Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-06
UNITED STATES MONEY
In Gold Certificates of Large
Denomination.
SOME RARE SPECIMENS
MILLIONS REMAIN IN VAULTS OF
BIG INSTITUTIONS.
Only the Bills Of Small Face Value in
General Circulation-The
Totals.
SOME RARE SPECIMENS

Did you ever have 10000 gold certificate
among the small bills in your vest pocket
that you didn't mind your wife knowing
you possessed? Probably not. Did you
ever have 5000 bill of the same series?
No. Well, have you ever seen bill of
either denominations? Unless you are a
bank president, cashier or receiving teller,
or interested in some large banking or other
business institutions here or elsewhere, you
will have to answer frankly that you have
not. To make this admission is to put your
self out of the Vanderbilt class entirely.
Yet there are Si.730COo of the money Of
the United States in $40 600 gold certificates;
$33. $40 900 in $1,000 certificates and $5O,OOO,-
600 in $1,000 certificates. The total amount
of paper money outstanding in this coun-
try. including 1925, 163 .O1S issued by national
banks, is $1,7G7, 172,903, 1yet of this amount
you have never even seen single bill of
two of the denominations that make up
SILT 10000 of the total. If the 81 $50 bills
included another $50, O00, OCO is to be
added. When man begins to calculate
how little he possesses of the total Of
81. ,i72,9O3 of paper money going the
rounds, he finds it is a precious small sum,
but when he has to admit that he does not
even know how large part of it looks his
sense of something lacking Is greatly in
creased So =
And 1t must be remembered that paper
money is not by any means the sole medium
of business in this big country. According
to Ellis H. Roberts, United States treas
urer. the general stock of money in the
United States January !. 1904, was s., 763.-
date the year before. OF the amount jan
uary 1, 1904, the United States treasury
held as assets 500, SO6 400, leaving 81, 1885,
345,S 97 in circulation in the business chan
nels of the country. Just think of this and
OF how little you have of the total.
The Per Capita Share.
The population of the United States Jam
uary 1 last was estimated by treasury OFF,
Gals to be 81, III. 600, and these same ex-
perts found that If every man, woman and
child in the country should receive his equal
share Of the total amount of money in cir
culation there would be just $50 3S for each
person. So when you remember that there
are several thousand mllionaires In this
country, hundreds of immense business in
situations, all owning millions among them
you will get faint idea of how many
millions of people there are without a penny
to their name. or in their pockets, rather
The Treasury Department has most of its
assets in gold. AS outstanding against this
gold are 1921 ,OS0, 019 gold certificates of d,f-
ferent denominations-the $4,000 and IS 600
fellows in the list For. without this gold
coin and bullion an asset, those beauti-
full $4,000 certificates would be worth little
more than the paper on which they are
printed even with the United States gov
eminent in existence. 1t is the yellow metal
back of them. therefore, that makes people
all over the country accept these bills of
large denominations and use them They
know that whenever they present the notes
they will be paid in gold by Uncle Sam. If
the demand Is made The gold certificates
outstanding as liabilities amount to Just
the same as the gold to redeem them
For instance there are in circulation
throughout the country SAT-. 175,S69 gold
certificates and an equivalent amount of
gold coin in the treasury to redeem them If
everybody should at the same time put in
a demand for coin for their yellow paper.
Down in many South American countries
like Colombia, an example, they have
paper money as beautiful in appearance
as our own, but 1t has gold back of it.
and the consequence Is a sack full of this
paper money is required to buy first-class
sandwich or a pair OF socks.
Uncle Sans Ability to Pay.
But for the good name of the United
States the millions of dollars of silver GER
tificates that are outstanding would be
worth about half face value. There are
1863 425 900 Of these certificates in circula-
ton in the United States. while the treas
ury has the same sum of silver dollars to
redeem them, # necessary, but the in
trinsic value of these dollars Is hardly half
their face value.
So also are guaranteed the $4,000 600 and
more treasury notes that are outstanding.
For their redemption is an equal amount
Of silver bullion and silver dollars The
government does not in any way guarantee
the circulation of the national banks of the
country, but it makes this circulation per-
fectly safe by requiring each national bank
t. cut up government bonds as security for
its circulation. Every time a bank issues
$780, 900 or any other amount of circulation,
Il places in the hands of the United States
IN, t,.,tSt n ty
of United States bonds. In case the bank
fails these bonds guarantee to the holder of
every dollar of the banks currency that
he will lose nothing. When bank wants
to go out of business and desires to with
draw its bonds, leaving portions of it's cir
culation outstanding that it has been I'M
able to get in, it must put up with the
United States treasury sufficient money of
the United States TO redeem the notes as
they are turned in. This is called lawful
money.
Sometimes a bank that is voluntarily
lauidating has great difficulty in getting in
It's bills. which are IN various portions OF
the country 1t must put up lawful money
for every dollar that is outstanding, how
ever. and as fast as this money is turned
in the bank is given back it's deposits of
lawful money.
Present Series Of Certificates.
The present series Of gold certificates be-
gan July r. 1882. Before that time United
States notes had been issued in as high de-
nominations as $4,000 Under the act of
March 8. 1868, the issue of these notes was
begun OF tne $4,000 denomination of
United states notes there was one pack
age Of 600 notes printed. The plates for
all these have been destroyed, and so has
every one of the bills except one, which is
kept by the treasury as specimen. It
bore the vignette OF jackson, just as does
thu present $4,000 gold certificate but IL