our mints to free coinage of the present standard dollar, will enhance the price of silver and maintain it at parity with our mint fixed price in all the markets of the world. British India's mints are open to her legal tender rupees upon the payment of her seignorage charge of two per cent. Therefore, to enhance the price of silver in all markets is by so much to increase the cost in gold to Europe of the commodities which, in the balance of trade, India's money buys. Thus to add about thirty per cent. to the gold cost in Europe of India's legal tender rupees is, to some portion of that thirty per cent., to enhance the price at which Europe can profitably receive and pay for United States supplies of products now supplied by India. What this may mean may be surmised from the fact that India last year exported $32,000,000 worth of wheat as against our export of $44,000,000 worth of the same. Therefore, the proposed enhancement of the price of silver will tend to increase our exports and establish for us a credit balance in trade with Europe; and therefore tend to establish for us a title to Europe's gold.

The perilous inadequacy of new gold supplies, if gold alone is to be relied upon as the world's single full tender money, ought to be evident from the fact that all nations have supplemented their total volume of both gold and silver money with paper issues additional. The world's annual production of gold averages about $101,000,000, and the annual coining and re-coining of gold averages $140,000,000. Yet the world's art-use of gold, absorbing over $70,000,000, leaves less than $30,000,000 annually as the sum of new gold from the mines applicable to the world's increase of money. France, conspicuous among nations for her shrewdness in finance, has a total sum of money exceeding $2,030,000,000, or $500,000,000 more than our total sum of money afloat, in bank and in the Treasury of the United States, and this for use of 27,000,000 fewer people than we count, and all embraced in a territory less than one-sixteenth the area of the territory of the United States. France has $270,000,000 more gold than we have, $100,000,000 more paper money, and $230,000,000 more of silver. Yet France is the natural accumulator of the dear gold of other nations, she importing last year (to February, 1890,) a total net sum of gold exceeding $50,000,000.

In this connection, note that in January, 1887-since when we have coined $100,000,000 additional silver dollars-the receipts at all United States Custom Houses were then 69 per cent. gold, 15 per cent. greenbacks and 16 per cent. silver. For the three months past, to April 19th, 1890, after a total silver coinage of $360,250,000 silver, all but eleven millions afloat in coin or by certificate, these Customs receipts show about 3 per cent. greenbacks, 2 per cent. silver and 95 per cent. in gold. This actual experience, opposed to all predictions of this Chamber, and for some of which I am partly answerable, is not explained by the shrinkage of $150,000,000 of bank notes in the period of an out-put, in coin and certificates, of $350,000,000 of silver money.

With China absorbing about half Mexico's silver almost as rapidly as coined; with India still greedy to increase her hoard of

treasure, "gold and silver," upon an accumulation during the last forty-six years already exceeding in value $2,070,000,000, made up in part by silver imports in 1887, $26,000,000; 1888, $29,000,000; 1889, $40,000,000; with South America, also frequently a buyer last year; with the United States last year consuming for coining about one-half the silver proposed in this enactment, it may astonish some to learn, that after the year's production, (Calendar, 1889,) the greatest of any single year in the world's whole history, the great distributing silver markets-London, New-York and San Francisco -being asked in February last to state their supplies of silver, quoted: "stocks of silver nominal.”

It would appear fair to direct attention to a marked change in the public thought of this section on this and other features of the "silver question."

Congress has the same moral right to thus re-open our mints to silver, or to appoint Treasury purchases of silver as money, that is deemed so commendable in the British statute, which requires the Bank of England to purchase everybody's gold at £3.17.9 per standard ounce, and her mints to pay three half-pence more per ounce for gold to any who will await its coining. Similar statutes as to gold are those of Continental Europe and the United States. The weight of pure silver contained in our present standard coin is the same as that prescribed for our dollar of 1792, the free coinage of which continued to be allowed until 1873. That this old privilege of free coinage was much neglected was due to Europe's overvaluing of silver, compared with gold, by which Europe's mints were a better market for our silver than our own. The closing of our own and Europe's mints to silver, and subsequent only partial re-opening of ours, while all the time all mints have been open to gold, has increased the purchasing power of gold unquestionably. And the inference is fair that, if without any better treatment of silver by the world than now, the world's mints were closed to gold, the annual excess of about $28,000,000 of gold production more than the arts consume would soon depress the price of gold, measured in silver, to a point where gold would be cheap enough for a greatly extended use in industries.

Certain members of your Committee are still urgent that our wisest course to enforce that act upon Europe would be to suspend our coining of silver altogether, and so let the ill results of that depression of the price of silver hurt Europe to the amending of her coinage laws. Inasmuch, however, as the United States is producer of almost one-half the entire world's annual production of silver, that result must be assured if we adopt the remedy. Argument already hereinbefore submitted points my expectation in the diametrically opposite direction. If to enhance the price of silver be indeed, as I conceive it, to increase the export of our products, particularly food products and cotton, that tendency at least, of all things, ought to be preserved; and out of it, if the facts prove to be more than tendency, they may by and by threaten, in our behalf, even to denude Great Britain of her gold.

One caution in closing I submit, viz., that we post a sentry to

alarm us upon the re-opening of Europe's mints to her legal-tender silver. Because thereupon, immediately, our sometimes denounced as "fraudulent" and "a 72-cent disc.," but I think full value standard silver dollar, becomes at once, in European equivalence, a 103-cent coin. Therefore, upon the re-opening of Europe's mints to her silver, our Congress must offer to redeem our standard silver dollars at our own mints by the substitute issue of a three per cent. lighter weight silver dollar and the payment of three per cent. in cash to present holders in that exchange. Or our $360,000,000 of silver dollars already coined and afloat, principally by certificate, with more to follow, will be accumulated as merchandise, saleable to bullion dealers at a premium for re-minting in Europe; and in their ceasing to circulate as money the contraction of our currency will assure us results beyond prediction in disaster.

