New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-28
Millions in Villa Currency
Unguarded-Not Worth
the Trouble to Steal.
BUSHEL BASKETS
AS POCKETBOOKS
Note Issue Limited Only by Viii
las Ability to Pay Printing
Bill in United States Coin.
By Telegraph to Tie Tribune. ]

FL Paso, Tex. Nov. Eff you have
friends in the border country of Chi
huahua or Sonora do not be surprised
if YOU receive instead Of the customary
Christmas carl this year bright, crisp
500 banknote. Maybe it will be !
81 900 note.
Never was money so plentiful or the
border. Unfortunately the most OF il
IS Villa money, and its value lies prin-
cipally in the paper upon which it is
printed. As a medium Of exchange its
worth departed when General Francisco
Villas power as Q dictator was wrested
from him by the Joint efforts of Gen
oral Aware Oregon and the Wilson
administration Obregon through the
lighting ability Of his men and the
Washington government through its
withdrawal Of friendly support.
Now Villas currency has the same
intrinsic value ms had Inc currency of
he 'orfedera., states 1870.
Those who hold large quantities Of
.he discredited Mexican money have
10 nope that il ever will have a value
again. 1t never cid have a great value
Once 1t was worth as much as 20 cents
on the dollar. but that was when Villa
was at the height OF his power and
Carranza was a refugee in the light
house at Vera Cruz.
In little while the greed of the
Nillistas DESTROYED the worth Of the
/ money by having vast quantities of Il
printed and circulated. So plentiful
o+d 1t become that merchants in Villa
territory used warehouses in which to
store their surplus money. and people
who went forth TO buy q few trinkets
carried their money i'm bushel baskets
CT grain sacks.
Valued Now as Souvenir.
From 20 cents on the dollar the
money. which had nothing back of il
except the hope of Villa that he one
GAY would whip Carranza and be rec
ognized by the United States, dropped
few cents day, until soon il was
quoted at one cent on the dollar. then
at enc cent on the thousand dollars.
then as worthless except as souvenirs
OF the days when a bandit held the
fortunes OF lO,OOO,OOO people in his
power.
Villa money is good money in an.
pearance. All of it was printed in
the United States. much of il from ex-
pensively drawn plates, with an eve TO
making II like worth while money. So
long as Villa had real American money
TO pay the printer, he added TO his
store of fictitious wealth.
1t was not unusual for shipments
Of a million, or ten million. or fifty
million pesos in Villa money to lie
around the railway stations In boxes.
which clearly indicated their contents.
No one took the trouble TO steal il.
% have stolen box would have ne
cessltated paying q drayman a quarter
in real money TO haul il away.
Now Villa currency has no value
even in Villa territory. To prevent
people from attempting to force its ac-
ceptance the Villa government has
issued a decree that all customs duties
and all payments for taxes or for post
age. must now be in United States
currency or in silver. As result
there is now in Mexico and in banks
and stores on the American side some
hundreds of millions of dollars in
Villa currency that is given space
merely because it is not worth the ex-
pense of being burned.
Ton Not Worth a Street Car Ride.
For more than year the FL Paso
Electric Railway Company was forced
by its concession i'm Jaurez, to accept
the Mexican currency. As result
MeXicans rode to FL Paso for virtu-
ally nothing, and were entitled TO
transfer tickets to any part of Fl Paso.
A Villa five centavo bill, worth abso-
lutely nothing, paid the fare of any one
on the Mexican side. To return, how
ever. they had TO pay a real American
nickel.
Finally it reached a point where the
Mexicans themselves became ashamed
TO take advantage Of a benevolent cor
poration, and Juarez officials relieved
the company from the necessity of &C
cepting Villa money.
While Villa money still was a medium
Of exchange, and not more than three
months ago, one could go to Juarez with
q 81 American bill, make a five-cent
purchase and receive in change more
perfectly good looking Villa money than
could be carried away. American
money, by order of lila, never was
given in change, although il was eager
ly sought by Mexicans.
Silver Coins Worth Double Value.
As a substitute for his discredited
currency Villa is having silver, pesos
coined in mint he has set up in Chi
huahua. They were not received with
glad acclaim. They were cumbersome,
roughly made, impossible to carry in
pockets with any degree of satisfaction,
and they would rot buy enough drinks,
cigars or food in Juarez.
Soon, however, FL Paso bankers dis
covered that Villas silver coins had a
real value. 1t was found that in add
tion to having more silver in them than
had the old Mexican pesos. they also,
through the ignorance Of the Mexican
money coiners, had considerable
quantity of gold, and that instead Of
being worth the peso they called for,
they in reality were worth about twice
as much.
A wild scramble by Americans TO get
as many of the new Villa pesos ms they
could in given time followed the dis
covery of their value. Villa officials
were in alarm. Orders were quickly
issued by Villa prohibiting the exporta-
ton for any reason of any OF the new
coins. Those caught attempting TO take
them out Of Villa territory were threat
ened with death, and now. while Villa
currency can be found by the CARLOAD
on the American side, II is impossible