, 1870-05-05

1Ir. Boutwell, sent to Congress, Last week,
bill revising the laws relativs to tho mint, as-
gay offices, and coinage OF the United States,
prepared by John Jay Knox, Deputy Comp
troller OF the Currency. On coinage, Ar
Knox says:
The proposed bill authorizes the issue, "a
at present Of the three and five cent nickel
coins, and in addition, q one cent piece Of the
same material These coins are made retleeut-
able in lawful money in sums Of fifty dollars,
and are legal tender in sums Of twenty
cents In any one payment Tho
nronosed cent CON viii be one and one-half
raIus IN weight, q little heavier and Gttfs
larger than the present fve-cent silver piece,
which together with the three cent piece, Il
discontinued The copper and bronze coins,
heretofore authorizee. are e1ehansabie for tho
copper-nickel coins They viii, therefore,
Haanally pass out Of circulation, leaving
eventually . minor coinage OF one Material
and Of uniform value.
coin shan be nine-tenths Gne-that Is to say,
nine parts pure gold or silver, and one part al
10y. Il is not practicable in the operations Of
the aIint to conform exactly 70 tho standard
fneness, consequently limit Of variation,
termed the i" tolerance" is allowed under e1-
iztfng laws. .-......
It was also found impracticabls to prepare
COIN Of The precise weight prescribed BY Law,
and deviation therefom is al]owed: Under
existing laws the deviatiG7a in the double easie,
i aieut two cents IN the quarter eagle, three
doIIar, and one-dollar gold pieces, one quarter
OF u grain (on each}. In the silver coin
It il greater than in gold coin, as the former
are not usually adjusted BY hand, the de.
one ,, cent? on the half dollar, one grain On tho
quarter dollar x of one cent?, and one half
1rain 1-6 OF one cent? upon the dime. To
nreyent an issue o. light coins below the pre-
scibed weight within the Limit Of tolerance:
the law prescsibes that when = number o.
fha conner to the Treasury, and By the
latter to the depositor, the deviation shaA not
| exceed three pennyWeights (yalue 51I9) IN
| one thousand dovble eagles. two pennywelght5
| value al, ,S61 IN one thousand eagles, one and
ore-han pennywelghts lvalua sLss,s} N ohe
| tbonsand haK eagles, and one pennyWe'sht
| (vaIue SO cents) in one Thousand dona1
| pieces.
IN the proposed bill the deviation in weight
allowed Is as follows: In the double eagle,
one-half grain troy; in the eagle,, three
eighths OF grain IN the bali eaGte, one-
aud quarter eagle, one-Bi1th Of 4 grain, and
| IN tha dollar piece, one-tweIfth OF q grain
in the half and quarter dollar silver pieces,
one grain, and IN the dime, one-haf frain- In
weighing i large number of pieces together
eac1cs, ear eagles, haIc-eagles, and quazter-eagies
| is one hundredth OF an ounce (about
| eighteen cents), and in $1,000 worth OF
tbIee-d dollar pieces it is six-thousandths o. an
| ounce. aud il one thousand dollars worth OF
| one Thousand dollars worth Of silver bali and
| quarter-dol1ar pieces. tWo-hundredths ot an
ounce, and in one hundred dollars worth Of
| dimes, oue-huudredth Of IN ounce; tie - toll
erance" +" Of weight being in the proposed bill
| only about one-fourth thn amount now author
nd fHS3 ths.
! silver, taking into consideration the relative
quantities Of the several denominations no"
coined
The coinage Of the silver dollar piece is dis
continued in the proposed bill 1t Is by Ia"
tho dollar unit, and is worth IN gold pre-
! MUM Of about three per cent (51-03 % 1000,
and intrirsicn1ly mora than seven per cent
| premium (91-D7 = 1oo) on cur other silver
coin The present Law can 60 construed
as to authorize both u gold donar unlt
tho other in intrinsic value. The present sold
dollar piece is now the dollar unit IN the pro
posed bill, and tho silver dollar pieco ls DIS
continued. Il, however, such ! coin il autho-
rized, it should be iHsued only as CONNER
cial dollar, not as standard INIT Of account,
and Of the exact value of tho Mo1ican dollar.
which is tho fayorite for circulation in China
and Japan.
In the proposed bill the weight and ducncss
Of the gold and silver coins remain unchanged:
DQt H6 tQ8 yTUHk u Ivy leGA4 N4At u M8'6As
(Act July Is, 1869: Ito weight Of the different
coins in the schedule annexed has been given
in Ezams, as well ~ in grains troy The pro
priety of substituting the nitric system sd.
thorized by law for tho present unit system OF
ounces and dccin1als for weighing bullion, OF
penny weights and grains in weighing and
adjusting coin. and Of grains and nilligrains in
The process OF assa3i ing at the Mint has been
suggeHte4l- This can be done with little ncon-
yenience, and Is recommended .
The United Sta es would undoubtedly aGtee
| to any system OF international coinage having
| eirupie rnlations to some acknowledged unity
OF weight first agreed upon By England and
! France, in order to simplify the present alb
| sura system Of calculating exchangef but II it
| is rrupoeed to lead the ws5 in such system,
| then the p1eHent metric system presents I'D
| vant=ges over any other proposed
| It il probable that the 11rger, portion
OF our gold coins (to~day) in cizcul..
ton would. il weighed together, fall
short OF their original weight, arising
| chiefly from abrasion, more than three dollars
| On The Thousand do1fa1s, which is the differ
| enca between the metric coins proposed and
| the existing coins; 60 that, il the coinage OF
! the country we're to be exchanged. weight fot
! weight. for metric coinsy there would probably
| be very little difference Respectfully sub
ritted, Jonr jar kSor,
| Deputy Compt1o1sy Of the Currency.
| Hon GEoRGE S. BOUTWELL,, Secretary OF sno
| Treasury