MONEY AND CREDIT
419
Money and Credit.
The monetary system is monometallic, and has been so since 1873, gold Leing the standard.
The Act of February 28, 1878, commonly known as the Bland- Allison Act, required the purchase by the Secretary of the Treasury of silver bullion at the market price of silver of not less than 2,000,000 dollars or more than 4,000,000 dollars worth per month, the same to be coined as fast as so pur- chased into silver dollars. 378,166,793 silver dollars were coined under the Bland- Alison Act. The Act of July 14, 1890, known as the Sherman Act, required the purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of hue silver monthly, which was paid for in Treasury notes issued as the silver was purchased. The total amount of silver purchased under this Act from August 13, 1890, to November 1, 1893, date of repeal of the purchasing clause, was 168,674, 682 five ounces, costing 155,931,002 dollars, the coinage value of which was 218,084,438 in silver dollars. From the bullion purchased under the Act of July 14, 1890, there were coined to December 31, 1901, 149,710,163 silver dollars. Under the Act of March 3, 1891, for re-coinage of trade dollars, 5,078,472 silver dollars were coined, making a total of 532,955,428 standard silver dollars coined from March 1, 1878, to December 31, 1901.
The following metallic and paper money was in the United States on December 2, 1912 : —
Description of money
Gold coin (including bullion in Treasury) . Gold certificates (law of March 3, 1863) .Standard silver dollars .... Silver certificates (Bland Act, February
28, 1878)
Subsidiary silver
Treasury notes (Sherman Act of July 14,
1890)
U.S. notes ("Greenbacks" of 1862 and
1863)
National bank notes
Total
In the United States
Dollars
1,867,348,261
500,465,020
173,340,756
2,813,000
346,681,016 750,185,776
In Treasury In Circulation
Dollars 177,795,980 126,588,360
1,696,226
9,572,337 19,300,084
8,440
5,824,179 27,800,403
3,705,833,829 : 368,556,009
Dollars
621,206,112
971,757,809
74,190,794
480,035,663 154,040,672 ]
■i fj. 2,804,560 j
340,856,837 722,385,373
3,337,277,820
The coinage of the United States mints in six calendar years wa.s as follows, in dollars : —
—
1907
1908
131,638,632
12,391,777
1,468,739
1909
1910
1911
1912
Gold .
Silver. Minor.
131,907,490
13,178,436
3,042,126
88,776,908 8,087,852 1,756,389
104,723,735 3,740,468 3,036,929
56,176,822 6,457,301 3,156,726
17,498,522 7,340,995 2,577,386
Total
148,128,052
145,499,148
98,621,149
111,501,132
65,790,849
27,416,903
The note issue of each of the national banks is by law more than covered by United States interest-bearing bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States. The amount of the bonds thus deposited was, on Ncs ember 30, 1908, 715,560,170 dollars. The aggregate resources and liabilities of the national banks, 7,397 in number, September 4, 1912, were : —
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