Arizona republican., 1915-09-14
Instead of Waiting for the American FinancierS to Come to Them, Commits sion Goes to James J. Hill of Great Northern R. R. ONLY AMERICAN
 so HONORED Present Plan of Commission Seems to Be to Borrow Straight Hundred Million on British and French Gov ernmcnt Bonds.
IAssocIArED PRESS DIsPArcHl

NEW YORK. Sept. 13-The An glo-French financial commission here seeking a loan of half billion to one billion dollars, made a radical de- partuTe from its policy of having interested American financiers call on them at their headquarters to present their views. The commission went To James J. Hill, the domi mt railway and commercial factor of the northwest. instead of waiting for Ifill To come to them. No other Anne erican has been so honored thus far
 Sir Henry Smith, a member of the commission was the delegate who called on Hill in the commissions behalf Sir Henry came unattended To the Nassau street building where Hill has a private office, as the chairman of the Great Northern rail- way when in New York. Hill ap- Iareutly did not know the visitor Was coming for Sir Henry was kept waiting a minute or two in the ante room. Then he was ushered into lfills private office. Heretofore, the commission has received American financ.ers at it's headquarters at an uptown hotel
 
 sion is to borrow one hundred mil lion cn straight British and French government bonds. without collateral Sa it Is rererted Ne entire amount is to be spent in the United Stated Tor cotton. wheat, meat and muni- tons Eminent authorities classify tiiis as a commercial loan.
 Whether the neutrality of the lnited States would be questioned in case the bankers accept government bonds is being given serious con sideraJiOn. IL is said the financiers believe that Washington would not interfere Lord Reading in a state ment said:
 You have in the states a surplus of foOdstuffs and we want to inn port goods It is hard to fix prices with Instability in the exchange sucn as has obtained recently"
 Lord Reading and his associates declined to discuss the situation, ex- cept to add that the commission ex- pected to occupy tomorrow at it's headquarters in the financial section This will be at the New York Clear ing house.
 Aside from the financial situation Lord Reading announced his mission
 
 whatever to do with the adjustment of any legal question between this country and Great Britain as had been reported
 The outstanding feature of the situ- ation that -overshadowed by it's tre- menGOus importance. everything else that influenced foreign exchange rates since the recent slump began, was the reported plan of the commission 10 establish it's hoped for credit here without offering any collateral what ever. Some of the financiers who called upon the commission with vague pronounced ideas that Great Britain and France would not only give their notes for whatever sum they would borrow, but would put up huge collateral, dollar for dollar of the loan composed and approved by American securities, were startled by the radical proposal that the money be borrowed absolutely without col lateral.
 other financiers were more than startled. The novelty of the plan is said to have so taken them by sur prise and so quickly shattered their idea of basing the proposed loan on American collateral as to have requir- ed time for consideration before they could express their views. Still other fina were prepared for the pro- posal and were not surprised. These bankers, reflecting the reported views of the commission pointed out that the entire credit of both Great .Bri- tain and France would be back of the bonds given for the loan-a ere dit that for generations past has been regarded as good as gold.