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 822,547,582.60, being an average cost per standard ounce of 80.928002, 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 silverdollar 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 cilver 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 inade 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 deliv ered 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 was 152,528.43 standard ounces, at a cost to the Government of $144,136.32. This is not treated as a purchase of silver for the silver-dollar coinage, but is inseparably connected with the receipt of gold and silver deposits at the Assay Office at New York. The silver so received is from time to time, when not required at the Assay Office at New York for payment of deposits of fine bars, transferred to the Mint at Philadelphia at its cost value, and then becomes a part of the silver purchases of the year in which transferred.

*Includes .01 standard ounce, costing $.02, transferred to "Uncurrent Silver Coinage" account.

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, 25,211,866 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:

DELIVERIES ON PURCHASES OF SILVER BULLION.

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 8143,290.39, 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:

Halves
Quarters.
Dimes

Total..........

$3,052 50 3,626 25 176, 764 20

183,442 95

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.

*This includes .01 standard ounce, costing $.02, transferred from "Standard SilverDollar" account.

AMOUNT OF SILVER DOLLARS REPORTED BY THE COINAGE MINTS ON HAND JUNE 30, 1885, COINED DURING THE YEAR AND ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1886.

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