Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-27

Suppose you had . quarter and Q
dime and nickel in your pocket and
you wanted to buy a package of ciga-
rettes which cost Is cents.
Would you pull out the nickel and
dime from your pocket and pay for the
cigarettes with the Is cents? Or would
| you put the quarter on the counter and
| take the dime in change?
Investigation and research disclose
! chat most men will throw out the quar-
ter and take the dime in change. Why?
Just what does this popularity indi-
| cate? 1t indicates a number of things
and indexes the habits of man with
his loose change. Some people hate to
have half dollars about them. Others
detest quarters. A good many people
hate to have pennies, but there seems
to be no general prejudice against
nickels and dimes.
If you question man about his atti-
tude concerning loose change, he win
half dollars In his pockets because they
| are too bulky or too heavy
The prejudice against them Is much
the same as the old prejudice in the
East against "cartwheels." Cart
wheels" are silver dollars, and through
the west in the COS they enjoyed an
! unusual popularity. Westerners would
rather have them than the dollar bills
In 1890 there were more than 570,000,-
600 of them in circulation.
Cartwheels Seldom Seen.
Cartwheels are seldom seen now. The
prejudice against them because of their
size and bulk has become general. 1t
is surprising to know that silver dollars
are still being minted. The last series
is known as the Peace Dollar" issued
IN 1901 with tho haoH nf fho nf
Liberty on one side and the familiar
I'm God We Trust" on the other.
However, this sidelight on the history
OF cartwheelS Is merely thrown in to
demonstrate that we know our cart
wheels even though one is seldom seen
nowadays. The prejudice against cart
wheels Is now being extended to half
dollars According to the banks, who
ought to know about such things. the
number of half dollars in circulation is
decreasing every year and the number
of quarters is increasing.
Most men would rather have two
quarters in their pockets than one half
dollar They occupy less space, and a
quarter is price frequently quoted, so
that they can drop the coin on the
counter and depart without bothering
to wait for change. The same thing
does not hold true of a womanl Half
dollars in the vanity case are half
dollars, and 1t doesn't concern the
woman much whether they are quarters
or halves as long as they are money.
tNote-See The Habits Of Women" by
Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.)
Now, why does this prejudice against
large coins and pennies exist. and why
are the nliddle-class coins popular?
The reason Is simple The modern in
ventions of this machine age have been
developed to chisel middle-claSs coins
from middle-class people. Observe, for
instance, the ordinary telephone coin
box. You will notice there 10 no slot
on it for half dollars. If you make q
long distance call where the cost Is
more than half dollar, you must de-
post two quarters.
Coin Box Popularizes Nickel.
The coin box is also responsible for
the popularity of the nickel A nickel
is the common charge for the average
telephone call, and dime for calls
outside the immediate telephone ex-
change area, which in turn popularizes
the dime. Young SWANS who spend
hours in telephone booths like to have
nickels in their pockets with which to
make these telephone calls.
I The bird who plays golf or entertains
the boys of the club likes to have them
in his pocket when he calls up his wife
to tell her that he Is delayed at the