Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 905/906.
Schließen

State of the Money Market.

State of the B.o.E. unsatisfactory. Reserve very low, and Bullion little increased, for under 15 Mill. at which we wish to see it.

The reserve – part of whose usual quantity has gone out to the public – 3,273,000. It was 1865: £6,461,000, and rate of interest 4%. Anyone on the Continent who has a debt to receive in England now asks for money, not for bills. He will not as a rule, take bills except those of 3 or 4 first-rate houses, and the usual bill currency of the world is suspended to a corresponding extent.

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 906.
Schließen

Proposed Inquiry into our Banking Laws.

Mr. Watkin brought in H.o.C. his motion for inquiry. It was admitted by Sir Stafford Northcote that there was a „run upon England“. Watkin urged that Clarendon (late Foreign Minister) obliged to issue a letter to explain to foreign nations an Act of Parliament, and so to induce them to continue the credit which their misconception of that Act was inducing them to refuse; and surely such an Act of Parliament and such a letter are anomalies in English history. We have never before written a circular to Foreign Gvts to say we deserved the credit from their subjects. When the Habeas Corpus is believed to be dangerous, its operation is definitely and specifically suspended; but here we have only a letter from an extinct Gvt, saying that if the Bank directors have to break the law, that extinct Gvt will propose a bill of indemnity. For 3 months we have been living in the worst of all states, that of contemplated illegality. A rate of discount is prescribed for the permission to break the law.

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 907/908.
Schließen

Indian Railways.

As to the outline of arterial lines of railways, the plan more coherent and useful in proportion to the outlay than in England. The object was to connect in a vast territory the great centres of commerce; to open up communication with, and thereby to utilise and render productive, an interior teeming with the means of wealth, but lying comparatively destitute for want of a method of intercourse; and to facilitate the gvt. of the country by rapid communication and easy transit of troops. The direct railways now on the verge of completion between Calcutta and Delhi, between Calcutta and Bombay, between Bombay and Madras supply these wants so far as they go … The guarantee of the State to Indian railways possesses at least this merit, that the states state looks after itself, and forbids the waste of capital squandered in this country in useless and competing lines, and forbids also that ruinous system of Parliamentary bungling and indifference which in England has given us bad railways at an exorbitant cost. … Mr. Danvers in his 8. Annual Report (1866), recently issued, shows that the system of guaranteed Indian railways comprises a length of 5000 miles, of which about 2/3 finished. The track is for the most part single; clear now that für grossen Theil it must be doubled, perhaps more than doubled. At present the cost estimates for the double line are confined to 1/3 only of the entire distance, and with that provision the minimum estimate for the 5000 miles is 81 mill. st., or something more than 16,000£. per mile. With nothing to pay for land, no parliamentary expenses, and a track for the most part single, this cost per mile extreme, might, under proper management have done for half the price. When the miles doubled, and rendered thoroughly efficient, the cost will now be much more than 81 mill. per mile. Of the 81 mill., nearly 61 mill., were raised and expended on 1st May last, and there remains, therefore, still to be raised 20 mill. to complete the system of 5,000 miles with only 1/3 of double line. … The gross receipts during the year ended June 1865, were 3,122,480l., as compared mit 2,303,288l. in the preceding year (1864). So from 1864 to 1865 the gross revenue of these Indian railways increased more than 35%. The |88 net profits of the year ended June 30, 1864 were 840,704l. und im folgenden Jahr 1,341,550l., increase of nearly 60%; and this rate of increase in net profit by contrast of gross revenue, completely accords with our experience of railway business in this country. The number of miles worked in the 1st year and the 2nd did not vary materially vary materially, and the cost of working was, therefore, not enhanced relatively to the receipt. A mile of railway costs no more for maintenance, or very little more, with 500 passengers p. day passing over it than with 100, and thus with the sudden growth of traffic the profit of Indian railways increases more rapidly than the business transacted or the freights conveyed. The net profits realised on the Great Indian peninsula relieve the Gvt. from all obligation on account of its guarantee. Population of India 5 × greater than in the U. Kingd. Bis jezt dort will be 5000 miles meist single railed, hier about 13 000 miles of double railway.

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 910.
Schließen

Restricted ownership of land.  Zusatz von Marx.
Schließen (Land Improvement Cos.)