Respectfully submitted.

NEW-YORK, May 1st, 1890.

(Signed,) WM. P. ST. JOHN.

The report was, on motion of Mr. J. EDWARD SIMMONS, laid on the table.

Mr. STEPHEN W. CAREY, in behalf of the Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws, to which was referred on the 6th of March last the communication of Lieutenant PERCY W. THOMPSON, of the United States Revenue Service, requesting the co-operation of the Chamber in securing the passage of the bill pending in Congress, providing for the transfer of the Revenue Cutter Service from the Treasury to the Navy Department, submitted the following report on the subject:

To the Chamber of Commerce:

The Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws, to which was referred the letter and documents attached recently received from Lieutenant PERCY W. THOMPSON, of the United States Revenue Marine, beg leave to report, that the papers have received their careful attention, and that while the letter is written at the request of the officers of the Revenue Cutters "Dallas" and "Woodbury" only, it nevertheless evidently expresses the desire of 192 out of the 200 officers of the Revenue Service, that number having petitioned the Secretary of the Treasury to aid them in obtaining, through the National Legislature, the passage of Senate Bill 305, which provides for the transfer of the Revenue Cutter Service to the Naval establishment.

The letter referred to assures the Chamber that the Honorable Secretaries of the Treasury and of the Navy fully concur in the wisdom of the transfer asked for, and that the officers of the Navy are practically unanimous in its favor, added to which resolutions advocating its passage have been adopted by nearly all of the leading

commercial bodies of the seaboard and lake cities, and scarcely a dissenting voice has been heard from the press, while much is printed favoring the measure.

Section 4 of the bill reads, "That the Secretary of the Navy shall at all times, upon the requisition of the Secretary of the Treasury, assign suitable vessels, with the proper complements of officers and crews, to perform the duty now performed by the Revenue Cutter Service, in such ports on the sea and Gulf coasts, on the lakes and elsewhere, as the Secretary of the Treasury may deem necessary, the duties of such vessels, their officers and crews, in relation to the protection of the revenue, to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and their operations and movements to be controlled and directed by him precisely as has heretofore been the Revenue Cutter Service. All officers so assigned shall be deemed officers of the Customs during the period of such assignment, and shall be clothed with the authority and exercise the powers now or heretofore pertaining to Revenue Cutter officers ;" hence, ample provision is made for all requirements of the Treasury Department as heretofore, while the Navy Department assumes the general control and husbandry of this service, to which, in the judgment of the Committee, it properly belongs.

Your Committee is informed that Secretary WINDOM, in a recent letter to Representative BAKER, Chairman of the House Committee on Commerce, earnestly advocated the proposed transfer; moreover, Secretary TRACY, in his late Annual Report to Congress, used these words: "The Department strongly recommends a consolidation of the Coast Guard Navy and the Ocean Navy; there is absolutely no reason for a distinction between them, and a consolidation would enure equally to the advantage of both, and it is believed that the officers of both services would regard the change with favor; finally, in the interest of a sound economy, the consolidation must sooner or later take place."

In the judgment of the Committee, the governing idea of the change proposed is to increase the efficiency of the Navy proper, while in no way impairing that of the Coast Guard, by eliminating the present double-headed system, and, as a consequence, securing greater economy of expenditure, apart from other obvious advantages to be derived.

In view of the foregoing, your Committee beg leave to submit for your action the following preamble and resolutions:

Whereas, A Bill, No. 305, has been introduced in the United States Senate by the Honorable WILLIAM E. CHANDLER, and a similar bill in the House of Representatives by the Hon. HENRY C. LODGE, proposing to transfer the jurisdiction of the Revenue Marine to the Navy Department from that of the Treasury; and

Whereas, In the opinion of your Committee, such transfer will result in a benefit to both services; therefore,

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New

York approves the said bill, and respectfully requests the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives to advocate and vote for its adoption.

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolution be forwarded to each Senator and Representative in Congress from the State of New-York.

Mr. A. Foster HIGGINS, Chairman of the Committee on the Harbor and Shipping, verbally reported, that pending the correspondence with the City authorities on the subject of dumping of refuse into the Harbor, a notice was brought to the attention of the Committee of the introduction of a bill into Congress, at the instance of the Secretary of War, to amend the existing Act relating to dumping. The Committee thereupon addressed a letter to the Secretary, asking if the proposed amendment was intended to cover the conclusions of the Supervisor of the Harbor, and forbid any and all dumping. In reply, the Secretary enclosed a copy of the bill, and stated that it had been carefully prepared by the United States District Attorneys of New-York and NewJersey, and would confer upon the Supervisor full authority in the premises. In view of the action of the Secretary of War on this subject, the Committee deemed any additional action by the Chamber unnecessary, except to give to the bill referred to its cordial support.

The action of the Committee was thereupon unanimously approved, and it was authorized to take such steps as may be deemed necessary to secure the passage of the bill by Congress.

Mr. HIGGINS also reported, that the Committee had had under consideration a letter from the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, asking the co-operation of this Chamber to obtain from Congress an appropriation sufficient to complete the improvements in that harbor.

Mr. HIGGINS submitted the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: