The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-09-10
WAR RESULTS

What will be the effect Of the Euro,
g,aa war on the fruit industry espe.
cialIy tie apple industry Of the north
vest This question has been asked.
perhaps. ly every grower and market
mau fu the country And, indeed, It is
probable that no one has as yet been
able 90 answer il satisfactorily. One
thing IS certain, Che export trade to the
continent OF Europe will be entirely
cut of as long as hostilities exist. The
English market will remain open, but
the export to that country will, Of
course, be cut iu two. At least, experts
so predict. The fruit must be con
sumod for the most part at home.
And yet, with organized selling
agencies in the field. with trained men
retained to cope with the situation, the
apple business should not be allowed to
slump.
ut is an III wind that blows nobody
good. The war has caused an awaken
ing in America. 1t has Jared loose
action on the part of a hesltating con
grcss American shipping will proba
bly, result. American trade will be
made possible American manufactur-
ers and American materials will be
needed as never before. Labor will
be in demand and a period Of prosper
itysis predicted for almost every line of
industry Staples, Of course, will reap
a rich harvest for those concerned in
them. But why should everything rise
in price except apples? At least the
price obtained for them should be
enough to return a profit to the grower.
1t may be better that they are not too
high. With sugar selling at a high
price, the quantity Of canned goods has
been decreased And we may expect a
resulting increase in the consumption
of fresh fruit. We may well look for
ward to large consumption Of the
fresh apples of the northwest.
That business is adjusting itself to
the war situation is the declaration Of
Dun's Review. We quote this pubIica-
tion as follows:
Business is day by day adjusting
itself to war basis of values, risks |
and demands. The process of readiust- |
ment to extraordinary conditions, how |
ever, is necessarily slow, and merchants |
are obliged to exercise patience in deal |
ing with the new and difficult problems
that arise. The result is extreme eau
tion, coupled, however, with a cour-
agGous view of the future. There is
an underlying conviction that out of
this crisis the United States is to at
tain notable expansion of foreign
commerce, and there is in particular
remarkable interest as regards the
North American trade. The absence of
an American merchant marine, with
which to move foreign commerce, is
now the chief obstacle in the Way Of
the restoration Of normal prosperity.
Hence, the Importance of the emer-
gency measures now being pushed by
the government in cooperation with
business men. The ship registry law
is probably to be followed by legisla-
ton for government war risk insurance
and with these two measures, and some
necessary liberalization of the naviga-
tl0n laws, a notable beginning will be
made in moving the foreign trade, and
the whole financial and mercantile sit
uation will be improved. The cotton
conference at Washington this week
gives great promise Of making it pos
slblc to take adequate care of the cot
ton crop. Wheat has experience a vio-
lent advance, due chiefly to the fear of
prolonged war, but the wheat crop is
so large as to give practical assurance
that for tins season, at least, the sup
ply is ample both for domestic and for
ciEn demands. There is continued i'm
pruvement in financial conditions in
Lonuon and the speedy organization of
the Federal Reserve Banks is to give
increased strength to the banking or
gani2atiOn in this country. Domestic
business is proceeding slowly on the
basis Of supplying daily needs. An en-.
couraging sign is the fact that notwith.
standing the prevailing conservatism as
to the immediate situation, there are
comparatively few cancellations of or
der, The railroads naturally are not
buying heavily at time when. with
the stock exchanges closed, they have
no ready market for their securities:
their earnings show decreases com
pared with former years. For the three
weeks of August, United States roads
IN their preliminary statement of gross
earnings report IA loss of I.5 per cent.
The declining bank clearings disclose
the smaller volume of trade, but these
conditions are not the result of any
fundamental weakness within" "