The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-19
HENRY CLEWS
WEEKLY LETTER

WEEKLY LETTER
DEVELOPMENTS during the week have
not been of the most cheerful sort.
Russia is still domoralized. although
the friends OF Russia still believe the
natio1 to be sound and not likely to
rnalA a separate peace. The Italian
dtkation, 1t must be admitted, Is also
2sconcerting. and there. are fears
That the city of Venice may yet fall
into the hands OF the enemy. On the
western front. the British and French
keen up the terrific war OF attrition,
slowly but surely pushing the Ger
mans back. The submarine warfare
seems to be abating. for the time be-
ing at least. Great Britain's best an
swer being a marked decline in the
casualty list and an encouraging In
crease In her foreign trade Of 10000
600 pounds In October and about 100,-
GOO, 600 pounds for ten months, COM
pared with O year ago.
At home tremendous changes are
taking place in industry. trade and
TRANSFORMATION. Finance was the first
division to be modified ON a war ba-
sis: next came transportation; then
came industry. and now It is the ner-
chant and distributor that must CO.
ordinate and place the country before
itself The government has already
Imposed it's strong hand over, all of
these industries and is more likely to
Sxtend its grip that to limit It. Very
soon the consumer will also be obliged
to submit to regulation. Quite prob
abay the farmer. who has thus far
been exempt. will he obliged to make
some sacrifice. and the circle will not
be cOmDlete until labor has more
fully recognized the country's needs
and refra1ns from pressing its claims
At q time when the nation Is under
abnormal strain. The more sagacious
leaders have. advised their followers
not to hamper the government with
strikes when at war. and President
Wilson'S frank but kindly advice to
the Labor Convection at Buffalo had
Wholesome effect. The threatened
bodybuilding strikes were declared of,
and the big railroad strike is not like-l
~ to mature. especially as the rail-
roads are already under partial gov
eminent control and might be made
entirely 80 in the event of a strike.
fUs a rule labor has been distinctly
the exceptions would be obliged to re-
spect public opinion and public inter-
est
Liquidation has continued I'M
checked on the Stock Exchange. Free
oHent rallies occurred, apparently the
result Of good support. buy always
followed by fresh selling waves. No
reason for such universal selling could
be discovered. except lack of suffi-
cfent buvers to offset sellers. Short
selling was. not conspicuous. The
Stock Exchange authorities have seen
1T to Np1ace severe restrictions upon
short sefling. The purpose was I'm
dlosfbtcd1y commemorate. Ary Excess
'sive demonstrations on the bear side
+, In these times would be distinctly
harmful. On the other hand, rea-
sonabae short account is usually help
full fnasmuch as sach transactions al
ways create q potential buying force
ok read value in case OF panic. The
; present depressing factors are numer-
cus. CHIEF of these was the market
Ing of vast mass of government
4 bonds In 20 brief a period, overtaxing
fhe absorbing power OF the public
/, and imposing an extraordinary pres
sure zDon banking institutions. Large
1 &uantthes OF investment securities had
! been violently dislodged to facilitate
\ <a7r5nE our government Issues in the
!&sief that they could be repurchased
~ lower prices later on. Other causes
}of depresslon. such as vanishing war
prodts. increased taxes, government
ife9udAticns. ETC., are all familiar and
have been largely discounted. AS re-
lneateday stated In these adv1ces many
rx4rne inve8tments are selling consid-
tIE4 A.. 1t1oc
If4esess. the exalted confidence which
Z; sxsster a. few months ago has given
xl>ce to an underc41rrent OF tinidity,
mainly ARISING from fears concerning
xhe prolongation of the war. In eff
lxect. we have bad a slow panic1 yet
with practically no disaster Of conse-
auence. When we entered the war
our Stock Exchange did not close, no
Il ar,anIu1um prices were established, and
NO rnoratorio. In fact nome of the
orokective devices resorted to In Eau
rope to stop panlc when they plunged
lu{o war have Been necessary here.
1ustead we have been pouring our
money and credit withort stint, to
finance our Allies as wen as our
selves: all of which demonstrates that
we possessed greater strength than
we knew. and that we are reaping
me adVd1L6LG6 VI dxa1AAASAoA "a ~R1~ 90
ness. unexannp1ed resources and a for
tunate remoteness from the struggle
Fad we been drawn suddenly into the
:xortex tof s1914 7along with other pow
era. a very different tale would have
been told Fortunately, when the cri-
sds struck 1t found the nation won
de<ful strong in banking power
ana thanks to financial preparedness
the ordeal has been met witt, surpris-
Inc. ease and with no present pros.
pect of insurmountable difficulty.
7he war Is destined apparently te
last longer than anticipated. and tbs
strain upon our resources must cor.
respondinaIv1 increase. THUS tar nc
such strain has fallen upon the United
States ais upon Great Britain, France
- or even rsrada. which are exertine
thernse'v-y Droportionately vastly
more tbtr = Considering that ou1
resources ard recuperative abilities
are infinitely greater than those 0,
other belligerents, we can look upo1
the situation with comparative equa
nirnlty and face the coming stress
with confidence in our own strength
1t would be folly to, dodge the fac
that we must prepare for more costly
a =. $50