South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-01-03


ed. The British Empire is now TAX
ing nearly On-half Of our exports.
and France. Italy and Russia have
also been much heavier buyers than
usual. OF course. our foreign trade.
| though enormous in bulk is too alb
normal or One-sided 10 be really sat
isfactory. When the war is over re-
adjustment 70 a peace basis will he
necessary: bit a return TO former
| conditions need not be Immediately
| expected. Should initiation put this
| country upon a high-price level. the
necessary readjustment will be all
the more awkward and difficult.
| Great Britain, Germany and France
are almost sure TO be upon a much
lower cost basis after the war than
ourselves. For a time France and
| Belgium will be actively occupied
! in reconstruction. but il seems that
| both Great britain and Germany
will escape with little destruction Of
cities or plant Both these countries
| will again engage in fierce competi
| ton for foreign markets, and unless
we are prepared to meet this compe-
! titiOn. we must expect to lose a very
| considerable percentage of the adj
vantages recently gained in foreign
markets. It may be that wages in
Europe will be higher than expected
or that Europe will not be able TO
match some of the articles made in
4 the United states, these being prob
lens that must be worked out in the
| future. In this connection, one 9TH
er thing must not be forgotten. Sue
| cessful trade must always be Of mu-
tual benefit. or it cannot last. Eu
ropes losses and misfortunes can
not permanently be our gain. The
more impoverished Britain, Ger
| many or France become, the less able
will they be to buy from us; and
the less we buy from them the less
we can sell AS in domestic trade,
so in foreign. real prosperity lies in
as abundant and free an interchange
Of products as possible. all friction
and interference inevitably meaning
losses.
| Local Outlook.
The position of the stock market
is vastly better than a year ago. This
fact has been largely discounted by
| the rise which eliminated in Octo-
Der. The decline since then was
largely in the industrials most affect
ed by the war, it being recognized
that their abnormal profits cannot
| continue for the reason that the bel
| Hgerents are now better able to
supply their own munitions. Never
| theless. many of the industrials Will
! benefit from the legitimate revival
| of business induced by a rich har-
vest and the late plethora of money.
\ The railroads, however. stand TO
! benefit more substantially than any
| other class of investments from
present conditions. Their earnings,
gross and net, are showing most en-
couraging gains Operation has
usually reduced to the lowest cost,
public hostility has been greatly
lessened, and a realization exists OF
the harm that has been done, so
that the outlook for this great in
dustry is better than for several
years. There is the possibility of a
too free return of American stocks
and bonds held abroad; but this is
/ hardly likely because the British
government, through its mobilization
scheme, will control British selling
and will not Intentionally spoil it's
own market. Besides, the amount
Of such investments for actual sale
cannot be large, and much of what
i remains consists Of high-grade in
vestments held in trusts. etc, and
-
writing, the chief obstacle to a more
active and stronger market is the
! prospect of dearer money and the
| coming presidential election, which
promises TO be a warm contest. The
/ war has thrust aside many of the
| old issues, and in place Of corpora
! ton and money trust batting. we al
ready have preparedness, revenue
and shipping. A prolonged discus
sion seems probable over prepared
ness, and owing TO a clever and per-
sistent propaganda, there is danger
of the people being stampeded by
ungrounded fears into apprOpria-
tons for a much larger fleet and
army than necessary. When peace
( comes none Of the belligerents will
4 be IN a COnQlllOD 10 De ANXIOUS Tor
another war for some time, at least. /
Hence none are likely TO have seri-
Gus designs upon the United States, I
I and if they did "a quick strengthen
! ing of our navy on defensive lines
and the creation Of a reasonable I
! and up-tO-date army would meet
the requirements for defensive pur-
poses. II is absurd TO believe, as
one estimable authority would have
us, that we need as large a navy
for our protection as the British en- I.
pire which includes nearly one
quarter of the worlds population, /
territory and trade. Great Britain
has a widely-scattered empire and
her people live upon an island Who'll 7
~ incapable of self-support. The
United States is a continent, has
unlimited resources. agricultural and
mineral; and no foreign army, even /
if il landed, could go beyond the
coast for more than a few miles I
There is no sound reason why we
should lose our poise and be swept /
off our feet into militarism or naval /
I fe,,, cnucaunaurac Of lo,-o