The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-11
Mean Line Of Progress Is
 Steadily Upward, But With
 Punctuation at 10 Per Cent
Growing Ease of Money and the increasing Bank Re- serves Are Prerequisites of Business Activity, While Stock Market Is Distinctly Primer
 and Substantially Higher

cotton crop, which puts the reduction in acreage at 2S per cent and con- notes hitherto unattainable degree of cooperation among the southern fa1 mers, by virtue of which they will in the future be able to control the price of cotton, thereby assuring req sonable prosperity to the south.
 ,. The manifest improvement in the Railroad situation evidenced by a very substantial increase in net earn ings for May,
 6. The remarkable increase in saw ings bank deposits in New York and Chicago during the past six. months. '. The generally improved position of the public utility companies in the United States as result of the gen eral advance in street car fares and public service charges that has been authorized.
 8. The increase in building activity that is reported from all over the country and the general belief that there Is a large potential demand for steel that will make itself felt when | prices are reduced.
 g. The good distributive trade that | Is reported In most wholesale staple markets and a retail trade in essen tials whose volume as indicated by it's money value is as large as last year
 10, The manifestly better feeling in | England that has followed the settle ment of the coal strike and the pour parlers now being held in Dublin and London from which a permanent so- hutton of the troublesome Irish prob lem Is expected.
 As against this impressive array 1 of the encouraging there is to be put
 Tariff Fight
 The prospect of a long fight in l Congress over a tariff measure. that Is in many respects objectionable i and may seriously curtail our foreign | trade.
 The possible passage of bill do- hating a bonus of from two to five billions to those who served in the war.
 l The delay of Congress in attacking l the problem of taxation and dimin- , ishing the burden with which enter prise is now unfairly handicapped
 The political and economic compli- cations in which Obregon has in- volved himself in Mexico and the pos sbility that he will shortly be un seated.
 The acute financial distress, in Cuba and the resulting tie-up of American capital there.
 It Is, however, to be noted that all of these troubles except the Cuban crisis are in futuro, and arc therefore preventable if we work hard enough. The passage of the l bonus bill. which would make it nee essary to issue two or three billions more bonds Is the thing most to be feared. Everyone who believes that l 1t will involve an unwarranted raid on the treasury and lead to an orgy of extravagance ought to oppose 1t with all the influence he can com mand.
 If and when 1t is finally killed there will be less difficulty in persuading Congress to revise the tax laws intel ligenly and minimize the obstacles to foreign trade that the tariff is certain to create. This is about all that can be hoped for, but if through the united use of their influence the business men of this country can, in l duce Congress to act with reasonable | economic intelligence there is reason to expect that American business