FINANCE AND CREDITS 291 
That this movement is judicious no one 
familiar with this trade will for a moment 
dispute. The ability of the British banks, 
through their strong financial arteries, gave 
them exceptional opportunities to force busi 
ness into the hands of English merchants, by 
obliging the seller of exchange, for example, 
in Buenos Aires on New York to pay from 1 
per cent, to 1.5 per cent, more than if he sold 
on London, or if he desired to buy, to pay a 
correspondingly higher price for a draft on 
New York than on London. In addition to 
exerting thus their powers through a high rate 
of exchange to drive merchants into British 
markets, the profits in the transfer of money 
incident to the transaction were enormous. 
The truth of this statement is vividly apparent 
when we are told that in 1912, “bills on Lon 
don” valued at $9,025,000,000 were sold, on 
every penny of which a fraction of a per cent, 
of profit was made by English bankers. 
It is not deemed necessary for the purpose 
of this work to go into the intricacies of the 
banking problem in Latin America. Such in