The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-15
,Rea1 Estate and Insurance

Very similar conditions prevail in our cities, where public service corpora
 tions have been under political fire for a prolonged period. Because of
 prejudice, light and traction compan- ies have not been permitted to raise charges in order to offset increased costs; and fair treatment was impos- sibIe to obtain; the result being to t1eraten a number of such concerns with bankruptcy. Civic authorities as a rule still refuse to allow such com pantas to raise charges, though ad- miting that they themselves will fol- low such a course if they secure con troI When consumers realize that they must pay the increase, as they finally will; and that they must pay that increase either in higher fares or higher taxes, they will undoubtedly
 choose the former: and will in all
 probability not lose the opportunity of revenging thmemselves upon poli-
 ticians and timid officials who have allowed transportation and other pub lie utilities to fall into such impaired conditions.
 The outlook is for a wonderful wheat crop. On April l, the govern ment reported the condition of winter wheat at 9S.8 per cent, the highest condition ever recorded. This indi-
 cates a. yield of about 837,000,0OO
 bushels, compared with 558,00O,00O bushels in 1918 and 413,000,00O
 bushels in 1917, so that this is nearly
 double the average yield before the
 war. Rye also promises a record crop of 101 1,O00,O bushels, as against S9,000,O00 bushels last year
 hn-
 fore. It is possible that these figures
 may undergo deterioration; yet a
 very high yield is practically certain,
 which at the price of $2.26 per bushel
 established by the government means
 prosperity beyond all precedent for
 the American farmer. Needless to
 sal, merchants and manufa cturers in
 the agricultural districts will enjoy
 unusual prosperity, which in turn will
 be reflected in all parts of the coun-
 try. Our railroads will therefore ex- perience Q much larger traffic than
 usual during the latter half of the current year Incidentally this should
 aid in adjusting railroad losses. which
 must be offset either by advanced
 rates or considerably larger traffic.
 Stock market activity continued
 upon a liberal scale. Although there
 has been considerable realizing, the
 undertone of the market continues strong and confidence in the future has not been seriously disturbed. Ap- parently the large decreases in in dustriaI dividends and the advancing tendency of interest rates have been discounted. No little confidence is based upon the stimulus of a profita-
 ble harvest; upon the resumption of l C T +I,.z ing tendencies of building, railroads and shipping; also the probability | that the heavy burden of taxation will be moderated by the next Congress. A special session is inevitable, proba- | 'bliy in the latter part of May, to deal with the most pressing problems of railroads, taxation and reconstruc- ton. Some of the speciaIties were particularly active; and the supply of stocks generally is scarce, the advance | thus far having brought out little or no investment holdings. One element | of strength is the new buying demand on the part of those having made for | tunes during the war. There is still 1 large amount of funds thus derived ! awaiting investment, and in this con necticn not a little foreign capital of | the same sort has lately come into this l market. Slowly but surely business | is getting back 10 more normal con- | ditions. Price fixing is gradually
 waning in popularity and power. The | experiences of the last few years have l given believers in government control of industry some very serious shocks; 1 the radicals are declining in power, | and the number who'd esire to see | trade and industry go back into es- i tablished natural operations is stead l fly increasing. Of course, we are still 1 in the midst of a very unsettled re- construction period, which is likely to | continue indefinitely for months to | come. But in spite of this, the drift l is toward more hopeful and more set
 tied conditions and better things are
 expected fram the incoming Congress.
 The local money market is fairly l supplied with fuRdsi and the forth
 coming government loan will have l haEinor a,aa-,