New Britain herald., 1921-06-04
WEEKS REVIEW AND
 IMMEDIATE OUTLOOK
Henry CIeWS, New York Financial
 Expert, Gives His Opinions
Especial to the Heraldl

[ ment Of the German reparations dues 1 has at length been made and is taken | as demonstration of the ability of 1 German financial and industrial or ! Sanization to carry the strain inn l posed upon it by the program of the ! Allies. Included as element in 1 this first instalment of I00o.ooo,0OO | gold marks or in round numbers | S21o.oOO.0oO is a sum of about ESQ., | OoO,oOO in drafts on. New York. A 1 part or this transfer consists of Am eriean currency and other local ob- hEations. Further progress toward ] duieter conditions in Silesa and the gradual approach to q coal strike settlement in Great Britain are ele-
 ments in making for the adjustment or foreign economic relations to a ! peaceful basis.
 Better Prospects of the Railroads. nomestically the important factor in the weeks developments has been the decision of the Railway Labor ! board reducing the pay of employees by an average of about l2 per cent The cut is regarded as very moder- ate by railroad managers. although it should effect an economy of about s4oo,o00,0o0 per annum. Neverthe- less the reduction, amounting as it does to- only about 50 per cent of
 
 is insufficient to meet the needs of the railroads even with their pres ent scale of rates. The concession however, Is noteworthy because of lts being the first governmental de- cision against the extravagant claims
 Of labor, and if coupled with d rad ical agreement of the working agree
 ments should result in material say ings for the lines. April returns which are now more and more full ly available, show that decided econ- omies in railroad expenses have been
 brought about, although it should be remembered that these sayings are in many instances merely the postponement of necessary work On the I'll Class I railroads April operating income is s27.50o.0oO.
 against s21,eoo.ooo a year ago. The actual situation can be very much better understood a little later when the readjustment of wages wand prices is more nearly complete.
 Progress of Business.
 In spite of somewhat further fall of prices due to the general evening up of values in different branches of the industrial organiza- tion, better progress toward normal business conditions is evident. The
 
 I textile and other allied lines is the | uncertainty of buyers with regard to l the future price outlook. many bus mess men being still reluctant to | commit themselves far in advance | because of their fear that prices ! may prove unstable. In automobiles
 the recent cutting of prices has re- | suited in a large number of buying | orders for cars. especially of the | low cost type. but profits on sales are | necessarily reduced to a- minimum. | It is the prediction of the authori- ties that the steel and iron trade | will increase materially three months from now and that fall trade gen l orally will show conside "a blef expan- sion. The outlook, therefore, is by no means unfavorable, and if it were not for the fear of further important dividend reductions no doubt buying power in the market would be much larger. Efforts on the part of the administration to further the develop \ ment of export financing have been increased during the past week, at tempts being made to bring about greater activity on the part of the war finance corporation and to adopt conditions in the Federal Reserve 1 system moI" loosely 10 the current needs or husiHCa+ and agriculture. The latest export returns. bringing the figures down to the end of April |
 show still further recession of our favorable balance of trade. largely due to an increasing volume and | value of imported goods especially from European sources. Market Review and Outlook. Trading has been upon a relatively small scale with somewhat peSsi- | mistic tone throughout the ma rket, | due to continuous dividend reduc- tions and the fact that business re- l covery has been apparently so much | deferred. Some unexpected dividend 1 reductions during the past week as well as others that had been pre- dicted have tended to unsettle market 1 prices. particularly in the steel and | automobile groups Of stocks. The l main son why the railroad shares l in particular have not responded to l n greater extent to the wage an 1 nouncement is that the marIlet is in l a rut and is disposed, therefore, to l ignore news events whether favor | able or nnfavorable. Perhaps the 1 greatest disappointment in connec- l ton with the market is the retro | grade movement in the quotations l for the motor stocks as 1t had been for the better in the automobile in dustrv had taken place. The renewed | weakness in tho steel shares is di-