The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1875-08-28
Grceabacks and Drawbacks.

backs was scaled with blood" and wa:
therefore as good as gold. Irreveren,
reference having been made to the fact
that the "graybacks'' had about az much
blood shed over them as the greenbacks
it was further explained that blood
spilled in defense of the Union had q
certain occult influence upon credit
which was lacking in the case of gore
from disloyal veins. Very few persons
rejecting persons-have accepted this
view of the question. We notice that
the rag paper press is shy of reference to
the history of Confederate currency.
In 1861, the national bank note com.
pany of New York printed $500, 600, 900
of one year Confederate notes, in demon.
nations of less than $50. This issue at
first was nearly at par. A year after.
ward 1t passed at 2 cents to the dollar.
Meanwhile, fresh issues were poured
fourth. The printing presses "made
money" at great rate. Col. Blanton
Duncan, who helped 10 beat the Demo.
crat candidates in 1872 by setting up a
Bourbon side-show, helped to beat the
South by supplying its de-facto Gov
erment with measureless quantities of
rag-money. The currency he supplied
was adorned with various emblematic
vignettes, one of which, as he wrote the
Confederate Secretary of the Treasury,
represents the South rising in its might
and striking down the North and crippl-
ing the eagle" The back of nearly all
these notes we're originally white, but
them soon changed them to a
dingy gray. whence the name applied to
them.
When currency got so far down that
no body knew how little it was worth,
the Richmond fnanciers tried an ex-
pedient which has been resorted to in the
case of Colonial continental currency"
the French assignats, and the Austrian
legal-tenders,-and always with the same
result. It's on the principal of hair
of the dog that bit the patient. A new
batch of notes were printed, in which
the old ones were to be redeemed at two
thirds of their face value. But of course
the new and old ran race in deprecia-
ton, and we're soon equally valueless.
Then the presses were set to work
again. The laws providing for the issue
Of "money" were so many and so COM
plicated that there was practically no
limit to the amount set aflOat. 1t is
'aid that the Secretary of the Treasury
lid not know the figures. 1t became
impossible to sign the graybacks fast
enough in the Department, and several
thousand young women were employed,
who took sheets of notes to their homes,
signed them with whatever name was
needed and brought the stuff back.
Prices went soaring heavenward as the
purchasing power of the currency drop
ped in the other direction. Mr.. George
Cary Eggleston tells, in ga Rebels Rec
of friend of his who said,
Before the war, l went to the market
With the money in my pocket, and
brought back my purchase in a basket;
low 1 take my money in the basket, and
BRING the things home in my pocket"
The jest was literally true. The post
'ffice clerks at Richmond resigned be-
,ause they could not live on their salaries
# $50, 900 year in Confederate green
Jacks. A barrel of -four brought 81 900.
tIr. Eggleston saw pair of boots sold
or $500. The price asked was 5000, but
,hange could not be made, and the
purchaser handed over a $500 bill, say
ng: "Keep the change; I never let a
title matter of $500 stand in the way of
! trade" Buying in the markets to sell
gain was forbidden under heavy penal
les, in order to keep prices as low as
possible. Finally, gold rose to 12.4OO
'er cent premium. The "money" be-
anne absolutely valueless. 1t was no
onger a standard. Nothing could be-
measured with it. The community fell
Jack to the barbarism Of barter. A
physician was paid by his planter
'atients in corn. Students paid their
uition-fees in provisions. The very
axes were collected in corn, tobacco,
ggs, chickens, and sweet potatoes.
Confederate currency was issued by a
community which numbered between
en- and twelve million people, controll-
ng rich area of 100000 square miles.
ad practical monopoly of the products of
he of the few great staples,-cotton,-
nd had boundless "faith" in resources"
tself and its success. Everything which
he shin-plaster enthusiasts of to-day
rish to use as the basis of currency
resources" of the country and general
faith"-abounded at the South. But
he one essential thing, provision for its
exemption in gold or its equivalent,
'as wanting. All else was of no avail. |
Before the Confederacy collapsed, its
urrency was worthless. 1t made money
0 "easy" to get. that nobody wanted to
eep it, for it was easier every day. and
7ould therefore, buy less tomorrow. The
rayback is frightful warning to the