The age-herald., 1897-11-14
CHEAP. BUT MUST BE HAD.
The Copper Cents Are the Coins That No One
 Can Do Without.
From the Washington Post.

the disputdng friends of gold and silver. the most useful and hard-working nem- Der of the coin family is of neither of these materials. It consists of 95 per cent. of copper and per cent. tin and zinc, and bears on its face the legend "one cent" The rise of the cent to this position of supremacy has been rapidly going on the past few years. It doesn't require a person of advanced age or long memory to recall the time when the humble coin was practically unknown west of the Mississippi. Now its use is well-nlght universal, and the demand for it is increasing so rapidly that the Philadelphia mint is compelled to turn out one-cent pieces at the rate of nearly 100000 per month to keep up the supply. According to the estimate of the director of the mint, there are at present something like 1000, 100000 pen nies in circulation, engaged in carrying on the small business of the country.
 Two recent devices have been largely responsible fer The increased use of our only copper coin. One is the penny-in- the-slot machine, which has spread over the band like the locusts of Egyplt with In the past two or three years. A single automatic machine company in New
 
 a day. As therte isn't a crossroads vil- lage in tihe country that hasn't a chew ing gum, kinetoscope, music or weigh ing machine operated in this way the humber Of coins required to keep them all goirg is enormous The other in- ventfon responsible fer the rise of the cent is the bargain counter" The craze Tor 49-cert and 99-cent bargains makes work for lot of pennies Superintend- crit MElman, of the New York sub-treas- 11~x7 -nt faA otl4 .
 unusual thing for one of the great de- partment stores which makes a speciality Of bargains" to take $10000 worth of centS-1 900 pieces-at a. time The penny newspapers, and in some places three-cent street ear fares, have also in- creased the field of operations of the one-cerlt piece.
 The cent ls really the most interest drg and Yeast known of our coins" said MT. Milman. and there are some very curious facts about it. The sub-treas- ury is the clearing house for the pennies dn circulation in the metropolitan dis trict, and the penny is a barometer, a calendar, and an accurate index of busi- ness conditions.
 why, in the middle of July there was week or more of cold, rainy weather, and the supply of pennies coming in for exchange into larger denominations fell off ore-third. A heavy storm of the sudden coming of cold weather, any thing that keeps the penny-spending part of our population at home is &C., curately reflected in the falling off in the supply of cents coming ito us for ex- change. All through the summer the pennies accumulate on our hands, but when cold weather comes and the child ren get back to schooi;- and retail trade revives, there is a great demand for them. At present the minor coin diNh- sion has tens of thousands of dollars worth of pennies on hand, but they are beginning to go out, and by Nov. l, we shall probably be compelled to call on the- mirlt for a. fresh supply. The holidays demand a lot of pennies, and with the approach of Christmas our cent Tile melts away amazingly.
 'eThere Is no better indication of lively trade conditions than the cent. During periods of dllilness they always accunu- late on our hari1s, and when trade re- wives they begin to circulate rapidly again.
 They come to us from the slot ma chirse companies, i.1e newspaper offices, and tho street railways, and they go out to the department stores, the toy and confectionery hops, and the small tracer generally. Of course, some Of them come and go through ttla banks.
 Come this way said MT. Milman, 'if you want to see the way we handle pennies" and he led the way to the minor coin division, where half a dczan CfeIhS WCIO pdolly NOih. 1tl OAAS corner of the room was a stack Of can vas bags reaching nearly to the ceiling and making a good-siZed pyramid. Those are aGl pennies" said the direc- ter "I suppose there are some l00,- O0O, 000 pieces there and we have more below" In arother corner of the room was stack of loose coins piled high above the heads of the clerks, who were busily counting them off into the cam vas bags The pennies are kept m -oags of 1000 each, and when they come Tn they are counted over. An express wagon drew up at the door, and behind its grated door could be seen the canvas bags Tiled high. "There's a sample Lot of hali a million or so from the slot machine company" said the superln- tenCent "and here's boy With Sl0O bill who will get ten bags of pennies for it. That's the way they come and go Talk about the volume of currency affecting business. wonder wila'- some funds of business would do If we locked up just what pennies we nave on hand and didn't allow them to go out? If somebody should corner the penny market people would realize what a highly important coin it is. for there IS no substitute for It."
 There are several unique features about the coinage of pennies, and the work is managed in somewhat differ ent fashion from the turning out or gold and silver coins.
 Tn the first place, although the United States government is the only authority entitled to indulge in the manufacture of coins, our Uncle Samuel does not prepare the blanks from which pennies are made. He finds it cheaper to let out the work by contract than to do 1t him- self, and it is at present in the hands of Cincinnati firm. They prepare she copper blanks in sheets large enough to turn out 100 pieces each. It IS not known exactly how much the gove.n- ment pays for these blanks, but the price is in the vicinity of $l25 per l,ooo, or q | tTifte sover one mill for each unstamped | cent ,,, In the disparity between the real and the face value of the cent there us cSi'- | Siderable nrofit for the government, fur tJne. reason that a. great proportion or | the pennies coined will never be pre- l serted for final redemption An enolin- | o,,s ,s,mhe,. of cents are lost in one way or arother every year. They work thelr way into the sewers or the ground, 1 children place them on raGlway tracks l aot n5ft otherwise nluu