn-out apparatus in the refinery at this office, enlarged and improved facilities have been provided for absorbing gases generated in the parting processes.

Since the completion, some months past, of the new system, complaints of annoyance from the fumes, previously not infrequent, have ceased. This and other considerations warrant the conclusion that the apparatus is successfully doing the work for which it was created. The initial item is a lead hood over the kettles in which solution of the metals in sulphnric acid takes place. This hood is a dome (not funnel-shaped, as formerly), 2 feet high and 2 feet 9 inches in greatest diameter. It forms nearly a circle with the pot, and is believed to have an advantage in its shape from the impinging of the ascending fumes upon the top of the dome causing a certain amount of condensation, thus lessening the quantity to be subsequently treated as well as the amount of acid to be used. Evidence of this is found in the fine rain of condensed acid frequently seen descending on the metal in the kettle. The hood is connected by a lead pipe 10 inches in diameter and of required length, with an alternating series of coke chambers (made of lead) and large vertical and horizontal lead pipes, and with an alkali box, and finally, at point of exit, with the main stack. There are in all five coke chambers, about 10 feet by 5 feet by 6&frac1/2; feet, in which the coke occupies about one-third the cubic space. There are eight vertical lead pipes, 16 inches in diameter by 24 feet long, six vertical lead pipes 20 inches in diameter by 24 feet long, and three horizontal lead pipes 20 inches by an average length of 30 feet. The alkali box is 25 feet long by 3½ feet high by 22 inches wide, and is so connected and operated that a saturated alkali solution is drawn out by an acid pump and forced up and over the box and rained down at successive points upon the fumes, already largely deprived of their acid quality. The chambers and pipes are each constantly and liberally sprayed with water, thus keeping the coke and all condensing surfaces cool, and supplying an absorbing element for the gases. The length of the entire apparatus, in a continuous line, would be over 500 feet, with the stack over 600 feet. The course of the fumes may be briefly traced as follows: From the dissolving kettles into the first coke chamber, thence into the second coke chamber, then into the series of 16-inch vertical pipes, up and down, and into the third coke chamber, on leaving which a horizontal 20-inch lead pipe 20 to 25 feet long conducts them to the next coke chamber, and so on, the idea being to alternate between the chambers and pipes. From the last coke chamber of the series the fumes pass into the alkali box and are drenched as before described with alkali solution, passing from thence into the series of 20-inch vertical and horizontal pipes, where they are still further sprayed with water, and are then discharged into the stack to mix with the waste steam from reducing and condensing houses. Careful inspection at the point of exit fails to detect any quality in the gases passing off that can be a source of annoyance.

There was used in the refinery last year over 1,700,000 pounds of sulphuric acid, a daily average of nearly 6,000 pounds. At the maximum of work the solution pots are charged with 1,800 pounds of metal each day, and three to four finishing pots are also in operation. This gives an indication of the large quantity of fumes which the apparatus described is taking care of, and so effectively that, as already said, complaints have apparently become a thing of the past. A sufficient supply of water is an indispensable element in the successful working of the system. An artesian well is about to be sunk on the premises, which, it is hoped, will adequately and economically meet all necessities in that direction.

MINT AT DENVER AND MINOR ASSAY OFFICES.

The Mint at Denver, which is conducted and equipped only as an assay office, and the assay offices located at Helena, Mont.; Boisé, Idaho; Saint Louis, Mo., and Charlotte, N. C., received during the year deposits containing gold of the value of $2,677,910.44 and silver of the value of $141,224.08, being a total of $2,819,134.52, against $3,173,122.07 in the prior year, a falling off of over $350,000.

The falling off in deposits was mainly at the Mint at Denver and the Assay Office at Boisè. This was from the fact that an order issued by the Department, about the commencement of the fiscal year, required depositors of gold at those institutions to pay, in addition to the usual minit charges, the cost of transporting their bullion to a coinage mint for coinage. The expense had been at intervals heretofore defrayed from annual appropriations made by Congress for "freight on bullion and coin."

The cost to the Government for the maintenance of these five institutions, which from time to time were located for the convenience of the producers of gold and silver, will be exhibited by a statement for the year of their earnings and expenses of all kinds, including losses, as follows: