Evening star., 1932-07-31

in their posSesson a greater number Of
pennies than normally. People seldom
deposit pennies in a bank-that is,
with the exception Of large companies
which receive q great many OF them.
The individual merely jingles them.
Moreover. in times like these, when
the impulse to save Is. so to speak. In
the very air, there viii be q stronger
inclination than ordinarily to drop odd
pennies into toy banks.
The extent to which q new tax
bill imposing nuisance taxes in odd
amounts makes fresh demands on the
l-cent piece supply was exemplIhed
in the World War. Then, II viii be
remembered. there was q large number
of such taxes imposed as an emergency
war measure. The United States Mint
found that 1t had to work under steady
24-hour pressure for weeks at q time.
turning practically its entire machinery
over to the manufacture OF copper
1-cent pieces, so great was the demand.
The Mint Is extremely busy right now
engaged in the same sort of speeded-
up production to supply the demand
for this humbleSt American coin.
In Old Ben Franklin's Day.
The vice of boarding Is only a ma
ttonaI or community vice. 1t Is prt-
Vat2 virtue. That is the d1mculty
which American business faces in meet
ing the boarding emergency. Benjamin
Franklin. patron saint Of thrift, was not
a banker, and his counsel, necessarily
contributed through Poor Richards Al
rnanac and elsewhere, urging saving was
as directly related to what now is called
boarding as TO any other kind. 1t IS
morally impossible to condemn any In
divioual for putting pennies. dimes, dol
lars or 81 900 bills in any keeping place
he desires His abstemiousness in saw
ing a part Of his earnings is universally
regarded as pTaissworthy.
Only when viewed from the broad
community or national point Of view
does boarding become a vice When
DR.. Franklin lived business was car
ried on far differently. There was no
such thing in general use as bank
check. There we're such things as
drafts and bills drawn. but almost sole
ly by merchants doing business in dis
tant cities or countries for the pur-
pose Of making transfers Of funds. The
idea of paying current bills by check
and, meantime, keeping money In the
bank was unknown. Today-or rather
yeste-c ay. when times were bit nearer
normal-95 per cent of American bills
were paid by check.
The banking system the system OK
keeping money on DEPOSIT where 1t
could form basis for credit transac-
tons and add to community strength,
has been a growth since Franklin's time.
1t depends on the public keeping its
money In banks. Timidity Of owners OF
money. which hss prompted withdraw
ais, has brought about the breakdown
Of e system on which modern business
was built.
Such times as these bring home to
citizen aS never before how important
he Is to his country They show how
emphatically country exists only be-
cause of the citizen. They show that.
the man practieing boarding today, even
though he be practicins private vir-
tue, is going against the interests of his
country. The citizen may feel he Is
but a trihing mote in the whole great
Nation. He thinks of the 124,000,o 900
others. Yet q penny is the tmallest Of
our coins and II is Eeen how even this
little copper can add to the distress.