The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-06-23

are certificates Iii the Full sense Of the
wefd: The following Sums must then
be deducted from "tke .Heaey III the
eeuhtfy" Is reported BY the Treasury
officials on May Ii
Gold certificates :::::::::.$ 80, $50 $50
Silver certificates :::..::::: 577 ,6s1 ,504
Treasury notes Of $780,: Sye0s, $50
Currency certificates ..:.:. Il $40 900
Total applications ...... $605, OF ,473
peductfns this enormous sum of
605,017 ,473 from the amount reported
by the Treasury officials Is In the
country on May 1, hamely, s25s5, 1885,
o13, We have Ia fact s1,7So, Al, $40, or
less than two-thirds Of the sum report
ed TO be in the country.
Another absurdity requires exposure.
It IL the amount of United States hetes,
called greenbacks reported rs still
In existence. The greecbSks' re-
ported May 81, 1878, just nine
teen years ago, amounted to 1885,
es1,o16, whfeh IS the exact amount to
reported May /, 1897; and even the
lonely SIG at the tai1 end Of these fg-
ures remains unchanged by the loss of
a single dollar in nineteen wears!
Greenbacks must have possessed mag
ical indestructibility since May 81
1878, for the Treasury officials them
6n1y ~ M, 1or
the amount issued. as having been lost
or. destroyed previous to 1878. And all
other forms of paper currency seem to
possess the same life-charm, for $685.
100000 of certificates and 1892, 0OO, 900
of national bank notes, a total Of $751;
000,0 900, have all these years been hourly
600, have all these years been hourly
exposed to destruction, and still are
reported in circulation. BY Act Of
Congress June 1. 1897, $S,375,934 Of
fractional currency out Of the 45,912,-
0O3,34 issued, were declared lost or de-
stroyed after being In circulation but
sixteen years, but not dollar of the
$346 ,681 ,016 in greenbacks IS reported
lost in nineteen years, to say nothing
OF all other forms of paper money.
must assume that the reader knows
fairly we'll that there Is large amount
Of paper money lost and destroyed every
year In various ways, as in the great
and small fires constantly occurring all
over the country, as we'll as at sea and
on the lakes and rivers in the pockets
of persons drowned and in the trunks
Of passengers and in the strong boxes
of the lost ships and boats; and like
wise the loss of gold and silver by abra
sion, by use in the arts and sciences, by
abroad every year by tourists which
never return, by the marriage of our
millionaire heiresses to titled foreig
ners, and also in all the ways that pa
per money disappears, except what is
consumed by fires.
It appears from the Treasury reports
that we have had an average of near
ly the same amount of money in circu-
lation during the past 33 years, say
about $1,1S5, 100000 in paper money
of various kinds, and 81 zoo, 100000 in
gold and silver, total Of 1885 200, 900,
the exact figures now given being ST.
3S5,425,O13 I regard these as too large
by more than one-half and place the
sum at $1,0O0,O00,000. The estimated
oil III Of
and paper, at one per cent a year, in
80 years would be just one-third lost
destroyed, exported, used in the indus
tries, spent abroad by tourists and TAX
en- away by heiresses, &C.. but l will
place it at one-quarter of one per cent
year. or ~ per cent in 33 years. We
must therefore deduct $75,00O,00O from
the 81 ,O61 ,542, 901 apparently in circu
lation as lost &C., which leaves 1885,,
542,91O instead of $1,666, 56O,3S3, the
amount reported by the Treasury Off
Gals.
But there is still another form of de-
ception practiced by the Treasury de-
partment, that as to bank reserves. 1t
is prepOsterous to say that the reserves
kept on hand in the vaults of all the
National, State, private savings and
trust banks, and the sums always on
hand in the State, County, Municipal
and other public treasures, are in any
sense in circulation. Hence, the bank
and treasury reserves as well as the
certificates and the losses of money
must be deducted, for reserves and
lost money do not circulate The
Comptroller of the Currency, report for
1896, page $751; gives the National bank
reserves, Oct. 6, as $543 ,594 SIT. He
does not report the reserves of the saw
ings, loan, trust, private and State
banks, but states the number of such
banks in 1893 (my last reporD at
$685. and the total amount due deposit
tors at $4,355, 754 ,403. Estimating the
reserves at only five per cent, we have
$217, 787,710 locked up in these bank
vaults, while the average amount on
hand year by year in public treasures,
State, County and Municipal, in all the
States of the Union, is placed at the
low figure of $23,OO0,000. The reader
will please observe that l take no
account of the money lying idle in safe
~