Mesa free press. [volume] (Mesa, Ariz.) 1892-1901, 1899-07-07
TINE EARNINGS OF THE MINT.
I'm Making Money for the Use OF 9th
ere Uncle Sam Grows Thrifty.

I'm Making Money for the Use OF 9th
ere Uncle Sam Grows Thrifty.
1t is supposed generally that the
United States mint and the government
assay Offices and refneries are main
tanned for the public convenience and
that the MINT like other branches or
departments of the extensive treasury
service, is run pro bono publico, the
government making up by appropria
tons the shortage of each year. The
recent public report Of the director of
the mint shows that Uncle Sam has a
thrifty interest in the operations of the
mint and it's branches and makes a
tidy profit from their operation each
year. Last year the gross earnings Of
the minis and assay offices of the
country-there are minis in Philadel-
phia, San Francisco, Carson City and
New Orleans, assay offices at Denver,
Boise, Helena, Charlotte, st. Louis,
Deadwood and New York-were $4,-
$1,000, of which $173,614 was for
parting and refining bullion, $1O,O46
for copper alloy, and $15,321 for melt
ing, assaying and stamping charges.
The seigniorage on the coinage Of sill
yer was $3,O73,9 1853, on subsidiary silver
coinage $286,311, on minor coinage
1901 900 and on the recoinage al
minor coins $18,383. The value Of the
deposit in melting room grains and
sweeps removed was $8,726; the
value Of the surplus bullion returned
was $53,O24, and the gain on bullion
shipped by the minor assay offices to
the mint for coinage there was $6,675.
The expenditures Of the mint service
including wastage, loss on sale of
sweeps, and expense of distributing
minor coins, was $1,263, 1873. The net
earnings for the year were So, 49,, 1854.
Some of the items of expense (the chief
wages illustrate the curiously COM
plicated work Of minting, which re-
quires not only knowledge of chemis-
try and metallurgy, but considerable
eXactness in the use of materials and
in the adaptation of dies and designs.
For acids used in the minis and assay
offices $27, 400 was expended by the
government last year; for chemicals,
81, 700; for wood, $6,675; for copper,
$4,000; for friedrich, $1,000; and for
zinc, $2,766. For gloves and gauntlets
required blythe mint workers, So, 100
was needed; for gas, an aid to metal
lurgy, $14, 700; for charcoal, $3.740; for
crucibles and mechanical appliances,
s., 400. .
Varied as these items are, they dc
not exhaust the number of things re-
quired in the mint, for $4,000 was ex-
pended in lumber, $1,400 in ice, $500
for salt used in the refneries. and a
small charge for flags needed as de-
signs. Apart from gas, the fuel need
ed for mint and assay Offices was of
three kinds-charcoal at an expense
Of So, 700, coke at an expense Of 1900,
and coal at an expense Of $1,000. One
item, which to the uninitiated seems
large, Is the item of sewing, $3,425.
This sewing Is required for the bags
containing the metal or coins, In ad-
dition to $3.50 for barrels and $3.50 for
bullion boxes.
Uncle Sam in his liberality made no
appropriation for soap. it would appear,
but the expense Of laundering the
towels presumably 'it was given out'D
was $1,000, and $1,000 additional was
paid for water. The item of wastage,
so-called, arising from work at the
mint, and which is not large one
when compared with the enormous
operations Of the mint, was $4,000,
and some other minor items brought
up the governments whole expense in
the year to $1,25O,OOO, or about % per
cent. Of the total receipts, the profit
being represented by the other Is per
cent.-New York Sun.