THE CUBA REVIEW. 



17 



FINANCIAL. 



National Bank Statement — Banks Paying Up — Trials of Cuban Paying Tellers. 



National Bank o£ Cuba. 



The statement of this bank to date of June 

 30, 1908, is as follows: 



ASSETS'. 

 Cash in Vaults $5,235,571.12 

 Due from Banks 

 and Bankers. 1,273,400.47 $6,508,971.59 



BONDS AND STOCKS. 



Government 

 Bonds .... 3,542,203.46 



City of Ha- 

 vana Bonds 1,079,678.07 



Other Bonds 



and Stocks 452,201.53 



$5,074,083.06 



Loans, Discounts, Time 



Bills, etc $10,142,068.92 



Furniture and Fixtures 88,296.53 



Bank Building and Real 



Estate 612,564.42 



Sundry Accounts 23,888.70 



Total $22,449,873.22 



LIABILITIES. 



Capital $5,000,000.00 



Surplus 700,000.00 



*Undivided 

 Profits 372,071.79 



$6,072,071.79 

 Due to Banks 



and Bankers 289,694.12 



Deposits 16,088,107.31 



Total $22,449,873.22 



^Deduct $200.000 — 4 per cent, semi-annual 

 dividend, payable July 1, 1908. 



The foregoing statement shows the ratio 

 of cash on hand to deposits over 32 per cent. 

 The ratio of cash on hand and with banks 

 and bankers to deposits over 40 per cent., 

 and the ratio of total quick assets (cash, 

 banks and bankers, bonds and stocks) to de- 

 posits, 72 per cent. 



The report further states that the increase 

 in the amount of deposits in the last six 

 months is over $1,000,000 or at the rate 

 per annum of over 14 per cent. The num- 

 ber of depositors' accounts is 16,243 or an 

 increase in the last six months at the rate 

 per annum of over 25 per cent. 



The Royal Bank of Canada has returned 

 to the national treasury the sum of $289,190, 

 being nart of the funds borrowed by that 

 institution last November under the Agri- 

 culturists' aid decree. The total amount 

 borrowed amounted to $565,000. 



In Cuba it is quite an art 

 Trials to be a paying teller in what 

 of they call there a "Spanish 



Cuban gold cage." 

 Paying While the banking system 



Telle7's. is up to date, and can be com- 

 pared favorably with the 

 European as well as the United States 

 system, real banking laws, as we understand 

 them, are yet to be made. The official cur- 

 rency is the American dollar ; nevertheless 

 Spanish gold, the "centen," official value 

 $5.30, and French gold, the "luis," official 

 value $4.24, Spanish gold, are largely used 

 in trading, and Spanish silver circulates for 

 payments in the retail trade. The handling 

 of three different species imposes upon the 

 banks the obligation of keeping accounts in 

 three moneys. 



The Spanish gold teller must prepare 

 himself before the rush begins in a very 

 systematic way. He places on one side of 

 his cage packages of gold pieces representing 

 either 100 "centenes," or 125 "luises" and 

 then again along these packages he piles up 

 "centen" pieces, twenty in each pile; and on 

 the other side leaves a certain number of 

 loose "centenes" or "luises ;" and in a 

 separate place Spanish silver and copper. 

 In order to pay $1,000 he grabs one package 

 of 100 "centenes," or, for that matter, one of 

 125 "luises," because it is necessary to work 

 on the basis that four "centenes" are equal 

 to five "luises." This amount equals $530 in 

 Spanish gold. He then takes four piles of 

 twenty "centenes" each, equal to $424 ; this 

 gives him $954, Spanish gold. To this he 

 adds seven loose "centenes," which equal 

 $37.10, and then gives two "luises," equal to 

 $8.48; after which he has $999.58, Spanish 

 gold. Therefore, to complete the amount 

 rec[uired, all he has to 'do' is to hand out 42 

 cents in Spanish silver and copper, upon 

 which the operation is completed, making a 

 total of $1,000. 



He must hand out as little Spanish silver 

 as possible, an unwritten law limitating its 

 acceptance to $1.05 in that money. — Henry 

 C. Neise, in the Denver Record. 

 Banks Paying Up. 



The Treasury Department received. July 

 21, the sum of $288,641.32 from the banks 

 which are still owing a balance of the 

 $5,000,000 loan of last fall. The amount 

 paid by the banks represents the weekly 

 instalment of 15 per cent, which they were 

 to pay. This leaves the sum of $1,634,967.48 

 still to be paid. 



The amounts now outstanding are as fol- 

 lows : Industrial Bank of Santiago de Cuba, 

 $15,000; Trust Company of Cuba, $21,800; 

 Spanish Bank, $686,000; H. Upmann & Co.. 

 $912,000. Total, $1,634,000. 



