ACT OF JUNE 20, 1874- - An act fixing the amount of United States notes, providing for a redistribution of the national-bank currency, and for other purposes.

[18 Statutes at Large, p. 123.]

Be it enacted, etc., That the act entitled "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 June 3d, 1864, shall hereafter be known as "The national-bank act."

SEC. 2. That section 31 of "The national-bank act" be so amended that the several associations therein provided for shall not hereafter be required to keep on hand any amount of money whatever, by reason of the amount of their respective circulations; but the moneys required by said section to be kept at all times on hand shall be determined by the amount of deposits in all respects, as provided for in the said section.

SEC. 3. That every association organized, or to be organized, under the provisions of the said act, and of the several acts amendatory thereof, shall at all times keep and have on deposit in the treasury of the United States, in lawful money of the United States, a sum equal to five per centum of its circulation, to be held and used for the redemption of such circulation; which sum shall be counted as part of its lawful reserve, as provided in section 2 of this act. And when the circulating notes of any such associations, assorted or unassorted, shall be presented for redemption, in sums of $1,000 or any multiple thereof, to the Treasurer of the United States, the same shall be redeemed in United States notes. All notes so redeemed shall be charged by the Treasurer of the United States to the respective associations issuing the same, and he shall notify them severally, on the first day of each month, or oftener, at his discretion, of the amount of such redemptions; and whenever such redemptions for any association shall amount to the sum of $500, such association so notified shall forthwith deposit with the Treasurer of the United States a sum in United States notes equal to the amount of its circulating-notes so redeemed. And all notes of national banks worn, defaced, mutilated, or otherwise unfit for circulation, shall, when received by any assistant treasurer, or at any designated depository of the United States, be forwarded to the Treasurer of the United States for redemption as provided herein. And when such redemptions have been so re-imbursed, the circulating-notes so redeemed shall be forwarded to the respective associations by which they were issued; but, if any of such notes are worn, mutilated, defaced, or rendered otherwise unfit for use, they shall be forwarded to the Comptroller of the Currency and destroyed, and replaced as now provided by law: Provided, That each of said associations shall re-imburse to the Treasury the charges for transportation,3 and the costs for assorting such notes; and the associations hereafter organized shall also severally re-imburse to the Treasury the cost of engraving such plates as shall be ordered by each association respectively; and the amount assessed upon each association shall be in proportion to the circulation redeemed, and be charged to the fund on deposit with the Treasurer: And provided further, That so much of section 32 of said national-bank act requiring or permitting the redemption of its circulating notes elsewhere than at its own counter except as is provided for in this section, is hereby repealed.

'See Sec. 5191, p. 526.

* See also Act of July 14, 1890, Sec. 6. p. 541.

3 See Act of July 12, 1882, Sec. 8, p. 537.

SEC. 4. That any association organized under this act, or any of the acts of which this is an amendment, desiring to withdraw its circulating notes,' in whole or in part, may, upon the deposit of lawful money with the Treasurer of the United States in sums of not less than $9,000, take up the bonds which said association has on deposit with the Treasurer for the security of such circulating-notes, which bonds shall be assigned to the bank in the manner specified in the nineteenth section of the national-bank act; and the outstanding notes of said association, to an amount equal to the legal-tender notes deposited, shall be redeemed at the Treasury of the United States, and destroyed as now provided by law: Provided, That the amount of the bonds on deposit for circulation shall not be reduced below $50,000.

SEC. 5. That the Comptroller of the Currency shall, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, cause the charternumbers of the associations to be printed upon all national-bank notes which may be hereafter issued by him.

SEC. 6. That the amount of United States notes outstanding and to be used as a part of the circulating-medium shall not exceed the sum of $382,000,000, which said sum shall appear in each monthly statement of the public debt, and no part thereof shall be held or used as a reserve.

