The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-07-25

There Is no curse so great 10 q country as an IT
edsenable and constantly depreciating paper cur
rency." Certainly not; bat how is it with q paper
currency that is properly guarded and r~edeemable at
the option Of the holder. or sfter q certain period, at
option Of the issuing pOwer7
It may be possible to do a trade and barter business
on coin exclusively, but the commerce. and business Of
a great and fOurishing people cannot be carried on
solely with that, and there is not coin sufficient in
the world to carry on the commerce and internal
business Of the United States and Great Britain, and
some other means must be used. Surely q properly
guarded paper currency is much better and safer than
bills Of exchange, or commercial paper guaranteed
only by individual credit or responsibility. Is a SOW
ereign any safer than q Bank Of England noter
Surely no business man would hesitate to answer,
no! Is a FIVE dollar U. S. coin any better or any
safer than q National Bank Bill o. equal value? Not
a bit, and how much more convenient for all purposes
Of commerce. is the paper. Coin or Bullion is simply
the basis for the issuing of a business currency, and
is merely worth the market value therefor, which
Auctuates according to the law of supply and demand.
Let any one who is a I" Hard Currency - man visit
the United States, and compare the prosperity and
advancement Of the middle and Atlantic States,
which use exclusively paper currency, with that Of
the Pacific Coast, which secuted and sneered at the
paper rags anu STUCK 10 COlns anu let hill C4Tc-
fully study the problem as there exemplified, side by
side, and unless he be one Of those Of whom the in
spired writer says" bray a fool in a mortar and his
fOolishness will not depart from him" or an intensely
obstinate man, he would say that the refusal to use
the paper currency had wrought a serious evil to the
Pacific Coast, and greatly retarded its development.
The cause and reason of all this is not within the
compass of q newspaper, but the fact is patent and
storaa evarv Thinking man in the facp-pxcpntinO
mayhsp a few bankers who would find their Occupa-
ton gone in the way of selling exchange to every in
dividual who. wishing to go away from home, was
fortunate enough to possess a few hundred dollars in
coin. on which he must pay a round premium to put
in shape to be carried on the person. Coin, or hard
money is very nice and pretty to look at, and piles up,
but no better than paper as a purchasing power,
vastly more inconVenient for general use. In the
States, the National Bank system is as nearly perfect
as any human institution can be, and fully meets
the wants Of the people; it is thoroughly guarded,
and q bank bill issued in any one part Of the vast
territory is perfectly good and current every where
in it, and even if, as sometimes happens, a bank fails,
the bill is worth its full face and passes unquestioned.
1t was that system of banking, binding the business
influences of the entire country solidly together and
upheld by the confidence of the people, that has twice
since the war was over saved the country from bank
ruptcy and financial ruin. Except for issues of pa
per, issued in amounts within the reach of every one
into which the surplus earnings of the common peo-
pie were put, it would have been impossible for the
Government to have preserved its existence and per-
petuated its power.
Every Bond laid away in the drawers and boxes and
concealed in the thatch of the cottage, was a solid
argument to make q man loyal and patriotic and
without the Bonds the United States would not now
- IL n .lF "a -
ers. 1t is a universal remark that the Bonded debt
of England is the great safeguard of the Govern
ment. and is the insurer Of its prosperity.
Individual debt is not by any means an individual
blessing, yet :" a national debt is in many respects q
national blessing and q fair amount of the bonds of
the Hawaiian Kingdom in the hands of the monied
nations of the world (fOr money does rule the world
in this Observation-Disclosures period) would be o
greater guarantee and assurance of its perpetuity
than anything else that could happen to it; and it
seems to me right to question the patriotism Of those
who oppose the issuing of bonds the avails of which
are to be used discreetly and judiciOusly in inspiring
the affairs and promoting the industries of the King
dom. I am amused at the bugbear some have con-
jured up. viz: that whoever buys and owns the
bonds of the Kingdom, will eventually own and
control these islands. Bosh. Governments are Dor
rowers, not lenders; governments sell bonds and do
not buy them; and individuals don't care to own
kingdoms. but only to have their interest paid
promptly. Look at the immense amount of United
States Government bonds held in Germany, and of
railroad bonds held in Holland; and does any
sensible individual imagine for q moment that Ger
many or Holland exercise one iota of power or control
in the Government of the United States?
A million of dollars in Bonds held by foreign
monied men, and the proceeds properly used in
these islands, will revolutionize their entire in
terests and productions, and cause such an ad-
vance and improvement as the next City years
will not effect if they are to struggle on through
Gnancial embarrassment as now powerful men
will then have an interest in becoming friends of
and in sustaining and promoting the interests and
prosperity of the islands, that now are isolated
and unknown. VoX POPUII.