were worth about one per cent of their face. When the "infalsificable" came out in April, 1916, it was accepted at a gold value of about 20 cents Mexican. The government forced its acceptance by decree. For a time the old Vera Cruz issue was exchanged against the new money at ten of the old for one of the new. Then even this sort of "redemption" ceased. The "infalsificables" began to depreciate alarmingly. Eight months after their issue they had fallen to 80 to one as compared to gold and at the end of 1916 they were little better than Vera Cruz bills.
Their subsequent history is brief. They were never formally repudiated by the Carranza government. When it had been decided that the "infalsificables" could no longer be relied upon as the regular currency, it was arranged to demand that all customs dues be paid in gold plus an equal amount in "infalsificables." In this way the issue was to be "redeemed." At first the requirement was little more than formal, for the bills were practically valueless. By July 10, 1919, $397,119,298 Mexican were reported to have been retired and by October 18, 1919, their value had risen to $.0765 in Mexican metallic currency.[1] A summary of the gold debt issued by Minister Cabrera published in 1920 assigns an item of $10,125,000 Mexican for the redemption of Vera Cruz and "infalsificable" bills.[2]
- ↑ Commerce Reports, November 26, 1919.
- ↑ El Heraldo de México, March 26, 1 920, quoted by W. F. Mc-Caleb, op. cit., p. 252. The Presidential address of C. Adolfo de la Huerta published in the Diario Oficial, September 2, 1920, states that the "infalsificables" then outstanding totaled $106,787,862 Mexican.
