National banks, Mr. Knox took a prominent part, and made many valuable
suggestions on the currency question. He advocated a safe and convertible
currency, the issue of a uniform series of circulating notes to all the
banks, and the guarantee by the Government of circulation secured by its
own bonds.
In 1862 he was introduced to Secretary Chase and the Hon. Hugh McCulloch,
then Comptroller of the currency. The attention of the Secretary had
previously been attracted to the financial articles of Mr. Knox,
published in _Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine_.
He was shortly afterward appointed to a clerkship under Treasurer
Spinner, and was subsequently transferred to the office of Mr. Chase, as
disbursing clerk, at a salary of $2,000 a year. After three years in this
position he became cashier of the Exchange National Bank at Norfolk, Va.,
but finding the southern climate uncongenial, after a year he returned
to Washington. He was commissioned by Secretary McCulloch to examine the
mint at San Francisco, and to select a site there for a new one. His
report upon the Mint service of the Pacific Coast was printed in the
Finance Report of 1866, with a complimentary notice by the Secretary. The
site selected was purchased from Eugene Kelly of New York for $100,000.
He subsequently visited New Orleans and discovered a deficiency of
$1,100,000 in the office of the Assistant Treasurer. He took possession
of that office, and for some weeks acted as Assistant Treasurer of the
United States.
The promotion of Mr. Knox to the office in which he was able to do
himself the most credit, and perform those services to the country which
are part and parcel of its financial progress, occurred in 1867. At this
time a vacancy was brought about in the Deputy-Comptrollership of the
Currency, and Secretary McCulloch appointed him to fill it. Until May 1,
1884, he remained as Deputy or head of the Bureau, his terms of office
being as follows: Five years as Deputy-Comptroller, from 1867 to 1872;
five years as Comptroller, from 1872 to 1877, appointed by General Grant;
five years, second term as Comptroller, from 1877 to 1882, by President
Hayes, on the recommendation of Secretary Sherman—the reappointment being
made without his knowledge, before the expiration of the preceding term,
and confirmed by the Senate without reference to any committee. He was
again reappointed, by President Arthur, April 12, 1882.
In 1870 he made an elaborate report to Congress (Senate Mis. Doc., No.
132, XLI. Cong., 2d Sess.), including a codification of the Mint and
Coinage laws, with important amendments, which was highly commended.
The bill which accompanied the report comprised, within the compass of
twelve pages of the Revised Statutes, every important provision contained
in more than sixty different enactments upon the Mint and Coinage of
the United States—the result of eighty years of legislation. This bill,
with slight amendments, was subsequently passed, and is known as “The
Coinage Act of 1873;” and the Senate Finance Committee, in recognition of
his services, by an amendment, made the Comptroller of the Currency an
_ex-officio_ member of the Assay Commission, which meets annually at the
Mint in Philadelphia for the purpose of testing the weight and fineness
of the coinage of the year.
Through his official reports, twelve in number, and his addresses on the
currency question, Mr. Knox has indirectly exercised great influence
in financial legislation, and he took an active, though quiet and
unassuming part, in the great financial _coup d’etat_ of the resumption
of specie payment.
In April, 1878, he accompanied Secretary Sherman and Attorney-General
Devens to New York, and arranged a meeting between these two members
of the Cabinet and the officers of ten of the principal banks of the
city at the National Bank of Commerce, with the view of negotiating the
sale of $50,000,000 of 4½ per cent. bonds, the avails of which were to
be used for resumption purposes. The Presidents of the banks, who were
present, gave Secretary Sherman no encouragement as to the purchase of
the bonds at the rates proposed by him. Upon the return of the Secretary
and Comptroller to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in the evening, they were
met by August Belmont, who had a cable dispatch from the Rothschilds,
authorizing a purchase of the whole amount at a premium of one and
one-half per cent. for the account of the syndicate. Upon the following
day the Secretary and the Comptroller returned to Washington, after an
absence of three days, and the success of the negotiation was announced,
much to the chagrin of some members of the Finance Committee of the House
of Representatives, who were then bitterly opposing the scheme proposed
by the Secretary for the resumption of specie payments. This negotiation
was the first of a series of brilliant financial transactions preceding
and following resumption on January 1, 1879.
