The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

new money that can be printed, therefore.
Is national bank notes. -
The supply Of national bank. notes is
subject to the provision that the bank
asking for them must deposit Government
bonds equal to the amount Of notes re-
ceived. There is, therefore, nothing like
creation Of money value in all the printing
that the bureau does. In"the main it Is
SIMPLY putting in convenient form value
that the Government holds in its vaults.
|, Active as are the presses in the Bureau
only part, Of the stream Of fresh money.
There are coinage lmints at Philadelphia,
New Orleans and San Francisco. In 1904
the presses of the three mints stamped out
more ~ ias. 500 o0o pieces OF money. in
In our present coinage there are four.
denominations Of gold coins struck and a
like number OF silver coins. In the minor
coinage there are two pieces only, the
penny and The five cent piece The half
dimes and the twenty cent pieces are no
longer coined, nor are the gold dollars and
the three dollar pieces, all OF which in
former years were struck of in small
mounts In value about three-fourths of
the coinage Ia gold, 'F
We have in the United States what is
known as free and unlimited coinage Of
gold. Standard gold bullion may be de-
POSTED at the mints by any person, in any
AMOUNT, and IL will be coined for the bene-
ft OF the depositor without charge for the
coinage.
II standard bullion" is taken to the mint
that Is to say, IL il is in jnst the proportion
OF pure gold and copper alloy that is used
IN making our gold coins-the person TAX
ing the gold to the mint will receive back
exactly as many ounces and grains In the
form OF stamped coins as he took to the
mint, and there will be no charge made by
the Government for turning the bullion
into coins. STANDARD gold is nine hundred
parts pure gold and one hundred parts COP
per alloy. II the gold which is taken TO the
mint must, be refined and base metals ielimi-
mated, there is a charge for that operation
which varies with the actual expenses.
The production Of gold from the mines
OF the United States amounted in 1904 to
$50. SOO.O 900. A large amount Of gold which
is brought to the mints is refined until IL
10 standard bullion, and. is then melted into.
bars; with the exact weight and fneness
stamped upon each bar.
When gold is wanted for export Il isusual
TO obtain bars and ship the gold in that form,
rather than to ship our coined money A
large amount OF coin il shipped, but there
is always a small loss in doing that. as the
pieces are usually worn more or less, and
Will not weigh exactly a. many ounces n
grains as when new.
The stamp of the mint adds nothing to
the value OF the gold. At some seasons we
import large amounts Of foreign gold, and
this comes in the form Of coins OF, Great
DIlldku, rtdlCo, OF OtneT European COun-
gtries, and sometimes in the form Of bar gold.
In whatever form il comes, il is taken by
the importers to the assay Offices, and is
| melted down and carefully assayed.
The person bringing IL will receive gold
coin in return in the same way hat he
would II it were new. gold which had been
brought directly from the mine; or IL he
wishes he may, and usually does, receive
gold certificates.
For some time the Government coined
from ten to twenty million silver dollars a
year. They we're coined from bullion which
was purchased under the Law passed in
1890, providing for the purchase OF $500, 900
ounces OF silver bullion each month.
All the production Of our own mines and
all the gold which We might import in the
settlement of trade balances can be con-
verted into gold coin. But we depend
mostly on gold from our own mines, for
Notwithstanding sales of our
products and manufactures abroad, we
retain permanently little gold in settlement
of the great trade balances. As a matter
OF fact, We have exported about SO, 900, 900
more gold than we have imported since
1895.
The year 10000 was the banner year in
the history of our mints The gold coined
in 1904 amounted to s233. 900. 900. OF course
the larger part of this great sum was from
bullion accumulated in previous years.
Perhaps the most important thing to re-
!. member in studying about sources of the
supply of money Is that real money Ia not a
thing that can be created merely by running
Government presses, and that not a new
dollar comes into the circulation OF the
country which has not corresponding value
behind it,.