The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-13
BURIED TREASURE.

There is now locked up in the vaults
OF the treasury about 81 200, 900. The
taxes are also coming due and there
will soon be added to this amount, a
half million or more of dollars. The
total will exceed SI,5OO,OOO What por-
tiOn of the total available coin and
currency of the country, this amount
is, can only be estimated This eSti-
mate must be based on inference, be-
cause no account has ever been taken
Of the gold shipped out of the Terri
tory by the Asiatic population. In a
recent business transaction in Hilo, it
was with difficulty that the sum of
$4,000 in gold was raised, because the
coin in the place was so scarce, and
in order to complete a transaction in
yOlving $4,000 in coin, only the banks
of Honolulu could supply it. These
and many other circumstances indi-
cate that the available coin for bust
ness purposes other than that in the
banks is small in amount. Hoarded
coin cannot be counted for business
purposes. 1t might as we'll be in Pata-
gOnia. The Asiatics hold large sums
of gold which make a dead currency,
and some of the Europeans have taken
considerable gold out of circulation.
The amount of coin and currency held
by the banks can only be estimated.
The total amount can hardly exceed
$2,O00,OO0 and it is probably below these
figures.
1t may be safely said that there will
be locked up in the Treasury, within a
short time from one-third to one-half
of the available, not the actual, coin
and currency of the Territory. When
less than one-tenth of the Federal cur
rency was locked up in the Federal
Treasury vaults in 1887, the leading
bankers of the country told the Secre
fary of the Treasury that a money
panic would take place if it was not |
restored to circulation. and the Secre- |
tary Immediately deposited the money |
in the national banks, taking security |
for the deposits, and the pressure for |
money was relieved at once.
If the government should state the |
facts regarding the condition of our
money market, and, the enormous ac- |
emulation of money in the treasury
to any reputable financier in any civil |
lied country, it would raise an eXcla- |
nation of surprise and wonder at the |
neglect of a rule followed by every |
State of the Union.
The course adopted by the Federal |
government of depOsiting it's surplus |
funds in banks, and upon good secur |
ity, is rational, simple, and in accord |
ance with the best experience.
If the local government would ask |
the Secretary of the Treasury in Wash
ington for suggestions as to the dispo-
sition of this hoardeu money, the Sec |
rotary would point to the practice of
the Federal government, to the prac-
tice of the State, and municipal gov
ernments of the country, which deposit
public moneys in the banks, upon TAX
believe that there is not a State or
city in the Union that locks up the
public revenues in vaults. The meth
DDS of our own Finance department
ara primitive, crude, and contrary to
ali maXims of the financial world. 1t
lis well known that this practice is
strictly followed by the naked Minis
tiers of Finance among savage tribes,
who have faith only in the iron pot,
concealed in the woods, in which the
revenue is cast The government
should be quite willing to follow he