Professor Sumner says that when the depreciation was going on rapidly a man might lose his whole wages while earning them.
Naturally, the next thing in order was the establishment of prices, for which purpose conventions were called. The first one held at Providence was composed of delegates from the four New England states. It fixed the prices at which imported goods might be sold, but an exception was made of arms and ammunition in order to encourage their importation.
Of course the proceedings in Connecticut were substantially the same. This state, however, had a law to prohibit persons from buying any more goods than the select men, or county commissioners, should judge to be necessary for the use of their respective families. Anything like prudence in laying in supplies was thus forbidden.
A Price Convention of the six Middle States was held at York, Pa., in March, 1777, but was unable to agree upon a single point.
When the Price Conventions failed of their object, new ones were held fixing new limits, for example fourfold the prices of 1774, then eightfold, then tenfold, then twentyfold--terrorism being applied in each case to enforce the decrees. Country folks accused town folks of extortion, and threatened to come in and take what they wanted by force. Town folks accused country folks of withholding their produce, and so laws were enacted against withholders. Anonymous hand bills and broad-sides were circulated threatening vengeance on merchants.
As a result of such irrational business disturbances, Boston was, in October, 1779, on the verge of starvation; money transactions had nearly ceased and business was done by barter.
A soldier's pay had dropped by depreciation from $7.00 per month to 33 cents, although it had been twice raised by Congress. Washington could not move his soldiers to Yorktown till Robert Morris had borrowed hard money from Rochambeau for their back pay.
In March, 1780, Congress tried the colonial experiment of "new tenor" in a very awkward and roundabout way, and declared that "old tenor" to be worth 40 to 1; the actual depreciation being 60 for 1. As it was supposed that $200,000,000 of Continental money was out, this was a repudiation of all but $5,000,000 of it. The depreciation then went on more rapidly than before. The "new tenor" bills started at a depreciation of 2 for 1, which became 3 for 1, even before they reached the army, and dropped to 6 to 1 in a few months. Old tenor went at a galloping pace at 500 for 1 in Philadelphia, when it ceased to circulate. In the remoter districts of the South, it continued in circulation nearly a year longer, and until the depreciation had reached 1,000 to 1. The southern people, when they learned that they had been using the stuff long after it had become worthless in the North, thought that they had been cheated by the Yankees, thus intensifying the sectional distrust which was already so dangerous.