Subsequently he arranged a conference, which was held in the Treasury
at Washington, in the evening, between leading bank officials of New
York and Secretaries Sherman and Evarts, which resulted in the admission
of the Assistant Treasurer as a member of the clearing house, and the
receipt by the banks of legal tender notes on a par with gold; and in
1881, by request of President Garfield, he attended a conference in New
York between the leading financial men of the city and Secretary Windom
and Attorney-General McVeagh, which resulted in the issue and successful
negotiation of three and one-half per cent. bonds.
At the time of his resignation, Mr. Knox was the oldest officer in term
of service in the department. One of the leading financial writers in the
country, in noticing his retirement, in the _Nation_ said:
“The retirement of Mr. John Jay Knox from the office of Comptroller of
the Currency is a loss to the public service of no common kind. The
intelligence which he has brought to the complicated duties of his
office has never been surpassed in any similar station, and has not
been equalled in the particular station which he has so long filled.
The National banking system owes much of its present carefulness in
detail management to his mastery of all the facts and principles of
sound finance. His annual reports embrace perhaps the most complete and
satisfactory arrangement of information needful to the business-man, the
student, and the legislator that has ever been furnished in this country
on any economical subject. Mr. Knox resigns the Comptrollership to take
the Presidency of the National Bank of the Republic of New York City.”
In a speech before the Merchants’ Club of Boston, in February, 1885, Mr.
Knox alluded to the subjects of civil service reform and the coinage of
silver in the following trenchant language:
“The platforms of both parties in the late campaign contained nothing but
platitudes upon the silver question, which should have been the burning
issue. The candidate of the Republicans seemed to avoid the issue in
his letter of acceptance, rather than to express the sentiments of the
best men in his party. The candidate of the Democrats said nothing. Yet
I am told by good authority that Governor Cleveland is earnest in his
desire to stop the coinage, and that nothing would please him more than
to have a clause inserted in an appropriation bill which would repeal
the law which was passed in the interest of silver miners when the
whole production is not equal, according to Edward Atkinson, who is an
authority upon such subjects, to the production of eggs by the hens of
this country! If Governor Cleveland has the bottom and pluck to carry out
these two reforms, his administration will be one of the most memorable
in the annals of the country. It will elevate not only every branch
of the civil service, but will greatly improve the character of the
representatives sent to Congress from every State of the Union, and will
serve to lift the depression which now burdens every industrial interest.
It will require some intellect to work out these reforms. But it will
require more bottom than brains, and if he has the grit to stand by his
pledges, he will have the united support of all intelligent, upright, and
honest men everywhere without distinction of party.”
Mr. Knox has written a valuable book, which is justly popular, entitled
“United States Notes.” It is published by the Scribners, and republished
in London, and is a history of the various issues of paper money by the
Government, and is said by George Bancroft to be “a clear, thorough,
able, accurate and impartial work on United States Notes.”
THE COINAGE ACT OF 1873.
The enactment of the Mint Law of 1873 marks an era in the Mint Service
of the United States. Prior to this, the Director of the Mint at
Philadelphia was the Director of all the Mints—the institution at
Philadelphia being regarded as the “Mother Mint,” and the others, at San
Francisco, New Orleans, etc., were called Branch Mints. Each branch had
its Superintendent, reporting direct to Philadelphia. But the authors of
the Act of 1873 regarded the Mint Service as so large and important a
part of the Government, that it should be constituted a separate Bureau
of the Treasury, with the Director located at Washington. One of the
promoters of this Act was the Hon. John Jay Knox, late Comptroller of
the Currency, and now President of the National Bank of the Republic,
New York. The following sketch of the origin and history of the new law
may prove of interest. It was originally published in Rhodes’ Journal of
Banking, July, 1884. Referring to Mr. Knox, the author says:
“In 1870 he made an elaborate report to Congress (Senate Mis.
