BRANCH MINT OF UNITED STATES IN CALIFORNIA.

The following Act, establishing a Branch Mint of the United States, in California, passed during the First Session of the Thirty-second Congress, was approved by the President, July, 3d, 1852:

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH OF THE MINT OF THE UNITED STATES IN CALIFORNIA.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that a branch of the mint of the United States be established in California, to be located by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the coinage of gold and silver.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That suitable buildings shall be procured or erected, for the purpose of carrying on the business of said branch mint; and the following officers shall be appointed as soon as public interests may require their services, upon the nomination of the President, [by] and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to wit: one superintendent, one treasurer, one assayer, one melter and refiner, and one coiner. And the said superintendent shall engage and employ as many clerks and as many subordinate workmen and servants as shall be provided for by law; and until the thirteenth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, the salaries of said officers and clerks shall be as follows: to the superintendent and to the treasurer, the sum of four thousand and five hundred dollars each; to the assayer, to the melter and refiner, and to the coiner, the sum of three thousand dollars each; to the clerks, the sum of two thousand dollars each; to the subordinate workmen, such wages and allowances as are customary and reasonable, according to their respective stations and occupations.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the officers and clerks to be appointed under this act shall take an oath or affirmation before some judge of the United States, or the Supreme Court of the State of California, faithfully and diligently to perform the duties thereof, and shall each become bound to the United States of America, with one or more sureties, to the satisfaction of the director of the mint and the Secretary of the Treasury, or the District Attorney of the United States for the State of California, with condition for the faithful and diligent performance of their offices.

SEO. 4. And be it further enacted, That the general direction of business of said branch of the mint of the United States, shall be under the control and regulation of the director of the mint at Philadelphia, subject to the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury; and for that purpose, it shall be the duty of the said director to prescribe such regulations, and require such returns periodically and occasionally, as shall appear to him to be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the intention of this act in establishing the said branch; also, for the purpose of discriminating the coin which shall be stamped at said branch and at the mint itself; and also, for the purpose of preserving uniformity of weight, form, and fineness, in the coins stamped at said branch; and for that purpose, to require the transmission and deliv ery to him at the mint, from time to time, of such parcels of the coinage of said branch as he shall think proper, to be subjected to such assays and tests as he shall direct.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all the laws and parts of laws now in force for the regulation of the mint of the United States, and for the government of the officers and persons employed therein, and for the punishment of all offences connected with the mint or coinage of the United States, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be in full force in relation to the branch of the mint by this act established, so far as the same may be applicable thereto.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no permanent location of said mint shall be made, or buildings erected therefore, until the State of Colifornia shall, by some law or other public act, pledge the faith of the State that no tax shall, at any time, be laid, assessed, or collected by the said State, or under the authority of the said State, on the said branch mint, or on the buildings which may be erected therefor, or on the fixtures and machinery which may be used therein, or on the lands on which the same may be placed; but nothing in this section contained shall be understood as implying an admission that any such power of taxation rightfully exists.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said branch mint shall be the place of deposit for the public moneys collected in the custom-houses in the State of California, and for such other public moneys as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct; and the treasurer of said branch mint shall have the custody of the same, and shall per

form the duties of an assistant treasurer, and for that purpose, shall be subject to all the provisions contained in an act entitled "An act to provide for the better organization of the Treasury, and for the collection, and safe keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue," approved August the sixth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, which relates to the treasurer of the branch mint at New Orleans.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That, if required by the broker, gold in grain or lumps shall be refined, assayed, cast into bars or ingots, and stamped in said branch mint, or in the mint of the United States, or any of its branches, in such a manner as may indicate the value and fineness of the bar or ingot, which shall be paid for by the owner or holder of such bullion, at such rates and charges, and under such regulations, as the director of the mint, under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury, may from time to time establish.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the said branch mint is established in the State of California, and public notice shall be given thereof in the mode to be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, then so much of the act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the government for the year ending thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and for other purposes, as provides for the appointments of a United States assayer, and the contracting for the assaying and fixing the value of gold in grain or lumps, and for forming the same into bars, be, and the whole of the clause containing said provisions shall be hereby repealed.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That before the Secretary of the Treasury shall procure or erect the buildings provided for in the second section of this act, or commence operations under any of the provisions of the same, at San Francisco, State of California, it shall be his duty to make a contract or contracts, for the erection of said buildings, and procuring the machinery necessary for the operations of the mint, at a sum or sums which shall not in the whole exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, which said contract or contracts shall be secured by good and sufficient sureties, to the satisfaction of the said Secretary of the Treasury and the President of the United States.

