The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-24

Wheeling, w.. Va, Feb. 24-Marl<ed Improvement in conditions in the in-s dustriAl and commercial regions of the country has come revfving cour- age and destroying alarm: removal of tarfH duties has resulted in tan- deucy clearly and openly in the d4rec- tienz o1 a reduction in the cost of food and clothing and climatic condfticns. not business depression, are responsi- ble for the number Of unemployed in New York city and other large indus. trial centers. This was the message defivefed to the Board of Trade here by William C. Redheld. Secretary Of Commerce in Presid ent Wilson's cub tnet. Iris address follows:
 CURRENT COMPETITIONS.
 In report of the American con Sul at Birmingham. England, dated November 24, 1918. he stated that conditions in the iron and the steel trades in that British city 'edo not inn pfove's and adds the following:
 ssIhe Iron and Steel Trades Jour nal,1 ef November 22 notes that there was. increasing foreign competition so far as Belgium and Germany are com eerned and that at the same time it was feared that America would be afsplacing business. Makers had been quoting for nuts and bolts for ship yards on the Clyde and learned to. their &npazesnent that the order for the whole lot of 4,00O long tons had gone 70 the United States and that [ there had been a glaaran tee of pro Enpt delivery It is said that the total quantity will arrive in half sfhe2 lime that It could be made in the United K1nEdnrnz It was stated here are huEe stocks in A Annerica ana that the; beyond the price.s
 On the I sth Of January last spe- cia1 Investigator or the DeHartnIent, of CgBatneree wrote from Germany:
 .-t a = 4~ = tremes It has lasted m 1ch more than a period ands5s expected to last year longer,
 Tn the period of about two months betWeen the dates of these communi- cations and at A time which was all most soincfdent with t11eE end Of the last calendar year. Anne er1ca reached ehe bottom of her tetmporary and SlIsR aspfession and our business ba &ozn&tet began to rise What are the confidence that their operation will mean fair bHslness weather ?
 No BTG 1EIIdTAIzK TAX.
 I'm this favo ored ma ton no armed camp exists We can no Hook in any direction and sec on near frontier the bristIing Of bayonets of a danger- our foe If the manufacturers of this happy city were transferred to an in-s dnztria1 center of the great nations which compete with us they would hear the frequent sound of the drum and would see every freight car mark ed with the number of men and horses if was meant to carry in the expected event of the war which iz always pos sfbIe and for which the neighboring foe is known to be ready.
 An exception may seem to exist in the case of Great Britain: yet even in that mighty and friendly island king dom the navy fs regarded as safe- guarding the national life and the subject of her military preparedness has been one of profound signaf1cance within recent years From all Of these worries we are free.
 Nor are we Threatened with the ex- haustson of the Fundamental sources of supply for our industries The mines of Minnesota and of the South win pour forth wealth of iron through many decades yet, and there are further supplies of vast extent which we have either barely touched or have not touched at all. The same is true or coal and oil. Our farmers reef the impulse of a broader scientific knew1edge of the great art of agri- d@1ture, and slowly, far too slowly but not less really the products of our fields increase in proportion to the area upon the worlds supply Of food and thus to steady or even reduce the cost Of sust&nance- This does not mean loss to The farmer. any more than to reduce prices necessarily means loss to- naanufacturer The fact of loss Is not found in the price of a product but in the relation between that price and the cost of producing the article. 1t has been the experiences of many manufacturers to make more money at a lower price for their produce than was made at a higher one, because one Of the beneficial results Of the falling price had been to so improve processes that the lesser figure showed the larger gain
 SCIENCE AIDS INDUSTRY.
 This is indeed normal result of scientific methods ia botn industry shown that the TuafnbenMace of high prices for the products ef fndustry or of the farm has eommonly meant negligence of improved nhethods of production on the one hand and of cultivation on the other, so that the prosperity that is apparent from the larger price has been desultory and apparent rather than real Not long since it was said to me that the wealth of one of our New F.lsIau d States had been made by inference in the price of cotton cloth Of one eighth of a cent yard, meaning that in this apparently small fraction lay the entire element of profit
 To return, however, to our theme, let me repeat that no want exists in the resources with which we must work the alarms of war are not heard among us and our fields remain not only an unexhausted but an ex- banding resource. We may, there- fore, pass to discuss another phase of our subject in the hope that there also will be found facts that may lend vig0r to effort and hope to industry
 BEAT FOREIGN COMPETITORS.
 The man whose training has been along busin ess lines is almost of ne- cessity respecfer of facts, and he welcomes facts the more if they are such as bring him cheer, to add te his self-respect, and to point to pros perity- Recalling what was said about thea depression of industry abroad it must be obvious to practical men that