The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-17

A bill providing for the moving mere u
the Carson mint or the construction Oh
new one. viii this week be sent to mem
hars ~ the washington delegation for in
PRODUCTION in congress by Secretary Prosch
Of the Chamber OF Commerce. Accompany
ing this will be a letter descriptive 81 the
advantages OF Seattle as a commercial CEN
ter. which Is considered one OF the pes.
documents OF this nature ever prepared
about Seattle. The letter. which has been
di afted by Mr. Prosch is given In iul as
follows:
81 am directed by the Chamber of Com.
merce to inform you that In the event OF
the location OF another United STATES
branch mint on the Pacific coast Seattle
wishes to be the place selected therefore
IL ia believed that. IL there Is need lot All
other mint there Is reason for establishing
II here The government has mints now az
Philadelphia. New Orleans. Denver san
Francisco and Carson-the one IN me lat,
ter place being unused. Two or the inints
are on the Atlantic coast. one IN the IN
terror. and the nth. at Seattle, VIII pc tne
second on the Pacific coast. Geographlcai,
ly, the minis then Will be wen distributed
throughout the country.
"Thera are commercial reasons why there
should be a mint at Seattle. Ihese VIII
here be briefly referred to.
Seattle Is now the location Tor one OF
the most important offices In the mint sefV-
ice II was so referred to by the mint
director In 1898. and by the secretary OF me
treasury both OF whom spoke or II hRhty
In their annual reports, and recommended
the erection OF a suitable building Tor It's
proper housing The office Is for ass1ying
1t Is the newest OF Its KIND IN the country
Established by law of congress OF May ~
1898 II was opened for business July 10 fol-
lowing. During the five and half months
ensuing il received deposits OF gold and
silver bullion amounting to 15So,oS2 and
during the twelve months of 1899 received
deposits aggregating S2S23.6 So. During the
first seventeen and a half months Of Its
operation 1t received deposits amounting
to siS,373.6s7.
OmciaI Recomme ndatiOns.
.Tn view OF this enormous business. II Is
not astonishing that the director said in
bis report for 1898 that the Seattle office
promises to he a very active and important
one, its receipts thus far greatly exceed
ing the expectations OF the bureau. and
that ground should be procured and prop
err building erected by the United states
for it's occupancy nor that the secretary
of the treasury should have concurred in
the statement and repeated the recon-
mendation.
'.rhe extent OF the operations OF the
assay office at Seattle viii he the better
understood when II Is stated that In 1898,
t snS s ,sf sSs 9i|s s sssosss
those for the full year OF the combined
Boise, Helene. Charlotte, st. Louis and
Deadwood offices. II may be further stated
tie office exceeded In receipts OF virgin gold
the Ave assay offices named and the branch
miuts at Carson and New Orleans added.
The Importance of the Seattle office as a
branch OF the mint service may be- plainly
seen In the statements foregoing, as well
as in the official reports Of tho treasury
department officials. IL a new mint e TO be
opened by the government II should he AZ
a place like Seattle. where there Is business
for a mint to DO, and for reasons precisely
similar TO those which led the government
to open the mints at San Francisco and
Denver.
seattle n Financial Center.
SEATTLE "a a money town. This Is APP
parent in many ways One OF the ways
* Indicated I'm the foregoing in connection
with the United states assay ONCE. Others
are In connection with banking and eiear-
ings Though Seattle u only about 3ne-
sixth the state of Washington In popula-
tion, II Is just about one-half in money mat.
ters This is evinccd by the latest official
reports The Seattle national banks sep
tenher 20 Uses. contained deposits amount
ing TO S54a3,f94, all other national hanks In
the state combined contained &,sGos6 sep
TENDER T. 1899 the Seattle national banks
had deposits amounting 70 S.lG,sf, an
other hanks in the state, 2.gn,lfA During
the twelve months Intervening between
these two reports the Seattle hanks enjoy
ed increased deposits OF g. ~ So; All other
national banks in the state OF SiA3eNa.
.Tn response 10 the call Of the comptrol-
Ter the banks again made showing Dccem-
her 2 800 when the Seattle institutions
reported deposits OF s9ea,eii Reports for
the OF her national banks are not at hand but
Il is thought that their aggregate deposits
were in the neighborhood OF aoon,0oa
What Is true OF the national banks Is also
true OF the state banks Those In the city
Of Seattle had deposits amounting "a A-i9A.-
100 last December ?, or fully as rnuch. 10
Is believed "a IN all the other WsShingto ION
state banks combined.
The only Pacific coast cities having
clearing houses are two in California, one
in oregon. three IN Washington and tao
IN British Columbia These. according 70
BraAstrccts transacted business as follows
Sal 1855
San krAnctaco .srssssrs.sss. Afsa. tl1 iHt
Seattle 80 -.s..s.sss..t h@HEf-t~l
Portland .s..s-- .+..t-ss...- 4l.fas ..slt
Los Angeles .....-s s.-----t-s. No. ~
spokane ,s.. 80. ,....,++. ...+sts... n3H~,aso
I Facoma ,.s-.... ..s-. .-'.s'--s'-s - - ~
Vancouver, Il, g 60, .....,........ - IN s1i
Victoria. s.. .... ... ...+,.......,. 1855 $50
Greatest Gain Here.
"ssn Francisco gained over ISeS. 70 por
cent Seattle. 50 per cent; Los Angc.cs. -
per cent Spokane. a. per cent Tacoma
per cent Portland, lost pev cent VIC
tdria ard Vancouver clearing houses were
ia neither case ola enough fnr the making
NJ comparisons These statements viii give
SOU ne correct Impression th1t Seattle U.s.
a financial center. and That Il is s0ca more