FINANCIAL 
143 
FINANCIAL NOTES 
Piercing the Gloom 
One of the bright spots in the financial gloom 
pervading the Scandinavian countries is the rise in 
exchange. In Sweden exchange on America is only 
two points below normal; the cost of living has de¬ 
scended to 210, and paper mills, blast furnaces, 
match works, and glass factories are slowly getting 
under way. In Norway the gloom has been in¬ 
tensified by the failure of the great insurance com¬ 
pany Norske Lloyd. 
Yet Another Loan 
On January 2 the National City Company of 
New ^ ork put out another Danish government 
issue of $30,000,000 6 per cent twenty-year exter¬ 
nal gold bonds. They were offered at 94y 2 , to 
vield about 6y 2 per cent to maturity. This rate 
shows a stabilizing of Danish credit, whereas the 
last loan (October, 1920) offered an effective in¬ 
terest of 9 per cent. 
Those Danish Internals 
Mr. N. F. Holch’s confidence in Danish internal 
government bonds is like that of the Sibyl in the 
looks that she brought to Tarquin. A year ago he 
>ffered readers of this Review, through A. B. 
.each & Co., the kroner issue of ’94 at $80 per 
,000 kroner. To-day they are selling around $120, 
i clear profit of fifty per cent for those who took 
idvantage of their foresight. There will be an- 
>ther profit of around 33 1-3 per cent if exchange 
:oes to normal. 
Vo Birthdays 
Old Privilege congratulates the two largest Dan- 
>h. provincial banks, which recently celebrated 
heir birthdays. Aarhus Privatbank has enjoyed 
fty years and Fyens Disconto Kasse seventy-five 
ears of sane, sound, and successful banking.' 
l New Steel Combine? 
The recent excited advance of American inde- 
endent steel stocks and the rumors of a new com¬ 
ine are not without interest to Swedish exporters 
f iron ore. If American steel companies should 
;t up blast furnaces at tide water, it would facili- 
ite the exchange of foreign ores for American 
>al. ___ 
horough and Reliable 
Tew sources of international commercial infor- 
ation are more complete than the Kommersiella 
eddelanden, published every fortnight by the 
oyal Swedish College of Commerce. Timely arti- 
es on every subject are supplemented by graphs 
id statistics and reports of Swedish trade and 
insular advices from many lands. 
orwegian Banks Amalgamate 
According to a cablegram to the Irving Na- 
>nal Bank from Mr. A. E. Lindhjem,. its repre- 
ntative in the Scandinavian countries, the di- 
ctors of Drammens Privatbank and Drammens 
Oplands Kreditbank have approved an amal- 
mation subject to the approval of the stock- 
Uders of these institutions. 
nnish Co-operative Banking 
The success of co-operative banking in Finland 
i described from personal impressions by Henry 
Goddard Leach and illustrated with striking pho¬ 
tographs in the Tebruary number of The Survey 
Graphic. According to Mr. Leach there are up¬ 
ward of 713 of these banks in the country districts, 
radiating from a central credit society in the capi¬ 
tal. They supply the economic backbone of the 
poorer farming classes who are reclaiming the 
korpi the deep forests and rocky wastes of 
Suomi. 
Cotton Still Is King 
The Commerce Monthly of the National Bank 
of Commerce in New York states that before the 
war the four principal American exports to Ger¬ 
many, in order of value, were cotton, copper, 
wheat, and lard. In 1921 these four still stood at 
the head of the list, with copper in fourth instead 
of second place. Exports of wheat were three 
times their pre-war volume and those of lard were 
63 per cent more than the quantity exported in 
Wool Swings Up 
The New England Letter of the First National 
Bank of Boston supplies vigorous summaries of 
the commodity markets. The recent situation of 
wool, with the help of the Emergency Tariff, ex¬ 
hibits a sharp upward swing, with a clean-up of 
accumulated stock, and consumption at the mills 
30 per cent above normal. 
Japan and Sweden 
The alertness of Sweden to world markets is 
shown by its large exports to Japan. In 1920 
these were third only to the Japanese imports 
from the United States and Great Britain. In 
the first half of 1921 the revival of German trade 
with Japan forced Sweden in fourth place, with 
Switzerland a close competitor. 
Yields of Municipal Bonds 
The average yield of Municipal bonds of twenty 
large American cities outside New York is 6.30 
per cent. This figure compares with 5 per cent 
during the early months of the present year and 
5.25 per cent in 1920. Just before the outbreak of 
the war in 1914 prices had declined to a 4.05 per 
cent basis and 1916 found the average yield 4.75 
per cent with a perpendicular drop in the follow¬ 
ing year which brought the average yield to 5.25 
per cent. 
Live Wires 
Swedish matches again rule international trade. 
Recent Swedish quotations: Asea 36, Korsnas 
985, Metallverken 41, Grangesberg 260, Svea 37. 
Kreditbanken 299. 
Swedish exports for 1921 compared with 1913: 
Iron and steel 25%, timber 40%, pulp 47%, pig 
iron 44%, paper 82%, matches 56%, iron ore 
20 %. 
The largest Diesel locomotive motor in the world 
is now operating in southern Sweden. 
The great Norwegian aluminum company 
(Hoyangfaldene) has increased its capital from 
17,000,000 kroner to 24,000,000 kroner. 
From Centralbanken for Norge we are advised 
of a recent one-year loan of twenty million marks 
to the city of Helsingfors. 
Old Privilege. 
