FINANCIAL 
271 
FINANCIAL NOTES 
Norway Static 
Business seems to have reached an equilibrium 
in Norway, and any change is likely to be for 
the better. The Norwegian price index is still 
falling, the wholesale index at last accounts being 
236.9. From the fishing centers the catch is re¬ 
ported satisfactory and the prospects good, al¬ 
though prices are low. There is some demand for 
tonnage, mainly time chartered freights on Ameri¬ 
ca, which are of special importance for Norway. 
There is also a slight improvement in Australian 
freights, but the drop in dollars and sterling im¬ 
pairs the profit on these. Shipping is also ham¬ 
pered by the excessive cost of labor. The paper, 
cellulose, and wood pulp business is dormant, and 
the shares in this industry still show a downward 
tendency on the stock exchange. One wood¬ 
refining company, Borregaard, has raised a loan of 
£1,500,000 in London. The prices of Government 
bonds, however, are upward, and the rise of the 
krone is said to be due in part to a fresh market 
for Norwegian bonds in America. In connection 
with the national budget proposed for 1922-23 it 
has been suggested that the internal government 
loan of 1917, expiring on August 1, and the Ameri¬ 
can loan of 1916, redeemable in 1923, shall be con¬ 
verted, and industry hopes that the loans will be 
partly raised in America. 
A Water Power Bank 
To encourage the utilization of water power in 
Norway it has been proposed to establish a special 
bank. The capital is to be raised in the same man¬ 
ner as that of the agricultural bank of Norway 
by issuing government bonds. This idea has met 
with more favor than another proposal made in 
the Storting for a municipal bank designed to 
direct the municipalities in floating their loans. 
The Bank of Norway 
The latest returns from Norges Bank indicate 
a gold reserve of Kr. 147,293,000. Other vital 
figures are: notes in circulation, Kr. 375,986,000; 
total deposits, Kr. 140,504,000; (a steady increase); 
advances and discount renewals, Kr. 428,168,000; 
available means abroad, Kr. 47,383,000; securities, 
Kr. 10,085,000. 
A sea's Bad Year 
Asea, the name by which we know the great 
Swedish general electric company, announces that 
the sum total of its loss in 1921 was Kr. 11,800,000. 
This is attributed to the severe fall in prices and 
German competition. The company is in such a 
remarkably solid position, however, that when this 
huge loss is subtracted from the reserve, the re¬ 
serve fund still presents a balance of Kr. 22,000,000. 
The company’s officials look with sober resolution 
but confidence toward the future. 
An Exception 
An exception to the uniformly strong position of 
the Swedish banks in 1921 was the fifth largest 
bank in the country, the Sydsvenska Kredi- 
taktiebolaget, with headquarters in southern 
Sweden, at Malmo. When the books were closed 
for the year, they showed a depreciation of 90 
per cent. It became necessary to call for a re¬ 
construction and create a new company, the share 
holders receiving one new share for each ten of 
the old. The reconstruction was effected by a 
consortium of all the important banks of Sweden, 
who came loyally to the help of the unfortunate 
sister bank with co-operation from the government. 
It is rumored that the chief trouble was that the 
southern bank, unlike the banks of the north, was 
entangled by the same speculation in German 
marks in which several Danish banks across 
Oresund suffered. 
American Co-operative Banks 
It is not generally known to what extent co¬ 
operation has taken hold among the farmers in 
this country. In Minnesota there are 2,700 farm¬ 
ers’ producers co-operatives and in Wisconsin 
2,000. There are between 15,000 and 20,000 co¬ 
operative societies in the United States organized 
by farmers to ware-house grain, to sell farm prod¬ 
ucts, and to manufacture butter and cheese. The 
farmers own hundreds of co-operative telephone 
lines, elevators, packing plants, and wholesale and 
retail stores. Now a campaign for the organiza¬ 
tion of co-operative banks is being carried on 
through the All-American Co-operative Commis¬ 
sion by Frederic C. Howe, executive secretary of 
the Committee on Banking and Credit. Mr. Howe’s 
recent book Denmark, A Co-operative Common¬ 
wealth is familiar to readers of the Review. 
Live Wires 
The recent annual meeting of magnates of the 
Swedish iron industry, so-called “St. Henry’s 
Fair,” at Orebro is reported to have seemed like a 
funeral. The exports of iron and steel were only 
29.3 per cent of what they were, not in inflated 
war years, but in the normal pre-war year of 
1913! 
The continued efforts to electrify Swedish in¬ 
dustry means an increased demand for American 
copper. The line Nattavaara-Boden has been elec¬ 
trified and a new power station completed at 
Motala Falls. 
The city of Bergen reported seventy-six mil¬ 
lionaires last year. The two with the largest 
fortunes are subscribers to the Norway-U. S. A. 
student exchange, Mr. Mowinckel and Mr. Grieg. 
The Bank of Sweden has reduced its discount 
to five per cent. 
Andresens and Bergens Kreditbank report a 
surplus of Kr. 16,400,000. 
In good years or bad, the Danish East-Asiatic 
Company, continues to prosper. 1921 showed a 
net profit of Kr. 26,019,945 and a dividend of 20 
per cent. The reserve fund now totals Kr. 62,- 
500,000. 
The engineering firm of Burmeister and Wain, 
Copenhagen, likewise made a handsome profit and 
declared a 12 per cent dividend. Its reserve funds 
exceed its share capital. 
The following figures indicate the relative read¬ 
justment of trade balances in the three Scandi¬ 
navian countries: Norway’s unfavorable trade 
balance in 1921 was only 45 per cent of the bal¬ 
ance against her in 1920; Sweden’s unfavorable 
balance was only 17 per cent of the previous year, 
and Denmark’s 12 per cent. 
In 1921 gold to the value of $66,356,000 was 
shipped from Sweden to the United States as 
against $2,036,000 in 1920. Old Privilege. 
