tive to the mint, assay offices, and coinage of the United
States, and accompanying report. The bill has been prepared under
the supervision of John Jay Knox, deputy comptroller of the currency,
and its passage is recommended in the form presented. It includes,
in a condensed form, all the important legislation upon the coinage,
not now obsolete, since the first mint was established, in 1792;
and the report gives a concise statement of the various amendments
proposed to existing laws and the necessity for the change recommended.
There has been no revision of the laws pertaining to the mint and
coinage since 1837, and it is believed that the passage of the
inclosed bill will conduce greatly to the efficiency and economy
of this important branch of the government service.

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"Geo. S. Boutwell, Secretary of the Treasury.
"Hon. John Sherman,
"Chairman Finance Committee, United States Senate."

Section 15 of the original bill omitted the silver dollar. It was
as follows:

"Sec. 15. _And be it further enacted_, That of the silver coin,
the weight of the half dollar, or piece of 50 cents, shall be 192
grains; and that of the quarter dollar and dime shall be, respectively,
one-half and one-fifth of the weight of said half dollar. That
the silver coin issued in conformity with the above section shall
be a legal tender in any one payment of debts for all sums less
than one dollar."

Section 18 prohibited all coins except those named, as follows:

"Sec. 18. _And be it further enacted_, That no coins, either gold,
silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the mint
other than those of the denominations, standards, and weights herein
set forth."

Special attention was called to the dropping out of the silver
dollar, both by Secretary Boutwell and Mr. Knox, and the opinion
of experts was invited and given on this special matter and
communicated to Congress. These sections, in the three years that
the bill was pending in Congress, were changed either in the House
or Senate in only one or two unimportant particulars.

Accompanying the report of Mr. Knox were the statements of Robert
Patterson, of Philadelphia, confessedly one of the ablest scientists
and metallists in the United States, in favor of dropping from our
coinage the silver dollar. Dr. Linderman, the director of the
mint, made the same recommendation. In the report accompanying
the introdu