SEC. 7. That so much of the act entitled "An act to provide for the redemption of the three per centum temporary loan certificates, and for an increase of national-bank notes," as provides that no circulation shall be withdrawn under the provisions of section 6 of said act, until after the $54,000,000 granted in section 1 of said act shall have been taken up, is hereby repealed; and it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to proceed forthwith, and he is hereby authorized and required, from time to time, as applications shall be duly made therefor, and until the full amount of $55,000,000 shall be withdrawn, to make requisitions upon each of the national banks described in said section, and in the manner therein provided, organized in States having an excess of circulation, to withdraw and return so much of their circulation as by said act may be apportioned to be withdrawn from them, or, in lieu thereof, to deposit in the Treasury of the United States lawful money sufficient to redeem such circulation, and upon the return of the circulation required, or the deposit of lawful money, as herein provided, a proportionate amount of the bonds held to secure the circulation of such association as shall make such return or deposit shall be surrendered to it.

SEC. 8. That upon the failure of the national banks upon which requisition for circulation shall be made, or any of them, to return the amount required, or to deposit in the Treasury lawful money to redeem the circulation required, within thirty days, the Comptroller of the Currency shall at once sell, as provided in section 49 of the national-currency act, approved June 3, 1864, bonds held to secure the redemption of the circulation of the association or associations which shall so fail, to an amount sufficient to redeem the circulation required of such association or associations, and with the proceeds, which shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States, so much of the circulation of such association or associations shall be redeemed as will equal the amount required and not returned and if there be any excess of proceeds over the amount required for such redemption, it shall be returned to the association or associations whose bonds shall have been sold. And it shall be the duty of the Treasurer, assistant treasurers, designated deposita

I See Sec. 5167, p. 523; also Act of July 12, 1882, Sec. 9. pp. 537-538.

ries, and national bank depositaries of the United States, who shall be kept informed by the Comptroller of the Currency of such associations as shall fail to return circulation as required, to assort and return to the Treasury for redemption the notes of such associations as shall come into their hands until the amount required shall be redeemed, and in like manner to assort and return to the Treasury, for redemption, the notes of such national banks as have failed, or gone into voluntary liquidation for the purpose of winding up their affairs, and of such as shall hereafter so fail or go into liquidation.

SEC. 9. That from and after the passage of this act it shall be lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency, and he is hereby required, to issue circulating-notes, without delay, as applications therefor are made, not to exceed the sum of $55,000,000, to associations organized, or to be organized, in those States and Territories having less than their proportion of circulation, under an apportionment made on the basis of population and of wealth, as shown by the returns of the census of 1870; and every association hereafter organized shall be subject to, and be governed by, the rules, restrictions, and limitations, and possess the rights, privileges, and franchises, now or hereafter to be prescribed by law as to national banking associations, with the same power to amend, alter, and repeal provided by "the national-bank act": Provided, That the whole amount of circulation withdrawn and redeemed from banks transacting business shall not exceed $55,000,000, and that such circulation shall be withdrawn and redeemed as it shall be necessary to supply the circulation previously issued to the banks in those States having less than their apportionment: And provided further, That not more than $30,000,000 shall be withdrawn and redeemed as herein contemplated during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.1

ACT OF JANUARY 14, 1875,—An act to provide for the resumption of specie payments.

[18 Statutes at Large, p. 296.]

Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required, as rapidly as practicable, to cause to be coined, at the mints of the United States, silver coins of the denominations of ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents, of standard value, and to issue them in redemption of an equal number and amount of fractional currency of similar denominations, or, at his discretion, he may issue such silver coins through the mints, the subtreasuries, public depositaries, and post-offices of the United States; and, upon such issue, he is hereby authorized and required to redeem an equal amount of such fractional currency, until the whole amount of such fractional currency outstanding shall be redeemed.

SEC. 2. That so much of section 3524 of the Revised Statutes of the United States as provides for a charge of one-fifth of one per centum for converting standard gold bullion into coin is hereby repealed; and hereafter no charge shall be made for that service.

SEC. 3. That section 5177 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, limiting the aggregate amount of circulating-notes of national-banking associations be, and is hereby repealed; and each existing banking-association may increase its circulating-notes in accordance with existing law without respect to said aggregate limit; and new banking-associations may be organized in

'Superseded by the Act of January 14, 1875.

