The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1922-01-13

men against the July reduction must
be impressed with the fact that any
trade that insists on being placed on a
wage pedestal of its own Is bound to
suffer ultimately. In this connection,
the stand against reductions of many
in the building trades and the attitude
of the coal miners who talk of demand
ing advances next April must seem
puerile, especially in view of the de-
preston and short time that has ruled
the fuel trades for year past. In the
popular mind, also, the average retail
er Is case In point Of overstaying the
market and of belated reductions fail
ing to find the sale they might havo
realized earlier before purchasing pow
er was curtailed by low prices to the
farmer and short time or unemploy-
ment industries.
The foreign situation seems to havo
many more elements of strength than
would seem possible from cursory
glance at the past. II the calculations
of the Department Of Commerce as to
volume versus value of trade are cor
rect, better demand exists than u
year ago-at n price. The political
situation abroad looks far better than
ona or two yeas ago despite the woeful
condition of the central Europe ex-
changes. The collapse of the printing
press brand Of money should have
some lessons for our own medicine
men" and quack doctors who would
create values by fiat. With protection
guaranteed by the stronger powers,
against incursions of the eastern
hortles, who have admitted that their
own combination Of socialism and muir
der has failed to bring about the mil
lcnnium, central Europe should rally
because It's peoples are mainly workers
and have not arrived ut the point,
reached by some advanced thinkers
nearer home, where they believe men
can live by agitation alone.
The course Of events In the past
year, and especially since the late sum
mer, would seem to point to the nor.
NAL conditions following the bursting
Of boom having made fair progress.
II was said quite early In 1920 that we
were experiencing the secondary cf-
fects of the usual panic depression, In
dustrial stagnatlon and shutdowns
without having had the acute troubles
that had pcceded these in other years
of stress. III reports are to be believ-
ed, the unemployment trouble Ia not 80
great as II was earlier last year or in
the last months Of 1920, although eff
forts Of sunshine societies cannot close
our eyes to the fact that an unprece-
dmted amount of labor was displaced
In m'dyear. With easing money rom
the summer onward, the usual phen-
omena of active demand for fixed IN
terCs: securities, bonds etc, was wit
messed. The stock market proper
seemed to lag, but still average prices
of rail- and industrials advanced 10
and 25 per cent, respectively, from the
low of summer. The strength Of OK
change Is another favorable sign.
Backward weather and reduced pur-
chasing power were brakes on final
distribution in the autumn, and Dccem-
Dor failure liquidation was equal to
that of the worst month In our history,
January 1915, but manifestations like
the latter have often been termed the
Judgments Of the court OF last resort
In the business world. With the close
Of 1921 and the realization that two
years Of liquidation and depression
have passed, the feeling OF cheerful
ness IL more marked than 1t was.
Summed up, the business barometer Ia
now net ut about "fair", but courage
and care seem to be essentials IN tho
commercial world as we face the an
certainties of 1922