The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-14
A FINANCIAL PROPOSITION

4
or near the periphery OF the United
States. From the borders of California
Arizona, and Texas have been sent te
the legislatures of those States and
| Territories some OF the widest and
most visionary schemes, which, however
have usually been side-tracked by the
cool heads of the Older legislators. To-
day we find Senator Achi proposing a
bill whereby the money in the Treas
ury, largely received on bonds of the
| Territory, may be deposited in such
banking institutions as the Treasurer
may designate, with the approval, etc, =
and such banking institutions may be
| employed as financial agents of the Ter
ritory.
The security to be demanded shall be
deposit of bonds of the Territory or
u. S. bonds in an amount not less than
the aggregate sum at any time deposited
with the said banking institution.
For instance / borrow $1,000 from a
party on my bond or note at a IL per
cent interest. He says to me, 3let me
have that money and will give you
your bond as security for the return of
the money"
AT the end of the term present the
note and the debt is square, except that
l pay the 4 IL per cent interest as
agreed TO. What do ] make out Of the
transaction? The answer is why you
have acted in a very magnanimous
ri 1-,-. IaI 70 1or7d
the money to your friends at good
rate of interest and have put that much
in circulation" So that the lender got
4 II per cent from me and 8 per cent
from my friends on the same amount
and / get q pat on the back and am
praised for my magnanimity. / ought to
be satisfied (nit).
Let US see what our constitution, the
Organic Act, says about investments.
Under the caption "The Legislative
Power" mo debt shall be authorized
to be contracted by or on behalf of the
Territory except 10 pay the interest up
on the existing indebtedness, to suppress
instruction, or to provide for the COM
mon defense, except that in addition the
legislature may authorize loans by the
Territory for the erection of penal,
charitable, and educational institutions,
and for public buildings, wharyes, roads,
and harbor and other public improve
ments"
Under this law we have borrowed a |
sum of money to be expended for de- |
fined purposes and the lender would |
not have parted with his money but for |
the knowledge that the coin was to be |
SO expended If we lend this money to |
Bill Jones or worse still TO a soulless |
corporation are we living up to our |
contracts
To be sure, the lender is the party I
(under another nancy whom we pro-
pose TO lend it to as above depicted
and we are to be praised for our mag
in allowing him to make an
extra per cent in addition to the a
IL we are to pay.
what is the reason for the law" is
the way lawyers scan a law whose in
tent is uncertain. Whose itching palms
IS it who wants this coin? If the gold
IS cankering and corroding in the Treas
ury why not put it in circulation by
going on with the improvements for
which it was appropriated, or if need
notes, a currency which has the security
Of the United States behind them.
The proposition to lend the money
On any security under heaven is so
thoroughly unconstitutional that the
surprise is why the time of the legisla-
ture should be wasted on the question. |
There are SO many weighty questions
which could engage the attention of the
legislature, if it had not been called for
The special purpose of considering the
financial condition of the country, that
any attempt to wiring in Interior mat
.ers should be decried.
If the local government is in distress
Tor financial agent then the sooner the
Treasury doors are closed the better. 1t
las been frequently asserted on the
street that the whole business of the
Territory could be more cheaply and ex- !,
,editiously conducted by one of our
arge commercial houses and that if it :.
vas not for the necessity of maintain J
ng the dignity of government, prop
'sition that the matter of carrying on
he government or of public affairs be
ut up at auction to DE competed for by !.
hem, would be made.
National Banks offer no better Sc
urity to depositors than private Banks,
II being subject to examination by :
,ank Commissioners at unexpected mo- I
lents, or by the Territorial Treasurer
our times a year. The paper issue OF :
Iational Banks is secured by bonds de-
osised in the United States Treasury, ?
ut l fail to see the advantage of ex-
hanging gold for it farther than that y
convenience or portability. d
Many people could not see the utility L
{ borrowing a large sum of money, and {
aging interest on it, until such times II
we were ready to go on with the O
rejected improvements 1t merely put O
mptation IN the way of legislators and "
lose whose cupidity was aroused by the 81
of so vast an amount lying d
lie. g
If the legislature would conhne its OF
tention to reducing the expenses of al
,vernment TO the exigency of the times u
i'd enact an elastic rate of taxation ~
with the requirements it er
ouid be doing its duty. The absurdity I'll
a fixed rate of one per cent taxes and bs
en- raising or lowering the appraise- in
1 III