In March 1932, during the Great Depression, Robert Lee Doughton (D-NC) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives ("House"), that called for coinage of a half-cent coin to help consumers avoid paying more for low-priced, everyday goods due to rounding up of prices by merchants, especially after a sales tax was applied. (I previously posted about a coin proposal that included a Copper-Nickel ("CuNi") Half-Cent piece (read it here:
What If? 1912 Three-Cent Piece, Half Cent And Changed One Cent.)
The bill called for a copper coin of then-standard United States ("US") copper composition (i.e., 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) to be re-introduced into the
US coinage lineup. Other specification parameters for the coin were to be determined by the Mint/Secretary of the Treasury.
Note 1: The US Half Cent was last produced in 1857 (it was struck from 1793 to 1857) and hadn't been in regular circulation for decades.Upon its introduction, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. The bill did not progress past Committee referral, however, and was not independently considered by the House.
On its surface, the coin proposal appeared to be a potential way to help folks who were struggling financially during harsh economic times, but the Treasury Department did not support the measure. It argued that it would cost the Government more than its face value to produce and distribute a Half-Cent coin and that it would not be compatible with then-current vending machines which would negatively impact the vending industry. Also, it preferred the sales tax issue to be addressed by State governments via fractional-value tax tokens vs. Federal coinage.
Without the backing of the Treasury Department, the bill failed.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other What If? stories, see: [b]
Commems Collection
Posted Today 3H 18M ago
