DEAR MR. PUNCH,--I have been spending my holiday at a watering place, a
place that fully deserves its epithet. My London daily has been my only
entertainment, and towards the evening hours I have found myself wandering
about the less familiar beats of it. I have become an intimate of the City
Editor, and I hasten to inform you, Mr. Punch, that he has introduced me to
a side of the Gay Life which I have been missing all these years. I will
set out the tale of it, even at the risk of making your readers blush.
It appears that recently a feeling spread in the Market (and that all these
goings-on should take place in a market adds, in my view, to their
curiousness) that a crisis had been reached in monetary restrictions and
things might be eased a bit. Apparently there is a circle of people in the
know, and by them it was immediately appreciated what this "relaxation"
implied. The first overt sign of something doing was a "heavy demand for
money," a need which I too, for all my quiet domesticity, have felt from
time to time. No doubt the fast City set were filling their pockets before
commencing a course of "relaxation." The next development was that the
Market was approached from all sides with "applications for accommodation."
I can picture the merry parties rolling up in their thousands, booking
every available house, flat or room, and even paying very fancy prices for
the hire of a booth for a house-party.
It may give you some idea of the nature of their "relaxation" when I say
that our old friend the Bank of England seems to have so far forgotten
herself as to start making advances to the Government. My City Editor, who
is possibly a family man, cannot bring himself to give details; he just
states the fact, merely adding the significant comment that "the usual
reserve of the Bank is rapidly disappearing." The effect of this example is
appearing in the most respectable quarters. "All attempts are now failing,"
he reports, for example, "to keep the Fiduciary Issue within limits."
Reluctantly he mentions a "considerably freer tendency in Discount
circles."
Further he records a tendency to over-indulgence in feasting. I read of
figures (I hardly like to quote this bit) becoming "improperly inflated."
Will you believe me when I add that a section of those participating in the
beano, whose one fear was, apparently, that it would all end only too soon,
actually were heard expressing the apprehension, to quote verbatim, "that
they would deflate too rapidly." "The whole tone of the Market," says my
City Editor, "became distinctly cheerful," and he pauses to comment on the
one redeeming feature: "War Loan remaining steady, 84-15/16 middle."
And thence to the shocking climax: Trade Returns were unable to balance
properly, and Money (to be absolutely outspoken and no longer to mince
matters) got tight.
After this I was not surprised to read of "Mexican Eagles rising on the
announcement of the new Gusher." Nor a little later to find the
announcement, "Stock Exchange Dull." A very natural reaction.
Yours ever,