The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-17
WALL STREET WAS REALLY PREPARED
 FOR PEACE MOVE
All Realize It Has Put the Allies in a Rather Deli -
 cate Situation

| New York, December 16.-(SpeciaL)
 Quite aside from stock market reasons
 the rank and file of Wall street Is strong | Iy against the beginning of peace nesoua- i tions In Europe at this time. That feel-
 ing IS based in the belief that, as mat lters stand today lasting peace cannot De secured. But, while opinion on that point ! is agreed, there Is a wide difference in 1 the views Of the fiapncial district as to
 the final outcome of tho peace develop ments started this week at Berlin. Many 1 good reasons are being heard to prove that the end of the war is in sight; other arguments equally convincing are being
 advanced to show that the war will con-
 tinue indefinitely.
 | But before those reasons arc set forth, 1 1t is of interest to point out that on the very first flash of this weeks peace talk of Berlin, Wall street immediately be-
 gan to ask: ''Is this the same movement
 that President Sabin of the Guaranty
 Trust company referred to in his ai- nouncement of october 6?" It will be re-
 called that statement was given out
 anonymously; that it created great deal
 oi unfavorable comment from stock
 market traders who had been caught long
 of the war order shares; that it was re- peatedly denied by Berlin and by Wash
 ington; that Sabin himself, after his name was connected with the story,
 maintained absolute silence.
 l Not since the beginning of the Euro pean war had any announcement been
 made in Wall street which created as much excitement and furore. When the
 stock market collapsed. Sabin began 10 get criticism from every direction. IL l is a matter of news that Sabin did not act alone in giving out his peace an- nouncement. Exactly what he was go- 1 ing to say had been a subject for confer
 ences with men who stand at the very <, top of financial affairs in this country But when it came to taking a whipping
 the president of the Guaranty Trust
 stood alone However, he only smleo
 and shook his head when asked to tell what there was behind his peace story. More than once he was asked II he was not going to make some of his partners come out in the open and take some or | the licking he was getting. But on each l occasion his one answer was:
 q am not saying that it don't hurt;
 but l am going to take what coHhlhs | to me and keep my mouth shut
 1 That attitude on the part of the Guar tanty Trusts president was no surprise
 to those in Wall street who knew ms
 history. Sabin, born and raised in ! New England college town, and, long De- 1 fore he was through with his schooling, developed into 8 baseball player or | great fame. It was through ms aplnty 1 to play ball that he met some prominent | i as an Albany bank clerk to repeat the nitching performances of his school days l 1t was not long before he was the Wnoie ] thing in bank baseball team that was
 cleaning up the ground with the hines
 made up from surrounding institutions. | Then it was not long before he got ms chance in the real banking game. He not only knew it when 1t came, but he knew l in an instant exactly what to do with l if. And. moreover. he did it. Today, l although only 4S Sabin has winning l team of young men around him running | the second largest banking institution m the whole country.
 | It was Sabin's instinct to play the game according to the rules that kept hin, from dragging in other people when | he learned to his great surprise elgnt weeks ago that, instead of doing Wal 1 street favor in making known what
 was going on in Berlin he had only aroused a whole colony Of yellow Jackets 1, But this week the president or the Guar- | anty Trust company had the satls1acuoh of hearing many people voluntarily admit 1 that this weeks peace move by Berlin Twas only the belated sequel to the actual I news which he gave out on october b. l The facts just as then stated were that ] Germany was about to sue TOT peace py asking President Wilson to act as medl- l ator. There were good reasons however which cannot be stated at thls tune. why | Sabin's announcement was not confirmed i hv Berlin. Washington, London or Paris. | But there are many people Tn Wall l street who still refuse to connect this l weeks peace talk with the development l of last October Those who take that stand point out that the step just tax | en by Berlin resulted from the re- 1 cent victories in Rumanla ana lne
 changes in the British and French cao- lnets. It must be admitted that those de- yelopments were factors in this weeks s | news: but it must also be admitted tnat l as long ago as the first of November, or | before there were any victories Tn hu-
 mania or any changes on the britisn or | French cabinets, the German people were l promised by the war party in power l I"Chris9nas present that would startle the ! world" In fact, worldwide campaign of publicity was carried on for weeks by Berlin to make the most of the peace an nouncement, which was first staged and 1 then released at Berlin this week.
 1 All of which has been told at great l length to illustrate the wide viewpoint | in Wall street of this weeks move | by Berlin. On one sde 1t IS be- l ing argued, the allies know perfectly 1 we'll that for months past Germany has | felt that she was defeated, and has been waiting for the first opportunity to start peace talk, realizing fully that the longer she puts off such negotiations the worse off she would be in the end. Hence Tor the allies to consent to peace negotatons at this time, it Is argued, would be equlv- alent to admitting defeat, when victory
 was just ahead
 l That is one side of it. The other is that. whether or not Germany made confession of weakness last Tuesday, the net result of this weeks development Is that Germany has skilfully placed the allies in a position where they cannot assume the risk of not making counter peace proposal, and that any counter pro posal thus made by England and her allies will ultimately open the door for
 actually ending the war.
 As 10 which side is right. at this time, nn me can say. But this much can be sa,.s There is more to the peace talk than to the boasts that Germanys peace proposals will be ignored and that the war will be continued indefinitely. Act | ing on mere intuition. speculative Wall street has for months been preparing for peace. That is plain from this weeks price movements. This weeks declines in stock prices, despite the definite peace statement from Berlin, were not any thing like as severe as those of last .l-s