The Alaska daily empire., 1917-03-14
Despite the Disturbing Condition of Foreign Affairs New York
 Is Booming.
PEOPLE LOOK FOR WAR
Juneau Banker Likes the NorthIand Best and Thinks Nothing
 Will Be Lost.

While the apprehension attendant
 upon the unsettled conditions of our
 foreign relations has had some et | feet on business and the interrup,
 ton or the export trade to Europe
 unless it is resumed soon will fur
 ther disturb conditions 10 some ex tent, the general conditions through
 out the country are good. That is
 the Judgment Of B. NJ. Behrends, Ju'
 neau's pioneer banker and merchant
 who is just back from a two months
 trip to New York, Chicago, San
 Francisco and ether American cities.
 However, MT. Behrends is thorough.
 ly convinced that conditions in Al
 aska are on a more satisfactory bas-
 is than they are in any other sec.
 ton of the continent. ,
 MT. Behrends says New York is becoming the great cosmopolitan city Of the world. The city is filled
 with buyers, men of finance and tourists from South America, Eur. ope and out-of-the-way sections Of the world, men who in the days before the war transacted their busI- ness and spent their vacations in European cities but who are now coming to the United States. New York hotels are damned full, and all the languages are spoken in them.
 "A visit to New York and associa- ton with the bankers, jobbers and manufacturers soon makes it plain" said Mir. Behrends, that the United States is becoming the banking and industrial nation. American trade with South American countries and other neutral nations of the world is growing rapidly, and all the coun. tries are now depositing their sur. plus gold In this country. They are carrying reserves herein New York, Chicago and other American cities that formerly were carried in Lon' don, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Not only does this apply 10 South and Central American and Oriental coun- tries but to the Scandinavian coun. tries and Spain and Portugal"
 This demand on the resources and producing capacity of the Unit. ed States" continued MT. BehrendS, "is in a large measure responsible for the high cost of living The people Of foreign lands which can not manufacture and those of the Of Europe which cannot and produce equipment and supplies in sufficient Quanti- ties to support themselves and sup ply their armies must buy in this They have no other choice. We are charged what others are willing to pay for articles"
 Mr. Behrends spent two weeks in New York and about ten days in Chicago. He IS greatly impressed with the stability and growing i'm portance of Chicago as Q financial, manufacturing and jobbing center, It rivals New York in many ways be says, and everywhere in the city are evidences of prosperity.
 Mir. Behrends devoted most of .h!s time while in New York and Chicago to business in connection with his Juneau and mercantile business.
 People in the East do not expect the war in Europe to terminate ,oon." said Mir. Behrends. Opinion In New York;" he continued, "is that the United States will even. .ually be in the conflict, and New generally would like to have .he Americans join the Allies and 1elp them defeat Germany and end he war in that way. AS one comes West that sentiment is not so strong, and few of the people desire that he United States do more than pro- .ect their interests and the lives Of