There are several Cos which supply the money for land improvements, and furnish the machinery by which they are carried into effect. The whole is subject to the approval of the Enclosure Commissioners. The money advanced with the expenses is repaid by terminable annuities, extending from 22 to 30 years, and such annuity takes precedence of all other charges on property. One Co. „The Lands Improvement Co“ has advanced within the last 12 or 13 years about 21/2 Millions l. St. to landowners in England, Wales and Scotland. Besides what this and other cos have advanced for improvement, there have been large sums advanced from the Treasury under the authority of several acts, of which the first was brought forward by Sir Robert Peel in 1842. In addition, landowners may themselves advance their own money for the improvement of their settled estates, and procure, with the approval of the Enclosure Commissioners, the annuities charged on the entailed property to be vested in themselves. Dieser plan wenig acted upon; terminable annuity ist nicht kind of property wie der landowner es braucht, z.B. als provision for a younger child etc. Interference with agriculture and the productiveness of our soil are necessary incidents to the modern phase of our feudalism. The root of the evil lies in the motives which lead to territorial aggrandisement, and that irrespective of the actual wealth of the owners. Thus a man retains or acquires the nominal ownership and control of a vast tract of territory, of the value of which not 1/2, perhaps not 1/3 belongs to him.

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 912–914.
Schließen

Ten Per Cent Discount. Communicated.  Zusatz von Marx.
Schließen (Interest and Profit)

Loans of capital being made in money, and interest being paid in money, every change in the supply and demand of money, in its rate of circulation, and in the state of credit, affects the rate of interest, disturbs its proportion to the rate of profit, and, as there is an accumulating force in these influences, often so clogs „the great wheel of circulation“,  The Economist: that the whole of the machinery is thrown into disorder, and a commercial crisis, such as has recently taken place, is occasioned.
Schließen that commercial crisis etc[.] The proportion between the rate of interest and the rate of profit being for the time disturbed, the profit of the merchant or manufacturer is increased or diminished in proportion to the amount of capital on which he has to pay interest … A rise of interest involves the transfer of an increased share of profit from those directly employed in production, to those who devolve the task upon others … When a great deficiency occurs in the harvest, the general rate of profit is reduced, but the efflux of bullion diminishing the supply of money the rate of interest is maintained, and the simultaneous contraction of credit often raises it, increasing the disproportion between the rate of interest and that of profits. War, or a foreign loan, has the same effect in a minor degree. On the other hand, the fall in the rate of interest, which follows from the progressive increase of capital under ordinary circumstances, tends to raise profits for the time, and promotes the inflation of credit and a speculative rise of prices, which checks exports, increases imports, and drives capital out of the country. Required some means by which the rate of interest shall be made to conform more promptly and more uniformly to changes in the rate of profit, instead of oscillating as it now often does in the opposite direction … Though the rate of interest ultimately conforms to the rate of profit, it reacts upon it, and if it were possible to secure a permanently low rate, profits must fall in the same proportion. … It is the excessive extension of manufactures and trade caused by the reduction of the rate of discount to 3 or 2%, which gives rise to the necessity of a rise to 7, 8 or 10% and the consequent check to production and trade which ensues.|

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 914.
Schließen

Reaction of the Agra Bank Failure on India.

Calcutta. June 21. On the morning of 14 known the Agra stoppage of payment; this led to the immediate suspension of a leading and much respected firm of produce brokers, having very extensive engagements with indigo concerns in the mofussil, and a panic followed paralysing business of every kind in a manner wholly unprecedented in the presidency, and from which the mercantile community has not yet recovered. During the past week the distrust, more especially in the bazaar, has been very great, fostered by rumours of the wildest kind as to the standing of various banking and mercantile firms. Money, however, continues plentiful, and is offering in the bazaar at 9% on Gvt. securities.

Madras. June 27. Very little doing during the past fortnight. Bankrates unaltered 10% for advances on Gvt securities, and 12% on private bills. The distrust in almost all our local banks has been so great, since the stoppage of the Agra and Masterman bank, that Madras Bank post bills have been chiefly used by our merchants for remittances.

Aus:
The Economist, 4. August 1866. S. 915–917.
Schließen

Money Market Movement.

