obtained by direct purchase for the coinage of the standard dollar, or in settlement for silver parted from gold, and in payment of charges on silver deposits.

Notwithstanding the regular monthly coinage of 2,300,000 and upwards of silver dollars, the purchases and deposits had increased the silver bullion on hand January 1, 1881, to 6,553,350 standard ounces, the cost of which was $7,145,487, and its coinage value $7,625,717. Of this amount, 2,928,752.49 standard ounces were at the Philadelphia Mint.

The limit of subsidiary coinage having been reached, no necessity existed for keeping on hand any silver for such coinage. It was, therefore, considered advisable by the Secretary of the Treasury to use in the silver-dollar coinage the balance of silver that had been procured for the subsidiary coinage, and to reduce the amount of monthly purchases, especially at the Philadelphia Mint, where, in view of the heavy amount of gold coinage required, it was thought that sufficient silver bullion had already been accumulated for the probable silver coinage of that mint during the remainder of the fiscal year.

By including the 2,250,000 ounces of standard silver as belonging to the account of purchased silver, to be used in the coinage of the standard dollar, it became necessary to reduce the amount on hand, so that not more than $5,000,000 above the resulting coinage should be invested in such purchases. The weekly purchases of the department were, therefore, much lighter during February and the succeeding months of the year.

In the month of May, owing to the higher prices asked and the small amounts offered for delivery at the Pacific coast mints, the weekly purchases of silver bullion were reduced for San Francisco and resumed at the Philadelphia Mint.

To enable the Philadelphia Mint to employ as much of its force as possible in the coinage of gold, the monthly allotment of silver coinage for the New Orleans Mint was increased and that for the Philadelphia Mint lessened, and to procure sufficient bullion to execute the required coinage at the New Orleans Mint, the owners of silver bullion were solicited to bid and send their bullion for delivery at that mint.

The prices for delivery in lots of less than ten thousand ounces at the New Orleans Mint were also fixed from time to time by the Director of the Mint, slightly below the equivalent of the London price, and notices of the rates and changes were given to the smelting and refining works in the Western States nearest to the mint, with the hope of inducing them to deliver their silver bullion at New Orleans. Two of these refineries have availed themselves of the advantages of direct shipment, saving the previous expense of double transportation to and from the Atlantic sea-board and benefiting the Government as well as themselves.

The purchases during the year, of silver bullion, were 21,904,351.54 standard ounces, at a cost of $22,339,728.67. The silver received for charges and parted from gold and paid for as provided by sections 3520 and 3506 of the Revised Statutes, costing $239,183.05, was 232,568.85 standard ounces, making the total amount purchased 22,136,920.39 standard ounces, at the cost of $22,578,911.72.

From the silver purchases of the year and the 2,250,000 standard ounces, directed to be used and carried into the silver purchase account, 23,751,368 standard ounces, exclusive of silver bullion wasted and sold in sweeps, were consumed in the coinage of 27,633,955 standard dollars, being an average monthly coinage of $2,303,166.

The London price of silver, during the year, averaged 511 pence,

which with exchange at par ($4.8665) equals $1.13852 per ounce, and at the New York average monthly price of sight exchange on London. ($4.847) equals $1.13508 per ounce fine. The New York average price of silver during the year was $1.12957 per ounce fine.

The following statement shows the purchases at the coining mints and the New York Assay Office.

Including the amounts paid out at the mints and exchanged for gold as provided by law, $17,706,924 of the $27,637,955 silver dollar coinage of the year, have been transmitted and distributed under the regulations mentioned in my last report.

The amount of standard dollars in the mints at the close of the fiscal year, including $2,000,000 received at the New Orleans Mint, and $1,000,000 at the Philadelphia Mint from assistant treasurers, was $23,341,000.60, of which nearly $16,000,000 was in the San Francisco.

Mint.

The coinage and distribution at each mint, as shown by their statements to this bureau, appear in the following table:

AMOUNT of SILVER DOLLARS REPORTED by the COINAGE MINTS on HAND June 30, 1880, COINED during and on HAND at CLOSE of the FISCAL YEAR ended June 30, 1881.

Besides the standard dollars remaining in the mints at the close of the year, considerable amounts had been deposited in the Treasury for the payment of outstanding silver certificates.

The following table, compiled from the Treasurer's monthly statements of assets and liabilities, shows in six months' periods from the commencement until the close of the last fiscal year and up to November 1, 1881, the amount (including that in the mints) in the Treasury, held for the payment of silver certificates and for other purposes and the amount in general circulation:

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of the COINAGE MOVEMENT and CIRCULATION of STANDARD SILVER DOLLARS at the end of each six months from July 1, 1880, to July 1, 1881, and for the four months ending November 1, 1881.

APPROPRIATIONS, EARNINGS, AND EXPENDITURES.

The total appropriations for the support of the mints and assay offi ces during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1881, amounted to $1,178,250, out of which the sum of $1,160,347.71 was expended. In addition $97,311.60 was expended on account of the mints and $7,440.14 at the Treas ury Department, a total of $104,751.74 from the appropriation contained in the act of February 28, 1878, authorizing the coinage of the standard silver dollar.

