Domingo Arrieta issues

The Arrieta brothers, from the Sierra Madre of Durango, were among the first to take up arms in 1910 in support of Francisco Madero. Then after Huerta’s coup d’état in February 1913 they rebelled again. On 18 June their forces captured the city of Durango, and installed Pastor Rouaix as provisional governor. Domingo Arrieta met with Carranza in Durango in August 1913, and was appointed a General and Comandante Militar of the state.

In January 1914 Pastor Rouaix wrote to Carranza complaining about the difficulties that Arrieta was causing and to ask Carranza to resolve the problem. He said that Arrieta was printing $1,000,000 in bonos. He had tried to convince him of the damage that would be done to business and to government if military jefes issued paper currency without any backing. Rouaix had told Arrieta that he (Rouaix) had Carranza’s permission to issue notes and was already engraving the plates, and he offered to give Arrieta whatever sum he needed for his expenses. Arrieta said that he had had problems receiving funds but Rouaix claimed that the government had always paid and the fault lay with the fact that Arrieta’s brigade did not have a paymaster or keep books. Rouaix asked Carranza to order Arrieta to suspend his issue, and to decide the amount that the government should pay daily to meet his expenses^{ABarragán, caja IV, exp. 31, f.58-72}.

So Arrieta's first attempt was probably an issue under the title of Jefatura de Hacienda del Eército Consitucionalista.

The Jefatura de Hacienda del Ejército Constitucionalista

The example illustrated is unsigned but has space for the signatures of the Contador, Jefe de Hacienda and Cajero and on the reverse the claim that the issues is backed by confiscated properties (Estos valores están garantizados con las propiedades rústicas y urbanas de que es depositaria esta Jefatura). The fact that these notes (a) have a simple design comparable to the first Estado de Durango notes, (b) were Series A (abbreviated to 'SA') and that a later Arrieta $1 issue was Series B (SA), and (c) do not appear to have been issued all suggests that they were an unfulfilled Arrieta project.

On 11 January 1914 Carranza, from Navojoa, Sinaloa, told governor Pastor Rouaix that he had sent a telegram to Domingo Arrieta that he was going to nominate a Jefe de Hacienda to administer all the federal services and integrate the issue of paper money that Arrieta had been authorised to pay (Enterado sus mensajes del 9 creo que de acuerdo con Sr Gobernador se habrá nombrado Jefe de Hacienda en esa mientras va el nombrado por esta primera magistratura del Ejercito Constitucionalista a fin de crear todos los servicios federales, y por conducto del cual procurare ministrar los y a quien pueda integrar parte de la emision de papel moneda que he autorizado á Vd lance a la circulacion para pago de haberes que expresada Jefatura ser entienda con la Sria de hacienda adscrita a esta primera Jefatura y con expresados Jefes)^{ADUR, Fondo Secretaria General de Gobierno (Siglo XX), Sección 6 Gobierno, Serie 6.7 Correspondencia, caja 7, nombre 12}.

On 9 March 1914 Francisco Rios Laurenzana told Domingo Arrieta that the government did not have the necessary guarantee for the first issue of more than $200,000 so could not give his brigade what it needed for its expenses^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 267, Hacienda 11 July 1913 - 25 April 1914, p849}.

Incidentally, in June 1914 the Jefe de Hacienda in office was J. Manuel Muñoz^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 279, Hacienda 25 April 1914 - 27 July 1914, p212}.

First issue

Domingo Arrieta took over as provisional governor from Pastor Rouaix on 14 August 1914. That month there was another issue of $5 and $50 notes, with the same design as Pastor Rouaix's issue and with Carranza’s authorization still on the reverse, but with the signatures of Arrieta as governor, Juan B. Fuentes as secretary and José Clark as Director General de Rentas.

Domingo Arrieta León was born in Candelas, Durango on 4 August 1874. Before joining the revolution he was a miner in San Andrés de la Sierra and muleteer. With his brothers Andrés, Marian, Eduardo and José, he joined the revolution under Madero in 1910, was general of the forces that took Durango on 18 June 1913 and named comandante military de la plaza. He was governor from 10 August 1913 until 28 February 1914. He fought against Villa from 1914 to 1916. He was governor of Durango from August 1917 to May 1920 and remained faithful to Carranza when the latter fled the presidency and refused to recognise the new government. He was pardoned by Obregón on 7 May 1924 and rejoined the army on 11 September 1927, though he continued to be involved in politics. He became a division general on 6 November 1940 and retired from the army on 1 August 1944. He died in Durango on 18 November 1962.
Juan B. Fuentes Juan B. Fuentes served as a coronel in Arrieta’s División de Durango and remained faithful to him in his dispute with Villa.
José Clark was appointed Director General de Rentas in August 1900 for a six year termEl Tiempo, 11 August 1900. He resigned (or stood down temporarily) in July 1907El Tiempo, 31 July 1907 and in June 1908El Imparcial, 9 June 1908. He must have returned to serve under Arrieta.

