ACT OF JULY 25, 1868. - An act to provide for a further issue of temporary loan certificates, for the purpose of redeeming and retiring the remainder of the outstanding compound interest notes.

[15 Statutes at Large, p. 183.]

Be it enacted, etc., That for the sole purpose of redeeming and retiring the remainder of the compound-interest notes outstanding, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to issue an additional amount of temporary loan certificates, not exceeding $25,000,000; said certificates to bear interest at the rate of three per centum per annum, principal and interest payable in lawful money on demand, and to be similar in all respects to the certificates authorized by the act entitled “An act to provide ways and means for the payment of compound-interest notes," approved March 2, 1867; and the said certificates may constitute and be held by any national bank holding or owning the same as a part of the reserve, in accordance with the provisions of the above mentioned act of March 2, 1867.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1869.—An act regulating the reports of national banking associations.

[15 Statutes at Large, p. 326.]

Be it enacted, etc., That in lieu of all reports required by section 34 of the national currency act, every association shall make to the Comptroller of the Currency, not less than five reports during each and every year, according to the form which may be prescribed by him, verified by the oath or affirmation of the president or cashier of such association, and attested by the signature of at least three of the directors; which report shall exhibit, in detail and under appropriate heads, the resources and liabilities of the associations at the close of business on any past day to be by him specified, *

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ACT OF MARCH 18, 1869.-An act to strengthen the public credit.

[16 Statutes at Large, p. 1.]

Be it enacted, etc., That in order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the government to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle conflicting questions and interpretations of the laws by virtue of which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its equivalent of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest, known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold and silver. But none of said interest-bearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity unless at such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.

ACT OF JULY 12, 1870.-An act to provide for the redemption of the three per cent. temporary loan certificates and for an increase of national bank notes.

[16 Statutes at Large, p. 251.]

Be it enacted, etc., That $54,000,000 in notes for circulation may be issued to national banking associations, in addition to the $300,000,000 authorized by the 22d section of the "Act to provide a national currency, secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864; and the amount of notes so provided shall be furnished to banking associations organized, or to be organized, in those states and territories having less than their proportion under the apportionment contemplated by the provisions of the "Act to amend an act to provide a national currency, secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved March 3, 1865; and the bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States, to secure the additional circulating notes herein authorized, shall be of any description of bonds of the United States, bearing interest in coin, but a new apportionment of the increased circulation herein provided for shall be made as soon as practicable, based upon the census of 1870: Provided, That if applications for the circulation herein authorized shall not be made within one year after the passage of this act by banking associations organized, or to be organized, in States having less than their proportion, it shall be lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency to issue such circulation to banking associations applying for the same in other States or Territories having less than their proportion, giving the preference to such as have the greatest deficiency: And provided further, That no banking association hereafter organized shall have a circulation in excess of $500,000.*

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That at the end of each month after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of circulating notes issued, under the provisions of the preceding section, to national banking associations during the previous month; whereupon the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem and cancel an amount of the three per centum temporary loan certificates issued under the acts of March 2, 1867, and July 25, 1868, not less than the amount of circulating notes so reported, and may, if necessary, in order to procure the presentation of such temporary loan certificates for redemption, give notice to the holders thereof, by publication or otherwise, that certain of said certificates (which shall be designated by number, date, and amount) shall cease to bear interest from and after a day to be designated in such notice, and that the certificates so designated shall no longer be available as any portion of the lawful money-reserve in possession of any national banking association, and after the day designated in such notice no interest shall be paid on such certificates, and they shall not thereafter be counted as a part of the reserve of any banking association.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1871.-An act to provide for the redemption of copper and

other token coins.

[16 Statutes at Large, p. 580.]

Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized

All these regulations for the distribution of bank currency were repealed by the act of January 14, 1875; see page 531.

and required to redeem in lawful money, under such rules and regulations as he may from time to time prescribe, all copper, bronze, copper-nickel, and base-metal coinage of every kind heretofore authorized by law, when presented in sums of not less than $20; and whenever under this authority these coins are presented for redemption in such quantity as to show the amount outstanding to be redundant, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to discontinue or diminish the manufacture and issue of such coinage until otherwise ordered by him.

