Part 1 Chapter 5 Corner Summary and Analysis

Argentinean securities are very popular in London in 1890 until the collapse of the wheat crop and the government. Baring Brothers and Junius Morgan are the principal holders of the Argentinean securities and the only thing that saves Baring is a rescue fund by the Bank of England. At the same time there is a gold drain in America worsened by a bank panic in 1893 as Europeans and others exchange their dollars for gold. There is a movement to quit the gold standard because of internal economic problems. Pierpont Morgan is against this because it will ruin the United States in the London credit markets. The U.S. credibility in London and in European markets depends on the dollar's convertibility into gold. If the dollar isn't convertible, the Europeans will not buy bonds from American entities and the...