The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-03
A CURRENCY LESSON
Canadian Experiments in Fiat
Money Under French Rule.
An Era of P~layiDg-Card Money Was Fol-
lowed by Promises to Pay, Which
Brought About Bankruptcy.

this province when il belonged to France.
Much that is interesting and instructive re-
mains to be told. The older writers and the
old records enable one to form a tolerably
clear idea Of what happened. A brief state
ment OF the facts may throw some light on
questions now yeXing the United States; 1t
will certainly afford food for thought to
such modern advocates of cheap money"
as are not above thinking.
For many years peltries and wheat, the
latter being legal tender at the rate of four
livres per bushel, were used as currency in
the colony. In 1910 Louis the Fourteenth
caused a special issue of coin money 10 the
amount of 1000 livres TO be struck for
Canada and the Antilles. the object being
ito facilitate trade with those our colonies"
The issue consisted OF silver coins Of 10 soils
and 5 soils and of copper deniers. The other
coins in circulation were the ordinary silver
and copper coins of France, which were of
unstable value. The livre tournois. or Tours
livre, so called from being minted at Tours,
was the sterling or money of account" in
the colony. Very little coin of any sort,
however, came in the way of the people who
lived outside Of the settlements at Quebec,
Three Rivers and Montreal; and even from
those places II often vanished, displaying a
strange tendency" as one of the intendants
| wrote, TO return to France in payment Of
| goods supplied. Beaver-skins, moose-skins.
and wheat were q cumbersome medium of
exchange, though not more so perhaps than
sailed and frozen eeis. a barrel OF which
passed as half a livre in the islands below
this city; and as time went on the settlers
began TO complain of the difficulty Of buying
and selling. Things came TO q head one day
In 1856 when the intendant. Meales, found
himself without funds, with the soldiers
waiting for their pay and the last ship of
the season arrived from France.
81 have no money" Meales writes, land
not knowing 10 what saint TO make my vows
the idea has occurred TO me of circu ating
money made of playing cards, each cut In
four pieces; these L have issued, together
With an ordinance commanding the inhab-
itants to accept them This card currency
was of various denominations in livres, soE,
and deniers. There were no printing presses
In the colony, and the cards were written
by the treasurer, signed by him, the Gov
eTnor, and the intendant, and stamped with
the crown and feur-de-lis. They we're con-
vertible at Quebec into bills of exchange
drawn on the French government, in the
fall of the year, and so long as the bills
were promptly paid passed from hand TO
hand at their face value and proved q great
convenience. By and by, when the officials
required more funds, a second lot Of card
money was issued, made payable, however,
at Quebec on demand The settlers pre-
ferred the first issue because it was yir-
tually redeemable iE France, and because
they had had experience Of it; but the
treasurer managed to put the second on a
solid footing by giving out that it would
have the call in buying bills on France.
Other issues followed. and everything went
well until. in consequence of the desperate
condition of the French treasury, the bills
began TO be subjected TO a big shave and
were finally sent back dishonored. This
occurred In 1711. 1t was then found that
the card money In circulation amounted TO
20,ccO.
THE CARDS REDEEMED.
yVhop TIo o-oz 49, Ct -. -
officials did was to issue a decree. They
imagined that by decreeing they could pre-
vent the depreciation of the money, but
they were soon deceived and obliged to
make a settlement. The settlement, a COM
plicated affair, provided, in effect, for the
redemption of the cards at half their face
value. Thus a card for four livres was re-
duced to two livres. Some holders got off
by. a special arrangement with the loss of
only three-eighths of their money. A new
issue of cards was foated as part of the
edemptio scheme. but it did not fare we'll.
AT first blush some of the settlers thought
a deprecated currency was a good thing for
them, assuming, like the greenback and
silver people in the United States, that il
would enable them to get ahead of their
creditors This Is clear from the records OF
tne royaI Jurisdictions, which show thai
settlers bought card money at its depre-
ciated value, and rendered it in payment
resisted the fraud, and after or during the
litigation, a decree was passed that where
there was no provision In a lease or other
contract that payment was to be made II
sterling money monnaie turnoise) or In
in Ihf the money Iafyer OF vita tifhane 9 red II s should ii be 25 made nd{
cent, that being the usual difference be-
tween the currency of France and the CO.
duction where payment in sterling. Frencl
currency had been expressly stipulated
That was perfectly fair. Before the bottom
of the, welter was reached the settler:
learned from experience that, after all, tn,
creditor and capitalist class had hold of the
based currency does not hurt it nearly a:
mlch as il hurts the poor man.
In the first place, It was the poor man
The officials, who formed a large class
always had more or less coin, for specie
still came from France every year to paN
royal accounts. This specie was passed Il
the townspeople, the butchers, bakers, anC
so on. The traders who dealt with the In
dams did not need much money, but wha
they he'd was mostly coin. for they mad,
a business Of buying goods smuggled from
the neighboring British colonies and "habi
tant money" as the cards was called, woult
not pass muster for that traffic. The mer
chants in this city were the richest clas
in the colony. Their stores were in tn
lower town Their freights arrived from
France at the end OF April or the begin
ming Of May, and were distributed anon,
their agencies, up and down the st. Law
renee. by barges. As they had TO pay 70
the goods in specie or the currency o
France. they demanded specie from thei
agents, or. failing that, money of France
/. e., they added enough to the cost pric
not only to insure a large profit but t
bring the payment, if it were in cards, u
to the value Of French currency. The well
TODD seigntors, who purchased their bran
dy, snuff and wine in Quebec, and wor
imported clothes used coin money for III
most part except in their business with TN
habitant, who was paid i'm cards. Twic
a year. spring and fall, the habitant cam
to town for supplies, bringing with hir
products Cor barter, but whatever Nigh
be coming to him after the deal was pai
in cards. Besides being beggared by tn
depreciation and scaling down" Of the car
more than anyone else by the loss OF creiit
the enormous advance In the price OF stor
goods and the general prostration. TIL
price of his wheat did not rise in proportio
because it was fixed by decree, nor tn
price Of his other ~wares-poultry. eeIs
meat. butter. etc.-of which there was com
monty a superabundance.
A QUEER DECREE.
Some truly remarkable DEGREES were prc
mulgated during the attempt to rlgr
things. but we must remember that fnar
cial science existed, if at all, only in tn
germ, and that mems minds were full :
/ illusions and decisions about money. Or
; decree sought to reduce the value OF gol
coin, which had been coming into the co
ony after the debacle, apparently on tn
theory that IL gold were deprecated ther
would be a better chance for card none
TO rise. When this failed, a decree was Il