Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-04
IS THIS WALL
STREETS WAR?
(By John sparro.)

rise IN n stock market: When
things go contrary to wall streets
interests n wishes, stocks always
decline. me ieeing' OF wall street Is
Always indicated by that unfailtns
u fonaeter. -
with this fact in mind! turn to the
nnanc1al columns OF n great Amer"
Il, 1ca an newspaper TOR n weeks I'm,
meoaateiy preceding the d~eclaratlon
or wal n April. 1917. You will ind
that every time he prospects OF a
peaceful settlement with Germany
improved prices rose on tho. stock ex-
change. On the other hand, every
time the prospects Of peace leasened
and the chances Of war increased,
there wa q marked tall OF prices on
the stock exchange.
Ihere could be no stronger evidence
mat wall Street nj peace ana
feared q
When war was declared by Con.
gress prices on tho LOCK e1chan9o
tumbled once more. proving that.
wall Street a4W no prospects OF great.
PROFITS from our entry into the world
strife: ~ - 2..r =
IT Is true that American fnanciers
mad loaned money to the allied ma
ions They had loaned about two bill
lion dollars. principally to England
"S
but a small fraction of the total war
debt OF those countries. There L. not
one chance In a million that they
would have failed to pay their Amer
lean creditors. even il they were de-
feated. ~"
Ihey might In z condition OF gen
eral bankruptcy. fail to. meet the in
terest on bonds held by their own
citizens. but they would not default
m their A~Ariran dahf saYNAnf IN
case of a social revolution and the
reputation Of all national debtk
Such a revolution was and Is extreme
ly Improbable.
# the two billions were ever in
danger Of being lost. big business, It
devpid OF patriotism as charged.
could have secured It's Investments
without war. 1t would have been easy
to get Germany. to take the fisk IN re.
would have been a big bargain Tor
Germany.
If you assume that Wall Street con.
trolled the government. andSthat wall
Street cared only for it's billions. It
need not have incurred the risks OF
war to save those billions. MI: Nor.
gar. or some other representative OF
Wall Street could have said to Count
Won Bernstorf, the German
uOIs VIC S0A W AOoo NA>vSsSSStN.
900. Either Germany must secure us
against that risk Or we must force
our government to enter n war on
the side OF the al!les. u W0uIo nv
to effect a settlement satisfactory to.
Mr.. Morgan.
For the. sake OF the argument, iet
defeat Of the allied nations was GER
tain: that the two hdllionssloaned ~
American Sfnanciers to slthe allies wa
certain 70 sbe5foSt AZ q result OF tha1
defeat: that It would have been m
possible for Germany to guarantee
With iii these assumptions made, II
is easy to show the absurdity OF the
contention that Wall streets interests
could be best served by war
In the two and q half years prior
to our entrance into the war Ameri-
can big business was reaptng
profts through the sale Of supplies to
and belligerent nations. SOUND
financial Judgment, u~ninfluenced BY
other considerations must have deslr.
Ledz above all else a continuance OF
EthoGs conditions.
YV1ll street does not lack intelli-
xence. Ii April, 1917. It had the ex-
.periehce Of European nations for two
md a half years Of war to guide It:
From that experience Wall Street
EAOstA .~.1A >,,Arsy