Natchitoches populist., 1898-04-22
PENNIES AS MONEY.
THE EXTENT TO WHICH OUR COPPER
COINS ARE USED.
Their Peregrinations From the Time They
Are Stamped and Leave the Mint Until
They Disappear in 0bscurlly"'How They
Are Made

Ate SIdWpeu duu Law tuS ViiuS Outli
They Disappear in 0bscurily".1ow They
Are Made.
All the pennies in the United States
are stamped at the Philadelphia Mint
but they are not. as most people sup
pose. made there. The government
buys the blank copperS on which the
design is stamped from a Western firm.
each thousand cents costing S1.23. So
100 cents, with a face value of 81, cost
the government less than one-fifth Of
that sum.
AS result of all this, Uncle Sam
makes a big profit on his pennies. This
would not be true if all the pennies
that are coined were presented for re-
demption. They never are, however,
for fully one-ffth of them seemingly
90 out of existence in mysterious ways.
All the ways in which the pennies are
lost are as multifarous as the sins Of
the usurer. II the lost pennies were
weighed. it is estimated that they
would tip the scales at $500 pounds
When the blanks which which the
cents are made reach the mint they are
first run through stamping machine
which cuts them out, imprints the de-
sign and drops them into boxes
Then they are run through a sorting
machine, which throws out any that
are imperfectly made and the rest pass
on to broad table, where they are
counted, not by hand, but by means of
a grooved case into which they fall 800
at time. Then they are tied up in
canvas bags ready to be shipped away
as they are called for.
"One would think that the penny
would be the last coin to be counter
feited, but as matter of fact there are
more spurious cents than there are of
dollars or dimes. A pound of copper,
enough to make 100 cents, can be
bought for II cents, so that the coun-
terfeiters can make good profit if
they are skllful enough. So many bad
pennies come to the United States
Treasury that some of the Secret Ser
vice men are at work all the time look
ing for the men who make them.
The hardest worked member of the
whole coin family is the penny" said
Superintendent Muhlman of the New
York Sub-Treasury the other day, as
he watched the unloading of an express
wagon piled high with canvas bags Of
the copper coins. 1T Is the errand boy
of the money world, and a remarkably
spry youngster, too who covers a lot
of ground in the course of year. 1t
is also pre-eminently the childen's
coin, though | dare say there are lot
of interesting things about it that
those whose sticky fingers help to keep
it under motion do not know.
For instance, cents often come to us
at the rate of a million a day. The
Sub-Treasury is the clearing house OF
these coins for the metropolitan dis !
trict, and we handle an immense num-
ber of them In the course of the year.
That lot just coming in contains $1,000 |
worth and represents q days collec-
tions from single big slot machine
company.
Perhaps before the day is over a de-
livery truck from one of the great de-
partment stores will be down here af-
ter $4,000 WORTH 100000 pieces.
That often happens, and it shows the
way they come and go. Here" leading
the way to the room occupied by what
is known as the minor coin division,
you see the way we handle them"
The part of the room which held the
money was protected by railing Of
heavy iron bars, and behind these bars
clerks were busily at work. In one
corner, piled as high as the mems
heads, were the canvas bags, each
with its 1000 coins, just as they were
brought in. On the opposite side were
,hree clerks busily counting off from a
great heap of loose pennies.
Perhaps there are 100000 one
cent pieces here now," continued the
superintendent, possibly more. The
stock is growing now, has been since
he beginning of the year. That is TO
'ay, there are more people who have
pennies which they want to exchange
or bills than there are who bring us
arge denominations and get cents for
hem. The pennies are as good as cal
'ndars for us.
For several weeks before Christmas
We didn't take in many; the children
we're saving them up to buy presents.
All those that passed into the hands
II the candy man, toy dealers and other
about Dec. Is are coming
Jack to us now, But they will go out
'gain by and by. Every fail when
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