Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-04
IRONTON. MO-. THURSDAY. J
Coinage Laws of the United States.
NUMBER III.

From the St. Louis Journal of Agriculture.
| In the two previous articles on this
subject we have considered the first
general coinage act which was passed
April 2, 1892, and all the minor acts
amendatory of that law, passed subse-
quently to the act of 1892 and prior to
| the general coinage act of 1887. In
this article we shall consider the gen.
eral coinage act of Jan. s. 1887, which
revised all existing coinage laws and
repealed al laws inconsistent with
that act.
The first section of that law says the
officers of the mint shall consist of a
director, treasurer, an assayer,
melter and refiner, chief coiner and
an engraver. to be appointed by the
president of the United States by and
with the consent of the Senate. Sec
tions two, three, four, five, six and
seven specify the duties of the officers
of the mint.
Section eight provided that the stand
ard for both gold and silver coins of
the United States s.shall hereafter be
such. that of 1000 parts by weight. 900
shall be pure metal. and 100 alloy, the
alloy of silver coins to be of copper; the
alloy of gold coins TO be of copper and
silver. This was change from the
law of 1882. That law provided that
..the standard for gold coins should be
eleven parts fine to one part alloy" In
other words eleven-twelfths of the
weight of gold coin was fine gold.
whereas under the revised law of 1887
nine-tenths of the gold coin was fine
gold. That is, the relative amount of
pure gold in gold coins was increased.
Under the law of 1892 the standard of
silver coins was 1885 parts fine silver
to 119 parts alloy, or a little over sew
en-eights fine. Section nine of the act
of 1887 provided, That of the silver
coins, the dollar shall be of the weight
of 4125 grains" This was no change
in the amount of fine silver is a dollar.
The act of 1892 and also the act of 1887
provided that there should be 81
grains of fine silver in the dollar, but
the act of 1887 reduced the amount of
standard silver in dollar from 416 to
4l29 grains. This same section also
provided that silver dollars, half dol
lars and quarter dollars, dimes and
half dimes, should be "iegal tenders of
payment, according to their value, for
any sum aChatecer." 1t is clear there
was no Determinations against silver
in that law.
Section 10 provided that of the gold
coins. the weight of the eagle should
be 25S grains. The law of 1892 only
required 247 As grains of fine gold in
an eagle. The act of June %, 1884
changed the amount of gold in the
eagle from 247 2-5 of pure, or 27O
grains of standard gold, to 232 grains
of ure, and 25S grains of standard.
The law of 1887 did not change the
amount of standard gold required in
the eagle, but provided that standard
gold should should consist of one-tenth
alloy and nine-tenths fine gold, instead
of being eleyen-twelfths fine.
Section II fixed the weight of the
copper cent at 16S grains and fixed its
value at one-hundredth of a dollar.
Section Is also referred to copper coin
age.
Section IA provided that gold Or sill
yer bullion brought to the mint should
be coined for the benefit of the depos-
itor. provided that it should be lawful
to refuse any deposits of less value
than 800. Sections 10, 16 and II re-
fer to minor details of the mint.
Section Is specified the charges for
minting. The charges enumerated
are: .'For refining when the bullion is
below the standard; for toughening
when metals are contained in it which
render it unfit for coinage; for copper
used for alloy when the bullion is
above standard; for silver introduced
into the alloy of gold; and for separa-
ting the gold and silver when these
metals exist together in bullion; and
the rate of these charges shall be fixed
from time to time. by the director, SO
as not to exceed in their Judgment the
actual expense to the mint of the ma
terials and labor employed"
The section from 1S to 33 inclusive
treated of the details minting.
Section 33 and 81 provided for the
purchase Of copper bullion and its coin
aee. Section 35 makes it the duty of
the treasurer of the mint to deliver the
copper coins. in exchange for their
equivalent in other money to any per-
son who might apply for them. This
exchanging copper for silver and gold
coins was in striking contrast to pre-
sent methods of Wall street agents
clothed with governmental authority
who refuse to redeem government coins
or other money in anything but gold.