Evening star., 1935-07-23
OPPOSITION FACES
TINY COIN PLAN
Bank and Business Leaders
Score Proposal to Break
Down Cent.
BY HAROLD ROGERS.

BY HAROLD ROGERS.
From both banking and business
circles here in Washington came al
most unanimous criticism today oi
the administrations proposal to break
down the cent into fractional cur
rency. to accommodate certain States
which desire such small coins for tax
purposes.
II the proposal to mint 5 mill and
mill coins should go through, and
these coins could be restricted to
payment of taxes only, without pos
sibility of getting into credit accounts,
bankers here say they might not cause
so much trouble.
But once these tiny coins get into
general circulation. becoming current
IN trade, with merchants selling at
split-cent prices. there arises con-
tingency in the bank register and
bookkeeping system of the country,
which bankers and accountants said
today would be absolutely 'revolu-
tionsry."
Fractions Not Provided.
iiShment, nor bank with a single
machine, including cash registers,
adding machines. bookkeeping ma
chimes. or any other kind. which will
take care of fractions of cent it
was explained.
The amount of money invested by
business concerns and banks here in
Washington alone. runs up into un-
told hundreds of thousands, perhaps
millions of dollars, it was pointed out.
If the cent is broken down into
mills. these business houses and
banks would be faced with one of two
possibilities, bankers say.
Either the mill would have to be
banned for anything except payment
of taxes, in cash, or else the business
their bookkeeping machinery and buy
everything new, in order to take care
of the additional figures on the right
side of the column, decimal parts of
O cent.
Representatives of certain big busi-
ness here, which operated chain stores
elsewhere said today that the State Of
Ohio is operating a plan, for collect
ing a sales tax, which would obviate
the Sensational shake-up" in busi-
ness which such a change would
cause.
Difficulty Avoided.
The State of Ohio, it was explained,
iA1 -a14 tox 1.r Of
what is known as prepaid tax re-
ceipts," which sell in book form,
something like books of stamps. This
big chain store firm buys these pre-
paid tax receipts in blocks of about
$4,000 worth at time, or up. The
cost is passed on to the consumer,
the State gets its revenue, and the
public, the merchants and the banks
are spared the difficulty of handling
''mill' money.
The reason for Federal considera-
ton of the fractional currency was
explained by Secretary Of the Treas
ury Morgenthau yesterday as arising
out of certain States which have en-
acted sales taxes.
In an official Treasury statement
Morganthau explained:
Where such taxes are on a straight
percentage basis, as many of them
are, there is the problem of providing
some means to enable purchasers tc
pay the exact amount of the tax on
small purchases or for making change
in such cases.
"A number of States" he said, "are
considering the coinage of pieces to
meet this need, and it is the belief of
the Treasury Department that, if this
thing is to be done, the Federal Gov
ernment should do it. Representatives
Of the department have been dis
cussing with the appropriate COM
mittees of the Congress, the possibility
of legislation authorizing the coinage
Of 5-mill and 1-mill coins"
States Request Action.
Decision to take up the matter was
forced by the States Of Colorado and
Missouri which asked the administra-
ton whether it would be legal for
them to issue State coins" These
would have been used only within the
borders of the State of issue This
would be contrary to Federal law
Morgenthau explained.
Car loadings on the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad for the week ended July
20 totaled 37,112, of which "a, ,632 cars
we're loaded on line and 12,480 re-
ceived from connections.
This was an increase of. 3,433 cars
over the previous week (the week end
ing July 49,, when the total loadings
were 33,679, divided 22,659 loaded on
line and 11,020 received from con-
nections
Compared with last week, the same
week in 1884 showed total of 80 ,579
cars, Of which 26,498 were loaded en-
line and 15,081 received from connec-
tions.
Capital Traction molIopolized trad
ing on the Washington Stock Ex-
change today. Five shares sold at
20A, up 4 from the last prior sale.
-Four $1,000 Capital Traction 5s went
at 991a, while $4,000 bond sold
at the same price 10 change from
yesterdays level