Evening star., 1921-06-26
BY I. A. FLEMING.

Ket. as represented py wall street,
was discouraging, and there seemed
TO be no balm in Gilead.
Declines have passed d score of new
low marks. time and again the ripe
ness of the market for a turn has
been indicated only to find the bears
consistently pounding away here and
there throughout the list. exposing
the fallaCy of wartime prosperity
and the serious consequences OF Keep
ing up wild pace during time
when destruction was intense.
Every one seems to realize now
adayS that the imitation of the war
days, attendant on the purchase OF
$4,000, 900. 900 of our goods. with d
like amount of money loaned by our
government to our allies, was a DIT
of unprecedented foolishness. from
which it will take years to recover.
This seeming prosperity, whicn
stimulated wages above the normal
brought the cost of living far above
normal, made profiteers of men ana
women and SpendthriftS of people,
also turned some managers OF great
corporations from the straight anu
narrow out into broad fields OF Specu-
lation and induced them to pay great
stock dividends, which nave slnce
greatly strained the companies
From these conditions we are now
recovering slowly, with extreme eN-
ertion and with "a long, long ways
Tfpperarv-W wise before the return OF
the normal-the payment OF the SINS
of commission and omission.
From New York there come WINS.
pcrinEs that grow TO rumoilnSS oi
speculations of big men VINO nave
gone wrong, and who have been un-
covered by Il continuous declining
market for many months. and one
Chicago financial writer. with the as
surance of one who knows. even sus
yests there might be requirements
i'm some banks with old-time conSer-
vative bank officials. to whom the
stock market is not temptation
and to whom side issues are an
abomination.
The stock market has long since
taken the margined traders securi,
ties and will repeat. 1t has forced
out many of the class that has APP
peared determined to stay win II.
"as far as it will So, whose helolnSs
were paid for. the die In the iase 81
ditch kind" but who have yielded 10
the but human desire to save some
thing as the ship goes down.
some of these declines have been
so serious as to create the impress
sion that corporations might be COM
pel!ed to yield to the force of CIR
cumstanceS and reorSaniZc or quit
One encouraging fact that stands
out plainly on the gloom cloud Is tne
fact that the administrative is seek
ing WneTe II may SlNS
toward recovery. From fresideh'
Harding down. the leaders are seek
: ing information. are discussing plahs
with the men who know what is wha'
and from these conferences SOME
thing must develop. ,
Admittedly sore spot. the rail-
roads will command some addltlonal
measures of relief in the near future.
1T may be in speeding up the settle
,ments of the governments obllSa-
10
Though this is hardly probable. but 1t
will not be in higher rates, as IT Is
admitted that these are too hlSh now.
Congress must speed up certain leg
islatiop :f it would do its share OF
I the work Protection is needed for
the dye industry before Germany un-
, dermineS it. as she has Italian. Brit
ish and other dye industries-to the
enhancement of chemical depart
ment ever ready on short order for
war purposes.
Action on taxation is imperative, and
yet time passes and it discloSes no
real effort:
The close of the week brought
little relief to the market. but only
on good stocks. That there is any
thing in the situation today calculated
, to advance stocks steadily or for any
sharp advance is probably not a fact.
a sustained upward movement will
; not develop until there has been
Improvement III HHlliOHS,
visible to all.
Western Bankers OF on Record.
At the Whit House conference the
other evening George NJ. Reynolds.
long-time bankers. confidant of the
, senior Armour Marshall Field the
merchant prince of Chicago, and of
many of the leading financiers of that
city. and the great west. spoke from
: the viewpoint of the western banker.
Mr.. Reynolds. chairman of the
hoard of directors of the Continen-
/ tal-Comnl"rcial National Bank. was
listened t" very intently. just as his
brother. Arthur Reynolds. was some
, T'r. he gave the President some
western thoughts on conditions and
Needed action to repair damage.
George Vi. Reynolds took an en-
tirely different tack from the posi-
tion advanced by the eastern banker.
In doing so he represented the ag-
t-Tessive bankers of the great west
bankers without side issues to worry
them.
, Western bankers have been trained
, with theih eyes averted from Wall
street. trained to be helpful to
; the communities in which they are
located, just as are the banks of the
District Of Columbia today using
, Wall street only as a convenient mar
het at certain times to employ their
secondary reserves at going call
. rates while their required legal re-
: serves are held in reserve banks, pro-
GUcing nothing in the way of re-
turn.
These western financiers have
studied the European situation and
they fail to find much consolation
therein: much opportunity for salts
factory work with the needed as
suranCe of rccompense.
AS a result they have turned their
attention to the best market in the
Cao, ,o0O-ddd Americans and mixed
races have the real money of the
country. and not the debased cur
rency of central Europe nor the de-
preciated money of western Europe
ia their hands to exchange for that
which they need.
These western bankers seem to be
anxious to help the great hone mar
ket with the idea that it is much
=, more tillable soil than the foreign
trade field. at least until time shall
have wiped out some of the sores of
the world war
They are opposed to any more loans
to foreign countries: they approve of
the government viseing such loans be-
fore they are made. and in doing so
see beyond a commission: they are
utterly opposed to any attempt to
foist German reparation bonds on the
United States. nor is such project
possible no matter how skillfully con-
Cocted.
Mr.. Reynolds did not consider that
IL world be "altruiStic" to give the
allies a receipted bill for the 10000
10000 they owe the United States.
but IN this respect he Will probably
find many objectors. more than he
will to the project of developing the
American market.
Secretary Mellon has asked for au-
thority in handling the debt probably