The Week

• Ring out the old, clunk in the new. On November 1 the silverless, cupro-nickel-clad, copper-core, “sandwich” quarter-dollar was released through the banks, slightly ahead of schedule, but with exactly the applause anticipated, to wit, zero. Similarly constructed dimes will follow in a few weeks, and next year some not entirely silverless Kennedy halves. We now enter a prolonged transition period in which two types of coin will be available for circulation, one type loaded up to its face value with purchasing power due to its silver content, the other quite insignificant as a piece of metallic value. Gresham’s Law, first formulated about four hundred years ago and exemplified a hundred times since, states the tendency of the intrinsically more valuable coinage to disappear. The Federal Government is relying on the hope that Gresham’s Law will not apply. Anyone with a (real, old-time, silver) dime to spare can place his own private bet against Washington.

• Note for the archives. On October 27 the Federal Government announced that its war in Vietnam would necessitate an increase of approximately 70 per cent in its purchases of aluminum. On October 30 the aluminum industry announced a price increase. The next day, the White House was issuing anonymous threats to release “surplus” aluminum from the federal stockpile. Question for the archives: Is the stockpile superfluous or is it not? If so, why did the government declare its need for more of the stuff in the first place?

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William F. Buckley Jr.

• Ring out the old, clunk in the new. On November 1 the silverless, cupro-nickel-clad, copper-core, “sandwich” quarter-dollar was released through the banks, slightly ahead of schedule, but with exactly the applause anticipated, to wit, zero. Similarly constructed dimes will follow in a few weeks, and next year some not entirely silverless Kennedy halves. We now enter a prolonged transition period in which two types of coin will be available for circulation, one type loaded up to its face value with purchasing power due to its silver content, the other quite insignificant as a piece of metallic value. Gresham’s Law, first formulated about four hundred years ago and exemplified a hundred times since, states the tendency of the intrinsically more valuable coinage to disappear. The Federal Government is relying on the hope that Gresham’s Law will not apply. Anyone with a (real, old-time, silver) dime to spare can place his own private bet against Washington.

• Note for the archives. On October 27 the Federal Government announced that its war in Vietnam would necessitate an increase of approximately 70 per cent in its purchases of aluminum. On October 30 the aluminum industry announced a price increase. The next day, the White House was issuing anonymous threats to release “surplus” aluminum from the federal stockpile. Question for the archives: Is the stockpile superfluous or is it not? If so, why did the government declare its need for more of the stuff in the first place?