The Washington herald., 1914-07-25
JOBS COMFORT
IN ADVERSELY

(Copyrisht, 1874 b. C. N. Keys. New York;
Since we in the United States. are feel
Ing a bit blue about business from time
to time and wondering what's going to
happen to US and the rest Of the coun-
try. there may be q grain Of comfort
in the reflection that II might be
great deal worse. To exaggerats
this comfort as much as possible,
IL would be worth while to compare. in a
quick summary, our own well-knovn con-
ditions with the conditions IN another
great Industrial mercantile and financial
country-namely, Germany.
In a review Of the Berlin market for
June. published at the end Of the month.
there was a list Of few Of the German
the big ones. of course, were touched
upon. The list began with the collapse
Of the biggest tinfoiI company on the
Continent. Its report indicated that its
losses for the year had been nearly three
quarters Of its entire capital Its stock
collapsed 50 per cent in a single day
This collapse was accompanied by the
discovery that some Of its directors had
been involved in heavy speculation,
which. in Germany. is considered a
breach OF trust and makes a very much
worse impression than a similar episode
would make in the United States.
big building company published a
balance sheet showing that II lost prac-
tically its entire capital. A chemical
factory had to write on a quarter of its
investments and an insurance company
about half A potash company had to
be reorganized, converting its preferred
stock into common. A land bank lost
half its capital, and a large woodworking
company in Saxony had to write on nine
tenths Of its investments as loss. A big
trading company prayed for a reorganIZa-
ton, and a sugar factory near DantZic
lost its entire reserves. 4 big machinery
concern wiped out its reserve and lost
about $4,000 additional Even a co-opera-
tive store In Berlin, whose members
were mostly government officials, had
reduced tneir interest rates on bonds
from per cent to per cent. Two large
provincial banks collapsed.
Besides these troubles our own seem
not so bad. We have had, II Is true,
some very bad smashes, but we have
not had anything like so many OF them
in so short a space Of time. The NOR
tality in Germany. in fact. is more like
the smash Of 1893 than anything that
has happened since that time in the
United States. II is. Of course. particu-
larly bad that banks in which the pub
lie have their finds deposited should be
going down one after another, as they
The fact is, of course, that the busi-
ness depression OF which we have had
some evidence here is wCrld-wide. II
is worse in Germany, Brazil. and in
the countries Immediately affected by
the Balkan war than anywhere else in
the world. but it is bad all over. OF
the big countries the United States il
undoubtedly in a much better position
than any other from a commercial and
financial point OF view. Providence
has been good enough to send a prom
ise of beautiful crops TO support the
country through a most critical period,
and this, above all other factors, has
held the United States steadier in a
commercial sense than any other coun-
try.
While II is well. on the one hand, to
take what comfort We can from refiec-
tions like this and TO pride ourselves
as much as may be upon the inherent