TREASURY REQUISITIONING POLICY
Rather sooner than had been expected the Treasury has made its second call on holders of dollar securities. The latest list is longer than the first and includes most of the market leaders such as U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel and New York Central. British holders are to be paid out at the sterling equivalent of current Wall Street prices and City estimates of the total sum involved range between k5o,000,coo and LI oo,000,000. Even the lower figure implies a sub- stantial reinvestment demand which should help the market in industrial ordinary shares and probably the prior charge groups over the next few weeks. I do not know what principle decides the selection of the requisitioned securities or why the Treasury should feel it necessary to take steps to dispose of these assets while it still has a vast amount of gold available in New York. If the American authorities have dropped a hint that they wish us to make a start in the liquidation of securities as the price of their adding to their excessive holdings of gold, there is nothing more to be said. Unless this has happened, one cannot escape the conclusion that the Treasury has acted unwisely in not .deferring requisitioning until next year, when the chances are that Wall Street will have reached a materially higher level.
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