| Show THE TilE DAILY WASHINGTON J F Financial i 11 a n cia 1 Whirligig 11 i rl i gig Written for The Telegram By JAMES McMULLIN NEW NEV YORK YORK Britain Britain has privately agreed not riot to interfere with our silver program as indicated recently in this column but she's pushing hard in other directions to reestablish sterling supremacy New Yorkers with connections abroad find evidence of this in in Central Europe The British British Brit Brit- ish have promoted themselves as fi financial financial financial fi- fi middlemen for the trade relations of the smaller nations to the point where the hatter latter latter lat hat ter quote nearly all their foreign business in terms of sterling Its It's only a step from there thereto to complete acceptance of sterling domination Austria Hungary and Bulgaria are already under under under un un- un- un der the British spelt spell and Slovakia Czecho-Slovakia and Rumania are said to be in process of transferring their financial allegiance allegiance alle alle- from irom France to England The British have one important advantage over us in a trade and currency contest Their whole financial structure structure- structure including including all banks and acceptance dealers dealers is is closely knit and responsive to a single authority the authority the Bank of England Theres There's no such efficient collaboration collaboration tion over here with the treasury and the banks often working at cross purposes Canadian Bank Cornerstone Establishment of a central bank in Canada directly under London influence remains influence remains a cornerstone of the British comeback plan It has run into an unexpected obstacle in the form of Canadian nationalism nationalism especially especially as expressed by the French element in parliament hut but lout will be quietly pushed until something happens Insiders say that recent speeches n the Canadian Canadian Canadian Cana Cana- dian parliament favoring ring the central bank were sponsored sponsored and and in some cases prepared prepared prepared-in in London They add that the ballyhoo about the thc collapse of th tho Ottawa agreement was largely inspired for our benefit and that actually actually actually actu actu- ally the agreement has worked remarkably well C C Local observers predict more British support for the French stand against German rearmament rearmament rearmament ment than is generally expected Most of the London cabinet is reported to be afraid of Hitler Hitler Hitler Hit Hit- ler and to rate it safer to tie up with France than risk having France make commitments in other directions Prime Minister MacDonald is said to lean to toward toward toward to- to ward the German side because of h his s feeling that Versailles was unjust But his influence in this instance is slight and not expected to prevail pre prevail even even ven with the support of munitions interests eager for markets Quarterback Misunderstood 1 The recent wave of liquidation in the securities securities securities ties markets traces partly to the fact that the theR theR R F Fe C got its signal signah mixed Jesse Jones' Jones organization sent out a dozen high pressure men not long ago to induce more banks to sell preferred stock to the R F C. C The object was to give them a protective cushion against the demands s of permanent deposit in in- in So far so good But then either the R F E C men or the bank examiners who followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed them ordered the sale of some of the less valuable stuff in their portfolios on the theory theory theory the the- ory that R F C capital gave them a good chance to get rid of their junk painlessly Net result forced sales which depressed prices prices prices-in in some cases case violently The R RF F C- C meaning to strengthen the banks banks actually actually weakened the position of those which still held the same type of second rate assets by shattering shattering shattering shat shat- shat- shat their market value The R RF F had no idea it was contributing to the slump until New York sources pointed it out Then there was a quick reversal o of policy which accounted for the sudden drying up of liquidation Oil Industry Splits The Ickes pro program ram for sharper rc regulation has split the petroleum industry alon along the same lines as did price fixing In general only the medium sized producers favor it Most of the big fellows and the tte small independents are vigorously oppose opposed Betting here is that the will prevail prevail prevail-in in spite of Secretary Ickes' Ickes statement that his bill has administration tion support The Texas hot oil situation is becoming more acute but experts cant can't see how legislation legislation legisla legisla- tion will help Its It's pointed out that there are area a lot of roads in Texas It would be pretty hard to watch every truck leaving the state Another factor is pip lines once lines once oil gets ets into them who's to say where it came from Lawmaking Lawmaking Lawmaking Law- Law making in this situation is likened to King Canute's command C Private bankers who want to keep their de deposit deposit deposit de- de posit business are pleased to learn from their attorneys that they wont won't have to give up their stock exchange seats Legal second thought though holds only that on the floor is banned by the banking act This is said to be especially especial especial- ly J good od news to J P. P Morgan CoIts CoIts Co It Its It's S noted here that John D. D Rockefeller Sr is an exchange member member and and no one has ac accused accused accused ac- ac him of be IW in the securities business busine lately Copyright 1 1931 1934 McClure Newspaper Syndicate |
