The Washington times., 1920-08-23
.U.S.F|N,ANC|ERS
NOW SUPREME
Destiny Of Europe Depends on
N. Y. Money kings-Berate
dollar Trust" Abroad.

PARIS, Aug. 23.-The American
dollar is today the most powerful fac
tor In the destinies OF Europe. New
York fnancieTs in the second year OF
the peace" WELD a power more tre-
mendous than the old English money
kings ever dreamed OF. Throgmorton
street. London, and the Bourse. Paris.
have become mere branches of the
most gigantic trust-the Dollar Trust
of which even the widest financial
brains ever dreamed.
These are a few OF the allegations
made by English and French bankers,
who, accustomed TO their autocratic
sway OF pre-war days. now chafe un-
der an economic restraint which be-
comes harder to bear day by day, and
who assert that their every move in
buying and selling is dictated by the
great golden octopus which has its
headquarters in New York.
Before the war American banks
were comparatively unknown in
Europe. When they existed they did
so merely as branches OF the parent
concerns. established as agencies for
the banks dealing abroad.
GETTING CHOICE SITES.
Today the Grand boulevard, which
may be termed the main street of
Paris, teens with American banks.
They have the finest office buildings
in Paris. They are acquiring prop
erty and building on it right and
left-the best sites in the metropolis
are gradually falling into American
hands. Frenchmen say bitterly that
the reason for this is that the high
rate of exchange makes even the in
fiated value of Paris land a mers
bagatelle to the big United States
concerns.
The Guaranty Trust already owns
a huge building in the Rue des Ital-
lens, just off the Grand boulevard
The Guarantys profits as Government
depository during the sojourn of the
A. f. f. probably will never be
known. But they are darkly hinted
at by the banks French rivals.
The Morgan Harjes Bank. the
quietest, but by far the most power
full in Observation-Disclosures call it
The Bank of America"-found it's
quarters opposite the opera too
cramped long ago, and led the way
to the aristocratic Place Nendome.
purchasing a magnificent palace al
most opposite the Ritz Hotel Then
came the Bankers Trust and bought
the historic Bristol Hotel. where King
Manuel of Portugal met Gaby
Deslys, and famed as the stopping
| place of King Edward VII.
NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE.
The Equitable Loan and Trust Com
| pany already has what is probably
the finest office building in Paris. 1t
is at the Due de la PaiX and the
| Place de rOpera, and built after tho
New York fashion of marble-faced
lobby and gilded elevators. The
| Equitable occupies the upper floors,
Lloyd's Bank of London occupying
| the ground floor.
But this splendid edifce is not
enough for the American bank. They
have now acquired the famous Niel
| Cafe de Ia Madeleine. on the Boule-
ward de la Madeleine, the haunt of
dramatists and stage celebrities since
time immemorial, and propose tearing
| it down and substituting in its place
| a new bank building of concrete and
| steel, a fashion of building practically
| unknown in Paris, owing to the diff
| Guilty in obtaining steel.
An American and an English bank
| are reported to be bidding wildly
| against each other for the possession
/ Of the Varieties Theater, on the
Boulevard des Italiens, close to the
| Opera, one of the finest sites in Paris.
Almost every day the French papers
comment on the fact that soon the
world-famed cafe life of tho Grand
Boulevard will be thing only Of
memory. The cafes all will have been
replaced by banks. Slowly but surely
| the boulevards are suffering the
metamorphosis that Broadway did in
| bo