ACT OF FEBRUARY 12, 1873.* - An act revising and amending the laws relative to the mints, Assay-offices, and coinage of the United States.

[17 Statutes at Large, p. 424.]

*NOTE - The act of February 12, 1873, is largely a revision of earlier coinage laws, and contains 76 sections. As it is included in the revision of 1874; only a few

portions are reproduced here.

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Be it enacted, etc. SEC. 14. That the gold coins of the United States shall be a one-dollar, piece, which, at the standard weight of twenty-five and eight-tenths grains, shall be the unit of value; a quarter-eagle, or two-and-a-half-dollar piece; a three-dollar piece; a half-eagle, or five-dollar piece; an eagle, or tendollar piece; and a double eagle, or twenty-dollar piece. And the standard weight of the gold dollar shall be twenty-five and eight-tenths grains; of the quarter-eagle, or two-and-a-half-dollar piece, sixty-four and a half grains; of the three dollar piece, seventy-seven and four-tenths grains; of the halfeagle, or five-dollar piece, one hundred and twenty-nine grains; of the eagle, or ten-dollar piece, two hundred and fifty-eight grains; of the double-eagle, or twenty-dollar piece, five hundred and sixteen grains; which coins shall be a legal tender in all payments at their nominal value when not below the standard weight and limit of tolerance provided in this act for the single piece, and, when reduced in weight, below said standard and tolerance, shall be a legal tender at valuation in proportion to their actual weight; and any gold coin of the United States, if reduced in weight by natural abrasion not more than one-half of one per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law, after a circulation of twenty years, as shown by its date of coinage, and at a ratable proportion for any period less than twenty years, shall be received at their nominal value by the United States treasury and its offices, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe for the protection of the Government against fraudulent abrasion or other practices; and any gold coins in the treasury of the United States reduced in weight below this limit of abrasion shall be recoined.

SEC. 15. That the silver coins of the United States shall be a trade-dollar, a half-dollar, or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar, or twenty-five-cent piece, a dime, or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the trade dollar shall be four hundred and twenty grains troy; the weight of the half-dollar shall be twelve grammes and one-half of a gramme; the quarter-dollar and the dime shall be, respectively, one-half and one-fifth of the weight of said half-dollar; and said coins shall be a legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment.'

* See Secs. 3513, 3586, Revised Statutes, pp. 518, 521.

REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES.

[Bold face references in parentheses indicate the immediate source of the legislation in question. The date 1873, alone, refers to the Act of February 12, 1873; 1864, alone, to the National Bank Act of June 3, 1864.]

SEC. 254. (Mar 3, 1863, § 5.) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to receive deposits of gold coin and bullion with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than twenty dollars, and to issue certificates therefor, in denominations of not less than twenty dollars, each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin and bullion deposited for or representing the certificates of deposit shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. And certificates representing coin in the Treasury may be issued in payment of interest on the public debt, which certificates, together with those issued for coin and bullion deposited, shall not at any time exceed twenty per centum beyond the amount of coin and bullion in the Treasury; and the certificates for coin and bullion in the Treasury shall be received at par in payment for duties on imports.

SEC. 324 (1864, §1.) There shall be in the Department of the Treasury a Bureau charged with the execution of all laws passed by Congress relating to the issue and regulation of a national currency secured by United States bonds; the chief officer of which Bureau shall be called the Comptroller of the Currency, and shall perform his duties under the general direction of the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 3412. (Mar. 3, 1865, §6; July 13, 1866, § 9.) Every national banking association, State bank, or State banking association, shall pay a tax of ten per centum on the amount of notes of any person, or of any State bank or State banking association, used for circulation and paid out by them.

SEC. 3413. (Mar. 26, 1867, § 2.) Every national banking association, State bank, or banker, or association, shall pay a tax of ten per centum on the amount of notes of any town, city, or municipal corporation, paid out by them.1

SEC. 3414. (Mar. 3, 1865.) A true and complete return of the monthly amount of circulation, of deposits, and of capital, as aforesaid, and of the monthly amount of notes of persons, town, city, or municipal corporation, State banks, or State banking associations paid out as aforesaid for the previous six months, shall be made and rendered in duplicate on the first day of December and the first day of June, by each of such banks, associations, corporations, companies, or persons, * * *.

