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respect  has  improved  to  the  advantage  of  the
individual  investor,  though  perhaps  to  the
detriment  of  London’s  financial  supremacy.
During  the  third  quarter  of  the  last  century,
which  witnessed  the  dawn  of  the  present
industrial  development,  Europe  was  in  a  state
of  great  political  unrest,  and  all  Continental
bourses  were  still  in  the  infancy  of  their
subsequent  financial  importance.  For  this
reason,  Great  Britain—or  perhaps  it  would  be
better  to  say  London—was  then  the  only
existing  international  harbour  of  refuge  for  all
financial  transactions  of  magnitude.  Not  only
every  important  issue  of  stock  found  its  way
to  London,  but,  in  addition,  a  great  deal  of
foreign  capital  was  entrusted  to  London  for
investment.  All  foreign  magnates  and  potentates ­
  had  their  nest-eggs  in  the  safe  custody
of  British  Banks.
This  gave  to  London  the  undisputed
supremacy  of  the  finances  of  the  world,  and
this  position  continued  until  the  end  of  the
Franco-German  War.  This  war  resulted  in
the  payment  of  a  large  indemnity  by  France
to  Germany,  and  the  'subsequent  consolidation
of  all  German  interests,  which  struck  the  first
blow  to  London’s  financial  supremacy.
Then—and  particularly  during  the  last
decades  of  the  past  century—trade,  commerce