FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1893. 



801 



Foreign exchange opened in January at $4.86 

 to $4.80* for sixty-day, and $4.88* for sight. 

 There was an advance to $4.87 for the former 

 and $4.89 for the latter by tin- middle of the 

 month, when the demand was good for long 

 sterling, in consequence of easier discounts in 

 London. The tone was easier at the close, be- 

 cause of offerings of bills drawn against purchases 

 i.f ~t . urit ics for European account. Exports of 

 gold during the month amounted to $8,925,000. 

 The defeat in the House of Representatives of 

 the measure known as the Andrews-Cate bill, 

 having for its object the repeal of the silver- 

 purchase law, and the refusal of the Senate to 

 consider a resolution having a similar object, 

 had an unfavorable effect upon exchange early 

 in February, and after opening at $4.86 to $4.86$ 

 for sixty-day and $4.88 to $4.88$ for sight, it 

 advanced to $4.87$ for the former and $4.89$ 

 for the latter, and it continued strong until to- 

 ward the close, when the market was affected by 

 dearer money, but it subsequently reacted, and at 

 the end of the month rates were $4.86$ to $4.87 

 for sixty-day and $4.88$ to $4.89 for sight. 

 The shipments of gold amounted to $13,750,000. 

 In March the opening rates were $4.86$ for long 

 and $4.88$ for short. There was an advance on 

 the 3d to $4.87 for the former and $4.89 for the 

 latter, but on the 6th the market was unsettled 

 by active money, and on the following day there 

 was a fall to $4.85 for sixty-day and $4.87 for 

 sight, rates subsequently reacting 1$ cent per 

 pound sterling for both. On the 13th and 14th 

 the market was again unsettled by active money 

 and by liberal offerings of loan bills, but when 

 money grew easier and the supply of drafts was 

 absorbed there was a recovery, and the market 

 closed at $4.87 for sixty-day and $4.89 for sight. 

 Gold shipments were $3,300,000. In April the 

 market was strong throughout the entire month. 

 The opening rates were $4.87 for sixty-day and 

 $4.89 for sight, and they remained unchanged 

 until the 17th, when there was an advance of 

 half a cent per pound sterling, and on the 20th 

 there came a further rise to $4.88$^ for long and 

 $4.90$ for short, caused by reports that the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury would refuse to redeem 

 Treasury notes of 1890 with gold. This caused an 

 urgent demand for exchange, and much excite- 

 ment prevailed until the uncertainty regarding 

 the policy of the Secretary was set at rest by the 

 semiofficial declaration by the President that the 

 parity between gold and silver obligations of the 

 Treasury would be maintained, whereupon there 

 was a sharp fall in exchange to $4.86 for sixty- 

 day and $4.89$ for sight, and the rates at the 

 close of the month were $4.86 to $4.87$ for the 

 former and $4.89 to $4.89$ for the latter. Gold 

 shipments for the month amounted to 17,290,- 

 000. In May liberal offerings of bills against 

 outgoing securities brought about a fall, on the 

 3d, from $4.86$ for long and $4.89$ for short at 

 the opening to $4.85$ for the former and $4.8&$ 

 for the latter, but these drafts were promptly 

 absorbed, and then came a gradual advance to 

 $4.87 for sixty-day and $4.90$ for sight by the 

 close of the month. Gold shipments to Europe 

 were $13,250,000. Early in June the market 

 was quiet at $4.87 to $4.87$ for sixty-day and 

 $4.90 to $4.90$ for sight until the 9th, when it 

 was unsettled by easier discounts in London 



and dearer money in New York, and there was a 

 decline to $4.86 for long and $4.88 for short. 

 On the 16th offerings of loan bills brought about 

 a fall to $4.84$ for sixty-day and $4.88$ for 

 sight, and on th 21st the market was demoral- 

 ized by stringency in money, and liberal offer- 

 ings of loan bills and rates fell to $4.82$ for 

 long and $4.84$ for short, the lowest since Dec. 

 2s. 1W1. It was then announced that $500,000 

 gold had been bought in London for shipment 

 to New York, and on the following day rates 

 sharply reacted to $4.84 for long and $4.86 for 

 short. There was another unsettling fall on the 

 28th and 29th in consequence of active money, 

 and the rates at the close of the month were 

 $4.83 for sixty-day and $4.84 to $4.85 for sight. 

 Exports of gold to Europe were $9,000,000, but 

 none was sent after the 7th. The arrivals of 

 gold from Europe were $500,000 on the 30th. 

 In July exchange was firm early in the month 

 at $4.83-$ to $4.84 for long and $4.85$ to $4.86 for 

 short in consequence of a demand to remit for 

 July interest and dividends, but the tone grew 

 easier when this inquiry was satisfied, and rates 

 gradually fell to $4.83 to $4.83$ for sixty-day 

 and $4.85 to $4.85$ for sight, so remaining until 

 the 26th, when a pressure of security bills and 

 active money forced rates to $4.81 for long and 

 $4.82 for short, although some bankers posted at 

 the saroe time $4.83 for the former and $4.84 

 for the latter. Rates at the close were $4.81 to 

 $4.81$ for long and $4.84$ to $4.85 for short. 

 The arrivals of gold from Europe during the 

 month were $2,285,500. In August exchange 

 opened at the rates ruling at the close of July, 

 and the market was in an abnormal condition 

 during the entire month, affected by the premium 

 in currency upon gold in transit and to arrive, 

 and rates moved between $4.81 and $4.84$ for 

 long and $4.85 and $4.89$ for short. The 

 premium for gold enabled bankers to buy the 

 metal in London, remitting exchange therefor, 

 and sell it while in transit or on arrival, and 

 make a profit on the transaction. In this way 

 gold to the amount of $40,921,665 was imported 

 during the month from Europe. With the close 

 of August the premium on gold disappeared, 

 and at the opening of September exchange re- 

 sumed a normal condition, but the delay in 

 action upon the silver repeal bill in the Senate 

 prevented the market from feeling the full effect 

 of tlie improved foreign trade conditions. The 

 movement of cotton, which had been delayed by 

 a late season and by financial stringency, was 

 moderately free, but the derangement in the 

 currency situation prevented bankers from deal- 

 ing extensively in futures, and consequently the 

 market was dependent upon offerings of bills 

 against actual shipments of the staple. Opera- 

 tors in grain in Liverpool, after obtaining pretty 

 full supplies, traded in the markets in such a 

 way as to limit exports, buying grain for ship- 

 ment and selling it before it reached the sea- 

 board, repeating the operation as long as it- 

 could be made profitable. The uncertainty re- 

 garding the outcome of the silver repeal bill in 

 the Senate kept Europeans out of the market 

 for American securities, and the mercantile de- 

 mand for remittance and settlement of credits 

 and the bankers' inquiry for bills to cover those 

 previously sold, in the expectation of being 