SEC. 3473. All duties on imports shall be paid in gold and silver coin only, [coin certificates] or in demand Treasury notes, issued under the authority of the acts of July 17, 1861, chapter five; and February 12, 1862, chapter twenty; and all taxes and other debts and demands than duties on imports, accruing or becoming due to the United States, shall be paid in gold and silver coin, Treasury notes, United States notes, or notes of national banks;* * * *

SEC. 3505. (1873, § 14.) Any gold coins of the United States, if reduced in weight by natural abrasion not more than one-half of one per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law, after a circulation of twenty

See act of February 8, 1875, p. 532.

As amended by act of February 27, 1877.

years, as shown by the date of coinage, and at a ratable proportion for any period less than twenty years, shall be received at their nominal value by the United States Treasury and its offices, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe for the protection of the Government against fraudulent abrasion or other practices.

SEC. 3511. (1873, § 14.) The gold coins of the United States shall be a one-dollar piece, which, at the standard weight of twenty-five and eighttenths grains, shall be the unit of value; the quarter-eagle, or two and a half dollar piece; a three-dollar piece; a half-eagle, or five-dollar piece; an eagle, or ten-dollar piece; and a double-eagle, or twenty-dollar piece. And the standard weight of the gold dollar shall be twenty-five and eight-tenths grains; of the quarter-eagle, or two and a half dollar piece, sixty-four and a half grains; of the three-dollar piece, seventy-seven and four-tenths grains; of the half-eagle, or five-dollar piece, one hundred and twenty-nine grains; of the eagle, or ten-dollar piece, two hundred and fifty-eight grains ; of the double-eagle, or twenty-dollar piece, five hundred and sixteen grains.1 SEC. 3512. (1873, §14.) Any gold coins in the Treasury of the United States, when reduced in weight by natural abrasion more than one-half of one per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law, shall be recoined.

SEC. 3513. (1873, § 15.) The silver coins of the United States shall be a trade-dollar, a half-dollar, or a fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar, or twentyfive-cent piece, a dime, or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the trade-dollar shall be four hundred and twenty grains troy; the weight of the half-dollar shall be twelve grams and one-half of a gram; the quarter-dollar and the dime shall be, respectively, one-half and one-fifth of the weight of said halfdollar.

SEC. 3514. (1873, § 13.) The standard for both gold and silver coins of the United States shall be such that of one thousand parts by weight nine hundred shall be of pure metal and one hundred of alloy. The alloy of the silver coins shall be of copper. The alloy of the gold coins shall be of copper, or of copper and silver; but the silver shall in no case exceed onetenth of the whole alloy.

SEC. 3515. (1873, § 16.) The minor coins of the United States shall be a five-cent piece, a three-cent piece, and a one-cent piece. The alloy for the five and three-cent pieces shall be of copper and nickel, to be composed of three-fourths copper and one-fourth nickel. The alloy of the one-cent piece shall be ninety-five per centum of copper and five per centum of tin and zinc, in such proportions as shall be determined by the Director of the Mint. The weight of the piece of five cents shall be seventy-seven and sixteen-hundredths grains troy; of the three-cent piece, thirty grains; and of the onecent piece, forty-eight grains.

SEC. 3516. (1873, § 17.) No coins, either of gold, silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the Mint other than those of the denominations, standards, and weights set forth in this Title.

'Coinage of $1 and $3 pieces discontinued by Act of September 26, 1890, page 542.

See also Act of March 3, 1875, for 20-ct. silver pieces; Act of February 28, 1878, restoring standard silver dollar to full legal tender and authorizing its coinage; Act July 14, 1890, discontinuing coinage of silver dollar. By an act of August 5, 1892, the coinage of 5,000,000 souvenir half dollars for the World's Columbian Exposition was authorized, and by an act of March 3, 1893 provision was made for the . coinage of 40,000 souvenir quarter dollars for the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition.