EXHIBIT B MEMORANDUM UPON THE VALUE OF THE RUPEE The Director of the Mint published in Treasury circulars the following valuations of the rupee-bullion value, referring to the silver content of the rupee, not its commerical exchange value January 1, 1897, $0.225. The bullion value is given for the following periods, but a note is published in each, stating that the "value of the rupee is to be determined by consular certifi-. cates": Apr. 1, 1897. July 1, 1897. Oct. 1, 1897. Jan. 1, 1898. Apr. 1, 1898. July 1, 1898. Oct. 1, 1898. $0. 222 | Jan. 1, 1899. The commercial value of the rupee during this period exceeded 30 cents. Mr. J. B. KINNEAR, $0. 208 206 210 207 203 207 208 A. PIATT ANDREW, Assistant Secretary EXHIBIT ( TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 1406 G Street NW., Washington, D. C. SIR: I beg to advise you in reply to your inquiry that the bullion value of the Indian rupee of 165 fine grains from October 1. 1900. to September 30, 1906, ranged as follows: 227 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, D. C. MADAM: Referring to your letter of July 24 to Mr. Broughton, in connection with the settlement of the sum of $8,879.53, referred to in Adverse Report No. 1272, I beg to state that $8,626.06 of this amount was settled as follows: By Wanamaker check... By deposit of consul general. By credits allowed by auditor. Total.... $5, 481. 62 2, 492. 40 8, 626. 06 The balance of $253.47 was continued in the running account of the consul general to the end of his term. Respectfully, R. O. BAILEY, Assistant Secretary. EXHIBIT E PHILADELPHIA, PA., July 14, 1902. SIR: I beg to enclose herewith bank check for $5,481.62, payable to the order of the Treasurer of the United States for the amount stated in your letter of December 24, 1901, as due the Government, growing out of the ruling of your office or that of the Comptroller of the Treasury, under circular dated March 8. 1898 Believing this ruling to be unjust as a part, if not all, of the time covered by your statement, I desire to protest, and do hereby protest, against I being required to make this payment, I being a poor man and a great inconvenience to me to obtain the money to make this payment It is also a profound humiliation to an old soldier, a comrade of General Grant throughout the war. to have this claim made against me. Please forward receipt for the inclosed to my address, Calcutta, India, and also any other mail for me that may come into your hands. I expect to sail in a few days and to arrive in Calcutta about September 1 although my leave of absence does not expire until October 1 I have the honor to be, your obedient servant. ion. E. G. TIMME, R. F. PATTERSON, Consul General United States of America, Calcutta, India Auditor for State and other Departments, Washington, D. C P. S.-If you can reconsider this claim and find you can give me credit for any part of it. I trust you will do so. No. 56.1 Hon. WILLIAM R. DAY, R. F. P EXHIBIT EI CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. SIR: In continuation of my dispatch dated April 15, 1898, in reference to collecting the consular fees in rupees at the exchange commercial value, I have the honor to enclose herewith copy of a letter from Mr. A. H. Deane, acting consular agent, Madras, dated May 2, 1898, in which he says: "There is no current exchange value of American coin at Madras, and the only way to calculate the exchange value of the rupee appears to be to take Reuter's valuation of gold dollars to £1 sterling, say $4.84. and convert them into rupees at the sterling exchange rate of the day." He quotes from the letter of the honorable Comptroller of the Treasury, dated February 1, 1898, embraced in the Department of State circular of March 8, 1898. as follows, viz: "In the absence of a current commercial value of American coin at the place of payment, the payment must be deemed to have been made on the one side and received on the other at the real or intrinsic value of the coin used," and again from the same letter, "In the absence of such commercial value, the estimated value furnished by the Director of the Mint must govern in fixing the real value of the foreign money as compared to United States gold." As stated in the letter of Messrs. Whitney Bros. & Co., of Boston, Mass.. mentioned in the letter of the honorable Auditor for the State and Other Departments, dated February 9, 1898, embodying the circular above referred to, the fees have not only been collected here, but at Madras and other consular agencies connected with the consulate general, at the value of the rupee, as fixed by the Director of the United States Mint, quraterly, and the full amount collected has been deposited to the credit of the Government in rupees, so that the Government would receive any benefit from gain in exchange; but, as the present commercial value of the rupee is artificial and