Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-24
Den't Take Nutilatesl Coins.

The outcry Ia California against ,h. ,,,,,,t..,.,a
coin r. repeated all oycr the country r., Am
this city some ct the banks positively r.,,,so =,
accept gold or silver pieces that haze hoa, A.,
any way tempered with, aad they lave h..e,
driven TO this course by the abundance NJ On.
deprecated stuff
TO tae uathinking person the accidental elm
ping OF OF a bit Of the edge OF coin 4. MGR.
blemish upon IFS appearance, but seems rather
to give It an individuality TO make II a piece Won
would remember IL il came around again than
10 injure Il for commercial purposes So.
too. with hole bored in II. a coin seems merely
TO have been used temporarily FOR a charm or AN
ornament. In either case the fact Is that n Ger.
tain amount Of value has been absfracted from
the piece, and il IL not worth what A. MAS
worth.
II this needed any demonstration IL is 70 he
found In the fact that the clippings. filings and
bor.ngs, melted together. amount to a yalua-
bic consideration, and IL il apparent that the
old coins have lost all that this new piece
amounts TO. This IL the reward OF the coin
clipper. and his trade pays well. II thrives lust
SO long as there in indifference on the subject.
and until the trading public fatty refuse. Hike
the banks, to take any except the sound
pieces
trouble IN the sixteenth and seventeenth Gem
turies that shows the difficulty of making peo-
pie see the mischief OF such things and the final
cost that has To be paid for toerating the fraud
though. owing 10 the vast improvements In
coinage and especially the milling of the pieces
which came then as a correction to the evil
such mutilation az they then had viii never
again be possible. Moreover the lessen ought
to have some effect. In Elizabeth's time. elm
ping the coins TO save the metal clipped OF had
afAfi sr
high treason and made punishable with death
The penalty continued long after. but il seemed
10 accomplish no staying results.
In one day. for EXAMPLE seven men were
hanged in London and one woman burned for
clipping. Still the clipping went on One coin
clipper when about to be hanged. offered
$50, 600 for pardon, and Nacaulay saws that
this evidence OF how the crime paid did moro
TO encourage 1t. far more, than the hanging
Of the man did TO discourage it. Public opn-
ion was against the hanging and favored the
clippers, as they took little from each
piece that IL amounted to almost nothing.
To show how the abuse of the coins went on,
II Is related that in 1865 lot of coin that
should have weighed 100000 ounces was
weighed and really showed 1l4,O00 ounces
Nearly half the value had been abstracted
In thirty-fiye pounds taken in a. random
there was only one perfect piece, q single
halfcrOwn.
One law declared that any one informing
one clipper informing against two clippers should
have pardon; and any person having the pre-
cious payings in his possession should be burned
in the cheek. The story Of the struggle to get
rid of the debased coinage Ia an old and familiar
one. IL ended i'm the famous window tax and
that with its whole train OF evils aud its injurious
effects upon health and social life Ia considered
by historians to have been benefit TO the people
when set against the evils of the chcapened
money.
In our own country to-day the United States
law provides fine of 80 600 and two years In
prison for whoever defaces initiates, I'm pairs,
coins. providing it is done ffauduently. And
no deprecated coin need be taken in any trans.
action. 1t therefore rests vi. h the people TO de-
termine how far the present attempts to make
money 10y clipping the coins shall be extended.
They will cease SO soon as clipped money ceases
to be accepted-Hd,fford COu'asL