The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-28
World of Finance finance
THE FAMINE IN PENNIES

ported from various parts of the coun- try1is the more surprising in view of
 the fact that the government coinage ger in recent years than in any ear :, Her period of the history of the coun-
 try A compilation by The National
 City Bank of New York shows that
 more than one billion one-cent coins 1 had been manufactured by the gov ernsnent and distributed to the people
 during the last dozen years. In fact the out-turn of one-cent pieces in the \ last decade forms one-third of the total since the beginning of our pres ent form of government.
 The banks statement on this sub
 3cct shows that the number of one cent coins manufactured by the hints of the United States from 1793 to the end of the fiscal year 1916 was 2,S04,- COG. .0o0, while the number issued in the last decade alone is, in round numbers, one billion. Even in the singlo fiscal year 1916 the number of one-cent pieces coined was 101.230,
 9l7, while in the high record year
 1910 the total number turned out was
 1s1,s46,21S. The number of pieces coined never touched the 100,0O0,000 line prior to 1907. the total for that year being 10s,1ss,61Ss and the an- nual average since that time has been nearly 100, 100000 per year.
 The number of one-cent pieces coined from the beginning of the gov ernment to date would, even if all were in existence and circulation, al- low for each individual about 27 one- cent pieces. Of course, the number actually available Is far less than this, for it Is quite probable that out of the { s-4 billion one-oent pieces coin ed by the government not more than about { billions are now in existence.
 or ak least in circulation, making the
 present average per capita for all the | people of the United States about 20 one cent pieces.
 The coinage of one-cent pieces be- gan with the first years operation of the mints, the total number coined in the first period for which details arc available (17s3-5) having been 1.o66.os3 In that same period there were coined 142,524 half-cent pieces. The half-cent piece seemed to gain in popularity in the immediately sub- . seQuent period, for-the number coined
 fin the period of 1804-10 was about as great as the number of one-cent pieces coined. From that time on. however, the half-cent piece appar-
 entfy lost popularity, for the hints soon suspended their manufacture,
 though there were occasional issues
 of limited numbers down to 1860, at
 which time their coinage terminated.
 The number of one-cent pieces coined
 averaged less than 10 millions per apnum down to about 1855 when there came rapid increase, the number coined in 1857 being about 18 millions, in 1860 over go millions, i'm 1864 53 millions. Following the close of the Civil War the number again greatly declined being in 1870 less than millions, in 1880 39 mill 1 lions. in 1890 AT millions, in 1900 67 1 millions, in 1906 96 millions, crossing the 100 million line in 1907, and mak- l ing the highest record in 1910-152,- e46.21s--while the total for the fiscal year 1s16 was 1o1,2so.317.
 {. All of the one-cent piece now is 1 gued by the government are of bronze. < In the very early periods they were of copper. then for a comparatively short time of nickel, though the proportion which the copper or nickel coins : formed of the total is very small, the entire number of copper one-cent coins issued having been 156,289,0 ,0OO, nickel 200,772,O00, bronze 2,446,711,- {; O0o-
 The "minor coinage of the United i States, including in that term the haH-cent, one-cent, two-cent, three cent and five-cent coins, aggregates about 4 billions in number. Of the tone-cent coins the number as already ,fndicated is about 2,SO0,000,000, of which about 200,O00,000 were nickel and 156, 6,oo0.o0O copper; of the two cent coins there were issued 45,601,- 1000, of the three-cent coins 31,378,- { 900 made of nickel and 42,770,000 made of silver; and of the five-cent pieces the total number issued has been of nickel S91,s1s, 900 and of sil- 5ver 97,6O4,OO0.
 All token" coins issued by the gov ernment are now of bronze or nickel, all of the one-cent pieces being of bronze, all of the five-cent pieces of nickel The use of silver for the , smanufacture of the minor coins was discontinued in 1874.
 The face value of the token" coins issued by the government (the one- cent pieces and five-cent nickels) is of course much greater than the value of the metal which they contain. In fact, the profit on the manufacture of these coins together with a slight pro- fit on the manufacture of the minor silver coins, (ten, twenty-five and fif- ty-cent pieces) is more than enough to pay the running expenses of the mint.