Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-04-15
A Scrap Of Texas History.

The greatest and best stroke of fiuan-
cial policy on the part of the new re-
public was, however, reserved to the
last and in November, 1897, when Dor
rowing, begging, selling land scrip, and
issuing audited drafts had been ex-
hausted as expedients for raising money.
/ the government commenced the issue of
treasury notes. These notes were in the
form of bank-notes, and by law were re-
quired to be printed sin neat form. :"
They were also for round or even sums.
and mainly for small amounts, and spe-
CITED on their face "that they tciH be
receired IN payment for lands and
other public dues, or be redeemed ICith
any moneys in the treasury not other
'0ise appropriated. L."
And here commences by far the most
valuable of all the lessons deducible
from the study of the fiscal experience
of the Republic of Texas,-a lesson,
moreover, exceptionally interesting,
from the circumstance that we find in 1t
showing and demonstration that the
working and effect of system of ire
deemable paper money is one and the
same, whether the field of its influence
be rich, densely populated old coun-
try like Austria or Great Britain, or a
disturbed, thinly populated community
with little accumulated capital, and
occupying. as it were, the very border
line between barbarism and civilization.
The first noticeable and most interest
ing fact connected with the history of
these Texan treasury notes is, that al
though the credit of Texas at the time
of their issue was so bad that foreign
loan could not be negotiated, and the
audited drafts on the treasury had so
far deprecated as to have but nominal
value, and that of less than fifteen cents
on the dollar, yet the notes themselves,
though practically unredeemable, were
when first issued at par, or nearly par,
with specie, and furthermore were kept
so for months, or until their issue ex-
ceeded in amount half million of dol
lars. The explanation of this curious
phenomenon is, that the people of Texas,
at the time of the authorization of these
treasury notes, had practically no circu-
lating medium for effecting exchanges,
or none that was really worthy of the
name ; and although community can
get along in its business without a cur
rency, as it can without horses and carts, |
ships and steam-engines,-alla alike in
strumentalities for effecting the inter
change of commodities, s,-there is no
community that will dispense with any
of these agencies if it can help it. With |
the outbreak of the revolution the ham,
mered money and the eagle money, as
already stated, soon disappeared. With |
the failure of the banks of the United
States in 1897, the notesof the banking
institutions of the southwestern States,
which had come in like flood and had
supplied to Texas the void occasioned
by the disappearance of its specie cir
culation, became worthless while the !
issue of shin-plasters or fractional notes |
of persons and firms, although contin-
ued, was by law forbidden. The want
of some medium that should have one
value, and would regulate prices and
facilitate exchanges, was therefore much
felt ; aud when the government gave the
people the best medium they could, |
threw around it all the guarantees that
1t was in their power to supply, and
issued no more of the medium" than
was necessary to meet specific want,
the people in turn accorded to the me- /
dium a value proportional to the work
it performed, or the necessity it sup
piled. The first issue of notes, in addi- |.
tion to pledge of government faith to
receive them in payment of all public
dues and to redeem them as soon as
there was anything to redeem them
with, carried also promise of ten per
cent. interest rate easily calculated, I
and which offered an inducement for
boarding the notes, to such Texans as
could afford it and had also faith in their /
ultimate payment. The whole revenue
from customs was also devoted to sus-
tanning the credit of these treasury
notes, and about this time the laws for I
raising a revenue from imports began to /
be effective; the gross revenue accruing
from the customs for the quarter ending
80, 1887, having been about ]
sixty thousand dollars. - atlantic 1
N1afIfU