The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-01-15
FATE OF THE PENNIES
Why 1t Is the Mint Is Coming
Cents by Millions.
>,..i5-i Te<sIr Millions of Them MTnted
Last Nenr, and StilI the Cry Is for
NIsarc-Wc3Eht of - Dollar BIl
-Nutih,tc ed Money.

Wh=t becomes al all the pennies?
1t seems to he with them very much
rs it = with pins-nobody knows where
and how thcy disappear Yet they
vanish in some fashion. Last year the
Philadelphia mint coined "a, Ood O10 pen
uics It would take good-Si2ed build
ing 20 hold so many. but they did not
begin to supply the never-satiSfcd de
mand for more. lust now the cstab-
lielssncnt refereed to : hard at work
MAJ utacturin% further supplies, and. 80
it will continue.
Bronze c"RtS are subject tS mor1a. ;te-
cidrnt~ than happen TO any other
nited States coins 1t Is said that
penny changes hands in trade ten times
for once that Il dime passes from one
packet to another. Being of small
" luC, these little pieces are mot taken
gEuch care Of There are Il Thousand
ways in which they get ont st circula-
ton. and thus the miuting of them haS
- be. Ike prg4p continually. The meJal
blanks from which they arr made by
The simple process of stamping are
turned ont for Uncle Sam anv contract
trv factory in Connecticut at the rate
&C Il thousand for one doll-r- As they
como from the machines fresh and
rcw, they look like glittcriHC gold
One may get a notion of 1Dc mum bar
of pennies lost from the history of the
old half-c.ntS. of these, 30. .OOJ were
irsued "a Few years ago. Where are
they now y few are in the cabinets
of coin collectors None have becnre-
turned tO,thc mint for recOiIa|c or are
hcld by the treasury. Nobody sees
them in circulation. All of them eX-
CeDt some hundreds saved out by curio
hunters have absolutely disappeared
OF the old copper pennies, 1l9, 1000, 600
still remain unaccounted for, save that
once in long while one sees a speci
men. There are more than 5000, 600
bronze twe-ccnt pieces somewhere ont
of ], 800 600 of them that the govern
ncnt issued OF nickel thrce-cent
pieces. nearly :. 2.OO0, 900 are yet outstand-
iHg, although it is seldom that one of
them IS come across.
Ilnthe treasury here one day recently
the question came up as to the
weight of a dollar bill. Scales of per
feet accuracy were brought into requis-
ition, and the surprising discovery was
made that -tventy-Scven Cne-dollar
mates weighed exactly as much as a
tvuenty-dollar gold piece. The latter
juSt balances 30 grains. IInwever,
the bills weighed were perfectly crisp
and new. Trial made with soiled
notes, such come in every day for
redemption, showed that tventp-seven
of Ehcm weighed considerably more
than the twrnty-dollar coin. Every
paper dollar on its way through the
world continually accumulates dirt. 80
that after yearaf use it is pereeptibly
heavier.
The. actual weight of paper money
which the treasury sends by express
every wear to all parts of the country
is in nhc aggregate enormous. Since
July it has dispatched S:o. 00drOO,
nearly ;all of it in small notes. TO che
south anti west for the purpose of NOV
ing the crops. The banks lend this
this casa to the farmers on whatever
they grow, and thus the products OF
the field are harvested and shipped.
Speaking of the redemption of paper
money, a very novel ana interesting APP
plication svas made the other day TO
the division of the treasury which has
this business in hand. The story, as il
came out, MAS as follows
An ingenious youth employed TO
sweep out New York bank devoted
attention for a considerable period to
gathering up Ahe crumbs from the tills
in the shape of corners and .otLer bits
of notes such a. get torn off ana fall
about in any place where dollars are
counted. In the course of time he got
together quantity of scraps of the
sort sufficient to I'LL a pint measure,
and he sent them on TO the redemption
bureau at Washington in q box. with
the explanation that they had been
eaten by mice. lie stated the amount
at S20e, and asked for new bills in ex-
change His little game was betrayed
on the face of it by the fact that the
PIECES forwarded represented. if any
thing. not less than $1,000. The usual
affidavit was demanded from him.
swearing 10 his loss; bun he had not
thought of that requirement and lacked
the nerve TO give il, luckily for him
self.
Undoubtedly the redemption division
does sometimes get swindleG. though
not often. The women cxp-rtS en-
piOYcd to examine the money sent in
are wonderfully slIillful. II is marvel
Gus how deity they will poke 0yer
few eharred fragments of notes and
set an accurate valuation upon them.
The other day poor woman in Ohio
sent a wee corner of $50 bill, with a
pitiful story about her baby's having
burnt it. Hardly more was left than .
fragment big enough to show the fig
ures of the denomination, but she will
get the money back. Mice are great
destroyers of paper currency, and some
of the most hopeless specimens that
come in have been chewed mp for beds
by those little rodents. Sometimes a
pill box full of indistinguishable ashes
viii arrive. accompanied by certifi.