Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-09
Will MAKE HIs own PeNNIEs
Uncle sam Takes over the Business
Heretofore Done by Private
Concerns.

Uncle Sam will make mis- own pennies
in future The TREASURY has taken over
/ the business from the private concerns,
which for many years manufactured thes-
small coins for the government, and
intends for all time to come TO turn them
out with it's own machinery.
The treasury has always stamped its
own pennies with the design OF the In.
dams head and the wreath on the reverse
enclosing the words zone Cent" but the,
coins, lacking only this finishing touch,
/ have been made for many years In Water
/ bury, Conn. whence they were shipped IN
| the shape Of blanks otherwise known
as "planchets') in strong wooden boxes.
| They used to cost the government, in this
! form, only twenty-four cents pound.
| whereas today. owing to the rise in the
price of copper, they cannot be manufac-
.ured, even when homemade, for less
than 20 cents. pound of blanks repre-
sents 146 pennies.
! If / cent a pound be added for the ex-
pense Of stamping them with dies 1t will
be obvious that Uncle sam is able to
manufacture ass pennies for Sl-a very
profitable enterprise, luasmuch as he dis
poses of that number for sass. u
During the last year the treasury minted
s0,7l9,163 pennies, of which New York
state absorbed about 5000. 600, the de-
mand from Illinois being next in point of
size, while Massachusetts, was third and
Pennsylvania fourth. To make this num-
Der of cents required b25,22s pounds of
copper Is. SIS pounds of tin and 11,251
pounds of zinc the two latter metals en-
tering into the composition of these coins
to the extent of per cent and per cent
| respectively, for as a matter of fact the
so-called copper cent is in reality bronze
cent the alloy employed having the ad-
vantage of hardness durability and salts
factory retention of polish.
1t thus appears that in the last year the
government used somewhat more than 262
short tons of copper in the manufacture
of pennies. All of the metal comes from
the mines of the Lake Superior region
and from the neighborhood OF Butte,
Mont 1t is purchased through dealers in
the shape of bricks, or ingots, which are
cut into slices, the latter being rolled to
the exact thickness of a cent and then
passed beneath punches. These punches,
working rapidly up and down, cut out
the little yellow disks, which thereupon
drop into receptacles beneath to undergo
subsequent and final polishing by sub
jecting them to the friction of Eastwood
sawdust in revolving cylinder.
In each of a dozen of our biggest cities
a supply of coppers is kept on hand at the
local subtreasuries, which furnish them on
demand in. bags OF one thousand The
banks all over the country are constantly
sending them into the treasury at Wash
ington for redemption just to get rid of
them, and at the treasury. as fast as they
arrive, they are counted by skilled women,
who reject incidentally all of the pieces
that are mutilated or counterfeit. Also
they throw aside every cent that is much
worn. The counterfeits are destroyed, the
worn pennies go to the smelling pot for
, reminting and the good ones are done up
again in sacks for further circulation
How many cents are lost may be judged
from the fact that of the big and clumsy
old copper pennies familiar to the child
hood of people now middle aged lis, 2Ss 100
are still outstanding. Somewhere they must
be, but IT is only very rarely that zone of
them is seen outside OF coin cabinets. OF
the old fashioned half cents which cor
responded in value to English farthings.
1882, 200 have never been redeemed. What
has become of them? The same question
might be asked about the bronze 2-cent
pieces and the nickel Scent pieces; g.
6Ss. 200 of the former and 2O,644,S67 of the
: latter are still extant. AS for the old time
copper nickel pennies. with the flying eagle
(they were So per cent copper and - per
: cent nickeD there are 10.757,5OO of them
unaccounted for.
Nothing more indestructible than a cop
/, per cent can we'll be imagined. What. then.
becomes of all these little coins? Nobody
can say. Even the treasury considers it a
u mystery But some OF them are constantly
finding their way to Washington through
the banks and these are melted for re-
= coinage, the requisite per cent of tin and
per cent OF zinc being added to the old
fashioned coppers to make the necessary
alloy for the modern bronze cents.-New
York Herald.