Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-09-22
AN INFLATED CURRENCY,
The Effect OF "EiastIc Money" Upon
Enyti-A Theusnnh pOi.ars sor u
E'ar-Esecoticctions OF ,sc visit Of
the United states commissioners to
san Domingo.

wan bomhNgOs
Gen. Il. '. Boynton writes as follows to
the Cincinnati Gazette: The farmers and
merchants of OHIO may be interested in
| brief account Of rag money. as our CON-
missiouers to SAnto Domingo, and those
! who were with them, saw it in IIayti.-
| The currency had been inflated there with
a vengeance. 1t had fully reached the
| Democratic maximum. The agricultural
classes, as represented in the markets. the
retail dealers a! the fruit stands, the great
cotitc-houscs, aud the banks--especially the
| banks-were loaded down with it. On all
sides it was evident that the Democratic
standard of perfect financial happiness had
been reached, for the government had issued
grcenbacks until every man, woman, and
child had more than they knew what to do
| with, in fact, until the care of the money
was the chief burden connected with Oh
tanning and possessing il. Certainly ma.
| ton has reached the highest rou.d contem.
| plated by the ohioDcmocracy when the la
h2rof getting money is mere pastime COM
| pared with the task uf counting mp and
taking care Of the great pile wlel, little
labor produces. BIT in treating Of these
halayon days Of rag money IN Hsy,i, de-
tails will prove more interesting than scn-
| eralilies.
After being n sea for some time. men,
when they land AT a new place, usually
follow the example Of American women
under similar circumstances. and do little
| shopping. Bent upon such mission,
nearly our whole party found itself lis:rib-
| uted among the shops and stores. and
| through the market soon after landing. No
| one had made himself acquainted in adj
vance with the financial state of the coun-
try. but each carried y moderate supply Of
American greenbacks. q little gold, aud a
small quantity of silver change. The first
mention of prices staggered the whole par
ty. Mr.. WAGE, the president of The COM
mission, wanted q broad brimmed hat TO be
comfortable in while he walked up to pay
his respects to thepresdent of the republic.
Selecting a fairlooking hat, and putting it
| on, he ran his hand in his pocket, and ask
ed Glow much?" ''Ono thousand dollars"
was the reply. Mr.. Wade took his hand
ont OF his pocket, removed the hat, and
looked at it. There was nothing reuarka-
BILE about its appearance; there was no sill
yer or gold thread woven into IT; the mate
rial was common straw. and he concluded
he had misunderstood. and asked again.
After considerable effort on the part of the
various Interpreters attached to the party.
namely, Judge Burton for ordinary Span
ish; Prof. Crane, of Cornell, for pure Cas-
titan, aud MIR. Jacobs, of Ohio. for both
French and Spanish, Nlr, Wade became
satisfied that the price was really 81 900 -
But little light dawned upon him through
the explanation which was added, that tie
price was calculated ''in our money" so he
returned his hand to his pocket, and taking
ont a few American greenbacks he asked.
| through the force ofinterpreters. how much
the shop-kceper wanted of that kind OF
money. The latter selected 50 and then
the condition o! things financially began to
\ aAwh ii'sn-lAe sksait y.ss.Al,s sa,,,ss,.
I by those who medtatea shopping passed
| OFT and purchasing began. Mr. Ramstlcl,
bonghta chir-hat he'd at 500 for fifty cents.
Mr. Foley secured . finer article marked
$40 for SIS. At the fruit stands russell ap-
Piles brought from the United States, which,
had been peeled and the specks and decay
ed spots cut oct, were selling, or rather
were held at sixteen and twenty dollars, but
eight and ten cents in silver would readily
secure the best Suits of clothes, olcCa arse
texture, such as Sam Carey might wearfto
catch srangers with, ranged from $4,000 to
$4,000, hut could he had ON moderate
terms for American Greenbacks.
The state OF the market, on account Of
the great abundance of money, was exceed
insly variable. AT adjoining stores and
shops The prices were far from uniform.-
The sight OF q gold or silver dollar, or
American money, which WAS at par on the
steamers at the wharves, seemed to disable
all the lightning caIcnlators of tho shops,
and in reducing lhcir prices To the money
OF the world some counted one hundred,
and some two hundred and fifty for one.
The scene in the large commercial houses
was an instructive one for Democrats.
Some of the party visited large collas.
horse fronting the quay. There was n
great stock on hand, and it was tisnosol in
immense piles reaching TO The ceiling. and
extending the lengthof the warehouse. In
the clear space near the door, and adjoining
the ciliee, sat negro woman halfeoncealed
among several piles of wha, all mistook for
bundles of rags. She was rapidly pulling
oyer packages of what appeared to he waste
paper and rags, and dcpositing them in
large baskets near her. 1t seemed odd to
all that an establishment dealing SO heavily
in coffee, should add small dealings in rags
to its business. Passing along the block,
| the same scene WAS presented at stores of
every class. No matter what the business.
there in the space outside the Office was the
sorter of rags. Theinvoluntary question
"Does everybody in port-au.Prince deal in
rags was soon answered by the explaua-
ton that these sorters were arranging and
counting money. And sure enough, this
was the true solution. The whole party
stopped at the next Pile. woman rat on
the floor, with heap containing several
bushels OF var;ous-sized bundles Of dirty
paper about her. These she was eyamiu.
| ing, opening, and counting some, ana dis
| trbuiing all into three baskets, each hold.
| ing ially bushel. There seemed TO be no
fear Of lis being stolen, for the woman al.
lowed members of the party to handle it,
and even to sort over the loose specimens.
and for few silver pieces specimens of
nearly all varieties which the heap contain
ed were readily procured.
Il H., i