The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-28
NO STOPPING INITIATION

Norway's bankers are trying to stop
 the imitation They have no success. Newspapers warn the publi:, and spoil
 the warnings by telling of the millions made through quick speculation in
 shares. Under Norwegian law until
 January. 1916, spectators without cent could apply for as many shares as they liked in a new formation. As
 each new steamship combine was formed, money thirsty citizens applied
 for 10 or 20 times the amount to be issued. The shares sell at once at
 premium. The centless speculators buy 500,000 crowns worth of shares; and
 sell them at 100 per cent profit before the date of payment of the first in- stallment. Office boys, whose only quail ifications as financiers is their ability to run and bawl have made $4u,000 in a month No one is ruined Ten per cent is the biggest drop any shares have had. That is nothing after an ap- preciation of 500 per cent
 Norway is still buying up what for , eign steamers she can get, and she Is paying thrice their peace value. Most
 boats have been bought from Sweden, Holland and Greece. Swedens steam CTS disappeared quickly into Norway's speculative maw quickly that Swe- den's premier, Hammarskjold. has drafted law forbiddng sale of ships to foreigners during the war. Norwe gian money genuinely invested in shipping Is il times greater than it was two years ago; and the quoted value of shipping is 43 times greater. This imitation is justified by the profits Companies which were glad to pay per cent during peace are now paying 100 and even 150 per cent. There is 8 small Christiana firm, owning a few miserable coasting tubs, which in 1913 made a profit of $12,50O, and for 1915 estimates net profit of $150,0
 Christani city is the center of spec ulation and jobbery. Men who year ago had no settled occupation are mak- ing thousands by trading in shares. They have no recognized exchange. Till lately they met in the big cafe of the Grand hotel, fighting for space with the Russians. Germans and neutrals who run contraband deals. On Jan uary F the Grand hotel was the scene of a pitched battle A big issue of new shares had been snapped up by penniless gamblers who were confident they would sell off to the public at once. peace rumor spread. The public hes itated The speculators had to pay ln- stallments on the shares next morn
 ing. A panic began. Tables were over thrown, free fights took place, and the police came in, at the hotels request and threw the shipping exchange into the street. The gamblers now have a curb market in Karl Johann Square. This form of speculation will now de- cay, for a new rule proclaims that ap- plicants for shares must pay 10 per cent in cash. In other respects, the gamble goes on. Lawyers. doctors and country widows sell or mortgage their houses and buy shares. The building plots outside the city change hands at low prices. The sellers take what they can get. They believe that the money, Sted in will he quadrupled in a month. Up in the hills behind Bergen, farmers and foresters hear the good news; and serving maid helps, who have been saving wages for years for a dowry, buy the magic shares which are to yield them a dowry and a bridegroom in year. A Trond- jelm parson promised his parishion- eers that the shipping boom will make Norway rich; and that this is Provi- dence's reward to Norsemen for keep ing out of the war.
 DEPENDS ON WAR
 Norway's boom depends wholly on war Peace will bring overwhelm- ing slump. The Chrstif/ia system of speculation is based on calculations as to the end of the war. Thousands of inoffensive citizens who would not crush a worm, daily pray heaven that the slaughter may last. Each inves- tor and speculator has his theory of the duration of the war. and pays for shares on this basis. First come the "six months men" (sexmonadersman), who hold that the war will end by July. 1916, and have bought shares on the calculation of getting their money back and a big profit by then. Next come the lone year men," and next the two year men" The two year man" has bought at the height of the boom, and paid the biggest price; and noth- ing less than two years of rising freight rates will save him from ruin. The most hopeful speculators are buy ing country estates and plots for villas; and in most of the contracts is in- serted the clause, "The agreement to buy can be cancelled if the war term mates before , 19-"
 So far, not one prominent Norwegian has been ruined by the boom. The only known suffered is a Dane. This Dane is the Napoleon of the boom. Un- der the assumed name "Jackh," he ap- peared month after war broke out s secretary to a Polish Jew. Jackh had not a cent but he had brains: and from a chance remark of a Christiansand shipper he guessed that there would be a famine in ships. He borrowed a few hundred crowns, took rooms in the Grand hotel, and started to preach the coming boom. He bought shares in