In July 1914 Salvador Dorador (presumably Silvestre Dorador's son) was sent to Monterrey to buy paper for printing the bonos^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 284, Pastor Rouaix 19 May 1914 - 7 August 1914, p99 and ADUR, Fondo Secretaría General de Gobierno, Sección Siglo XIX, Serie Correspondencia, Subserie Revolución, gaveta 6, nombre 31}. On 6 August Dorador was in El Paso to pick up a consignment of 100 reams^{100 resmas de papel de lino, marca Bond, de 40 libras} sent by the National Paper and Typewriter Co. of Monterrey^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 284, Pastor Rouaix 19 May 1914 - 7 August 1914, pp.149-151}.

On 18 August Arrieta asked Carranza for permission to issue more currency to pay his troops and on 21 August was authorised to issue up to $1,000,000. By 24 he had started the issue^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 18,30 August 1914}. The statement (corte de caja) for the Dirección General de Rentas, now signed by José Clark, records $625,000 issued from 11 to 31 August^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 10, 10 September 1914}.

On 22 September Carranza authorized Arrieta to issue up to another(?) million pesos for the forces under his command^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 14, 27 September 1914}. In a later telegram to Carranza^{CEHM, Fondo XXI-4, telegram Arrieta to Carranza 13 January 1916. The telegram actually list 10,000 $5 notes valued at $500,000, but this is just a typo. Figures confirmed in a telegram from A. Gaxiola D., Durango, to Villarreal, Mexico City, on 21 December 1914 (ADUR, Libro Copiador 278, Telegramas 13 August 1914 - 23 April 1915, p269)} Arrieta acknowledged that he had issued the following amounts (figure in telegram corrected):

Perversely the Dirección General de Rentas' corte de caja for September originally stated that it issued $500,000^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 15, 8 October 1914} but a later version recorded no issue^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 23, 29 November 1914}.

The Villista Severino Ceniceros officially took over as Comandante Militar and Gobernador on 29 September but even the day before he had announced that while Arrieta's $5 series E and $50 Series A were valid and of forced circulation, his $5 Series F were not, since they had not been authorised^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXXIX, Núm. 15, 8 October 1914}. So there were series F notes before December (below).

A telegram from Antonio Gaxiola to Secretary of Finance Villarreal in Mexico City, on 21 December 1914, reported that there were 10,000 Series A notes, and 100,000 Series E notes. The writer did not know the amount of Series F since the forces had sacked the press on leaving^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 278, Telegramas 13 August 1914 - 23 April 1915, p269}.

The codes (at least for the $5 notes) repeated themselves in batches. Known codes are:

On 1 September 1914 Mariano Arrieta wrote to Domingo Arrieta from Mexico City asking him to order the Jefe de Hacienda not to pay in bonos without the stamp of the corresponding Jefatura^{ADUR, Fondo Secretaria General de Gobierno (Siglo XX), Sección 6 Gobierno, Serie 6.7 Correspondencia, caja 6, nombre 46}.

On 7 October 1914 the Secretario Interino, Antonio Gaxiola, told the Jefe Político of Cuencamé that the bonos were of forced circulation except for Series F^{ADUR, Libro Copiador 278, Telegramas 13 August 1914 - 23 April 1915, p48}.

Second issue

In November 1914 Zacatecas included in its list of forced issues the $5 Series E and $50 Series A, issued in August and a similar pronouncement was made in San Luis Potosí.  However, by mid December 1914 businesses in Durango were refusing Arrieta’s $5 notes^{La Voz de la Revolución, Tomo 1, Núm. 15, 11 December 1914}. By this time Arrieta had been forced out of the capital, so two other issues cannot be definitely located as to time and place. The first was four similar denominations (50c, $1, $5 and $10), Series F, dated December 1914, ordered through General Enrique Nájera and printed by the firm of J. M. Iguiniz of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Known code is a vertical D.S.O on some denominations.

In a later telegram to Carranza^{CEHM, Fondo XXI-4, telegram Arrieta to Carranza 13 January 1916} Arrieta acknowledged that he had issued the following amounts:

In early January 1915, Arrieta presented to Carranza a very dramatic economic situation and according to the transcripts of the telegrams a handwritten note was included with what was probably another authorization from Carranza to issue one more million pesos^{CEHM, Fondo XXI-4, telegram dated 31 January 1915}.

On 1 December 1914 the Chihuahua government prohibited Arrieta’s notes but when Emiliano G. Saravia consulted Villa he was told that this was due to a misinterpretation^{La Voz de la Revolución, Tomo 1, Núm. 17, 18 December 1914 The article wrongly suggests that all Arrieta notes were of forced circulation.}. Only the Series F were invalid, as unauthorised, but a fortnight later Villa said that he was merely thinking of withdrawing the notes and replacing them with notes of other issues, so Saravia declared the notes still of forced circulation^{Periódico Oficial, Durango, Tomo XXIX, Núm. 25, 20 December 1914} and on 14 February 1915 a Durango newspaper had been assured by a government employee that the 50c notes were of forced circulation, even though they were being refused^{La Voz de la Revolución, Tomo 1, Núm. 42, 14 February 1915}. On 26 February the same newspaper reported that Arrieta, who still considered himself governor, had made the later issue, which was only good amongst the troops under his command. To forewarn the public it described the differences (date, printer’s imprint, etc) though Arrieta used the same template^{La Voz de la Revolución, Tomo I, Núm. 47, 26 February 1915}.

So these Arrieta notes, which were so similar to the earlier Pastor Rouaix notes, entered a sort of legal limbo when Arrieta was driven out by the Villista forces.