The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-07
CARLISLE ON The COINAGE.
The MINIS Not Directed to Coin the
Sei6liOra6e.

He Has Simply Ordered the MINIS to
Get Ready to Coin Some of the
Bullion Now on Hand IF It Should
Be Deemed Advisable-It Would
Take More Than Five Years to Coin
All the Bullion Now in the Treasury.
New York. Nov. 6.-Mr. Carlisle, Secre-
tary of the Treasury. arrived here this
morning. To a reporter of the Evening
Post Mr.. Carlisle said that he was here on
official business Mr.. Carlisle declined to
say anything in relation to tn financial
and business situation, or express any
opinion as to the outlook. As to the con-
dition of the treasury, etc, he could say
nothing, as he did not consider 1t wise or
proper to transact the business of the
government through the newspapers.
Through the misunderstanding Of the
treasury order, or an erroneous dispatch
from Washington, the impression has be-
come general that Secretary Carlisle has
ordered the mints to coin the seigniorage
of the silver bullion now in the treasury,
that is, the proportion of any given guam
tity of silver bullion that would become
seigniorage if the whole of that quantity
were coined.
NOT DIRECTED TO COIN THE SILVER.
In reply to a question Mr.. Carlisle said
that he had not issued any order direct
ing the minis to coin the silver bullion
now in the treasury, nor any part Of 1t.
''What have done is just this. g" said Mr.
Carlisle. I'VE could use few more sill
yer dollars. and / have, therefore, d.
rected the mints to get ready to coin
some of the bullion if it should be deemed
advisable to do so; that is, have or
dered them to prepare the lngots ana
stamps. It is necessary you know, before
the bullion can be coined to make ingots
OF a certain length and of the same thick
ness as the dollar. To do that and make
the stamps would take some weeks, so
YOU see we could not begin coming at
once, even if we wanted to do So
A FIVE YEARS JOB.
"It would take more than five years to
coin all the silver bullion now in the
treasury If we should begin to coin 1t,
the seigniorage would not. in round fig
ures amount to more than Sl,OOO, 600
month or if the mints were all kept
steadily going about 1900, 900 a year.
With the certainty that the purchases of
silver bullion are stopped we could prob
ably use that much with advantage.
/ should be sorry, however, to see any law
passed as was recently suggested, that
would set aside the proportion Of the sill
yer bullion that would become seicnior-
age, the proportion that will become
seigniorage can be calculated, of course,
TO a dollar, and to compel us to coin 1t
alone at once and put it into the treasury's
available surplus If we did that, think
the coin would come back to US in way
that we should not care TO see.
SHOULD BE LEFT To THE SECRETARY.
Something should be left to the dis
erection OF The Secretary of the Treasury.
The law at present invests him with the
authority to coin so much of the bullion
on hand as may be necessary for the re-
demption of the treasury notes. If we
should proceed to coin some of the
bullion now on nand, it would give US
about 81 600 a month in seigniorage
ana that, as 1 nave said, l think in the
present condition of the treasury we
could use to advantage. l do not know
how the misapprehension or misunder-
standing Of my order 10 the mints arose.
An authoritative statement on the sub
ject was issued from the treasury"