UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF TI1E. 



741 



greenbacks, there was an increase of $29,000,000, 



owing largely to the issue of rurrrncycertifieuti-> 

 uwlrr net of June H, lH?'.i, for tin- redumption of 

 svliicli United States notes of like amount aru 

 required to be held. 



Of the liabilities, there was a decrease of gold 

 certificates of about $(14,000,000 ; an inrrea-e in 

 that of silver certificates of about $9,000,000 ; of 

 currency certificates, $31,000,000 ; of Treasury 

 notes of 1890, $28,000,000 ; while of the general 

 Treasury balance, including the gold reserve, 

 there was a decrease of about $40,000,000. This 

 decrease has been brought about by the falling 

 off in the receipts of the Treasury, especially in 

 the receipts of customs since June 30, 1893, the 

 end of the fiscal year reported ; consequently, to 

 meet current obligations the Secretary of the 

 Treasury has been obliged to decrease the Treas- 

 ury balance below the limit of $100,000,000, 

 which amount had been informally set aside and 

 declared to be a fund for the redemption of 

 United States notes, of which fund $95,000,000 

 was procured by the sale of bonds in 1878 under 

 the redemption act of Jan. 14, 1875. 



The following table shows the items for 1893 

 compared with like items for 1892 : 



The public debt of the United States is divided 

 into two classes, one of which is the debt having 

 no reserve, the other the debt for which an 

 equivalent reserve in cash is held. The debt 

 having no reserve of itself fully indicates the 

 net changes in the condition of the outstanding 

 debt, and is shown in the table below. 



It will be seen that, except in the legal-tender 

 notes, there has been no material change in tho 

 amount of the debt outstanding at the end of 

 the calendar year 1893. as compared with that 

 of the year previous. Tho increase of $18,000.- 

 000 in the debt without reserve on account of 

 the notes arose from the use of the reserve to 

 pay current expenses : 



Of the debt having equivalent cash reserve, 

 there has been a decrease in that of the legal- 

 tender notes equivalent to the increase as above 

 stated, and in that of gold certificates of about 

 $64,000,000. At the same time there has been 

 an increase of the Treasury notes of 1890 of 

 about $9,000.000, and of clearing-house certifi- 

 cates $32,000,000. This statement is of value 

 only as showing the enormous amount of cash 

 held by the Treasury in the character of a finan- 

 cial agent, to meet certificates and notes, and 

 which is available for no other purpose. The 

 amount held in no way affects the net debt of 

 the country. The detailed amounts are shown 

 in the table below : 



The money in circulation outside of the Treas- 

 ury on Jan.'l, 1894, as compared with Jan. 1, 

 1893, is shown in the table below. It will be seen 

 that there is an increase in the gold coin of about 

 $86,000,000 ; of silver certificates, about $7,000,- 

 000; of Treasury notes, $29,000,000; of currency 

 certificates. $32,000,000; and of national-bank 

 notes, $18,000,000: while there is a decrease in 

 the amount of United States notes of about 

 $28,000,000, and a small decrease in several of 

 the other items. The large increase in the 

 amount of the gold coin in circulation outside of 

 the Treasury was probably due to the withdraw- 

 ing of such coin represented by certificates from 

 the Treasury and hoarding it in the banks. The 

 increase in the amount of national-bank notes 

 outstanding can be attributed to the action of 

 the banks in taking advantage of the decreased 

 price in United States bonds which prevailed 

 during the fall on account of the stringency in 

 money to purchase the bonds and take otit cir- 

 culation thereon. The table at the top of the 

 next page shows the money in circulation out- 

 sido the United States Treasury. 



The last statement in 1893 showing the con- 

 dition of the national banks called for by the 

 Comptroller of the Currency was of Oct. 3. \^W. 

 and comparison of the items of that date is 

 made with like items of Sept. 30, 1892. It will 

 be seen that in number there was an increase 

 during the year of only 8 banks, and that there 