WILL GOLD DEPRECIATE?

[FROM THE GLASGOW EXAMINER.]

In a former number we stated that the production of the precious metals had risen from eleven millions in 1848 to twenty-seven millions in 1850, thirty-four millions in 1851, and this year, there was every reason to expect, they would amount to fortythree millions, being a four-fold increase in as many years. The greater part of this increase is in gold, for, while only four millions were produced in 1848, the production in 1851 swelled to twenty-five millions, and they are annually and rapidly increasing. What has hitherto made gold so valuable? It has been its scarcity, and the quantity of labor required to produce it. Limitation of supply has imparted a high value to this metal, and whenever it becomes of easy access, and abundant, it is certain to fall in price. Diamonds alone are more valuable in price, entirely the result of their being scarcer, as not six are in existence above an ounce each in weight, and the King of Persia possesses a bracelet worth a million sterling, because it includes two of these. Were a locality discovered where they could be obtained as abundantly as acorns, they would be reduced to a mere nominal value, and be in the possession of all. Take, for another example, the article of guano, which, though a great descent from gold, illustrates our principle. About ten years ago it was only procurable from Peru, and was sold at about twenty pounds the ton; large deposits were discovered at Ichaboe, on the west coast of Africa, and, as a consequence, the price fell to from six to eight pounds. Apply this principle of scarcity to whatever commodity we think proper, the results will be found, in every case, to be the same; while abundance as uniformly produces an opposite result.

As a natural induction from these premises, we may confidentially infer, that gold, owing to its great abundance, must speedily fall in price. The fall may not be sudden, but may spread itself over a number of years, and the effects will not be so marked as they would have been, were its value reduced in a convulsive manner. There is a difficulty in connection with this subject, which it is not easy to remove, and on which the most contradictory opinions are entertained. By act of Parliament the Bank of England is compelled to give £3 17s. 104d. for every ounce of gold offered to it for sale, and it is a general opinion that the Bank will be relieved from this liability, and VOL. XXVII-NO. III.

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allowed to diminish the price which is now the standard. Those persons, who so argue, refer to the fluctuations in the price of gold during the war, and affirm, that from 1811 to 1815 it varied in price from £4 28. to £5 10s. the ounce, and in the latter year alone, while in May it was £5 6s., in December it had fallen to £4 2s. However, we were placed in quite different circumstances at that period to what we are now, for when the war was carried on, large supplies of gold were required for exportation to pay our soldiers, and also as subsidies to the European powers to enable them successfully to repel the inroads of Napoleon; hence it became scarce and dear; but at the present time we have attained a state of complete surfeit, and scarcely know what to do with our superabundant supplies. Independent of the scarceness or abundance of gold, however, there is a want of definiteness in the ideas of those who conceive that a lower price will be given for gold. What is the obligation of the Bank of England? Simply to return weight for weight for what is deposited with it, or its equivalent in bank-notes, payable on demand. It is a matter of perfect indifference what specific value is attached to the ounce of gold-as the Bank can neither gain nor lose by the transaction, being only bound to return what they had received, but with the assump tion of another form. As a commercial community, we must possess a standard of value, that our various transactions may be balanced and regulated in an exact manner, and we have chosen gold for this purpose, from its compactness and comparative scarcity, and therefore value, as the great regulator of our exchanges. It is a mere matter of convenience, and we are almost singular in adopting this standard, as the other nations of Europe, and also the United States of America, have chosen a silver standard. The islanders in the Indian Archipelago have shells, and in Abyssinia they have salt to serve the same purpose.

It is, however, apparently contradictory to assert that the standard of gold will remain unchanged, and at the same time become depreciated; but our meaning will be better understood, by affirming, that while gold retains a fixed value, the price of all other commodities and productions will be enhanced in relation to it. Supposing gold becomes, in the course of six years, depreciated to the extent of 25 per cent, and supposing pig iron to be now worth forty shillings the ton, it will at that period bring fifty shillings. During the interval, the labor required to produce gold having diminished, has cheapened it to that extent, and the labor required to produce pig iron having remained stationary, has resulted in this striking change. The real value of gold has diminished, but its nominal value, or its exchangeable value, is unaltered, and hence the value of all other commodities will be enhanced in their relation to gold as a fixed and unchangeable standard.

