The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-22
ENGLAND SPENDING ABOUT HALF HER
 INCOME ON WAR Yearly Income From Invest ments Estimated to Be About Twenty Billions WEALTH STAGGERS
 THE IMAGINATION American Financiers Have Been Given Insight So They Would Feel
 Safe About Making
By HOLLAND


 New York, July 21--(SpeciaD- weeks ago, Edward D. Adams who had official figures before him, called attention to the enormous expenditures by England on ac- count of the war, which then aggregated $25, ,000000 a day. Much the greater part of this sum, MT. Adams said, was burned up or eaten up, or in some other way permanently destroyed. In his view the chances were that England, instead of re- ducing this daily cost. would be com pelled to increase it. The statement re- ceived day or two ago from London vindicates MT. Adams opinion Thirty millions a day is now the expenditure by England on account of the war, and that, if it is maintained, will equal in the course of year about one-half of England's yearly income.
 Stupendous as these figures are, they do not cause our own financiers any ap- of the war, will be compelled to confess that she has reached the limit of her resources in credit and in funds. Our own financiers were well informed a year ago of the financial strength of Great Britain. When Henry P. Davison was in London,
 in the early months of 1915, he was in conference with English financiers and representatives of the government, pre- sumably with respect to the contem- plated advance by England and France into the United States for the purpose of securing large loan.
 On MT. Davison's return, he spoke-not in detail, but in a general way-of the magnitude of England's financial re- sources. No doubt these were by au- thority made known to him. Probably it was deemed expedient in case England and France sought to procure a large loan ($1,O 100000 was at first contem- plated) that the American financiers should have accurate knowledge of the English resources. MT. Davison upon his return spoke of these resources as some- thing that fairly staggered the imagina- ton. Accustomed as he is to very large figures and to participation in great financing, nevertheless he had never had experience of that kind before
 Now there is semi official information which confirms the general statement lllddO py 4Ai' l|dNiSOil d veal d6O. II VI it is semi officially announced that the capital wealth of Great Britain is $1S3, 0oo, ,000,000 and her yearly income is some what in excess of s20, ,000, ,000,O00.
 ENGLAND'S GREAT RESOURCES
 Dwight Morrow, one of the partners of J. P. Morgan & Co.,, in speaking of Eng lands resources some months ago, stated that she possessed hundreds of millions, even billions, in securities issued by other nations. In Australia alone England has placed loan of $5O0,0O0,O00 secured by certain railroad properties in that great colony In Hongkong and in India she possesses resources represented by secu- rites of vast magnitude It has been a semi-official statement that in the past 8 years England and Germany invested about $4,0O0 O00,OOO in the securities of South American nations and South Amer ican industries. What part of this $4,- GOO OOO,OOO represents England's invest ment in these securities is not accurately known, but the presumption is that the total represents three-fourths of the en- tire investment
 Notwithstanding the enormity of hel expenditures, nevertheless England has not touched any of these resources ex- cepting those which are represented by American securities. The req son why England has been utilizing American Se- curities is almost self-evident. The king dom owes the United States hundreds o1 millions upon trade balances, and the American securities, which are easily ab- sorbed in the United States, have fur nished the most convenient means of pay ing part of these balances.
 ENGLAND AND HER GOLD It is presumed. however, that England finds it no longer easy to obtain Amer ican securities in sufficient amount tc pay her obligations in this country, fol if that were possible it would not be nee essary for her to send gold to the United States. In the financial district it is said that either England has prac- tically exhausted these American securi ties or else many of the investors ir them prefer to keep them. The ease with which the United States has ab- sorbed these securities is spoken of as a most gratifying feature of our financial condition.
 Presumably within the next two ol three months not far from $200, ,00O. 900 ir gold will have been received by Amer ican consignees either directly from Lon- don or by way of Canada. For already a little over s1S0,OOo000 has been received since this movement began.