Note 195 — Chapter XXII · CURRENCY, BANKING, AND CREDIT

Anyone may take gold to these mints and have it coined. Pure gold would be too soft for use as money, however; so an alloy of silver is mixed with it. The mixed metals are then heated and rolled into strips. These strips are next put into a stamping machine which forms them into so many little gold cakes, ready to be placed in another machine which stamps an impression upon them. In the case of gold and silver coins the edges are “milled” to prevent their being clipped or scraped by dishonest people. In the United States this is in the form of a raised and serrated edge; in European countries an inscription is often printed on the edges of the coins. The German twenty-mark piece before the war had the legend, “Gott mit uns,” in this form. The silver, nickel, and copper for American currency is bought by the mint and made into coins at a profit. This profit is called seigniorage and it is sufficient to make all the mints self-supporting. The amount of metal in a nickel, for instance, costs only a fraction of five cents. When coins are lost or destroyed—by shipwreck, fire, etc.—the government is just so much to the good, and a great many coins are permanently lost or destroyed every year.