the money upon such terms and that secrecy was
impossible. Upon his statement there were three persons besides
ourselves who had knowledge of the existence of the charges and the
payment of money must come to the knowledge of the Treasury officials.
I then said:

"Mr. Dodge, you cannot afford to pay this money. If you are innocent
you should contest the matter in the courts, and if you convince the
judge, even if you are technically wrong, that there was no intent to
defraud the Government the Secretary can remit all the penalty, leaving
you to pay the duty." His counsel, if they were competent, must have
given him similar advice and yet he paid voluntarily, about two hundred
and seventy-six thousand dollars to the officials in New York, of
which he and his friends proceeded to complain. There was a suit, but
it was the duty of the firm to contest the claim of the Government,
if they had a defence. And if they had had a defence they were in no
danger even if they had violated the law ignorantly, for no Secretary
would have allowed honest men to suffer for an ignorant violation of
the revenue laws. Senator Edmunds placed upon the records of the
Senate a full statement of the case.

XXXIV
THE MINT BILL AND THE "CRIME OF 1873"

Of the many measures of my administration of the Treasury Department,
the Mint Bill of 1873 is the only one which has been made a party
issue, and which has entered permanently into the policy of the
country.

In the month of March, in the year 1869, I came to the head of the
Treasury Department. At an early day my attention was directed to
the disordered condition of the mint service, which was then, as it
ever had been, without a responsible head. The proceedings at the
mints were unsystematic, and I resolved upon an attempt to codify the
laws and to place the administration in the hands of a recognized,
responsible officer. President Grant appointed John Jay Knox
comptroller of the currency. For many years Mr. Knox had held the
office of deputy comptroller. He had been a careful, constant student,
and he was already a recognized authority in financial matters.

I appointed Mr. Knox commissioner to codify the mint laws and to
suggest alterations. He was assisted by Dr. Linderman, then an eminent
expert in the theory and practice of coinage, by Mr. Patterson,
superintendent of the mint at Philadelphia, and by others.

When the codification of the laws relating to the mint serv