New Britain herald., 1919-07-21

and thus place British export trade on a better basis. The drop in francs was also due to heavy offerings of export bills. Resumption of trade with Germany opened the market for reichsmarks, which began trading on a basis of 1-2c, or ather more than one-third of parity.
 Monetary Requirements.
 II is estimated that nearly $4,000,- O00,0 900 will be required to carry our export balance on credit for the next twelve months. To this demand must be added the requirements of the treasury, figured at about $5,000, ,000,- 900. Then comes the financing of an active home trade at high prices. as well as the provision of new cap ital for home enterprises, which is sure to be very much larger than in any year of our history. Can and how will our money market meet all of these demands, which though not imme ediate are sure to make them selves strongly felt in the not very distant future? The financing of our export trade has been one of the most important problems requiring solu- tion. Signing of the peace treaty; removal of the em mbargo on Germany, and lowering of freights and a better supply of tonnage have also been inn portant factors in the present crises. If the fall in exchange continues it will have the inevitable effect of lessening foreign buying power and thus working against our export trade. Already considerable foreign orders have been held back owing to the weakness in sterling, which indirect ly will exert a restraining effect upon commodity prices here.
 Stock Market Conditions.
 Conflicting circumstances control the stock market and keep it in an eX- tremely active though unsettled state. The strength of the undertone seen1s undimnuished, and the buying power also. Chief of stimulants are the great prosperity of the agricultural sections, and a consequent good out look in the industrial world. Our export trade is sure to be enormous despite the accompanying difficulty of giving Europe sufficient credit. The railroad outlook is improving owing to the better traffic prospects to the probability that they will secure req sonably fair treatment from congress, that when returned to their owners some form of compensation for war losses will be permitted, and that rates may be advanced sufficiently to at least party compensate for the great increase in operating costs i'm posed by higher wages and materials. Public utilities also have better outlook for similar reasons, which are better treatment by public authorities and permission to fairly offset in creased costs by adequate rates of Service. The discussions on the peace treaty at Washington have little eff feet; being deemed largely political What is more to the point is that the world is now on a peace basis and active production has taken the place of five years of intense destruc- ton. That is the one great hopeful fact, and all other problems are chief ly those of adjustment. These may be temporarily disquieting, but in the long run they mean better times ahead. On the unsettling side of the stock market are the prospective strain upon the money market, the weakness of exchange and the in creasing frequency of strikes. The high imitation of credit and commod1- ties is also matter receiving more attention in banking circles. These are all incidents natural to the re- construction era in which we are now