FINANCE—PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
THE ELECTION AND MARKETS. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The prospect of a General Election has had no effect upon the Stock Markets. Prices have improved in most departments, Investment securities hardening on easymonetary conditions while business in the more speculative sections tends to expand. This apparent indifference to an event which is usually regarded as calculated to disturb, for a time, all financial business, is striking, though it is not altogether surprising. It has been recognized for sonic time past that an Election could not be long deferred, and with all respect to the present Administration, the City is not disposed to regard the possibility of a change as being necessarily a calamity. Not even Mr. Chamberlain's attempt to raise the bogy of the downfall of the Coalition being synonymous with some uprising of Labour has occasioned any flesh-creeping, the device being regarded as a little " thin," while the City has become so accustomed to dictation by the Labour Party with Mr. Lloyd George as Prime Minister, that periodical threats of Ministers as to the possibilities of a revolution in the event of any change of Government leave the average City man quite cold.
* * * * Nor, at this juncture, can the melancholy financial record of the Coalition during its present period of office be forgotten. During the War business men were prepared to pardon to the utmost limits all cases of extravagance, allowance being made for the necessity of concentrating upon the supreme matter of winning the War. Almost simultaneously, however, with the firing of the last shot the Coalition Government, with a zeal more usually attributed to political parties than to a strong Coalition Ministry, rushed to the country to secure a fresh lease of life. So eager, indeed, were Ministers that they could not wait until our forces were demobilized, but ballot papers were rushed out to the front, while Mr. Lloyd George, instead of calling the country to effort and economy, held out dreams of an immediate millennium with the costs of the War to conic out of Germany's pockets. In short, the 1918 Election was a fitting prelude to the continuance of an orgy of extrava- gance on the part of the Executive which was not dis- continued until there were unmistakable signs of sheer inability to pay on the part of the taxpayer. It is, therefore, with some amusement that on the eve of another Election the City finds the Premier in his speech at the Port of London Office on Tuesday speaking once more of the " turn of the tide " in national prosperity. With trade so bad that it could hardly be worse, the prophecy is, perhaps, a little safer than some of those previously indulged in by Mr. Lloyd George, but until the chaotic condition of Europe has been in some measure relieved any great revival in International trade is well-nigh impossible.
If with the approach of the General Election there should be sonic possibility, however faint, of a Labour Government, some check will no doubt be given to the present firmness of markets ; and, indeed, in any event the concentration of attention on domestic politics may restrain business activities for the moment. All the same, the City is not in sympathy with attempts on the part of Ministers to describe Labour leaders as revolutionaries. On the contrary, it believes that the mass of Labour is completely loyal, both to King and Country. .Incidentally., the fact is recalled that Mr: Lloyd George's electioneering tactics are usually associ- ated with a policy of attack, and just as, but a few years ago, his battle-cry was " Down with the Dukes," so, in more recent years, it has apparently suited his nur nose equally well to represent the Party over which he happens to preside as the only possible barrier to restrain revolu- tionary forces. It is, no doubt, all very fine fighting stuff, but the City considers it time that the supreine aim of the Administration should be not to fan dissensions but to strive for unity amongst all classes of the community.
In view, therefore, of the peculiar uncertainties inci- dental to the domestic political crisis I forbear from discussing market prospects in detail. This much, however, I think can be said—namely, that apart from any abnormal political developments the Stock Exchange still presents a fairly promising appearance with a tendency to increased activity in the Industrial groups and even in some of the more speculative markets.--I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
Previous page
