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 dispo sition 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 $0.931. 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, espe cially since January 1st of the present year. On July 1, 1885, the London price of silver was 49 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $1.07961 per ounce fine, while on June 30, 1886, the London price was 4411 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 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 fine silver purchasable with a United States silver dollar at the average London price of silver since 1873. ANNUAL TRIAL OF COINS. The following gentlemen were designated by the President as commissioners to test and examine the weight and fineness of the coins reserved at the several mints during the year 1885, pursuant to the provisions of Section 3547 of the Revised Statutes: Hon. Isham G. Harris, United States Senate; Hon. James B. McCreery, House of Repre sentatives; Thomas K. Bruner, Salisbury, N. C.; Prof. T. C. Chamberlin, Beloit, Wis.; Prof. Charles F. Chandler, Columbia College, New York; Prof. John A. Church, Prescott, Ariz.; Walter B. Devereux, Aspen, Colo; H. L. Dodge, San Francisco; Prof. Thomas M. Drown, Institute of Technology, Boston; Prof. B. W. Frazier, Lehigh Univer sity, Bethlehem, Penn.; Dr. W. P. Lawver, Bureau of the Mint, Washington; Prof. J. W. Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Henry T. Martin, Albany, N. Y.; Prof. Ira Remsen, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. The ex officio members present were, namely: Hon. William Butler, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania; Mr. Herbert G. Torrey, the Assayer of the Assay Office at New York. The commission met at Philadelphia on the 10th of February, 1886. Tests were made of the weight and fineness of the coins reserved from deliveries at each mint by the coiner to the superintendent in each month of the year. The Committee on Counting reported as follows: The packages of coins reserved for assay by the several mints, in accordance with Section 3539, Revised Statutes, were delivered to us by the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia. The seals were found intact. The packages were opened and the coins counted in the following order: 1. Gold coins from the Mint at Philadelphia, 917 in number, of the value of $5,910.50. 2. Silver coins from the Mint at Philadelphia, 10,195 in number, of the value of $9,033.75. 3. Silver coins from the Mint at New Orleans, 4,593 in number, of the value of $4,593. No gold coins were made at this mint. 4. Gold coins from the Mint at San Francisco, 2,124 in number, of the value of $22,020. 5. Silver coins from the Mint at San Francisco, 772 in number, of the value of $751.30. 6. Gold coins from the Mint at Carson, 11 in number, of the value of $220. 7. Silver coins from the Mint at Carson, 114 in number, of the value of $114; making a total of 18,726 coins, of the value of $42,642.55, as set forth in detail in the schedule accompanying this report. The packages were opened, examined, and counted by ourselves, and upon comparison with the schedules sent to the Director of the Mint by the several superintendents, after correcting a few clerical errors, were found to be correct. Such of the reserved coins as were required by the Committees on Weighing and Assaying, respectively, for their purposes, were taken indiscriminately from the parcels in which they were found, so as to include coins from at least two deliveries of different dates in each month of 1885, when two or more deliveries were made in such month. All of the reserved coins not so taken by either of the Committees on Weighing or Assaying were returned by us to the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia, and the coins taken by the Committee on Weighing were subsequently returned to us and by us counted, verified, and delivered to the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia. The bullion resulting from the coins taken by the Committee on Assaying was returned to us and by us delivered to the same officer. The Committee on Weighing reported that The coins tested by them were all within the legal limit of tolerance. Also, that, as required by Section 3549 of the Revised Statutes, the weights ordinarily used in the Mint at Philadelphia had been tested by the standard troy pound of the mint and found to be correct. The Committee on Assaying reported that In accordance with the law and regulations governing this Commission, we have taken samples from the gold and silver coins reserved for assay at the mints of the United States, to wit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City, and New Orleans, as stated in annexed schedules, the samples representing the deliveries mentioned in the year 1885 from the coiners to the superintendents, and have assayed the same in mass, and also the individual coins; that the greatest excess in the assay value of the gold coinage above the standard at the different mints (while the limit of tolerance is one-thousandth) is, at Philadelphia, .4 of .001. San Francisco, no coin in excess. Carson City, no coin in excess. The greatest deficiency below the standard (the limit of tolerance being one-thousandth) is, at