The Washington herald., 1922-06-11
FIN a N CIAL
STOCKS HOLD FIRM
AS HOT WEATHER
HITS WALL STREET
Business improvements
Keep Color Under Ad-
verse Conditions.

NEW YORK, June 1O.-Wltn tne
stock market lapsing back into q
iassitude which commonly attends tne
advent of hot weather. evidence OF
the substantial nature Of the improve
ment in business conditions continues
10 nile up. Steel production holds
steady at a rate close to rs per cent
Of war expanded capacity and rail-
way car loadings is good while the
output Of automobiles and the volume
of building construction contracted
during May both set new high records.
1t is now clear that the dislocation of
normal Industrial relationships oc-
casioned by the war has its compensa-
tions. The metal and metal working
Industries were, to be sure. dispro-
portionately expanded. This redund-
ancy is. however, plainly being re-
duced, while the shortages in build
ings and in railroad equipment caused
by war controls have aided very
greatly in bridging the chasm Of de-
preston. With the Railroad Labor
Board announcing wage reductions In
others of the overpaid departments
indications are strengthened of its
intention to provide relief for the
carriers and so preserve the purchas-
ing power which is so important to
the equipment and steel industries.
Improving trade is not. however.
leading to any marked demand on the
money market. The sharp decline
in interest rates, particularly for
short time funds probably is over.
II is doubtful. however. If the price
of credit will show any tendency to
harden before autumn. and 1t is even
possible that a further slight soften
ing may occur. in the interim. Nor.
given easy money, does any major dis
turbance of the securities market
seem likely. Idle funds are likely to
continue to find their best utilization
during the summer season in securi-
ties particularly as long as the yield
on many sound issues remains ap-
preciably above the price OF accom-
mediation at the banks.
France Blocks Loans.
Coinciding with our betterment in
business the revival in foreign coun-
tries progresses. This is obviously
the case in England. Even il the
gain there is moderate and is at
tended by modest profits, 1t Is unmis-
taxable. Coal production has recov-
cred substantially and British colliers
have regained their export markets,
a circumstance which contributes
much to the rise in sterling exchange.
Lancashire cotton mills are operating
at 80 per cent OF capacity and the
demand for wool is better. Unem-
ployment is decreasing and commodity
prices there. as here. are firm. Signs
multiply. meanwhile. of the end of
German competition as a result OF
mark depreciation. Prices inside
Germany have caught UP with the
depreciation in exchange and profit
margins based on this discrepancy
have disappeared. Germany actually
Is buying British coal and German
shipyards are losing repair work to
their British competitors. 1t Is thus
demonstrated afresh that no method
has yet been devised to enable a coun-
try to lift itself by its economic boot
straps. Incidentally. the condition
casts light on the manifest folly of
imposing burdensome import duties
against a condition which all we'll
informed economists have repeatedly
pointed out. could in the nature Of
things, be nothing more than OF
transitory nature.
One cannot help lamenting the lat
est turn in the reparations discus
sions. Both Germany and the allies.
and particularly France, which is the
chief creditor Of Germany. have de-
sired an international loan to help
that country pay reparations. In
furthering this object the Preparations
Commission asked a group of eminent
and impartial bankers to devise a plan
under which such a loan might sue
ceed. The bankers have found that
they cannot devise a plan which Is
practicable within a strict interpre-
tation OF the Versailles Treaty. 1t
now develops that France alone Is
unwilling to have the bankers con-
slider the terms. without reference to
the Versailles Treaty under which a
loan might succeed. As France is the
country chiefly concerned and as she
must also be one of the subscribers
to a loan. it will be seen that her
attitude. which is due principally to
the exigencies of Premier Poincare's
political position, is blocking progress
In this most important of interna-
tional reconstruction problems.
CaII Money Low.
Banking estimates made last
night are that Wall Street accom-
modations now amount to $500, 900.
Yesterday the transactions in
time money reached an extremely
large volume. loans OF more than
slO.OOO,00O being arranged at new
low records for years. Ninety-day
money was placed at per cent and
six months money loaned at ~ per
cent In large amounts in the aggre-
gate. A thirty-day loan maturing
in the middle OF July was made at
3 y per cent The offerings of time
money were on a large scale after