fictitious and under a changed financial policy of the Government it would probably depreciate to its intrinsic value, should the United Stgtes Government be required to receive them at their fictitious value, and run the risk of great loss in exchange or should the consular agents, who receive their pay in fees be required to receive rupees at their present fictitious value. and become liable to loss in case of their depreciation to their intrinsic value, when they are entitled to have their fees in gold? I will also state that some of the largest exporters here have protested against the change in the method of collecting fees, for the reason that, on account of the daily fluctuations in the exchange commercial value of the rupee, they are unable to complete their invoices without sending to the consular office to ascertain the rate of the day, and they prefer to pay the fees in the value of the rupee as fixed by the Director of the Mint, which remains the same through the quarter, rather than have this trouble. Awaiting your reply, I have directed that all consular fees be collected in rupees at their commercial exchange value, sterling, as there is no rate here for American coin, realizing, however, that loss may result to the Government and the consular agents by a change in the financial policy of the Government, which is strongly urged, which would probably send the rupee down to its intrinsic value. I am, sir, your obedient servant, R. F. PATTERSON, Consul General. EXHIBIT E 2 CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: In answer to your letter of the 26th ultimo, directing me to furnish you with the average rate of sterling exchange during the quarters ending March 31, June 30, and September 30, 1898, I have the honor to inclose herewith certificates signed by the agent of the "Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China," and myself, stating the average value of exchange, as nearly as possible, as it fluctuates from day to day, for these quarters, and the number of rupees to the pound sterling. As I have stated before, there are no quotations here of exchange in the United States money, and the fees of this office have been collected and disbursements made for many years at the value of the rupee fixed by the Director of the Mint quarterly, and the accounts so settled in your office, until April 15, 1898, when your order to collect the fees at the commercial exchange value of the rupee went into effect, and the fees have been collected at that rate since. No exporters have complained of paying fees in rupees at the mint price, until complaint was made by Messrs. Whitney Bros. & Co., and some of the exporters have since said they prefer to continue to pay at that rate rather than have the trouble of sending to this office every day they are making shipments to get the rate for the day before they can complete their invoices. I have to send to the bank now every morning at 11 o'clock for the exchange rates to govern the transactions of that day, to know how many rupees to collect for the fees. Regarding the refunding of 34.9 rupees to Mr. C. Findlay, agent at Rangoon, for money expended by him for the relief of destitute American seamen during the quarter ended December 31, 1897, I had not before been directed to refund this amount. I have now forwarded the money and requested him to furnish a certificate showing the relative commercial valuation of the local currency to sterling money at the time of this transaction, as requested by you, which will be duly forwarded on receipt. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. E. G. TIMME, R. F. PATTERSON, United States Consul General. Auditor for the State and Other Departments, Washington, D. C. CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, We jointly certify that the average exchange value of the rupee in sterling during the quarter ended June 30, 1898, was, as nearly as can be figured, 1/3 31/32 d. or Rs. 15-0-5-6 to the pound sterling. R. F. PATTERSON, Consul General, United States of America. Agent for the Bank of India, Australia, and China. CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Calcutta, October 27, 1898. We jointly certify that the average exchange value of the rupee in sterling during the quarter ended March 31, 1898, was, as nearly as can be figured, 1/3 5/10 d. or Rs. 15-0-11-2 to the pound sterling. R. F. PATTERSON, Consul General, United States of America. N. OCREWILL, Agent for the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China. EXHIBIT E 3 Hon. ERNST G. TIMME, UNITED STATES CONSULAR SERVICE, Calcutta, February 15, 1900. Auditor for the State and Other Departments, Washington, D. C. