FINANCIAL 
591 
FINANCIAL NOTES 
Sweden Reduces National Debt 
1 lie national debt of Sweden during the month 
of June was reduced by 8,900,000 kronor, which 
made the debt stand at i,529,900,000 kronor at the 
end of the first half fiscal year. At latest ac¬ 
counts there had been a slight increase in the 
note circulation. 
Income Tax Requirements 
The leading steamship companies have notified 
agents that it is important to impress upon all 
passengers the necessity of settling their income 
tax obligations by filing a “return” at the office 
of the U. S. Internal Revenue Service, nearest 
their place of residence before leaving for the 
port of embarkation. 
Denmark Spends Millions for Public Works 
From April 1921 to April 1922, the Danish gov¬ 
ernment has spent 90,000,000 kroner for public 
improvement work and in addition 60,000,000 
kroner were loaned to municipalities in order to 
carry out certain works of construction so as to 
lessen unemployment. The sum of 50,000,000 
kroner has also been distributed directly to the 
unemployed. 
Big Loss for Northern Metal Ware Company 
A loss of 12,000,000 kroner has been written off 
by the Northern Metal Ware Company of Copen¬ 
hagen. The company was organized in 1914 with 
a capital of 2,000,000 kroner to take over the bus¬ 
iness of H. V. Christensen & Co. By gradual ab¬ 
sorption of other companies the capital was in¬ 
creased to 14,000,000 kroner. The shares have 
been as low as 13, but recently have improved to 
around 20 kroner a share. 
Norwegian Mortgage Bank’s Big Loan 
The 30,000,000 kroner offering of the Norwegian 
Mortgage Bank has been taken by the Norske 
Handelsbank. The loan is to run 60 years and 
is at the rate of 4% percent. The loan is guar¬ 
anteed by the Norwegian government. 
Increased Gold Reserves and Investments 
According to the Mid-Month Review of Busi¬ 
ness, published by the Irving National Bank, the 
upward trend of investment and the opposite 
tendency of commercial loans has been going on 
for a year and a half. On August 9 the com¬ 
bined Federal Reserve ratio stood at 80.4 percent, 
the highest point since August 31,1917, and con¬ 
trasting with 65 percent a year ago. The gold 
reserves of the System have been steadily rising, 
and have just established the new high record of 
$3,071,643,000. 
Brown Brothers & Co. on Swedish Situation 
Brown Brothers & Co., summarizing a report of 
the Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget of Goteborg, 
is of the opinion that a steady improvement has 
set in with regard to Sweden’s industries and 
finances. The number of failures reported in May 
of this year was 438 compared with 454 in the 
same month of last year. Unemployment figures 
showed a reduction of over 20 percent as against 
those of some months ago. 
Landmandsbanken Writes off Over Fifty Mil¬ 
lions 
Great satisfaction is expressed by the Danish 
press on account of the manner in which Land¬ 
mandsbanken, with the aid of Nationalbanken, 
has adjusted its reserve fund requirements. From 
the surplus of 1921, amounting to 65,000,000 kro¬ 
ner, Landmandsbanken has written off 25,800,000 
kroner, to which is added a write off of 55,375,000 
kroner for 1922. In spite of its big losses, the 
bank retains its original capital of 100,000,000 
kroner, with a reserve fund of 5,000,000 kroner, to 
which is added the 30,000,000 kroner loaned by 
N ationalbanken. 
High Taxation Without Protection 
In the August issue of the Index, published by 
the New York Trust Company, there is an article 
dealing with the Senate tariff bill, which empha¬ 
sizes that in the case of the sugar rate the Ameri¬ 
can consumer will pay a tax of $200,000,000 a 
year. The sugar schedule agreed upon by the 
Senate imposes the highest rates since the time of 
President Grant. The Index specifies further that 
another particularly unreasonable feature of the 
Senate bill is the tariff placed on tungsten ore. 
These metals are important in the manufacture of 
so-called “high speed” steels. 
Russian Gold Stock Being Depleted 
Advises received in Stockholm are to the effect 
that the Soviet gold supply is ebbing fast, or may 
be entirely exhausted. This may be the explana¬ 
tion of the recent conflict between the Swedish 
firm of Nyqvist & Holm and the Soviet govern¬ 
ment, which caused the Swedish government to 
suspend delivery of a number of locomotives con¬ 
tracted for by Russia. Later reports, however, 
indicate that the differences were adjusted. 
Foreign Railroad and Industrial Issues 
“One of the most interesting developments of 
late,” says the National City Bank in its August 
report, “has been the successful offering of for¬ 
eign railroad and industrial issues, as such issues 
afford the means by which this country can con¬ 
tribute iri a substantial degree to the industrial 
reorganization of Europe. One of the most nota¬ 
ble of these has been the offering of $10,000,000 
twenty-year 7% percent bonds of the Framerican 
Development Corporation. This corporation was 
organized in 1917 under the laws of New York to 
facilitate the business in the United States of 
Schneider & Co., of France.” 
Norwegian Savings Bank’s Big Growth 
The growth of the Norwegian Savings Bank 
from its beginning 100 years ago, was featured 
in June when Christiania financial circles joined 
in celebrating the centennial of this important in¬ 
stitution. The bank started with a deficit of 118 
kroner in 1822. The total deposits for 1921 were 
308,272,107 kroner with a surplus of 1,660,932 
kroner. On the occasion of the centennial a fund 
of 500,000 kroner was established to be used for 
cultural purposes in the city of Christiania. 
