The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-09

Recoilections OF . Veteran S~atesuaasa-
naturally took TO merchandising
When a very small boy I would rather
play aruund my fathers country sure
than out doors: took greater pleas
ure watching ny father sell goods
even than in ! game of baseball.
My first recollection of a Travelling
Man" Is not IS = seller, but rattle: as
a buyer; going from town to town to
purchase. not pr due or grain. but
money. The currency most generally
in use in Illinois. in the days of my
!boyhooG, was the sort which soon b.
came known as Wild Cat Built
tie gold and silver was then In circaia-
ltion. and in place OF the G~reenbacss
and National bank notes, which WERE
esolvced during The War" and which
have since become as solid as the gov
lernment itself-ws had paper that
passed as monty, being used by
state banks supposed TO be safeguard
ed by bonds deposited with the state
treasurer. These bonds were either
City. County of State debentures. is
sued on boom prospects to pay Off
various Improvements. most OF them
necessary enough. including canals
and railways.
BANK NOTE DETECTORS
As there was no more uniformity In
THE outward aspect OF these hank notes
than there was N their actual value
IA large boo soilething like our Dun
Iand Bradstreet OF today came to be
ISSUED quarterly, containing minute
descriptions of Slch banks issues to
help merchants determine Whether
bills as presented to them were genu-
ine or counterfeit. These Bank Note
DetectorS." as they were called. were
consulted every time a bill was offered.
During the panic of 1S57-fSSS many
banks failed all over the coun-
TRY. As the bills of banks in New
England and the middle. as we'll ~
southern states, circulated ~abundantiy
lin Illinois, and the issues OF the I'LL
InOis banks themselves were manifold
land variegated, there was no other
means for discovering whether a Civ
len bill was good or not, except by
consulting this Bank Note Detector;
yet on the very day of its publication
the contents of this book were al of
them weeks and some of them manv
months out OF date
BANK NOTE SHAvERS~
Naturally those were great days for
professional money ~"shayers," for
none of these bills was a legal tender
Nobody had to take il in settlement
lof any non transaction whatsoever.
leven in the state which had authoria-
led their let alone in any
Iother sovereign state OF h Union.
Thus | remember. that once when 10y
Father went to St. Louis with 500 Of
money good" in Illinois he couldn't
Iget rid of a cent of IL all, but had to
come back home and scare up Missouri
bills to- send back for his board at the
hotel. So these travelling men first
mentioned went about buying up bills
if various states. paying for same
with money good" in Illinois, and
they would shave" this foreign
money all the way from 95 to Is per
cent. on a dollar, according to
they knew or guessed they were
f'worth." How different now when ev-
Jerry dollar in circulation is as good in
california as in Massachusetts and all
lover the world as in the United States.
SHIN PLASTER CURRENCY
During the first year of the Civil
WAR the currency. i. e. silver change
became Sc scarce that many merchants
lissred tokens in the form of paste
board tickets or pewter chips "'goot
flor" 5, 10, % and SO cents In ''mer-
~Ichandise." Postage stamps then came
into general use as change" and TOR
convenience in handling same they
were pasted on cards to various
I%anounts. and those of larger denomi-
nations we actually clamped under Isin-
lgiass on metal disks, SO that they
Hooked very much like the campaign
buttons Of later Date. In the course OF
l~events, however, the national govern
Iment came to the relief Of this go-as-
Iyou-please condition of affairs by issrI-
ling multiple stamps unperforated and
Ilngumrned; say, D fives for % cents, OF
5 tens for so cents, ETC., Is fractional.
currency in place of the half dimes.
dimes, quarters and half dollars that,
had been withdrawn from circulation
into the socks and old sugar bowls OF
The thrifty and "skeert' old women Of
both sexes.