The morning call., 1890-11-17
FRENCH FINANcIERING.

The close OF the liquidation of the affairs
of the Societe des MetauX at Paris shows
that the smash has been complete. Stock
holders will get nothing; creditors will get
81 cents on the dollar. This is a pretty poor
showing for a concern which was considered
one of the strongest corporations in France.
It is now evident that but for the inter-
ventiOn of the Government the Con ptoir
d Escompte would have presented an
equally melancholy balance sheet.
No fnanciers in the world are ADLER than
those of France. They are clear-headed,
well grounded in political economy and
thoroughly familiar with the laws of finance.
The Bank Of France is perhaps the strong
est financial institution in the world. 1t is
conducted with more ability and souuder
conservatism than the Bank of England 1t
stands like a rock amid the storms of panic
and the commissions of politics. Thrones
may tOtter and Republics collapse, but the
Bank Of France pays 100 cents on the dollar
all the time. Nor does it stand alone.
Around it cluster score or more of finan-
cial Institutions which are equally solid and
equally safe. He WHO runs his eye over
the balance sheets of these corporations is
led to the conclusion that Frenchmen are
born inanciers.
II is really marvellous that an age and a
country which have produced such monu-
ments of financial sagaeity as these should
have likewise given birth to two such des-
perate and impossible ventures as those of
tie Societe des Metaux and of the Panama
Canal Company. The societe undertook, in
cold blood, TO buy up all the copper in the
world and to force the public to take it off
its hands at the price it chose to set. There
is hardly a single merchant in San Fran
cisco who would not have detected the flaw
IN the calculation. Yet these bright French
men, headed by men Of continental reputa-
ton for shrewdness, such as n. Secretan
and N. Denfert Rochereau, went into this
wild speculation with their eyes open, and
actually persuaded the Government that it
must succeed.
Equally incomprehensible is the infatua-
ton which induced thousands upon thou
sands of Frenchmen OF moderate means to
invest their savings in De LeSseTS' prepos-
ferrous scheme for crossing the Isthmus of
Panama with n canal without locks. They
went ii blind" Because De Lesseps had
successfully dug another canal through a
level sand plain where a canal had once
existed before-they felt satisfied that he
would be equally successful at Panama,
where it is a nice question whether any
canal at all can ever be built. They were
deaf to the facts and figures which were ex-
planned TO them by American engineers. De
Lesseps had said so, and they gave him their
money. The craze is exceedingly difficult
to account for. a Frenchman is proverbi-
ally prudent and 10th to part with his
money. But every time the gifted engineer
performed one Of his feats Of financial pres
tidigitaton he drew francs out Of pockets
and old stockings He has injured half the
small capitalists Of France. And he cannot
even plead in extenuation that he has trans
ferred money FROM one set of Frenchmen TO
another. The money he has lost has been
sunk in holes in the valley Of the Chagres,
and in dumps over which tropical vegeta-
ton is now luxuriantly teeming, and not a
dollar of it viii ever come back.