People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1893 — CURRENCY HOARDED. [ARTICLE]

CURRENCY HOARDED.

Its Scarcity Is Due to the People Rather Than to the Banks. Washington, Aug. 9. —“lt is not the banks but the people who are withdrawing currency from circulation and hoarding it up, and the sooner they understand the disastrous consequences that will certainly result from a contiqkance of such a course the better for themselves as well as the country in general.” So said a prominent treasury official. He said he was convinced that the scarcity of small currency was due mainly to that cause. There is at least *25,000,000 more of small notes outstanding to-day than there was at the same time last year, and yet we hear that merchants are paying a premium for such notes. He continued: "One thing Is clear.” The fact that the lack of currency is in small notes is a convincing proof that it is not banks but firms and individuals who have been hoarding, and this for the most part, we believe, in small sums. The entire paper currency of the country aggregates $1,105,000,000. Of this only about 555,000,000 is in $1 and tSi bills, and of these about 5 per cent, are worn out and destroyed. There remain about *230,000,000 in fives and 1275.000,000 in tens. For-ordinary exchanges the country is limited to the 5285,000,000 in fives, twos and ones, the 566,000,000 of silver dollars, and the 564,000,000 of fractional silver. Out of 51,601,000,000 in circulation only about onefourth therefore is in shape that it can be circulated in ordinary retail transactions. The remaining three-quarters is in denominations of 510 and upwards, and half is over 520, and for all ordinary transactions a *2O bill is too large, while for most *lO is also.” Philadelphia, Aug. 9.—The scarcity of currency here is unparalleled. The rate jumped Tuesday to four dollars per SI,OOO, against two dollars Monday. A method of relief was put into operation by several employers who are paying wages in ehecks drawn in sums of five dollars each, marked “Payable through the clearing house.” These checks pass current as money and are taken in stores, being collected through the bank deposits account of the storekeeper receiving them. The plan wiil become general at the end of the week.