The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1891-12-11
The FATE OF PENNIES.
Like Pins, Millions Of Them are
Lost Every Year.
WEIGHT OF PAPER MONEY,
Pennies Change Hands Oftener than Amy
Other Coin - what Has Become OF
110,000,O00 Old Copper Cents-Other
Notes.

11o,0OO,OO0 Old Copper Cents-OtheI
Notes.
What becomes OF all the cents? II seems
TO be with them very much as II Is with
pins-nobody knows when and how they
disappear. Yet they vanish In some
fashion. Last year the Philadelphia Mint
coined "a 900 900 OF cents. II would take q
good -sized building TO hold so many, but
they did not begin to supply the never.
satisfied demand for more just now the
establishment referred to Is hard at work
manufacturing further supplies. and 80 II
will continue.
Bronze cents are subject to more acci-
dents than happen to any other United
States coins, says the Washington cor
respondent OF the Philadelphia Press. II
Is said that penny changes hands In
trade ten times for once that a dime
passes from one pocket to another. Be-
ing OF small value, these little pieces are
not taken care of. There are thousand
ways In which they get out OF circulation.
and thus the minting OF them has to be
kept up continually. The metal blanks
from which they are made by the simple
process OF stamping are turned out by
contract for u Gle Sam by a factory in
Connecticut at the rate OF a thousand for
81. AS they come from the machines.
fresh and new, they look like glittering
gold.
One may get notion OF the number OF
pennies lost from the history OF the old
half-cents. or these 800, 900 were Issued a
few years ago. Where are they now? A
few are In the cabinets OF coin collectors.
None have been returned to the Mint for
recoinage, or are held by the Treasury.
Nobody sees them in circulation. All OF
them, except some hundreds saved out by
curlo-hunters. have absolutely disap-
peared. or the old copper pennies 49,
600 900 still remain unaccounted for, save
that once in a long while one sees a speci-
men. There are more than three millions
bronze two-cent pieces somewhere. out OF
4500000 OF them that the Government
issued. OF nickel three-cent pieces nearly
two millions are yet outstanding. although
II is almost never that one OF them is
come across.
In the Treasury here one day this week
the question came up as to the weight OF
81 bill. Scales OF perfect accuracy were
brought into requisition and the surpris-
ing discovery made that twenty-seven 81
notes weighed exactly as much as $40
gold piece. The latter just balances $40
grains. However. the bills weighed were
perfectly crisp and new. Trial made with
soiled notes, such as come In every day
for redemption, showed that twenty-seven
of them weighed considerably more than
the $40 coin. Every paper dollar on it's
way through the world continually ac-
cumulates dirt, perspiration and grease,
so that after year OF use 1t Is perceptibly
heavier.
The actual weight OF paper money which
ha
year to all parts Of the country is In the
aggregate enormous. Since July 1t has
dispatched s3s, 100000. nearly all Of IL In
small notes, to the South and West for
the purpose of moving the crops. The
banks lend this cash TO the farmers on
whatever they grow, aud thus the pro-
ducts Of the fields are harvested and
shipped.
Speaking OF the redemption OF paper
money a very novel and interesting appli-
cation was made the other day to the
division OF the Treasury which has this
business in hand. The story, as 1t quickly
came out was as follows:-
An ingenious youth employed to sweep
out New York bank devoted attention
for considerable period to gathering up
the crumbs from the tills In the shape OF
corners and other bits OF notes such as
get torn off and fall about In any place
where dollars are counted. In the course
OF time he got together a quantity OF
scraps OF the sort sufficient to fill pint
measure, and he sent them on TO the Re-
demption Bureau at Washington In box,
with the explanation that they had been
eaten by mice. He stated the amount at
5000 and asked for new bills In exchange.
His little game was betrayed on the face
81 h,,t h..f Ca tlat h., a.l. 4
represented, IL anything. not less than
$1,000. The usual affidavit was demanded
from him, swearing 10 his loss; but he
had not thought Of that requirement and
lacked the nerve to give 1t, luckily for him
self.
Undoubtedly the redemption division
does sometimes get swindled, though not
often. The women experts employed to
examine the money sent in are wonder
fully skillful. 1t Is marvellous how deftly
they will poke over few charred frag-
ments OF notes and set an accurate valua-
tion upon them. The other day a poor
woman in Ohio sent wee corner OF a $40
bill, with pitiful story about her baby's
having burnt It. Hardly more was left
than fragment big enough to show the
figures OF the denomination, but she will
get the money back. Mice are great de-
stroyers OF paper currency, and some OF
the most helpless specimens that come In
have been chewed up for beds by those lit
tie rodents. Sometimes pill-box full OF
indistinguishable ashes will arrive, ac-
companied by a certificate stating the
amount represented. OF course. such a
case is hopeless. 1t is usually kitchen
stove catastrophe.
Kitchen stoves burn up more cash every
year than is lost In any other one way.
People will conflde their boards TO them
for hiding, and when they are lighted the
greenbacks 20 up in smoke. The greatest
sum ever consumed by fire in this country
was 81, 100000. That amount went up In
smoke at the Sub-Treasury, but the
Government was able TO replace it at the
cost OF paper and printing. 1t has been
estimated that one per cent. OF all the
paper money issued is lost or destroyed.
or the old fractional currency II is
reckoned that $s,OOO,O 900 worth has been
totally lost.
Ploughing with Dynamite.