The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-18
Confidence Is Reflected
 Ln Financial Circles

the railway labor board has abrogated the national agreement" so reconsign- ing the wage problem to negotiation be- tween the executives of each road and It's employees. Tn handing down this de- clsion the board has promulgated what appear to be some very sensible rules or
 principles by which these negotiations must be governed. One of them which will be generally approved, recognizes the principles of the eight-hour day. provided eight hours work requiring practically eight hours continued appH- cation is given for eight hours pay
 Thus is vindicated John Stuart Mlls' observation, made over 50 years ago. that
 Americans, when confronted by a grave economic question, have often seemed upon the point of doing the wrong thing, but in the end the common sense of the people has prevailed and they have done the right thing
 l To the more optimistic news received at the end of the week the stock mar Ret responded by advances of from l to per cent, and the cotton market, which had been slightly depressed in sympathy with Lancashire, also stiffened, despite the continued exploitation of a bearish statistical position. I emphasize this re- sponsiveness to the encouraging and ir- responsiveness to the discouraging as corroborative of the general belief that liquidation is complete, that the weak or t1mid have sold out and that the stocks, bonds and commodities that are readily convertible have passed into the hands of philosophic buyers, who are content to hold them until the inevitable turn in the tide arrives.
 That this turn is approaching is indi- cated by many items in the weeks news. Thus the cotton consumption of the | orf.a for any month since last September, bs- ing ,sSs bales, as compared with 2s4,- S61 last. December and 5757S9 in March, 19oO. It is also significant that concur rently with a report that call money is lending at IFS per cent on the Tokio stock exchange, there has been some re- vival of speculative activity in silk, which was almost the first commodity to decline when the landslide started last year.
 GOLD POURING IN
 1 This is mentioned as evidence of the relationship between cheap money and commodity prices, because nearly s10- 00o,0oc in gold has arrived at New York during the week. and it is impossible to believe that this golden flood can con- tinue without reducing interest rates. f, The federal reserve bank in Boston has, | in fact, cut it's rediscount rate from to per cent, and it's action, taken with the approval of the federal reserve board has had a pronounced effect upon the money market generally.
 l Just where the gold is coming from is still something of mystery. There 1 is a strong suspicion that much of it l is Russian gold that has been melted down in Sweden and Paris, but it is in- formally intimated that s5,00o.000 of the weeks imports is German gold accumu- l lated in Sweden in exchange for goods | sold lover period of years
 1 Second in importance to the gold move ment is further advance of 2d in the l London quotations for silver. which is ] now 6lsd over the low price of March 5. Concerning this leading authority re- marks that "it has often happened that when any kind of turn was coming in the general movement of prices an ad- vance or decline in silver gave the first | sign" Other straws that show the di- | rection of the business current are Brad streets report that building permits is sued in 155 cities in March contemplate construction that will cost $11S, ,000, QUO. which is gain of E.6 per cent over February and a decrease of only lS.S per cent as compared with March, 1920 At the rug and fur auctions recently held in New York the offerings, which were large found buyers at good prices. ana III tne Iextlle traue optimism IS lo be inferred from hosiery market that is described as buoyant, and a cotton cloth market that shows positive inn provement in many quarters"
 Bank clearings as reported by Brad street are 30.9 per cent under last year. but as Bradstreet's index number regis ters a decline of about 45 per cent the mathematically indicated conclusion is a larger turn over of goods. The re- e< <hA -y~ ~sv,rr chn ing a reduction of only n per cent in money value of the wholesale pur- chases reported for the week ending April Is, confirms this conclusion. The opinions of the we'll informed, as well as the facts are also more cheer