Estado de Sinaloa notes in use in other states

Sonora

Estado de Sinaloa notes reached Sonora either through cross-border trade with cities such as Navojoa and Alamos or through being remitted by Sonoran troops under Obregón, who were paid, when in Sinaloa, in these notes. They were usually viewed with suspicion, especially when counterfeits were reported, but none are known to have been revalidated.

In late September 1913 it was reported that as there was no agreement between Sonora and Sinaloa over the latter’s notes, they were being refused in Alamos^{AGHES tomo 2971}and Navojoa^{AGHES tomo 2971 telegram Fermín Carpio, Comandante Militar, Navojoa to Governor, Hermosillo 19 September 1913: telegram Governor Maytorena, Hermosillo to Comandante Militar, Navojoa, 20 September 1913}. On 4 November Riveros wrote to Maytorena that on Carranza’s instructions he had ordered that Estado de Sonora notes be accepted in Sinaloa and thought that Sonora had reciprocated. So he asked why his notes were being refused in Navojoa, where they were claiming no such decree existed^{AGHES tomo 2971 Riveros, San Blas to Maytorena, 4 November 1913}. The next day Maytorena replied that he would issue such an order as soon as he got to Hermosillo^{AGHES tomo 2971 telegram Maytorena, Nogales to Riveros, San Blas,5 November 1913} and on 5 November ordered Navojoa to accept them^{AGHES tomo 2971 telegram Maytorena, Nogales to Tesorero General, Hermosillo, 5 November 1913. By 5 November there was a huge amount of Sinaloa notes in circulation in Navojoa (AGHES, tomo 2993 telegram from Mayor Fermín Carpio, Comandante Militar, Navojoa to Maytorena, 2 January 1914)}.

On 29 November the Prefecto in Alamos asked whether Sinaloa notes were of forced circulation and was told that they were, and the state offices (oficinas rentas de este Estado) had an obligation to change them for Estado de Sonora notes ^{telegram J. J. Obregón, Prefecto, Alamos to Governor, 29 November 1913: telegram Maytorena, Hermosillo to Prefecto, Alamos, 29 November 1913}.

On 29 December the Prefecto of Cananea reported that many people coming from Sinaloa had brought Sinaloa notes with them and they had been readily accepted. However that day the public offices had refused to accept them, as they were not of forced circulation. The holders of such notes were asking him what to do. He was told they had been temporarily suspended, because the Sinaloan government had warned of counterfeits. Maytorena was waiting for further information to decide how to proceed^{AGHES tomo 2971 telegram Federico A Platt, Prefecto del Distrito, Cananea, 29 December 1913: telegram Maytorena to Prefecto del Distrito, Cananea, 31 December 1913: AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Federico A Platt, Prefecto, Arizpe to Governor, 6 January 1914. It seems that the suspension stemmed from a decree of Carranza, dated} .

At the end of the year the Administración de Rentas in Alamos told the Tesorería Municipal of Navojoa not to accept Sinaloa notes, so businesses began to refuse them, causing trouble for the working classes^{AGHES tomo 2971: AGHES, tomo 2993 telegram from Mayor Fermín Carpio, Comandante Militar, Navojoa to Maytorena, 2 January 1914}. The Comandante Militar wrote to Maytorena for instructions, and, on the advice of the Tesorería General, the latter replied that the fact that government office were refusing the notes was no cause for alarm since the Tesorería General de la Federación was willing to change them, and, as they were legal currency in Sinaloa, businesses could always take them and then use them to buy supplies from that state^{AGHES, tomo 2993 telegram from Tesorero General, Hermosillo to Maytorena, Hermosillo, 3 January 1914: telegram from Maytorena, Hermosillo to Fermín Carpio, Navojoa, 5 January 1914}.

On 7 January 1914, following Carranza’s decree (suspending these notes^{[text needed]}), the Director General de la Renta del Timbre, E Perusquía wrote to the Administradores Principales, telling them not to accept Sinaloa notes in any of their offices, and to send any that they had to the Tesorería General de la Federación of the Ejército Constitucionalista^{AGHES, Fondo Oficialidad Mayor, tomo 2993, Perusquía, Hermosillo to Administrador Principal del Timbre en …, 7 January 1914}.

