The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-12-07
WHEN STAMPS WERE MONEY.
A Chapter Of the Financial History of
the First Year Of tile WAR.

A Chapter of the Financial History OF
the First Year Of Tie WAR.
postage stamps were used as cur
rency in this country, shortly after the
last wal was begun" remarked a veteran
~tinaneier to a reporter the other day.
"All coin was Withdrawn from circula-
ton, and there was nothing to make
change with. Storekeepers issued shin
plasters in the shape of pieces of card
board, on which were printed the words,
Good for ten cents or such in sum as
might be needed for the purpose, with
the name of the person issuing them also
printed.
"Other houses had an imitation Of q
bank bill printed, OF different denomina-
tions from five cents to fifty.
"Au these things passed current; and
the storekeepers' promise to pay circu-
lated as freely as a bank note. Store
keepers had their credit to preserve and
honored their shinplasters whenever pre-
scented.
''There was q hotel on Fulton street,
New York, that issued notes or bills of
twenty-five and ffty-cent denominations.
They were well executed by a bank-note
printer, and cost a large sum to print.
The name of the hotel appeared in the
place of the usual bank name"
"But what has all this to do with the
postage stamp"
81 am coming to that. There were
times when smaller change was neces-
sary, and the postage stamp was then
given. AS there was some responsibility
in the shape of the national government
for the issue of a postage stamp the
people began to have more confidence in
them than in the private shinplasters. 1t
was also stated that thelatter were issued
in defiance of law, and no court could
compel Il storekeeper to redeem them.
Even cities had issued these shinplasters,
making them redeemable in the payment
of taxes, and altogether the number be-
came great, and many irresponsible per-
sons put forth a mass of worthless paper
on the market.
CAS- soon as distrust arose the working
classes preferred postage stamps, and
storekeepers found them useful in max
ing small change.
"In a short time there were thousands
in circulation and w%orkingmen were
often paid by their employers in stamps
lone up in envelopes like those used to-
day on the one-horse cars, the envelopes
having printed on them the amount OF
money value enclosed.
'In warm weather they often stuck to-
Cether. Then, if change was wanted,
there would be trouble. Damp fingers in
h~andling.would also the same an
noyance, andwhile as change the stamps
were considered convenient, yet as a eur
rency they were pronounced a nuisance.
1.-The national government therefore.hit
on a plan for the issuing of a postal cur
rency of the color of the stamps. a FIVE
cent postal bill had the representation of
q flve-cent stamp on its face, and a twenty
five cent bill had five fye-eent stamps
laying side by side and tapping oyer each
other. The color was orange yellow.
"Aten-cent postal bill had the represen-
tation Of a ten-cent postage stamp, and a
fifty-cent bill five ten-cent stamps ar
ranged as before mentioned. Ghe color
was green.
"These small bills were redeemable in
legal tenders or g~reenbacks when pre-
scented in sums OF s. or more. After a
while these bills drove out the postage
stamps except for sums less than five
cents.
But during the time the stamps werein
general use the national government
must have made a large sum OF money,
as there were many postage stamps des-
treyed in more ways than one, but prin-
cipally by adhesion. After 6 while the
postal billswere withdrawn and the frac-
tional currency issued inits place. These
remained in use until the restoration of
specie payments in the shape of sabordin-
ate 81