One of the most interesting financial speeches made recently in London was that of Sir F, Schuster who, presiding over the half-yearly
*|and Smith's Bank, said that meeting of the Union of Lends abundance of money on the market, the readiness with which approved bills were taken and the large amount of banking deposits all over the country afforded ample proof of the ability and competence of traders to continue the nation's commerce freely both at home and abroad. He went on, however, to make a remark with which it is difficult entirely to agree. "Under present conditions,"
"Gt has been well said the paradoxes of finance a moment when the world's capital is being squandered in war, the value of loanable capital in Lombard Street has actually depredated." One questions the legitimacy of describing such a state of things as paradoxical. war has put a stop to productive enterprises all over the world and consequently the demand for capital has fallen off. In ordinary times people are alert to invest money in anything that promises a satisfactory return. How many enterprises promise a satisfactory return at the present time? Very few indeed, because nobody feels sure as to what may or may not happen in the next few months. It is true that a vast amount of capital is being used up, but it is being employed non-productively it is not creating a fresh series of demands. On the contrary, the longer the war goes on the more must productive enterprises contract and the smaller must surely be the demand for loanable capital.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.