New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-11
STILL TRADING IN
ENEMY SECURITIES
Government Inspires a Note OF
Warning to Russia on Condi-
tons After the War.
Frankfnrt-a-Mdin, July II.

Geldverkehr" Literally "cash-less COM
mercial intercourse'). which is, IN
plain English. movement to make the
check book more popular in Germany
than it Is. While the average American
business man never thinks Of paying
out cash, except, perhaps, to his en-
ployees, the check as a means Oh pay
ment for amounts of less than about
1000 marks has never been popular IN
Germany and is not infrequently an
object of suspicion. To use checks
for other than business creditors
was, up to few years ago. absolutely
unknown. The principal reason LOT
the slow Development of this means Oh
settling accounts is the efficiency OF
the German mail service and the fore
thought of its greatest organizer inc
late Postmaster General Stephan. In
Germany the letter carrier may re-
ceive your money order and issue
receipt for it. Your creditor receives
his money-not only the order
but the cash-at his place OF business
or his residence. The extra fee ior
this service is one or two cents. NO
body need apply at the post office Tor
his money, not even strangers Inc
order and the money to be paid out
on il are rendered to the addressee at
the same time and identification re-
ouirements are easy to meet.
The Appeal.
The reasons which make it advisable
n restrict this way of paying are con-
densed in an appeal of the Berlin
Chamber of Commerce as follows:
at is in the interest not only oil the
Reichsbank but of the entire Father
land to restrict the issue Of paper
money as much as possible. The HABIT
of settling with checks should be cult
waited now, not only because 1t Is al
visable during the time Of war that
the quantity of our gold to the paper
money circulating should remain III
the present proportion, but measures
must be taken that after the war "he"
Tho normal valuation of our money III
FOREIGN countries must be re-es0ap-
1isbed the issues of the ReichsoanN
mmst he limited to rock bottom
necessities"
The "Frankfurter Zeitung" demands
that officials. especially military au-
thorities. set an example. II seems
from, the comments of this paper, that
it is hard work to make officials use
a checkbook.
The Russian Field.
For the present, German banking
and industrial circles seem not much
alarmed at the American attempts 10
enter upon the Russian field. Unless
the war lasts very long, the Germans
expect to recover their Russian bust
ness without much difficulty. 1t
should be noted that no attempt has
DePn
sian or Japanese securities and IN
every stock exchange report we can
find paragraphs like. Russians were
lower, but Japans recovered their loss
of yesterdy" etc. Some few extreme
Pan-Germanic voices demanded that
this kind of dealing in enemy values
stop, but neither the government nor
the stock exchange community nor the
public at large has ever thought OF
doing away with this strange feature
of German financial life. 1t should be
noted that Germanic penetration OF
Russian economic life had made such
progress that even the business cor
respondence between America and
Russia was mostly conducted in Ger
man.
A Warning.
It is true that lately the Russian
government has sought to transform
German or Austrian companies into
strictly Russian enterprises and that
to obtain this end some very harsh !
measures have been employed. That
NAV be the reason why a semi-otfcial
note has appeared in the German press
in which the attention of the Russian
government is called to the fact that
these war and emergency DEGREES may
have an unlooked-for effect. Russia
is now destroying vested rights which
are those of German citizens" the
warning note says. Russia may in the
future be involved with one or the
other of its present allies or with
strong neutrals. international politics
make strange bed fellows. Will Rus
STA. treating German capital In this
harsh and entirely unjust manner, OBJ.
tain capital from others? Russia had
some years ago, difficulties with Eng
land and Japan. Russian ministers of
finance travelling in Germany at that
time spoke hopefully about the finan-
cial and economic relations existing
between Germany and Russia. They !
had hardly any other capitalists TO fall
back upon than the Germans. IL
might appear that Russia undermines
the foundation upon which it must
erect its economic edifice. which foun-
dation is the keeping Of faith in COM
mercial and financial matters"