The Mena weekly star., 1916-09-21
The New Silver Coins.

From the Shreveport Journal.
 If, within the next ten days or so, some one hands you a silver quar- ter bearing on one side the figure of a woman passing thru gate in a wall and on the other an eagle in full flight, don't assume an air of superior wisdom and hand it back with the statement that you arn't taking medals in payment for ser vices. It will be real money
 Probably not third of the citi- zens of the United States know that the national law requires the de- sign of small silver coins to be changed every twenty years. Yet it Is fact that once every fifth century Uncle Sam calls in his out standing silver money and replaces it with brand new sinners brought up to date in finish and pattern.
 Twenty years having passed since silver coins of existing de- signs was first minted, the Ameri- can money plants at Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia have for some time been engaged in turning out new dimes, quarters and halves at the rate of Si0,000 per day. This seems like a good deal of small change for one days output but experience has taught the gov ernment that 1t is the amount ne- eeSsary to meet the American needs
 The new coins are thus described:
 The new half dollars will
 have on one side the Goddess of
 Liberty holding bunch of
 olive branches, with the old
 legend: Tn God we trust above
 her. On the other side a spread
 eagle is poised on a rock. hold
 ing in it's talOns what the de-
 signers say is "an oak twig.'
 Over it's head are the words:
 United States of America" at
 it's feet: Half dollar"
 The quarters are more
 unique. One one side is the fig
 ure of a woman coming thru a
 gate in a wall; on the other is
 an eagle in full flight We are
 left t0 guess at the significance
 of the woman and the gate
 that Is. if we keep a quarter by
 us long enough Go do any guess
 ing.
 The new dimes will be quite
 different from the old ones. On
 one side there is a wOmans
 head, with Liberty above and
 the minting date below. On the
 other a bunch of rods and an
 aX bound together after the
 fashion of the faces born of
 old by the Roman lictors. Be-
 low this is the motto: "E Pluri-
 bus Unum.n
 Altho Uncle Sans strong box is always full of new money at those periods when the change is about to be effected, the exchange of silver coin is gradual Every time a worn half dollar that has seen hard ser vice and acquired history finds it's way to the national treasury, it is replaced with a newly-minted fifty cent piece, "as clean as new soul. " If a citizen has a dime or quarter which he is tired of carrying, Uncle Sam will relieve him of it and give him a coin of corresponding value fresh from one of the national money mills. The. old silver coins are put in the melting pot from whence they find their way to the new dies.
 The numismatist, of course, does not let all the old coins get back to the minters. He gathers and keeps ] few with an eye to future profits. Upon the rarity of coins wholly de- bends their numismatic value
 Within a very few days we will be receiving and spending the new silver money. Perhaps the most serious phase of the change is that none of us will get enough off It.