Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-02
Cort lyou Bothered as to What
to Do With Remnant OF
Spanish War Loan
LOAN is WIDELY DISTRIBUTED
Bonds Hold Largely by Small Holders
Whose Patriotism Induced Them to
Subscribe Redemption Probably
viii Be Delayed Because of Treas
ury Deficit.

Washington, July 2-Secretafy Cor
telyou of the treasury department, has
had before him for months the cues
ton of what to do with the per cent
bonds which will become redeemable
August /, and which, under the law,
he may redeem any time between Au-
gust 1, 1908. and August 1. 1918. 1t has
been generally supposed he would
either pay off these bonds or would
refund them Into per cents Recent
ly. however, the impression has be-
come strong that he will do nothing
with them at this time but VIII simply
avail himself Of the discretion allowed
him under the law and let them re-
main out until there are more suitable
conditions either for redemption or for
refunding.
The bonds in question are the rem
nant of the Spanish war loan OF the
summer Of 1898. The total outstanding
amounts to $63.945,460. OF this total
S4O213540 is in registered bonds and
the remainder in coupon bonds. About
SIT ,000, 900 OF the bonds is held by ma
tonal banks as security for circula-
ton or for public deposits. The treas
ury is not advised of the whereabouts
of the coupon bonds, for 1t keeps no
record of the holders of them.
Treasury officials say that this loan
is the most widely distributed of any
ant
extent to which 1t is scattered around
among small holders is remarkable.
The government issued about $780,
100000 bonds In this Spanish war loan
II was the summer of 1898 and patriot
ism was running high Many persons
subscribed for bonds in amounts be-
tween $40 and $500. and these small
amounts were distributed to every
state in the union The treasury de-
partment purposely kept out the big
bidders and corporations to large ex-
tent and the bonds went into the hands
of thousands Of small purchasers. The
treasury department sent out 100000
packages of these bonds by express to
every quarter of the United States.
This indicates the fact that they We're
widely distributed. OF course, as but
about third Of the bonds are out
standing as three's, many of them are
out of the hands of the original hold
ers. but those that are outstanding are
still widely distributed In small
amounts.
This is one Of the phases OF the sit
uation that makes it rather difficult
for the secretary of the treasury to
| br11 MI hn
to give up their 3 per cents. Even If
the interest on them is stopped and
Mr. Cortelyou gives notice that he will
redeem them at a given date. 1T viii
probably take a long time to get them
all into the treasury and paid up. The
average small bondholder does not like
to part with bond and leave his
money lying around uninvested until
he knows what to do with it. Last
June, the treasury redeemed the four's
of 1907. but there are still many of
| these bonds outstanding. 1t will prob
ably be years before they are all paid.
Similarly. the process OF refunding
would probably be slow one.
Redemption Of the bonds at this
i time. with the treasury showing a
| large deficit is considered out of the
4
question Refunding the bonds into 2
/ per cents would be feasible. but 1t is
| considered that it could be accom-
| plished better at some other time, and
on the whole Mr.. Cortelyou is ex-
pected to conclude it will be wiser to
let the bonds run along for awhile.
Treasury officials do not think that
this would seriously affect the price
Of the bonds in question
! After these bonds are disposed Of,
! n will be long time before the
! treasury has any big bond issues to
redeem or refund. A small Philip
pine bond issue will be redeernable in
1915. The fours Of 1925 redeemable
In that year. amount to over s11s.ooo.-
900. In 1890, there will he se4e.250.ooo
Of 2 per cents redeemable. The total
outstanding bonds Vt the United States
amount to ss970o0oOo In round num-
bers