CUSTOMS. (T. D. 28660.) Values of foreign coins. [Circular No. 1.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 1, 1908. In pursuance of the provisions of section 25 of the act of August 28, 1894, I hereby proclaim the following estimate by the Director of the Mint of the values of foreign coins to be the values of such coins in terms of the money of account of the United States, to be followed in estimating the value of all foreign merchandise exported to the United States on and after January 1, 1908, expressed in any of such metallic currencies. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Secretary. ESTIMATE BY DIRECTOR OF THE MINT OF VALUES OF FOREIGN COINS. ESTIMATE BY DIRECTOR OF THE MINT OF VALUES OF FOREIGN COINS-Continued. .498 .402 Newfoundland. Gold...... Dollar. 1.014 Gold... Crown... 268 1.000 079 .193 Straits Settle- Gold Pound sterling §.. 4 866 .500 1.080 20, and 50 sen. Gold: 5 and 10 pesos. Silver: dollar‡ (or peso) and divisions. Gold: 10 florins. Silver: 24, 1 florin and divisions. Gold: 2 dollars ($2.027). Gold: 10 and 20 crowns. Gold: 1,2, 5, 10, and 20 balboas. Sil ver: peso and divisions. Gold: 1, and 2 tomans ($3.409). Silver: 4, 1, 1, 2, and 5 krans. Gold: and 1 libra. Silver: sol and divisions. Silver peso: 10, 20, and 50 centavos. Gold: 1,2,5, and 10 milreis. Gold: 5,7, 10, and 15 rubles. Silver: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, and 100 copecks. Gold: 25 pesetas. Silver: 5 pesetas. 4.866% Gold: Sovereign (pound sterling). Silver: Dollar and divisions. Gold: 10 and 20 crowns. NOTE.-The coins of silver-standard countries are valued by their pure silver contents, at the average market price of silver for the three months preceding the date of this circular. The sovereign is the standard coin of India, but the rupee ($0.3244%) is the current coin, valued at 15 to the sovereign. + Seventy-five centigrams fine gold. + Value in Mexico, $0.498. The current coin of the Straits Settlements is the silver dollar issued on Government account and which has been given a tentative value of $0.567758%. (T. D. 28661.) Requirement of powers of attorney from corporate surety companies. [Circular No. 3.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 2, 1908. To bond-approving officers under the Treasury Department: In response to inquiries as to the proper construction of the provisions of Department order of November 21, 1907, relative to the requirement of powers of attorney from surety companies, the following explanation is made for the information of approving officers of the Department: The purpose of said regulation is First, to provide and maintain at Washington for the general uses of the Department a complete, adequate, and uniform record of the authorities under which the officers and agents of surety companies act in the execution of bonds on behalf of said companies in lieu of the unsatisfactory evidence heretofore furnished in the form of powers of attorney prepared by the companies and the "affidavit of justification;" and Second, to relieve the surety companies of the burden and expense of furnishing with each bond offered documentary evidence of facts which are fully evidenced by one document properly filed and recorded in the Department and which can be made to serve all administrative needs; and also to relieve such companies of maintaining records of such facts, in more or less incomplete form, in the office of each of the approving officers of the Department. As indicating the impracticability of requiring surety companies to maintain such records, and of approving officers to properly handle them if maintained, it is only necessary to say that there are nearly 30,000 officers and agents of surety companies authorized to execute bonds, and it has taken nearly two years for the Department to provide a complete file of powers of attorney representing such officers and agents and to catalogue their authorities under said powers for ready reference each time a bond is passed upon. It would therefore be manifestly impracticable for the surety companies to provide every approving officer under this Department with a complete record of the authorities of their executing officers, upon the theory that at some time any one of such officers might execute a bond which would be presented for approval. The evidence necessary to compile the Department's record has been, and will continue to be, furnished by the companies upon Form No. 272 in all cases where authority is conferred upon executing officers by power of attorney, and in cases of elective officers of the companies, by a proper certificate of election containing an extract from the by-laws under which such election was held. The use of Form No. 272 for this purpose has eliminated the complicated methods and forms, sometimes expressed in ambiguous language, heretofore employed by surety companies in appointing agents and conferring powers upon them, and reduced to a minimum the liability of agents exceeding their powers, by requiring the expression of such powers in uniform and plain terms, thus rendering easy their correct construction. The certificate of the Department upon the examination of a bond may therefore be accepted by approving officers as proper evidence of the authority of the persons who executed the bond on behalf of a corporate surety company, as such certificate is now accepted by the Solicitor of the Treasury and officers of the Treasury Department located at Washington. The affidavit of justification (Form 400) which has been discontinued was a sworn statement of the agent of the surety company who executed the bond of his own authority to do so. It has been accepted by various approving officers as proper evidence of authority upon the presumption that its accuracy was guaranteed by the liability of the affiant to prosecution for perjury for any false statement contained therein. This is not true, however, it having been decided in the case of United States v. Maid (Fed. Rep., vol. 116, p. 650) that * To constitute the crime perjury under the Revised Statutes 5392 by the making of a false affidavit * * it is essential that such affidavit be material, and that it should be authorized by a law of the United States. The discontinuance of this affidavit as evidence was therefore fully justified and proper. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Secretary. (T. D. 28662.) Common carrier. Approving bond of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company for transportation of merchandise in boud, and discontinuing shipments under bonds which were approved July 25, 1894, and October 15, 1904. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January, 1908. SIR: The bond of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, transmitted with your letter of the 16th ultimo, for the transportation of merchandise in bond under sections 3000, 3001, 3005, and 3006 of the Revised Statutes, the act of June 10, 1880, and all acts and regulations relating thereto, is hereby approved, and one copy of said bond is transmitted herewith for the files of your office. You will discontinue the shipment of appraised and unappraised merchandise under the bonds of said company which were approved July 25, 1894, and October 15, 1904, respectively, and hold said bonds without cancellation to meet any liability which may have accrued thereunder. Respectfully, COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York. JAMES B. REYNOLDS, Acting Secretary. (T. D. 28663.) Common carrier. Approving bond of Hartford and New York Transportation Company for transportation of merchandise in bond, and discontinuing shipments under bond which was approved August 27, 1904. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 4, 1908. SIR: The bond of the Hartford and New York Transportation Company, transmitted with your letter of the 16th ultimo, for the transportation of merchandise in bond under sections 3000, 3001, 3005, and 3006 of the Revised Statutes, the act of June 10, 1880, and all acts and regulations relating thereto, is hereby approved, and one copy of the bond is transmitted herewith for the files of your office. You will discontinue the shipment of unappraised merchandise under the bond of said company which was approved August 27, 1904, charge all shipments made in the future by said company against the bond this day approved, and hold the old bond without cancellation to meet any liability which may have accrued thereunder. Respectfully, JAMES B. REYNOLDS, (18514.) Acting Secretary. COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York. (T. D. 28664.) Common carrier. Approving bond of New England Steamship Company for transportation of merchandise in bond. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 4, 1908. SIR: The bond of the New England Steamship Company, transmitted with your letter of the 16th ultimo, for the transportation of merchandise in bond under sections 3000, 3001, 3005, and 3006 of the Revised Statutes, the act of June 10, 1880, and all acts and regulations relating thereto, is hereby approved, and one copy of said bond is transmitted herewith for the files of your office. Respectfully, COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York. JAMES B. REYNOLDS, (T. D. 28665.) Common carrier. Approving bond of Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company for transportation of merchandise in bond, and discontinuing shipments under bond which was approved October 21, 1904. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 6, 1908. SIR: The bond of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, transmitted with your letter of the 16th ultimo, for the |