The times., 1898-07-03
THE ovERwoRKED PENNY.
1t Is the Errnnd Boy of the Finan-
ciaI World.
(From the Philadelphia Press.

From the Philadelphia Press.)
The little penny is the most agile coin
that bears the face of the Goddess of Lib
erty. If all the pennies that are now in
circulation In the United States were
piled one upon another, when the pile
was finished It would be 100 times as big
as the giant Goddess of Liberty that en-
lightens small part Of the world in New
York harbor.
If those same pennies were laid edge
to edge they would extend from San Fran
cisco to St Petersburg. 1t is also true
that the tail pile of the referred to would
be 1900 times the height of the Eiffel
Tower. the tallest in the world.
All the pennies in the United States are
stamped at the Philadelphia Mint. but
they are not. most people suppose,
made there. The Government buys the
blank copperS on which the design is
stamped from a western firm, each 1000
cents costing sI25. So 100 cents, with a
face value of 81, cost the Government less
than one-fifth of that sum.
AS result of 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 redemption. They
never are, however. for fully one-ifth
of them seemingly go out of existence in
mysterious ways. All the ways in which
pennies are lost are as muItifarious as
the sins of the usurer. If the lostapennies
We're weighed they would tip the scales at
2,5G0 pounds. --
When the blanks from which the cents
are made reach the mint they are first
cut into long strips. These strips are run
through a stamping machine, which cuts
them out imprints the design and drops
them into boxes.
Then they are run through a sorting
machine, which throws out any that are
d broad table, where they are counted,
not by hand. but by means of a srooved
case into which they fall FIVE hundred at
a time. They are then tied up in canvas
bags, ready 10 be shipped away as they
are called for.
One would think that the penny would
be the last coin 10 be counterfeited. but
as matter OF fact there are more spu-
rious cents than there are of dollars and
dimes. A pound of copper, enough to
make one hundred cents, can be bought
for II cents, so that the counterfeiters
can make a good profit if they are skill
ful enough So many bad pennies come to
the United States Treasury that some of
the Secret Service men are at work all
the time looking for the men who make
them.
The hardest working member of the
whole coin family Is the penny" said Su-
perintendent Milman, OF the New York
Sub-TTeasury. the other day, as ne
watched the unloading of an express
wagon piled high with canvass bags of
the copper coins. 1T is the erraud boy OF
the money world, and q remarkably spry
youngster, too who covers a lot OF ground
in the course of a year II Is also pre-
eninently the children's coin, though I
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 day. The Sub
Treasury is the clearinghouse of these
coins for the metropolitan district. and
we handle an immense number Of them
in the course of year, That lot just
coming in contains $500 worth and rep
resents a days collection 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 for
SO 900 worth-one million pieces That
often happens, and 1t shows the way they
come and go. Here leading the way 20
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 a 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 canvas
bags, each with its thousand coins, just
as they had been brought in On the op-
posite side three clerks We're busily en-
gagged counting off from a great heap of
loose pennies.
Perhaps there are five hundred million
one-cent pieces here now" continued the
superintendent; possibly more. The stock
is growing now, and has been since the
beginning of the year. That is TO say,
there are more people who have pennies
which they want to exchange for bills
than there are who bring US large de-
nominations and get cents for them The
cents are as good as calendars for us.
For several weeks before Christmas
we didn't take in many; the children were
saving them up to buy presents All
those that passed into the hands of the
candy men, toy dealers and other shop
keepers about December % are coming
back to US now. But they will go out
again by and by, Every Fall when school
opens the pennies begin 10 come in fast.
The children are spending morefor candy
and such things. During the Summer
months they accumulate on our hands,
for then the youngsters are not spending
so many. Whenever there is a storm. a
spell of bad weather, or anything that
keeps the penny-spending population at
nome, we can see tne uluefGncea In Inc
numbers that come TO us.
$50 there are many ways in which we
can trace the connection between the chill
dren and the cents, and it may interest
the youngsters that they have a great
deal TO do with the circulation of this
particular coin. Perhaps the two things
which have had most to do with the great
increase in the circulation of pennies in
recent years are the slot machines and the
bargain stores.
1.-The craze for accent and 9S-cent bar
gains require great many pennies in
the way of change. and, as L have said, il
is no unusual thing for the big depart
ment stores to take $4,000 worth at
time. Most of these come back TO us
by way of the slot machines, which have
come 10 be wonderful in number and va
riety.
There are kinetoscope views, phono-
graphs, automatic music boxes, candy
and chewing-gum sellers, weighing ma
chimes, lifting machines and a hundred
and one others standing at every hand and
coaxing the pennies from their owners
pockets. The result of all this has been
that the Government has hard work some
of the time in maintaining the supply,
and can hardly make pennies fast enough
to keep up with the growth in the demand
for them"