BIG FLAP OVER $1 COIN MISSES THE POINT

So, the government says, we are about to bring back a $1 coin. Pursuant to legislation signed into law by President Clinton last December, a special panel is meeting in Philadelphia to recommend to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin a woman whose image will grace the coin. Ideas floating around include a woman of historical note, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, or an allegorical symbol such as the Statue of Liberty. Planners have fresh in their minds the fiasco of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which was minted from 1979 to 1981. The legislation specifies that the coin should be similar in size to the Anthony dollar and must be gold in color and further possess a distinctive edge so that people can easily distinguish it from a quarter. The reverse must depict the American eagle.

All well and good, you might say. There is nothing against depicting a female on our coins. Still, doesn't this whole process overlook one simple question: need? Where is the clamor for a new dollar coin? Exactly what purpose will it serve? Paper money has largely replaced dollar coins for lots of reasons having to do with the weight and bulkiness that are inescapable properties of dollar coins. Folding money is simply easier to deal with than coins. You can fit more of them in your pocket, to say nothing of the billfold or pocketbook.

The legislation was championed by U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, R-Delaware. Perhaps Castle could busy himself with cutting excessive spending and taxes rather than establishing dubious new kinds of coins, the need for which hasn't even begun to be demonstrated.