The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-12

Francisco, Is now In Europe. Here L.
letter which have Just received from him,
telling Of his visit to the Royal mint OF
London. If there IA any mint in the world
In which one would expect to find the
finest machinery and most perfect methods
it Is the Roysl mint, sud yet my friend
writes me that DC wns astonished at what
be saw In that establishment. They are
there at least one hundred years behind Us,
using clumsy old machinery long since dis
carded in this country. Probably the ex-
pense Of coinage is twice as great there as
here The only thing In which they excel us
Is an automatic weighing machine which
weighs the coins and rims them along az
very rapid rate. Our weighing "a all done
by women, and suppose IL we should at
tempt to Introduce the automatic machines
a great wall Of lamentations would pro-
coed from our wdghers. To show you
how welded TO their idols the British coin
ers are win mention the fact that our
alloy of gold ia now the model for all the
principal nations, England alone excepted.
On the continent Of Europe they took
lot OF our gold coins and the coins Of other
countries and put them in barrel or
some sort OF shaker and shook them up
and weighed them carefully. Our coins
had suffered much less abrasion than any
Of the others and our alloys werc there
upon adopted by tns continental nations"
What coins are our minis now turning
out:"
"The silver dollar still takes the lead,
though we are coming fewer pieces of sill
yer than we we're few years ago. Last
year we turned out nearly 35,000, 900 silver
dollars. This seems Like large number,
though it is but a little moro than one dol
lar for every two inhabitants, and tie
people 60 not seem to want the silver dol
lars. for they continue to pile up in the
treasury vaults. We coined durang last
year only 12,ooo or 1900 bali dollars. 1t
Is an odd fact that the half dollar viii not
20 in this country. It is an unpopular
coin. We send out lot of half dollars,
md the FIRST thing we know they are com
ing back again. The treasury is already
loaded with them. II is eleven yeGrn Eineo
we coined any considerable number Of half
dollars. The quarter 10 little ranra pop
ular, but very limited coinage satisfies
the demand for thes.., too. Of d!f1os, On
the other hand, the people cannot get
enough. Last year we coined nearly 2
million dollars worth, and the zai1ts ere
now chiefly occupied with Tie Lttie ten
cent pieces. In 1857 we coined q ,575, 900
worth Of dimes. and thought 10 had more
than met the demand. But the country
swallows dimes as flock Of blscknirds do
kernels Of cora"
Are the other minor coins equally pop.
ularY"
''The nickel and the penny are in great
demand. In the last eight years we have
coined DO fewer than S9, O00, 900 nickels, and
we are still turning them out at the rate
Of ten millions or so year. Last year ne
coined nearly fifty million pennies, and the
demand continues unabated. The west is
beginning to take pennies and uickels, and
should not be surprised to see one coin
age of cents go up to hundred million
pieces in year."
1--WE are still coming gold?"
eyes, but not IN such great quantities as
formerly. Gold is not very popular either
with the banks or the people except in the
far west The bulk Of tho gold coin in the
country Is held on the Pacific coast. Our
coinage Of gold last year amounted to ST.
600. 900, three-fourths Of it IN double eagles,
and nearly all of the remainder in eagles
The five dollar, three dollar aud dollar gold
pieces ara not IN much demand, and our
coinage of all three last year amounted to
only S125,O00. We estimate that there is IN
the country about S622, 600, 900 Of gold coin,
and last year we made a thorough effort TO
ascertain where that coin was. We sue
ceeded in locating little more than one
half Of it. Tho treasury held sag, 900, 900,
national banks 81, oo0, 900 and other banks
s34, 0oo, 0G4 This leaves about STE, ooo,o 900
unaccounted for, and this may be put
down approximately as the sum deposited
IN tho stockings Of the people or in actual
use in trade. Probably one-hAlf of this Is
west of the Rocky mountelns.n
"How much money has Uncle Sam
coined since he went into tho buSfpessm
1.-TWO bilious oae hundred and seven
teen millions of dollarg. OF this nearly
three-fourths hiss been Of gold. onofozrth
of silver, and O Small sum (s2sf. co. GOD Ia
COMPARISON with the total, rni-ror cotn1.
The greatest coinage in shy one TcST wig
IN 1851, wien the total rsacsed etoSs GO, 900.
The smallest coinage in euy oas yonr wSs
IN 1915, when we ran down to 10000. Our
government has been very ocnstEtaaS Ia It's
coinage, and It Ia really rcmazSa6is Shako1r
rnirting system should haTe been fsft 20
much undisturbed during ahuoara6 So1ru-
The amount of gold in our sosd oc4oa has
net been changed since wehEgt be<an coin
ege "a i7aa The nlloy has bean changed,
but not she amount Of pure gold. Double
eagles were not ecinei till 1850, but they
hEve since been very popular. The gold
dollar v7as Tot coined TN Isza, and tha
three dollar pisoc not til 1854. This has
never bson poPU1sT coin, and only 900 600
Of them bGva besn node athngssher. The
nrst years coinageo o. ths RaPuhisso brought
forth sold eagles and hah eagles, than doh
lars, haif dollars and k>iftf11ns. Tho GUAR
Ger dollar and the diTnee Eere added tae usxt
year. From 1909 TO 1870 % silver dollars
were cnred, the half dollar being then tha
favor;te. In 1851 the utats bcI.a turning
out silver three cent pi.soes, end 7ore than
e million dollars OF them Sers ccincd DO
fore pubic opinion, twouty years lstsr,
called q halt. OF that otbcr determination,
the silvcr'twenty ceaS pisce. e20o, coo WAS
coined Ia 1873 and 1r7T. Then thai WIS
stopped. In i7aa tia Govnrnrasnt began
oo!aias cents nnd I-I cents. OF the latter
only $4,000 szeo coined nltcE$tGaF, the
last eisce Of that denomination being faeds
in 1857. The tRo cent pfeco Tss started La
1854, and In five o. 81 yenzs eSoas 100000
at THAI ySsfs tt.Tnad OFT Mona ksvs been
made sincs 1872. The three cent psece wa
started in 1875, and e4o ever peFalaE nleksl
Ia 1866. / haS here mentioned ell the
eains ever tuTEsd out Ct our mats, except
Ing tho t1sda doilaz, and you can see that
eEF ooiaRgs not be1n CT tefY e1&eastve
variety. We va variety enough Was
we ased is sc-ne new : siEEs, And ii con-
grszs viii giTe Is aut sef7ty / propose 70
asS the G1tis.s O. 80 country to compete
e1r prizes to bs cIersd f9F kae best designs