accordance with existing law without respect to said aggregate limit; and the provisions of law for the withdrawal and redistribution of national-bank currency among the several States and Territories are hereby repealed. And whenever, and so often, as circulating-notes shall be issued to any such banking-association, so increasing its capital or circulating-notes, or so newly organized as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to redeem the legal-tender United States notes in excess only of $300,000,000, to the amount of eighty per centum of the sum of national-bank notes so issued to any such banking-association as aforesaid and to continue such redemption as such circulating notes are issued until there shall be outstanding the sum of $300,000,000 of such legal-tender United States notes,' and no more. And on and after the first day of January, anno Domini, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem, in coin, the United States legal-tender notes then outstanding, on their presentation for redemption, at the office of the assistant treasurer of the United States in the city of New York, in sums not less than fifty dollars. And to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and provide for the redemption in this act authorized or required, he is authorized to use any surplus revenues, from time to time, in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and to issue, sell, and dispose of, at not less than par, in coin, either of the descriptions of bonds of the United States described in the act of Congress approved July 14, 1870, entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the national debt," with like qualities, privileges, and exemptions, to the extent necessary to carry this act into full effect, and to use the proceeds thereof for the purposes aforesaid. And all provisions of law inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

ACT OF JANUARY 19, 1875.-An act to remove the limitation restricting the circulation of banking-associations issuing notes payable in gold.

[18 Statutes at Large, p. 302.]

Be it enacted, etc., That so much of section 5185 of the Revised Statutes of the United States as limits the circulation of banking-associations, organized for the purpose of issuing notes payable in gold, severally to $1,000,000, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and each of such existing banking-associations may increase its circulating notes, and new banking-associations may be organized, in accordance with existing law, without respect to such limitation.

ACT OF FEBRUARY 8, 1875.-An act to amend existing customs and internalrevenue laws, and for other purposes.

[18 Statutes at Large, p. 307.]

SEC. 19.3 That every person, firm, association other than national bank associations, and every corporation, State bank, or State banking association, shall pay a tax of ten per centum on the amount of their own notes used for circulation and paid out by them.

Subsequent Act of May 31, 1878, forbade further retirement of legal-tender notes. and fixed the limit at amount then outstanding, $346,681,016.

2 San Francisco added by Section 3 of act of March 3, 1887. See page 540. 3 See Secs. 3412, 3413, page 517.

SEC. 20. That every such person, firm, association, corporation, State bank, or State banking association, and also every national banking association, shall pay a like tax of ten per centum on the amount of notes of any person, firm, association other than a national banking association, or of any corporation, State bank, or State banking association, or of any town, city, or municipal corporation, used for circulation and paid out by them.

SEC. 21. That the amount of such circulating notes, and of the tax due thereon, shall be returned, and the tax paid at the same time, and in the same manner, and with like penalties for failure to return and pay the same, as provided by law for the return and payment of taxes on deposits, capital, and circulation, imposed by the existing provisions of internal revenue law.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1875.-An act authorizing the coinage of a twenty-cent piece' of silver at the mints of the United States.

[18 Statutes at Large, p. 478.]

[Provides for the issue of a silver coin of the denomination of 20 cents weight 5 grams, legal tender for an amount not exceeding $5 in any one pay ment.]

ACT OF APRIL 17, 1876.-An act to provide for a deficiency in the Printing and Engraving Bureau of the Treasury Department, and for the issue of silver coin of the United States in place of fractional currency.

[19 Statutes at Large, p. 33.]

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to issue silver coins of the United States of the denomination of ten, twenty, twentyfive and fifty cents of standard value, in redemption of an equal amount of fractional currency, whether the same be now in the Treasury awaiting redemption, or whenever it may be presented for redemption; and the Secretary of the Treasury may, under regulations of the Treasury Department, provide for such redemption and issue by substitution at the regular subtreasuries and public depositories of the United States until the whole amount of fractional currency outstanding shall be redeemed. And the fractional currency redeemed under this act shall be held to be a part of the sinkingfund provided for by existing law, the interest to be computed thereon, as in the case of bonds redeemed under the act relating to the sinking-fund.

JOINT RESOLUTION OF JULY 22, 1876.-Joint resolution for the issue of silver coin.

[19 Statutes at Large, p. 33.]

Resolved, etc. That the Secretary of the Treasury, under such limits and regulations as will best secure a just and fair distribution of the same through the country, may issue the silver coin at any time in the Treasury to an amount not exceeding ten million dollars, in exchange for an equal amount of legal-tender notes; and the notes so received in exchange shall be kept

'Coinage prohibited by act of May 2, 1878.

2 See provisions of the Resumption Act of January 14, 1875, pp. 531-532.