El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-01-27
Stock Market Closes For a
Week and War Boom IN
Business Suddenly Halls.
is REGARDED As
WARNING TO u. S.
While Japan Is Ostensiblg
At Wa, 1t Has Boom
Like Neutral Lands.

"OkIO, Japan, Jan z7.-WhEt =
going 10 happen 70 the war
bOOnns OF the non beI1igerents
, after the war was family foreshad-
owed in the slump which wiped out
a score Of Japan's new millionaire.
and caused the stock market here &C
be closed for over a week, on receipt
of the news that Germany had offered
peace
Is Warning to Z. :.
The incident seems 10 be OF special
interest 70 Americans. for. though
Japan is in a state OF war with Ger
many and Austria. her part Of the
actual fighting is long finished ana
she IS In practice a neutral OF the
equivalent Of a neutral She Is enjoy
ing . war boom which. though snalle-
than that in America, is relatively very
much greater.
Industry has never had such a gold
en- age here It has but one complaint
II cannot meet the demands that ar
pouring in But every worker. every
capitalist, every trade is profitably
employed up 10 the limit OF his or its
capacity.
From being a debtor nation, hard
pushed to keep floating, japan has be-
come a creditor. lending 70 England
and Russia openly and officially, in
vesting in British, French and Russian
funds privately to 2 very large figure
(the banks being clOgged with sur
plus gold Here is one investment
fact" which viii show the position
Before the war japan was an per-
cent country. that was the return which
9 judiciOus investor could expect from
solid industrial shares or sound mort
cages Today you may scan the lists
OF the Toxic stock exchange and even
with the inflated and temporary Givi-
bends which are being paid out OF war
profits you will find il difficult to get
an investment returning more than
OF l. percent
Peace Talk Like Bomb.
Into this financially idyllic state %
things dropped the German proposal
Of peace, and the effect was as II .
Zeppelin had shOWered high explosives
along Wall street. Prices avalancheG-
Nippon Nusen haisha shares, one OF
the finest securities on the market, or
any market flor their dividend OF 10
percent Is practically underwrItten by
the state subsidy. and the imperial
household is a large stockholder-no
foreigner may own shares slumped 80
points IN as many minutes. This was
in a market which had opened strong
y bullish- By noon the slump was So
serious and the wiping out OF profits
so enormous that the trustees OF the
exchange closed il for three days
considerable number OF "narikin, or
new milliOuaires. were obhterated IN
the avalanche but generally IL was the
lambs who were skinned
On Monday the market reopene6, and
meantime the newspapers had preached
the impossibility of peace and had lee
tured the brokers for their childishnesS
in being scared by an impossible prop
csition This attitude was supported
by cables from all the allied countries
and by statements by members Of the
japanese ministry. But the slump con-
Jinued.
Could Not Rally.
All efforts of the bulls to support
the market failed Index stocks
dropped 30 and 40 yen in the first hour,
and by II o'clock the trustees ordered
a recess Tor an hour. but instead OF
reOpening at noon they decided the
market should remain shut for As hours
longer to see If the panicky feeling
would evapOrate-
The general business Of the country
felt the slump acutely. and heavy de-
preston set in in the rice, silk. sugar
and wheat markets. Practically every
commodity fell heavily, those in when
big drops were marked being leather.
canned goods. drugs, paper, textiles,
glass and copper