The London County Council has decided, we see, to raise
its first loan at 2i per cent., accepting the best offers it can get above 88. It should raise the money easily at 93, two points below the price of 21 Consols, the security being good, and the impression that 24 per cent. is the future interest of secure money being widely diffused among trustees. Mr. Goschen predicted this reduction of interest more than ten years ago, and we suppose he was right ; but we rather wonder investors are just now so despondent on the subject. The great war, if it comes, may delay further reduction for several years, as the Powers will want a thousand millions among them for expenses and indemnities, and there is a chance, though only a chance, of a sudden new develop- ment in the means of secure investment. If the mechanical difficulties which it is said impede electricity as a motor are removed, we may witness an extension of communications all over the world which will make all our present achievements seem small. It is not the renewal of arterial lines which will do the good, but the immense extension of " feeding " lines, cheaply made and cheaply worked, which will facilitate dis- tribution. The electric tramway may yet be almost literally everywhere, causing in the end further accumulation of capital, but creating an enormous field for investment.
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