The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-09-24
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER q

SAA
OF local politics we have but little to descent
upon but little of what is actually done is
suffered TO leak out from the precincts Of the Gov
eminent House, and what is left undOne is a
theme that would require too much space at this
time. We leave our neighbor TO tune his harp
on his favorite threadbare subjects and re arrange
his platitudes TO suit the two or three themes
on which he lovingly lingers-to state his pros
and cons in such a manner that, whatever the
turn of affairs, he can plume himself upon bis
moral victory. The hula drum and its licentious
accomplishments occasionally sound his tri-
umph, but, alas the quiet of the streets around
our public houses and their safety and security
point to his defeat.
From the quiet of the sanctum and abstract
ideas, we gladly 90 10 = the corner =" and try to
place ourselves en- rapport with it's busy stream
of thappht and discussion; there. Mt least -prac-
there. az elsewhere. the varying phases Of the
American Civil War is the uppermost theme of
discussion, because that affects our material in
terests rs well as calling into activity our moral
convictions Fstill, i'll the absence of anything
later on that subject to digest. questions of
essentially home interests have their place.
The scarcity of money, which is our only
medium, occupies the commercial mind. 1t is
not that We are poorer than we were. but that
our capital, instead of waiting for the whaling
fleet TO find investment in whalers' bills, has
been sought after for other investments. A wri-
ter in q late number OF Macmillan's Maqasine,
in an article on gold, and explaining how a def
Client harvest sometimes produces a scarcity, says
Capital has been consumed in the tiIage of the fields, meu
and horses have been fed, toois have been worn, clothing has
been gradually destroyed, and the grain which was to replace
them all, has not been produced"
This is where much of our capital has gone,
but our crops are Vt. to come in, in a great
measure, and TO some extent what have come in
are but just now seeking Il market, having been
stored for sometime for better prices-and doubt
less, too, the low rate of whalers' bills last year,
has had something TO do with it. Thuse who
retained their money and he'd back their remit
tances for that channel. did not make as much az
those who made gold remittances, and therefore
this year they have awaited themselves of other
channels of remittance. We trust, however,
that some means will be found for overcoming
the difficulties, az the encouragement or discour-
agement of the whaling feet is a subject worthy
of thought, and doubtless our merchants gain
by their visits more than they lose IF at ALL by
their bills.
The scarcity of gold calls up the thought OF
some other medium for the uses of trade. We
the article before alluded to, 10 the
notice of our readers. who, though they NAV
dissent with come of the views set forth, can but
recognize its sOundness in some respects. The
prejudice agains; any paper medium is one easily
accounted for. Without proper safeguards and
restrictions il is dangerous and liable to produce
much mischief and confusion but because in
come cares i: is unsafe, is no reason why il
should always be 50. This prejudice is alluded
TO by the writer as on a par with ga law which
might enact that no more ships should 20 TO sea
because many ill-built, ill-found vessels have
been lost" Gold is doubtless nothing more
than a commodity representing certain value,
the same as sugar, wool, hides, &c, excepting
that, by reason OF its convenience of carriage,
II Is the most Convenient commodity for eI-
and that it is not liable TO huctuation
in value 60 great as are other articles. The war
in the United States has more clearly than ever
demonstrated that gold is but an article of mer-
chandise, and under some circumstances liable to
great fuctuation in value. T.
In countries where paper money is used, Il
receipt for a certain quantity of
merchandise represents a certain value, just as
much SIS q certain weight ~ofspecie and deposited in
| bank opens 4 credit for its value in the same
manner as specie. and here, could a safe bank of
ssue be organized, that would have the conf
lcnce Of our business men and properly super
-ised by the government, the capital now repre-
ented by government bonds aud By mortgages