Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-11-26

and bankers are alive to this situation and seeking to prevent dangerous speculation by careful discrimination of credit. In one direction, however, there is little prospect of lower prices, and that is in food. MT. Hoov- CT has already predicted high prices in this direction. We are blessed with an abundance of nearly all staple foods in this cOun'ry, such as cereals, meats and vegetables; but large sec tioHs of Eu1'Le devastated by wor ;t'" on the verge of famine, and ini- mense c-I,::. 1:es must be shipped abroad to meet such needs. As long as this condition of approach to fam,ne lasts, no great decline in the price of food is pos: %":e.
 Effects on Labor May Be Serious.
 The most serious effects of indus trial demot sization may fall upon la Dor; for thousand; will be discharged from the a:h~J ana f:nm Governn ent Wo, nov tEat the ..ecessitv for mun'tiLn making IS .Aded. Tho lsands more. who have been securing wages beyond all expectation 'n regular in- dustries are also threatened with los ing their jobs. Probably most of these men have saved little of their war work wages, and they will naturally be adverse to accepting lower pay else where. If these changes come gradual ly, discontent may be avoided; if they come suddenly and unemployment is difficult, t! cubic may ensue. The prob lem of finding employment for those Whc gave up their jobs for the sake of securing war wages, is a serious one, and should have the earnest and early consideration of both national and civil authorities. There is no doubt of work waiting for workers; but the task of bringing jobs and men to- gether in these times of dislocation will be most difficult. From now on there will be less complaint as to the scarcity of labor, yet there will be no immediate surplus; nor is it likely that there will be any great reduction of wages, except in industries which can no longer earn the exorbitant. pro- wages came.
 Stock Exchange activity was reduc- ed to 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. Sales were frequently confined to about half a million shares daily, and the total since January l has been only 125 million shares, compared with 170 millions at the same time last year Bankers are also restricting credit, and the Government has been reluctant to discontinue it's control of new issues through the Capital ls- sues Committee; so that stock mar ket activity is being discouraged upon all sides. Further weakness was eX- hibited in both war and peace indus tries the price. of twenty loading shares having now fallen from 89 on October IS, the 1918 high point, to about S3 at the present time. The twenty leading railroad stocks have on the other hand risen from 77.21 on January 15, the high point in 1918, to about 90 at the vresent time. This advance has been due to the fact that the railroads are making an excellent record it being estimated by the Inter- state Commerce Commission that the Government will receive over $51S,-
  roads during the nine months ending October 1. This means that the Gov ernment's loss at the end of the year will be reduced to about $100,000,000. Experiments in Government operation are viewed with intense interest and more or less distrust Government ownership of public utilities is be- roming more and more of public is sue, the introduction in the Senate this week of a bill favoring Govern ment ownership having intensified the question. It can be safely stated, how ever, that there is little chance of it's consummation. Public opinion is far from ripe for such a step, and polti- cal tendencies show a decided drift against these policies and a disposi- tion to endure them only as war measures.
 As frequently pointed out ill these advices uncertainty is not a favorable market factor. Besides this, as is we'll known, it is handicapped at the present time fly loan restrictions which prevent new crop of buyers from taking the place of those who are be- ginning to show some Weariness over the markets non-recOvery and in con- sequence are now showing some dis position to reduce their lines. In this respect it is always we'll to bear in mind that it is a bad thing to get dis couraged at the eleventh hour. The situation is by no means hopeless-in- deed it has many bright spots.