thing equally
well worth fighting for, and so as patriotic citizens, they accepted or
even welcomed a calamity that could only cause them, as financiers, the
greatest embarrassment and the chance of ruin. War has benefited the
working classes, and enabled them to take a long stride forward, which
we must all hope they will maintain, towards the improvement in their
lot which is so long overdue. It has helped the farmers, put fortunes in
the pockets of the shipowners, and swollen the profits of any
manufacturers who have been able to turn out stuff wanted for war or for
the indirect needs of war. The industrial centres are bursting with
money, and the greater spending power that has been diffused by war
expenditure has made the cheap jewellery trade a thriving industry and
increased the consumption of beer and spirits in spite of restrictions
and the absence of men at the front. Picture palaces are crammed
nightly, furs and finery have had a wonderful season, any one who has a
motor car to sell finds plenty of ready buyers, and second-hand pianos
are an article that can almost be "sold on a Sunday." But in the midst
of this roar of humming trade, finance, and especially international
finance, lies stricken and still gasping from the shock of war. When war
comes, the price of all property shrivels. This was well known to
Falstaff, who, when he brought the news of Hotspur's rebellion, said
"You may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel," To most financial
institutions, this shrivelling process in the price of their securities
and other assets, brings serious embarrassment, for there is no
corresponding decline in their liabilities, and if they have not founded
themselves on the rock of severest prudence in the past, their solvency
is likely to be imperilled. Finance knew that it must suffer. The story
has often been told, and though never officially confirmed, it has at
least the merit of great probability, that in 1911 when the Morocco
crisis made a European war probable, the German Government was held back
by the warning of its financiers that war would mean Germany's ruin. It
is more than likely that a similar warning was given in July, 1914, but
that the war party brushed it aside. And now that war is upon us, we are
being warned that high finance is intriguing for peace. Mr. Edgar
Crammond, a distinguished economist and statistician, published an
article in the _Nineteenth Century_ of September, 1915, entitled "Hig