Commems Collection Classic: Rules Are Meant To Be Broken

In February 1927. the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures held a Hearing on the bill that called for 300,000 commemorative half dollars for the 150th anniversary of the Continental Congress meeting in York, Pennsylvania.

The bill was introduced by Franklin Menges (R-PA) who attended the Hearing and presented in support/defense of the coin bill; Charles Dewey, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, under Andrew Mellon, was also present (for the opposition! ).

Menges introduced his York, PA bill on February 21, 1927, less than two weeks before the 69th Congress was set to adjourn (March 4, 1927). Considering the timing, it was quite remarkable that a Hearing could be arranged and held so quickly - it took place on February 24th, just three days after the bill was introduced. York was set to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the meetings of the Continental Congress in the city in late September / early October.

Almost from the start, Committee Chairman, Randolph Perkins (R-NJ), attempted to convince Menges to substitute a medal for the coin, stating, "In view of the fact that the Treasury is opposed to striking off a coin, it would be practically impossible to get it through in the closing days of the session of Congress. Why not introduce a bill for a medal, which might pass? There will be no objections to that, whereas there are many objections to the striking of a coin."

Menges was initially opposed to substituting a medal for the coin, indicating that the York Committee was not in favor of such a switch, but pressure continued to be applied on him.

Assistant Secretary Dewey stated, "I think the committee is fully informed as to the position of the Treasury relative to memorial coins. We feel that they serve no useful purpose, that they complicate the currency system, and might tend to make counterfeiting more easy by introducing new and unknown and little used coins into our coinage system. I might say that our past experience in the sale of these coins does not lead us to believe thatt they are popular even with the people."

In making its case against souvenir/memorial coins, the Mint/Treasury presented the narrative that every previous program sold fewer coins than what had been delivered to it and subsequently returned coins to the Mint to be melted. Left out of the discussion - motives unstated - was the 1918 Illinois Statehood Centennial Half Dollar. Its enabling legislation authorized 100,000 coins, the Mint struck and delivered 100,000 coins to the Illinois Centennial Commission and no coins were returned to be melted.

Not all of the Illinois half dollars were sold in 1918, but the Commission honored its promise that no coins would be returned. The majority of the coins (~70,000) were sold and the balance were stored in a Springfield, IL bank and "forgotten" about until President Roosevelt's Bank Holiday in March 1933. Most of these coins were subsequently sold to dealers at a small advance over face value; a small number were also released into circulation.

Chairman Perkins added, "The last two bills we reported against the protest of the Treasury, and we extended that even against the policy of the Committee. I think there is hardly a member of the committee now who favors reporting out a bill for minting of a coin." (The "last two bills" comment is believed to refer to the Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar and the Battle of Bennington / Vermont Independence Sesquicentennial Half Dollar.)

Perkins also stated, "These things are getting increasingly difficult even for members of the committee to get anything from the committee in the way of coins. I think we have already passed the last one and we are pretty well satisfied that the position of the Treasury Department is entirely well taken." (Emphasis added.)

Of course, we know that the House and Senate Committees had not already "passed the last one" to be referred to them, as they continued to positively report commemorative coin bills beyond February 1927; it's also fact that Congress continued to authorize them and send them on to the President for approval for the next two decades. (It must be remembered that the composition of each Committee can change within/across Congressional sessions and that attitudes of a committee on certain topics can change dramatically as a result. Committees of the mid-1930s, for example, regularly supported commemorative coin bills.)

In the interest of getting his bill passed, Menges eventually relented and agreed to amend his commemorative coin bill so that the request for 300,000 half dollars was replaced by a request for 50,000 commemorative medals. The House passed the medal bill but the Senate never considered it before adjournment. As a result, the medal bill died for lack of action. (The local Anniversary Committee moved forward with a privately-struck medal. (You can read about it here: What If? 1927 Continental Congress In York, PA.)


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, see: Commems Collection.