Note 201 — Chapter XV

Although we have endeavoured as much as possible to avoid burdening this popular treatise with statistics, one set of figures which have been kindly supplied to us by friends at Bucarest and in London is so significant, and indeed of such general interest, that we must claim the reader's indulgence for giving it in extenso. It comprises the values of Russian, Turkish, and Roumanian securities from 1870 to 1880, which are as follows:—

Russian. Six per Cents. Turkish. General Five per Cent. Debt. Roumanian. Oppenheim.

1870 83-1/2 to 94-1/2 45 to 51 75 to 98

1871 88 " 97 44-1/2 " 52-1/2 86 " 96-1/2

1872 95 " 100 46-1/2 " 55 91 " 104

1873 96 " 100-1/2 45 " 47 98 " 104

1874 97 " 103 45 " 46-1/2 98 " 108

1875 95 " 104-1/2 23 " 45 100 " 109

1876 74 " 100-1/2 11-1/2 " 23 74 " 106

1877* 71 " 93 6-1/2 " 11-1/2 58 " 91

1878* 74 " 91 8-1/2 " 12 87 " 105

1879 84 " 93 10-1/2 " 12 93 " 110

1880 85 " 96 10 " 12-1/2 102 " 112

And in 1881 the prices of the Oppenheim loan ranged from 105 to 116. From these eloquent figures it will be seen that whilst Russia has been stationary, and Turkey has fallen 75 per cent, the condition and security of Roumania has risen, roughly speaking, 25 per cent, in the eslimation of the financial world during the last ten years. The two years marked with an asterisk were years of war.