New Britain herald., 1916-08-26
Especial to the Herald.)


 cording to his best judgment, al-
 though 1t would have been better, in
 the opinion of many dsinterested l persons, had the question been first { submitted to arbitration, thus avoiding
 prejudgment without evidence and
 facilitating the creation of public
 opinion based upon knowledge of
 facts. In this controversy there arc
 many important interests involved
 other than those of the men who ini
 tiated the movement. Many thousands
 of railroad employees would be ad'-
 versely affected by a strike; the public
 would be sorely inconvenienced; many
 industries would be paralyzed, and l thousands of innocent investors ser 1 iously injured. Tn effect a general
 and the verdict of the people would
 certainly be ''never again. Even
 railroads have some rights. At
 present they are enjoying large gains 1 In both gross and net earnings, but l traffic is abnormal and cannot con- | tinue permanently at present volume | Costs of operation are increasing in | all directions. Necessary improve l ments have often been deferred; and
 in spite of present prosperity the rail- reads have serious problems ahead; | especially certain of the weaker sys- l tems, which under any material in l crease of expenditures without com 1 pensation would fall into bankruptcy 1 The question of meeting growing costs l of operation is a serious one, unless l the companies are allowed to recoup | themselves, as any other business ! concern may do, by an increase of pay 1 for services rendered. Thus far little | has been heard from the hundreds of l thousands nay, millions, of people 1 interested in railroads as shareholders or bondhOlders. Such a list goes far beyond the numbers of direct invest ors, and includes every financial in stitution, their customers their stock holders, every savings bank depositor, every life and fire insurance policy holder, as well as the mum berless in- stitutions devoted to financial com mercial, educational humanitarian and other public purposes. The great majority of people ignorantly suppose that the railroads are owned by few rich individuals, and very few people appreciate either their wide distrbu- ton of ownership through indirect channels, or the disastrous consequent ces that would fall upon the public by injuring the railroads There is no class of investments so widely and so vitally wrought into our 1nnumer- able national activities and 1nstitu- tions as railroad securities.
 must confess that to advance wages 20 per cent. at one stroke is pretty steep for the railroads to stand; for that Is what 1t means to reduce the working day to eight hours. If it came about by gradual instalments covering a varying period, 1t would be 1<>r., T e, tI7@ It occurs to me that the situation calls 1 for a corresponding advance In rail- | road rates by the Interstate Com | nlerce Commission. Changes on both | sides ought to be automatic, the rail- | roads agreeing, as fast as the Com | mission advances the rates to lower the working hours in the same ratio | until an eight hour day is reached | After that, should it become necessary to lessen the railroad rates, the hours for labor should be increased accord l ingly. It appears to me this would be ! a just way of meeting the present labor vs. railroad situation. I throw this out merely as a suggestion to equitably adjust the matter between the railroads and the unions. At any 1 rate, let it be tried until better plan i can be substituted.
 For a long period there has been l d strong speculative disposition in the stock market based upon trade activi- l ty, easy money and war imitation. Thus far this tendency has not had | free play owing to the policy Of re- straint imposed by conservative bank l, ing interests; also to the steady pres sure of foreign liquidation which has shown itself at every rally. Moreover, there is a feeling that present ab- normal profits are purely temporary, and that any undue speculation based 1 upon the assumption of their con- tinuance might lead to disastrous consequences. This week, however, there were notable exceptions,-the outbreak of speculative activity In
 United States Steel, International Mercantile Marine and Reading affect ing the entire market. On Tuesday this activity assumed aggressive pro- portions. These securities reached the highest prices on this movement, Steel making new record, and the days total sales ran over 1,3OOOO shares; the three shares just men toned constituting about one-third of the days transactions. The activity in Steel was based upon the phenomenal earnings of the com Dany, which surpassed all possible | imagination and inevitably placed the company in an exceedingly strong position for meeting future emergen- cfes These profits naturally created | belief that the company cannot in definitely refuse stockholders a larger share in present prosperity. AS for the future of the steel trade, 1t is recognized that war orders cannot ! last much longer, and it is peace, not war, which in future must determine the basis of progress. Reconstruction demands after the war will as is al- ready known, be enormous. Neither Great Britain nor Germany will be a ble