EXTRACT FROM
THE RULES AND REGULATIONS ADOPTED FOR THE MINT, JANUARY 1,
1825.
The operations of the
Mint throughout the year, are to commence at 5 o'clock in the
morning, under the superintendence of an officer, and continue
until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, except on Saturdays, when
the business of the day will close at 2 o'clock, unless on
special occasions it may be otherwise directed by an officer.
Extra work will be paid for in proportion, on a statement
being made of it through the proper officer, at the end of
each month. A strict account is to be kept by one of the
officers, as they may agree of the absentees from duty, if the
absence be voluntary, the full wages for the time will be
deducted, if it arise from sickness a deduction will be made
at the discretion of the proper officer. A statement of these
deductions will be rendered at the end of the month, and the
several accounts made out accordingly.
The allowance under
the name of drink money is hereafter to be discontinued, and
in place of it three dollars extra wages per month will be
allowed for the three summer months to those workmen who
continue in the Mint through that season. No workman can be
permitted to bring spirituous liquors into the Mint. Any
workman who shall be found intoxicated within the Mint must be
reported to the Director, in order that he may be discharged.
No profane or indecent language can be tolerated in the Mint.
Smoking within the Mint is inadmissible. The practice is of
dangerous tendency; experience proves that this indulgence in
public institutions, ends at last in disaster. Visitors may be
admitted by permission of an officer, to see the various
operations of the Mint on all working days except Saturdays
and rainy days; they are to be attended by an officer, or some
person designated by him. The new coins must not be given in
exchange for others to accommodate visitors, without the
consent of the Chief Coiner. Christmas day and the Fourth of
July, and no other days, are established holidays at the Mint.
The pressmen will carefully lock the several coining presses
when the work for the day is finished, and leave the keys in
such places as the Chief Coiner shall designate. When light is
necessary to be carried from one part of the Mint to the
other, the watchman will use a dark lanthorn but not an open
candle. He will keep in a proper arm chest securely locked, a
musket and bayonet, two pistols and a sword. The arms are to
be kept in perfect order and to be inspected by an officer
once a month, when the arms are to be discharged and charged
anew.
The watchman of the
Mint must attend from 6 o'clock in the evening to 5 o'clock in
the morning, and until relieved by the permission of an
officer, or until the arrival of the door-keeper. He will ring
the yard bell precisely every hour by the Mint clock, from 10
o'clock until relieved by the door-keeper, or an officer, or
the workmen on working days, and will send the watch dog
through the yard immediately after ringing the bell. He will
particularly examine the departments of the engine and all the
rooms where fire has been on the preceding day, conformably to
his secret instructions. For this purpose he will have keys of
access to such rooms as he cannot examine without entering
them.
If an attempt be made
on the Mint he will act conformably to his secret instructions
on that subject. In case of fire occurring in or near the
Mint, he will ring the Alarm Bell if one has been provided, or
sound the alarm with his rattle, and thus as soon as possible
bring some one to him who can be dispatched to call an
officer, and in other particulars will follow his secret
instructions. The secret instructions given him from time to
time he must be careful not to disclose. The delicate trust
reposed in all persons employed in the Mint, presupposes that
their character is free from all suspicion, but the director
feels it his duty nevertheless, in order that none may plead
ignorance on the subject, to warn them of the danger of
violating so high a trust. Such a crime as the embezzlement of
any of the coins struck at the Mint, or of any of the metals
brought to the Mint for coinage, would be punished under the
laws of Pennsylvania, by a fine and penitentiary imprisonment
at hard labor. The punishment annexed to this crime by the
laws of the United States, enacted for the special protection
of deposits made at the Mint, is DEATH. The 19th Section of
the Act of Congress, establishing the Mint, passed April 12,
1792, is in the following words: Section 19, and be it further
enacted, That if any of the gold or silver coins, which shall
be struck or coined at the said Mint, shall be debased or made
worse as to the proportion of fine gold or fine silver,
therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than
the same ought to be, pursuant to the directions of this act,
through the default or with the connivance of any of the
officers or persons who shall be employed at said Mint, for
the purpose of profit or gain, or otherwise, with a fraudulent
intent, and if any of the said officers or persons shall
embezzle any of the metal which shall at any time be committed
to their charge, for the purpose of being coined, or any of
the coins which shall be struck or coined at the said Mint,
every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of
the said offences, shall be deemed guilty of Felony, and shall
suffer death. Printed copies of the Rules here recited are to
be kept in convenient places for the inspection of the
workmen, but as all may not be capable of reading them, it
shall be the duty of the proper officer of the several
departments, or such person as he may appoint, to read them in
the hearing of the workmen, at least once a year, and
especially to read them to every person newly employed in the
Mint.
SAMUEL MOORE,
Director.