Gloucester County (N.J.). Loan Office

County loan offices established by the state legislature, under various loan acts beginning in 1723, to issue paper money through mortgages on unencumbered land of value at least double the principle of each loan, while at the same time, pay off the public debt, increase government revenues, and assist the agricultural interests of the state; after the last loan office act in 1786, state currency depreciated in value and loan offices closed at the end of the century, due to the adoption of the federal constitution which prohibited the issuing of money by the states; originally administered by county commissioners but after 1732 by elected loan-office commissioners.