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

ture The idea in this is that the coins will
thus be made Of educational value in teach
ing the masses solasshiDg about the geog
raphy of their country. need scarcely add
thatI do not favor making a geographical
text book of the silver dollar. Another
suggestion, and a more artistic one, is that
we use PORTRAITS Of ail the prominent men
of our history, stamping few millions in
honor of one man and few millions in
honor Of another till all have been thus
used.
There are living men who think them
selves great enough to aI3orn the silver dol
lar This suggestion WIS made to me by
certain member Of congress that we put
upon the n5w silver dollar portraits of ten
or a dozen of the most conspicuous cham
pions of reconciliation of silver He
thought this would be a graCeful and ar-
tistic recognition OF theic services, and, Of
course. he exDeEtsd To be one of the honor
able dozen ! don't think this plan viii be
adopted The sezis of the various states,
outline pictures Of thu CaIieoi. the Wash
ington monument and other public build
ings have been suggested.
''The most moved suggestion which has
vet reached this Office concerning design
for the solver dollar Is an OutgrOwth or the
prevailing passion Tor pictures OF pretty
women. Tho Xnan who offered this plan
was q photographer IN New York,s who
said lie had been atySOr& Tor some years
making a collection OF photographs of the
beautiful zYome1 OF America He wanted
us to take his photographs, several thou
sand in number, haze composite picture
made of them sI z-,d use tho result as the
sum and essence Of American beauty and
the ideal head OF Eibszty. admire pretty
women as rluc1 as any one, but l don't
think this pan 1gSl. do, In choosing de-
sign for 8 silver dS.sag We Gan hardly afford
TO 80 into c0z2GeC&kiSa with the makers OF
cigarette gic1Es-as. Afy &dmiration for tho
beauty "a -aE2SIlcaa woman Is SO great,
and my s5eSsIG 10 improve our coins so
keen, rha1 1yasas fE.sS ~ al to geS rid of
the PhiIaGely2LSz sc2Cal marin on the dol
lar and t4s@2 81 rae young woman nom
Arkansas S[tiSg on a bale Of cotton on the
half dollar &R2 9GSHzr. Another design
that could DO dispensed WITH 10 advantage
is the Iadiaa On tl1e penny The LsW says
the design on the fsce Of the penny shall
tvpifv liberty, but cannot see the relation
between lihe7ey and the head Of an Indian,
for the Indizn has very few liberties now
adays. and the moro he has the less the
people like It.
(which nation, in your opinion, has the
prsttiest coi1sf'
Il Ike the German coins better than any
other, though the French and English are
both artsstic There Is one 5000 thing
about the Gs-Inan coIns-they have raised
letters running abcut on the periphery.
This intarfsreS with the prscGce, which Is
more common IN this country than most
people suppose, CT drilling into q com ana
taking out tnes god. This can be done
without much Danger OF detc-tton with
our gold coins. rs tie base metal used Tor
filling the cavity viii produce 50 nearly the
same weight that without weighing II Is
impossible to detect the frsad- Very often
the treasury department hnds sold coins
which have been rsEeYed OF a part OF theiE
nre-ious substance Such cofas can not De
banked X any value. and the only thing 70
D. with them is to send them to the minis
Tor reneltinZ, the owner being paid their
exact value. With raased letters on the
periphery drilling Is very likely 70 be dis
covered. bit the objectlon 10 the raised
letters is thar theycause the coin TO abrade
much more rapidly than IL would other
wise.
What is the cost of coming silver dol
lar"
A little less than one and one-haH cents
When the law directed Us seue years ago,
to coinsiIver trade dollars we estimated
that they woald cost about cent apiece
But the expense has been more than that,
and, Kvas very nearly I'D In b cant and q