The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-11-25

blessed with an abundance of nearly all staple foods in this country, such as cereals, meats and vegetables; bud large sections of Europe devastated by war are on the verge of famine
 and immense quantities must be shipped abroad to meet such needs
 As long as this condition of approach to famine lasts, no great decline in the price of food is possible.
 The most serious effects of indus
 trial demobilizatton may fall upon la
 bor; for thousands will be discharged
 from the army and from government
 work, now that the necessity for mu-
 milton making is ended. Thousands more, who have been securing wages beyond all expectation in regular in- dustries, are also threatened with los ing their jobs. Probably most of these men have saved little of taeir warI work wages, and they will naturally be averse to accepting lower pay else where. If these changes come grad ually, discontent may be avoided; ifI they come suddenly and re-eInploy- ment is difficult, trouble may ensue.
 The problem of finding employment for those who gave up their Jobs for the sake of securing war wages, is a
 serious one, and should have the ear nest and early consideration of both national and civil authorities. There is no doubt plenty of work waiting for
 workers; but the task of bringing jobs and men together in these times of ldislocation will be most difficult. From
 now on there will be less complaint a tn Eof 1o1N
 will be no immediate surplus; nor is 1 it likely that there will be any great
 reduction of wages, except in indus
 tries which can no longer earn the
 exorbitant profits, out of which these
 excessive wages came.
 Stock Exchange activity was re- duced to a minimum by restrictions of the Money Committee intended to check imitation. For the same reason investment purchases have been upon
 a relatively small scale in spite of the
 reviving tendency in this direction. ESales were frequently confined to | about half million shares daily, and
 the total since Jan. 1 has been only I15 million shares, compared with ITO
 millions at the same time last year,
 Bankers are also restricting credit, and the government has been reluc-
 tant to discontinue it's control of new tissues through the Capital Issues Com
 mittee; so that stock market activity is being discouraged upon all sides lF'urther weakness was exhibited in both war and peace industrials; the iprice of 20 leading shares having now fallen from 89 on October IS, the 1918
 high point, to about 83 at the present
 time. The 20 leading railroad stocks
 have on the other hand risen from
 77.21 on anuary 15, the high point ir
 1918, to about 90 at the present time
 This advance has been due to the fact that the railroads are making an ex- cellent record, it being estimated b1
 the Interstate Commerce Commission that the government will receive ovel
 l8,OO0,OO0 net from operation of the , railroads during the nine months end , ing October 1. This means that the governments loss at the end of tht year will be reduced to about $10O , OO0,0O0. Experiments in governmen operation are viewed with intense in 7 terest and more or less distrust. Gov ernment ownership of public utilitie 5 is 'becmoing more and more of a, pub lie issue, the introduction in the Sen , ate this week of a bill favoring gov l ernment ownership having intensifiet : the question. It can be safely stated
 however, that there Is little chance o f tits consummation. Public opinion i l far from ripe for such a step, and DO litical tendencies show decided drif against these policies and a disposi 5 tion to endure them only as war meas 5 lures.
 As frequently pointed out in thes : advices uncertainty is not a favorabI ] market factor. Besides this, as is wei = konwn, it is handicapped at the pres : ent time by loan restrictions whicl g prevent 8 new crop of buyers iron t taking the place of those who are be l ginning to show some weariness ove the markets non-recovery and in con sequence are now showing some dis f position to reduce their lines. In thi respect it is always well to bear il r mind that it is a bad thing to get dis ,. outraged at the eleventh hour Tn l situation is by no means hopeless } Indeed it has many bright spots