Doc. No. 132, XLI. Cong., 2d Sess.), including a codification
of the Mint and Coinage laws, with important amendments, which
was highly commended. The method adopted in this codification
was, first, to arrange in as concise a form as possible the
coinage laws then in existence, with such additional sections
and suggestions as seemed valuable. The proposed bill was
then printed upon paper having a wide margin, and transmitted
to the officers of the different Mints and Assay offices,
and to such other gentlemen as were known to be conversant
and intelligent upon the subject of the coinage, with the
request that the printed bill should be returned with such
notes as experience and education should dictate. In this way
the views of many gentlemen who were conversant with these
subjects were obtained, with but little inconvenience to such
correspondents. This correspondence was subsequently published
by order of Congress, in H. R. Ex. Doc. No. 307, XLI. Cong.,
2d Sess. Having received these suggestions, the bill, which
comprised within the compass of eight or ten pages of the
Revised Statutes every important provision contained in more
than sixty different enactments upon the Mint and Coinage of
the United States—the result of eighty years of legislation—was
prepared and submitted to Congress. This bill, with but slight
amendments, was subsequently passed, and was known as ‘The
Coinage Act of 1873;’ and the Senate Finance Committee, in
recognition of the services of the Comptroller of the Currency,
by an amendment, made that officer an _ex-officio_ member of
the Assay Commission, which meets annually at the Mint in
Philadelphia for the purpose of testing the weight and fineness
of the coinage of the year. Upon his suggestion the coinage of
the silver dollar was discontinued, and the paragraph in the
report upon this subject was as follows:
“The coinage of the silver dollar-piece, the history of which
is here given, is discontinued in the proposed bill. It is by
law the dollar unit; and, assuming the value of gold to be
fifteen and one-half times that of silver, being about the
mean ratio for the past six years, is worth in gold a premium
of about three per cent., its value being $1.03.12, and
intrinsically more than seven per cent. premium in our other
silver coins, its value thus being $1.07.42. The present laws
consequently authorize both a gold dollar unit and a silver
dollar unit, differing from each other in intrinsic value.
The present gold dollar-piece is made the dollar unit in the
proposed bill, and the silver piece is discontinued.”
The first Director of the Mint under this new law, was the Hon. Henry R.
Linderman. The title of the chief officer at Philadelphia being changed
to Superintendent—the first incumbent with that title was the Hon. James
Pollock.
Biographical notices of these officers will be found in their appropriate
place in this volume.
DIRECTORS OF THE MINT.
DAVID RITTENHOUSE, FIRST DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.
Entering the Cabinet, the portraits of the different Directors attract
attention. That of David Rittenhouse is the copy of a painting by Charles
Willson Peale. Mr. Rittenhouse was appointed by Washington, April 14,
1792, and remained in charge of the Mint until June, 1795, when his
declining health compelled him to resign.
At an early age he indicated mechanical talent of a high order in the
construction of a clock, and his studies from that time were principally
mathematical. His genius soon attracted attention, and he was appointed
by the colonial governor a surveyor, and in that capacity determined the
famous Mason and Dixon line. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as President
of the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Barber, late Engraver of the
Mint, executed a bronze medal of Dr. Rittenhouse. Possibly, excepting
Duvivier’s head of Washington after Houdon, it cannot be surpassed in
the Cabinet. The engraver had a very fine subject, and treated it in the
highest style of art. On the obverse is “David Rittenhouse,” with date of
birth and death. On the reverse, inscription, “He belonged to the whole
human race.”—“Wm. Barber.” This beautiful memento is highly prized.
HENRY WILLIAM DESAUSSURE, SECOND DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.
The portrait of Henry William Desaussure, now in the cabinet, was painted
by Samuel Du Bois, from a daguerreotype taken from a family picture. This
Director was distinguished for his legal ability, as well as his strict
integrity. He entered upon his duties with a protest, as he claimed
no knowledge of the requirements of the position, having long been a
practicing lawyer; but he was reassured by Alex. Hamilton, then Secretary
of the Treasury, and proved himself a fine officer for the short term of
his service. He was appointed by Washington, July 8, 1795, but resigned
in the following October. Washington not only expressed regret at losing
so valuable an officer, but consulted him as to the selection of a
successor.
