Though for a time, the legislative advance of the silver movement was successfully resisted, the Treasury Department was left in a difficult situation, and the expedients to which it resorted to guard the gold supply added to the troubles of the people in the matter of obtaining currency.

The quick way of getting gold from the Treasury was to present legal tender notes for redemption.

To keep this process in check, legal tender notes were impounded as they came in, and silver certificates were substituted in disbursements.

But under the law of 1878, silver certificates could not be issued in denominations of less than ten dollars.

A scarcity of small notes resulted, which oppressed retail trade until, in August, 1886, Congress authorized the issue of silver certificates in one and two and five dollar bills.
A more difficult problem was presented by the Treasury surplus which, by old regulations savoring more of barbarism than of civilized polity, had to be kept idle in the Treasury vaults.