Quotations of Discount. Bankrate. (Hamburg Open Market Rate.[)]
• P.C. Paris 31/2, Vienna 5, Berlin 6 (bills) 61/2 (advances) Frankfort 7 (open market), Amsterdam 7, Turin 8, Brussels 5 (bills) 51/2 (advances) Madrid 9, Hamburg 3 (open market) St. Petersburg 51/2 (bank) 81/2 (open market.)

Failures:
• Edington and Son, iron founders and engineers, Glasgow.
• Stopped: Bk. of Mssrs Kennedy et Co, of Dublin, and: Bank of G. W. Hale, of Congleton, Cheshire.

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Aus:
The Economist, 22. Juni 1867. S. 695–697.
Schließen

The National Bank System of the U. States.

Table E brings into distinct contrast by means of Per Centage Proportions the 1649 National Bks., April 1867, mit den 1205 State Banks, in the Northern Portion of the Union, Dec. 1862.

Table H Abstract of the official Returns of 1626 National Banks, Jan. 1866, and of 1649 National Banks, April 1867 (Union, North und South)

Table F. Results of Detailed Return (Table I) on New York State brought in Smaller Compass.

Table G Total U. States Circulation in 1861, 1862 und 1867.

Table I New York State.

Table K Distribution of 1466 State Banks, Dec. 1862, and of 1649 National Banks, Dec. 1866.|

143

In group A circulation of the 507 Banks 26.0% of their total liabilities, the deposits to 23.0% and so forth.

A distinction must be made between the State Banks of the 5 large and leading Middle States and the Banks of the East and NorthWest. In the National Banks the circulation is 20.4%, but in the Middle States it was in Dec. 1862 only 5.7%. In the National Banks the Cash Reserves are 7%, but in the Middle States they were 15.3 p.c., and even the average of the 3 groups gives 12%. In the National Banks the Cash Reserves and Gvt. Securities together are 41.17% of the assets. In the Middle States they were 39.6%, or very nearly the same; and in the North West the proportion was 27.4%.

 Zusammenfassender Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen Da diese Vergleichung nicht die gewünschte „deterioration“ ergiebt, vielmehr mehr securities unter dem National System, so vergleicht die Werthe des Verhältniß in beiden Systemen im Staat New York.

The State Banks held 28% assets in Gvt. Securities, the National Banks hold a trifle less, 26.6%. Cashreserves  Interpretation der Tabelle von Marx.
Schließen grösser in den National Banks  Interpretation der Tabelle durch den „Economist“.
Schließen (er sagt. about the same), Discounts grösser in den National Banks by 6/10% (er sagt about the same.) Paidup Capital grösser in den National Banks (er sagt (der Economist ) about the same) Deposits etwas grösser (by 2%) in den State Banks. Aber,  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen und das soll das Fürchterliche sein, Circulation der National Banks 13%, der State Banks 9% (Unterschied von 4%) (in both instances secured by the deposit of public securities).  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen (Ob mehr Deposits oder mehr Notes hängt von ganz bestimmten Zuständen ab. Wenn nicht, so könnte man nachweisen, daß, in different periods dieser Unterschied, bei der B. o. England, viel mehr als 4% fluctuirt.)|

144

We have seen that in New York State, the National Banks are hardly more numerous than were the State Banks. But the case is very different in the less commercial parts of the Union. A statement (K) gives the distribution of the 2 kinds of banks in detail; and we find there an increase of 120 banks in Pennsylvania  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen (which is not uncommercial-State), 85 in Ohio, 31 in Iowa, 57 in Illinois, 34 in Indiana etc. Früher, obgleich das building derselben free, 207 State Banks had grown up in the 9 North Western States, at the end of 1862. Jezt statt dieser 207 sind da 434 National Banks. The State Bank Circulation of these 9 Banks was 191/2 mill. of dollars in Dec. 1862. The National Bank circulation pertaining to them in Dec. 1866, was 501/2 millions, or 21/2 times greater. Diese expansion der Note Circulation in the North West – the eminently agricultural and grazing region – sicher Schuld an increase in price of articles of food, and in the wages of ordinary manual labour which has occurred during the 2 last year years.  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen ⦗Aber mon Cher, warum nicht umgekehrt die increase of prices Ursache der increased circulation? Prices mußten increase 1) weil die lawful currency (legal tenders) depreciated und die Banknotes stellen nur diese depreciated currency dar; 2) In Folge der taxation; 3) Mißerndte und 4) Mangel an Händen während des Kriegs. Ist das nicht sufficient? In derselben Art hatte Overstone, damals Lloyd Jones den englischen countrybanks vorgeworfen, daß ihre Circulation 1836–8 (oder 9?) expanded, während die der B.o.E. contracted und, umgekehrt, nach der Panic 1866, Gladstone, daß die Circulation der country notes contracted, während die der B.o.E. expanded. Stets derselbe Kohl.⦘

