The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-01-03
GREAT BRITAIN FACES
1920 WITH OPTIMISM
SAYS TRADE REPORT
fBy Associated Press)


LONDON, Jan. 3-The people Of
Great Britain look forward to q new
y>ar full OF financial and political diff
nculties but with greater optimism
than they would have thought pos
s!ble few months ago.
A new world fit for heroes to live
in" which was an ideal of the war
has not yet been fully attained at
home and international problems
which brought on the war still are
hanging over the head of the nation.
Yet the British people are trying to
face the future in an invincible faith
in the nations ability to conquer all
troubles.
Premier Cheerful
The most cheerful optimist of all
is Premier Lloyd George. Under the
leadership of his unflagging faith
that everything will work out for the
best, the clouds of dependency, pic
tured by the newspapers as thickest
when the chancellor Of the exchequer
declared that the nation was heading
for bankruptcy, say Britons, have Wis
IDLY lifted.
A foremost cause for confidence is
steady commercial revival and ces-
sation of labor troubles, which Brit
ons hope will continue. These give
ground for prediction by optimists
that Great Britain will return to
normal conditions sooner than other
great European countries which en-
gagged in the war.
Manufacturers in many lines have
business booked far ahead. The cot
ton trade, one Of the basic British in
dustries, is said to have all the or
doy = 60
ShipbulIders Happy
Shipbuilders say they are in the
same happy condition. They have
yet to be convinced that America
Will be able to take away the former
British supremacy in the carrying
trade. They base their confidence on
the belief that while the British are
q sea-faring race, the Americans are
not.
Apparently they believe that Amer
lean ships built in the war are
destined to be bought eventually by
| distinctly maritime nations. Their
confidence however, is not iron-clad.
Lord Incheape told the shareholders of
one Great Britain steamship company
that. II the American government
turned over its ships to private own
ers. Great Britain need not be afraid,
but If the American people were to be
taxed to build up their mercantile ma
rine, the outlook for shipping industry
in these islands was nothing but rosy.
| Business Expansion Ahead.
British bankers and merchants look
forward to a great increase of business
with South America in 1920. They ex-
pect to hold their pre-war customers
and to gain much tof what Germany
lost. They profess to discount the
prospect that the United States will
acquire control Of the South American
field.
Many nations are anxious to buy
from Great Britain. How some of them
can pay is a problem. The decline in
exchange rates had a depressing effect
on American trade but exchange with
France, Italy and smaller markets is
favorable to Great Britain.
Against these reasons for business
confidence stand two handicaps in the
form Of financial and labor conditions
The national debt appears appalling tc
the British public but optimists argue
that it Is smaller than was the debt
after the Napoleonic wars, measured
by the country's wealth and potentia.
producing power.
Some Propose Levy.
The question of clearing the decks
by some form of a capital levy is still
at the front and may be one of sthe
burning political questions of the year
The naturalization of mines an6
railways is another British probleTs
and with it are linked questions Of
. hours and wages Which confront al
industries alike and which England
, shares with America. 1t has been sale
that Great Britain's recovery after the
Napoleonic wars was possible througt
underpaid labor but British employers
do not expect this to be among the
assets of the future. On the contrary
many industrial leaders say Britt
industry is facing question whether
the steady increase in wages may no
become a dangerous handicap IL
competition with other countries.