The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-18
ALARM IN LONDON.
Boer Victory Causes Depression and
Run on London Banks Feared.


Run on London Banks Feared.
New York, Dec. 1S.-The Times Lon
don financial correspondent cables:
A week OF strain and anxiety has
ended in something very near to a
panic, both on the stock exchange and
in the money market, thanks to the
news yesterday morning of General
Buffers defeat. All the good effect that
otherwise would have been certain to
follow the announcement of gold COM
ing from New York was completely OBJ
liberated, and the effects OF the diSaS-
ter are all the greater because on
Thursday and Friday we were buOyed
up by the belief Of a great victory. But
there is too much reason to fear now
when the gold arrives it will be drawn
out of the Bank of England and hoard
ed
Already some of our large banks are
getting alarmed, and a run on them is
by no means a remote contingency as
things at present look. If you are able
to spare US ten millions sterling we may
stand a shock, but L fear that half this
sum lost in New York might bring our
looming troubles on your market.
We are able to draw gold now solely
because the anticipated quantities of
cotton have not come forward. Bills
drawn in anticipation of these ship
ments have therefore to be renewed,
and the rates on such offered for dis
count last week were generally higher
than on other foreign paper On Friday
week in some cases sold at So per cent
discount and from 6@s to 61a per cent
was the common rate earlier in the
week. Add to this the advance in the
! banks price for American eagles, and
the necessity for gold remittances be
comes evident. Yesterdays business
was paralyzed and the discount rate
hard at 61a per cent, with the banks
refusing to buy from brokers.
Small cOntingents of gold are arriv-
ing from the continent. but only from
the open markets. a, source of supply
soon exhausted. Directly tire stocks of
the state banks are threatened, up win
: go their rates. Open market discount
in Berlin is now s per cent, and it is
probable enough that the Reichsbank
! viii put its rate up to Z per cent. Other
markets on the continent exhibit less
signs Of strain, but all are unable to do
much to help US, and although it was
reported all last week. that the Bank
of France was going to send consider
able amounts of bullion to the Argen-
tine Republic, none has gone vet.
The position. therefore, is anxious at
all points in spite of the gold on the
way from New York, Australia, Berlin
/ and Paris.
our stock exchange last week was put
! to an extreme strain and stood it well.
I Money to the end of December rarely
/ cost at best less than Z per cent, and
! frequently 10 per cent, but payments
| We're effected without a serious hitch.
| Ten firms so far have failed, but none
| of them important ones. Yesterday
1 however, the excitement was again in
J describable, and prices dropped cater
/ act-wise. Rand mines opening at 6 be
J low Fridays price, and dealings being
| often impossible The latest prices We're
/ worse than the opening in most cases
I furIner SmaSheS are therefore newt
/ able, and the recOil here is sure to react
! disastrously in Paris, where the buying
/ has followed ours. In the feverishness
! of our mood we have been turning to
/ your stocks, but it was the wholly wild
I sort Of gamblers who bought.
| All these surging torrents of excite
! ment are beginning to tell on industrial
| affairs, and the outlook is much less
good than it was a few weeks ago Dear
/ money also kills forward orders, and
causes manufacturers to purchase bv
/ the week. In spite of all the great ac-
/ tiVity in our iron and steel industries
/ for instance, iron ore merchants com
plain that they can not book new or
/ ders equivalent to their output. 1t is
/ the same with textile fbreS, and pro-
/ duCtiOn of all kinds is beginning to be
/ seriously interfered with by dear coal.
! Altogether We are not happy Just at
present, but evils fOreseen and dreaded
/ are often mock prophets Of disaster, so
we hope for the best.
A friend just returned from Spain in
I forms me that that country is more
/ prosperous than before the war. so
/ prosperous in Catalonia that the mill
! owners could not afford to close their
works as a demonstration against the
new taxation, and therefore concluded
wait for the bad days. The government.
however is as vicious and inept as ever
! with eternal talk and nothing done, and
with all the old cOrruptions clamorina
to be fed.
The debt of outer London now
amounts to almost 243. 500, COO as pro-
: jected outlays come to at least e. 60O
GOO more The annual charge is e2.711
geo, or about 1Sd on the pound of ratable
value.
Many municipalities throughout the
country are fully as much or more b11r-
dened, but London has spent less on
public works yielding revenue than on
any other item. These figures are ex-
poration, which, when added brings the
total load Of the metropolis up to e48-
100000. The city livery companies en-
JOY revenues estimated at fully e125. 600
a year. none of which goes to the relief
of this formidable weight