Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-01-20
GOVERNMENT NOTES GOLD
COINS AND PENNIES.

Perhaps many of our readers do not
paper is made in large factory
situated at Dalton, Mass, and that any
one who desires, can go in and see the
workmen place the blue silk on the
machine that makes the paper for the
United States notes. The silk comes
In spools and is made by the Belding
Co., of Northampton, Mass. This silk
thread idea is secured by letters patent,
but the real secret, the making of the
paper, the compound of the ingredi-
ents, is known only to Mr.. J. Murray
Crane who received the art from his
father, who made bonds for Salmon p.
Chase, Lincoln's Secretary of the Trea-
sury, in war times.
The linen pulp, looking like any
linen pulp, is in a large room which
MIR. Crane, with small satchel in
hand, enters alone, and locks the door.
In halt an hours time he comes out,
and then the pulp is put into the paper
machine, but it has been materially
changed by that visit, and no one has
ever been able to penetrate the secret.
About fifty times as much is paid for
this paper as for any other paper made
in the same mill. In a ia k about
Treasury notes the other day the ques-
ton came up about the weight of q
dollar bill. To test the matter, scales OF
perfect accuracy were employed, and
the discovery was made that twenty
seven one-dollar notes weighed just as
much as a twenty-dollar gold piece, the
latter balancing five hundred and
forty grains. The bills weighed we're
perfectly new, but a trial made witk
soiled notes, such as are sent in for re-
demption, showed that twenty seven Of
them weighed much more than the
twenty dollar coin. This fact is due to
the accumulation of dirt that every
note acquires during its brief existence,
thus rendering it perceptibly heavier.
Gold was first coined and made legal
tender for debts (current money of the
realm by Henry Ill. who had large
quantities of gold that was not in de-
mand for business purposes till thus
made into coin and declared to be fiat
money, ms whatever is legal tender for
debts is fiat money.
1t was Henry III. who first coined
copper INTO money for small transac-
tions, and by fiat or decree declared
copper TO be money when thus coined
under his stamp, representing official
power. This was in 1862. The gold
coins put forth by Henry Ill. and by
him sold as legal tender to those wish
ing such, were pure gold without alloy.
In 1850 tin was coined into legal ten
der money, and for all debt paving pur.
poses went side by side with gold coins
at the face, fiat or representation as O
debt payer, and the tin mines of Coru-
wall were largely worked to bring
forth the tin metal that was coined into
legal tender fat money. The small
coin, the farthing, wns made from the
product of the Cambrinus mines, and
each of these little coins and small
stud of copper set in the centre, virtu-
ally as a trade mark. In 1890 and 1851
England was largely supplied with
these tin coins, but the copper COM
binatiJn secured n fiat of the king. de-
monetiZing tin coins, and thus the
copper producers showed their motal
into the mints and brought out coins
which they sold as legal tender.
The first coin ever issued in this
country was the old fashioned cart
wheel cent. The first issue was in 1898,
and there were three dies made. In
the year 1895 the liberty cap was
changed to the fillet head, and these
were issued regularly for thirteen
years, when the Goddess of Liberty ap-
peared on the face of the coin, with
thirteen stars surrounding it. With
the single exception of the year 1915,
there has been no break in the issue OF
cents from that time to the present.
But what becomes of all the
pennies? This seems to be an man.
swerable puzzle, for 1t Is very much
with them as 1T is with the pins-no
one knows where and how they DIS
appear. Yet they vanish in some fash
ion. Last year the Philadelphia Mint
coined 81, 900, ,OO5 pennies, but they did
not begin to supply the never-satistied
demand for more.
Bronze cents are subject to more ac-
cidents than happen to any other
United States coins. It is said that a
penny changes hands ID 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 a Thousand
ways in which they get out of circula-
t1on, and thus the minting of them has
to be continually kept up.
The metsl blanks from which they
are made, by the simple process of
stamping, are turned out for Uncle
Sam by contract, by a factory in Con
necticut at the rate of thousand for
81. As they come from the machines,
fresh and new, they look Ike glittering
gold.
One may form a notion of the num-
ber of pennies lost from the history Of
old half cents. Of. these, 500, 900 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. No one sees
them in Gil culation, and all of them,
except some hundreds saved out by
carlo hunters have absolutely disap-
peared. OF the old copper pennies,
119, ,OOO,O 900 still remain unaccounted
r Al III