The director of the Mint has general
supervision over all mints and assay offices. In addition to his annual
report he publishes yearly a report on the statistics of the production
of precious metals.
The titles of the other officers indicate the general duties of each.
The whole department employs about 3,400 persons at Washington.
Some of the more important public questions coming within the province
of the Treasury Department at the present time are (1) the Tariff, which
has been settled for some years by the high tariff act of this Congress;
(2) the silver question involving the gravest questions of finance,
likewise settled for a time by the silver act of this Congress; (3) the
purchase of bonds on the market as a device to reduce the surplus and
prevent the accumulation of money in the Treasury; (4) the national
banking system, whose basis is being removed by the rapid payment of the
public debt; (5) the merits of the Independent Treasury System by which
it is claimed that money is kept out of circulation and a stringency
caused in the money market; and (6) the advisability of transferring the
revenue marine service to the Navy Department.
_#The War Department.#_--The War Department was established August 7,
1789. There is one assistant secretary. The chiefs of the bureaus into
which the department is divided, are officers of the United States Army,
and a part of the military establishment.
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