It may illustrate our subject still better if we affirm as a fact, that during the last thirty years the real value of gold has increased 25 per cent. Though nominal, its value is the same, for its standard price is unaltered, yet its ability to employ labor, to purchase commodities, to command productions, has very greatly augmented. In that interval our national taxation has undergone a diminution to the ext nt of almost twenty millions, and the reduction has chiefly taken place by repealing or reducing taxes upon articles of consumption, which has considerably reduced their prices; tea, coffee, sugar, and corn, have all fallen in price, or, in other words, a sovereign will command almost 50 per cent more of these commodities at the present time, than it could do in 1820. In manufactured articles, whether of cotton, silk, or worsted, a similar, and as great a reduction has occurred in their relation to gold as a standard of valce. Money has been continually enhancing its importance, and our large capitalists have increased their stores without a risk incurred, or an intelligent effort. It inspired the deepest fear for our productive classes to anticipate this process to be continued for another quarter of a century, but California and Australia have opened their golden treasures when the clouds were dark and lowering, and hope was almost about taking her departure they have arrested the cheapening process, or in clearer language, are cheapening gold, and bringing it to a level with other commodities--which event will introduce an unexpected but bright day in our history.

We have shown that gold, while it maintains its present standard of value, will also, owing to its abundance, fall in price, or that it will require a greater quantity of it to purchase our products than it does at present; we maintain this to be an established and incontrovertible fact from our commercial history during the past thirty years, in which we find that gold, though always of the same standard of value, has really increased in price, for its power in purchasing our products has been greatly augmented; the large supplies we are now receiving will equalize the relative value of all these articles, much to our national advantage.

THE MINTS OF FRANCE.

The most important and best conducted mint out of Paris is at Strasbourg. At both these places the sinking is done by means of steam. The other French mints are at Bordeaux, Rouen, Lille, Lyons, and Marseilles. While upon this subject, it may not be amiss to give the following official information:

By a law of the 26th December, 1827, a central commission, instituted at Paris, overlooks all the operations of the mint, decides the value of the different pieces, and allows none to be put in circulation which are not perfectly good. The directors of the mints do the business, however, on their own account, and are paid by the government according to the amount of coinage. In addition to the coining of money, the mints strike off an immense number of medals, sometimes for the government, but in most instances for private individuals. At the commencement of the fourteenth cen. tury the Paris Mint was situated in the Rue de la Monnaie, a locality now known as the Rue Boucher. By a decree of Louis XV., dated in 1768, the old mint, being in a state of decay, was ordered to be demolished, and two mansions, known as the Grand et Petit Hotel de Conti, together with several houses adjoining, were purchased by the government, upon the site of which was built the present mint. The administration of the mint comprises at Paris:-1. The coinage of money. 2. The striking of medals. 3. The fabrication of dies and instruments used at the mint. 4. The manufacture of postage-stamps. 5. A bureau for assaying. The personnel of the administration and the agents du controle are paid by the government. The tariff of charges must be approved by the Minister of Finances. In 1847, the amount of money coined in Paris was 85,991,177 francs; 7,706,020 francs in gold, and 78,285,157 francs in silver. The charges allowed to the director were 804,423 francs. The number of clerks was 10; the number of workmen varied from 55 to 108. In 1848, the amount of money coined was 159,514,985 francs; 39,697,740 francs in gold, 119,731,095 francs in silver, and 86,150 francs in copper. The charges allowed to the director for this year were 1,319,916 francs. The number of clerks employed was 14; the number of workmen from 65 to 125. In 1847, medals were struck off to the amount of 433,521 francs; namely, 107,021 francs in gold; 295,597 francs in silver; 30,759 francs in copper; 144 francs in platina. The cost of fabrication was 69,915 francs. The number of clerks was 4; that of workmen from 28 to 35. In 1848, medals were struck off to the value of 224,887 francs; namely, 38,093 francs in gold; 167,559 francs in silver; 18,919 francs in copper; 316 francs in platina. The cost of manufacture was 38,930 francs. The number of clerks was 4; the number of workmen from 22 to 30. The salaries of the clerks vary from 1,000 to 4,000 francs per year; the wages of the workmen from 3 to 8 francs per day. In 1848, the amount paid for engraving, sinking dies, &c., Was 52,260 francs. In this department the number of persons employed in 1848 was 19. The chef d'atelier received 3,400 francs per year; one engraver received 2,400 francs per year; another 1,800 francs per year; another (working by the piece) 2,400 francs; one forger 8 francs per day; another 6 francs; and the rest of the workmen from 3 to 5 francs per day.

