The Washington times., 1919-11-17
Boersianer's
Comment
on Business
BY BoERsIANER.

BY BoEBsIANER
The shocking slumps in stocks were
costly, pecuniarily and morally; but
| they were worth the expense in the
discovery that in relation to the
money market the American bourse
stands where 81 has always stood
| susceptible of being stunned at GER
tain times by an outside arbitrary ac-
| ton.
As of old. liquidation may be COM
PEELED in and Generalization imposed
| on the stock market The Federal
| bank system, far from being succora-
bic to the exchange, may be used as
| an effective repressive and Oppressive.
| In all other respects limitlessly bene-
! fcial. the system has proved a peril
Gus factor against the bourse when its
directive personnel is inimical or
frightened.
Must CurtsfI Credits.
IL some stock brokers are warned
over the telephone by wicked bank
vice presidents credits must be cur
tailed; IL more direct and less cir
| cGmspect bank presidents summon
| ctEer stockholders into bank parlors
i apG imperatively order a rs per cent
reduction in liabilities there is no re-
course. Commission houses must
obey There are the mare disposed to
| DO so when they are told by bankers
| that the initial command to liquidate
comes from the Federal banks.
internationally considered, it is an
amazing situation, this of the spin
ring forever on the same money
wheel round the same pivot From
the long past day when the American
stock exchanges were Organized to
the present a few men not members
OF the the exchanges and only indf-
rectly interested in them have been
atle at stated intervals to create a
panic or a semi-panic on those ex-
changes by the simple process Of
Withholding money accommodations.
proceeding which was unthinkabIe
In other economic departments.
No Term Abroad.
Abroad there Is no term for such
a thing. because foreigners have not
the thlhs. A European banker would
no more think of refusing a loan at
any time to stock broker with good
collateral than he would to a high
standing merchant or manufacturer.
would as little think of telling the
stock broker what to do, how to con-
| Duct his business, as to advise or
order sthe merchant or manufacturer
IN do thus and so. As for a rate
above AZ per cent in France, 5B i'm
England. per cent in 'Germany-a
80 per cent premium-it were a mon
strous impossibility.
On the other side Of the Atlantic
tne STOCK exchange is a borrower like
other highly desirable borrowers
The banker does not ask whether the
money will be used in forwarding or
In depressing quotations He looks
to the safety of his loan, nothing
more; the rest does not concern him
as banker, however, he may think
or be committed personally. He
would sooner attempt to regulate the
steel industry or the coal Industry
than to regulate the stock exchange,
which he rightly regards as an in
violable alembic.
Prior to the installation Of the
Federal reserve system, the quite
periodic money boycott against the
LStock exchange were VIGOROUSLY Of
STOCK 1obbing nature. Since then
the two ruthless determinations may
have been honest; IL so. they were,
neverthelss- cannibalistically pre-
sumptioYS in the wholly new condi-
tions which the Federal system has
wrought.
But there is force which ends the
lold game OF freeze-out under the new
VI SIcull ucndllOn- Is the
Iequally periodic overflow of funds at
the turn of the year. The retributive
lefect this time should be swifter and
more emphatic in that the stabler
part Of the stock roaster. the rails
has not participated in a boom which
had its impetus in some quick sur
lpluses equalling the companies share
lcapital.
Conventional Attitude.
But until then the bourse position
is likely to be highly aleatory
lOther than the called loans, finance
has not been worried. 1t has re-
assumed the comfortably conventional
latitude toward strikes-and has been
so far confirmed in that attitude. The
lstrikes of the telegraphers and the
lsteel workers were resonant for a
few days only. The chief character
Iistic of the dissension in the coal in
Idustry promises to be abidingly bene-
ficeht; II will correct a criminal
lwastage.
Investigation discloses that above
% per cent of industrial coal is
lwasted-a loss preventable by a rea-
lsonably careful mode of firing. In
Ibituminous coal, alone, 100000, 900
tons are salyable annually. Machine
Operation is outrageously inadequate.
IOnly 56 per cent is thus mined, when