Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-09-03

If banker or business man of to.
ray should issue note promising Ito
pay the bearer G1s cents when The sum
of IS is presented" ii is safe to say
that he would he left for u long time
In undisturbed possession of his cium.
Everybody would consider such an Of
fer ridiculous, AMI the person who
should make IT. would he considered
crazy or IL simpleton. Yet there WAS Il
bank in Baltimore is years ago which
made the identical promise" in ques-
ton. issuing hank notes which the
average citizen in these days would re-
gard as the most absurd paradox imag-
inablr.
A collection OF quaint and curious
bank paper" that Il professional num-
lsmatist would envy has recently come
into possession of Cashier Fred NJ.
Blount, of the Chicago National bank
In the collection is the Baltimore
bank note to which reference has hccn
made 1t is dated 1910 and reads as
follows
81 promise to pay the bearer, in
Baltimore bank notes, 6H cents ON
demand, when the sum of S. is pro
sentcd."
II this notes meaning was the prima
facie meaning which it has for readers
vi lOVuS lnc UtHk tllit lSSUcu IT. Wuulu
he worthy of place in history as the
pioneer gct-rich-quick institution. but
it Is not to br supposed that even in
those primitive times there were any
persons in Baltimore or elsewhere who
would flock to Il bank or any other in.
sttutiOn to exchange S. in notes or
coin for other moncy-6i4 cents
worth Just one hundred and twentieth
part of the sum paid In. So il is clear
that there must be an explanation of
the paradox.
Only one explanation is possible. II
IS that the baltimore bank" an insti
tuition in existence in the Maryland
capital III 1870 was unwilling to re-
deem It's ga cent notes unless 81
worth Of thcm-l20 separate notes
were presented together In other
words. it promised to redeem the notes
only in blocks of 40. Such is tho On
PLANTATION accepted by local bankers
and business men familiar with tho
history of American coinage and cur
rency. This half,shilling paper money
of the Baltimore financial institution
is a good specimen of the fractional
paper currency in vogue i'll the days
when the relative value of paper
money and coin was unstable and
i
were then no national banks or other
banking system controlled by the Nd
tionaI Government. All tho banks were
either absolutely private banks or at
best but banks chartered and imncr
fectly regulated or controlled by the
State governments.
Private credit or State credit. not
the national credit, was the basis Of
banking. Reputation was no uncom
mon thing and the fluctuations in actu-
al valne of the bank notes was Il seri-
GUS embarrassment TO business. 1t
was then impossible to transact bust
ness, especially Interstate business,
On anything like the close margin of
profit that is the rule OF trade ut the
present day. Large and liberal allow
ance had to be made for the constant
fluctuations in the value of the notes
paper money-issucd by tho various
banking institutions. 1t was then
about as difficult in another State as
1t now is to collect debt from the
Sultan of Turkey or the Emperor of
Siam or China. or to market a Mueller
law certificate in Chicago.
To meet the emergency it was nee,
essary for the business man of the
period to keep well posted Oh the val
ues of all kinds of money then i'll circn-
lation, especially the paper money.
Some genius of finance got
out publication known MS
"The Bank Note Detective" II
was a volume that instantly filled
an important place In the business
world. 1t was absolutely necessary to
every business man and banker Of the
period-much more necessary than the
Dun and Bradstrect reports to the
business world of today Edition after
edition of this work was exhausted
But in time it was impossible for the
corrections in credit to keep pace with
the credit fluctuations. Those were the
palmy days of wildcat banking'-thn
Gld-time system akin to the high fill
ance" of the present day.
Drastic action now had to be taken,
and the agitation for uniformity in
banking took definite form and shape.
Out of this. movement came the federal
laws establishing national banks and
their inspection and regulation by Of
fclals of the government at Washing
ton al. mon
One oftthe reasons why the ancient
currency fluctuatei so necessarily was
fhe popular tendency to hoard gold and
silver coins. the moneys that alone had
intrinsic vahIe. whenever the country
then a new nation struggling for
footing among the world powers-was
troubled with any internal disturb
anceS OF its own or was menaced nv