Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
SCRIP
SCRIP. Certificate of the right to receive later payment, usually in the form of cash or stock. From 1857 to 1858 the City of Dubuque issued $47,926,124 in scrip. Holders were allowed to convert it into bonds paying 10 percent interest.
Public school teachers were paid in scrip during the 1857-1858 school year. At the same time, the school board objected to the city council accepting scrip in payment of school taxes. The request of several teachers to be paid in GOLD or currency was denied by the board that claimed scrip was the only money available.
On February 4, 1858, the board secretary announced that there were no funds with which to pay teachers' salaries. Teachers then petitioned to be paid with warrants earning 15 percent interest. This petition was also denied, and the staff was told it would receive scrip until April when money would again be available. A report of the Board secretary in 1858 showed that teachers lost $276.15 by being paid in this manner.
By 1862 specie, coined money, was nearly gone due to the demands of the CIVIL WAR. Local businessmen joined together to force the use of scrip. Two bankers, Babbage and Company and H. Markell and Company, issued some about July 15, 1862. During the Great Depression, the possibility of scrip developed after the start of the BANK HOLIDAY. The Chamber of Commerce, in an advertisement printed in the TELEGRAPH HERALD, promised that if scrip were issued it would be honored by merchants. It had been redeemed by banks when used in the past.