Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-05-04
THE BOOM IN ENGLAND
London's Ideas Of Highly Inter.
esting Phenomenon.
why Home Trade, Foreign Trnde, and
stock Exchange Activity are Tx
pnnding in One County While
They Ian suish In the Others.

Inc Lonuon correspondent OF the New
J DIRK Evening Post says:
1t has doubtless attracted the attention
Of your market. as well as the attention
Of financial Europe. that a genuine boom
In trade is In progress in Great Britain.
In reality, this boom Is not a new phe-
nomcnon; II has indeed been gathering
force, with occasional more or less con-
tinuous Interruptions, during the past
hslf-dozen years.
What attracts especial interest at the
present time, however, Is first the fact
that the boom spirit now prevails not only
IN trade, but simultaneously In the finan-
cial markets-a somewhat unusual cir
cumstance. second, that the English
boom occurs at moment when other
countries are reporting financial and in
dustrial depression; third, that 1t occurs
in the face of a lately very prevalent be-
lief that the experiments Of our present
government with constitutional and social
institutions were bound to be handicap
to prosperity. All this may properly call
for explanation.
To take first the aforementioned consid-
Grafton, II must be said that. whatever
may be the defects OF the liberal admin
istration in one or another direction, their
complete adherence to free-trade princi-
PIES has enabled business men in this
country to feel perfectly confident that
nothing was to be apprehendcd, in the
governments fiscal policy, such as would
interfere with Csrdinal free trade doctrines.
When the particular aspects of this in
dustrial expansion are examined, It will
be found that all the main commercial de-
partments have contributed; but that tho
riost striking feature has perhaps been
the great growth in imports of raw ma
terials Especially cotton and wooD. and
the more than corresponding advance in
the quantity and value of manufactured
goods sent out OF the country. AS regards
the exports, II is equally certain that we
benefit increasingly by purchases from
within the empire.
But while this trade expansion has been
reasonably continuous, its coincidence
with active and rising security markets is
much more recent development. Put
ting aside all such passing phases as the
famous rubber boom of last year the
sun more recent 'boomlet" In the shares
OF oil-producing companies, and the en-
ormous amount of money poured into new
capital creations, there has been also a
established securities.
When. however, we look little closer
into the trade figures. this revival in
Stock Exchange activity need not be sur
rrisng. At first sight it might be sup
posed. when the figures of British imports
and exports for 1910 exceeded even the
previous high record Of 1897, that the
strain on our money market to finance
-
stagnation in the stock markets. rather
than revival. But, in the first place the
accumulation from the expanding trade Of
number of years was bound to tell
sooner or later In the market for securi-
ties. and in the second place. it is i'm
portant to remember that whereas our
commercial activity OF 1897 coincided with
a worldwide boom In trade, especially in
the United States, the prosperity of 1910
was affected by no such conditions. On
the contrary. the United States has been
experiencing exceptional trade stlgnation,
while at another most important market.
France. economic conditions are 50 I'M
favorable as TO mako it impossible for that
country to exert its usual power over the
gold supplies of the world.
In other words, this country has been
able TO finance It's commercial activity in
1910 and in 1911 with the utmost ease, be-
cause il has not had at one and the same
time to finance great speculative and
commercial activity in America and on
the European continent. These are the
fundamental explanations for the phe-
nomenon of our present revival on the
Stock Exchange.
1t will be observed, however, that the
very reasons which l have assigned for
the present unusual combination OF tinan-
clal and commercial movements in this
country make continuance of the preva-
lent conditions depend in no small de-
gree on the course of events In other coun-
tries. 1t is not easy TO study the record !
of the great expansion in British trade |
the phenomenal growth In the bankers |
cear!ngs, the unprecedented capital crea-
lions, and now the substantial rise in ,
Stock Exchange securities, without per
ceiving that while there may be nothing |
In the present situation to suggest actual
imitation or serious strain on credit,
there is none the less ample reason for
taking a somewhat cautious view Of the
future. Bankers are fi.lding very full EN-
ployment for their money in the chief
centers of the country
and they can command the capital readily
because of the stagnation prevailing
abroad.
Immediately the turn comes. whether
from France, or from your own country
CT from elsewhere, involving greater de-
mands upon the London money market,
the effect upon the situation here might
be very striking That money rates would
rise sharply under such circumstances is
almost a certainty and that securities
would experience sharp relapse Is also
probable for the buying. although of
fairly influential character. is largely pro-
so that a sudden rise In ''con-
ango rates would inevitably have the
effect of causing change Of attitude by
he purchasers,