The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1873-08-16
oUR WAsHIHeToG LETTER

DUB WAsHIHeToG LETTER
w4sH1soros, D. C., August 9. 1879.
EDITOR CzIEF:
-Rqmors have recently been set
a1fqloat that the cqqpterfeiters have
been more than usually successful IL
initiating the new five-dollar coin, and
alsq that ii the Treasury has experienced
ap unexpectedly large Loss in the pro-
cess of re-coining now in progress,
but information received from official
sources coptradicts these statements.
The fact u that al oRr gold coins are
counterfeitsd, the new one no moro
successfully than tho rest. 1t is we'll
known that copnterfeiters are the most
skillful wQrkmen in the world, and
some of their work in " illing" coins
is simply marvellous. But perhaps
the reader does not know what " GIL
ings is. The process is most deli
cate one and consists in removing the
m;lled edge Of the coin, after which
the operator slices the coin in two and
eaeavates the interior, leaving the
faces untouched, The space is filed
with composition of platina of pre-.
cisely the same weight IS the material
removed and the coin put together
again in such q manner that only an
expert can detect the difference. The
coin thus manipulated has the proper
weight and the ring Of the true metal;
no acid test affects it and no traces of
the work can be detected by the clos
est inspection. The profit from "fill-
ing one double eagle amounts to 414.
Our British friends are also the VIC
Tins Of these men, several "iilled"
sovereigns ha wing been received at
the Sub Treasury Of New York. These
wero shown to the detectives who
were over here in pursuit of the Bank
Of England forgers and were quite uu-
known to them. They are certainly
. very dangerous and troublesome
counterfeit.
As t" the loss from re-coinage it is
very little, if any, above the estimate
made last spring. In April Congress
passed the Coinage Act, section IA of
which provides that the weight of the
one-dollar piece shall be 25.8 grains
aud that this shall be the unit Of value;
that is, that the quarter-eagle shall
weigh two and half times as much,
the half-eagle five times as much, and
90 on. 1t also provides that "any
gold coin of the United States if re-
duced in weight by ,a.nral abrasion
not more than one half If one per
cent. below the standard weight after
q circulation Of twenty years shall be
received by the United States Treasury
and its officers" under certain regu-
lations, aud that any gold coin in the
Treasury reduced below this weight
shall be re-coined. Quite large
amount Of light coins are being melted
down at q loss averaging from one
half to six tenths Of one per cent.
This ie about the usual loss suffered
by coin during circulation for twenty
years, though the larger coins lose
much less in the same time, owing to
the smaller surface exposed in pro-
portion to their weight.
General Butler is out in an elab-
orste letter defending the back-pay
bill, and it is said this is one Of the
most able papers he has ever written,
/" rendered very entertaining from the
flashes of sarcasm and wit that abound
in it." He claims that the p, esident's
increased salary Of $4,000 is not
equal in its purchasing power to the
$25, 700 salary Of Washington. He
proceeds to show that the late bill
about which so much has been said il
not 80 much an increase as an equali-
zation Of the salaries of members of
Congress. Where he finds figures to
sustain him is a pazzle). He goes
strongly for Minister Washhurne who
published letter in which
VAS stated that the people do not
elect men to Congress to come to
W ashingtoD to keep three or four
mistresses and to chuck at the tiger"