FINANCIAL 
3 35 
FINANCIAL NOTES 
Denmark in 1921 
According to a bulletin of the New York Trust 
Company, “Trade between Denmark and the 
United States during the year 1921 amounted to 
$48,500,000, of which $39,600,000 represented Den¬ 
mark’s imports from the United States, and $8,900,- 
000 was the value of Denmark’s exports to the 
United States. These figures naturally reflect the 
depression which prevailed in international trade 
during 1921 compared to 1920. In respect to both 
imports and exports, Danish-American trade last 
year was greatly below the values for 1920, but 
on the other hand greatly exceeded in value the 
trade of the fiscal year 1943-14. . . . The im¬ 
portation of considerable butter and potatoes which 
took place in 1920 was practically discontinued 
during 1921.” 
Norwegian Banks 
While deposits in Norwegian private banks 
slightly fell off in 1921, deposits in Norges Bank 
increased from Kr. 56,300,000 to Kr. 101,300,000 
and the cash balance rose from Kr. 38,600,000 to 
Kr. 41,400,000. As to the balance with foreign 
hanks, it improved during the latter part of the 
year, and on that account Norwegian banks owed 
in May, 1921, Kr. 90,700,000, but at the close of the 
year only Kr. 15,700,000. 
Centralbanken for Norge has increased its capi¬ 
tal by Kr. 50,000,000, so that the bank’s capital 
and funds now amount to Kr. 119,000,000. This 
will enable important industries depending on the 
support of this bank to pay their debts and con¬ 
tinue their business on a sound basis. In this con¬ 
nection it is gratifying to announce that the de¬ 
mand for wood pulp from Japan and South Amer¬ 
ica has increased and grreat quantities of nitrates 
have been shipped by Norsk Hydro. 
Swedish Economic Conditions 
Dr. Borje H. Brilioth in a recent statement 
based on two reports of Swedish economic condi¬ 
tions says: “Sweden is emerging from the post-war 
depression unhurt fundamentally, although tempo¬ 
rarily badly shaken. One of these reports is offi¬ 
cial, being issued by the Commerce Department of 
the Swedish Foreign Office. The second is the 
regular quarterly report issued by the statistical 
department of the great Swedish banking house, 
Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget. Both deal 
largely with what is hoped to be the last phase 
of the deflation process under which Swedish busi¬ 
ness has been suffering much discomfort and heavy 
losses during the past year and a half. During 
this time Swedish banks and industrial corpora¬ 
tions have written off huge sums in order to place 
themselves on a solid foundation, labor has taken 
considerable wage cuts, industry has been badly 
handicapped in the domestic and foreign market 
by the competition of countries with low exchange 
rates, and the bank rate has tumbled from 7% to 
5 per cent, and yet the deflation process is not 
completed. 
“Even if for Sweden exceptionally great losses 
have been sustained by some banks, involving great 
sacrifices for the share holders, this will not dis¬ 
turb the impression that the Swedish banks, upon 
the whole, have well maintained their soliditv. The 
%/ 
Swedish banks may take pride in the fact that 
since the introduction in Sweden of modern bank¬ 
ing during the first half of the last century, there 
is almost no example of a Swedish bank having 
caused losses to its depositors, and the exceptions 
have been only one or two small banks of mere 
local importance.” 
A World Economic Survey 
From their quiet vantage ground in the north 
of Europe, Swedish statisticians are making la¬ 
borious and often brilliant efforts to survey the 
world’s economic confusion. The Department of 
Commerce has begun the issue of an economic 
review as a supplement to its fortnightly peri¬ 
odical, in which the economic reports of all im¬ 
portant governments are carefully analyzed and 
compared. We find current and exact informa¬ 
tion about the production of gold, note circula¬ 
tion, price levels of different countries, cost of 
living, wholesale prices, movements in rates of 
foreign exchange, reduction of government ex¬ 
penditures, freight markets of the world, indus¬ 
trial production in Russia. This literature may 
be obtained fortnightly by subscription (Kr. 15 
annually) through Kommersiella Meddelanden, 
Kommerskollegium, Stockholm. 
High Finance In Fairyland 
Among many striking pages of figures from 
lands as remote as Tunis and Equador we are in¬ 
debted to the Swedish Kommersiella Meddelanden 
for one of the proposed Soviet budgets for 1922 
compared, on a basis of gold rubles, with the 
Czar’s budget for 1910. Some items have been 
greatly reduced: the expenses of the Czar’s court, 
the Department of Justice, the Department of 
Communication, the Navy. In striking contrast, 
however, the expenses for education and the army 
have both been increased. Even in this idealistic 
republic the budget for the army, 556,000,000 in 
gold rubles, is more than four times that for 
education. The chief item of income is estimated 
to be from the “nationalized industries,”— 
900,000,000 gold rubles. The estimated deficit in 
the budget, some 230,000,000 gold rubles is to be 
made up readily by issuing more paper money 
at the rate of 200,000 Soviet rubles for one gold 
ruble. 
America’s Largest Bank 
The National City Bank of New York reports 
as of March 31 assets of $807,565,591.11. At the 
head of its board of directors appears a Swedish 
name, that of Eric P. Swenson. Mr. Swenson 
is member of a distinguished family of financiers 
who came from Sweden three generations ago and 
identified themselves largely with the business life 
of New York. Unfortunately, the American- 
Scandinavian Foundation and kindred organiza¬ 
tions seem not as yet to have*succeeded in in¬ 
teresting him in any outstanding way in relations 
between Sweden and this country. Among the 
vice-presidents of the bank Swedes as well as 
Danes and Norwegians have a good friend in Mr. 
F. Charles Schwedtman, upon whom the King of 
Sweden recently conferred the Commandership of 
the Vasa Order. 
Old Privilege. 
