New Britain herald., 1916-01-15
GENERAL FINANCIAL
 SITUATION SOUND
Trade Throughout Country Fairly
 Active and Profitable
Especial to the Herald.)

 developments have contributed to inn pede Stock Exchange activities. First, continued liquidation in the fancy in l dustrials and, second, the somewhat ominous outbreak in Mexico. The latter it must be admitted contains rather serous possibilities owing to the difficulty which Carranza may have in suppressing the insurrection- ary tendencies in Mexico. It is to be hoped that occasion for American in tervention will be avoided, and at this writing there is no occasion for serious excitement. The fact of trouble with Mexico may stimulate the preparedness movement and might l provoke undesirable agitation at Washington But congress thus far this session has been remarkab bly, con- l servative, and there has wisely been 1 little or no disposition to embarass the administration in it's foreign pOli- cies, which have been full of pitfalls and dangerous possibilities. President Wilson, ably seconded by Secretary | Lansing, has so far succeeded in keep 1 ing the country out of trouble with | either Mexico or any of the European belligerents. He has been notably fortunate in securing satisfac ctiOn from | Germany and Austria for the loss of American lives; also in securing a modification of submarine warfare in behalf of humanity at large. He has also induced Great Britain to modify her Orders-in council on several oc casions when these pressed to hard upon American interests. All things considered, it is gratifying that in spite of the intense and critical strain | imposed upon our foreign relations we have thus far escaped serious com plications. Up to date the policy of congress seems to have been one of masterly inactivity; discussion rather than action having been the order of the day. An immense number of bills have been introduced, but few have passed. The presidential campaign may be said to have already begun which explains the disposition to do nothing likely to provo detrimental 70 party success. Preparedness and rev. venue are the only problems which bring out any really earnest discus sion, and the most interesting fact in this direction is the fear of both par ties concerning the consequences of increased taxation. TaXaS, federal, state and municipal, have already risen to burdensome heights, and are proving one of the principal items in the increased cost of living and public discontent; since it is gradually dawn ing upon the public mind that taxes inevitably scatter themselves until they finally reach the consumer, who really pays, though unconscious of the n be taxed to the utmost, and the for mer usually manage to ultimately place the burden upon the shipper, while the landlord passes it on to his tenants. and thus the consumer pays either in increased freight rates, rents or higher prices for food, cloth ing, etc.
 Business ExpcnsiOn.
 States at present than that of ill-ad- vised expansion in business. The sud- den and extraordinary profits realized by many industrials is producing a kind of intoxication which might lead to all sorts of ill advised business ven- tures We have been passing through l a period of imitation in security and comm modity values, and this is being
 
 sion in new projects of various kinds Such of this development as is based 1 upon our agricultural prosperity and growth of population or new foreign trade opportunities is legitimate and deserving of encOura cement but that portion which is dependent upon ex- aggerated profits on war orders is necessarily ephemeral and unstable ho aged It is true that the majority of these war contracts have been made with sues liberal margins as to leave many of these concerns in good fnan- cial and physical condition, even if peace were quickly restored and an end reached of munition orders. It is not however, the original owners of these stocks which are likely to suffer, but the inexperienced buy CTS who in feverish haste paid ridiculously enhanced prices for this class of securities The banks have been discriminating sharply against such collateral. and this fact as well as the caution in spired by bankers and conservative commission houses has probably of 1ectually saved the country from a disastrous speculation in these secur- 1tles, whose product after all is de- structiVe and of relatively small value when compared with the industrial output of the United States as a Whole Some of our industrial leaders as well as prominent bankers, have been circulating words of warning with the idea of preventing unwisc expansion or overspeculation. The head of the great Steel Corporation attracted much attention by his ur- disguised words of caution, inspircd largely by the independent steel com panles having recently made prepar- alton for 2,700,00 tons of new capa-