tutes-e.g., our own fractional currency; the other, the abundant issue of copper coins-e.g., so that twelve pennies may do the work of a shilling. If the crisis is prolonged the government sooner or later steps in to give relief in one of these ways or both. But the need brooks no delay, and it frequently happens that before the slow machinery of the government is set in motion private persons seek relief in the unauthorized issue of both notes and coin to meet the emergency.

In the United States resort has been made to tokens at various times. During the suspension of specie payments in 1812 and in 1837, large quantities were issued. Few of these "shinplasters" have been preserved; but the historians tell us that they were in universal use and, if we consider the circumstances of their issue, we may well believe that it was so. In the panic of 1837 some relief was sought in the issue of coppers. Within certain limits, such coins in sufficient quantities are capable of being a substitute for small silver. Some of these private copper coins have been preserved. Numismatists enumerate some 164 varieties of such coins from the Jacksonian epoch. In diameter and thickness they correspond to the large copper cent then in use.

Of the coins described by the numismatist, some ninety-three are what are designated as shop cards. These were issued by merchants and others, partly as advertisements, partly to supply the great need of small change. Some of them bear inscriptions, "For public accommodation," and the like, which indicate their purpose. On the other hand, a large number of the coins of this period were used as vehicles of political satire and abuse. The victim of this abuse is generally Jackson. Thus, one coin of 1834 bears the gaunt figure of the President, carrying in one hand a sword and in the other a money-bag, surrounded by the words, "A plain system, void of pomp." On the reverse of the coin is the emblem of a jackass in his most stubborn attitude, with the letters "LL.D." on his haunches, in allusion to the degree conferred on Jackson by Harvard University. Over the jackass are the words "Roman Firmness" and around the edge the celebrated words of Jackson, "The Constitution as I understand it." Another coin of 1837 bears a representation of a turtle carrying on its back an iron safe labelled "Sub-treasury," while beneath are the words, "Fiscal agent" and around the coin, "Executive experiment." The reverse of this coin has a jackass running, and the words from Van Buren's inaugural, "I follow in the steps of my illustrious predecessor." The contest over the Bank is shown in two contrasted coins

of this period. One bears a ship under full sail, labelled "Constitution," and around it the words, "Webster, credit currency, 1840"; while the other shows a ship labelled "Experiment," struck by lightning and foundering in the waves, with the inscription, "Van Buren, metallic currency, 1837." A few of the coins are laudatory of Jackson and his party, but the greater number contain expressions of abuse and ridicule. A full list of these coins, with appropriate explanations, would form a complete exposition of the political controversies of the day; for among them we find references to the Bank, the suspension of specie payments, Benton's "mint-drops," slavery and kindred subjects of contemporary interest. The strong political bias of these coins leads us to doubt whether their circulation as money was as general as that of the neutral merchant tokens. They are none the less a curious monument alike of the bitterness of political strife and of the disorders of the currency.

Again during the Civil War the depreciation of the greenbacks soon drove the subsidiary silver from circulation and compelled a resort to cheap substitutes and tokens. To mitigate this evil a law was enacted July 17, 1862, authorizing the secretary of the treasury to issue stamps to be exchanged for United States notes. Private issues were prohibited in the most explicit terms.

This law was commonly understood to authorize the use of postage stamps, and its first effect was a run upon the post-office for stamps. The postmaster-general reported that in the third quarter of 1862 the receipts from the sale of stamps in twenty-nine of the larger postoffices exceeded by $794,340.08 the receipts in the corresponding quarter of 1861. This excess was, in fact, greater than the total sales in the third quarter of 1861. In New York City alone the excess was $425,296. Even at this rate the post-office department did not supply half the quantity demanded. Such a sudden and unusual demand greatly embarrassed the postal authorities and led to orders from headquarters to refuse to sell stamps wherever there was reason to believe they were not to be used for postal purposes. The adhesive stamps of the post-office were an awkward makeshift as currency. They cracked easily, and when they grew dirty could not be used for their original purposes. Frequently the mucilage was washed off or they were pasted upon strips of cardboard. In some cases they were encased in metal, and I have seen one with the face protected by a piece of mica and bearing on the back an ingenious advertisement.

The unfitness of the postage stamps for currency led the secretary of the treasury to substitute small notes for them. As these notes bore for each denomination a representation of the postage stamp of the same value, they were known as postage currency. In December, 1862, he reported that it had been found impossible to keep pace with the public demand, though the daily issue was $100,000 and was being rapidly increased to twice that amount. Yet at the time of preparing his report the aggregate issue had reached only $3,884,000, and to meet the imperious needs of the trading public the issue was too slow. In March, 1863, fractional notes were authorized to the extent of $50,000,000. They were to take the place of the postage currency, but by June 30, 1863, none had been issued, though the postage notes then amounted to $20,192,456. It would appear that this sum really met the needs of the time, for it was only gradually increased, though as time went on the fractional currency took the place of the postage issues. The combined issues as late as June 30, 1866, amounted to not more than $27,070,876.

