Taken From
The Howell Works Company Scrip and Tokens
by Philip Combe

The years 1832 - 44 are generally considered the period during which Hard Times Tokens were issued to help alleviate the shortage of small coins or to protest or defend the political climate. The Howell Works did not issue its own money or shinplasters as they were called. To fully understand the reason for the scrip and the later issuance of tokens, we must start with an act passed by the New Jersey legislature entitled "An Act to Prohibit the Circulating or Passing of Tickets," approved on February 16 1831. Sometime in 1831 or 1832, Allaire commissioned Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Company to engrave Howell Works scrip in sheet size and in various denominations.

No one can pinpoint the printing date of the first (sic) Howell Works scrip or, for that matter, when it was first used, however (sic). The earliest, signed Howell Works bill the author has (sic) seen is dated May 29, 1829 and numbered #18645. Bearing a denomination of $2, the bill is signed "James P., Allaire," but it is not his signature and the number is inconsistent with later denominations mentioning bill numbers. (See bill to the right.) The earliest bill the author has (sic) seen that is actually signed by Allaire is a $2 note dated May 1, 1832. In addition, there is a 12 1/2 cent note signed by the secretary of the company, Abraham Halsey, and made out to Alexander B. Allaire. (The latter two bills are part of the holdings of the Allaire Village, Inc. research Library in Allaire, New Jersey.)

At least one of those bills was furnished to Allaire's New York attorney, Frances B. Cutting, for an opinion as to weather issuance of these notes was illegal under the New Jersey act. Cutting examined the act and also a piece of scrip made out to Ananiah Gifford (Allaire's surveyor at the Jersey works) in the amount of $1 "in goods at their store." In his opinion, the scrip were "due bills" and when "due bills are given for debts due, they cannot be deemed to be 'currency' or issued with a view to be forced into circulation as a common currency - and more especially the presumption that they are intended to circulate in lieu of the lawful currency of the State of New jersey can hardly be raised, where the due bills are payable not in currency - but in goods."

For an opinion from a New Jersey attorney, Allaire turned to his friend David B. Ogden, now a successful lawyer. Ogden, writing before March 1832 to Governor Samuel L. Southard of New jersey, proposed a private bill to exempt the Howell Works form the new legislation. Ogden felt the "due bills might be considered as within the provisions of the act," and he therefore advised Allaire not to issue them. Although the letter's date is indecipherable, Ogden leaves no doubt that the due bills had been printed but not yet issued.

Still another legal opinion was sought later in the year. Attorney Daniel B. Ryall stated in October that the "penalties of the...act will not and cannot attach to the company." However, he cautioned against the company's attempt to obtain a law authorizing the due bill issue. Since the law was not broken, why issue a disclaimer?

About a year later, during the May 1833 term of the New Jersey Supreme Court, the Howell Works Company was the defendant in an action brought by Alexander P. Allaire, James' brother and manager of the works in New jersey. In the action, the plaintiff claimed that on May 1, 1832, he was issued an order on the company store for services rendered to the company and that the issuance of this "certain ticket" was contrary to the act, and therefore he was entitled to recover a sum of money as specified in the act.

Ryall represented the defendant, who did not appear. The judge, after hearing the plaintiff, ruled for the defendant. It is probable the suit was brought merely to test the validity of the "currency." In any event, it was now legal for Allaire and his New Jersey company to issue the due bills.

In rendering his opinion Frances B. Cutting noted that many of the Howell workmen obtained their supplies of clothing and groceries form the company store. Before the due bill was devised, purchases were charged in the store's books, a process that led to intricate and long accounts. the workmen generally were dissatisfied when their accounts were balanced because they could not recall just how much they bought. With the advent of the due bill, anything purchased at the store with these bills was, in Cutting's words, "received in payment and thus the transaction was rendered perfectly simple."

Mrs. H. H. Miller, daughter of a skilled iron worker at Howell, grasped the concept: "The money was adopted to avoid bookkeeping, as at the end of the run, which was form nine to eleven months, the men were paid what was due them in legal money." (The "end of the run" refers to the length of time the furnace was "in blast" before having to be shut down for internal repairs after months of constant high heat.)

The history of the tokens is not as clear-cut. No documents have been found to establish the reason for their issuance. Mrs. Miller refers to the Howell Works 1834 token as being used, "for the store trade," and the "rose" token for, "purchasing garden truck." The tokens, in general, were called "store and garden money." The store sold goods and produce to the people living near Howell, as well as to those who worked there. Allaire had purchased several farms, not only to supply the trees needed for the production of charcoal, but also to provide food for the workers.

Allaire did not issue shinplasters, currency, or money, but rather "due bills." They were not issued to advertise the Howell Works or for self-aggrandizement or because of a shortage of specie, but merely to simplify the bookkeeping of the workmen's accounts.