The ateliers for the manufacture of postage-stamps was opened in December, 1848. The number of persons employed is 11, who gain from 3 to 6 francs per day. This department is under the management of the Assistant-Engraver of the mint, who receives a franc-and-a-half per thousand for the stamps, he furnishing the wood upon which they are engraved, and paying the workmen.

The Bureau of Assay is managed by the Assayer-in-Chief, who receives his pay from the charge which the law allows him to make upon the articles assayed. The amount of gold and silver assayed in 1848 was 4,500,000 francs of the former, and 9,000,000 francs of the latter. The number of persons employed was 16, of whom one assistant-assayer gained 2,800 francs per year; six assistant-assayers 1,800 francs; six others from 1,250 to 1,650 francs; one clerk 1,250 francs; another clerk 950 francs; and one cutter 1,100 francs.

THE BOARD OF BROKERS.

The proposition to found a new Board of Brokers in New York, says the Mercantile Journal, makes sure progress, and although that progress is slow, the scheme will shortly assume public importance. Complaint has long been made that the proceedings of the present body are despotic, and that their customary mode of carrying on

business with closed doors creates a mystery and a monopoly which the public good demands should be abolished. On none of the commercial marts of Europe, with the exception of London, are the sales of the Stock Exchange people conducted with a privacy restricted to the members of the Board, and it must be conceded, the peculiar constitution of that body in some measure justifies the exclusion practiced by them. Although the Royal Exchange has for centuries been considered the focus of the great monetary, exchange, and commercial operations of the kingdom, the mode of doing business has varied with the change of the times; and the ancient custom of the merchants of a particular nation or trade having possession of a certain part of the area called a walk has fallen into desuetude. The great bulk of the merchants are now divided into classes, each of whom possess an exchange or mart, exclusively occupied or devoted to their peculiar branch of Commerce; thus, in London, there is a Stock Exchange, the Corn Exchange, the Coal Exchange, a Shipping and Insurance Exchange, (Lloyd's Rooms,) and subsidiary Halls and Sales Rooms, and Coffee Houses, where the merchants congregate and have desks; and where the large sales of foreign produce, wool, &c., periodically take place.

The stock operations in London have only assumed their present importance since the middle of the seventeenth century, when the business of dealing in securities was separated from that of banking. The market, for a series of years after its institution, was held at various places in the Royal Exchange and its neighborhood. In 1801, the vast growth of the transactions induced the brokers to seek a permanent location, when the present building in Bartholomew Lane, was erected by subscription. The transactions of the brokers are usually divided into three branches-English, (for stocks and Exchequer bills;) Foreign, (stocks;) and the Share Market-these branches are called Houses. The members are of two classes-Brokers and Jobbers-and the business, as in this city, consists of two kinds-genuine and speculative—the former for money and the latter for time. A jobber is a capitalist who usually keeps a large amount of stocks on hand, and is always ready to sell in any desired quantity, thereby saving time and trouble both to the broker and the party desiring the investment. The members of the Stock Exchange are subjected to a rigid discipline, by a committee elected by themselves. A candidate for membership must be recommended by members, who attest that they have known him for an honorable man for more than two years, and they are required to give security for him for a certain period of time. The committee assist in winding up the affairs of members who are defaulters upon the market; they also act as arbitrators in any difference arising among the members; and as no member is allowed to be a partner in any other business, few losses are suffered by the members from each other. It is mostly the brokers who suffer from their outside connections. No member who fails to meet his engagements is allowed to appear in the house, until his creditors have received a stipulated composition, and the names of members who are defaulters, on the stated "settling" or "account days," are chalked on a black-board, exposed in the hall, which constitutes the Stock Exchange method of expulsion. The Board are munificent contributors to public charities, and have a fund for decayed members, which is liberally supported. Strangers are not permitted to enter the Stock Exchange, and the minor speculators assemble at the Hall of Commerce, in the adjacent street.

From the foregoing it will be perceived that the Committee of the London Stock Exchange, in the supervision which they exercise over the business conduct and character of their members, furnish the best and most valid reason for their exclusion of the uninitiated. The same causes do not exist in New York, and we have yet to learn the propriety of the course adopted by the present Board.

LOUISIANA BANKS AND LOANS.

The new constitution recently adopted by the Louisiana Convention, contains the following provisions relative to banking and State loans :

•Corporations with banking or discounting privileges may be either created by special acts, or formed under general laws: but the Legislature shall, in both cases, provide for the registry of all bills and notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.

"The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments by any person, association, or corporation, issuing bank-notes of any description.

In case of insolvency of any bank or banking association, the billholders thereof