Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-04-15
THE SMALL COIN BOOM
War Tax Largely Responsible
For Present Big Demand
Mint Turning Out Cents mt Rate OF
eO,OOO,OOO Every MOnth-Country
Also Consumes IO0,OOO.OOO
NicIkels Each Year

washington, D. c., April THE public
now uses 30 times as many small coins as
Il used half a decade ago 1t would not
be a great surprise to discover an increase
of 10 per cent. or IS per cent. in the use
of nickels, dimes and pennies. but the
fact that their use has been multiplied
by half hundred Is hard to account for.
The facts with relation to the use of
pennies are obtainable at the treasury de-
partment In Washington. 1t !c to the
treasury that the public comes for its
coin. People doing business that requires
the making of change appl; to their
banks for pennies. nickles. dimes and
quarters. The banks, that they may fur
nish this subsidiary coin, ask the treas
ury, or tho sub-treasury. for enough of it
to keep their stock up to the demand.
The treasury. always responsive to de-
mand, keeps enough of 1t minted to meet
all calls.
The records Of tho treasury show that
for eight years including 1sos-1sl5, the
banks asked for and received 100000
pennies. This was 100000 year.
1t is in comparison with this pigmy fig
ure that the record Of the last few months
Is so surprising. Since last July the pub
lie has been demanding and receiving
been using Is times as many Of them In
a month as 1t formerly used In year.
LUXURY TAX DID 1T
The chief agency that has led to this
prodigious use Of pennies is the revenue
act of q year ago, supplemented by that
modern entertainment. the motion picture
show. The tax on admissions to these en-
tertainments required the breaking down
Of the final nickel in change nearly every
time any man, woman or child bought
ticket to a movie Then there were sim
liar taxes to be paid when one bought soft
drinks, cigars any of those articles which,
under the law, were luxuries. The news
papers of the nation have doubled In
price, requiring more pennies to handle
the business. Street car fares, for gen.
GRAFTON so universally Ave cents each,
have found level in most cities between
Ave and 10 and this again Breaks up a
nickel and necessitates the use of pen
MES. The resulting penny boom has been
most remarkable.
New and interesting situations have de-
veloped as a result There used to be a
third of the United States. from the
standpoint OF area, which insisted on ig-
noring the existence Of the penny. Be
| yond the great plains an open-handed cit
| izenship refused to have anything to dc
| with change smaller than the nickel. But
| the present revenue law has made the
use Of pennies unavoidable in the West
| The picture shows, the drug stores, the
| collectors Of luxury taxes out West, have
| been required to split the nickels just as
\ is done on the Atlantic seaboard. The
penny has been forced into general use II
the Rockies and beyond for the first time
A MOUNTAIN OF PENNIES
| 1t is interesting to take the measure o.
this penny flood that is sweeping over thu
land. 1t takes 12O pennies to weigh ;
pound. On this basis. a months coinage
of 100000 pennies would weigh $4,000
pounds This would load 1876 big drays
To haul a years output of pennies would
| require train of freight cars half a mill
| long. There is not a railroad engine II
the world that could pull it UP fou
per cent. grade.
Pennies are 95 per cent. copper and fiv'
per cent tin and zinc. which latter ma
terials decrease their tendency to cor
rode. A pound Of the resulting alloy cost
about Is cents, and the coin is valued a
800
Though the pennies register the big in
| crease in small coins used, there has ais
been a larger demand for nickels. Be
fore the appearance of the unusual con
ditions that have grown out of the wa
the country consumed about Is 900 900 nick
els q year. That number has recently in
creased to about 100000
This develops another neat task in man
ufacture for the government. When on
gets behind the scenes at the treasury
develops that a nickel is not a nickel a
all. or at any rate, Is but one-fourth nick
ell This coin is largely the same mate
rial as the penny. 1t is rs per cent. cop
per. To the copper Is added 25 per cen,
nickel which hardens the metal and dom
mates It in appearance. The treasur
takes quarters worth of this alloy. put
the stamp of the government on 1t an
turns out 400 worth Of the coin of tn
realm.
1t takes IS nickels to weigh a pound.
hundred pound bag would contain 7.5(
Of then, and would be worth 1875. TIL
nickels that the nation uses In yea
would require more than 1900 such bag
and it would take 166 four-ton trucks
, transport them.
In those 10 years before 1916 the Unite
States had turned out silver subsidiar
coin at the rate of about $4,000, 600 a yea
For the past three years the demand ha
been around S3,0O0,0Oo a year, and tn
year It promises to reach $3o.0oo.ooo.
LOST MONEY
One strange feature In this manufa'
ture of small coin Is the fact that a COZ
, slant food of it is kept going out, is b'
ing poured into the pockets of the peopl
and almost none of it ever comes bacl
This is particularly true of pennies. TT
larger and more valuable coins come bac
!. to the treasury for redemption but not II
pennies. 1t Is supposed that people al
careless with pennies and that they al
r lost. So great Is the quantity of them tn,
D 1t would seem, If this thing goes on IL
definitely, the ground would eventual
become covered with them There mu
be millions of lost pennies lying arour
4 the country now.
SHORT AND SHARP
The Philadelphia Ledger says: go
I tunately the cost of bird-song has N
}. risen." Unfortunately the cost of bill