The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-25
February, 1921 9,297,000
 214,525,000
March, 1920 $819,556,000 523,923,O00'
$274,772,OOO
S295,533,OOO


 hent upon financial suicide rather than financial gain, This is the reductio ad absurdum of Mir. Lauck's arraignment, developed at some length lest his alle- gatlons uncontroverted might mislead the public who are always willing to believe the worst of Wall sh eet I have lived on or near that nefarious thoroughfare for D years and know that my peighbors are neither more nor less selfish or un- selfish than their countrymen elsewhere The commodity markets are in the dol drums, Cotton defines one day and ad- vances the next, while the trade waits for accurate information as to the acre age planted. A reduction of at least g per cent is expected If this expectation is realized prices will probably advance. laWheat shows increased resistance as the July option approaches the dollar mark and at or near that price the demand appears to exceed the supply
 In the textile trade the area of activity seefns to be widening. In the paper in dustry the reverse appears to be the case The advantage is now with the buyers in the newsprint market and all grades of paper are lower. The sensa- tional decline in the stock of the Rior- don Pulp and Paper company Of Canada, which is traded in on the Montreal stock exchange, where it sold last Wednesday at B. as against 226 on July 14, 1926,
 
 had assumed that the law of supply and demand did not apply in the case of pa per.
 MONEY MARKET RELAXES
 The money market has again relaxed. Six per cent on the stock exchange and , per cent outside are the current rates for call loans Time money is in far supply at from 615 to per cent Lower rates are generally expected. At the federal reserve banks in Boston, Phila- delphia Cleveland Richmond, St. Louis, Kansas City and San Francisco the re- discount rate on commercial paper is now per cent. Gold continues to come in and a further gain in the reserve ra- tio is anticipated. On and after April 27 the weekly statement of the federal reserve system will be made public on Friday and will be included in this let ter.
 The stock market has been dull. A few securities have declined reflecting conditions peculiar to themselves without been solidly steady. Railroad stocks ap- pear to have reached the irreducble minimum and go up more easily than they decline. slight advance in the price of Pennsylvania crude petroleum has stiffened the market for oil stocks and the irrepressible optimism of the automobile trade is reflected by the ad- vance in some of the motor stocks. Brokers say that the investment buying of odd lots is enormous and the trans- fer offices very busy.
 The offering of $i0,o000O0 per cent fed eral land bank bonds went surprisingly well in view of the fact that it was not underwritten. Some F or 15 millions were sold the first day and it Is expected that the entire issue will be disposed of with iE a week. The other large offerings brought out during the week have been readily taken. Similar conditions are reported from London, where the secur- ity markets are said to be almost buoy ant in expectation of easier money. In the foreign exchange market francs and sterling are higher but marks are lower, probably because France has demanded that the Reichbank shall surrender the billion marks in gold that it holds.
 This demand is regarded as rather ri- dicuous. AS far as known the Reich banks gold is the only gold held in Ger many as a reserve against paper cur rency issues aggregating nearly 100000 00,000 marks. If it is removed this pa- per currency would probably be value less and a panic would ensue In Ger many that would make it >for years im- possible for her to pay anything.
 BOTH PROPOSALS ABSURD Germanys proposal that the United States should act as umpire in fixing the amount to be paid for separations is no less absurd than the French proposal to take the Reichbanks gold. President Earding's rejection of the proposal is generally approved as entirely logical and wise.
 The coal strike still continues in Great Britain but seems to be in a fair way of settlement. The enemies of Lloyd George are insisting that the collapse Of the Triple alliance was a happy acci- dent for which he is not entitled 70 credit. It is strange how accidents seem to favor men of transcendent ability. Some American jngoes profess to see the clouds of war forming over the is- land of Tap, concerning which our gov ernment and that of Japan are in cor respondence They quote President Hard ings declaration in his New York speech that Eve stand willing to fight if nec- essary to protect these continents and these sturdy young democracies from op- pression and tyranny as ominous Most people are, however, going about their business undisturbed by the thought of another and unthinkable war and the very tranquility of the country is the best guarantee that the question at issue will be dspassionately dealt with This tranquility is in fact an evidence or our commercial and financial as well as of our political equipoise that augurs all fA. ftA Gut, sx. ..,k