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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1916)
G THE SUNDAY OREGOXIA3T, PORTLAND, APRIL. D, 10IG. IT! 3 ''. I , yi.,."v .Ve'? "Zl id- IS THP, A! '.THIGH TV F' ON IN I s o so Q 9 xj v- zJmdU, tip. tijeaa rare a iy c9J -EW YORK. One cent will not buy much in this world, yet it Is about the most important coin in cir culation. The penny Is an essential cog in the cystem of merchandising which has been built up in this country. One of the department stores in New Tork sends a requisition to the United States Sub-Treasury every two or three weeks for as much as $ 10,000 in pennies, which the business requires. This store, like most others of its kind throughout the country, uses the system of pricrngr Its goods in "dollars and cento" instead of even money. Articles will be sold, for instance, at 12.49, $3.6S or $4.97, and therefore pennies must- be used. But while the penny figures in trans actions which in the course of a month aggregate hundreds of thousands of dollars, a thorough canvass disclosed the fact that the store in question has for sale only two articles which can be bought for one cent each. One of these is a bodkin, a harmless enough looking little instrument, which, the salesgirl explained, is most useful for threading1 ribbons thrqush lingerie, and the other a yard of shirring cord. The superintendent of the store said that more pennies were given out in change very day than were taken in, hence the supply has to be replenished frequently. "How do you spend your pennies?" he was asked. 'Tor newspapers." was the reply. The question was answered the same way by a number of other businessmen and baukere. but in a walk around the "Wall-street district it was found that even in the realm where financial op erations are generally discussed In terms of hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars it is possible to buy something for a penny. In Nassau street, for Instance, a dealer in veins and stamps reached un der the counter and ha-ought forth a box containing several hundred coins of small denominations issued by vari ous foreign governments, any one of which' could be purchased for a cent. But for a man who migSit be hungry or tlesiroas of a smoke a (Spanish centime or a brass Chinese coin with a "square hole' in it are not of much practical "use in thiis country. Assortment for One Cent. tWith a good honest United States one-tf&nt pece. however, it is possible, at tlte Busy Bee, :n Ann street, a few -teps from IBroadway. to make any one of the tollowSng purahases: A keyring, a cigarette, a collar button, two boxes of matches, i seven roasted almonds, three hot roasted chestnuts, a glassful of peanuts, one fig, a stick of fruit candy, one hot waffle, two lady-fingers, a glass of cJen, a glass of orangeade wr one pickle. "Over on the last Side you can buy a full course dinner for a cent," said a friend. An investigation was made and showed that the .purchasing power of a cent has its limitations on the East Side as well as irt other parts of the 'it-. For a penny j hungry man tan buy a piece of pickled! herring, a dab of tauerkraut or a smalT seation of a loaf of bread. Any one of he4e items woud probably keep him frewn starving, but could hardly be called a full meal, judged by even the most sample stand ards of living. It was at surprise and a disappointment to learn how little can be -bought from the "ptfsh-carts" for a Iientay. Niterly twoscore of these Itinerant merchants were asked if they had any thing -to sell for one cent. The major ity answered: "No." One. man pointed to a shingle on which, tlite sign "1C" had been marked in blua p.iracil and placed in a box con taining a few small-sized, discolored handkerchiefs. Another said: "Sure!" and after digging around for a few mom nte among the numerous articles which made up his stock, t'rought fortjli a composition hairpin. A third mart had only a Email, red hacked looking glass, such as women carry in their pocketbooks or vanity baps, to offer- for a penny. Fruit snd nuts of different kinds WHEN DanleJ. Frohman discusses the drama he does so in a way to give the impression that he knows what he is talking about. He knows how a play should be written and how it should be acted. lie is ac quainted with almost everything and almost everybody In the theatrical world. "Why isn't It possible to give more and better performances of Shake speare than we have today?" Mr. Froh man was asked. "Because managers, actors and the public in these days of light and mod- . ern plays are confronting something almost alien in the drama when they meet Shakespeare face to face," said Mr. Frohman. "It would be