The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-03
of Finance


 may duplicate this transaction; while
 rumor intimates that Congress will authorize a permanent loan of a b1l-
 lion dollars, as mentioned above, pos sible on 3 per cent basis. There Is
 no doubt about the success of such a loan. The credit of the United States today is higher than that of any oth- CT nation and we are in a marvelOusly strong position for borrowing. Our national debt is only about $1,000,- O0O, ,00O, or one-third Of what it was after the war, and this country could issue over 30,000,00o,00O of bonds before its debt reached the same ra- tio between debt and wealth as Great Britain. The latter's debt before the war was about $3.50o, 100000 and to- day is about 17,000,00O.000 or over. Our bank resources are in splendid condition, being reported by the Comptroller of the Currency at $16,- 000, 100000, an amount $210,0O0,OOO greater in the reserve cities than ever in their history. Foreign borrowings are still a feature in this market, and the continued heavy drain upon cap ital for war purposes is destined to have a restraining effect upon ordi- nary industrial and commercial en- terprise. The situation for Ameri- can railroads, though somewhat com plex, is slowly improving. Earnings on the principal roads for the second week of March were II per cent greater than a year ago. This is not sufficient considering the heavy in creases which the roads must meet for wages, coal and materials in gen. eral, plus the pressing demand for ;,>4 Fo Avv F0v advances in freight rates have been made by both the Eastern and West ern lines. Ultimately these will prob ably be granted, although ample time will be allowed by the Interstate Commerce Commission to consider the protests from shippers, which are sure to arise. The railroads in this instance, however, have such strong claims, based upon justice and neces- sity. that public opinion will support their requests. The future of the market is unavoidably uncertain while so many conflicting and striking in fluences are at work. When the Eas- ter holidays are over and Congress has revealed it's intentions, we may expect greater activity
 If it had not been for our inventions of the submarine and aeroplane, which Germany seized and improved upon for her own use, we would not now be on the verge of war, as the former is her most deadly weapon. While the European nations are fight ing to the death, calling for all their resources in men, munitions and money, Germany must concentrate all her forces against the Allied armies, therefore, could not now invade our country, but this does not prevent her from a vigorous use of subma- rines in our waters. This weapon is therefore the one that we must fight and the only way to do it is to lose no time in communicating all the machinery in this country adapted for making parts of submarines and aero planes and work night and day until we have at least 500 to 1000 of the most up-to-date machines-that would do to commence with, together with additional quick firing small fighting craft. If we are to. be in- volved in the war our object should be to fight the submarines with all the force, skill and determination that the American people are capable of, in other words, wipe all the enemy submarines off the Atlantic Ocean. With that accomplished the war would soon end and after that neith- CT Germany nor any other nation will have the audacity or means in men or resources to make any kind of war against the United States for some years to come. Great Britain is really fighting our battle against Germany by locking up all her fighting ships. I suggested in many public speeches over eighteen months ago that we ought to build from 500 to 1000 sub marines and aeroplanes as speedily as possible. If we had done that our na- ton would now be free from appre- hension of a war with Germany and they would not have dared to take their present attitude against this country, making it necessary for us to fight or be humiliated.