Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-19
SATURDAY MARKET
SESSIONS RESUMED
London Exchange Reopened
for Business After Long
Week End Closing.
BY NEGLEY FARsoN.


by CaDie 10 Inc star.
LONDON, England, September 10
The London Stock Exchange reopened
for business today for the flrst Saturday
in II years. The solemn gathering of
top hats, backed by depressing waste
land Of empty golf courses, is facing
a financial horizon as fiat as the dead
sea-on which the vista of prosperity
is still a doubtful mirage.
The Stock Exchange decided to close
on Saturdays at the outbreak of the
Great War After the cessation Of hos
tilities and throughout the fat days of
prosperous buying, the British brokers
preferred to spend their Saturdays
knocking white pills around green's.
Today, when there are plenty Of sellers
but few takers, the exchange becomes
active again--to do what?
well, nothing" leading stock
broker said today. "The market is as
fiat as hades. The truth Is, nobody
here or abroad Is going to have any
confidence that this present government
is going to get us out of the nleSs-rntil
we see some drastic signs Of action to
redress the adverse balance of trade,
which every one now admits is going
into the hole 81 100000 ($4,860, 000) a
week"
Effect Of War Debt.
The facts of the case are that Great
Britain is still being ruined by the
great war debt. And whether President
Hoover decides for five-year mora
forum or not, Great Britain will have
to go on paying this debt-because most
of 1t is held inside, under the 1922 Bal
four declaration, Great Britain paying
the United States no more than she
receives from the allies, and II these
are cancelled out Great Brttain's war
debt payments go on the same as now.
In fact, Great Britain will be saddled
with an additional $55,000,000 a year
because Of the war debts usually paid
her by the colonies These are the facts.
Great Britain's national expenditures
for the current year total $4,422, 600, 900.
Leaving out self-balancing items, this
reduces to $4,015, 900 900. This Is ex-
actly S3,116,000,000 more than in the
fiscal YEAR 1894 And of this So
lie. 0O0, 900, no less than $4,000, 900 900
is for war debts, imperial pensions and
graves.
After the self-balancing items have
been deducted, this is exactly so per
cent of Great Brttain's staggering bud
get of 1882. This colossal burden Is
called the national debt-virtually every
penny Of which is due to past and
glorious wars.
Before the war IL was the modest
figure Of only S3,305, 900 900. Today it
Is $37 $50 ,00o, 900.
This is the old man Of the sea that
the doughty Englishman has through
out our lifetime to carry on his back.
Much Of it is due to his generosity-or
common sense-in relieving the allies
of what they owe him in order to In
crease the revival Of trade.
British Sacrifices.
In the cancellation of war debts, vol
untary or otherwise, the Englishman
sacrificed more than SAILS, 900 900.
This sacrifice alone costs the English
taxpayers more than $2l5.000,000 a
year, plus the further sacrifice under
the Hoover moratorium Of a further
SIS, 900 900 this year. These sacrifices
alone eat I'D more than one-third OF
the Embellishments entire income tax.
And one-third of the entire national
income is required to pay the interest
on the war debt held internally inside
Great Britain.
In simple figures-and God knows
they are terrible erough-the English
man has to raise $5,000.000 every day
simply to pay the interest on his
national debt.
But even more terrifying Is the effort
the Englishman must now make to do
1t in goods and the sweat of labor in
the face Of the catastrophe fall In
prices. Take the internal part Of the
debt. The actual interest payments in
1921 were $3.50 .000, 900. For the cur
rent year, with the payment Of princi-
pal, this, 1t is estimated, was reduced
to 1885, O00, 900, a reduction Of $175,-
600 900. But, owing to the fall in
prices, the real cost to the nation has
risen In goods and services by $470,-
100000.
copyright, 1917