easier to understand this." he continued, "if the immortal "William were not always waiting around the corner ready to do his work for nothing regardless of the 'Authors' Union.' " "But does Shakespeare provide the eort of entertainment the public ex pects to get in the theater these days?" "There is no question about the pub lic's appreciation and enjoyment of Shakespeare's plays. The whole trouble lies in the inability of a manager to find actors who are capable of present ing Shakespearean plays as they ought to be produced. "Actors today do not have the train ing they need for Shakespeare. A man or woman Is successful in a certain type of role and becomes a box office asset in that sort of part. Take John Drew, for example. The public expects to see him in a polite drawing-room comedy and would accept him la no til 'men titan 1 1 17 i I were displayed on a number of the carts, but a penny would buy only a badly spotted apple, a small weazened orange, which in an emergency might serve as a golf ball, or a few nuts. Inquiry at the United States Sub Treasury furnished a tangible clew as to how a large number of pennies are spent. Between $80,000 and $100,000 iu one-cent pieces pass through the Sub Treasury in New Yorlc City in the course of a month. The principal sources of the incoming supply are the companies operating slot machines, the candy makers, ice cream manufactur ers and the tractior companies. The demand upon the Sub-Treasury for pen nies is confined largely to the banks handling commercial accounts and the department stores. Pennies la the School. That a large percentage of the pen nies given out by the stores and shop- ing else. It was considered almost revolutionary this year when he made his entrance in 'The Chief with a wide gash in the knee of .his trousers! There's a man doomed to a frock coat forever! "And it's the same thing with almost all the players now on the American stage. If they start as a cockney servant or a French count, a detective or an adventuress, they play that sort of part until the end of their stage career. "Besides, t,o play Shakespeare one must have perfect command of every emotion. Juliet, a child of 14, cannot be really well played by a woman of SO. Although she did play it with great success, Modjeska always said she would never play Juliet well until she was a grandmother and then she would be too old." "Do you think our younger stars like Elsie Ferguson, Emily Stevens and Jane Cowl are capable of playing Shakespeare really well?" "Yes; they have the dramatic In stinct and temperament, and if these were allied to the beautiful rhythmic declamation required they certainly could. a "Have you ever thought that Shake speare's greatest speeches are written in the simplest form of Anglo-Saxon, words of one or two syllables, as 'To be or not to be, that is the question!' This gives the actor a chance to act. to express emotion, and, as they say, 'To dig his teeth into the lines!' Shakespeare, being a dramatist, knew that the effects of the actors would be nil if the audience, hlghrbrow or low brow, did. not Instantly and electrically. 3 501 keepers In change find their way Into the hands of little folk, whose appe tites for "sweets" will no tbe denied, is a natural deduction. In fact, it is the small store in the neighborhood of tne Ecnooinousa which sells all day suckers." gumdrops, ice cream cones, "hokey-pokey" and the numerous articles which come under the head of "staples" in the juvenile world, such as marbles, jacks, tops, paper dolls and a hundred and one other knick-knacks, where the penny really comes into its own as a medium of exchange. Also the penny serves a highly important function by furnishing a means of con tributing to the Sunday school collec tion box. The tender of five pennies In pay ment for a ride on the street car is perfectly legal, but in fairness to the conductors the attention of passengers value, but few are presented for re phould be called to the fact that the demption. The liability Involved in the lav. 5' 3ilD.ButDHficul c - ' understand their meaning. While you are listening to a play there ia no chance to say, 'Please. Mr. Actor, will you repeat that line?'" "Do you think the public will take more interest in Shakespeare' this Spring just because he died 300 years ago in April?" "Of course; doesn't the public take up any novelty for the minute? The mere Idea that there is some special reason for Shakespearean productions this year will make a lot of people say to themselves, 'Let's go and see what the fellow is like, anyhow.' Besides, like a special dish served at certain res taurants, people know that unusual preparations and efforts are being made at