The appropriations for and expenditures at the several mints and assay offices are shown in the following table:

REFINERY EARNINGS AND EXPENDITURES.

During the year $255,939.78 was collected from depositors, and $274,784.64 paid on account of parting and refining bullion.

The following statement shows the amount collected for parting and refining, and the payments for expenditures in those operations, including that portion of the operative officers' wastages and the loss on sale of sweeps properly chargeable to that fund.

A much larger amount, consisting of undeposited refinery earnings of previous years, was deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the appropriation.

Included in the payments are expenses for railroad freight incurred in prior years, the bills for which were not rendered until the last fiscal year.

The net excess of the earnings of the refineries over the expenses, from the 1st of July, 1876, to June 30, 1881, as shown by the books of the Treasury Department, amounted to $121,238.90.

ANNUAL ASSAY.

The commission appointed by the President to test the weight and fineness of the coins reserved for the annual assay, performed the duty at the time designated by law, and the records of their proceedings show that all the coins tested by them were found to be within the limits of exactness required by law, as to weight, and that very few varied from the standard by one-half the tolerance.

As to fineness, the record states that in all cases, both in mass and single pieces, the coins from Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans were found to be correct, and safely within the limits of tolerance. But the committee on assaying reported that, in the case of the Carson Mint, they found the assay of mass melt of silver to be very low, but within tolerance, and that one single piece showed a fineness below the limits of tolerance. This fact was reported to the President, as required by law.

The assayer of the Mint Bureau, in October, 1880, in his assay of the coins required monthly to be forwarded to the Director for test, had discovered that a silver coin of the Carson Mint, from the coiner's July delivery of that year, was below the legal limit of tolerance. The superintendent of that mint was immediately directed not to pay out, but to retain in his possession all of the coins of that delivery, and to seal up, until further orders, all packages which might contain any of such coins, after selecting and forwarding to the Director sample coins from each package for further test. Ninety-six packages, each containing one thousand dollars, were thus sealed up and reserved for further assays at the bureau, and a special examination made by Andrew Mason, melter and refiner of the New York Assay Office, in conformity with the order of the President to investigate the matter, confirmed the previous assays,

and demonstrated that the fineness of a certain bar of bullion, about to be melted for coinage, had been incorrectly stated to the melter and refiner of the Carson Mint, and that ingots of defective fineness made therefrom had afterward passed the assay department of that mint without detection. It did not appear that the error had occurred through the neglect of the assayer's subordinates, and as the assayer himself had died shortly after the first discovery of the defective coinage, it became unnecessary to take any further action, except to order all the coins contained in the 96 packages to be remelted for coinage, which was done.

ESTIMATION OF THE VALUES OF FOREIGN COINS.

The values of foreign coins were estimated by the Director of the Mint, and proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury on the first of January of the current year, as required by law. The computation of their values was made in the same manner as that of the previous year. No change in the value of the gold coins will be found, excepting that resulting from more accurate information or recent modificationsof the law prescribing their weight and fineness.

The commercial value of silver bullion for the time the estimation was made having fallen about 1.56 per cent. from its value for a like period of the preceding year, the value of silver coins based on the market rate of silver were correspondingly reduced.

By reason of this decline in the value of silver, and the more recent and reliable information, the values of foreign gold and silver coins were modified from those proclaimed in 1880, as follows:

The florin of Austria was reduced from 41.3 cents to 40.7; the boliviano of Bolivia from 83.6 to 82.3; the milreis of Brazil increased from 54.5 to 54.6; the peso of Ecuador reduced from 83.6 to 82.3; the rupee of India from 39.7 to 39. Japan having adopted the free-coinage system for silver, the yen, which was formerly given as 99.7 in gold, is now 88.8 in silver. The Mexican dollar from 90.9 to 89.4; the sol of Peru from 83.6 to 82.3; the rouble of Russia from 66.9 to 65.8; the mahbub of Tripoli from 74.8 to 74.3; the peso of Colombia from 83.6 to 82.3; the peso of Cuba was given at 93.2, and the bolivar of Venezuela at 19.3. The monetary unit of Egypt, which formerly was stated as the pound at $4.974, is now fixed as the piaster, .049.

EXAMINATIONS AND ANNUAL SETTLEMENTS.

The usual examinations and settlements were made at the close of the fiscal year at all the mints and at the New York Assay Office. The direc tor personally superintended the closing of the settlements at Philadel phia and New York, and representatives of the bureau were detailed to take charge of the settlements at New Orleans, Carson, and San Francisco.

The magnitude and importance of these settlements are evident when it is known that they covered for the last year transactions and actual transfers between the superintendent and operative officers of gold and silver bullion to the value of $603,230,121, and that bullion and funds. amounting at the time of settlement to $128,318,274 were examined, counted, or weighed, and their value ascertained.

At each institution the superintendent, after the delivery to him of the bullion in the hands of the operative officers, was, upon taking account of the coin, bullion, and other moneys in his possession, found to the amount required by his accounts with the Treasury.