Withdrawal of the Gobierno Provisional de México notes

On 6 April 1915 Carranza’s Secretaria de Hacienda sent its circular núm. 21 that the Jefaturas de Hacienda and Administraciones del Timbre were authorised to exchange the Gobierno Provisional notes and Obligaciones Provisionales, marking them with a stamp that said RETIRADO and sending then with a detailed report to the Tesorería General de la Nación on the tenth, twentieth and last day of every month. So we can expect to find notes thus cancelled, although the vast majority will have been incinerated on receipt by the Tesorería General.

Circular núm. 21 was received in Querétaro on 20 April and passed on to the Administración del Timbre^{AQ, Fondo Poder Ejecutivo Sec 2ª Hacienda C-1 Año 1915 Exp. 144}.

Various stamps were used.

RETIRADO in an oval, stamped often more than once on both face and reverse.

'Retirado'

'Nulo por haber sido canjeado'

On 28 July Carranza issued a decree withdrawing the $42,625,000 in Gobierno Provisional de México notes from Mexico City that his government acknowledged as legitimate. These would be exchanged in the Tesorería General de la Nación and in the Jefaturas de Hacienda and designated oficinas del Timbre for others of legal circulation during August.

On 2 August the Departmento in the Faros in Veracruz was surrounded by people seeking to change their Gobierno Provisional notes for new Veracruz notes, and more than $500,000 was exchanged. The office was to be open every third day, from 9.00 to 11.00 in the morning and 3.00 to 5.00 in the afternoon^{El Dictamen, Tomo XVII, Núm. 1572, 3 August 1915}. The exchange was suspended from 10 to 11 August because of operational problems due to the demand, but was resumed on 12 August with an upper limit for an single person of $20,000^{El Dictamen, Tomo XVII, Núm. 1581, 12 August 1915}.

In Aguascalientes governor Martín Triana published Carranza’s decree on 11 September. As the period for withdrawal had already passed, he had written to Carranza on 6 September and received permission for the notes to continue circulating until sufficient new funds were sent^{Periódico Oficial, Aguascalientes, Tomo I, Núm. 2, 12 September 1915}.

On 25 September F. A. Borquez, the Jefe de Hacienda in Sonora told the public that the notes, whether or not they had been revalidated, were of forced circulation, since his Jefatura had not received funds to exchange them^{Boletín Oficial, Tomo I, Num 3, 27 September 1915}. 

On 28 September the Jefe de Hacienda in Guadalajara informed the public that notes that had yet to be exchanged were to be deposited in the Jefatura de Hacienda within the next two days^{Boletín Militar, Tomo III, Núm. 279, 29 September 1915}. As the two days proved insufficient, on 19 October the Jefatura de Hacienda allowed for deposits to continue until the end of that month^{Boletín Militar, Tomo III, Núm. 296, 19 October 1915}. This opportunity was also extended to Colima^{AMCol, 61, exp. 3}.

On 30 September the Secretario General in Querétaro asked all the Presidentes Municipales to tell the Oficinas Rentísticas del Estado and Municipales to change in the respective Oficinas del Timbre the notes that they were holding (getting a receipt if there were insufficient funds)^{AQ, Fondo Poder Ejecutivo Sec 2ª Hacienda C-3 Año 1915 Exp. 254}.