Note 18 — CONTENTS OF VOLUME I

At the outbreak of the Civil War the currency of Wisconsin was secured in very large measure by the bonds of southern states. Never considered wholly safe in the financial world, these securities, as soon as hostilities between the North and the South began, fell to a third of their face value. Wisconsin bankers were unable to make good the depreciation, and the value of their currency reflected their embarrassment. On April 4, 1861, the bankers of Chicago resolved not to accept the notes of 40 of the 109 Wisconsin banks. On the following day the Milwaukee bankers rejected the notes of 19 of the institutions proscribed at Chicago. This affected the value of about $1,000,000 of the $4,500,000 of Wisconsin currency. Brokers in the state during the succeeding weeks purchased the discredited money at prices which rapidly sank to fifty cents on the dollar.