The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-16
Daily Wall Street Gossip
BY HOLLAND.

New York, June 15.-(Special. )-The
 president of one of the larger New York
 banks was asked late in the afternoon of the third day of the republican na- tional convention whether or not it was l true that the greater financial powers.
 those who are leaders in the banking world, were so absorbed in the reports that came from the Chicago convention that their regular business was at a standstill.
 In reply, he said that he had within an hour purchased one million dollars of the temporary certificates of indebted ness which were offered that day by the treasury department. He surmised that his purchase for his bank of a million may have been one of the smallest of the subscriptions to these certificates. He had no doubt that the treasury depart ment would persuade the banks of the United States to absorb this large issue, and he also said that it is only one ot several very important financing trans actions which have just been consum-
 mated or are in negotiation.
 Some comment has been caused by the fact that the secretary of the treasury offered these new certificates at the highest rate of interest the government has paid at any time since the dark days of the civil war. Then it was necessary in order to float large issues of govern ment bonds to fix rate of interest which would tempt investors, and it was also necessary to allow commissions to those who assisted in the sale of the bonds. Now the government has almost reached the highest rate nominated in the government bond since civil war days It has offered to pay at the rate of 6 per cent of interest upon certificates of indebtedness whose life is for year, and l5A per cent upon certificates which must be paid in six months.
 From one point of view this interest rate is regarded as representing an i1n- pairment of the credit of the United States. But none of the bankers takes that view. It represents instead money market credit imitation, railroad congeS- tion and other conditions which have dis turbed. not only our own financial situa- tion, but which also are disturbing finan- cial situations in Great Britain and in
 France. This latest offering is spoken
 of as in fact not representing any new government indebtedness, for the money
 which will be received for these certifi-
 cates from the banks will be utilized in
 paying government obligations which will
 mature within the next four weeks. The
 old lebt still remains, but the visible evi-
 dence of it is changed.
 WHAT BANKS ARE DOING
 All who have knowledge of pending
 financing propositions say that Tn the ag-
 gregate the amount to be negotiated in
 the summer and in the early fall is to be
 very large. All of them undoubtedly will
 be negotiated by the assistance of the
 syndicates of national and private bank
 CTS. In fact, upon the very day an-
 nouncement was made that Secretary
 Houston was offering four hundred mil
 lions of United States treasury certifi-
 cates, a part of which are to bear inter-
 est at per cent, private bankers were
 consummating other financing, small in
 comparison with the proposition which
 came from the treasury department, ana
 yet large enough to suggest the magni-
 tude of the financing which the banks