New Britain herald., 1916-12-09

latiOn may in some instances have aggravated the situation, but in other
 cases it affords relief by carrying over
 the surplus of one period to meet the
 famine of another. Extremes of
 speculation or holdup of supplies
 should be restrained, but an actual
 suppression of speculation,~ ~ whether
 for the rise the fall, would result in more harm than good. There is no more efficient stabilizer of values than reasonable and intelligent specu- lation.
 The increased cost of living is al- ready becoming a subject of serious agitation and public investigations are to be anticipated. The great dan ger is. that congress may be stamped ed into some sort of rash leglslatlon' All sorts of nostrums will be pro- posed and pushed hard. The present drift is toward more and more gov ernment interference, thus increasing such dangers. Wage advances are numerous, and will do much to alle- viate the situation; but more or less unrest must be endured until the na- ton has adjusted itself to the high level oNprices, which is worldwide as a resulU of the war and likely to be more or less permanent. Some reac- ton is to be expected when peace comes; but scarcity of materials and labor coupled with advancing wages will prevent any material fall in com
 modities for a long period; and the corrective can only come through natural processes of increased produc- ton and decreased consumption. All l the great powers now at war have made prodigious efforts at keeping ,,,io fN fo hn1 1r | efforts to enforce economy have not been half as effectual in this direction as advancing prices. Both Great Brit ain and Germany have strenuously l endeavored to regulate supplies and l prices, with more success and intel1i- I gence than other nations; yet neither 1 has attained any real measure of suc- l cess.
 1 Germany's campaign in Rumania is 1 a matter of much military import
 ance, because, if successful, it will provide Germany with vast supplies l of grain, meat and oil. Rumania is a
 great agricultural country, ranking 1 third as a grain producer in the
 world. That the war is not progress
 sing rapidly enough is evidenced by | the present friction in high political 1 circles in Great Britain. Hence, in 1 order to secure more vigorous prose- 1 cution of the war, she has made
 Lloyd-George premier in place of MT. I Asquith. Through all the darkness 1 and confusion hanging over Europe, 1 there is still no gleam as yet of peace l for, while Germany seems prepared l to consider terms, the Allies display | a determination to push the war to more favOra ble conclusions
 1 Operations on the stock market | have been on 8 diminished scale, due 1 of course to the restrictions of the 1 money market. Aside from this fac 1 tor, there has been on real change l in the financial situation. Within the l last two or three weeks there has l been very considerable liquidation and the decline has reached greater proportions than anticipated. The technical position of the market has been strengthened somewhat by these developments, but no pronounced lm- provement can be looked for until the monetary situation is clarified Many | of our industrial and financial con- l cerns are making exceedingly SatlS- 1 factory reports; so, too, are the prlh- 1 cipa1 railroad corporations A lew 1 are making amazing profits. only