The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-06

ANA approximates desperation. Her
Immediate future holds out little hope
.of Improvement. Things will come all
right financially in the end, but just
now Panama faces direst necessity.
She has made one temporary loan,
/ P. Morgan & Co., New York, be-
ing the lenders. From this loan Nor
gan is realizing per cent. interest,
and by reason of making it his firm
nrocured appointment as financial
agents for the new republic at New
York.
The initiatory demands upon this
government have been 50 heavy, how
ever. and the revenues have been so
small that since the work of paying
the separatist bonuses was completed
there has been little left with which
TO defray current expenses. To add
to the difficulty, the sort of govern
ment now holding. sway here does not
invite much financial confidence. so
that the establishment of a national
credit, under which an issue of bonds
might be possible, had to be deferred
until after the first president shall
have been elected and the government
chosen by the people. shall have been
indicted into Office.
Under the old regime the finances
of Colombia and of the state of Pan
ANA were entirely separate and dis
kinct. This refers to the systems
only.,for Colombia succeeded in, cap
turing nearly every cent of the ac-
tual cash income of this department.
In Colombia the only currency is an
issue of worthless paper. This money
has been printed in endless quanti-
ties. over $500, 100000 are now in cir
culation, and an additional issue of
$4,000, 900 has been ordered for a pop
ulation of only 100000. Being I'M
redeemable, it represents no real value,
and exchange has fallen so low that
81 in American gold will buy some
thing more than $4,000 in the paper
money of Colombia. 1t is a literal
truth that over in Colombia the man
who changes $40 gold piece needs a
mule to carry away the paper money
that is given him.
Purse of Worthless Paper.
NODOOy ever SlOpS 10 COUNT LnlS
money; it iss tossed about in bales
supposed to contain 81, 900 each. In it
simple lunch at a restaurant in any
of the Colombian cities costs about
$500, while ordinary purchases, like
shoes or hats, have to, be paid for at
the rate of thousands of dollars each.
The expenses of the trip / am MAX
ing through Panama would, if comput-
ed in Colombian currency, already
amount to more than $4,000 900. Nor
is this the worst feature OF the money
of Colombia. All sorts of tricks are
played with it. The printing and en-
craving is of SO inferior a quality that
qognterfeiting is$1naae. easy, and "a
counterfeit $40 note having recently
appeared the government at Bogota
has issued decree repudiating all
notes of that denomination in circula-
tion. 1t is impossible to distinguish
between the genuine and spurious, so
the entire issue is repudiateG.
1t is this currency which has brought
Colombia to the lowest level of finan-
clal despair, absolutely destroying her
credit, eliminating the possibility of
her paying her Indebtedness, and
prompting the enactment of a law re-
curing all customs dues to be paid in
gold after Jan. l. The folly displayed
by Colombia in rejecting the canal
treaty, which would have RivAn her
S1O,000,000 in gold and afforded her an
opportunity to retire the worthless pa
per and establish something like a
decent monetary system, is realized
when these facts are known.
'MOnI&ey Money" of Panama.
But, interesting as they are, these
facts only slightly concern Panama.
They explain. in measure, why Co.
lombia was always so assiduous in at
lacking the public moneys in the De-
partInent of Panama: but, otherwise.
the isthmus never suffered because of
the Worthlessness of the paper money
Of Colombia. The reason is that Pan
anna years ago demanded (and her
commercial requirements, due to trans
isthmian traffic, were such that Colom-
bta had to grant the demand) the iSsu-
ance of silver currency for local use.
This silver now constitutes the money
OF the new republic. Locally it is
known as tin" or monkey money. "
Why? Because it is mixture of cheap
alloy with very little silver, the por-
ton of silver being so small that the
rate of exchange for American gold
fuctuates between 81. Sc and $2.7O for
one. That means that for one dollar
OF American gold one receives an
amount in Colombian silver somewhere
between the sums named. Here, again,
tricks are played with the money, for
there is no fixed rate of exchange. and
the two bankinghouses on the isthmus
-Brandons and Ehrmann's-varv the
rate from day to day, and make conf
Portable sum by raising or depressing
the exchange. The unit Of value In
this coinage is the 5O-cent piece, worth
ordinarily abouta 16 cents in American
money, and a more unsatisfactory cur
rency it would be difficult to discover
A Badly Mixed Currency.
When changing small gold piece,
one gets several pounds of silver in re-
turn, each piece varying with the date
and place of the minting. In this re-
spest there is little uniformity, for the
money is coined sometimes in New
York, sometimes in Philadelphia, and
at other times in European cities, just
as the holders of the money coming
concession find-it advantageous to place
the contract. Some of it is milled, and
some has the Colombian motto, "DiosF
LeiF Libertad"-God, Life and Liberty
sunk in small letters about its edges.
occasionally one receives ponderous
pleces-the dollars of Peru, Nicaragua,
Guatemala and Costa Rica, all of which
are current here, and again one gets
me regular Colombian 50-cent pieces
uelaced with a small stamp showing
yhat at sometime or other that particu-
15r piece found its way into Costa
rlca and was stamped with the OBJ
verse and reverse of the. Costa Rican
ISoat OF arms. a process by which Co
loinbian silver is made current in that
COUNTRY.
AS NAV he iuoasinad tI,iS currancv