Evening star., 1931-12-18
].P. MORGAN LOANS
To FRANCE AIRED
Total S3OO,O0O,OOO Since
War on Bond FIotations,
Lamont Testifies.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
France has borrowed 100000, 900
from ]. P. Morgan g. Co. since the
war
Relating details of the various loans
Of the company, of which he is part
ner, Thomas W. Lamont told the Senate
Finance Committee today all but $751;
100000 had been repaid.
The loans were made on bonds which
the banking concern bought outright
paying France "a, 80 and 80, respec.
lively, on each s1oo,ooo.0oo issue and
selling for par, 95 and o..
He said the difference in the amount
received by France and that for which
the bonds were sold was not profit, but
was eaten up by distribution expenses.
Commission Declared Small.
Earlier in the committees foreign Sc
curities inquiry, Lamont said he was
"a little mortified to tell of the small
commission the Morgan firm had re-
ceived from floating foreign bonds in
this country. @Ss-re>es s-s z-r.
IT am afraid it will make the SYM
pathy and pity of the committee too
much" he said after enumerating the
bond issues the firm handled for Ar
gentina, Canada, Austria and Belgium
The committee is making the inquiry
at the request of Senator Hiram john
son, Republican, of California, an oppo-
nent of ratification of the Hoover
moratorium.
Lamont started his testimony with
Johnson sitting at one end OF the Ions
committee table and Chairman Smoot
at the other. The financier was mid.
way between them.
Senator Reed, Republican, of Penn.
sylvania, opened the questioning by
asking what foreign loans the Morgan
firm had foated since the armistice.
Says Company Made Profit.
Lamont said his firm had foatee
S15e 800, 900 in long-term bonds for the
Argentine government. The gross spreac
en- these bonds vary, he said, from 81.
per cent to 4 per cent, including the
cost cf distributing them to bond houses
The last Argentine bonds handled wa.
an issue of $21, ,200,O 900 on April %, 1927
Lamont said
Although the company made no man
aging commission on the issue, 1t die
make a profit, Lamont said. He die
not give the amount. however
He enumerated also fotation Of
S165, 900, 900 in long-term Austrian bonds
on which the firm made a commission
of / per cent, and two loans OF $25,-
600, 900 each for Austria with no man
aging commission.
Lamont said loans totaling s260,000,
900 we're handled for Belgium from
June /, 1920, to october %, 1926. He
said the Morgan house was not the
agent for these governments, and they
were free to deal with other agencies
I'VE have no fixed agency agreement
with any of these governments" he
said. net even the British or French
The first Austrian loan of $25,oG0,-
900 has now been reduced to $4,000
900, he added.
The spread on the Belgium loan, he
said, ranged from per cent in the
earlier days to per cent.
The firm made no profit on the first
two issues, but three twentieths, 225-
1,00Oths and cne-fifth of l per cent on
the others, he testified
For Canada, Lamont said one issue
of $105,348,0 900 was f1oated April IS
1922. The spread on this was 2i5 pei
cent and there was no managing COM
mission.
Lamont said the issuing house OF
some designated trustee handled the
sinking fund.
Senator Couzens, Republican, Michi-
gan, inquired if it were not dangerous
policy for the issuing house to be trus-
tee of the sinking fund Lamont said
it was a "very wise policy"
Couzens said he had heard of in
stances of the trustees diyerting the
1Cnntinnoa az, paun D Col,nnr o