to avoid a general cataclysm of
bankruptcies which might have occurred--not from actual insolvency but
from mere insufficiency of cash.

To me one of the most striking phenomena was the promptness and
effectiveness of the co-operative actions by which, so far, any business
cataclysm has been avoided. The closure of Stock Exchanges perhaps saved
us from general financial panic. Most striking of all is the manner in
which the Governments of the world have come to the rescue of business.
Those of us who were brought up in the old laissez-faire school have to
rub our eyes. Had the world been guided by laissez-faire ideas, in this
emergency we should in all probability have witnessed by this time the
greatest collapse of credit the world has ever seen. Almost all the
large and effective measures to meet the many emergencies arising were
taken by Governments. The moratorium must be counted among the
Governmental acts which, so far at least, have saved the day for
business credits. In England the Government permitted suspension of the
Bank act, (not of the Bank, as many Americans seem to imagine.)

Improvised Accounting Methods.

The Bank of England has been enabled to rediscount a great mass of
acceptances by the guarantee of the British Government against loss in
so doing. These in the end will amount to several hundred millions of
dollars. Emergency notes were issued by Governmental authority on both
sides of the Atlantic, and in the arrangements made for special gold
funds in Canada and in France the Governments of England and France
played the important parts. Thus have been improvised methods of
international accounting by which the transportation of gold balances
may be deferred and largely dispensed with. Our own Government has
co-operated in the currency exchange and credit situation in many ways.
It made provision for sending gold to Europe for our stranded
countrymen. It promptly revised the banking and shipping laws.

Whether further instability will be found to need such bolstering we
cannot be sure. The present outlook is that business conditions are
fairly sound and stable. In which direction across the Atlantic the
title to gold will tend to change cannot as yet be foreseen. It will
depend largely on how much Europe wants our products and how large a
sacrifice she is willing to make in selling us her securities. It will
also depend on possible issues of paper money. Fortunately, we are the
happy possessor