In his Report of December 1861, Chase estimated amount of gold und silver coin in the whole Union at 275 Millions $ (say 55 Mill. £. St.) Danach können wir in approximate form beurtheilen die additions to the amount of Circulating medium, besonders in the Northern or Federal States. Dieß in der folgenden Tabelle G.

These 710 Increase of 40% over the 510 mill. of Dec. 1862 und 100% over the 340 mill. of Jan. 1861.|

145

The 710 millions includes about 13 mill. of National Bk. Circulation established in the Southern States.

In stating this part of the case, most American writers confuse themselves  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen (Du Esel! Die greenbacks in the Banks, als cash reserve, circuliren nicht, solange die Noten für sie cirkuliren, und die Noten cirkuliren nicht, sobald sie gegen greenbacks ausgetauscht werden.) and their readers by making deductions for the quantities of Coin, Greenbacks etc held in the tills of Banks and the vaults of Sub-Treasuries. Such deductions are – fallacious and misleading Zusatz von Marx.
Schließen !  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen (Also, wenn 15 Mill. £ Gold in the B.o.E. und 22 Mill. £. St. in circulation und 8 Mill. l. als Reserve im Banking Department, so circuliren für 30 Mill. l. Gold!)

Upon this  Kommentar von Marx.
Schließen (false and stupidly arbitrary basis), there seems to be good reason for concluding that at the present time the Circulating medium in the U. St. is very nearly double the amount before the Civil War, or in January 1861; and that out of the present 710 millions of dollars (say 142 Mill. £ St.), it will be necessary  Zusatz von Marx.
Schließen (!) to redeem at least 220 to 250 Mill. dollars, (44 to 50 Mill. l. St.) before the volume of the currency will approach the level at which it stood when cashpayments were suspended.

146

Aus:
The Economist, 22. Juni 1867. S. 698.
Schließen

The Pollution of the Lee.  Zusatz von Marx.
Schließen (Sewage Irrigation)

About a Year ago, First Report of the Rivers Commission on the state of the Thames. In Folge davon der Thames Navigation Act of last session (1866), in which many of the recommendations of the Commissioners were adopted, and many of the grossest abuses of the former management provided against or remedied. Jezt Second Report derselben Commission to the River Lee. The great prevalence of the cholera in the East of London (1866) last year was attributed to the foul state of the water furnished by the company which draws its supply from the river Lee. This river is one of the northern tributaries of the lower Thames. It rises in the county of Bedford, above about 3 miles above the town of Luton, and with its tributaries drains a large area of Hertfordshire. It is a tidal river for about 5 miles in length, and is navigable for barges a distance of 28 miles. So old is this navigation of the river, that King Alfred availed himself of it to visit Ware, and that Parliament legislated for the river in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The weirs, locks, and other works are kept in good repair, nor has the river trade been injured by railway rivalry. In this respect the Lee presents an advantageous contrast to the Thames, but the comparative rates at which the 2 rivers are drained for the supply of London are out of proportion. While the Thames has a minimum dry weather flow of 350 millions gallons daily over Teddington lock, and supplies 48 mill. gallons daily to 5 London water companies, the Lee, with a dry water flow of 40 mill. gall., is said to be mulcted of 38 mill. gallons by two water companies. This almost incredible statement rests on the authority of the engineer to the East London Water Works Company. The New River Co. provides for about 840,000 persons, and the East London Waterworks Comp. for some 675,000. The first Co. furnishes about 24 gallons per head daily, the second co. 18 gallons. Few of the houses are put on the constant system; in most, the water is turned on for 35 minutes, and the poorer houses have a Sunday supply. The New River Co. lays pipes to the doors of houses, but does not hold itself responsible for anything further, and as the landlords very frequently provide the most scanty means of storing the water, there is a continual water famine. Of this, the engineer to the New River Co gives some examples. Die Company takes credit that it furnishes a Sunday supply to so many of the poorer class of houses, and the culpable indifference of the landlords has led to these exceptional privileges being granted to their helpless tenants. Whether such |147 privileges ought to be exceptional, and whether it is certain that „in few cases can it be truly said that the turncock[’]s services on Sunday are necessary“, are questions on which the consumers and the co. would, probably, differ.