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith vouchers to my quarterly accounts for the quarters ending September 30 and December 31, 1899, as requested by your letter of the 8th ultimo, and trust that they may be found satisfactory. The United States money is not current at this port, and the bills are paid in the currency of the country, viz, rupees, at the current rate of exchange, except those that call for United States gold payments, which are paid at the rate fixed by the Director of the Mint, as shown by the exchange vouchers with bankers' certificates which accompany the quarterly accounts. I herewith return the voucher for Rs. 2-8-0 duly receipted. I am, sir, your obedient servant, R. F. PATTERSON, United States Consul General. EXHIBIT F Hon. CoE I. CRAWFORD, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Chairman Committee on Claims, United States Senate. SIR: Referring to Senate bill 3201, Sixty-second Congress, first session, for the relief of Mrs. Marion B. Patterson, widow of the late R. F. Patterson, who was United States consul general at Calcutta, India, copy of which was forwarded by you to this department for information regarding the claim and my opinion as to its merits, I have the honor to advise you that on April 11, 1910, I addressed a communication to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Claims recommending favorable consideration of the bill then pending before the committee providing $20,000 for the relief of Mrs. Patterson, in which I made the following statement: "The change in the method of collecting consular fees constitutes the basis of this claim. In less than three months after General Patterson's arrival he was ordered to make collections in the commercial exchange value of the rupee, and that this resulted in reducing his income is evidenced by the fact that State Department adjusted the salary of his clerk to make up for this reduction without delay, but left General Patterson's emoluments the same. He was written to by his friends and advisers in this country to continue at his post, with the understanding that an adjustment would be made in his own case. This was not done. The demands upon his income to maintain his establishment and to properly represent this Government were such as to make it necessary for him to actually go into debt. Upon his return to the United States he was almost immediately stricken ill and died. The reduced financial situation which his services for the Government placed him in, and his sudden death after returning, left his widow and children not only destitute, but in debt. "I believe that reimbursement to the extent of the amount carried in the pending bill to his widow, Mrs. Patterson, would be a most deserved, proper, and appropriate recognition of the services of the late General Patterson." I have now to renew my recommendation for favorable consideration of the bill formerly pending before the Senate Committee on Claims providing $20,000 for the relief of Mrs. Patterson. Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, transmitting a copy of bill (H. R. 15141) for the relief of Mrs. Marion B. Patterson, widow of Robert F. Patterson, American consul general at Calcutta, and requesting the opinion of this Department as to the merits of the claim. Letters setting forth all the facts in the possession of this department with reference to Mrs. Patterson's claim were addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Claims of the House of Representatives on March 3, 1908, February 10, 1909, and January 22, 1910. In a letter dated February 18, 1910, to the Honorable George W. Prince, chairman Committee on Claims, House of Representatives, this Department directed the attention of that committee to the prior letters above-mentioned relative to Mrs. Patterson's claim and said that while the case appeals strongly to the Department's sympathy the real ground upon which her claim is based appears to be the disallowance by the accounting officers of the Treasury of certain items in the accounts of her husband while he was consul general at Calcutta. The Department added: "The action taken upon those accounts is a matter not within the jurisdiction of this Department and concerning the validity of which it is not competent to express an opinion, since the law definitely places the responsibility in such matters elsewhere." The Department has recently received a copy of a letter addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Claims of the Senate dated February 17, 1912, by the Secretary of the Treasury, in which he recommends for favorable consideration the bill formerly pending before the Senate Committee on Claims providing $20,000 for the relief of Mrs. Patterson. A copy of this letter of the Treasury Department is enclosed. In view of this action on the part of the Treasury Department, as set forth in its letter of the 17th ultimo, the Department of State is now very happy to concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to Mrs. Patterson's claim. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, |