New Britain herald., 1917-09-15
Henry CIews , Weekly Letter
Especial to the Herald)

|
 on the price level of securities this i week. Indications are present that
 this selling has to some extent at least
 been of foreign origin. Sweden ap- 1 pears to have been one source, fol- l lowing the disclosures of the use by
 the German Ambassador at Buenos 1 Aries of the Swedish diplomatic ser l vice to send unneutral information to his government It is quite desir- able to emphasize that Information
 regarding all these foreign sales is not tangible. But it is well known
 that Swedish interests have, like those of other neutral countries, been
 realizing enormous profits during the war. Hence it does not appear un-
 reasonable to believe that they in
 vested substantial amounts of these
 profits in American securities. Ger
 tainly no better avenues for invest
 mentS were present.
 The liquidation of a purely local
 character appears to have been a response to the continued uncertain ty resulting from the various in- fuences that have become such inn portant factors in the general market situation For instance, railroad
 traffic statements, if comparison are made with the corresponding figures
 of a year ago, suggest, in nearly all
 instances, remarkable increases in ex-
 penditures, increases sufficient to cut
 down to extremely unsatisfactory pro-
 portions the equally remarkable inn
 provement in gross earnings that has
 resulted from the unexampled move
 ment of merchandise. As a second
 factor in the markets nervousness
 should be mentioned the uncertain
 ty that continues as the governments
 price fixing plans. Reports have
 reached New York from Washington
 almost daily that announcement of
 the prices to be established by the
 government for iron, steel and copper
 and other metals would be made in a
 short time. But at this writing the
 official figures still have not been pro-
 mulgated and our manufacturers are
 in the dark as to the approximate
 figures they are to receive for the sup
 plies covered by the contracts either
 with our own government or with the
 governments that are our associates in
 the war. Underlying all this nervous
 ness there appears among large man.
 ufacturers a feeling of confidence that the prices when finally announced will
 be such as to justify the belief that they will represent policy of liberal ity and farsightedness on the part of the administration. Difficulty in i'm creasing the volume of funds that is necessary for prompt victory will be increased if the sources of supply are arbitrarily dried up, as cannot fail to be the result in the event of taxa ton being too burdensome. The reve
 nue bill passed the upper house early in the week. It now goes to confer ence and soon will be on the statute books, It represents in the main the victory of calm minded men over a few who were historically demanding a conscription of wealth on a scale calculated to do lasting injury to our country. Nevertheless the burden Of taxation which will be cheerfully borne as a war time necessity is a heavy one. In providing funds for carrying on the war the men of mature age already are bearing the greater part of the burden, so far as money is concerned. The young men are doing their full share in enlist 1 ing in the Service of their country and they will soon be actually fighting l our battles. It is no more than fair l that the coming generation, who will | benefit by victory for democracy i over autocracy, should pay part of | the debts we are now contracting for | war purposes. Therefore I believe l that bonds should be issued in | amounts sufficient to provide for l actual war needs, rather than that | vast amounts should be raised by tax ation of individuals and business sur plus profits. In other words, we should pay our share to preserve the rights of the future generation, but b0i, ch hn debt incurred to insure their heritage 1 of liberty.
 So far as the railroads are involved, the heavy reductions in net revenues are very apt to be accorded exagger- ated importance. The volume of buSi- ness that is being carried by the trans portation lines has never before been equaled; there is no immediate pros pect of an important change in this respect. Reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission from 155 of 1 the large roads for the month of July show their revenues $302, S39,0SS, as { compared With $263, 5O1 ,346 for the same month last year. After allow ing for the increased operating eX- penses the net revenue amounted to $96,649,534 comparing with $93,SS1,- l74 For the seven months ended with July the gross receipts were $1,949,- 77O,OO0, an increase from $1,73S,29 900 for the same period of 1916, while the net revenues were $571,S34, ,0O0, compared with $576,773,O0O last year. But it should be understood that as these comparisons are with a periad of prosperity in the trans portation world a reaction is not un- natural. If we take the New York | Central as specific instance, the un- representative basis of a comparison of last year becomes evident. The l July statement indicated gross reve- ] nues of S19,276,340. This compared l