The systematic way in which the sewage of the towns on the banks of the Lee, and the refuse of an agricultural and industrial district are poured into the river, schlimmer als die pollution der Thames selbst. At Luton, indeed, where the Lee is yet „a slender stream“, the sewage is clarified by the lime process before passing into the river. This purification is the result of legal measures taken by a landed proprietor, and, though not a perfect remedy, is an improvement. As we drop down the river much litigation is found without any such result. „We learn“, say the Commissioners, „with something approaching to dismay, that one manufacturer alone employs from 1 to 2 tons of oxalic acid in bleaching straw plaits, but are somewhat reassured upon consideration that the poisonous character of this substance is entirely destroyed by admixture with the carbonate and sulphate of lime contained in the water of the river.“ Then, the river is polluted by sheep washing, and, as the preparation for dipping sheep contains arsenic, another noxious ingredient is added to the new witches’ cauldron. But, besides these directly poisonous substances, the river receives the sewage of Hatfield, Hertford, Ware, Enfield, Barnet, and Tottenham. The foulness of the stream after passing by all these places, or their outlets, is such that the enormous volume of sewage, pumped in by West Ham, which has a population of more than 22,000, makes no visible alteration. Every town complains of the town next above it, and gives cause of complaint to the town next below. At Luton, a perpetual injunction has been obtained against the town authorities. At Hertford, the New River Co. is threatened by the authorities of Ware. Ware itself passes on both grievance and complaint. Bishop Stortford has been threatened by several parties. „Our neighbours at Sawbridgenorth have told us that we have been poisoning them. We have said that we are sorry for it, but we think that they contribute to the nuisance to some extent themselves, and we have, therefore, not heeded what they had to say.“ Indeed, Bishop Stortford prides itself of having discovered a plan for the utilisation of sewage, and having appeased the discontent of its own inhabitants at the expense of strangers. „The nuisance of which the inhabitants have complained from the smell of the river was during the summers of 1864 and 1865, but it was very much abated in consequence of our having wet seasons, and a plan was adopted that succeeded remarkably well, and that was this: During the summer when the water is very short, the filth will sometimes almost crop up to the mouth of the drains, and when there has been a flood in the winter, this accumulation has been stirred up by a large and a heavy rake behind, so that we have passed it on to our neighbours to some extent. We thought we had kept it long enough, and by the use of the flood water relieved ourselves from a considerable quantity of stink by that means.“ The Commissioners see no hope in the litigation opened by Edmonton against Enfield, by Tottenham against Hornsey, by the Lee Trustees against Tottenham. What the Commissioners propose is a Conservancy Board, acting for the entire watershed, and bound to provide for the cessation of the present supply of sewage to the river, as well as for its general maintenance and protection.

A few fresh details in diesem Second Report on manner wie sewage to be applied to land und success of grassfarming under the system of irrigation. Crops of Italian ryegrass, grown under sewage irrigation at Worthing, are cut at the rate of from 5 to 8 tons to the acre, whilst adjoining pasture lands are almost bare. „A small dairy has been established, the cows being stall-fed on the cut grass; the milk produced, from its richness and superior quality, commanding a preference in the town.“ Irrigation was tried at Tottenham under the direction of the surveyor to the local board, and his report was, that the system had to contend against much prejudice, but was, in itself, successful. There was, however, a difficulty in procuring land for the experiment where every acre was so valuable for building purposes, and those who had land in cultivation were the most reluctant to run the risk of their crops being injured. Of course, so long as all the refuse of town and country can be turned into the rivers, people will refuse to look beyond the present need. But when the rivers are closed to them, they will admit that the disposal of sewage becomes a practical question.

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