Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-26
BANKERS IN VIENNA
ON SECRET MISSION
Business Has to Do, How
ever, With Austria and Not
with Moratorium.
BY A. r. DECKER.
BY Radio to The Star.

BY Radio to The Star.
VIENNA, Austria, November 90
Lewis Chanler Of the National City
Bank is in Vienna with other repre-
sentatives of the London committee,
among them Sir Otto Niemeyer, the
man who placed so many countries on
the gold exchange standard basis: Peter
Bark of the Bank of England, Sir Rob-
ert Kindersley of the Bank of England
and the LaZard Brothers Of London.
An effort is being made to keep the
visit secret, and the exact purpose is
not known but it can be stated that the
committees representatives are dealing
with a particular problem concerning
Austria, and not with the general mora
forum or default for Austria or Hun
gary.
AS some of the visitors are honorary
directors on the board of the Inflated
Austrian Credit Institute and other Wis
itorS represent some generous but i'm
prudent banks which loaned funds to
the Credit Institute, it is assumed that
the visit is due to problems concerned
with the Credit Institute or Anstalt,
as the big holding company Is known
In Austria.
Want Liquidation.
It has been found almost impossible
to liquidate the Cre1it Anstalt, because
the assets fled the country or are
frozen in piles of concrete. brick and
rusted machinery which were once fac
tories, but now show only hundreds Of
smokeless stacks as monuments above
the ruins.
Due to the governments guaranty,
the Credit AnStalt is now an Austrian
government institution, and of more
than $100,000,000 worth of discounts
by the Austrian National Bank 90 per
cent are for discounts of the Credit
Anstalt. There is a scheme to turn
the rediscounts into a debt of the gov
eminent to the national bank. Another
suggestion is to give foreign creditors
1ong-term bonds in exchange for short
term loans now frozen.
The most interested parties want a
thorough liquidation of the Credit An
stalt, so that each industry will have to
exist or perish on its own merits. The
Credit Anstalt's overhead is still too
high, all out of proportion to the pro-
duction involved. Some creditors offer
to take over particular industries, but
naturally there are no offers for the
most improbable plants.
Extension Seen Necessary.
The French Citroen interests are said
to have made offers for Steyr automo-
bile works, and American oil interests
were examining oil companies installa-
ton, but in general it is thought that
nearly all industry must be reorganized
1t is obvious that the sf1ort-term
agreement will have to be prolonged
at the end of the two-year period, and
in the meantime both Austria and Hun
gary are expected to declare a general
transfer of the moratorium.
While here the bankers are expected
to look into the exchange difficulties
of Central Europe as affecting CONNER
cial banking. The head of the Czecho-
slovak National Rank is on his way to
Vienna, and Hungarian commercial
bankers are in Vienna. The Credit
Anstalt ramidcations extended to all
parts of the former Austro-H Hungarian
empire and prospered when the region
was an economic unit.
The Austrian government declared it
intends to live up to all the agreements
MADE with the frozen credit committees.
as we'll as to maintain service on for
eign obligations, but it is expected that
the good will of the government cannot
prevail over facts.
(Copyright, 1917