If by the close of 1863 the government had succeeded in supplying the need of small currency, the same was not true in the early months of that year, which, despite the prohibitions of the law, showed a remarkable crop of "shinplasters" and copper tokens. The issue of the latter began in the fall of 1862 and reached its height in the early part of 1863. The Coin Collectors' Journal for 1876 mentions about 5,000 varieties.

The coins are in general nearly of the diameter and thickness of the small cents then in use, though a few are larger and approximate the general appearance of the older copper cents. By far the greater number are of copper slightly alloyed, though a small number are of a composition which in its appearance is not unlike that of the nickel cent of 1857. With regard to the inscriptions, we may distinguish broadly between tradesmen's tokens and general tokens, using the former term to designate such coins as bore some evidence of their origin. I find in a small collection ten out of a total of thirty-five which contain a direct promise to redeem the coins, sometimes in bills but more generally without specification of the mode of redemption. On the other hand, twenty-five coins contain only the name of the dealer. While one side bears the name of the dealer, the other generally bears some patriotic emblem or inscription. The most frequent of these is the Indian's head which figured on the legal cent after 1859.

Looking at this side of the coin, one would suppose that he was handling an ordinary cent. Heads of liberty, recalling the former cents, flags, shields, and the like are also seen. Sentiments, such as "Liberty and Union," "Union forever," are not infrequent; while an ingenious miller of Albany, N.Y., seems to mix patriotism and business by the inscription "Union Flour," and the People's Line of Steamers holds strictly to business by placing on the coin the time-table of the line. Doubtless these tokens involved a profit to the issuer and a loss to the public. Yet the fact that the issuers placed their names upon the coins seems to indicate that redemption was at least contemplated.

In the large collection mentioned above are enumerated as many as 848 varieties of the general tokens. Since in the absence of the trader's name two sides of the coin had to be inscribed, a greater scope for the exercise of ingenuity was afforded to the designer. As a rule, the coin has on one side an emblem and on the reverse side an inscription. Perhaps the most frequent specimen was an almost exact imitation of the legal cent, differing from that coin simply by the insertion in very small letters of the word "not" above the words "one cent." The Indian's head, either exactly or nearly reproducing that on the legal coin, is a frequent emblem. We find used also the shield, the flag, the figure of liberty, the heads of Washington and Jackson, groups of cannon and arms, monitors, and many others. The inscriptions are either general or have some reference to the emblem on the coin.

C. The Aftermath of the Greenbacks

105. A CHRONOLOGY OF THE GREENBACKS

1. December 18, 1865: Secretary McCulloch and Congress pledged an early retirement of the greenbacks.

2. April 12, 1866: Congress limited the retirement to a total of $10,000,000 for the next six months, and not to exceed $4,000,000 monthly thereafter.

3. February 4, 1868: Further retirement forbidden; $44,000,000 had been retired in the interim. Total outstanding then $356,000,000.

4. March 3, 1869: In Public Credit act "Congress solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin."

5. 1871 and 1872: Secretary Boutwell reissued $6,137,000 of retired notes. Shay's criticism soon induced their retirement again.

6. March 7, 1873—January 15, 1874: Secretary Richardson reissued $26,000,000 by means of a purchase of bonds.

7. April, 1874: Congress passed a bill authorizing reissues until the total amount outstanding should reach $400,000,000. Grant vetoed the bill April 22.

8. June 20, 1874: A clause in a banking measure fixed the upper limit as $382,000,000, the amount then outstanding.

9. January 14, 1875: Congress provided that after January 1, 1879, United States notes should be redeemed in coin. In the meanwhile for every increase of $100 in bank-note currency, $80 of greenbacks should be retired.

10. May 21, 1878: Forbade any further cancellation of the greenbacks. When redeemed they should be reissued by the Secretary. The amount then outstanding was $346,681,016.

11. January 1, 1879: Greenbacks redeemable in specie on demand. 12. July 12, 1882: Congress provided that when gold reserve fell below $100,000,000 further issues of gold certificates should be suspended, thus indirectly recognizing a definite minimum reserve.

13. 1894-95: The Government sold bonds to replenish specie

reserve.

14. March 14, 1900: A separate reserve fund of $150,000,000 was authorized, and adequate powers granted for maintaining such

reserve.

15. December 23, 1913: Net earnings derived by the United States from federal reserve banks shall, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, be used to supplement the gold reserve held against outstanding United States notes.

106. THE GREENBACK MOVEMENT'

BY MURRAY S. WILDMAN

The long experience of the people with paper money in the form of Government notes during the Civil War and the years following when the legal-tender "greenbacks" constituted the chief circulating medium, wrought an important change in the popular conceptions of money.

Money was said to consist of anything which "bore the stamp of the Government," something that depends for its value upon the 1 Adapted from Money Inflation in the United States, pp. 156-70. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1905.)