ELIAS BOUDINOT, THIRD DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
was appointed October 28, 1795, and remained in office eleven years.
In the summer and autumn of 1797 and the two following years, and also
of 1802 and 1803, the Mint was closed on account of the ravages of the
yellow fever. Mr. Boudinot resigned in 1805, and devoted the remainder
of his life to benevolent and literary pursuits. He died on the 24th of
October, 1821, at the advanced age of eighty-two. The fine portrait of
this venerable Director seen in the Cabinet was presented by a relative,
and is a good copy of a painting by Waldo and Jewett.
ROBERT PATTERSON, LL.D., FOURTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
was appointed by President Jefferson, January 17, 1806. He was a native
of Ireland, distinguished for his acquirements and ability. He held
the office of Director for an exceptionally long term of service. His
portrait, which hangs in the Cabinet, is a copy of a fine original by
Rembrandt Peale.
SAMUEL MOORE, M. D., FIFTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
was appointed by President James Monroe, July 15, 1824. He was a native
of New Jersey, and the son of a distinguished Revolutionary officer. He
was one of the first graduates of the Penn University, in 1791, and was
afterwards a tutor in that institution. During his directorship the Mint
was removed to the present building. His portrait was painted from life
by B. Samuel Du Bois, now in the Cabinet.
ROBERT MASKELL PATTERSON, M. D., SIXTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
son of a former Director, was appointed by President Andrew Jackson, May
26, 1835. His term of office was marked by an entire revolution in the
coinage, and the ready acceptance of those improvements which followed
so rapidly upon the introduction of steam. Dr. Patterson possessed
the advantage of foreign travel; and having become familiar with the
discoveries which had been adopted in the French Mint, he inaugurated and
perfected them, also introducing improvements, which are still in use, in
the machinery of the Mint. His portrait is in the Cabinet.
GEORGE N. ECKERT, M. D., SEVENTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
was appointed by President Fillmore, July 1, 1851. He served nearly two
years, and, resigning, was followed by
THOMAS M. PETTIT, EIGHTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,
who was appointed by President Pierce, April 4, 1853. He died a few
weeks after his appointment. No portrait of him in the Cabinet. He was
succeeded by
HON. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, LL.D., NINTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.
Mr. Snowden, who was appointed by President Pierce, June 3, 1853, was
formerly a member of the State Legislature, and served two terms as
Speaker; was afterwards elected for two terms as State Treasurer. During
his official term the building was made fire-proof, the large collection
of minerals was added, and nickel was first coined.
Mr. Snowden has placed the numismatic world under many obligations, by
directing the publication of two valuable quarto volumes,—one of them a
description of the coins in the Cabinet, under the title of “The Mint
Manual of Coins of all Nations,” the other “The Medallic Memorials of
Washington,” being mainly a description of a special collection made by
himself. In the preface to the former work he gives due credit to the
literary labors of Mr. George Bull, then Curator, and also to a reprint
of the account of the ancient collection, by Mr. Du Bois, who also
furnished other valuable material. These books are valuable as authority,
and by reason of the national character of the last mentioned.
JAMES POLLOCK, A.M., LL.D., TENTH DIRECTOR AND FIRST SUPERINTENDENT,
was appointed by Abraham Lincoln in 1861, and was re-appointed by
President Grant to succeed Dr. Linderman in 1869 to 1873. Born in
Pennsylvania in 1810; graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, in
1831, and commenced the practice of the law in 1833; he served in
Congress three terms; was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1854, and
in 1860 was a peace delegate to Washington from his State to counsel with
representatives from different parts of the Union as to the possibility
of amicably adjusting our unhappy national troubles. His portrait, by
Winner, hangs in the eastern section of the Cabinet.[19]
HON. HENRY RICHARD LINDERMAN, M. D., DIRECTOR OF THE MINTS AND ASSAY
OFFICES OF THE UNITED STATES,
was the eldest son of John Jordan Linderman, M. D., and Rachel Brodhead.
