Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-21
AMERICAN CREDIT.
|. BADLY STRAINED
Business Depression Coming
Very Shortly, Says Noted
Financial Writer.
gy 9. c. FORBES.

very great.
oont forqet that Inspiring fact during
.1s rest six months. There will be need
ar remembering il. The breakers that,
,,,otbs ago, we were warning people TO
.,.nsre for. are rolling towards the
shore. That there will be good deal of
,.-s,ksoe can not unfortunately be
counted. Those deep in debt should
.,rvs to sxtricate themselves without
8sIsy. Credit has been strained until
nav It is creaklng cautiously.
wall Streets pessimlsm has not been
,,4+bout basis Lstterly It has been over
done. BY the time manufacturers. I'm
,or,srs. merchants and the like are wal
lowing In dependency Wall Street Will
he reaanng its courage.
We are great commercial nation, it
has lust been emphasized. Glance at
these figures; In eight months we have
exported merchandise valued at almost
m. and three quarter billions, a record
never before approached. And our I'M
ports total a billion and quarter, also
new hiah-water mark-two hundred
millions above the previous maximum
in 1912,
our BALANCE OF EXPORTS OVER
IMPORTS IN EIGHT MONTHS HAS
AGGREGATED SAYS, 600, 900. Make note
Of that fact-and recall It to mind when
the breakers hit the shore.
February's total foreign trade was the
heaviest for the second month Of any
year in our history. Exports were $685.
100000 and imports $3.50, 900 900. That is
.oual to million dollars an hour for
twelve hours every day Of the month!
Nothing depressing In that? Each day
we sold 81 ,5oO,ooo more than we bought.
That's not a fasaot for the slumbering
fires Of Industrial pessImism, Is It?
would fain stop and not write another
word 1t Is not pleasant to have TO re-
cord facts Of another hue. But the
picture must be ia ry drawn and truth
fully colored. "Forewarned Is forearm
ed" II we are prepared for commercial
detonatlons they will brighten us less.
That we must look for series Of retorts
- don't like to use the term "eHplo-
sons"- can not be denied.
over. expansion Of credit lies at the
root Of the trouble. Wall Street has been
IlauIdatIna. Now trade must face a Sim
liar ordeal. Wall Street has done its
share with a wonderful, an amazing
freedom from casualties. Let us hope
that the Industrial and mercantile worlds
will bear themselves with equal forth
tude and with a like absence Of casualties
The country's national banks last
month reported upwards of $500, 900
more loans than a year ago, but no In
crease In cash TO Justify this enormous
sxpanslon-lnstead a loss Of fully st7,
100000. The ration Of reserves to depos-
It's S the lowest for this season in
dscsde-worse even than In 1907. The
New York Clearing House banks re-
serves have fallen to the lowest point
since the panic. The most influential In
situations are refusing TO lock up the
funds In time loans. Country banks have
been the principal lenders In recent
weeks. total Of S43, 900 gold has
eft the country during the last two
nonths-s2, ooo, 900 goes to-day despite
the fact that call money costs twice as
much as it did year ago, and time money
almost twice as much
Abroad monetary conditions are worse.
The Bank of England, the axis OF the
whole financial world, is weaker than II
has been at this time of the year In more
than twenty years. Its discount rate has
not been so high early In March for
decade. The Bank Of France has ViTtu-
ally stopped paying out gold and Is Of
fsring premium to attract supplies
from AmerIca-lt has taken $19,ooOooo
since the opening Of January. The I'M
psrta Bank of Germany has been In even
greater straits. It is bidding panic rates
for loans here and Is drawing gold from
both London and New York. The big
Prussan Government loan was failure
the first Incident Of the kind ever eH-
nerenced, Austria Is In bad way
Italy, Turkey, the Balkan States, China
Japan and other countries are also run
Gown financially and must have money
no matter what the cost. And small In
Vestors are boarding every penny they
can lay their hands on.
70 make matters worse, the mad,
bankruptcy race for cost er ornaments
mas developed breakneck speed Then,