Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-09-09
..ia.I67.i9I.9ol.l7

Aggregate. 10 pIoI SS4, sui II
THE amount of circulation outstanding at
the date named, as shown by the books Of
this of1ice, was s17o. .o79. 790, which amount In.
cludes the notes of insolvent banks Of those
In voluntary liquid alton, and Of those which
deposited legal tender notes under tho acts
of June 20, 1874. and July L. 1854, for the pur-
pose of retiring their circulation.
L. s. LACEY, Comptroller.
The first task in hand II to ascertain
from the above bewiIdering and intri-
cato array Of figures just how much
had on hand on May 4, 1891. In order
to arrive at the facts in the case we
must cast out from the items under the
head of resources" all Implications Of
figures which do rot represent reliable
assets AS for instance, what the banks
owe to, or have due from each other
are irrelevant, as these items must be
paid out of the cash in hand. The
items marked with an esterisk, thus%,
are dispensed with as irrelevant items.
The items not thus marked, which may
be considered as cash items, foot up
the sum of 1885, 404, $50. OF the items
thus marked*, United States bonds to
secure circulation" is all absorbed but
So, 040. 927 by Outstanding notes in cir
culation." Stocks, securities, etc, are
not in any sense cash. due from ap-
proven reserve agents" IL included in
the cash held by such national banks
as act as reserve agents, rs is also the
case with the item, duo from other
national banks" So far as the item
due from state banks and bankers" is
concerned, the national banks owed
state banks and bankers S114,2S3, 115
more than such banks owed them,
which almost absorbs the item, stocks,
securities, ETC." The other items under
the head of resources" are simply
representative of business transactions
among banks themselves, carried on
almost altogether in checks, and in no
sense stand for cash in hand"
Summed up, we may say that the
banks had on hand, in round numbers,
as available cash assets" the sum of
S4OO, 600, O00-or about 25 per cent of the
amount due to individual depositors
Now take glance at the other side.
The banks owed to the United States
and to individual depositors the sum of
81, ,604, 69S, ,751, or S1,2O4. sos, ISL more
than the whole Of their available cash
assets, and included in the item .loans
and discounts" are the items surplus
fund" and undivided profits" as well
as the 1867, 7s7. 4O6 capital stock paid
in" the whole amounting to S991, 7s1, :
943. Now what want to arrive at
or the question / PROFOUND, is this:
Where is the balance of 81, ,204, SOS, ISL
due depositors. and the S991, 7S1, 94S to
come from? OF course the answer, and
obviously the correct answer, is this:
''Out of the item, loans and discounts, ,
amounting to 81, 956. 6S2. $780,"
All, there, you who ridicule and be-
little the monetary demand of the Gin
cinnati platform, who spout so grand
iloquently about correct principles of
fnance"-see here. Do not you per-
ceive that the only security that deposi-
tors and stockholders In national banks
have for the vast sum of g, 196, 4SO, 694
is personal notes and chattel mortgages
upon personal property? You who
franticly howl that sub-treasuryites
want to convert the United States
treasury into one vast pawnbroker's
shop, do you ever realize that the
capital stock Of your euloRized banking
system consists of q choice selection OF
pawnbroker's pledges? There IL sbso.
lutely no cash capital behind our
national banks-nothing but personal
notes and chattel mortgages Il Is in,
deed q shrewdly conceived and infer.
nally adjusted system Of spoliation and