provision be made for the early retirement of silver certificates and
that the act requiring their issue be repealed. They were issued in
pursuance of the policy of the Government to maintain silver at or near
the gold standard, and were accordingly made receivable for all customs,
taxes, and public dues. About sixty-six millions of them are now
outstanding. They form an unnecessary addition to the paper currency,
a sufficient amount of which may be readily supplied by the national
banks.

In accordance with the act of February 28, 1878, the Treasury Department
has monthly caused at least two millions in value of silver bullion to
be coined into standard silver dollars. One hundred and two millions of
these dollars have been already coined, while only about thirty-four
millions are in circulation.

For the reasons which he specifies, I concur in the Secretary's
recommendation that the provision for coinage of a fixed amount each
month be repealed, and that hereafter only so much be coined as shall be
necessary to supply the demand.

The Secretary advises that the issue of gold certificates should not
for the present be resumed, and suggests that the national banks may
properly be forbidden by law to retire their currency except upon
reasonable notice of their intention so to do. Such legislation would
seem to be justified by the recent action of certain banks on the
occasion referred to in the Secretary's report.

Of the fifteen millions of fractional currency still outstanding, only
about eighty thousand has been redeemed the past year. The suggestion
that this amount may properly be dropped from future statements of the