The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-24

49,
American railroad finance. For the time
being the business Of the stock exchange
in American securities was nearly de-
stroyed so far as the public was con-
noticed under another head, have all
the year through prevented any revival"
This precipitated the English sales of
American securities which called large
part of our gold abroad in the spring
and early summer. but that relieved the
market in England for very short
time Hardly had the excitement abated
when the Australian troubles began.
1.-THE stoppage of the Commercial bank
of Australia at the end of March in
duced a panic which spread to all Aus
tralian banks and caused dozen of
them to stop payment within little more
than three weeks Their names were:
The Australian joint stock bank. the
Commercial banking company of sydney.
the Bank of Victoria, the City of Mel
bourne bank, the Colonial bank of Aus
tralia. the Commercial bank of Australia,
the National bank of Australia, the En-
glish, Scottish and Australian bank, the
London bank of Australia. the Queens
land national bank the Royal bank Of
Queensland and the Bank of North
Queensland. This list embraced banks
of all sorts and sizes, and their gross
liabilities to the public amounted to $780,
100000. All the failed banks recon
structed' within a month or two and
the crisis was stayed. Suspension en-
abled them to keep all the deposits they
had got and the calls made upon their
shares put new money in their hands,
for which they cannot now find any use.
Scotch thrift especially has been most
severely hit by these Australian troubles,
and all over the country a possibility
Of great losses had to be looked at with
a closeness which effectually took the
spirit out of traders and spectators
alike"
The Australian troubles were still in
force when the Indian silver movement
began. to which is due the apparent rise
in silver during the summer. THAT
great decline in the Indian exchange,
which had been in progress for twenty
years back, became so acute in April
last, under the weight of the Indian
council drawings and other adverse in
huences. that it drove the government
Of Simla, in June. TO pass a law through
coinage of silver rupees at the Indian
minis. Some two months before this
law passed. the Indian council in Lon
don had sold telegraphic transfers on
the treasures in India at the rate of
Is Esd per rupee; but the rumors of the
impending change sent the rate up by
the end Of June to Is 3 5-32d. On the
PRONUNCIATION Of the law the exchange
price of the rupee rose for one brief day
to Is 1-32d; but from that date to the
present it has shrunk persistently, until
it is now only Is 1-32d although about
IS, 100000 worth Of council drafts have
been withheld from the market. The
place of these drafts has been partly
taken by f3,5000O0 worth Of sterling six
months treasury bills, and these in turn
are TO be converted into the new loan
for f10.OOO,OOO now passing through par
lament. To complete its requirements
in London for the current financial year,
I1a ,fe f,,11 . IN
but it may be able to raise a little by
the sale Of it's drafts and IT. T.'s' A
revolution OF this description has neces-
sarily had a most marked effect upon
the trade of the far East. and upon that
of India itself. Indian exports have been
curtailed and the imports stimulated,
and a general feeling Of doubt and un-
has spread all over the East,
which has materially contributed to an
increase in the depression here"
The effect of these movements, and of
the succession Of panics which has
swept over markets" has been a hard
one for British investors. who, as the
Standard estimates. will lose "a round
twenty millions sterling before the final
balance is struck" And the result is
seen in the present markets. People
who used to look for per cent. are
now thankful to get 81 non-dividend-
paying stocks cannot be sold at all; and
the cheerful prediction is made that ''in
most directions the earnings Of realized
wealth promise to be less in 1894 than in
1898" Possibly this experience may open
the eyes of some Of the financiers Of that
country. who hold with Gladstone to the
absurd theory that an approaching cur
rency is an advantage to a creditor
country.
1t is remarkable that the Standard
seems to regard the movement Of silver
as a wholly independent matter, instead
OF noting that the rise in Indian ex-
change was due to an attempt to make
1t exchangeable with gold at the rate
Of Is 4d to the rupee. and the subsequent
ali WAS dina tn the 0Overnrnenf'a failure