Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/31

Rh cent in proportion; Jan. 26, 1796, cent reduced to 168 grs., and half cent in proportion; June 28, 1834, the weight of the eagle reduced to 258 grs., and the parts in proportion, of which 232 grs. were to be fine gold, equal to a fineness of 899 T 2 o 2 A thousandths, being an increase of 6-j^ per cent, on the former value of gold as compared with silver, which remained unchanged. The disadvantages of the complex standards both of gold and silver determined Mr. R. M. Patterson, the director of the mint, to attempt an improvement. He accordingly drew up a well considered code of mint laws, which was enacted by congress, Jan. 18, 1837, by which the French standard of fineness of i^%, for both gold and silver, was adopted. The weight of the gold coins remained unchanged, but the dollar was reduced to 41 2 grs., and the lesser silver coins in proportion. By the act of March 3, 1849, there were added to the series of gold coins the double eagle and the dollar; and by act of Feb. 21, 1853, the three-dollar piece. By act of March 3, 1851, there was added to the silver coins a three-cent piece (a legal tender for sums not exceeding 30 cents), of the fineness of T V$j> and 12| grs. in weight, at which rates it continued to be coined till April 1, 1853, when its fineness was raised to '900, and its weight reduced to -^ of the half dollar, or lly 6 ^ grs. At this date also, in pursuance of the act of Feb. 21, 1853, an important change was effected in the silver coinage. The preexisting laws had made both gold and silver coins (except the three-cent piece) a legal tender for any amount. At the ratio of silver to gold of 16 to 1, silver was undervalued in the United States as compared with Europe, and our silver coins were largely exported. The remedy provided was a seigniorage upon the silver coins, and making gold alone the legal tender. The weight of the half dollar was reduced from 206} grs. to 192 grs., and the smaller coins in proportion. The mint ceased coming silver for individuals, but purchased silver at the market price and made the coins for government account a policy with respect to silver which was adopted in England as early as 1817. The effect of this change was to give to the silver coin of the country a current value sufficiently above its market price as bullion to prevent its exportation, and at the same time to make silver money subsidiary to gold. It is a legal tender now only to the extent of $5. The price at which the mint buys silver is fixed from time to time according to its value in the market, and in 1872 was $1 22 per standard ounce ('900 fine). The silver dollar was not included in this change. It was still a legal tender for all amounts, and its weight continued at 41 2|- grs., while that of two half dollars, or an equivalent sum in smaller coins, was 384 grs. It was therefore intrinsically worth 7-^ per cent, more than a dollar's worth of the other silver coins; but as compared with their current value, only about 4 per cent. more. A further change in the currency was effected by the act of Feb. 21, 1857, by which the copper cent and half cent were discontinued, and a new cent, composed of 88 per cent, of copper and 12 per cent, of nickel, and weighing 72 grs., was substituted; which continued to be coined until the act of April 22, 1864, provided for the coinage of the bronze cent, consisting of 95 per cent, of copper and 5 per cent, of tin and zinc, and weighing 48 grs. The same act authorized, the coinage of two-cent pieces weighing 96 grs.; and by the act of March 3, 1865, a threecent coin, three fourths copper and one fourth nickel, weighing 30 grs., was authorized. The act of May 16, 1866, provided for the coinage of a five-cent piece, three fourths copper and one fourth nickel, weighing 77'16 grs. The one- and two-cent coins were made a legal tender only to the amount of 4 cents, while the three-cent and five-cent pieces were a legal tender for sums not exceeding 60 cents and $1 respectively. The act of Feb. 12, 1873, known as the coinage act of 1873, prepared under the supervision of John Jay Knox, comptroller of the currency, and the passage of which was largely due to his exertions, has consolidated the regulations governing the coinage of the United States. Under this act the fineness of all gold and silver coins is to be -900. The alloy of the silver coins consists of copper; the alloy of the gold coins is copper, or copper and silver, the silver in no case to exceed one tenth of the whole alloy. The gold coins are a onedollar piece, "which, at the standard weight of 25'8 grs., shall be the unit of value;" a quarter eagle, or two-and-a-half-dollar piece, 64*5 grs.; a three-dollar piece, 77 '4 grs.; a half eagle, or five-dollar piece, 129 grs.; an eagle, or ten-dollar piece, 258 grs.; and a double eagle, or twenty-dollar piece, 516 grs. These coins are a legal tender to any amount. The silver coins are a "trade dollar," weighing 420 grs.; a half dollar, or fifty-cent piece, 12^ grams, or 192*9 grs.; a quarter dollar, or twenty-fivecent piece, and a dime, or ten-cent piece, respectively one half and one fifth the weight of the half dollar. These coins are a "legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment." The trade dollar is intended for the convenience of commerce with China and Japan; while the half dollar, being half the weight of the five-franc silver coin of France, Belgium, and Switzerland, of the five-lire silver coin of Italy, the five-peseta silver coin of Spam, the fivedrachma silver coin of Greece, and having the same weight as the new silver florin of Austria, is a step in the direction of international coinage. The minor coins are a five-cent and a three-cent piece, three fourths copper and one fourth nickel, weighing respectively 77*16 and 30 grs., and a one-cent piece, 95 per cent, copper and 5 per cent, tin and zinc, weighing 48 grs., which are a "legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding 25 cents in any one payment." The issuing of