Evening star., 1921-10-30
PASSING OF STRIKE MENACE
A HALT TO REHABILITATION
Railroads Under Heavy Wage Burdens
and Demands for Rate Reductions Are
Without Much Purchasing Power.

Citations are growing stronger with
each and every day, and they may
be expected to keep up fight.
Every shareholders interest must
be protected.
Local Securities.
The success attending the Potomac
Electric fiotation Of $2,200,000 per
cent bonds has been the feature Of
the week.
1t has given strength to all public
utility bonds and also strength 10 the
shares of these corporations.
Late reports have been very favor
able as to the earnings Of the various
utilities. all showing increases over
the 1920 records. 1t is expected that
the next two months Will give these
corporations their banner earnings.
Business Situation.
Possession or about 43 per cent of
the worlds known gold supply, says
the National City Bank, places on
this country a heavy responsibility,
some time to come the main reliance
of all nations in financing the world
back to d normal basis again. Aneri-
can investors are absorbing immense
quantities OF foreign bonds. and
great deal more Of this financing will
be arranged for during the next few
months. Never in the history Of this
country have American holdings OF
foreign securities been as large as
they are today. The American mar
ket FOR foreign bonds has stood the
test well, and an immense volume OF
the best loans have been absorbed by
actual investors and are being held
for income-producinS purposes. Con-
tinued tirmness of liberty bonds has
been An important factor in the re-
v!val OF Investment buying, for It
must never be forgotten that the
various liberty bond issues have been
distributed as no other bond issues
ever were distributed in the United
States before. Through the liberty
loan campaigns fully 100000 new
port of the bond market. and while
thousands have restricted their pur-
chases to government bonds alone,
many thousand others have broadened
their interest and have taken other
securities besides the liberty loan is
sues. This has revolutioniZed the
bond market since the world war be
gan, adding enormous potential
strength.
The country is getting into better
shape, and slowly but surely the COM
pncated problems of the readjustment
period are being solved satisfAc-
torily. The undertone to business is
good, and in various lines there are
gains over last year. A large number
OF loans are still frozen" however,
dAllouSh tHeIS has Dceu
headway made within the last six
weeks in iquidating long standing
Indebtedness. People are feeling more
hopeful than they did, and there is no
doubt but that the country is making
sustained headway in directions where
q year ago very great uncertainty
prevailed. The inflow of foreign gold
continues, and in some sections there
has been distinctly easier tendency
TO redlscount rates. The lowering of
the redIScount rates by several re-
serve banks last month was not ac-
companied by any sensational eXpan-
sion OF speculative activities. on the
contrary. the large lending institu-
tons OF the great reserve centers nave
been careful to limit their advances
for the most part to strictly produc-
tive enterprises. The average family
is living more'nearly within its means
and the setting to work OF many
thousand idle men through the facil!-
ties provided by the recent unemploy-
ment conference at Washington has
added considerably to the purchasing
power of the laboring class. Immense
dement's are expected from the dis
armament conference, for il is gener-
ally recognized that the whole world
is sick and tired of expending a large
portion of its income for -produc-
tive and destructive expenditures"