The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-12-05
FATE OF THE PENNIES.
Wh~ It Is the Mint Is Coming
Cents sy Millions
Ninety-Four Millions of Them Mint""
Last Year. and still the Cry Is Tor
More-weight of Dollar Ell
-Mutilsted Money.

-MutilBted Money
What becof;!es nf all the pennies?
II seems to be with thsn very much
rs it is with pins-nobody knows "ncre
and how they disappear. Yet they
vanish in some fashion. Last year the
pbi,saelpbia mint coined 81. O)0. 900 pen
nics Il wohld take goot-sIzed ouiiu-
ing to hold so many. Int they DID no'
begin to supply the ncver-satlShea de-
mand for more. Just now tie estar
lishment referred to is hard at work
manufacturing further supplies, and SO
1t will continue.
Bronze cents are subject to more ae-
cidents than happen to any other
United States coins It is said that
penny changes hands in trade ten times
for once that dime passes from one
pocket to another. Being of small
value, these little pieces are not taken
much care of. There are n Thousand
ways in which they get out of circr'a-
ton. 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 for tncle sam by contract
by factory in Connecticut at the rate
of thousand for one dollar. As they
come from the machines, fresh ana
new. they look like glittering gold
One may get a notion of the mum per
of pennies lost from the history OF the
old half cents. Of these, sO0,OO0 were
issued a few years ago. Where are
they now? A few are in the cabinets
of coin collectors None have been re-
turned to the mint for recoinage or are
held by the treasury. Nobody sees
them in circulation. All of them en-
cept some hundreds saved ont by euro
hunters have absolutely disappeared
OF the old copper pennies, lls'OOo,o ooU
still remain unaccounted 1or' save '''a'
once in n long while one sees specl'
men. There nre more than 3,OOo'O OO'
bronze two-cent pieces somewhere ou'
of 800. 900 of them that the govern
ment issued. OF nickel three-cen'
pieces, nearly 1000, 900 are yet outstand
ing. although it is seldom that one o.
them is come across.
Inthe treasury here one day recently
| the question came up as TO th'
weight of dollar bill. Scales of per
feet accuracy were brought into requis
ition, and the surprising discovery wa'
made that twenty-seven one-oolla
notes weighed exactly as much as
twenty-dollar gold piece. II : lattel
| Just balances $40 grains However
the bills weighed were perfectly crlSI
and new. Trial made with soilet
notes. such as come in every DAY 10
redemption, showed that twenty-seVei
| of them weighed considerably Ihor'
than the twenty-do!lar com h'erN
paper dollar ON its way through I'M
worl1 continually accumniateH dlrt' 's'
that after year of use 1t Is perceptlDl.
heavier.
The actual weight OF paper monel
which the treasury sends ny expires
every year to all parts of the countr,
is in the aggregate enormous Sine
July it has dispatched sjS,OOo'oOo
nearly all of it in small notes to IN
south and west for the purpose OF NOV
ing the crops, The banks lend Uni
this cash to the farmers on whatese
they grow, and thus the produets
the field are harvested and shipped
Speaking of the redemption "t pape
money very novel anu interesting al
pllcatlon Wds nhaue the o'Ne "9
the division OF the treasury whieh nd
this business IN hanu- he s'oiS' "o
came out, was as lollo"s'
An ingenious youth enp'oye"
sweep out New York Dahh oc'o'e
attention Tor a eonsideran' n'e PeTiou -,
gathering up the cruiii's i'D"i ' -,
III the shape Oh CORNERS anu "'" D''
of notes such as get torn On anu Id
anout IN any Piaee - -
counted In 'ie eourse VI t-ln' ~
t"gether y, Vi
sor, sulic..nI ~, 70 III. a .Pn Pm -.daunt;n
anu ne senu mem o,' " t''' - 20,
bureau a' "ashiis 70" ~ - -
the explanation 1h"L ny n
eaten oy hi'ce ~, n - :,
at s2Oo' ana asked lor h'" "i'is .n e
change- HIS litt,e game y
on the race oi II os 'ne ia 20
pieces iorwarueu - ~,
thing. not less tnah ei'UoU ne ueu
afhdavlt was oehianueu ION mn
swearing 10 MS toss' "u' ne nau !"
thought OF that requirement. anu id1 ~
the nerve to give H. IucAlIy ior HI
self. s;-;;