Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1890-12-04
THE PosTx 61 CURRENCY.
How It Came Ante ne During the
Early DayG& the War.

the h Saa ,espf In ss ay easssa y
disappearance Of The gold and silver
coins from circulatiQn with marvellous
celebrity. They seemed to vanish in
day probably into the private boards Of
the people, since the spe0l8 ~ the banks
failed to show any Considerable increase.
War existed no one could predict the
future, the thrift and caution Of the PEG
Pile led them to lay Something aside
which would not lose its purchasing
power. They fastened tdSlay hold Of
these coins, and secrete thG1 where they
could be found when othe means of sub
sistence failed.
The scarcity of these coins produced
great inconvenience in business. It be-
came almost impossible to make change
in the ordinary purchases from dealers
and merchants. Shinplasters began to
make their appearance to supply the de-
ticiency. In the Southern States these
were not only issued by private individ-
uals and private corporations, but by
States, counties, cities, towns and all
other municipal corporations. A collec-
ton of these Confederate shinplasters
upon all kinds of paper, from white
writing to brown wrapping, would now
be an interesting meinento of the war,
but in pecuniary sense absolutely
worthless.
The credit of devising lawful and
adequate remedy for this inconvenience
belongs to General Francis f. Spinner
Treasurer of the. United States. He found
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do the payment of the soldiers and sail
ors, and to conduct the business of the
Treasury with the small coins at his
command. He therefore arranged with
the Post Office Department to redeem in
unused stamps such postage-stamps as
might be used for currency. In a short
time his department manufactured and
introduced new issue. All the demon
nations were of uniform size. A piece
of paper with one stamp pasted on it was
five cents; one with two stamps, ten
cents; five stamps, twenty-five cents; and
ten stamps, fifty cents. In this way, at
the cost of a little labor, considerable
amount of small change was manufac-
tured. This currency became so popular
that, instead of using stamps, plates were
engraved for each denomination, in imi-
tation of the manufactured notes, the
impressions from which had the same
legal qualities and were used for the
same purposes. These impressions were
called the postage curreecy." They
were afterwards authorized by the Act of
july II, 1862, which directed
the Secretary to furnish to the
Assistant Treasures ''the postage
and other stamps of the United States to
be exchanged by them on application for
United States notes" These stamps were
receivable in payment of all dues to the
United States of less than five dollars,
And could be exchanged for United States
notes when presented in sums of not less
than five dollars. The same act put an
end to the further issue of shinplasters by
making the issue or circulation by private
persons or corporations OF notes or tokens
for less than one dollar punishable by
fine and Imprisonment
The convenience of the postage cur
h rency was great, and the amount called
for increased to an extent which became
troublesome to the Post office Depart
ment, and the Secretary decided to take
it into the Treasury, where it legitimately
belonged. Accordingly an act was passed
which suspended its further issue, and
substituted in its place currency of
another description. Harper's Maya
zine.