urity
and exchange business. Whether Europe's investment here amounts to
three billions or four billions or five billions, it is impossible to
say; the fact remains that it is so large that every year a very great
amount of foreign-held bonds come due and have to be paid off or
refunded, and, further, that the remitting abroad of coupon and
dividend money each year calls for upward of $150,000,000.

This matter of maturing investments, alone, calls for continuous
international security trading and on a large scale. Each year there
comes due in this country an amount of railroad and other bonds running
well up into the hundreds of millions, of which a large proportion are
held on the other side. Some of these maturities are paid off in
cash--more often, refunding bonds are offered in exchange; seldom,
indeed, are the maturing investments allowed to remain unreplaced.
European investors, especially, have consistently done well with money
placed in this country, and the running off to maturity of a
foreign-held American bond is nearly sure to be followed up by
replacement with some other American security.

Bond houses doing an international business are therefore keenly
watchful of the maturity of issues largely held abroad, and are ever
ready with offers of new and attractive investments. Knowledge of the
location of American investments in Europe is thus a business asset of
the greatest importance, and records are carefully kept. The fact that
a dealer here knows that some bank in London has a wealthy client who
holds a big block of certain bonds about to mature, may very possibly
mean that the house here may be able to make a very profitable trade.
Information of this character is carefully gathered wherever possible
and as carefully guarded. The longer a house has been in business,
naturally, and the closer its financial relationship with investment
interests abroad, the more of this sort of information it is bound to
possess.

Foreign exchange growing out of these renewals and refundings is on a
very large scale. Sometimes the placing of a new issue abroad means
such immediate drawing of drafts on foreign buyers of the securities as
to depress the exchange market sharply. Sometimes, as in the case of
new issues of railroad stock, where payments are usually made in
instalments covering a year or more, the drawing of exchange is
distributed in such a way that its influence, if felt at all, is felt
merely as an unde