The Washington herald., 1909-02-28
MORE CENT PIECES ARR USED
Great West Taking to a Coin Long
Held in Contempt.
More Than 100000 Cents Coined
Last Year for Use on the
Pacific Coast.

me sirlkinE OF more than a million
cent pieces at the San Francisco Mint IN
lsdS made a new record IA the history Of
the United States Mint and IFS branches.
for never before since the coinage Of
pieces Of this denomination was begun. IN
1795, had such coins been struck any
where but az the present establishment at
Philadelphia
As q matter Of fact, no need for the
making OF coins OF this denomination in
the West presented Itself until within re-
cent years. as the demand for cent pieces
was confined almost exclusively 10 the
Atlantic and Middle Western States. IN
the West and Southwest this minor coin
has had no purchasing value, was not
recognized and was seldom seen in circu-
lation. Indeed, even at the present time
there are many Western localities tn
which cent pieces are not accepted, says
the New York Sun
In Colorado, for Instance. II a person
tenders a scent piece to q postmaster
for two 2-cent stamps he receives in
exchange, together with his stamps, not
1-cent piece but a u-cent postage
stamp. There are no cent pieces in the
money drawer Of the postmaster, and he
doesn't desire any
IN a Denver store, q certain commodity
Is quoted at, say. II cents z pound The
purchaser must take either IS or % cents
worth Nothing less than cents worth
is sold. Apples may be four for cents,
but one apple IS also 5 cents. just the
same
Now, the people Of the Centennial state
are going 10 have q chance Of becom-
ing acquainted with the little bronze cent
for Il is the intention Of the government
70 strike cent pieces at the new Denver
Mint fl 1903
California has had as little use for the
cent as other parts Of TIE West For
many years no coin OF less denomination
than 70 cents had = purchasing value
there. and in the gold days nothing less
than = cents would buy anything. miners
frequently throwing a handful Of small
silver pieces out into the street as useless
weight 20 carry. the ''two-bits or quarter
being the minimum current coin
Times have changed and the people
along the Pacific Coast have been quicker
10 adopt the cent than those n the Rocky
Mountain district Now the coin Is used
in such quantities that It has been found
advisable 10 manufacture cents on the
ground and thus save the expense OF
shipment across the continent from Phila-
delphia For the calendar year OF 1903
the United States Mint report shows that
81 .l5o worth OF cents were struck at the
san Francisco Mint and So, 279S worth
At Philadelphia
Following the custom Of placing a dis
tinguishing mark upon the coins struck
at the different mints the new cent pieces
made al the San Francisco and Denver
mints VIII respectively bear the mint let
ters and ..
The cent piece IS the most profitable
coin Uncle Sam turns out 81 his mints
the profit on its manufacture being esti-
mated at something like s. cents on the
dollar when the coins do not return for
redemption The nunber of these pieces
that do come back FOR redemption IS in-
hnItesimaI in comparison with the nil
Iors coined every year
The use q the copper cent has been
yearly increasing IN all parts Of the coun-
try As an interesting example of the
snail proportion Of the cent pieces that
are presented for redemption compared
% the vast numbers issued the report Or
the Director Of the Mint for 1907 showed
that the cents of al kinds and dates. iu-
cluding old-time copper cents and the
nickel cents. that we're redeemed. amount
ed to only S97. So Yet IN the same
year nearly a million dollars worth were
newly coined.
The coii..ze- presses % the Philadelphia
Mint are always making cent pieces. The
coinage Of gold and silver pieces may
stop temporarily. but the manufacture Of
cents seems IL 60 on forever.
The making Of cent entails almost as
much work as the coming Of a double
eagle. for while a colning press has the
capacity 81 striking ninety double eagles
q minute. yet the same press car. make
only 100 cent pieces
For a number Of years the mint pur-
chased from private contractors the blank
circular pieces or copper to he used for
striking cents already PREPARED to 60 into
the coming presses Now arrangements
have been made 10 do away with much OF
this outside help and the mint makes the
cent through the different stages from
the pig metal
The San Francisco Mint began opera
tons IN 1854 with the coinage OF gold
pieces. IN 1876 the coinage Of silver pieces
of the denomination Of Qu&-js-S and
half dollars was begun. In the following
year 10-ceut pieces were made. the strlk-
inE Of silver dollars not being begun until
1853 IN 1883 silver scent pieces were
struck and a limited number Of these
coins were made n each Of half a dozen
OF so years following. the small figures
indicating that little need existed at that
period for even 3 scent piece IN that
part OF the country. A few coins made
evidently were struck as curiosities rather
than as coins intended for circulation