Milford chronicle., 1930-11-07
FIRST PAPER
MONEY IN
DELAWARE
Issued In 1928 Under GOU-
ernOr Keith; Precious
To That Tobacco And
FurS We're Only Medi-
um Of Exchange.


When you look at a dollar bill, to-
day, OF ten or a twenty dollar bill,
Cif you have one) does it ever make
you wonder what your grandfathers
or your great-grandfathers used in
its place? Perhaps your curiosity
has been aroused as to what colon
ial inhabitants of your State used
for money. You may have real in
teresting articles about the finances
of other states that made you won
der why you had not read more
about such things in Delaware. But
the answer is that there was never
very much known about colonial
finances in Delaware until the last
few years. In the first place, as you
probably know, Delaware, or the
Three Lower Counties on the Della
ware was part of the province Of
PENNSYLVANIA. 1t was ruled by Penn
sylvania's governor and had the
same land Office. 1t is necessary to
know this in order to trace the his
tory of colonial finances.
In the year 1926 a gentleman liv-
ing in New Castle died. He was sup
posed to have in his possession
some historical papers. A neighbor
asked if he might look over these
papers before they were destroyed,
and he was presented with scrap
basket just ready for the fire. In 1t
he found several papers of Interest
Among them was a paper torn III
two parts which was dated Decem-
Der 10, 1858, and was deed from
the Indian chief Seketarius to Will
liam Penn for all the land from
Christfana Greek to Upland Creek
The commissioners had marked on
the back. mot to be recorded" Of
course when the chief granted Penn
this land he demanded something in
return. He was paid with beads,
coins, tobacco and furs. From this
year (16S3) to the year 1898 the
medium of exchange in Delaware
was tobacco and fur pelts. The only
coined money was used by the
Dutch Gilders and Stivers. During
the year 1888 the Assembly of Penn
Og lNdAlAd DuD6Cu Oil at Coy An9 bA1S
all merchantable wheat, rye, Indian
corn, barley, oats, pork, beef, and
tobacco should be accepted as cur
rent pay at the market price in ev-
cry county and territory in the pro-
vince. This system proved satisfac-
tory for forty years.
The issuance of paper money was
at last made necessary by the Mo
ther Country, England. In the early
days the colonies had to send all
their raw materials and local crops
TO the English. However, they were
forced to buy all they couldn't sup
ply themselves with from England.
All they needed was Obtalnable from
this country only by buying in
sound money or the exchange of
things acceptable to the English
merchants. Delaware's location with
its similarity of soil and climatic
conditions to those of Great Britain
made it impossible for them to fur
nish the things that were in great
demand in England. Consequently
the State had to trade with the
West Indies or other British Colon
les and then send the products of
these colonies to England. Because
of this theory of commerce the three
Lower Counties ON the Delaware
were always drained of coined
money. Before issuing paper mon
cy, however, the Assembly, trying to
encourage the use of hard money,
legalized the English shilling at
$3.50 above its par value and raised
the value of other coins according |
ly. It is easily seen that this was
very unsatisfactory and in 1704 a |
Royal Proclamation decreed a scale !
of values of all foreign coin cur
rent in the colonies and prohibiting |
the exchanging of the coin at any |
other value. AS a result Of this |
there was never enough coined |
money in the colonies to carry on |
local trade, and paper money had
its origin.
In March. 1923. the first act was |
passed legalizing the issuance of /
paper money. A month later $4,000 !
in bills of credit were loaned on real .
estate of double the value of the |
loan. The trustees of the Loan Of
flee in each county loaned the bills |
in sums of G12 to ESQ secured by
first mortgage on real estate. The
mortgages provided for the payment
of interest at SO in paper money
and also that the principal be paid
in eight years by eight equal annual
installments. As soon as the paper
money was paid in it was destroyed.
This act so benefited the province
that in November of the same year
another act was passed authorizing
the issuance of $4,000 in paper
money. The terms of this act were
similar to those of the first. But by
1929 almost all of the e11,000 were
retired from circulation and the
province was in need of more. Since
1928, however, Patrick Gordon had
succeeded Keith as governor of the
colony, and he did not want any