The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-08-17
Mistakes In Our Small Metallic Cur
rency.

When the value of the material of
which the small currency is made is far
below the nominal value of the coin, it
is an encouragement for counterfeiting,
as it increases the profits of coming to
such an extent that secret competition
is created against the United States
mint. Thus, for instance, our 5-cent
nickel pieces weigh 5 grammes, or x
15-75 grains each, so that 81 go the
ounce and 104 to the pound, the nomi-
nal value of which is SIS 20. If the
coins were pure nickel it would give
profit of 81 40 per pound, as the nickel
costs 50 90 per. pound; this would
amply pay for the cost of manufacture.
The fact however is that there is little
nickel in these so-called nickels; it is
merely an alloy of copper and nickel,
similar to German silver, containing
Just nickel enough to make it white,
and reduces the cost of the material to
scarcely 81 per pound, giving a profit
to the United States coin manufacturing
establishment of 81 80 per pound, or
800 per cent. on the material used.
There is such large profit and in
ducement for secret competition, that
we were not surprised on reading a
short time ago the following item in
the daily papers: '.Fiue- Cent Nickels
by the BassheJ.-The trial of Philip
Lowenski and John S. and Thomas
Loughery, the five-cent nickel counter
feiters, was begun in Brooklyn. They
were detected in the making of spurious
coin in two fashionable houses in Lex
ington Avenue, Brooklyn. They had
the most costly machinery and dies,
and the money they produced puzzled
the experts. A United States Treasury
clerk ascertained that considerable
proportion of the five-cent pieces he
took in were counterfeits. The United
States Marshal estimates that about
500 a day was made, and that nearly
$50, 1000 was in circulation August
Taubert, the die-sinker who was in the
employ of the gang, has turned States
evidence, and it is expected that his
testimony will convict the gang''h 81
What other similar establishments
exist is of course not known; If they
make them of baser material the profit
is still greater; but even if they make
the nickels perfectly, Identical with
those made by the Government,
the profit is enormous. Now this should
not be; the intrinsic value of coin
should be so near the nominal value as
to merely cover the expense of coming,
and then no secret rival establishments
would spring up, as none could COM
pete with the facilities of the established
mint. os la aHTE n rH .atIf sas'
The five as well as the ten cent pieces
should be only. of silver of an alloy of
9 Of silver to l of copper, and weigh %
grammes for 10 cents thus, according
to the standard of our silver-dOllar
value, and the price of silver at the
present day, it would make the weight
of the silverEdollar % grammes and
the smaller coins of the same alloy.
For coins of less value than 5 cents the
neckel alloy should be used !; the alloy
of of copper, 3 of zinc, and OF
nickel, or ordinary German silver, is
excellent for coming, being hard, and
at the same time very malleable, and
adapted to high polish. 1t would, at
the rate of "a cents per pound for cop
per, 10 cents for zinc, and $3.50 for
nickel, cost 5x54 or S2S for the copper
need, 3x10=30 cents for the zinc need
ed, and 2xS3 50=S7 for the nickel
total, $40 for 10 pounds, or 81 pei
pound, making the weight of each
about grammes, as much as our scent
nickel pieces now weigh, and which in
fact have only an intrinsic value of not
much over one cent.
The old copper cents are too heavy,
and as from the present abundance OF
all metals their value has deprecated in
comparison to that of other products OF
industry, copper has become unfit fol-
coin. A copper, brass, Or bronze coin
of an intrinsic value somewhere near
its nominal value, would make the
weight of one dollars worth about five
pounds, that is nearly j kilogrammes,
or every cent % grammes, or 375 grains.
As it is now, our bronze cent pieces
have scarcely one-third Ofthat weight
another encouragement for counterfeit
ing, and it is hard to tell how many mil
lions of cents are in circulation, just as
good as those issued by the United
States mint, but which never came from
there. The trouble is that our public
men are not only ignorant of finance,
but many of them labor under lack OF
either honesty or of common sense
Manufacturer and BlLIL1eT .....