Category: Money

OBSOLETE PAPER CURRENCY THE paper currency that was issued by the Colonies became so depreciated in value during the Revolutionary War, as a result of the inability to honor it by payment in specie, that at the close of the war its value was a matter of much doubt. Redemption of the colonial currency by […]

NEED FOR AN ELASTIC CURRENCY IN PREVIOUS chapters four of the five kinds of paper currency in circulation have been discussed and it was shown that the basis of each of them differs from the others. The fifth class, which is the Federal reserve note, likewise differs from the other four. This note is similar […]

IN PREVIOUS chapters the United States paper currency and the gold and the silver certificates have been discussed. The basis of each of those three classes of money was set forth with the object of making it clear that each stands on a solid foundation. It was shown why each class passes at par and […]

THE United States notes, known as “greenbacks,” are paper currency of a character quite different from the gold and silver certificates previously described. Their basis is very different, and the history of how they came to be placed in circulation is a story that has to do with the preservation of the Union. It has […]

THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASES ALL VIRGIN GOLD THE law provides for the purchase of the gold production of the country. When the metal has been mined and milled, the owners transmit it to the assay offices and the Government purchases it at its actual value-$20.67 an ounce. A nominal charge is made, however, to cover the […]

BEFORE the currency-redemption problems are discussed, it is appropriate to describe the several classes of paper currency, the significance of each class, and how it occurs that each kind is regarded as of equal value to each of the others. The Federal currency is the closest tie between the citizen and the Government. Every individual […]

KEEPING the country supplied with paper currency is a large task for the Government. There is, of course, a sizable amount of it in circulation—on June 1, 1931, there were just about 884,000,000 pieces with an aggregate face value of $5,275,000,000. THE ELEVEN DENOMINATIONS There are eleven different denominations of the paper currency in current […]

MAGNITUDE OF CLERICAL AND ROUTINE OPERATIONS THE actual operations of each of the various Treasury bureaus are conducted under the immediate observation of the chief of the bureau responsible for executing the tasks relating to the particular class of service his bureau has assigned to it; but the regulations governing the operations of the bureau […]

PAYMENTS BY WARRANT ALTHOUGH the law requires the payment of the revenue to the Treasurer of the United States and forbids payment except on the countersigned warrant of the Secretary of the Treasury, it is perfectly manifest that those requirements cannot be met by an actual manual delivery to the Treasury of each item of […]

THE NEED FOR A NEW PLAN THE huge debt in which the nation found itself as a result of the Great War made it absolutely imperative that attention be given to reductions in the expense of running the Government. While the war was in progress, the great thought was “win the war” —expense had been […]