Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-08-31
BITS AND CENTS.
Where the One Is Honored and the Other
Despitefully Used.

Despitefully Used.
People who live in the east hear oc-
casionally that the small coin in general
circulation in California is the 'bit' or
ten-cent piece. Accordingly they in
nocently suppose that two bits" means
twenty cents or six ''bitS" sixty cents.
When they come TO California, however,
Of they ever should, they are soon unde-
ceived. A ''bit" is not ten cents at all,
but twelve and half cents-a coin
which has no existence. The circula-
ton of small change is based upon this
imaginary coin. Six "bitS" is under
stood to mean Seventy-five cents, four
bits" fifty cents and two "bitS" TWEEN
ty-ive cents, while eight "bitS" is sup
posed to constitute dollar.
A cent is real coin, bnt the Califor-
mans are too high and mighty to recog-
nize its existence, says a San Francisco
writer in the Richmond State They
do not seem to see that by assuming
the existence of 'bit" they are con-
tinuallv cheating and being cheated. If
YOU owe man "bit" and offer him Il
ten-cent piece he will take it and thus
permit YOU to get two and a half cents
the best of him. But if you hand him
a quarter of dollar he will give you Il
ten-cent piece in change, and thus get
two and half cents the best of you. \
small article almost always sells for a
few cents more than it is worth, so that
somebody is sure TO lose. But nobody
complains, but buyer and seller would
consider it mean to recognize the exist
ence of cent. Neither seems TO know
that by being robbed of a few cents
many times in Il day or week the loss
aggregates dollars in the end.
If you want half yard Of ribbon,
you must buy two or three yards, to
get an even quarters worth. If you
want one stamp from the drug store,
you must take five, so as to obtain the
value of a ten cent piece. OF course, in
some cases you can save by purchasing
supplies in quantity or wholesale, but,
on the other hand, you are continually
obliged to accumulate lot of little
things that you don't want. If you
have a sudden, pressing need for one
envelope, you must either pay five cents
for il or else take the whole pack.
Five cent pieces have come into gen
eral use, but, it is said, under protest.
Their principal use is in paying car
fare. Five cent pieces in California are
called "nickelS, " which sounds oridicu-
lous enough when we remember that
there are nickel cents as well as copper
ones. The name penny has no faSci-
nation for the average child here. 1t
brings no delightful visions of stick
of red candy or a cake with a raiSin in
the middle and ScallopS round the edge.
He simply wouldn't know what you
meant Everybody in California turns
up his or her nose at penny, and could
scarcely be hired to take one. But the
great United States has no such Scru-
pleS-go to the poStoilice with two cop
perS in you hand and ask for a stamp.
You can get it as readily as you could
in Philadelphia or Washington. 1t looks
a little SnobbiSh, to say the least, for
the smallest peddler to set himself up
to be more high toned than the Gov
eminent, which is rich enough to buy
and sell him a thousand times over.