The Portland daily press., 1895-04-06

his loan and the remaining instruments,
of which the last was not due until March
J. 1875. ware anticipated by monthly pay
ments extending from the end of 1879 until
III. autumn of 1878. Notwithstanding the
payment by bills Of excnange the transfer
| of such immense credits to Germany result
| ed in n considerable drain of gold from the
| Bank of England and other gold reserves.
| English exchange was much more plentiful
| on tbe Paris market than that of any other
| country. and the French Government
| boueht as much of it as they possibly could
and repitted il to Berlin. The bills payable
in London which were thus received III
Berlin. we're sent by the German Govern
mert 10 their agent in London-tbe London
| Ioip+ Stonk Bank-for collection at matur-
| ity. The London Joint Stock Bank bought
| gold from time to time of the Bank of Eng
lind or in tine open market and shipped ii
| to the German Government. who were en-
abled to use the metal for the foundation
OF the new imperial coinage and the sdop-
| ton of tie gold standard. The possession
of these credits, therefore, placed it within
the power of the German Empire TO acquire
gold, even though the direct payment of tie
metal by France was small.
ssINTERNATIoNAL STOCK
|
| This immense operation in the transfer of
credit was watched with peculiar interest
by inanciers and political economists be-
cause of the new element entering into the
transactions which had played but small
part in previous transfers of credit. This
| element consisted of negotiable securities.
such securities have existed for nearly two
centuries, uut those capa BILE of ready trans
| +bop 1,1 a.
ton i'll several markets nave only attained
| considerable Importance within the last
half century. Certain public funds and
railway stocks have come to be known in
Europe by the term international stock.'s
| not because they are not issued IN many
cases by local corporations, Lut because
they are generally quoted on the lnteTna-
tional stock markets. These international
stocks rapid, declined at Paris after the
| Offering of the national loans to pay the
war indemnity, while they suffered no SIM
liar decline in other capitals of Europe.
The result was to bring money to Paris TO
buy them, which Immediately became avail
able for subscriptions-to the national loans.
French capitalists. in other words. disposed
| of their foreign securities and turned the
proceeds into the securities of their own
|
fact and not a mere theory is indicated by
the statistics presented by Prof. Paui
Leroy -Beaulieu, the eminent French
student of finance. in his great WORK, La
Science des Finances" He shows that the
| payments of interest on Italian securlues
| at Paris declined from 53.23O.000 francs Jan.
/. 1869. to about 30,5o.00o francs il 1870.
This represented an annual difference in
| I1,,,t fpav, n G
| s4.6GO. COO; and decline in French hold
ings of the principal Of the Italian loan Oh
about 500. .OO0, ,0O0 francs 1850, ,0Q0,0 ,000). The
payments of Turkish coupons at Paris de-
clined in an even more striking manner,
and in 1874 were only about half the
amount in 1870. NJ. Leon Say, the eminent
| French Finance Minister, made an elaoo-
| rate report upon the payment OF the J. n
deunity in which be pointed out that
| Frenchmen were able to facllltate the
payment of the indemnity in still another
| way by their large holdings or foreign
| ernment the right 10 the interest coupons
and allowing the transfer OF the CORRECTION
10 Berlin. NJ. Leroy-Beaulieu declares
that the payments made to Germany Were
/ n great part s'the product of the neg0tla-
1 tioIl of the securities of International STOCK
bought on the Paris market. ana sent ny
/ our bankers to their Correspondents beyond
| the Rhino to ba negotiated by them ana 70
| cover the drafts which were drawn against
| France.
AN ENGLISH OPINION.
Prot. II, Dunning Mcleod of Trinity Col
Iege, Cambridge, Who has also discussed In
much detail the payment of the Frsnch In
demnity. refers to the large proportion of
the Hills of exchange used in the settlement
as especially worthy of notice. because
some financial writer's maintained that II
| England had met with similar misfortune
| she could not have paid sucl a ransom ON
| account Of the small quantity of specie in
the country. These figures, however (con-
inued PI of. McLeod) show that this is a
/ complete delusion. as England cold pay by
| bills If ever she were driven 10 such dire
| extremity to far larger amount than in
| France; and we see that in France herself,
| where specie is alleged 10 abound, the part
| that was paid in specie was less than
eighth part OF the payment by bills. NJ.
| Leon Say in his report upon the payments
sets for tn in IL striking manner the Change
| in such transfers of credit which has been
| worked by the creation of negotiable secu-
rites. He said:
| Fifty Years ago there We're no other inter-
national operations than merchandise and
money; merchandise, gold, and silver were
the only subjects OF export and import;
| the balance of commerce was settled in
gold and silver Everything which was
bought IRON the foreig aer was paid for in
gold OF silver. if not in merchandise.
| One might find. then, in the statistics of
the custom-house data more or less exact
| but at least real data. of the course OF busi-
ness between two countries: but bings have
greatly changed within fifty years.
Thele has appeared. especially within
| the last twenfy-Eve years in international
commerce what may we called new article
| of export, an article which in every country
| has acquired a greater Importance than any
OF her, and which has had the result of COM
pletely lug the meaning Of custom
mouse returns. his new article is securities:
it is transmitting across the frontiers Of
different states the property and capital
| represen tations, which are easy 20 ira nsport
VIZ: These capitals of the form of bills of
| exchange. public funds, shares, and obliga-
| tions Of railways and other companies
| Chicago Triune.
DEERING.