The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-12
HENRY CLEWS'
 WEEKLY LETTER

The great wave of unrest which is
 sweeping over Europe and the United
 States in fact over the entire world,
 is of course highly complex and based
 upon new conceptions regarding our
 social, political and economic sys- tems Unfortunately there is a flood abroad of unsound and impracticable
 ideas, which saust esaher be tried out or combatted by counter-argumenNs in the field of discussion. This situ- ation has been intensely aggravated by five years of bitter war strain Ma tions like individuals have become weary, nervous and irritable; and
 the people are impatient and too often quite incapable of thinking ksoberly. High cost of living is the common grievance, and opinions diff fer strenuously to causes. It fs ai- together too easily overlooked that many millions of men turned their l enerFies from production to des- l tructive purposes, with the inevitable result of creating a huge void in the 1 supply of practically all the common necessities of life. For scarcity and ! consequent high prkces, the one and 1 the only relief is an increase in pro- ! duction to lessen the scarcity which ] exists. No government regulation 1 has ever been devised that can re- ! store the normal so surely and so ! easily as the un- Uttered operation of I natural law.
 Foreign Trade Expansion.
 l The growth of our foreign trade is 1 simply amazing. In the 12 months ] ending June 30 our exports and i'm ports were over s1o,s2o, 100000, com- 1 pared wich S4,25S, 100000 the same | period of 1914. Within the short ] space of five years our foreign trade i has much more than doubled, and ill 1 no year was there any recession Of ! consequence, but instead a persistent 1 advance As these figures do not in cfude war material it shows that the l war failed entirely in hampertng for 1 eisn trade, which 1eaped ahead in ! spite Of submarines and all war de- l vices The chief gain was in expoIs, owing to the pressing demand for 1 Am nerican food, agricultural and min l eral products. The total exports for the year ending June rose from S2,-
 Se4000. 900 in 1914 to the record level
 of S7,224,o0o,o0o in 1919, an increase | of S4,36o.o 100000, or over 300 per cent, during the war. Another re- narkab1e fact is that despite the loss
 of imports from bel1igerents, our to- 1 tai imports also touched record fig 1 ursa being S3,095, 5,0Os,0oO for the year 1 ending June 80, 1919, and $1.S94, ,O00,- ! 900 during the same period previous 1 to the war. This was an increase of S1,2O1, 100000, the total being more
 than doubled in the tirne noted.
 So much for comparisons with pre- 1 war conditions. The increases com ! pared with year ago were S1,3O5,- 1 900, 900 in exports and s160,ooo,ooo ] F. xN@ rG
 over imports for the war was s4,12S- 1 900, ,0OO. against s2,e74,O0o,o 900 a year ! ago This means an increase in our ] trade balance of 5A,eO0,0o0 in our | favor. which is not quite as startling as some intiu ations had led us to ex- 1 pect. The most interesting figures, 1 however, are those showing the NC
 sumption of trade with belHkerent | countries Exports increased S227,- 1 900, 900 to Belgium, s93,O00,o00 to
 France, $ss,O00,O0O to Denmark, s8,- 1 100000 to Germany, s19,000,000 to
 Italy, s97,OOo, 900 to the Netherlands,
 s76,OOO,o 900 to Norway, s74,0o0,O00 to Sweden and s152, 100000 to the 1 United Kingdom. As to articles, the l greatest increases were, might be i expected in foodstuffs. During the l last 12 months we shipped 954, 000,000 ! of breadstuffs, an increase of 321,- ! 100000; and 1,167,000,000 of meat [ and dairy products, an increase of 1 4sS,oG0, 900, in dollars. In mineral 1 oils the gain in values was only 1 s46,o0O,o00. The increase in cotton i was moderate in quantity, but 19S, ! 900, 900 in dollars Tn imports there were no important changes, and owing to the war our export trade
 was the most remarkable in our his
 tory and promises to So continue for
 a consi sideraTble period.
 1 Government Ownership
 In business circles there IS moro or l less appreh ension regarding the labor ! crisis which has reached an acute | stage and is likely to defer many new | enterprises because of the steadily
 rising cost of production. The demand | of the railroad brotherhoods for var | ious concessions, including that of 1 pubic ownership, will focus public l attention upon these problems more
 l1eenly than ever. They will unques- 1 tionably form a prominent and dis 1 turbips factor in politics for some time ito come; although in this way
 dscuesion will be provoked and the air cleared. Perhaps f Is as well that l this should be so, and that the ques- l ton be settled in true American style at the polls There is no doubt what eyer that the American people do not want government ownership of the ] railroads. The best and most eff- ciently run railroads in the world are | those of the United States. and they
 were developed entirely under private enterprise. The next best roads are
 those of Great Britain, also developed by private initiative.
 Now that the government has taken
 a hand in solving the high cost of Ev- ing, dS should be encouraged in its | efforts to stop exaggerated profiteer- ing. In many cases prices have ad-
 vahced beyond justification and gov t ernment action will not only create
 an adverse public opinion, but it will expose those responsible for such , conditions, and should materially aid | in lowering the cost of living by seH-