FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1899. 



275 



ing day. The process of collection then involved 

 the presentation by the manager of the clearing 

 house to the assistant treasurer of this warrant, 

 precisely as other vouchers of the indebtedness 

 of this official at the clearing house were cus- 

 tomarily presented, and payment thereof was 

 made in the manner above described, with re- 

 ceipts representing the theoretical deposit of the 

 gold in the subtreasury by the manager of the 

 clearing house. The remaining warrants for 

 $5,000,000 each of the Philippine indemnity were 

 collected in a similar manner, and the receipts 

 representing the amount were in due course re- 

 turned to the assistant treasurer in settlement of 

 obligations to the Government and canceled. 

 Thus was the Philippine indemnity collected with- 

 out the removal of the gold from the vaults of 

 the Treasury. 



The manner of the transfer of the indemnity to 

 Europe and of the final settlement with the Span- 

 ish Government through the Deutsche Bank of 

 Berlin is thus described by the secretary of that 

 institution : 



"As correspondents of the Bank of Spain we 

 contracted on the 27th of April, 1899, to place 

 in Europe within twenty days, and at a fixed rate 

 of exchange, the United States indemnity for the 

 Philippine Islands of $20,000,000 put at Spain's 

 disposal. We undertook to transfer 2,000,000 

 to London, 40,000,000 francs to Paris, and the 

 balance of about 10,000,000 marks to Berlin, in 

 which cities the Spanish Government had, as it 

 permanently has, interest coupons maturing of 

 its foreign debt issued in the English, French, 

 and German markets. 



"Under our instructions the Spanish authori- 

 ties directed the French ambassador to the United 

 States to receive from the United States Treasury 

 the $20,000,000 and to pay the same to the Na- 

 tional City Bank of New York. 



" On May 15, 1899, we had completed our pay- 

 ments in London, Paris, and Berlin, and on the 

 same day the National City Bank of New York 

 received the last installment on account of the 

 $20,000,000, the entire transaction being thus 

 terminated as far as the two governments were 

 concerned. 



" It is hardly necessary to add that the entire 

 $20,000,000 could not have been transferred from 

 New York to Europe within so short a period 

 without disturbing the exchange and money mar- 

 kets. We therefore, on joint account with the 

 National City Bank, made the necessary ad- 

 vances to spread the operation over a longer 

 period, and arranged to settle the Spanish claim 

 by making payment of the above-named amounts 

 on this side, while the National City Bank was 

 gradually securing the exchange on the other. 



" At no time before, during, or after the war 

 had we made any advance to the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment, nor has there ever existed any indebted- 

 ness to us from the same or from the Bank of 

 Spain. The transfer of the entire indemnity and 

 the payment of the $20,000.000 was a bona fide 

 exchange transaction carried out in the ordinary 

 course of business. 



" By referring to the Bank of Spain's weekly 

 published balance sheets of May last it will ap- 

 pear that the bank's assets, under the heading 

 of ' balances with foreign correspondents,' were 

 increased at that time by the amount above 

 stated, while the debit of the Spanish treasury 

 to the bank simultaneously decreased 119,000,000 

 pesetas, which was reported to have been the 

 amount credited to the Spanish Government by 

 the Bank of Spain for the United States in- 

 demnity." 



The following tabular survey of the econom- 

 ical conditions and results of 1899, contrasted 

 with those of the preceding year, is from the 

 Commercial and Financial Chronicle: 



Money. As was the case in 1898, the note- 

 worthy feature of the Treasury situation was the 

 great abundance of gold. The net holdings of 

 this metal, in coin and bullion, were, at the end 

 of December, 1898, $246,529,176.. Owing to the 

 usual disbursements at the beginning of this 

 year, this amount was reduced by the close of 

 January to $228,652,341. By April 30, however, 

 there was an increase to $246,140,226. In con- 

 sequence of the payment of the Philippine in- 

 demnity in the following month, there was a re- 

 duction by the end of May to $228,415,238. This 

 amount, however, was the lowest of the year. 

 Thereafter the net gold holdings of the Treasury 

 increased, and by Oct. 12 they were $258,081,565. 

 At the close of the year they were $213,187,408. 

 It may be noted that in August the Treasury 

 Department resumed the issue of gold certificates, 

 which had been suspended since the beginning 

 of 1896, and the outstanding certificates at the 

 end of December were $184,844,619. 



At the beginning of the year the New York 

 associated banks held $173,442,100 specie, nearly 

 all of which was gold coin. This amount was in- 

 creased by Feb. 25 to $202,658,300. Then came 

 a reduction by April 8 to $187,152,500, followed 

 by an increase to $206,876,500, the maximum of 

 the year, May 27. From that amount there was 

 a decrease to $136,778,300, Nov. 18. The specie 

 holdings by the banks at the end of the year 

 were $143,496,900. 



The loans of the associated banks at the be- 

 ginning of the year were $713,803,800. There 

 was an increase to $793,852,900, the maximum of 

 the year, July 8, followed by a decrease, due to 

 liquidation, hereinafter noted, to $676,636,400, 

 Nov. 25. The loans at the end of the year were 

 $673,689.400. The movement in specie was as 

 above noted. The bank holdings of legal tenders 

 at the beginning of January were $56,808,700. 

 The maximum of the year ($61,156.500) was re- 

 corded Jan. 28. Changes were comparatively 

 slight until after June 17, when the amount held 

 was $59,787,800. Thereafter, however, there was 

 a gradual reduction to $46,337.200, the minimum 

 of the year, Nov. 11, and the amount held at the 

 close of the year was $52,682,900. The deposits 

 of the banks were $826,881,700, Jan. 7. There 

 was an increase to $914,810,300, the maximum of 

 the year, March 4, followed by a reduction to 

 $883,595,300, April 29. Then came an increase to 

 $909,004,800, June 24, succeeded by a decrease to 



