Bisbee daily review., 1915-09-05
HUNDRED MILLIONS
NEEDED TO SETTLE
BOURSE OBLIGATION
Debts Of More than a Year Old
on the Paris Exchange Are
Still Unpaid; Must Be Met
Soon, Is Opinion.

PARIS. Sept 4-One hundred mil
lion dollars is the sum required, ac-
cording to the best estimates. to pay
balances due on transactions on the
Paris Bourse at the end OF July, last
year, settlement Of which is still in
suspense. Financiers agree that the
longer the settlement is postponed
the more difficult the final liquidation
will become, so an earnest effort is
being made to reach a decision.
A law viii be introduced in the
Chamber of Deputies providing that
the necessary funds be advanced by
the Bank of France on the guarantee
of the government to aid the Agents
de Change" official stock brokers'
who are collectively and individually
responsible for the obligations of
traders dealing through them. This
law proposes that the "Cours de COM
pensation,' that is to say, the basic
price of each security on which set
Elements are made, shall be fixed by
a commission composed of the Minis
ter Of Finance, the presidents of the
finance committees OF the senate and
the chamber of deputies, and the
"Chambre Syndicate des Agents de
Change"-the directing committee of
the stock brokers association.
Under ordinary circumstances the
."COurs de compensation" upon which
deals are carried overs from one set
Element day to another, are fixed by
the stock brokers committee one hour
before the closing Of the Bourse, in
conformity with the cash quotations
of the day Such a liquidation was
impossible at the outbreak of the war.
The closing Of the Bourse simply held
all deals in suspense
A great many of them were be-
tween Frenchmen and subjects of
powers now at war with France, in
which cases the deliveries of securi-
ties and the settlement of margins
was and still is impossible. Besides,
a great many investors and speculat-
Ors for whom transactions we're in
course, are at the front Their inter
ests will be protected by carrying ov-
er their deals on the basis of the set
Element price until they are able to
liquidate. AS TO subjects of coun-
tries at war with France, their deals
must be closed out arbitrarily. III
they are winners the affair is simple
if they are losers their brokers must
pay for them. That is a penalty they
incud in return for the monopoly they
have in the negotiation of securities.
That monopoly dates from the crea-
ton of the Bourse of Paris by decree
of the state council as a measure to !
restrict speculation after the complete
Generalization of French finances byI
the speculations of the mississippi
Bubble Different DEGREES Of the
state council prohibited negotiations |
of securities elsewhere than on a pub |
lie market, and gave the monopoly to
70 Agents de Change" named by the
king.
These 20 official stock brokers form
ed a permanent committee of eight, !
presided over by a "Syndic" or manag. |
err and this committee is called
"Chambre Syndicate des Agents de
Change" They, with the approval
of the minister Of finance, and in ac-
cordance with special laws passed by !
parliament, decide the admission Of ]
securities to the official quotations. !
All other securities are dealt i'm freely ]
by curb" brokers, and as their trans |
possible to even estimate approx |
mately the total of the balances left |
unsettled the day of the closing of the !
Bourse.
The total value of foreign securities /
listed at the Bourse, Dec. 3, 1913, that |
is to say admitted to the official quo |
tations, was 16 billion 200 million dol /
lars, s billions of which were held in |
France. The domestic securities list |
ed at the same time were about IA
billions Of dollars. most of which was |
held i'm France. There are altogether .
1900 different securities that figure in |
the list of official quotations, includ- |
ing government bonds, municipal |
bonds, railroad, canal and other secur- /
tiles
Financial experts taking the esti- |
mate of Monsieur Neymarck. of 10
billion dollars as the total value Of /
the worlds securities, figure that war
depreciation has cost their holders
throughout the world 20 billion dollars
Surprising the loss in France to be in
the same proportion as estimated on
the worlds total securities, IL per cent
the depreciation upon the foreign do
mestic securities that she now holds, |
20 billion dollars, $4,000, 100000