# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/3rd Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 47

Chap. ⅩⅬⅦ.—An Act supplementary to the act intituled “An act establishing a Mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States.”
Act of April 2, 1792, ch. 16. Additional officer of the mint by the name of the melter and refiner.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That for the better conducting of the business of the mint of the United States there shall be all additional officer appointed therein by the name of the melter and refiner, whose duty shall be to take charge of all copper, and silver or gold bullion delivered out by the treasurer of the mint after it has been assayed,His duty. agreeably to the rules and customs of the mint already directed and established, or ​which may hereafter be directed and established by the accounting officers of the treasury, and to reduce the same into bars or ingots fit for the rolling mills, and then to deliver them to the coiner or treasurer, as the director shall judge expedient; and to do and perform all other duties belonging to the office of a melter and refiner or which shall be ordered by the director of the mint.
To take oath and give security.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the melter and refiner of the said mint shall, before he enters upon the execution of his said office, take an oath or affirmation before some judge of the United States, faithfully and diligently to perform the duties thereof. And also shall become bound to the United States of America, with one or more sureties to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the sum of six thousand dollars, with condition for the faithful and diligent performance of the several duties of his office.
His compensation. Obsolete.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be allowed and paid, to the said melter and refiner of the mint as a compensation for his services, the yearly salary of fifteen hundred dollars.
President may make temporary appointment.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the director of the mint be, and hereby is authorized, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to employ such person as he may judge suitable to discharge the duties of the melter and refiner, until a melter and refiner shall be appointed by the President,1800, ch. 34. by and with the advice of the Senate.
Treasurer of the mint to retain part of bullion deposited, &c.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the treasurer of the mint shall, and he is hereby directed, to retain two cents per ounce from every deposit of silver bullion below the standard of the United States, which hereafter shall be made for the purpose of refining and coining; and four cents per ounce from every deposit of gold bullion made as aforesaid, below the standard of the United States, unless the same shall be so far below the standard as to require the operation of the test, in which case, the treasurer shall retain six cents per ounce, which sum so retained shall be accounted for by the said treasurer with the treasury of the United States as a compensation for melting and refining the same.
Treasurer of the mint shall not be obliged to receive certain deposits of bullion.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the treasurer of the mint shall not be obliged to receive from any person, for the purpose of refining and coining, any deposit of silver bullion, below the standard of the United States, in a smaller quantity than two hundred ounces; nor a like deposit of gold bullion below the said standard, in a smaller quantity than twenty ounces.
Officers of the mint may give a preference to bullion of the standard of the U.S. 1792, ch. 16, sec. 15.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the officers of the mint to give a preference to silver or gold bullion, deposited for coinage, which shall be of the standard of the United States, so far as respects the coining of the same, although bullion below the standard, and not yet refined, may have been deposited for coinage, previous thereto, any law to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That nothing herein shall justify the officers of the mint, or any one of them, in unnecessarily delaying the refining any silver or gold bullion below the standard, that may be deposited, as aforesaid.
President may reduce the weight of copper coin.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized, whenever he shall think it for the benefit of the United States, to reduce the weight of the copper coin of the United States: Provided, such reduction shall not, in the whole, exceed two pennyweights in each cent, and in the like proportion in a half cent; of which he shall give notice by proclamation, and communicate the same to the then next session of Congress.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the treasurer of the United States, from time to time, as often as he shall receive copper cents and half cents from the treasurer of the mint, to ​Mode of distribution of cents and half cents.send them to the bank or branch banks of the United States, in each of the states where such bank is established; and where there is no bank established, then to the collector of the principal town in such state (in the proportion of the number of inhabitants of such state) to be by such bank or collector, paid out to the citizens of the state for cash, in sums not less than ten dollars value; and that the same be done at the risk and expense of the United States, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the department of the treasury.
Approved, March 3, 1795.