The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-19
PENNIES IN DEMAND.
The Philadelphia Mint Working Hard
TO Fill Orders.
New York Mail and Express.

One night this week there wasn't a cent
in the United States subtreasury in Wall
street-not a penny. There were millions
in gold coins and millions in greenbacks,
but the pennies were all outfits in face
of the fact that the local subtreasury ham
dies some forty-ive million pennies every
year. The demand for the small coins is
so great hat fourteen big presses are
working overtime in the mint at Phila-
delphia in a hopeless attempt to supply the
demand. These presses turn out some $780,
coo pennies daily, but that is not enough.
Cashier NJ. l.. Muhleman, of the sub
treasury, says that the demand for the
coins is so great that he averages the APP
plicationS and pays to each in proportion
TO the size of his demand. One department
store asked the other day for a cool mil
lion of pennies-$10,0 600. The store wanted
enough TO last three months. Others were
more conservative and wanted only 5000.
These orders were the extremes.
Perhaps the most remarkable features of
the rage for cent pieces is the fact that
there are more pennies in circulation than
of any other coin. Last year the sub
treasury sorted out HOS counterfeit PEN
MES from a total of IL, liz, 800 old ones ham
died. Or course, the new ones are paid
out without examination. The old ones
were brought in by concerns that wanted
them redeemed LOT money Oh larger Qc-
nomination. The big stores that need PEN
MES in their business do not call on the
subtreasury to redeem but only TO re-
plenish their supply. Thus the number Sc
cured at the subtreasury is no measure
OF the total they turn over every day in
business. 1t is the "99 cents, reduced from
ST. that does IT.
These odd prices in the big stores help
another class Of business. The bargain
hunters get odd pennies and go about the
city poking them into slot machines for
chewing gum and candy: into picture ma
chimes and weighing apparatus. Most or
them find the way back to the government
counters through the automatic machines
and the newspapers. Most OF the counter
felt pennies come from those w sources.
Newsboys are not judges of money and ma
chimes are unthinking. Nearly everybody
passes bad cents at one time or another, as
they are hard to detect, being Of almost the
right size and having very good workman
ship bestowed on them. The only way they
can be told in a hurry is by their weight,
thickness and ~color-they are of pure cop
per, while the genuine are of bronze, which
Is 50 per cent. copper and 5 per cent. tin
and zinc.
1t has been suspected that the
feiting is done I'm the city right on the east
side. Most of them are traced back TO the
neighborhood of the Brooklyn bridge and
Park row. The next greatest number comes
from the slot machines that dispense candy.
There is a theory that the coins are MADE
and distributed among a cirque or candy
dealers. who pass them out to children, and
who keep up their stock of gum and of all
articles that can be had of the slot ma
chimes by making rounds Of the machines
and putting in. bad coins for supplies. IL
takes but a minute TO run a dollar into a
candy machine. and one could carry away
pocketfuls of candy without attracting
much attention.
During the month of November the SUBJ
treasury redeemed 2S14.00. and found TO-
365 OF them bad. In the same month out
of 1886, l60 nickels redeemed, only IL were
bad. The most bad pennies taken in one
day recently was 1.25O out of a total OF
$1,000. OF all the pennies taken from the
picture machines. one per cent. are coun-
~terfeit-
rhe number of pennies redeemed furnish
= gauge OF business in the particular lines
month furnishes. the most. There were
4.500.00 redeemed last August. Last
month the pennies were working hard in
the stores. and there were but 100000 re-
deemed.
Ii keeps seven men busy all the time
counting and asserting the pennies I'm the
local sub-treasury. The penny room is In
the corner of Cedar street. Each of these
men can count 5000 in pennies In one day
5000 pieces-throwing out the bad ones
without hesitation. The government fur
nishes a machine for counting the coins,
and this is used in some of the smaller
subtreasuries where the counters are not
so expert, but here the hand work is the
fastest. This city supplies these coins only
lot lnfb otdlt. new Jersey, WESTERN mdSSd-
chusetts. Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The city takes most OF them. The great
West consumes millions more than are
supplied directly from the mint TO the
various subtreasuries.
IT costs the government about one-ffth
o. a cent 10 make o penny. II costs the
counterfeiter no m~ore-less. I'm fact. for he
does not need expensive dies-just stamps
the copper disks with an ordinary seal
press. The government buys fits disks
ready made of a big factory at Waterbury,
Conn. Before these disks are stamped
they are more glossy than gold The press
that turns them out stamps them faster
than one can count.
Years ago the children's savings banks
made quite a raid on the pennies. They
were never Withdrawn from circulation,
however, so much as were the dimes. A
Connecticut man invented a dime savings
bank that could not be opened until IL was
full. The bank became . rage Presently
many persons wanted their dimes back. but