332 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1780.. 



by the people generally, resulted from the great depreciation of 

 the paper money authorized by Congress. Early in the year 



1779, it had depreciated so much that the price of every article 

 had become almost fabulous, and yet it had not then reached its 

 loM-est point. A barrel of flour was sold for =£20, and a bushel 

 of salt for £15; a journeyman blacksmith was paid .£8 per day, 

 and the price for shoeing a horse all round was £1. 



The County Commissioners encountered very great difficulties 

 in levying taxes. The moderate fines that the law had imposed 

 upon officers for neglect of duty when the currency was good, 

 failed to secure the services of those whose duty it was to assess 

 and collect the taxes. By a minute made by the Board of Com- 

 missioners and County Assessors for Chester County, at a meeting 

 held on the 18th of January, it appears that " from the greatest 

 number of townships" no return of taxable property had been 

 made. The assessment was consequently postponed till the 26th 

 of April; the Commissioners in the meantime having borrowed 

 money, and the legislature having enacted a law imposing fines 

 on delinquent assessors and collectors more in accordance with 

 the inflated character of the currency. 



Many of the small vessels composing the Pennsylvania fleet 

 were sold ; but still encouragement was given for fitting out pri- 

 vateers. Garrisons were kept, both at Fort Mifflin and Billings- 

 port, at the expense of the State; but the object appears to have 

 been more for the prevention of smuggling, and to enforce the 

 temporary embargoes that were from time to time laid, than to 

 guard against any apprehended attack from the enemy. 



The crew of the brigantine Holker, to sail as a privateer, 

 appears to have been enlisted at Chester by Capt. Davis Bevan, 

 who probably commanded the vessel. Most of the enlistments 

 were made in July, 1779, as appears by the receipt book of the 

 captain, now in possession of the Delaware County Institute of 

 Science. The bounty paid by Capt. Bevan for a single cruise 

 was from |50 to $100, most probably Continental money. 



Before the close of the year 1779, Continental money had 

 depreciated enormously. Commissioners appointed by the As- 

 sembly to purchase provisions for the French fleet, in October, 

 fixed the price of good merchantable wheat at X15 per bushel, 

 and that of flour at <£42 per cwt. The price of salt before the 

 end of the year was £30 per bushel. The rates of toll for cross- 

 ing the floating bridge over the Schuylkill, at Market street, 

 were, for a single person, 2s. Qd. ; for a horse, 5s. ; horse and 

 chair, 22.s. (id. ; chariot or phaeton and pair, 37s. 'Qd.y &c. 



In November, an act was passed by the Assembly for raising 

 the sum of $2,500,000 monthly, during eight months, in the year 



1780, for the supply of the Treasury of the United States, and 