Officials from Ures on 2 January 1914, Altar on 3 January , Aconchi on 4 January in the north of the state and Cócorit on 7 January in the south reported that businesses were refusing Sinaloa notes and were originally told that the notes were being exchanged at par by the Tesorería General de la Federación and its subsidiaries^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram from Jesus A. Cano, Prefecto Político, Ures to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 2 January 1914: telegram Oficial Mayor, Hermosillo, to Prefecto Político, Ures, 6 January 1914: telegram from, Prefecto, Altar to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 3 January 1914: telegram Oficial Mayor, Hermosillo, to Prefecto, Altar, 5 January 1914: telegram from, Presidente Municipal, Aconchi, to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 4 January 1914: telegram from, Prefecto of Guaymas, Cócorit to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 7 January 1914: telegram Oficial Mayor, Hermosillo, to Prefecto of Guaymas, 8 January 1914}. However, on 8 January the Interim Governor told the Presidente Municipal of Aconchi that the notes were no longer of forced circulation but had been temporarily suspended^{AGHEs tomo 2993, telegram Gobernador Interino, Hermosillo to Presidente Municipal, Aconchi, 8 January 1914}.

On 5 January Federico A. Platt, the Prefecto del Distrito of Cananea, wrote that the majority of soldiers from Cananea were in Sinaloa and sending back Sinaloa notes to their families. These were asking the Prefectura to change their notes as they were not being accepted in the marketplace^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Prefecto, Arizpe to Governor, 5 January 1914}. Platt was told that, as the Tesorería de la Federación was exchanging the notes, he should encourage businesses to accept them but the next day he reminded the governor that he had been told on 31 December that circulation had been suspended because of the existence of counterfeits, so asked for clarification. He was again told that federal offices were exchanging the notes^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Oficial Mayor to Prefecto, Arizpe, 5 January 1914: telegram Prefecto, Arizpe to Governor, 6 January 1914: telegram Governor to Prefecto, Arizpe, 6 January 1914}.

However, on 8 January Cócorit reported that the federal offices (Oficinas Nacionales de timbre correo y telégrafos) and local offices of the state Tesorería General had been told not to accept Sinaloa notes. As this was in contradiction to the telegram received that day, they wanted clarification^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Presidente Municipal, Cócorit to Secretario de Estado, 8 January 1914}. The next day Cananea reported the same suspension by state and federal offices^{AGHES tomo 2993 Prefecto, Cananea, to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 9 January 1914}.

On 13 January the Presidente Municipal of Nogales wrote that since Carranza’s decree suspending Sinaloa notes they had stopped circulating but some still remained in the possession of businesses or individuals. Between 2 and 6 January some nineteen merchants, predominantly Chinese, had handed some $209.25 in to the Municipal Treasury in exchange for other notes^{AGHES tomo 2993 Presidente Municipal, Nogales, to Secretario de Estado, Hermosillo, 13 January 1914: following Carranza’s later decree no. 21 this action was belatedly approved on 20 March, letter Oficial Primero to President Municipal, Nogales, 20 March 1914}.

On 16 January the Comisario de Policía in Agua Prieta inquired whether the notes issued in San Blas were of forced circulation and was told that they were not of forced circulation but it was understood that the Tesorería General de la Federación was exchanging them^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Antonio Legaspy, Comisario de Policía, Agua Prieta to Secretario de Estado, 16 January 1914: telegram Oficial Mayor to Comisario, Naco, 16 January 1914}. The same day the Chamber of Commerce of Bacum reported that the Municipal Treasury was refusing to take Sinaloa notes^{telegram Camara de Comercio, Bacum to Governor, 16 January 1914} . The doubt continued as on 8 February the Comisario de Policía of Tonochi reported that someone had refused a $5 Sinaloa note (Series F, 166337) but was told that as they were not of forced circulation no action could be taken against people who refused them^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegam Comisario de Policía, Tonochi to Secretario de Estado, 8 February 1914: telegram Oficial Primero to Comisario, 20 February 1914}.

