The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-14
HENRY CLEWS
 AT 80 STILL AN 0PTIHIST Dean of Wall St. Believes Era of Cheap Dollar Will
 Pass Soon. EXPECTS RETURN
 TO NORMAL SOON Says New York Can be Made Financial Centre of World Through Cooperation.

New York, Aug. 4.--Henry Clews, 1 the dean of Wall Street, celebrates to- day the passing of his eighteth mile | stone. At his office in Broad street, | where he spends a part of each day l at work, regularly as the day l comes, he said Jokingly yesterday that l he certainly anticipates crossing par | 20 years hence, and that he is getting ss much fun out of living now as he | ever has.
 It is one of MT. Clews's pet jokes, | when asked concerning his age, to say
 that he is upward of 46." I guess will have to change that a little now" he chuckle5 yesterday. After today I believe I will tell my friends l am upward of 4T.'
 Despite his age, Arr C1ews's health is exceptionallq good, his brain is keen and active, and he takes a lively in terest in the things that are going on, not only in his own office and in Wall
 Street but in the national at large. G1e expande5 on some of his deter
 min ed views yesterday to callers who dropped in to disturb him at dietation long enough to congratulate him on reaching his eightieth birthday
 You can just put me down as an optimist on the United States he said emphatically, pounding his caller on the chest with a sinewy fist to em- phasize his points. We have the nat ural resources, the oil and the cotton and the coal and the food and the minerals. We are the storehouse of the world and the world must turn to us for its needs. Our people have more money than they ever have had before.
 Tho industrial unrest that we are facing at the present time is due en- tirely to high prices, but foresee an early return to the normal The gov ernment's decision to go after profit eers Is a. step in the right direction. When prices of commodities come down, and when wages come down, we will have a gradual return to the | contented normal life we lead before 1 the war. Nor do I believe such a return to the normal is very far away. The law of supply and de- mand, eventually must come back { into effect Certainly it is not work
 ing smoothly now.
 "One of the troubles is that we are
 submitting too easily to the present
 imitation. During the war our slogan was Win the War and every one of us did all he could with might and main, and to the inconvenience and the high prices we made no objec- ton. But now we are almost a year ] time that we are taking a look at the economic tan8le, which confronts us. | The governments plan to go after tho profiteer, to my notion, is the turning point in a change in economic conditions It will be followed by ! lower prices for necessities and this | in turn will be followed by lower wages.
 But until your dollar and my dol lar buys 100 cents worth of necessi- ties, instead of mere 50 cents worth, l as it does at the present time, we | cannot expect to have industrial peace or economic contentment One | reason for the labor unrest is the | scarcity of labor. This has been in | tensified by the return to their native | lands of many persons who in1l1lt- grated to this country, worked at l high wages during the period of war ! imitation and were able to lay most | of it by. I want to prophecy now ! that almost every one of these people , who are leaving the United States now with their little rolls will be re- | turning one of these days"
 Mir. Clews is firmly of the opinion
 that the government should stick to it's promise to pay s2.26. for every bushel of wheat raised. we have
 been after MT. Kaiser for repudiat- ing his promises to Belgium. Can we as a government repudiate our ! promise in this respect? I would say pay s2.26, as he have promised,
 for every bushel Of wheat Then re-
 sell it. Some of it, at least, will
 bring the government price of s2.26 Let the rest of it bring a lower price, but keep it moving out to the miller at whatever price. Charge the loss
 if a loss there be-up to war cost, for | that is what it is. I believe such a transaction would stand the govern
 ment loss of no more than $5O0,-
 900, 900 to s600,000,0 900, and I believe
 that it is a loss that the government
 may very well stand at this time.
 Surely the promise of the government
 to the farmers is worth that much" |"