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.

Up to 1836 the work at the Mint was done entirely by hand or horse power. In that year steam was introduced. At different periods during the years 1797, 1798, 1799, 1802, and 1803, the operations of the Mint were suspended on account of the prevalence of yellow fever.

“Bond of Indemnity or Agreement of Operatives to return to the service of the Mint.” Dated August, 1799.

“We, the subscribers, do hereby promise and engage to return to the service of the Mint as soon as the same shall be again opened, after the prevailing fever is over, on the penalty of twenty pounds.”

“As witness our hands this 31st day of August, 1799.

The above are the signatures of the parties agreeing, written on old hand-made unruled foolscap paper.

This is part of the Mint records, which has been framed for convenience and protection. It hangs in the Cabinet.