p. 11 | QUEER CHANGE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 20.

QUEER CHANGE.

SHELLS, beans, pumpkin seeds, postage stamps, and scores of other things have been, and still are, used to make change; but it seems, if we may credit the report of a recent traveler, that Mexico has a "coinage" more odd and original than any of which we have yet heard.

"In one of the small towns I bought some limes, and gave the girl $1.00 in payment. By way of change, she returned me forty-nine pieces of soap the size of a water cracker.

"I looked at her in astonishment, and she returned my look with equal surprise, when a police officer, who witnessed the incident, hastened to inform me that for small sums soap was the legal tender in many portions of the country.

"I examined my change, and found that each cake was stamped with the name of a town and of a manufacture authorized by the government. The cakes of soap were worth one and a half cents each. Afterward in my travel, I frequently received similar change.

"Many of the cakes showed signs of having been in the wash tub; but that, I discovered, was not at all uncommon. Provided the stamp was not obliterated, the soap did not lose any value as currency. Occasionally a man would borrow a cake of a friend, wash his hands, and return it with thanks. I made use of my pieces more than once in my bath, and subsequently spent them."—Household.