Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-04-18
About Small Coinage.
The Governments Immense Profits in
the Manufacture of Pennies and
Nickels.
The Percentage of Profit in Silver Dol
lars Is Even Larger Figures
From the Mint.


els and pennies in certain quantities on
recipe of their face value suggests some
inquiries ia regard to the cost of these
coins TO the United States, and how 1t Is
that they can afford to ship them at par
value, paying express charges on them.
CORES pondent called upon an employe
of the Mint Bureau at the Treasury De-
partment and asked him about It.
"Oh!" he said, vi h laugh, I'VE have
always paid the express charges on nick
els and pennies, ana can very veil afford
10 do so. We make lots of money on
them as it is"
"WAat do the nickes cost the United
States?h
about Of cent piece" he said.
"They are now purchased under contract.
We used to make the blanks ourselves
and stamp them afterwards at the mint,
but of late years we have been purchasing
the blanks aud having them stamped at
the mint. They are bought by the pound,
and cost, 1 think, about q of cent
apiece" -I
OF course you get 8 cents APIECE for
them"
eyes"
''rhe profit on them is pretty large,
then. How about the pennies ~
"They are bought by the pound, also.
I think they cost I! of cent, or perhaps
n of a cent EACH
How many of these pennies and nick
els are issued in Year,"
Nearly S1,000,000 worth. The total
amount of cent pieces issued in year
usually reaches 100000, and of pennies
nearly 100000. Besides thai there few
Scent nickel pieces, but only few. Last
year the number was extremely small.
There is little demand for them and the
department is Encouraging the use of
them as much rs possible"
ION this million dollars worth of
minor coins Issued then, there must be
profit of considerably over half million
dollars"
"Yes, considerably more than that
"rhe business of issuing coins at four
or five or seven or of eight times their
actual cost is pretty profitable one, isn't
it,"
Eyes, the Mint Bureau is a profitable
one TO the Government
Glow about the silver dollars? Isn't
there a pretty large profit on those, too,
at the low prices silver now obtainW
Yes there is more profit to the Gov
! ernment in the issue of silver dollars than
| anything else that we now do-nOt pro
| poI tionaly, OF course, but the number of
| dollars issued Is SO much greater than the
! pro6t is large. We are required under
! the law TO buy and coin at least 100000
| of silver into dollars every month. This
! $2,0G0,000 worth Of silver makes nearly
| 81. 250,000. So that the profit on the
monthly PURCHASES and coinage of silver
| dollars is fully three fourths of a million
dollars. So the profits on silver dollars
you see is about 100000 year or more,
and adding TO 1t the profit on the pennies
and nickels brings it up to nearly $40,
| 000,0 OF course, there must be taken
out of that the expenses of the mint, but
they are com paratively small sum"
"What becomes of the pennies aud nick
/ els thai are issued?"
"They are redeemaole, of course, in
other money when they are brought
| back"
DO they come back for REDEEM ption in
very great quantities?'
"a goCd many of them come back whe n
they are worn and defaced, but a large
proportion are sent to the mint and
cleaned up and set into circulation again.
bronze penny or nickel scent piece
| does not wear out as rapidly as dollar
bill"
rs there demand for these minor
coins the year through2"
"There is of course a greater or less
demand for them all the time, bnt the
heaviest call comes in the FAIL
"Where do they go mostly?"
"There is a story that pennies are still
little used in the South and some of the
Western parts of the country. The de-
mand for pennies in the South has been
| very slight all along, but Is somewhat in
creasing. We sent TO Louisiana IN the
| last fiscal year per cent more than in
the former year, and to North Carolina
| 100 per cent. core than in the former
/ year. TO South Carolina we sent so per
cent. more than in the preceding ,welve
| months. Texas has evidently little use
! for pennies, for We only had orders for
| $50 worth from the entire state of Texas
! last year. New York State seems TO ap-
| preciate the "nimbie penny for We had
orders for $4,000 worth from that
/ S ate last year. To Illinois we sent
/ $4,000 worth. Thhere Is a steadily in
creasing demand for these minor coins /;
/ the number of pieces issued by the mint
ia the past few years has been upprece-
deuted, and for long time the demand
/ was greater than we could supply. We
have caught up now, however, and have
somewhat supply on hand, but the de-
mand will undoubtedly resume in the lat.
ter part of the season, when the crops are
| gathered and there is a demand for cir
| lating medium of all kinds"
| The token coins of the United States
/ prior TO lS47 consisted of the cent and
2-cent copper pieces originally author
| lied by the act OF 1892. The weight of
| these coins was II penpyweights or 264
1 grains for the penny or So penny Eeigh
or 1872 grains for ths = cent. Ire
weight was again reduced in 1896 to l66
/ grains for the one cent and 81 tor the =
cent, at which rates these prices were
coined until their coinage was ciscontinu
/ ed Ia 1857. The coinage of l cent
/ piece OF she weight of y grains, to CON
slst Of S. per cent, of copper ,and y per
cent. of nickel, was then authorized.
/ his coin was to be paid out at the mint
/ in exchange for previous issues Of copper
coins. TIE coinage % this ceat piece
/ Authorized by the act of February
I 81 1877 was 3fscnpsfpupa hv tina act