The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-02
HENRY CLEWS'
 WEEKLY LETTER

 ing themselves with increasing force. i. Business men are anxious to be freed . from war restrictions as early as pos sible, having due regard to the avoid ! ance of unnecessary disturbance. They want superf1uous regulations removed or modified, and at least gradually : eliminated. They want to be rid of , price-fxing schemes. They want req i, sonable consideration from the gov ernment in the transfer of industry | from public to civilian work. They : desire to avoid harsh cancellations, and above all they wish the govern ment to avoid injury to credit in the process of demobilization. In short they earnestly look forward for re- turn to the normal, and restoration of business freedom, as soon as con- sistent with safety and public welfare. !
 The government is making praise worthy effort to meet such ideas It
 is also under the pressure of public opinion to reduce expenses as far as practicable in order to minimize bur
 densome war taxes. Not less than
 $1, 0,000,000 of war contracts have
 been cancelled, without thus far giv-
 ing any serious difficulties, many bus
 mess concerns having discounted such
 contingencies. A gradual and steady reduction of war work is already in process of accomplishment, and our steel, textile, leather, oil, rubber and other industries will find ample work to take the place of cancelled war or ders. War products will naturally
 disappear. and the whole tendency of industry is to go back to more nor nal conditions. This means ulti- l mately lower prices for raw materials and all finished products. The de-
 clines will come slowly. more slowly l perhaps than desired in some cases; 1 but the drift is unmistakable, and de- 1 f1ation must be expected wherever in 1 f1ation has existed. The most difficult ] problem in the outlook is labor, which | has already announced that it will not
 submit to any reduction of wages, a ipronouncement that is not surprising l in view of the high cost of living. The 1 latter can only be reduced by de- ] creasing the cost of production; and, l if that cannot be accomplished by
 wage adjustments, the only alternative must be greater and more efficient production on the part of labor itself. | To very considerable extent labor is
 responsible for the high prices which ] it dislikes. Another cause is the prof1teering indulged in by both capi-
 tai and labor, as well as by producers
 and distributors of all kinds. Many of these problems will, however, solve i themselves in time, provided there is maintained a spirit of fair dealing and patience upon all sides. A con- 1 siderable number of men and women have been discharged from munition plants, and these are usually finding new employment with little difficulty.
 As a result of the worldwide up he2val there is a spirit of great unrest everywhere; this country in spite of it's isolation and continued prosperity 1 having it's full share. One of the most
 disQuieting symptoms is the socialistic
 drift, which manifests itself unpleas-
 antly by the agitation to take over public utilities by the government.
 The railroads have now been under ] government control for nearly 12
 months. The telegraph and telephone
 lines were taken over last July and
 now the cables and wireless have | come under the government aegis
 This week ano ther rumored departure
 was made, as reported, that the gov
 ernment would take over the 85 yes
 sels of the International Mercantile
 Marine Co.,. at cost of about S90,-
 000,00 This will make the govern
 ment owned tonnage of the United
 States approximately 4,500, 900 tons; a
 very respectable start in establishing
 a merchant marine, though on lines
 undreamed of before the war, would
 be simply placing our government i into business experiments. for which
 it is entirely unfitted, and which If
 not checked will completely throttle
 that spirit of individual enterprise which proved the basis of our na- ttonal growth. As soon as the Amcri- can people fully realize the conse-
 quences of this socialistic tendency they will administer the necessary re- buke.
 The most satisfactory development of the week in financial circles was q ! partial relaxation of artificial re:ric.
 Ions in the money market. While government requirements in financing
 the war to the end must of necessity
 receive first attention, there is nc doubt that too little consideration ha6 , been paid to ordinary credit require. : ments. Compromise between wtdel, , divergfng views on the subject was :, inevitable. While it may have beer difficult to draw the line between ar.
 tifcial regulation and a free none, market, there was no doubt as to the , adVisability of moderating recent re.
 straints, if only to permit a gradus , return to normal conditions As ( I result time money was in better sup. s ply than for several months; much tc , the relief of both the business ant 7 the financial communities. It did not
 as some feared, lead to a sudden out
 burst of wild speculation. On the con. . 1 trary prices recorded & sharp fall ot | several points, but It did permit moro g natural activity and created an un. 8 dertone of confidence in the monetar, l situation that did not before exist g Prices responded with more freedom - to general conditions, which at bes l are very unsettled, and there is reason r to anticipate irregular and more active y movements in security markets a . least until preparation for the mex t war loan in the latter part of April 8 or nearly six months hence. Durine
 the interval there will be offerings O s treasury certificates every two week t on plan more in accordance witt @ good finance and c1e that will tent = to materially prevent any suddel s strain.
 6 Consolidation continues to be al y important factor in stock marke T values, the war industrials being mos
 conspicuous in this respect. Divident