| The Boston Globe yesterday ran an editorial in favor of a new $1 coin. Let's
hope this is the start of a successfull new coin!
Paul
Dollar sense
By Globe Staff, 03/18/97
Americans have never really cottoned to the idea of a dollar coin that would
replace the paper dollar, but the cold, hard realities make it virtually
certain that sooner or later the coin will win out. Sooner would be better.
The old silver dollar and a copper-zinc alloy coin honoring President
Eisenhower were too bulky for most consumers. The silver dollar vanished
because its intrinsic value exceeded the nominal value of the coin. The
Eisenhower coin withered from unpopularity. In 1979 a smaller dollar coin,
honoring Susan B. Anthony, the great suffragette, suffered similarly because
too many people confused it with a quarter.
A new effort on behalf of another dollar coin will be launched by legislation
filed in Congress this month. The new coin would be redesigned, with a gold
color that would distinguish visually from the quarter and a smooth edge to
make it feel distinctive. It would, however, retain the dimensions of the
Susan B. Anthony coin.
The move makes sense. Many coin-op dispensing machines have been designed to
accept Anthony dollars - hence keeping the same dimensions. Parking meters
that require four quarters for an hour or two could accept dollar coins. Toll
booths and public transportation have similar potential.
Although advocates estimate it will cost about 8 cents to manufacture a dollar
coin compared with 4 cents to print a dollar bill, coins last far longer - 30
years on average - than dollar bills, which wear out in only 17 months. The
cost advantage is clear.
Almost all other industrial countries have already substituted coins for
smaller denomination paper currency - including Canada, which has both dollar
and two-dollar coins. Only Italy has no coin as large in value as a dollar.
Even though the Anthony dollar has languished in acceptance, enough use is
being made of it to reduce Treasury inventories to the point that additional
coins will have to be struck in several years. Given those circumstances, it
is appropriate for Congress to act on the new coin design and get it rapidly
into circulation.
This story ran on page a14 of the Boston Globe on 03/18/97.
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