The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-30

outside New York and a gain of 1 per cent for the country as a whole.
 It is, however, plain that people are less disposed to buy luxures and high-priced articles, and it is not surprising to hear of 6ullness in the jewelry business and acute depression in the fur trade where the value of some lines has been cut in half
 Oceon freights are also lower and east bound passenger accommodations are much easier to obtain as the number of ships in the transatlantic service is rap- idly increasing. The volume of vest bound steerage traffic, however, is re- stricted only by the space obtainable. and the widespread desire of Europeans to seek prosperity in this country is in stanced by cable from Madrid which reports that every man in the village of Huerta Pelayo has decided to emsgrase to the United States as soon as passage can be obtained
 The undertone of the securities mar kets has continued distinctly cheerful. and some railway stocks and bonds have ad- vanced noticeably, reflectng the growing confidence in the early rehabilitation of the transportation industry and the steady improvement in car movement and supply. Bonds in particular have been bought with greater freedom than for a long time, and there are some who re- gard the demand as a precursor of easy money, while others attribute 1t to the general expectation of an early reduc- tion in income super taxes, which will of course increase the value of taxable investments as compared with those which are non-taxable. It seems prob able, therefore that municipal and state bonds have about reached the top, es- pecially as their issuance has been greatly
 stimulated by our tax laws
 Money, though not quotably easier, Is in fact less difficult to obtain, and a large issue of ten-year notes made by western packing concern has been read fly sold on "A per cent basis while the New York Central Is recently brought out at par are quoted at a slight premium Preparations for the French dollar loan that will be issued to provide in part for the maturing Anglo-French bonds are ap- preaching completion Rumor has it that
 the amount will be Sl0000,000 and the rate Is per cent. Numerous predictions of a
 more plentiful supply of money are to be heard, and a number of western and southern bankers are reported to have made arrangements in Chicago and New York for the autumn needs of their cus- toners.
 EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
 The value of our July exports exceeded that of imports by s1l70O0,000, compared with SIS, ,000,000 in June. but our Imports were worth S03iN3sVO aGdlnSt Sotf,VOV,VVp l in July, 1919. Imports into Canada are also increasing, the total for the four
 months ending July 91 being &7S,0Oo0oO against $2S4,OOO0o0 in 1919 These figures suggest that the decline in foreign ex- change ought to be about at an end, but
 there is so much speculation in exchange nowadays that it is difficult to correlate i cause and effect
 i Except for the eternal Irish question and a threatened strike among the Eng l fish coal miners the outlook abroad Is
 more cheerful. Returning travellers speak enthusiastically of conditions.Sand even Vi- enna and what Is left of Austria seem to
 be recovering their boise. report that | A British syndicate has contracted to buy ! 35. .o00, ,000 tons of American coal for export during the next five years at the rate of 1 ', ,O00 GOO tons year should be received with reserve, as our enj:re transatlantic exportation of coal during 1919 was less ] t',s, K roo n0n tons. A large and perma-
 nent export demand for our coal is. how
 to be expected. Hd Viewed syntheucally the outlook is de-
 cidedly more reassuring than it was a month ago, and in America particularly there is nothing to cause real depression
 except the shortage of credit. which, be- | ing man-made, is a condition that 1t is
 within our power to correct.
 THEO. H. PRICE.