He was born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, the 25th of December, 1825. The
elder Dr. Linderman was one of the most noted physicians in northeastern
Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for nearly half a century in the
valley of the Delaware, in this State, and New Jersey. He was a graduate
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York, where he had
studied under the famous Dr. Valentine Mott. Dr. Linderman’s grandfather,
Jacob von Linderman, came to this country during the disturbed period
of the Austrian War of Succession, during the first half of the last
century, and settled in Orange county, where he purchased a tract of
land. The property is still in the possession of the family. Jacob von
Linderman was the cadet of an ancient and honorable family of Saxony,
which had been distinguished for two centuries in the law and medicine,
several of his ancestors having been counsellors and physicians to the
Elector. He was a descendant of the same family as Margaretta Linderman,
the mother of the great Reformer, Martin Luther. Of this paternal
stock, Dr. Henry R. Linderman was, by his mother, a nephew of the late
Hon. Richard Brodhead, Senator of the United States from Pennsylvania;
grandson of Richard Brodhead, one of the Judges of Pike county, and
great-grandson of Garrett Brodhead, an officer of the Revolution, and
a great-nephew of Luke Brodhead, a Captain in Col. Miles’ Regiment,
and of Daniel Brodhead, Colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment of
the Continental Line; the latter was afterwards a Brigadier-General,
was one of the original members of the Cincinnati of this State, and
Surveyor-General of the Commonwealth when the war closed. His only son
Daniel was a First Lieutenant in Colonel Shee’s Battalion, was taken
prisoner by the British, and died after two years’ captivity. General
Brodhead married Governor Mifflin’s widow, and died in Milford, Pike
county, in 1803. The nephew of these three brothers, Charles Wessel
Brodhead, of New York, was also in the Revolutionary army, a Captain of
Grenadiers. They all descended from Daniel Brodhead, a Captain of King
Charles II.’s Grenadiers, who had a command in Nichol’s expedition, which
captured New York from the Dutch in 1664. Captain Brodhead was of the
family of that name in Yorkshire, which terminated in England so recently
as 1840 in the person of Sir Henry T. L. Brodhead, baronet.
Dr. Henry R. Linderman, after receiving an academic education, entered
the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. When barely of age he
graduated, returned to Pike county and began practice with his father,
and earned a reputation as a skillful and rising physician.
In 1855 his uncle, Richard Brodhead (United States Senator), procured
his appointment as chief clerk of the Philadelphia Mint. He held this
position until 1864, when he resigned and engaged in business as a banker
and broker in Philadelphia. In 1867 he was appointed Director of the Mint
by President Johnson. In 1869 he resigned. In 1870 he was a commissioner
of the Government to the Pacific coast to investigate the San Francisco
and Carson Mints, and to adjust some intricate bullion questions. In
1871 he was a commissioner to Europe, to examine the coinage systems
of the Great Powers. In 1872 he was a commissioner, with the late Dr.
Robert E. Rogers, of the University of Pennsylvania, for fitting up the
Government refinery at the San Francisco Mint. In the same year he wrote
an elaborate report on the condition of the gold and silver market of the
world. “In this report he called attention to the disadvantages arising
from the computation and quotation of exchange with Great Britain on
the old and complicated Colonial basis, and from the undervaluation of
foreign coins in computing the value of foreign invoices and levying and
collecting duties at the United States Custom Houses.” He was the author
of the Act of March 9th, 1873, which corrected the defects above referred
to. His predictions in this report on the decline in the value of silver
as compared to gold were fulfilled to the letter.
He was thoroughly familiar with the practice, science, and finance of the
Coinage Department of the Government, and about this time he wrote the
Coinage Act of 1873, and secured its passage through Congress. General
Grant, then President, considered him as the fittest man to organize the
new Bureau, and, though a Democrat, appointed him first Director under
the new Act; the Director being at the head of all the Mints and Assay
Offices in the United States.