Chamber of Commerce - Xalapa
In January 1914 the Cámara Nacional de Comercio de Xalapa decided to issue cheques for 50 centavos and one peso. Less than a week after it had refused the Veracruz chamber's request, the Secretaría de Hacienda approved this issue but refused to exempt it from stamp dutyThe Mexican Herald, 19th Year, No. 6,720, 25 January 1914. Apparently the Chamber first issued 50c notes in March 1914 but within three months they had disappeared. It was suggested that they had all been taken to the surrounding ranches by the peasants who daily brought foodstuffs into the city.
Series | date on notes | from | to | total number |
total value |
signed on face by | ||
50c | A | 23 June 1914 | includes number 2743 | |||||
30 June 1914 | includes number 7156 | |||||||
Fuentes | includes number 17994CNBanxico #6398 | |||||||
4 July 1914 | [ ] | includes number 19048CNBanxico #12324 | ||||||
18 July 1914 | [ ] Rangel y Cía. | includes numbers 25858 to 27131CNBanxico #12325 | ||||||
$1 | B | includes number 137 | ||||||
11 February 1914 | ||||||||
$2 | C | includes number 4341 |
The Cámara de Comercio issued a series of three values (50c, $1 and $2). It should be noted that this format was used by several other establishments that issued scrip at around the same time. These date from March to August 1914, are redeemable in quantities of five pesos or multiples thereof, and occasionally refer to the lack of revenue stamps or the amount that has deposited as security for the issue. Such notes includes issues in Coatepec, Teocelo de Diaz, and Misantla. Coatepec and Teocelo are just south of Xalapa, whilst Misantla is further north.
These notes have three printed signatures of the Presidente, Tesorero and a Comisario on the reverse and an additional authorising signature on the face. Known signatures are:
At the same time there was a pair of cheques for 10c, dated 1 July 1914 drawn on the Banco Mercantil de Veracruz (Serie A) and the Banco Nacional de México (Serie B).
Series | from | to | total number |
total value |
||
10c | A | includes numbers 18586CNBanxico #7183 to 40803CNBanxico #12327 | ||||
B | includes numbers 13451CNBanxico #12328 to 42563CNBanxico #6396 |
These also had the signatures of Luis Caraza as Comisario, Emilio Léycegui as Presidente and Julio Ollivier as Tesorero (and Tesorero Especial).
On 11 August 1914 The Mexican Herald reported that "the Jalapa chamber of commerce has requested authority of the department of hacienda to issue vales for five and ten cents to the amount of ten thousand pesos, in order to relieve the difficulty experienced by the commercial establishments in providing change in business transactions of small amounts"The Mexican Herald, 11 August 1914.
Between mid-1914 and 1917 the Junta de Administración Civil in Xalapa undertook to prevent food shortages by authorizing several measures to collect grains and prevent traders from raising prices. In order to reconcile interests, traders tried to create a Regulatory Fund, whose function would be to moderate the costs of grains and prevent them from being an object of speculation. Despite these good intentions, food shortages and abuse did not disappear, although shortages were not as dramatic as they were in other regions.
In the absence of coinage and to facilitate payment for necessities, the Corporation of Jalapa decided to use stamped banknotes and cartones with a sello[image needed] but this measure did not produce good results due to the fact that no small transactions could be made. So it was determined that Luis Caraza would receive the results of sales and distribute banknotes and cartones among merchants. As this disposition did not have an effect, in May 1915 the Junta de Administración Civil asked the governor for authorisation to issue cheques for one and two centavos, which could be changed, when the situation required it, for cartoncillos or the small coinage that was in circulation. However the governor refusedAHX, Actas de Cabildo, libro 108, pp. 187 – 189, sessions of 28 and 31 May 1915. In June it asked the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público for a similar authorisation. This was approved and the money to guarantee the issue was deposited in the local branch of the Banco Nacional de México. The Junta delegated this task to the Cámara to Comercio, but the latter decided that it did not have the facilities needed to put it into effectAHX, Actas de Cabildo, libro 109, pp. 11-12, 14-16, sessions of 18, 21 and 25 June 1915.
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