FINANCIAL UKVIKW OF 1896. 



277 



political tension in London, growing out of the raid 

 liv Dr. Jameson upon Johannesburg at the cl< 



A telegram by tlie Emperor William of Ger- 

 many to 1'ivsident Krueger of the Transvaal Re- 

 public, congratulating him upon the defeat of the 

 raiders, was regarded in England as indicating that 

 Germany was in entire sympathy with the Govern- 

 ment of the republic, and that in the event of pos- 

 sible collision with England Germany would ac- 

 tively intervene. A feeling of resentment quickly 

 spread, and it was intensified by the action of the 

 English Government in placing in commission a 

 naval flying squadron and in recruiting for the 

 army. The excitement soon subsided, however, 

 after explanations had been made by the Emperor 

 William to the Queen, but the tone of the London 

 markets did not immediately recover. In February 

 it was reported that the English Government had 

 decided to submit the Venezuelan boundary ques- 

 tion to a commission, but this was not confirmed, 

 though until it was denied the London markets 

 were somewhat favorably influenced. On Nov. 10 

 arbitration was agreed upon between England and 

 this country. The defeat of the Italians by the 

 Abyssinians at Adua. on March 1. caused great ex- 

 citement in Italy, leading to the downfall of the 

 ministry. Overtures were then made to the Ab\>- 

 sinian King for peace, and concurrently England 

 arranged an Anglo-Egyptian expedition in the Sou- 

 dan. This movement was opposed by France, but 

 later that Government yielded consent. On April 

 was announced that 5 of the Johannesburg 

 committee, who were connected with the Jameson 

 raid, had been condemned to death, and this caused 

 great excitement in England. The Government 

 appealed to President Krueger to commute the sen- 

 tence, and he consented to banish the condemned 

 men, imposing heavy fines. The tension in Europe 

 regarding the situation in Turkey grew quite severe 

 in July and August, but the powers were not in ac- 

 cord, and therefore no action was taken. After 

 the visit of the Emperor of Russia to England in 

 September the French ambassador to the Porte 

 insisted upon reforms in Armenia, the demand 

 was complied with, and thereafter there was less 

 friction regarding Turkey. The Anglo-Egyp- 

 tian expedition up the Nile captured Dongola 

 toward the end of September, and on Oct. 26 a 

 treaty of peace between Italy and Abyssinia was 

 signed. 



The most important financial event at home was 

 the offering on Jan. 6 for popular subscription of 

 $100.000,000 United States 4-per-cent. bonds, this 

 course being taken instead of contracting with a 

 syndicate, because of the opposition in the Senate 

 to further private contracts for the sale of bonds. 

 The subscriptions amounted to $568,000.000 from 

 4,640 bidders, and the awards were sr.r,.:-^ _ ( ;.-,o a r 

 above 110-6877 and *33.21 1.350 at that price. The 

 bids were opened Feb. 5. and by the end of the 

 month $54,669,959.67 had been paid into the Sub- 

 treasury and s28. 500.000 into specially designated 

 depository banks. The bond sale yielded $111,- 

 166.246. and if no gold had been withdrawn by in- 

 tending purchasers of bonds the net gold would 

 have been increased to xl55.72H.739. But gold was 

 withdrawn at frequent intervals during the bond 

 payments, and the amount so taken from the New 

 York Sub-treasury was x51.434. ( .'57.50. The sale 

 of bonds netted $84,150,207 gold, to the Treasury. 

 The bond issue was ordered for the purpose of re- 

 plenishing the Treasury net gold, which was - 

 262.2(51) on Jan. 1. and reduced to $49.845.508 on Feb. 

 1. It fell to $44.563.494 by Feb. 10. some gold having 

 been withdrawn immediately prior to the opening 

 of the bids for the bonds. By the end of February 

 the net gold was increased through payments for 



the bonds to $124.031.141, and by the end of March, 

 when the bulk of the payments had been made, it 

 was sl2S,7 13,7<)0. Then followed a gradual de- 

 se to $86,631,770 by July 23. Gold had been 

 steadily moving out of the Treasury since the mid- 

 dle of the month, and as the Senate just before ad- 

 journment had practically tied the hands of the 

 Administration by passing a resolution opposing 

 the Government policy of issuing bonds for the 

 purpose of restoring the Treasury IVMTVC. it was 

 felt that a resort to another bond issue was imprac- 

 ticable. The leading bank officers of New York 

 had a consultation which resulted in an agreement 

 to turn over to the Treasury from $20,000,000 to 

 * 25. 000,000 gold in exchange for legal tenders. At 

 the same time a syndicate of foreign bankers 

 agreed to assist in checking the export of gold and 

 to control exchange so as eventually to bring about 

 gold imports. Over $17,000,000 gold was turned 

 into the Treasury by July 25, and exports of the 

 metal ceased. By A'ug. 4 the net gold was $110,- 

 7>2.4o3, but withdrawals for hoarding and for trans- 

 fer to Canada reduced it to $100,957,562 by Sept. 

 2. Syndicate manipulation of the exchange mar- 

 ket resulted in imports of gold from Europe in Au- 

 gust. The metal thereafter came in increasing 

 amounts, and as it was very generally deposited in 

 the Treasury the net gold increased to $125,600,065 

 by Oct. 6. Then followed depletions through hoard- 

 ing, and the net fell to $114,957,109 on Nov. 5, re- 

 flecting large withdrawals from the New York Sub- 

 treasury on the day previous to the election. After 

 that event there was a radical change. About $6.- 

 500,000 of assay-office checks, representing imported 

 gold bullion, which had been withheld from pres- 

 entation, and receipts for imported gold coin de- 

 posited at the Subtreasury for examination, were 

 either passed through the Clearing House as cur- 

 rency or cashed with legal tenders at the Treasury, 

 and "$10,800,000 of gold deposited in the various 

 banks was sent to the Clearing-House vaults before 

 the end of November. Some deposits of gold were 

 made at interior Subtreasuries in exchange for 

 legal tenders, and whereas before the election there 

 seemed to be a general desire to get gold, as soon as 

 the result of the election was known holders of the 

 metal were anxious to exchange it for currency. 

 The net gold in the Treasury rose to $130,407,237 

 by Nov. 30, and at the end of the year it was $136,- 

 746.473. 



The following tabular survey of the economical 

 conditions and results of 1896. contrasted with those 

 of the preceding year, is from the "Commercial and 

 Financial Chronicle " : 