Philadelphia, .2 of .001. San Francisco, .6 of .001. Carson City, .2 of .001. For silver, the maximum assay above the standard (the limit of tolerance being three one-thousandths) is, at Philadelphia, .2 of .001. New Orleans, .9 of .001. Carson City, .4 of .001. The greatest deficiency below the standard (the tolerance being three one-thousandths) is, at— Philadelphia, 1.1 of .001. New Orleans, .7 of .001. Carson City, .9 of .001. The Assay Committee has also tested the inquartation silver, the copper, and the lead used in assaying gold bullion, and found them free from gold. The weights employed were also tested, and found to be correct. The acid used for the humid assay of silver was carefully tested, and found to contain neither silver nor chlorine in perceptible quantity. The committee therefore deems the assays exhibited in the foregoing schedules to be trustworthy. It thus appears that no coin was found among those examined which deviated from the standard fixed by law beyond the legal tolerance. Whereupon the Commission reported That the Assay Commission having examined and tested the reserved coins of the several mints for the year 1885, and it appearing that these coins are within the tolerance prescribed by law, the trial is considered and reported as satisfactory. The trial of the coins by the Assay Commission showed that the aver age fineness of 428 pieces of the gold coinage of the mints at Philadel phia and San Francisco, melted in mass, was .899937, and of 39 pieces tested singly, .899894. The monthly tests made during the year in the Assay Laboratory under my direction showed an average for 142 pieces, tested singly, of $942, corresponding almost exactly with the results of the Annual Commission. The Commission ascertained that the average fineness of 1:00 pieces of the silver dollars coined at the several mints, melted in Lass was .900010, and of 30 pieces tested singly, .899883. The monthly tests made in the Laboratory of this Bureau showed an average fineness of 265 silver dollars, tested singly, of .900048. The result of both the annual and monthly tests served to demonstrate that the coinage of the year was very close to the standard fixed by law, notwithstanding the magnitude of the coinage operations of the year. VALUE OF FOREIGN COINS. Pursuant to the provisions of section 3564 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the values of the standard coins of the various nations of the world were estimated by me and proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury on 1st January, 1886. The values of said metallic currencies adopted in the custom-houses for the determination of foreign units of value on and after January 1, 1886, were as follows: VALUES OF FOREIGN COINS. The method of estimating the value of these coins is explained in the following communication from the Computer of Bullion of this Bureau: TREASURY DEPARTMENT, BUREAU OF THE MINT, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a table showing the values of the standard coins in circulation in the various nations of the world. The values of the gold coins have been ascertained by comparing the amount of pure metal in each as fixed by the coinage laws of the respective countries with that contained in the United States gold dollar. The values of the silver coins of the countries of the double standard are given at the same valuation as the gold coins of such countries with which they are interchangeable. The values of the silver coins of countries in which silver is the standard of value have been estimated to be the market value of the pure silver contained in such coins based on the average price of silver bullion in London for the three months ending December 24, 1885, viz, 47.35795 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent to $1.038141 per ounce fine. Very respectfully, DR. JAMES P. KIMBALL, Director of the Mint. E. O. LEECH, Computer of Bullion. The market value of silver at which the silver coins were computed on 1st January, 1885, was $1.099465 per ounce fine, and the rate at which the silver coins were computed for 1886 was $1.038141, a decline of over six cents per ounce fine in the price of silver during the year. This occasioned a change in the value given the following coins: IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF GOLD AND SILVER COIN AND BULLION. The value of the gold bullion imported into the United States during the fiscal year 1886, as registered at the custom-houses, was $4,073,458, and the amount of gold bullion exported during the same period $27,365,090. The United States therefore lost by export of gold bullion during the year $23,291,632. Of the gold bullion exported, all except about $1,000,000 worth consisted of United States mint and assay office bars. The export of gold bullion seemed to commence in December, 1885, reaching its height in the month of March, when over $7,000,000 worth was exported, while the imports of gold bullion were almost en tirely in the early part of the fiscal year. The amount of gold bullion deposited at the mints and assay offices during the year, classified as "foreign bullion," was $4,317,068.28 against $4,073,458 registered at the custom-houses as having been imported-practically the same amount. This is important as affording |