this significant time. "You know, every one has a respect for Shakespeare; even those who have never read him or seen his plays. He has a splendid reputation! He himself did not know that he had written plays that would endure "to the last syllable of recorded time.' "All he wanted was Just to earn enough money in London to live like a gentleman of means in Stratford, and in bis own estimation he was just a good fellow like other good fellows, and even less, in the estimation of some of his colleagues!" "Which do you think the public would rather see, one of Shakespeare's whimsical comedies, like 'As You Like pennies must not be dropped Into the) coin box, but exchanged for a nickel, as each coin dropped into the box regis ters a fare. Tennies are given out at the Sub Treasury about as fast as they are taken in. They are received Bubject to count that is, all the smooth, battered, foreign and counterfeit coins are de ducted from the amount credited to the bank or concern turning the pennies in. The work of counting is done by ma chines. The coins are tied in sacks. each weighing about 33 pounds and 15 ounces. Forty of these bags will rep- resent a sum of $2000. Tbe coinage of pennies has been a nice source of profit to Uncle Sam since the small sized coin now in circulation was adopted. A pound of copper, which in normal times sells for about 16 cents, will produce almost a dollar in pennies. The difference be tween the cost of the metal and the face value of the coins into which it is moulded is pocketed by the Govern ment, and every year forms a part of the revenue of the Treasury Depart ment. The Government is under obli gations to redeem pennies at their face It,'., or a gripping tragedy, like "Mac beth'?" "By all means, 'As Tou Like It' and Twelfth Night.' " said Mr. Frohman. "They make for happiness and Joy; the tragedies for sadness and gloom. We want to get away from sadness. "But theatergoers do not realize how Shakespeare has been timed and edited for them to see today, so that they can be at their favorite restaurant- at the proper supper hour. It was different in his day. The play began at S in the afternoon, so that the audience could be home by dark to escape hold ops in the streets at night. And there were long, tedious speeches, in which the actors tested their memories and the audience went to sleep. "Imagine an actor in a modern play telling us the latest news in a tire some speech! We don't jieed that, for tunately, but if we had no newspapers, magazines or Sunday supplements we should be pretty glad to get the news even across the footlights." Mr. Frohman was reminded that It was Shakespeare's good fortune not to have to compete with the "movies." i'Yea," he replied, "but some enter prising young man opened what he called the 'Bear Gardens' near the playhouses, and the animals were so amusing and the prices so attractive that the managers thought seriously ol closing the theater, as the oppo- A 1 j :Uf. IH; Vt' M llllll J 0090 I possibility of redemption is regtfrded as a very Indefinite one. The one-cent piece, according to Treasury officials, is counterfeited more than any other coin. The reason for this is that the penny, despite the importance of its function in commerce, is seldom closely scrutinized, and it is easy, therefore, to pass the counterfeit coins. The Government experts have no difficulty in detecting counterfeit pennies, no matter how perfectly the coins may be nioulded, as they submit the metal to an assay test which is infallible. After they have become slightly worn most anybody can pick out the spurious coins if they take the trouble to examine their pennies care- fully. Fish tine Counterfeiters. Making counterfeit pennies is profit able so long as the person who engages In the enterprise is not interrupted in his labors by the Secret Service authori ties, for the same reason that the Gov ernment makes a profit from their coin- ago. Owing to the sharp advance in the price of copper metal since the war started this profit has been materially reduced, and this fact, together with the activity displayed by Mr. William j. Flynn, chief of the United States Secret Service, accounts for a decrease in the number .of counterfeit pennies put into circulation within the last few months. Other unscrupulous persons have dis covered that a perfectly good penny when flattened out to the size of a nickel either by being run over by a streetcar or hammered out on an anvil, can be used to operate the coin boxes in public telephone booths. The tele phone companies have gathered up thousands of these mutilated pennies. ty .Is la Wildly pabte Gsisf sition was too great. There is always competition, be it