The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1886-06-02

| DrOSlOeO lot 4 lOiu VI S1o,VVO,VVV "
meet the emergencies Of Govern
ment," they thereby provided another
emergency. The Government had
no paper to print their bonds, GER
tifcatcs and notes upon. They man.
aged to get the chief ingredient OF
paper money credit very we'll, but
stuck fast a while for lack of what is
usually comparatively valueless. The
paper mills of the South made only
the ordinary newspaper and the COM
mon wrapping paper of the shops.
The finer manufactures of the coun-
try lay north Of the line Of separa-
ton. G. B. Lamar, president of the
Bank of the Republic, in New York,
acting as agent for the Confederate
Government, arranged to have the
work done by the American Bank
Note Company. but when the bonds
and notes were all handsomely
printed and ready to be shipped the
secret service officers Of the National
Government swooped down and con.
fscated the whole batch. The diff
Guilty Of finding paper and engravers
was not solved until after the re-
moval of the Government from Mont
gomery to Richmond. The Rich
mond paper mills were finally able to
furnish sort of bank-note paper, but
the first issue was printed by firm
of German engravers in Richmond
on paper smuggled through the lines
from Baltimore. The first proof
sheet, of eight one-hundred dollar
bills, was far from handsome, but
they were in q hurry and they ap-
proved it. 1t is now in the posses
sion of Col. Capers, and bears upon
the back Of it this inscription, made
at the time, in the handwriting OF
Secretary Memminser:
"When the money-changers become
familiar with the peculiar features Of
these uncanny bills it will be as diff
cult to pass g counterfeit as if they
were engraved on steel by an expert;
may be more So
Secretary Memminger seems to
have been both wit and q philoso-
phcr.
Unattr:.ctive as they were in ap-
pearance and uncertain in the prom
ise they expressed; they passed at
par in several seaports Of Dixie "for
at least a month" as Col. Capers
carefully puts it latter they were
issued" Several large bills of ex-
change were bought in London and
Paris at par. But the financial boom
of the Confederacy didn't last long.
When it came to be August, '61, the
Canal and Citizens banks in New
Orleans were the only ones handling
Confederate money a: par. On the
9th of August even they suspended
specie payments, notifying the Rich
mond authorities Of their intention
two days in advance by q private
cipher dispatch. Col. Capers has
the original Of this dispatch, in pursu-
ance of which the Government made
quite saving speculation for itself
by buying up all the foreign ex-
change it could lay its hands on in
New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah,
Charleston and Richmond during the
two days of grace.
Col. Capers's recollection of those
early days Of the war are ~Seatin-
uous Story of make-shifts andt. Sdi-
ents. The young Government H. !
from hand to mouth. One OF tn.
first naval officers to report for duty
was Raphael Semmes, afterwards
commander Of the Alabama. lie
was on hand before they had deck
for him to stand on, and worked for
a short time in the treasury depart
ment at Montgomery. A merchant
yess5.. was soon bought and Semmes,
after inspecting her, returned to
Montgomery and announced to his
fellow-clerk, Col. Capers:
She is q good craft, sir, good
craft. When / have strengthened
her timbers and cut her down to
fighting trim, my word for it, she will
do brave work, sir
She was accordingly alv,red and
armed and, with Semmes on her
quarter deck, made good his predic-
ton to the dire cost of such as went
down to the sea in ships under the
Stars and Stripes in those days. The
vessel was the Sumter.
sEN1Es wn.TTLEs FOR Ills PAPERS.
But when she was ready to sail and
her register made out, it was dis
covered at the last moment that the
treasury department of the Confede-
rate States had no seal. There