New Britain herald., 1918-11-23

ing their jobs. Probably most of these men have saved little of their 1 war work wages, and they will natur- ally be averse to accepting lower pay elsewhere. If these changes come gradually discontent may be avoided; if they come suddenly and re-em- p1oyment is difficult, trouble may en- sue. The problem of finding employ ment for those who gave up their jobs for the sake of securing war wages, is a serious one. and should have the earnest and early considera- ton of both national and civil au thorities. There is no doubt plenty of work waiting for workers; but the ! task of bringing jobs and men togeth- CT in these times of diSlocation will be most difficult. From now on there will be less conplant to the scare 1 ity of labor, yet there will be no inn mediately surplus: nor is it likely that there will be any great reduction of wages, except in industries which can no longer earn the exorbitant profits, out of which these excessive wages came.
 Stock exchange activity re- duced to a minimum by restrictions of the money committee, intended to check imitation. For the same req son investment purchases have been upon a relatively small scale, in spite of the reviving tendency in this direc- tion. Sales were frequently confined to about half a million shares daily, and the total since January 1 has been 125 million shares, compared with ITO millions at the same time last year. Bankers are also restrict jno been reluctant to discontinue it's con- trol of new issues through the Capi- tai Issues Committee: so that stock market activity is being discouraged upon all sides. Further weakness was exhibited in both war and peace ln- dustriaIs; the price of twenty leading shares having now fallen from 89 on october IS, the 1918 high point, to about 83 at the present time. The twenty leading railroad stocks have on the other hand risen from E.2l on January IS, the high point in 1918, to about 90 at the present time. This advance has been due to the fact that the railroads are making an excellent record, it being estimated by the ln- terstate Commerce Commission that the government will receive over 1S,0OO,00O net from operation of the railroads during the nine months ending October l. This means that the governments loss at the end or the year will be reduced to about S1OO,000,00O. Experiments in gov ernment operation are viewed with intense interest and more or less ais trust Government ownership Of pup lie utilities is becoming more ana more of a public issue, the intro duction in the senate this week Of a bill favoring government ownership having intensified the question: It can be safely stated, however, that there is little chance of it's consum- nation Public opinion is far from ripe for such a, step, and pohtical tendencies show decided drltt against these policies and a disposl- tion to endure them only as war mea asures.
 As frequently pointed out in these advices uncertainty is not favorable market factor. Besides this, as Is we'll known, it is handicapped at the present time by loan restrlctlonS which prevent 8 new crop of buy CTS from taking the place of those who are beginning to show some veariness over the markets non-re- coverz- and in consequence are now showing some disposition to reduce their lines. Tn this respect 1t IS al- wave well to bear in mind that it is had thing to get discouraged at the eleventh hour. The situation IS oy no means hopeless-indeed it has many bright spots.
 HENRY CLEWS.