Las Vegas optic., 1914-01-03
More CheerfuIness in Closing Weeks

Nineteen hundred and thirteen was
a year Of disquiet and disappointment
alike in foreign and domestic finance,
trade and industry. The disquiet was
worldwide, though until the latter
part OF this year not so much in evi
dence at home as abroad. Disappoint
ment was keen with those who, with
knowledge Of the many politico-eccno-
mic domestic problems pressing for
solution, were hopeful that the excep-
tionally strong position of this coun-
try's producing and consuming inter
ests would render US partially inde-
pendent Of, if not entirely immune to,
the play Of the large financial forces
dominating the world in the year just
closed and making for depression in
finance and trade. Review of last
years events would prove incomplete
IL sight were lost of the many resem-
blances it bore to 1902 and 1908, just
ten years ago, when the socalled
erich mans or silent panic" occur
red. Then congestion in the securi-
ties markets was in evidence, the
phrase financial Indigestion" was
coined, the results of much iniudicious
capitalization of Industries were man
ifest first in collapsing stock market
prices and later in depressed trade
and industrial conditions-numerous
stdikes and bank suspension occurred,
and all the usual aftermath was pre-
sented OF an extended financial OF
credit situation being readiusted
It has been frequently and with
justice said that the Balkan war and
its attendant evils did not cause but
rather precipitated and revealed the
worldwide financial strain of 1913
It must with equal justice be held
that most observers failed to ade-
quately measure and forecast the ef-
fects direct and indirect, of thewar
which, starting in October, 1912,
drenched the Balkans and European
Turkey in blood, converted eastern
Europe into an armed camp, caused
boarding of gold in Austria, France
and Germany, put a practical period
to the European financial and com
merciaI boom, and in steadily widen
ing circles reached Into and affected
the finances and trade of countries
thousands of miles away from and ap-
parently unconnected with the hostil-
tiles No country proved immune,
and all felt the strain of an already
greatly overextended credit situation,
inability to borrow new loans and diff
ficulty in getting old issues refunded
Brazil and India, Germany and Aus
tria, France and England, Canada and
Mexico, as well as the United States,
were affected. this country, perhaps
least of all, because Of our wonder
full export trade balance, cushioning
the impact upon us of the outer world
forces. Once again our membership
in the family OF nations brought home
to US the real interdependence of the
countries. and when we confidently
expected relief for our own financial
needs from our enormous export bal
ance, instead of gold supplies paid us
in settlement of these balances, we
received back our own securities,
which as in other years of general
strain sold most readily in the worlds
markets. Indeed, as the result of
three-cornered exchange operations,
we found ourselves paying othAr ma
tions' balances in markets where our
own trade interests required payments
10 instead Of disbursements by us,
Of the worlds chief circulating me
sium.
The worlds financial difficulties
bulked large in our list Of problems
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