The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-25
FATE OF THE PENNIES.
WIZ IT Is T,HE MINT rs COMING
CENTS BIZ MILLIONS

WIFI IT ~ THE MINT rs COMING
CENTS BIZ MILLIONS.
| N,nety.Tsur Miiiions or Them Ar,nted Las.
Year, and SIN the Cry II Tor More
weIght or . Dollar i-Mutiiated Money.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 24.-What becomes OF ali
the pennies2
1T seems to be with Thorn very much as IL 4,
with pius-nobody knows where and how they
disappear. Yet they vanish in some fashion.
Last year tho Philadelphia Mint coined o..
100000 pennies. It would take good.sized
building to hold so many. but they did not be.
gin to supply the never-sntisfed demand for
more. Just now the establishment referred to
is hard at work manufacturing further sup.
plies. and SO It will continue.
Bronze cents are subject to more accidents
thnn happen to any other United States coins
1t is said that penny changes hands in trade
ten times for once that q dime passes from one
pocket to another. Being OF small value, these
little pieces are not taken much care Of There
are thousand ways in which they get out Of
circulation. and thus the minting Of them has
to DO kept up continually The metal blanks
from which thoy are made by the simple pro.
cess OF stamping ore turned out for Uncle
Sam by contract by factory in Connecticut at
the rate Of thousand for 81 As thoy como
from tho machines. fresh and new. they look
like gllttering gold
Ono may get notion OF the number Of pen.
MES lost from the history Of the old half cents.
or these. 100000 were issued q few years ago.
Where are they now? A few are In the cabi.
nets OF coin collectors None have been re.
turned to the mint for recoinage or are held
by the Treasury. Nobody sees them In circu.
lation. All Of them except some hundreds
saved out by curio hunters have absolutely
disappeared. OF the old copper pennies.
119.000.OO0 still remain unaccounted for. save
that once in long while one sees specimen.
There are moro than 100000 bronze two.
cent pieces somewhere out OF 100000 Of
them that the Government issued. or nickel
three-cent pieces. nearly 100000 are yet
outstanding, although 1t is seldom that ono Of
them Is come across.
In the Treasury here ono day this week tho
question came up as to the weight Of dollar
bill Scales OF perfect accuracy were brought
into requistion. and the surprising discovery
was made that twenty seven one-dollar notes
weighed exactly as much as q twenty dollar
gold piece. The latter Just balances $40
grains. However. the bills weighed were per.
fectly crisp and new. Trial made with soiled
notes. such as come in every day for redemp.
ton. showed that twenty-seven Of them
weighed considerably more than the $40 coin.
Every paper dollar on it's way through the
world Continually accumulatess dirt. 50 that
aftS1a year Of use + is heaSeS
parts Of the county Is In the aggregate eno 81
n small s
crops; The banks lend this cash 70 the farm.
s sh@pped: Oh inc ns'' af' harvested AND
Sps .a 9f shs redfempHo1 o. paper money:
made he other day 70 the division Of the
The sto ns e came was as follows and
An ingenious youth employed to sweep out
q; G York bank devoted attention tor con.
from the tllls in the shape Of corners and other
Pits OF notes such as Seti torn on and tall about
q he
sna " ss% as
IL stsssd the sneaat It sSo s% era ssEed i ses
betrayed on the face 81 it 81 the tscs that ~ 70
eSan @ 8
handed from him. swearing 70 lis loss: 6nt
LACKED ths nerve to give t luckily e. himsslEJ
The women exports employed to examine the
%sTyslloas how deity they WIN e poEs over !. :
poor woman IL Ohio sent wee corner Of 500
bill. with pitf9l story about her baby's nav
Ing burnt II. Hardly more was !eft than g
the Reorganization. but she will get the money
back. Mice are great destroyers OF paper cur
rency. ana some OF the most hopeless sneci-i
beds by those little rodents. Something's ptl5
boz full OF indistinguishable aches VII a1;ye.(
amount represented. OF course, such case,
Is hopeless stpenS 1t is usually kitehen-sf'7s
:, Kitchen stoves burn up more cash every year
than IS lost IN any other one way: People will
sGnfde their h9 99a t4 them ,t9r hiding and
smoke. The greatest sum ever consumed BY
IRE in this country was Sl.OOO.OOO That
1ry, but the Government was able to replace
Y tat at the cost Of paper and printing II hSs
paper money issued Is lost. or destroyed. OF
ne old fractional currency It ts reckoned that
bS;o9lO ;O has been totally lost a .