On 22 January 1914 Carranza told Obregón that he had already ordered that the families of soldiers in Cananea could change their Estado de Sinaloa notes at the Oficina de Timbre^{ABarragán, caja II, exp. 18, f. 68 telegram Carranza, Culiacán to Obregón, Hermosillo, 22 January 1914}.

The matter should have been resolved by Carranza’s decree no. 21 of 28 February, issued in Nogales, that made the paper money issued by the Constitutionalist governments in Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, with his authorisation (con autorización ó aprobación de la Primera Jefatura) of obligatory circulation in the territory dominated by the Constitutionalist government. However, three weeks later Riveros wrote to Maytorena, asking him, because of many complaints about not accepting Sinaloa notes in Sonora, to publish a notice in the Voz de Sonora or some other suitable publication that their acceptance was obligatory in accordance with Carranza’s decree^{AGHES tomo 2993, telegram Riveros, Culiacan to Maytorena, 13 March 1914}.

In April there were reports of Sinaloa notes being refused (Santa Ana on 2 April, Ures on 20 April, Sahuaripa on 23 April) but they were all told that they were of forced circulation^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram Presidente Municipal, Santa Ana to Secretario de Estado, 2 April 1914 workers on the hacienda “El Claro” had been paid with such notes by B. L. Serna: telegram Oficial Primero to Presidente Municipal, Santa Ana, 2 April 1914: telegram José Perez, Prefecto of Ures, to Governor 20 April 1914: telegram Governor to Prefecto, Ures, 20 April 1914: telegram Cef. G. Coronado, Ures, to Secretario de Estado, 20 April 1914 Adminstración de Rentas in Ures was refusing to accept Sinaloa notes; telegram Oficial Primero to Cef, Ures, 20 April 1914}.

On 7 May the Prefecto Político of Cócorit reported that the Oficinas Recaudadores were refusing to accept Sinaloa notes and asked whether the relative decree had been withdrawn. In reply he was told that it was still in force and that the Tesorería General had instructed all its offices to accept them^{AGHES tomo 2993 telegram A. Cruz, Prefecto Político, Cócorit to Secretario de Estado, 7 May 1914: Oficial Primero to Prefecto Político, Cócorit, 7 May 1914}. Again, on 27 July some people in Guaymas were refusing the notes because the federal offices were not accepting them ^{telegram Governor, Guaymas, to Administrador Principal del Timbre, Hermosillo, 27 July 1914}.

As these notes are so poorly printed counterfeiting was inevitable and by 13 January 1914 Sonora authorities were refusing to accept Sinaloa notes because of counterfeits.

Revalidations

This $1 note has been revalidated by the Aduana Marítima in Guaymas.

Baja California

On 25 November 1914 it was reported that John Cozzulo, a merchant in San José del Cabo, refused to accept an Estado de Sinaloa (September 1913) note^{ABCS, Gobernación, vol. 641, exp. 132 telegram Gabino Mansilla, San José del Cabo, to Crispín Rosa y A., La Paz, 25 November 1914}. For this he was imprisoned and paid a fine of $100^{ABCS, Gobernación, vol. 641, exp. 132}.

Coahuila

A $10 Estado de Sinaloa note had reached Monclova, Coahuila, by 31 January 1915 though its circulation was not forced^{AMonclova, Fondo Presidencia Municipal, caja 414, Libro copiador de oficios, pag. 47, remittance of Presidente Municipal Jacinto Cantu to Manuel Menchaca Blackaller, Castaño, Coah., 31 January 1915}. Probably the same note, listed as Estado de Sinaloa (Riveros) appears in the balance sheet on 2 April^{AMonclova, Fondo Presidencia Municipal, caja 414, Libro copiador de oficios, pag. 138}.

Jalisco

On 22 June 1915, in reply to a query from the Presidente Municipal of Tequila, Director General J. O. González, said that Felipe Riveros notes were not of forced circulation^{AHTeq, Sección Presidencia, Serié Correspondencia, Año 1915, caja 1, exp. 2}. When José Manuel Medina handed over the municipal funds to Rogelio Palomera Meza on 31 July, there was $35 in Obregón. $11 in Riveros, $4 in Estado de Durango and only $2.09 in note of forced circulation^{AHTeq, Sección Presidencia, Serié Correspondencia, Año 1915, caja 1, exp. 4}.