Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-16
NEN COINS FOR OLD ONES
A Big Business in Small Pieces of
 Money at the Treasury
STORY R OF REDEMPTION fI:1P TOLD
By the Chief of the Coin Department in the New York Sub -Treasury-Great Number
 of Gents and Nickels Used.
"chink, chink, chink, chink, slide.

'Cn1nk, chlnk, cnlnk, cnlnk, Siluc.
 The sound is mado infinitely quicker than it takes to vrito or speak tho words It is heard in the minor coin department in the treasury building, whcro all day long the chink, chink, chink of nickols and pennies is sounded as they arc countcd weighed and tied securely into bags ready for the calls for small coin that are con stantly coming in.
 "There really are no pennies, said R. c. Half, chief of tho department, to an in terested visitor the other day. "Pcnnics arc English coins, and VIC havo cents, but common usage has made the word ours and we seldom say anything elso. We have three mon who do nothing but count pom nics all day from o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, stopping half an hour for luncheon.
 "Thero are fvo counters kept constantly busy, the work varying little according to tho proportion of pennies and niekels brought in during tho day. It takes three minutes to count 1000 coins. The pennies arc put up in bags containing sl0 each. Tho same number of nickels is also put in to bag. The whole process takes five minutes, including cutting the string to the old bag, counting and putting tho coins into the new one, tying that and fastening on tag giving the amount and tho counters initials, which is necessary in case of error which is in this way traced back to its proper source.
 "You scc," said Mr. Half, "the man takes two coins at each count. That is quicker than taking one and easier than three or four. He counts one for every two pennies dropped into his hand, so that when he has counted 100 he has 200 pen nios, or S2. The counting isnot done with tho lips. It would not be possible to move thom quickly enough to keep up with the rapid movement of the fingers.
 "When man begins counting he can count ten bags day, or ten times LOGO coins. By tho time hc has had six months experience he can count 60 bags day.
 "Tho white pennies, mashed or muti- lated coin, or even those that are soiled or corroded, arc thrown aside and sent off to be melted over. The idea is to keep as clean money as possible in circulation. Whom the count of each bag is concluded, the mutilated coins thrown out must be replaced by good ones. This docs not in- clude plugged, counterfeit or foreign coins. These are returned to the scnders to be made good.
 "Thero is greater demand for pennies than for nickels This is owing largely to this catchpenny business, charging 49 cents instead of 30 cents, etc. One largo dry goods firm up town which sells great many small wares gets in regularly about $500 in pennies day for making change. The firms bankers come here about once in two months and take away S5, 900 in pennies, which they keep in their vault and hand out to this one firm as they are needed
 "Other dry goods houses come here di- rectly for their pennies, which they use in quantities of from $500 to $500 a week.
 "There is s1s0 in pennies that has just come in from an ice cream firm, waiting to be counted. One days record of our work shows $2, 069 taken in in pennies and S7, 659 in nickels. We seldom take in less than S1,000. We receive a great many nickels from the elevated roads. Yesterday they brought in s16, 900 in 5 cent pieces to be exchanged, and last Friday they brought in S33, GOO in tho same way. They come in every day. It shows the number of nickels in circulation on tho road when you think of the quantity also given out in ex- change"
 MT. Half was not idlo as ho talked and continuous string of callers at the little window at the front of the department re- ceived pennies and nickels in varying amounts.
 "You see, people arc willing to give gold for copper" ho said as he dropped q gold S20 piece into the box and handed out two bags of pennies.
 "Oh, yes; people bring very small sums to be redeemed. I havo had brought in black cent piece, and the person bring ing it had como from away mp town Pos sibly he had somo other errand besides. A great many people think because the money is old wo will give more than it's faco value. People havo heard that the pennies of 1890 were mixed with gold and expect to get a price on thom greater than their original valuation. One man told me that he had penny of that date as saved, and it was worth 64 cents. They think tho cent pieces on which the word cents was omitted should bring more money It is the same way with fractional currency.
 "There; that was n case in question. That man had some old scrip, and he wouldn't believe mo when told him it was not worth more than it's face value. He has gonc of to inquire
 Ut is estimated that there is 15, 000 GOO
 
 900 of it has been destroyed Here comes that man back.
 'Ho has gone off again to count his money. There is SIS. 55. 1 counted it carefully, but heyas not satisfled.'
 Then for third timo the stranger ap- pcared and departed for good with his up to date coins.
 1.-The brokers those people go to, con tinucd MT. Half, twill only givo them 9S per cent of the face value of their currency They bring it to us and expect to mako n little something for their trouble. Many people are annoyed because we will not re- deem mutilatcd coins. It is government money, they say, and the government should bo responsible for it. But when tho government makes it a punishable offensc to mutilate coin it Is not going to give good money for it. '-New York Times.
 Nervous Breakdowns.
 There is curious modern theory about