The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-19
WORLD AMAZED AT ENGLAND'S ABILITY
 ID FINANCE WAR Greatest Loan Ever Offered in History Quickly Over subscribed by BritOns EDISON HELD IN
 HIGHEST REGARD Business Men Applaud Mir. Daniels Selection Because of Edison's
 Knowledge of True Busi-
 ness Efficiency
By HOLLAND

New York. July 1S-(SpeciaL)-It is now I regarded as safe to assume that the financing of the British war loan will be- come traditional from many points of View, but just now from the fact that it is in magnitude without any precedent There other points of view of which leaders of tho financial district speak. One is the demonstration that Great Britain is permanently financing her war debt Just after the war in South Africa was
 ended. James Stilman was quoted by friends to have said that he con
 vrced that the money markets of the
 world would not become normal until Great Britain had permanently financed her South African war debt. These mar kets for some months after MT. Stillman made that statement, alleged, justified his forecast. He had been for sometime in London and also in Paris. and he was 1 perhaps at that time better informed re- specting financial conditions in Great Brit ain and of the worlds money markets than any national banker of the United States or, in fact. any banker except ing the late J. P. Morgan. Now the financial leaders say Great Britain Is mastering a stupendous finan cial problem and mastering it that it will not be necessary to wait for a long time after the close of the war for that ma ton permanently to finance her war debt. For it is presumed that if the oc casion should arise when another loan is essential the English financiers will adopt substantially the plan which has now been 4 perfected. From another point of view, financial | leaders are now speaking as, in fact. l Henry P. Davison spoke half confidential ly to friends when he returned from his visit last winter to London and Paris. For whatever may have been England's lack of preparation for meeting a world crisis ' like the present far as the organiza- l tion and equipment of armies are con 4 cerned. it has been made clear that the 4 financial administration has been con ! stantly prepared and has been such as T to meet every crisis with thoroughness So it Is commonly said in the financial dis trict that if England had matched her preparations for war with her direction LJCf the financial needs it entails, the war | might now be much further advanced so 0 far as ultimate victory for the allies is i concerned.
 lFelS also cOnSlQerdDle comment over the fa' that at the very moment when
 one of the great authorities of England. i the Marquis of Landsdowne, was frankly * confessng to his peers in the House of Lords that there had been woeful defi- & ciency in laying the foundations upon which could be built great war conduc- ! tive structure 1t was possible for England to announce that the largest loan ever offered by any nation in one amount to its own people had been subscribed and subscribed by the English people.
 There Is another point of view upon which comment has been based, and it is one which the leaders in Germany must, in the view of our financial leaders, fully appreciate. This gigantic subscription which was made at home and in which the rich and the plain people shared is a revelation of the magnitude of the ro- sources. financial. at least, of England.
 In the spring of this year. shortly after the return of Henry P. Davison from London, he spoke informally and half
 confidenttially to some of his friends es- |
 pecally in relation to the financial istrength of Great Britain. MT. Davison 1 had abundant opportunities some of them | < no doubt confidential, for learning what | that financial strength was He is quoted | by his friends as having said that fa- |
 milar as he has been with large finan- | ciaI figures, nevertheless the magnitude | of the figures contained in the disclosures |
 made to him when he was in London | almost bewildered him. He seemed to be ! of the opinion that England could fight | no matter what the war expenses were, for |
 several years, supporting through her own financial resources the expenditures, | whatever they might be- and furthermore, | givins aid or convenient facilities to l France and Russia whereby these two ra- l tions could finance their own needs.
 None of the leaders, especially in the l interna tional financing of magnitude now under way, astonished to learn that this great English loan had been more | than subscribed to by the English people. l
 Full details of it have not reached this city, although enough Is known to show that there were no mistakes in the earlier reports from London that the loan was successful.
 Of course the funds with which these |
 subscriptions will be made good will be, |
 in part at least. obtained through the 1 sale of American securities. That gives | no concern to leaders in the financial dis | trict. The more of these securities we ab- | sorb-as we can easily absorb millions of them-the more speedily the United States
 will change from debtor to creditor nation
 The Navy Advisory Board
 Not the least of the gratifying impulses occasioned by the determination of the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, i to organize a navy advisory board is duo ' to the impression that this action consti- 1 tutes very important recognition of the relation of American business life to the prosperity of the nation. The new board is to be in one sense an efficiency board.
 And the opinion increases daily that 1 the administration at Washington is now