The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-27
OUR CENTS And NICKELS
MANY WORN OUT ANNUALLY, so
THEY HAVE To BE REDEEMED.
A Large Proportion of the Coins Re-
=. turned for Observation-Disclosures
riOus Disappearance.

Cents and nickels wear out readily be-
cause they are passing constantly from
hand to hand, and the immense numbers
OF them that pour into the treasury at
Washington carefully sorted for the
purpose of throwing out those which are
too much damaged and worn to remain in
further circulation. These coins arrive in
bags from banks all over the country for
redemption in more convenient money, and
the first thing that is done is TO count them.
This process is performed by nimble- fin
Sered persons, mostly women, who accom-
piish the task with a rapidity little short of
mervelous, and this is the way they do it:
The counter takes a newly received bag
or cents and pOurs a quantitly-a double
handful, say-upon the table in front of
her, and with two or three quick motions
or her hands spreads them out so that
they lie fiat, no one of them upon another.
with deft fingers the manipulation throws
them, two at a time, from the table into
her left hand, which she holds beneath the
edge of the table. Her eye scans every
piece, and If there is a counterfeit fin the
lot 1t seldom escapes her trained touch and
sharp eye Usually the counterfeit betra VS.
itsei1 by difference in color, but il not
mus detected its ring as it drops into the
IL.
When a counterfeit is found the counte r
with big pair of shears cuts the bogus
COIN IN two halves, laying the pieces aside
| In little box which is reserved for this
purpose. Not a day passes that a fairly
large number of bad cents and nickels do
not turn up at the treasury. most of them
coming from New York and Philadelphia
where the business of making such small
coins occupies the attention OF many ItaI-
lans and Polish Jews. The profits of the
copper counterfeiting industry are small
N CI1nh aoll 81,
pass without much trouble. Eventually
the counterfeits, cut in halves, are trans
United to the secret service division of the
treasury, under whose direction they are
destroyed and melted i'm a furnace to be
finally sold as old metal
MANY ARE RECOINED.
The pieces that are too much worn to be
OF further use are thrown into separate
receptacle, and every few weeks a large
consignment of them is sent to Philadel-
phia, where they are melted for recoinage.
quite frequently foreign coppers turn up.
ana they likewise go to the melting pot.
Some OF these foreign copper coins are of
ABOUT the same size as our cents, and will
pass Tor the latter pretty well for lack of
scrutiny-a fact which on one occasion in
9uced an ingenious person to import several
DusheIs OF austrian kreutZers for crcula-
tlon IN this country. They circulate fairly
We'll put the author of the scheme soon
found himself behind prison bars.
NInety-nVe per cent. of the cents and
me are in sufficiently good condition to
go out again into circulation and for this
purpose they are put up in paper envelopes
and cloth bags. Bags that contain go in
cents or more are sewed up, tied and tag
geo. with a wax seal over the string for
additional security, the initials OF the Conn
Ter and note of weight of the sack giving
guarantee OF correctness. Some of the
money is packed in paper rouleaux called
lor
the time rolling on a round stick for this
purpose little sheets of paper each Of
WHO. wnlcn pears on Its surface in printed let
ters the amount represented by the con-
tents III bank cashier anywhere hands
one cartridge marked: Five dolls, dimes
e ie cas- y. s. one may know that it
Is not necessary TO verify the contents
me counters are expert that IL is
CONSIDERED no great feat for one of them
20 20 o count and do up in bags or cartridges
$1,000 pieces in six hours. incidentaIlv re-
lated coin.
When a twenty-cent piece turns up it
goes 10 the melting pot because the United
States is no longer minting or circuIatine
tnat Kind of money; and the same applies
TO the nickel with the big ~" which was
Iound dangerous, because when gilded III
could be passed for a s. gold piece. Old
iashioned copper cents are used for mint
ing new bronze cents, with the addition
OF some TIN and zinc to make the necessary
alloy, and the same thing is done with the
oid-ume copper half-cents.
SUBJECT TO ACCIDENT.
Cents are subject to more accidents than
any other coins. Being of small value lit
Tie care is taken Of them, and this is why
the treasury has to go on turning out new
ones at the rate of 50,O0O,0O a year. Slot
machines have greatly increased the de-
mand for these small coins, and SO have the
penny newspapers and the odd prices made
popular in dry goods shops At the treas
ury 1T is said that the cent is a barometer
or business conditions. A heavy storm or
sudden coming of cold weather-anything
IN snort that keeps the .penny-spending
part or the population at home-is accur-
ately reflected in the falling off of the cents
coming TO the Sub-treaSuries for exchanre
ana redemption During periods of dullness
pennies accumulate at sub-treasuries hut
rapidly again.
The stream of copper flows out con-
tihuaiiy from the Philadelphia mint where
they are made. but their history is like that
or many rivers In the Western deserts
which are finally lost in the sands Any.
body who wants cents NAV get then, nv,
sending check for the amount desired IN
the superintendent of the mint who will
snip the coin at the expense of the govern
] ment.
Up to date the United States has coi,ea
loo. sos cents. 44O,OO0OOO nickels, 429.531'
Ss4 dimes, 10000 600 quarters 800 600 O00 half
dollars and 5S9,9e7 692 dollars
The silver coins which are sent to the
treasury are treated in exactly the same
way as are the nickes and cents All worm
out pieces are melted for recoinage and ON
every $,Wo thus reminted the government
loses nearly $3O The life" of dime is
only four or five years. because il changes
hahds ten times while a half dollar IS
moved once from one persons pocket into
the till of another. Take ten silver dimes
az one happens to get them in change, pile
them up with an equal number of brand
new dimes alongside of them i'm another
stack, and one will find that the pile of the
oid ones is hardly more than two-thirds
the height or the new pile-so much do
the pieces lose in thickness after a Short
time. Slut
Many years ago the government issncd
1,ooV,Vc bronze two-cent pieces. and of these
over 2s50,O0o are still odtstandinc Rut
nearly all OF them, IL is thought, are lost.
lnasmuch as II is seldom that one turns nm
Tor redemption. The same is true of the
nickel three-cent pieces, of which nearly
2.WO,0n are unaccounted for. Somewhere
In the world are 119Oo0.Oc0 big copper cents,
but II would be hard to find any OF them.
barring the few in the hands of the colIec
tors. What has become of them is y rnvs-
terry, and the same may be said of the old
half-cents. corresponding in value 10 the
English farthings. OF these half-cenfs
10000 We're minted. and none have been
returned for recoinage or are held bv the
treasury. Save for few in the possession
or curlo hunters. they seem To have van
ished from the earth.
THE DOLLAR OF 1904
There is another coin, of which the GOV
eminent in 1894 made 20,oOo pieces. but of
which, as has been ascertained not even
one Is known to be in circulation. That
i