The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-08-22
A Merchants View of HoYner's
Bank Bill.

" HSA ~ was NE PAAAhNi A-
curiosity, and in the belief that it |
would at least be readable. | did |
not find it so, and I sent it away |
as a financial curiosity, never sup
posing that such a tissue of rub
bish had any chance whatever of
becoming law, even in the Ha-
waiian Kingdom. Later, heard |
that there was strong probability
of the bill being passed by the
Legislature, and so l got another
copy of the pamphlet with the idea
of criticising it and contributing, if
I could, to the defeat of the bill.
The thing is beneath criticism,
as you and your contemporary
have shown, and Mr.. Horner and
his supporters are impervious to
criticism, anyway This is what
the ballot box has brought us to,
and what crop of dragons teeth
it is There is a grim humor in
the man who declared, as he rang
the butt of his rifle on the platform
at the Armory five years ago, that
the Anglo-Saxon was bound to rule
wherever he settled, now posing as
the Hawaiian Parnell, and mani
pulating the trustful, aboriginal
legislator with promises of-paper
money.
Well, l have got as far as page
81 of Mr.. Horner's pamphlet this
time, and ] have stuck on his
method of reversing Gresham's
currency law. Either [ don't I'M
derstand what he means, or he
does not understand what Ores
ham meant, or perhaps ne thinks
that Bank of Hawaii notes would
be better than gold coin. I give
it up.
Turning back to page Is, find
the following: Query. Would not
the Hawaiian bonds that proved to
be good security for European
money 1.-THE proof is not in the past
tense yet-but let that pass] have
been just as good security and
secured just as good money from
the Bank of Hawaii if Hawaii
had had a bank, as from the Bank
Of England? If not, whyW
This poser may be answered in
one short sentence. Because the
"Bank of Hawaii" money would
not have satisfied Mr.. Spreckels'
claim on the Government And
the "Bank of Hawaii money will
never satisfy any foreign claim nor
serve any purpose other than fin
ancially bursting the Hawaiian
Kingdom, unless we build fence
round the islands to keep out the
foreigner, and go back to the
malo; in which case we might use
kukui nuts for money, unless we
took the precaution to import a
few bank note engravers before re-
firing from business.
Mr.. Horner does not seem to
have any idea as to what money
really is. Any manual of political
economy will tell him that money
is measure of value and q me-
dunn of exchange. For measuring
values, it should be subject to as
few variations as possible; for pur-
poses of exchange, it should have
great intrinsic value in small bulk,
and we all know that gold is the
substance that best meets these
requirements, hence its general
adoption as the standard.
Bank notes are not money, they
are merely instruments of credit
like bills of exchange and promis-
sorry notes, and their value de-
ponds altogether on the credit
which the bank of issue enjoys in
the commercial world.
My excuse for stating these bold
rudiments of finance is the recol-
lection of having read, some time
ago, in one of Mr.. Horner's to-be-
continued illusions, his theory
about the sovereign power" being
able to make money from gold,
silver, paper or anything else, at
its own sweet will. The ability of
the sovereign power" meaning, in
our case, the Hawaiian Legisla-
ture. Lord help us To make
money, is just the same as their
ability to make rain. They might
assist in the creation of wealth, if
they knew how, but their having
debated this monstrosity of bank
ing bill for two days without hav-
ing thrown it out gives one but lit
tie hope Of assistance from that
| quarter.
Mr.. Horner is very fond of citing
the examples of other countries
which have issued paper money
the United States, England, France
and of comparing those great ma
tions with Hawaii. There is no
comparison. What counterpart
have we here to the vast resources
of the States, the worldwide en-
pire of England, or the thrift and
patriotism of France? Let us not
initiate Esop's frog, who tried to
make an OK of himself.
Does Mr.. Horner ever consider
the danger he is leading his Ha-