Las Vegas optic., 1912-10-15

tory to railroad managers as they are
today OF course the present rush of
traffic will not continue indefinitely
and the railroads still have grave I'm.
ancial problems to meet, which can
not be adjusted unless, as in other
lines Of business. the railroads are al
lowed to compensate themselves for
increased expenses by charging more
for their services. This is the prob
lem now before the interstate com
merce commission. and the pressure
Of public opinion should be brought to
bear upon that body In order that the
attitude Of Its members may be more
strictly judicial than heretofore. The
board Is composed of men Of widely
diverse views. and thus far the anti
railroad spirit has seemed to domin-
ate that august body. If it be true, as
is charged, that the decisions have
hitherto largely been made with a
view Of pleasing the public, it is only
fair that the railroads should now re-
ceive in turn some consideration
| No better evidence OF business ac-
tivity can be found than the tremend-
GUS demand for iron and steel. Pres
ent indications point to the largest
production Of pig iron and steel ingots
on record during the calendar year Of
1912, The country Is now producing
at the rate, of over 3O.0O0,OOO tons per
annum, and even should there be
some falling off in production, as is
usual during December. the output win
be beyond all precedent. Steel prices
have been steadily advancing and pro.
ducers are commonly paying good pre-
miums for prompt delivery. The in
dependent producers are even more ag-
i gressiye in the direction of advancing
prices than the great steel corpora
ton, which has been somewhat slow
in this respect. In fact there is no
little criticism among stockholders at
the fact that the managers Of some
Of the steel producing concerns have
allowed themselves to become filled
up with low-priced orders at a time
when they might easily have obtained
better prices for their product. New
ertheless, the steel trade is enjoying
its full share Of activity; and, II pro
/ fits have been on moderate scale,
} that has certainly been beneficial to
J other industries, besides being an i'm
! portant factory in increasing the vol
ume Of orders.
In the textile trades business is al
so active Liberal orders have been
placed for many fabrics, and the low
er price OF cotton has served to place
that branch Of our textile industry
upon q much firmer foundation than
Z existed six months ago. A still more
| convincing proof Of business activity
} is found in bank clearings, which last
week showed an increase OF % pei
7 cent over last year: this increase be
{ ing well distributed among all ouI
leading business cities.
In the money market a somewhat
better feeling prevails and further
stringency may be averted until the
usual pinch around January 1. The
: situation, however, is not free of doubt.
!, Gold imports from Europe have been
J, delayed by the Balkan situation; and
/, the possibility of stringency has in
duced our government to express It's
willingness to give whatever relief
may be necessary. It seems quite
certain that the government will use
i every legitimate effort to counteract
stringency. So far as Europe is con-
cerned, conditions are not favorable to
any serious international outbreak.
The great powers are all strongly OPP
posed to war and will doubtless use
every effort to circumscribe the strug-
gle. Winter is close at hand and diff
culties Of conducting a military cam
raign viii soon become insurmount-
atlc until the spring. This should
facilitate diplomatic action. Last and
not least, the question Of financing
| the war for these small nrinninaliflns