Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-23

The outcry In California against The mufiiafed
coin is repeated. ail over the country. Even in
this city some of the banks positively refuse TO
accept gold or silver pieces that have been In
any way tempered with. aud they have been
driven to this course by the abundance Of the
deprecated stuff
To the unthinking person the accidental clip.
ping on OF a bit Of the edge Of q coin h a mere
oiemish upon its appearance. but seems rather
to give II an Individuality to make n a piece You
would remember II II came around again. than
10 in)ure 1t for commercial purposes. So,
700, with hole bored In IL. a coin seems merely
to have been used temporarily for charm or an
ornament. In either case the fact IL that a Ger
tain amount Of value has been abssracted from
the piece, and ii is not worth what n was
worth.
III this needed any demonstration IL Is TO Be
found IN the fact that the clippings filings and
borings. melted together amount to a yalua-
BILE consideration, and Ii is apparent that the
old coins have lost all that this new niece
amounts TO. This is the reward of the COIN
clipper, and his trade pays well II thriyes inst
so hong as there is indifference on the subject.
and until the trading public fatty refuse. IKE
the banks. to take any except the sound
pieces.
England underwent an experience of this
trouble i'm the sixteenth and seventeenth GEN.
turtles 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 to the vast improvements in
coinage and especially the milling of the pieces
which came then as correction to the evil
such mutilation as they then had will never
again be possible. Moreover. the lessen ought
10 have some effect. In Elizabcth's time. clip
ping the coins to save the metal clipped OF had
become such a source of loss that II was declared
nigh treason and made punishable with death.
The penalty continued long after but II seemed
TO 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 10 be hanged offered
O.000 for pardon, and Macaulay saws that
this evidence of how the crime paid did more
10 encourage il. far more than the hanging
of the man did to discourage il. Public opin-
ION was against the hanging and favored the
Clippers, as they took little from each
piece that ii amounted to almost nothing.
To show how the abuse of the coins went on.
II is related that in 1865 a lot of coin that
should have weighed 10000 ounces was
weighed and really showed 1l4.00o ounces.
Nearly half the value had been distracted.
In thirty-fve pounds taken in al random
there was only one perfect piece a single
One law declared that any one informing
against clipper should have 40 pounds reward;
one clipper informing against two clippers should
have pardon; and any person having the pre-
c!ous paiings in his possession should be burned
in the cheek. The story of the struggle 10 get
rid of the debased coinage is an old and familiar
one. Ii ended i'm the famous window tax. and
that with its whole train of evils and its Injurious
erects upon health and social life IL considered
10y historians to have been benefit to the people
when set against the evils Of the cheapened
money.
I'm our own country to-day the. United States
law provides fine of $1,000 and two wears in
prison for whoever defaces. mutilatcs. mpairs,
diminishes, falsifes, or lightens any of our
coins. providing it is done frauduenty And
no deprecated coin need be taken in any trans.
action Ii therefore rests wi n the people 10 do.
terinine how far the present attempts to make
money by clipping the coius shall be extended.
They will cease so soon as clipped money ceases
to be accepted.-Haytfo,dC ouosd