The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-30
BANKS PAY In GOLD
PAPER CURRENCY A RARA AVIS
ON ST. PAUL BANK COUNTERS
NOWADAYS,
WHILE BUT TWO YEARS AGO
THEY DECLINED TO PART WITH
THEIR GOLD UNDER ORDINARY
CIRCUMSTANCES.
RECENT RISE IN WHEAT PRICES,
With the Increased Charge Imposed
by Express Companies, Credit
ted With the Change.

A curious state of affairs prevails
just at present in banking circles. If a
check is presented at any of the ST
Paul banks it will be paid in gold. If
the holder of the check asks that he
be paid in greenbacks, the teller will
probably reluctantly comply. This is
caused by the great scarcity of paper
money in st. Paul, which is occasioned
by the bulge the wheat market took
the other day, the large amount of
bills required in the country and the
large amount of money borrowed in
the East, upon which payments have
been made recently. The st. Paul banks
have enough currency in their vaults
to meet the every day demand for that
kind of money, but when checks for
large amounts are presented they re-
fuse to pay with anything except gold
When the clearing house has any large
balances on it's books due any of the
local banks, they make the payment in
gold, in fact nearly all the large money
transactions are negotiated through the
medium of gold.
What a contrast between this state
of affairs and the condition two short
years ago, when It was impossible to
induce the banks to part with their
goldi
A cashier of a local bank explained
the matter to q G o b e reporter yes
terday afternoon as follows: The rea-
son we refuse to pay out currency is
because We are sending remittanceS
East, through the mails nowadays in
stead of by express as in the past, and,
IF inc RI he
nothing but paper money. Just at pres
ent the balance of trade is against us
and the money is flowing out. This
causes a scarcity of currency, and it
is fact that the Twin Cities are prac-
tically drained of all bills of large de-
nominations. In former days we were
accustomed to shipping money by ex-
press, in such cases the bullion was
usually used.
"Some time ago the companies raised
the charges somewhat and the banks
refused to accede to the increased rate.
Then the present scheme was devised.
The money is sent by registered mail
and the cost between here and Chi
cago is 20 cents per $1,000. BY paying
an additional twelve cents on the ship
ment, the money transported is insured
by a large London company. Thus the
cost to US of sending $1,000 from st.
Paul to Chicago is but thirty-seVen
cents, insurance and all. The express
companies were charging us eighty
cents per thousand, but have recently re
duced their charge to sixty-five. This
is not low enough to catch the business
and they will have to make further re-
auctions before then can handle the
business. Of course we should prefer
to ship with the express companies, and
are willing to pay them a higher price
than the cost by mail. but not the
difference existing at present.
I'm sending money by mail, of course,
the cost is according to weight, and
for that reason bills are used, and the
larger the bills the smaller the ex-
pense Thus you see the reason for
the present scarcity of bills and why
we are refusing to pay them out, and
Offering gold instead"