Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-06-27
BANKING IN CHINA.

pro COouuoe Their Financial AnhrSs
There II at present no national bank
in China. and the proposed American
bank. with its $50. OO0, 900 of capital.
would, In a measure, take the place Of
national bank. The Chinese. how
ever, possess thousands of private
banks. There are 400 banks in Peking,
800 native banks in Tientsin, and Can
ton has banks and pawnshops by the
hundred. The rates of interest are
high. and short loans in tight times
reach 33 per cent The nbrokers
charge Sc per cent year, or per
cent. a month, and tho rates OF ex-
change from one province to another
are very heavy. China has no national
currency, and each bank issues Its own
notes. Those are much like our notes,
save that they are Chinese characters
and on cheap white paper. The only
coin of the country is the ''cash." of
which it takes from 1000 to 1900 to
make 81 land which coin, small as it is.
is counterfeited The cash is a thin,
round coin little larger than one of
the big American cents of a century
ago, and sometimes no bigger than q
nickel It has a square hole in the
center, and is usually carried in
strings of 100 or 1000 each. Gold
bricks and silver nuggets are used in
making large purchases, and the unit
of weight is the tael, or ounce. One
ounce of silver, or o tael, is worth
about $1.4O Mexican, and a common
denomination is a ten-tael piece,
which is a chunk Of silver cast in the
form OF Chinese shoe. Gold bricks
are of the size of little cakes of Indian
ink, and these, like the silver, are SUBJ
ject to counterfeit The business of
the treaty ports, which includes that
OF all foreigners with tho Chinese, is
done in Mexican dollars. and each
business house has a man, called
Shrof, who does nothing else but count
money and pass upon its genuiness
The Chinese do all their business
with foreigners on cash basis, though
the credit system prevails largely
among themselves. They are honest
in their dealings, and merchants tell
me that they stick to their bargains
even if they lose by them. China has
no bankrupt laws. and debtors are
liable to corporal punishment from
their creditors By not paying their
debts they lose caste, and are practi-
cally drummed out Of business. 1t is
q disgrace in China not to pay your
debts, and, as n rule, the whole nation
settles up at New Years Day, which
comes in February. The result is that
China never has q panic, and in tho
case of famine or failure of crops the
Government sometimes loans money to
the people.
The foreign banks which do business
In China have large capital stocks. and
they pay big dividends. The Hong
Kong and Shanghai Banking Company,
for instance, has q paid-up capital of
$4,000 1t has surplus of $4,000
600, and its proprietors are liable for
$7,500,000 in addition to the capital.
1t pays interest on deposits of six
months ut the rate OF per cent. and 2
per cent. por annum on daily balances
It has immense establishments
throughout the East, and its banking
Office he ut Shanghai will compare
in size and appointments with the best
bank of Wall street or London. It is
the same with number Of other great
banks here in China English and
! French capital manages them, but a
, Cinnamon always counts the money
and figures up tho profits and losses on
one OF those little boxes of buttons
strung on wires, which makes up the
Chinese neutrality-suspicious., and upon
which all China does its arithmetical
problems. These banks will give you
drafts on any part of the world or let
ters Of exchange and credit, which will
be good anywhere. Their chief of
fcers are among tho leading business
mon Of the East, and they all seem to
DO making noney.-Peking Cor. Chi.
cago Times.