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Referred to the Committee appointed on the 15th ult. upon the subject of Coins.
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Washington, 16th January, 1832.
I transmit to Congress a report from the Directors of the Mint, exhibiting the operations of that institution during the year 1831.
ANDREW JACKSON.
To the Hon. the Speaker of the Ho. Reps. U. S.
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Mint of the United States,
Philadelphia, 1st January, 1832.
Sir: I have the honor to submit a report, on the general transactions of the Mint during the past year.
The coinage effected within that period, amounts to $3,923,473 60, comprising $714,270 in gold coins, $3,175,600 in silver, and $33,603 60 in copper, and consisting of 11,792,284 pieces of coin, viz:
| Half Eagles, | 140,594 | pieces, | making | $702,970 00 |
| Quarter Eagles, | 4,520 | " | " | 11,300 00 |
| Half Dollars, | 5,873,660 | " | " | 2,936,830 00 |
| Quarter Dollars, | 398,000 | " | " | 99,500 00 |
| Dismes, | 771,350 | " | " | 77,135 00 |
| Half Dismes, | 1,242,700 | " | " | 62,135 00 |
| Cents, | 3,359,260 | " | " | 33,592 60 |
| Half Cents, | 2,200 | " | " | 11 00 |
| 11,792,284 | $3,923,473 60 |
Of the amount of gold coined within the past year, about $130,000 were derived from Mexico, South America, and the West Indies, $27,000 from Africa, $518,000 from the gold region of the United States, and about $39,000 from sources not ascertained.
Of the amount of gold of the United States above mentioned, about $26,000 may be stated to have been received from Virginia, $294,000 from North Carolina, $22,000 from South Carolina, and $176,000 from Georgia. Gold has also been received within the past year, from Tennessee and Alabama not exceeding, however, $1000 from each of those states. An amount meriting little regard, except as indicating the progressive development of the gold region.
The first notice of gold of the United States on the records of the Mint, occurs in the transactions of the year 1804. From that year to 1823 inclusive, the average annual amount received at the Mint, did not exceed $2,500. Since the latter period, the progressive increase has been remarkable. The amount received within the succeeding years, to he present time, may be stated as follows, viz:
| 1824 | $ 5,000 |
| 1825 | 17,000 |
| 1826 | 20,000 |
| 1827 | 21,000 |
| 1828 | 46,000 |
| 1829 | 134,000 |
| 1830 | 466,000 |
| 1831 | 518,000 |
Previously to the year 1829, the State of North Carolina alone, had furnished gold to the Mint. Within that year it was received also from Virginia and South Carolina - from the former, $2,500, and from the latter, $3,500. Early in 1830, gold began to be received from Georgia. The amount received during that year from the various sections of the gold region, was as follows, viz: From Virginia $24,000, North Carolina $204,000, South Carolina $26,000, and from Georgia $212,000.
Silver bullion has been supplied, throughout the year, in quantities amply sufficient for our present power. The coinage of silver alone has exceeded the whole amount of coinage in any former year, and the coinage of gold, silver and copper, has exceeded that of any previous year by nearly one million of dollars.
The employment of copper coins in circulation is becoming obviously more general than heretofore. They are transmitted at the public expense and risk, to all parts of the United States, within the range of ordinary means of transportation, and their use and value are becoming familiar and acknowledged, where until recently, they have been in little estimation.
The profit on the copper coinage of the past year will somewhat exceed $10,000. This profit is regularly accounted for to the Treasury of the United States, thereby refunding so much of the sum appropriated for the expenses of the Mint establishment. The whole effective expense of the Mint, for the past year, will thus be reduced to less than $28,000.
It is with much regret, I have to state, that the early accession and continuance of intense cold, unexampled here in recent years, had the effect to arrest, most unexpectedly, certain parts of the work of the new Mint edifice. A suspension thereof became thenceforth inevitable until the rigorous season shall be past, perhaps until April, and the whole of that month will probably be required for the completion of the establishment.
Notwithstanding, however, the impediment alluded to, the extended efficiency of the Mint establishment may be relied on to be in action eary in the second quarter of the present year. Thenceforward the institution will be able to accomplish the payment of deposits, with only a very brief delay, in coins of such denominations as may be preferred by the depositers; and should the supply of bullion be regular and competent, it is not doubted that the amount of coinage for the year now commencing, will be equal to six millions of dollars. Of this amount, it is proposed to make such a proportion, of denominations less than the half dollar, as will sensibly improve the condition of the currency.
I have the honor to be, With great respect, Your obedient servant,
SAML. MOORE.
The President of the United States.