Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-25
Don't Take Iutiista,I Co,u~

The outcry in California against tho ,pr.i..,.a
coin is repeated all over the country F,e, i'm
this city some Of the banks positively r,,f,s. IN
accept gold or silver pieces that have ,s.,., in
any way tampcrcd with. aad they lave hce,
driven to this Course by the abundance os I'm.
deprecated stuff
10 the unthinkiag person the accidental elm
ping OF Of biz OF the edge CT a coin is a mere
hlc,E.sh upon it's appearance. but seems rather
10 give it an indyid ialty to make I, a piece Won
would remember if II came around again. than
to injure it for commercial purposes. So
too. with hole bored in it, coin seems merely
to have been used temporarily for chart, or an
ornament. In either case the fact is that n GER
tain amount OF value has been abstracted from
the piece. and it is not worth what il was
worth.
Ii this needed any demonstration II is TO be
found in the fact that the clippings filings and
borincs. melted together amount TO a yalua-
bic consideration. and il is apparent that the
old coins have lost all that this new piece
amounts 70. This is the reward of the COIN
clipper, and his trade pays well. II thrives lust
so hong as there Is Indifference on the subject.
and until the trading public fatty refuse. like
the banks. to take any except the sound
pieces.
England underwent an experience Of this
trouble in the sixteenth and seventeenth CEN
turtles that shows the difficulty Of making peo-
pie see the mischief of such things and the ilnal
cost that has TO be paid for tolcTatiag the fraud
though. owing to the vast improvements in
coinage and especially the milling of the psecrs.
which came then as a correction TO the evil
such mutilatioa a. they then had will never
again be possible Moreover the lesson ourht
to have some effect. In Eizaheth's time, clip
ping the coins ia save the metal clipped oil had
become such a source of loss that twas declared
high treason and made punishable with death.
The penalty continued long after. hut il seemed
to accomplish no staying results
In one CAV. for EXAMPLE. seven men were
hanged in London and one woman burned for
clipping. Still the clipping went on. one coin
clipper. when about 10 bc hanged. offered
go. 600 for a pardon. and Nasaulay says that
Ins- evidence Of how the crime PAID did more
to encourage IL far more. than the hanging
of the man did to DISCOURAGE it. Public opin-
ion was against the hanging aHd favored the
clippers as they took So little fi0m each
piece that it amounted 10 almost nothing.
To show how the abuse of the coins went ON,
1t is related that in 1865 lot Of coin that
should have weighed 23o00 ounces WAS
weighed and really showed li4o0o ounces.
Nearly half the value had been distracted.
la thirty-tiye pounds taken i'm a. random
there was only one perfect piece, single
One law declared that any one informing
against clipper should have 40 pounds reward;
one clipper informing against two clippers should
have a pardon; and any person having the pre-
cious raings i'm his possession should be burned
in the cheek. The story of the struggle to get
rid of the debased coinage is an old and familiar
one. Ii ended in the famous window tax and
that with its whole train OF evils and It's injurious
effects upon health and social life is considered
10y historians to have been benefit TO the people
when set against the evils of the cheapened
money.
In cur own country to-day the United States
1axr- H.. q.
prison for whoever defaces. mutilatcs. impairs,
dminshes, falsifies, or lightens any of our
coins, providing it is done frau6ulenily. And
no deprecated coin need be- taken in ANY trans.
action. 1t therefore rests vi. h the people to de-
ternine how far the present attempts TO mako
money by clipping the coins shall be extended.
They will cease SO soon as clipped money ceases
to be pted.-Etutford Co,1dsa