The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-21
Decreased Bank Clearings
 Doesn't Proue Depression--
 Dollar Is Growing m Value

firm has published what purposts to be a. forecast of the railroad "regrouping' or consultations that may be brought about under the Esch-Cummins bill. It
 is too long for republication, but it
 suggests combinations in the making
 of which many possibilities of profit
 and economy may be latent These
 possibilities probably explain the con
 fidence with which railroad stocks are
 now being held. The liquidation in Liberty bonds ap-
 pears to be almost entirely at an end,
 and they advance easily upon the exc cution of comparatively small buying orders. Taken as d whole the security markets. like the commodity markets appear to be sold out and likely to im- prove sharply upon favorable news. Numerous wage reductions continue to be reported, but the employees for the most part have accepted them as necessary, although some resistance by walk -outs has been attempted in one or two isolated cases. Speaking gener- ally. however. the willingness of labor to recognize the increased purchasing power of money is reassuring and un- employment is decreasing. In the steel industry much price cutting is report !, ed, but an improved inquiry is noted. curious but interesting development ] is the demand for steel plates to be used in the manufacture of washing | machines and in the Atlantic Monthly
 for February it is stated that one order l for a million of these machines was i recently placed.
 1 The financial collapse of state social ism in North Dakota, where 35 banks ! have recently failed, and the State bank, whose only capital was state i bonds. is one of the striking develop
 ments of the week. The discredited leaders of the Non Partisan league who
 had assumed that it would be possible l to borrow on the state bonds when real money was required have found out
 their mistake. and until a thorough go-
 ing financial reform has been effected | in North Dakota. 1t seems unlikely that the existing tie-up which amounts to a moratorium, can be relieved.
 The predicament is not. however as serious as it would seem on the sur 1 lace, for the state of North Dakota is undoubtedly good for it's obligations, provided it has a government that is economically sane and conservative. It IS nevertheless true that the many hard headed farmers who had come to
 believe in state socialism have lost
 heavily and have been severely shocked.
 FOREIGN REPORTS The news from abroad is as usual ! conflicting. The fact that Swiss brewer is labelling his beer bottles with l the one krone paper notes that pass as l money in Austria and Hungary is con vincing evidence that a thorough financial housekeeping is necessary in
 many parts Of Europe before normal conditions can be re-established 1 In England, however, a distinct inn
 provement is reported. and one cable says that the magnitude of our invest
 ment resources is demonstrated by the | success attending new capital issues" l This view is confirmed by the com | parative steadiness of sterling ex
 change in the New York market. and
 the campaign which Sir Reginald Me
 kenna is making to secure reduction
 in the Bank of England rate In ad-
 dressing Parliament, Lloyd George ad-
 mitited that there was but little dis
 tress because 12.000.000 people were i'm
 sured against it by unemployment pol ! icies which gave those who could not find work IS shillings week.
 l The refusal of the Italian workmen | at Turin to make war material or weapons is a significant revelation of
 the present European attitude toward militarism. %,as
 | The debate over the reparation pay
 ments to be assessed upon Germany has been temporarily suspended, but Ger1an prosperity is still featured in i the French newspapers. A cable from
 Stockholm via Paris reports that the | whole of the Russian soviet Baltic | squadron has revolted and that the
 sailors of the fleet have proclaimed their independence of the Moscow bol- | sheviki and the Lenin-Trotsky gov ernment.
 ! Concurrently reversion toward ma I tionalism and religion" is said to be
 developing in north Russia and the
 Ukraine. where the authority of the
 church, which is opposed to commun-
 ism, is again obtaining recognition. Rumors of Lenin's death are again
 gaining currency, and there are many l who believe that the bolshevist gov
 ernment is tottering. If it should fall
 and Russia with its 1S0,00o,0 of peo- pie is brought under the influence of
 a beneficent government, the last seri- ous obstacle in the way of European reconstruction would be removed and J the effect upon the new as we'll as the
 old world would be revivifying.
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