Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-09
THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK.

- point the business barometer
is set for fair weather. Not in
many years has the crop outlook
been so fine at this season of the
year. The extra rapid growth Of
the crops in the last few weeks has
almost wiped out the handicap Of a
late spring. The Tribune crop re-
ports show that winter rye is al
ready heading out in some portions
of the state. Also that the acreage
of grain crops put in this spring is
much larger than vas expected. In
some way the farmers got the seed
and the needed labor and put in the
crops. What will the harvest be9
If we could surely answer that
question we could predict business
conditions through another year.
We a at least declare that we
have got a fine start in the race for
October harvests, though we fully
realize that many possible disasters
lie ahead of us in the next ninety
days. However, we think it will
be conceded, even by the worst
pessimist, that one crop can hardly
fail US. That is the hay crop. It
is more important than 1t may
seem at first glance also. 1t is
the insurance Of food for horses,
cattle, and sheep, in the long Mon
tana winter that comes after har-
vest days are over. We r going
to have plenty of hay this year.
The meadows have a fine start and
moisture enough to bring to matur-
ity the first hay crop. A good crop
of grain as we'll as hay would 60
far to pull many a farmer out of
his financial troubles and set bust
ness humming in Montana.
Montana and the northwest was
the last to experience the effect OF
business depression after the war. It
appeared first on the Pacific coast
and in the far east, and these sec
tions are also the first to feel the
return of business prosperity. There
is much less unemployment in the
country than there was a couple of
months ago, and that in spite of
some big strikes now under way,
including 100000 coal miners. 1t
looks as though this industrial idle
ness might be very largely in
creased in a few weeks by a great
railroad strike. But just now there
is getting to be plenty of work for
those who want to work, and after
a long spell of hunting jobs most
workers are glad of the chance to
work, even at lower wages than
they once got.
The crisis of the coal strik will
come in the next thirty days when
present surplus stocks will become
pretty we'll exhausted. If the coal
miners strike is supported by a
general railroad strike, as now
seems possible, returning prosper
ity will hide its head for some time.
However, when it pinches US hard
enough we expect the government
will wake up and take a hand in
restoring transportation in spite of
their advertised policy of doing
nothing because they have no au-
thority. Congress with an election
coming on is inclined to pass the
buck to the executive department
and the executive department to
pass the buck back to congress.
But when the people really get
pinched they yell, and get mad,
and then both congress and the
executive department gets in a
panic, and they proceed to do some
thing to cure the situation.
Very likely we will go through
that process again. This menace
Of interrupted transportation and
checked production by strikes is
really the darkest cloud on the
business horizon of the nation at
this time. 1t it were not for. that
we would say that the business
barometer was set for fair weather
all over the Unitd States. Produc-
ton is increasing. Prices are no
longer falling. They are stable or
rising. The readjustments and re-
construction following a great war
is almost finished. The weaker
business houses that could not abb
sorb their losses due to declining
prices and declining volume of bust
ness have mostly been eliminatd
by failure and bankruptcy. Those
that survived have lightened their