Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-28
TRAVELS IN PHILADELPHIA
By Christopher Morley
AT THE MINT

would believe anything after one marvel my
friend showed me. He picked up a glass that
looked like an innocent tumbler of spring
water. This" he said 'is nitrate of silver
in other words, dissolved silver Don't spill
1t on your clothes or 1t will eat them right Off
your back" I kept Off. aghast Into the
tumbler he dropped little muriatic acid
The mixture boiled and fumed and long
streamers of soft, cheesy substances began
to hasten toward the bottom of the glass
waving like trees in a gale That's the
silver he said, and while was still tremu-
lous showed me waters Of gold dissolvng in
aquaregia. When completely dissolved the
liquid looks like a thin but very sweet mo-
lasses. He then performed similar magic
upon some silver solution by unloading a
pipette Of salt water on It and shaking It In
a little machine called an "agitator." After
which he felt l was sufficiently humble to
show me the furnace room.
IF YOU have an affection for the nice old
i silver cartwheel dollars keep away from
the furnace room of the Mint. for one of the
first things you will see is whole truckloads
OF them moving silently to their doom. l
was told that there is a shortage Of silver in
Europe these days, particularly since troubles
In Mexico have reduced that countrys out
put OF ore. and In order to accommodate for
eign friends Uncle Sam has recently melted
200,000,000 OF our old friends into bars and
900 more Of them are on the way to
the furnace. None have been coined since
1904. as apparently they are not popular
The pride OF the Mint centers just now
upon the two new electric furnaces, the larger
of which has only been installed a few weeks
Ga Swedish invention. by the way). but the
old gas ovens are more spectacular to the
visitor because the flames are more visible.
When the heavy door is slid aside you can
see the crucible (made of graphite from Cey-
lon) with Its mass of silver dollars. standing
patiently In the furious glow. Then, IL you
lticlSy will Ia opt tba
liquid silver into the molds. One of the
workmen held slip of paper to the boiling
metal: 1t burst into flame and he calmly lit
his pipe with II. In other furnaces sheets of
nickel from which Argentine coins had been
punched were being melted, surrounded by
a marvellous radiance of green and golden
fire. All about you are great ingots of cop
per, silver, nickel and boxes OF queer little
nickel nuggets, formed by dropping the hot
liquid into ice water. 1t Ia a place In which
one would willingly spend a whole day
watching the wonders which those accus-
toned to them take SO calmly. In the vault
just outside the furnace room l was shown
between eighteen and nineteen million dol
lars worth Of gold bars stacked up on
shelves Again--I don't know Just why-I
thought of Lenine and Trotsky.
There were also more truckloads Of the
old silver dollars on their way to the fire.
Some of them, though dated back in the
seventies. seemed as good as new; others
were badly worm They were piled up in
lots Of 10000, which, when new would weigh
34375 ounces one lot, was told, had lost
eos ounces through abrasion.
TN THE big coming room the presses were
i busily at work stamping out new coins.
and women operators were carefully examin-
ing the "blanks' for imperfections before
they go under the dies. To one who expected
TO see vast quantities of shining new Ameri-
can coinage II was odd to learn that almost
all the machines were busy turning out small
change for Peru and. Argentina. Next week,
the foreman said. they start on big, order
| OF the queer coins of Siam, which have a
hole in the middle like the Chinese money.
But I saw one machine busy turning out
Lincoln pennies at the rate OF 100 minute
The one-cent piece requires a pressure OF
forty tons to stamp the design on the metal ;
the larger coins, of course, need heavier
pressure. up to 100 tons.
yyHE Mints wonderful collection of coins
| i and medals OF all lands would deserve an
Il article of its own. One OF the rarities OF
which the curator 10 most proud is a terra.
Gotta medallion OF Franklin, made by Mini
at Chaumont In l777. 1t IL in perfect condI-
| tion and was bought by the Mint from q
| New York newspaperman A brand-new ac-
| quisition, only set up within the last few
weeks. 10 q case of French military decora.
| tions presented by the French Governments
] the nve grades OF the Legion Of Honor. the
four gr1des Of the croix - ausyxo and th>