bears or 'movies'I" Dogr Hero in Trenches in frightfully wounded," says Dr. Mary Crawford, a Cornell gradu ate, who served in a French hospital, in the Cornell Women's Review. "One leg had to be amputated, and besides that he had a half-dozen other wounds. His dog came with him, a hunting dog of some kind. This dog had saved his master's life. They were in the trench together when a shell burst in such, a way as to collapse the whole trench. Every man in it was killed or buried in the collapse and this dog dug until he got his master's face free so that he could breathe, and then he sat by him until some reinforcements came and dug them all out. Every one was dead but this man. Isn't that a beautiful lltftle story? We have both dog and man with us. The dog has a little house all to himself in the court, and he has blankets and food and lots of petting, and every day he is allowed to be with his master for a little while." Impersonating an Officer. Judge. Captain What's he charged -with, Casey? Officer I don't know the regular name fer It, captain; but I caught him a-flirtin' in the park. Captain Ah, that's Impersonating an. oflice- '."',i,; ;' hi; 11 1 Mil 1 1 S:. VM , 'ii li M.'li.li.il ; ' ''!l ' .i ill' ii;ii'.L " t.BM;M.! . K oi ;i"i .n DSOk each representing a call on which four cents have been "saved." A study of the annual reports of the director of the United States mint ehows that the record of the pennies coined furnishes an accurate index to the general state of trade throughout the country from year to year. For the fiscal year ended June 80, 1907, the coinage of pennies for the first time in the history of the mint exceeded the amount of $1,090,000. The exact amount was $1,081,336.18. The period covered by that report was the one in which the country en joyed unusual commercial activity in conjunction with phenomenal develop- ment of its railroads and industrial ex- pansion. The culmination of this boom in the "rich nien's panic" in the Fall of 1907 was followed by extreme depres sion in all lines of business and the re port of the director of the mint shows that only $334.4"9.87 In pennies was coined during the fiscal year ended June, 1908. Then times changed for the better, and for the year 1S10 It was found necessary to coin pennies to the sum of $1,528,426.18. That was the banner year, the report for 1914 showing only $803,64S.32 coined in pennies, this slump coinciding with the period of business depression which prevailed for a year or so previous to the outbreak of the European war. "After the Christmas holiday trade in any year," said George E. Roberts, one-time director of the mint, "millions of pennies will flow back into the United States Treasury and will remain there until Spring, when they begin to go back into circulation as the result of reasonable Increase in business ac tivity. Always more go out in the busy seasons than come back, and the supply f - jV- - .4 . Vn;' ' I-: -. L' ' " ' ' J --.- .. .-.. ' -x-S 1 (" "& . v' I 'V- JrS-t' ' .... ..a X xs, - v . "'' VVf V' i !:';; ii iiintiv 1 1 Hii'. i :ll!i!!!lil! i'lHIiid!!!;; M Haw IVii'iii 1. : 1 lii n t must constantly be increased by addU tional coinage. "The penny is a more Important coin than is generally realized. It plays an intimate part in the transaction of nearly all the business of life. Itu pun chasing power, however, is relative. Scarcity of Ienniea Inconvenient. "It narrows the 'margin of negotia tion' between buyer and seller and proJ motes thrift by enabling us to count our money more closely, During the Civil AVar period the scarcity of pennies and other small coins caused a great deal of inconvenience in the business world. For some years past there has been a constant agitation for the resumption of the coinage of half-cent pieces, it , being argued that coins of that denomi nation would make for even closer bargaining than is possible today. There are a good many thrifty per sons who object to paying thirteen cents for an article which Belle two for a quarter or eight cents for one that sells two for fifteen cents." The United States Government dis continued the coining of half-cent pieces in 1S57. The coinag of two-cent pieces was stopped in 1872. Since the year 1793 there have been coined In the United States approxi- mately 2.700,000.000 one-centpieces of various sizes and designs. The bronze pennies in circulation before the Civil War were more than twice the size of those now in use. A good many of these, coins are still in existence, but are practically all in the hands of dealers and collectors. J A Life Job. ri Judge. Hokus He has a steady Job for the rest of his life. Pokus Gee! What is heT j Hokus A professional reformer.