(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Did you know the Seminole Indians refused to conduct trade using paper money?
True story. When doing business with white traders, the Seminoles insisted on barter or silver coinage.
Why?
Because they understood the unreliability of fiat currency and the government that “backs” it.
I learned this factoid during a recent trip to the Everglades. My wife and I visited the Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee, Florida.
Ted Smallwood established the store as a trading post to serve the remote area in 1906.
Smallwood only had a third-grade education, but he quickly became fluent in several Native American dialects and gained the trust of his Seminole neighbors.
A large wooden box that Smallwood used to keep money and other valuables for his Seminole customers. A sign on the display notes, “The Seminoles did not like to use paper money.”
“Everything paid out, other than food trade, had to be done in silver.”
According to family lore, the Seminole traders would arrive with 8-pound lard buckets filled with silver coins. They entrusted their money with Smallwood, and he kept it in his “wooden bank.”
“Due to the weight of the coins, Ted Smallwood carried around with him daily, his daughters relined his pockets with canvas, replacing them as needed from wear. His pockets were his personal bank.”
So, why did the Seminoles refuse to use paper money?
They didn’t trust the government.
You know, I can relate to that!
Seminoles wanted things with tangible value. They often bartered, but they also recognized the value of silver and adopted it as money.
The Seminoles viewed paper money as symbolic and, thereby, unreliable.
Apparently, these Everglades natives in the early 20th century understood money better than most Americans today!
The Seminoles had also experienced their share of broken U.S. government promises, including broken treaties and forced removal. Because the government issued paper money, and it was effectively a promissory note, in the Seminole view, it symbolized unreliable promises.
Given the way the U.S. government and its central bank have abused the fiat dollar, relentlessly inflating away its value, it appears the Seminole instincts were right.
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
