Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-15


WHERE DO THE PENNIES GO?
What becomes OF the many mill,
lions Of new pennies that are turned out
every year by the United States govern
ment? Nobody knows: no one can ac-
count for their disappearance: and to
supply the demand the mint at Phila-'
delphia must keep on turning out new
pennies at an average rate OF q 900
per month.
A penny has Its beginning. OF course,
in q copper mine. BY the process of
smelling the copper is separated from
the iron or lead or silver in the ore, and
Us brought by agents who sell 1t to a
firm in Waterbury, Conn, who are un-
der contract to supply the government
with copper blanks-that Is. pennies UNI
stamped.
AT Waterbury the new copper is melt
ed and mixed With tin and zinc-accord-
ing to a recipe prescribed by the treas
Try department at Warrington and
then hardened into bricks. These are
cut into slices the thickness OF cent.
and the strips are passed thru machines
with punches that work up and down
with enormous pressure, and stamp out
the little round discs lust the size OF a
penny. These blanks are put up In
strong boxes. and sent by express to the
mint at Philadelphia, where they are
stamped with the head on one side and
the denominations on the other.
The Philadelphia mint is the Oldest In
the United States, and turns out every
year millions and millions of dollars
worth ofagold, silver and copper coins.
Each day, from till 12 In the morning.
visitors pass UP the broad marble steps
which lead TO the entrance OF the build
ing.
Guides are stationed at the door to
receive and conduct visitors from room
to room, and explain the process OF
coining. In one vault OF the mint mill
ions of silver dollars are tied up in
bags and stacked against the wall like
50 much corn. In another vault are
piles Of gold bricks about the size, OF q
cake OF kitchen soap, and laid in regu-
lar order. They do not look very heavy,
but II we try to lift one we find our
backs almost broken In the effort
In another room the gold and silver
bricks are cast into long strips just the
width OF the coins, and from these
strips the coins are cut by machines
with heavy punches. In other rooms
girls sit In front of large machines and
feed the blank coins into tube, which
drops them one by one between two
dies. The dies come together with an
enormous pressure. and stamp the
beautiful impression which you see on
all our coins.
Pennies drop from the stamping ma
lchine at the rate of 100 per minute; sill
YER dollars and five-dollar gold pieces
at the rate Of eighty per minute. The
bright new coins are gathered up-the
pennies look more like gold than copper
and counted by girl who uses a de-
Iivice known as a counting board. which
reckcns 500 at q time
A strange thing about our coining
system is that the government loses
money in coming gold. but makes /,
big profit In coming pennies For In
Stance, in a ten-dnllar gold piece there
As exactly $40 worth OF gold and 10 pc,
cent Of copper in to harden the
precious metal-becides the cost Of
minting. A silver piece OF money i.
about half profit. but the penny pay,
Uncle Sam the best OF all, as the blanks
4 are purchased at the rate OF 1890 pei
million. That Is, the United States
government obtains for seven and
three-tenths cents the copper blanks
which, by the process OF stamping, are
transformed into one dollars worth Of
pennies.