Treasury

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The state treasure was a supply of cash and precious metals , especially gold , which was put aside by a state for extraordinary needs, mainly to cover the first major expenses before the outbreak and at the beginning of a war , and was kept under special administration.

Such a treasure formerly of rulers in the dynastic receive interest.

In Prussia , where Friedrich Wilhelm I formed a considerable state treasure, budget surpluses had to be surrendered to the state treasury , unless otherwise stipulated by law, without a limit being set for the amount.

In 1866 , after the existing treasure had been used for war purposes, a new state treasury in the amount of 30 million thalers was created. In its place is in 1871 the imperial war treasure resigned.

Historical reasoning (Meyers)

The economic misgivings, some of which arose from mercantilist overestimations of money, which were formerly harbored against the state treasury, as if productive capital were being withdrawn from trade, do not hold back against the need to be able to fall back on a ready sum quickly in the event of an unexpected outbreak of war without arousing suspicion by immediately tendering war taxes or exposing oneself to the risk of not receiving the entire desired sum when issuing a loan or of having to issue the same at too low a price.

Like many other goods which must be kept ready in case of need, the state treasury, even if it bears no interest, is by no means to be regarded as dead capital as soon as it only fulfills its purpose. Incidentally, the need to accumulate a state treasury is entirely relative, as it is conditioned by the political position of the state, the nature of the state's territory, the development of the credit system, etc.

Today's meaning

The historical term state treasury is no longer used today; instead, state assets are used.