FIRST.
The Boer war which left England in almost as bad a financial strait as we were in through the culmination of a similar period of overdoing in trade and speculation in new industrial ventures, together with an excess of new issues of British Consols during the war period resulting in a recent decline in the price of these prime securities to 81—about the lowest price on record.
SECOND.
Germany was in fully as bad a condition owing to extravagant industrial enterprises, rivalling our own, and which required the most careful nursing to avoid a collapse.
THIRD.
France acted alone in financing Russian loans, and in the crisis of the Japanese-Russian war was compelled unwillingly to supply new funds in order to protect the French loans already outstanding. Hence France had little or no money to lend except to the French.
FOURTH.
The Japanese-Russian war brought both of these countries forward for the first time as prominent and important factors in the world’s money market, and both are still, like Oliver Twist, crying for “more.” This conflict and the Boer war combined wasted over $2,000,000,000 of capital.
FIFTH.
Funds were almost unobtainable except at prohibitive rates at the time of our recent crop-moving period, and for causes already mentioned we could not look to Europe for help. Usually Europe discounts New York securities bills for about $300,000,000 at this period, but last year Europe said: “No; we have troubles of our own.”