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The revolution in Puebla

The Constitucionalistas

When the Constitutionalists took Puebla in August 1914, in view of the fact that businesses and banks were refusing to accept bank notes from the Northern state banks, the new Comandante Militar, General Francisco Coss, reminded people that notes from all the banks of issue in the Republic were of obligatory circulationPeriódico Oficial, Tomo XCV, Núm. 23, 15 September 1914.

The Zapatistas

When the Zapatistas occupied Puebla on 14 December 1914 the foreign merchants, in a fit of rejoicing (according to a Carrancista newspaper), spontaneously lowered their prices and the troops spent their Chihuahua notes on purchases. When the Constitutionalists retook the town on 4 January 1915 the merchants were left with 600,000 pesos in useless moneyEl Democráta, Veracruz, 14 January 1915.

On 17 September 1915 Coronel Jesús Alcalde and the Presidente Municipal of Ixcamipla, Puebla, Antonio González Carrillo, told Zapata that nobody wanted Chihuahua or Gobierno Provisional notesAGN, Fondo Emiliano Zapata, caja 10, exp 2, f 31.

The Carrancistas

On 17 June 1915 the Presidente Municipal of Tetela de Ocampo issued a circular núm. 32 that all Constitutionalist notes issued by the actual Government, except those declared counterfeit, were of forced circulation{footnote. This was copied to all its dependencies and acknowledged, though San Nicolás reported that business there justifiably did not want to accept very torn notes while Tónalapa asked for instruction on distinguishing counterfeit notes{AMTet, Gobierno 1914, caja 429.

On 11 September 1915 the Administración Principal del Timbre in Texiutlán began the exchange of the Gobierno Provisional de México notesAMTet, Gobierno 1915, caja s/n. On 15 September it sent a circular to the Administrador Subalterno in Tetela de Ocampo that everyone who held such notes should apply to the Administración Principal. In turn the Presidente Municipal of Tetela sent circulars, núm. 36 on 16 September and núm. 38, on 18 September, to all the dependencies. On 20 September the Administrador Principal warned that the exchange would end on 30 September.

On 4 April 1916 the governor Cesáreo Castro published Carranza’s recent circular prohibiting establishments from closing because of his new currencyEl Constitucional, Tomo I, Núm. 150, 4 April 1916. On 27 April the Jefatura de Hacienda produced a circular reproducing the statement that Ejercito Constitucionalista and Veracruz notes that lacked resellos were still validEl Constitucional, Tomo I, Núm. 170, 29 April 1916.

Carranza had decreed that the infalsificables would enter circulation on 1 May 1916 but on 5 May public employees were paid with cartones of 5c, 10c and 20c (at half their nominal value)El Constitucional, Tomo I, Núm. 175, 5 May 1916 and notes of the older issues.