7. Willingness to seek fortune abroad.—The aver age family of Great Britain is large compared with that of the United States and there is little room and few opportunities at home for the younger sons. This class of men finds its way into the army, the navy and the mercantile marine and go abroad as clerks, etc., to foreign and colonial banks and commercial houses. The more venturesome, as soon as they ac quire experience, carry British trade and prestige to new and undeveloped countries—British subjects are found everywhere, no matter how remote the place.
The young American, on the other hand, has so many opportunities at home that there is little in ducement to venture abroad except for pleasure. He is probably the only son of the family and takes up his father's business or is assisted in setting up in business for himself. If he goes abroad, he is not content with a subordinate position, but wants to be his own master and strike out for himself. Prefer ably he goes back to his home to do this. We might instance the experience of the International Banking Corporation, a state bank, chartered in Connecticut with foreign branches chiefly in the Orient. This bank, tho an American institution, is manned prin cipally by Englishmen. It will be interesting to watch the personnel of the staff of foreign branches of national banks established under the Federal Reserve Act.
8. London without rivals at be a world center of finance it is essential that a city must, in the first place, be the unquestioned financial center of its own country. London is indisputably recognized as the financial center not only of Great Britain but of the British Empire. No local jealousy is evinced by Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow or other large cities as to London's supremacy in this regard. New York is the principal financial center of the United States, but it is not the only financial center. Chi cago, St. Louis, San Francisco and other important centers are strong competitors with New York for domestic, and to a certain extent for foreign, busi ness. Aside from sectional jealousy, the vast area of the United States makes this competition in evitable. Will these cities abandon selfish motives and aid New York in her ambition? Will not the expansion of the country's foreign trade accentuate rather than diminish this competition? Chicago and Minneapolis will share in the development of the great Canadian West; San Francisco will become more important with the extension of business with the Orient, and New Orleans will benefit by the open ing of the Panama Canal and the expansion of trade with South America. The United States is not a country but a collection of countries or common wealths of which New York State is only one. The tendency is to minimize New York's financial su premacy rather than to assist it. A study of the discussions on this feature, preceding the passing of the present Federal Reserve Act, will bear out this statement.
London's supremacy is the cumulative result of nu merous forces, political as well as economic, spread over a long series of years during which time the world has learned to think in terms of British money and the bills of exchange on London have been raised almost to the dignity of an international currency, while the safety of the Bank of England and the value attached to the word "sterling" have "become pro verbial. Sovereigns, and to a great extent Bank of England notes, are current the world over without recourse to money changers. The dollar and the dol lar bill must be made equally well-known and ac acceptable.
9. Influence of custom and tradition.—It must not be overlooked that, when an international busi ness is so long established and well centralized as the money market of London, the world will con tinue to use it as a matter of convenience irrespective of the possibly superior facilities of New York. The financial roads to London are well defined by much travel, and business tradition will favor the old stand, for such is human nature.
One of the main foundations upon which London's position rests is the world's estimation of its credit. This credit is tried and sound, backed by great re sources, and has been reared upon the trust and con fidence in the honorable tradition of British business ethics. It is unlikely that the world will have cause to revise its opinion after the war is over.
10. Economic factors in London's position.—The principal economic factors which tend to enhance London's position as a financial center may be con sidered under the following heads: Free Gold Market Liquid Discount Market Stability of Money Rates Immense Mercantile Navy Great Foreign Export and Import Trade Tariff Excellent Banking System at Home and Abroad The Numerous Branches of Foreign and Colonial Banks Established in London Freedom from Panics and Financial Disturbance Free Navigation Laws Marine Insurance, etc., and reliable Ship Registration 11. Free gold market.--Of the four great ex change centers of the world, London, New York, Paris and Berlin, London is the only one that can al ways be depended upon to meet every legitimate trade demand for gold, which means that there is no delay or premium entailed in realizing gold on a bill expressed in English money. It is payable in pounds sterling which represent a definite and immutable weight of fine gold. Great Britain adopted the gold standard unequivocally in 1816, over one hundred years ago, and has not departed from it since,, even to the extent of charging a fractional premium on gold or by restricting its export by legal or senti mental embargoes. Even war conditions did not de prive the Englishman of the privilege of converting Bank of England notes into gold.