Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-06-19
MEXICAN MONEY
ALMOST EQUAL To
NO MONEY At ALL
Presses Grind Out Script That
viii Constitute an Obligation
for All Time to Come if It.
Is Paid,

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Copyright; 1915; by The Chicago Tribune.)
El paso, Tex, June 12..-Lay $50
gold piece ON the counter of any OF
the money changing offices here In El
Paso and the swarthy mustached at
| tondant will count out li5 crisp. new
So bills and shove the pile toward YOU.
for the gold piece YOU will receive eX-
S725--in Mexican money
One Mexican dollar--or peso--of
the villa issue is worth not quite three
cents In United States currency. The
prevailing rate all over the republic
OF Mexico Is thirty five Mexican dol
lars for one silver cart-wheel Of the
~ Pluribus Unum" variety Here
along the border sportively inclined
person who lights his cigar with $50
! bill (Mex.D is considered a plker for
| his sixty cents exhibition.
With the growing prospects of Unit
ed States Intervention In Mexico,
| bankers and business men OF the do
Vastated nation are wondering what
policy this country will adopt with
regard to the billions and billions o.
fiat money now in circulation. The
printing presses of Mexico and incis
IDENTIFY the establishments of several
American engraving companies have
be en- turning this money out In sheets
and rolls for four years now.
Obligation for Untold Generations.
If the money Is to be recognized at
its face value 1t will constitute an oh
legation which win be the burden Of
Mexico's unborn generations for hum
dreds of years 10 come. If the money
Is repudiated those saving ones who
have accumulated bales of il In the
hopes of subsequent valuation may as
well begin papering the walls of their
houses with IT,
There is no Mexican silver money
'of the old federal issue in circulation.
one of these silver dollars Is worth
about forty-elght cents, due to the
fact that there Is that much valuable
metal in il. Mexicans are not allowed
20 take this money out of the country,
They are relieved of it at the border
II IL Is found in their possession.
The possessors of this money have
hidden II. All business is transacted
with the various kinds of fiat money, |
depending upon the territory in which !
the transaction IL made. II Is not con- !
sidered conducive to long life to refuse
to accept the paper money especially |
If the army happens to be in town |
that day. [
Pawnbroker Made Fortune.
In the early part of the revolution |
one faction started the coinage of sill |
yer dollars bearing the inscription !
Death TO Huerta." The coins were
made from large quantity Of confis-
Gated bullion from several mines In /
the state of Chihuahua The new
coins, being apparently OF the same /
size and weight as the old Mexican sill
yer dollar. We're exchangeable at the !
old rate of forty-eight cents apiece.
An III Paso pawnbroker with an In
turn of mind discovered (
the fact that there was seventX-four
cents worth of silver bullion in each
of the dollars that could be bought for
cents apiece. Before any
one else discovered the mistake made
by the revolutionary mountain mint,
the pawnbroker had removed the 4
three golden balls from in front of his
store, sent his two sons to college, and
settled down to spend his reclining
years on an estate at Pasadena, Calf \
Since the discovery became known no
che has been allowed to take silver
money out of Mexico.
The manufacture of money has
been one of Mexco's industries during
he wars. The minor revolutionists of
he republic direct their principal eff
forts toward capturing the printing
press belonging to the enemy.
Press Mightier Than Sword.
1t is a greater prize than battery {
If artillery. In Mexico the printing
lress. and not the pen, is mightier
han the sword.
While the fighting men have been
ssuing this money on the promise Of
al MIL
evolution, their less timid brothers.
he exiles who have found ii healthier
m the north side of the Rio Grande,
rave had printing presses humming }
ust as merrily The result is that, re-
ardless of death penalties there is al
aost as much counterfeit money in
REGULATION as there Is bona fide, IL
my of 1t can be called that /
Currency Carried i'm Boxcars {
Two weeks ago the paymaster Of g
'illa's army told mo he was handling !
100000 of paper pesos month. ]
lis name is Salazar and he is called
he "Pagadua general" He rides In q
rivate Pullman with a large staff of
Jerks Before the war he was a telc-
raph operator on the railroad OF
curse there is no safe or vault large
nough to hold this money In the
uhulttleS tDdt uIt neCeSSdfAt 30 II Is u
ut in large crates and carried along @
nth the army in boxcarsa. C.
When villa arrives In territory from J
hitch the Carranzistas have with n
rawn or been driven the women and n
eggars storm his car, holding up +
andfuls of the Carranza bills and \
egging to have them changed into c
lila money In some cases the money l.
! exchanged, in other cases the en- i
re province finds itself loaded down ii
18th worthless bills Of one kind which {;
ant be spent and facing a flood of A
orthless bills Of another kind which n
lust be accepted.
Mexico has plenty OF money. II is
CODED with money. The difficulty is r.
nat it is worthless. There is one sat -
faction the American tourist can in r.
ulge in when he steps on the street =,
ar in Juarez to ride across the bor- I,
err into El Paso. He can pay the =,
ire with a Mexican fivc-cent piece =,
lat looks like greasy milk ticket, =.
nd the conductor has to accept 1t. ;,
he ride costs little more than one a
nth of cent. ~
u