Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-25
Finances In London.

| New York, Sept 25-The Times Lon
don financial correspondent cables: We
are suffering from an acute spasm OF
military dementia, a disease to which
modern empires seem peculiarly liable.
| The consequence is tiiat financial busi-
ness Of all kinds is suffering from a bad
set back. Whereas during the seven first
months of the year new joint stock un-
dertakings We're poured on the market
every week in scores, now none at all APP
| pear of the slightest Importance. Pro-
badly their absence is but Slight mis-
! fortune for they are mostly jury built
| like London houses. but stock exchange
| business is just as bad. Not since the
months following the crisis of 1890 has
there been such stagnatiOn as now exists
| all over our market The public simply
refuses to buy and the jobbers and
bankers occupy their time with trying to
| shift his load on another's back. In the
process prices dWindle and we are in
danger of a crisis from inaction unless
the cloud lifts soon. In short until this
wretched wrangle with the Beers is set
| tied one way or another our public can
| not even be persuaded to buy American
railroad stocks.
But, politics apart. the English stock
exchange would not have much heart for
| buying at present. Money bothers us be-
cause it threatens to become dearer than
we like. Europe does not frighten us
much. because no great state there has
the power to abstract large amounts Of
our gold, but you do bother most decid-
| edly. We know that you are able to take
whatever amount of gold you require,
and should a New York demand a rise
coincidentally with shipments of sover-
eigns to the Cape and a stoppage, partial
nf tho n C Ill
ply, our mess would be complete. AS
matters stand, many bankers now urge
| an advance in the bank rate to four per
cent forthwith, because the market
rates are above the present minimum In
fact, some discount houses are now dis
posed to ask 3A per cent on three months
/ paper and bankers prefer to lend their
balances at PA per cent for a week
rather than buy bills at 3k per cent. The
actual market discount rate yesterday
was barely 3R per cent. but the Bank
oof England was doing most of the busi-
ness.
| There is nothing very terrible in all
this, it may be said, and that is true
enough in one sense. Consider, however,
the position of our stock exchange. 1t
worked prices up during the long years
of two per cent money until the great
bulk of the best classes of our securi-
ties could not be bought to pay 8 per cent.
Scarcely any among the common stocks
OF our great railway companies yield to-
day 3h per cent to the investment buyer
Let money, then rule for many months
at or 5 per cent, as it has done lately
and great pressure to liuuidate, with the
inevitable accompaniment of lower
prices must ensue. But lower prices
, mean exhausted bankers margins, and
much mischief in many directions. No
wonder, therefore. that our market is
very nervous and disposed To eXaggerate
dangers ahead.
From one point of view the Bank of
England looks muceh stronger now than
it did when the trouble of 1890 befell us
Then we thought ourselves shielded from
every form of adversely when the bank
ing reserves stood as high as Il. 1000 900
pounds. Today it is almost $40 900 900
above that ancient safety figure. The
risks of international banking business
force US to look more carefully at our
bullion reserves and the more we look
! the less is our position relished. We
possess only about S,G00,0 900 pounds in
gold in excess of the amount of the Bank
of England notes in the hands of the
public and II 100000 pounds out of 3OO0-
600 pounds notes held in reserve is mere
paper issued upon government security,
partly government debt some two CEN
tures old. We might easily lose S000-
600 pounds of gold in the next few months
under the conditions described and then
recover, but the liability of bank notes
begins to be in danger