Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-20
ey STUART p. WEST
ejs, ro~--es-ondent OF Great Falls Tribune
v,,cb, 1000 Ry The Great Falls Tribune.

co ,.,,is ,'. 1922. By The Z, Great Falls rri6ans.
New York, Aug. 19.-Interest in
the financial situation this week has
been divided between the progress
made in adjusting labor troubles at
home and the lack of progress oward
any solution of the great questions
which cloud the outlook abroad. The
strike, which has tied up the coal trade
is now virtually settled. The struggle
with the coal miners was always of far
more consequence than the struggle
with the railroad shopmen.
As statistics on car loadings have
shown, the walkOut of the shopmen
has had very little effect during the
last six weeks in curtailing the move
ment of freight. Whether a continued
walkcut would result in deteriorating
equipment and q great reduction in
transportation of merchandise is a
matter regarding which much differ
ence Of opinion has been expressed.
But the figures to date have all been
on the side of the carriers. The threat
bers Of the Big Four road brother
hoods quickly petered out. There were
isolated walkouts but that was all. The
fear of a general railway paralysis had
completely disappeared by the middle of
the week.
Greater Production at Hand
On the other hand the coal stu
alton was 7undeniably serious. Short
age of fuel would have forced the steel
plants to reduce operations from about
50 per cent to around 30 per cent.
Other big industries were as badly hit
and had the crisis continued, even for
q short time further, it would have
had very unpleasant results upon bust
ness of the country. 1t has helped,
therefore, to settle the soft coal
strike. even if the settlement has not
been the sort that the operators
would liked to have seen. Manufacture
ing industries may now look forward
to getting back to the production of a
month and two months ago. The rail-
roads. with coal shipments at a max
imum as they surely will be, face a
demand upon their facilities probably
greater even than that which resulted
in the famous freight congestion of
1917.
With a normal supply once more,
with uncommonly large grain harvests,
with a cotton crop which, although
less, if anything, than the average,
promises to bring prices fully as high
as a year ago, and with money and
credit conditions the easiest in four
years, the outlook for the autumn and
coming winter is favorable. 1t has not,
moreover. been over discounted by
violent Wall street speculation. The
rise from the prices of a year ago
has been very considerable but it has
not been accompanied by any huge out
side speculation. straining bank loans
and created initiation, such as char
acterized the markets of 1915 and
1913.
Unworried by Germany
The one question that must always
be asked with solicide is how far, If
at all, our domestic business and fin
ancial conditions would be affected by
the complete breakdown of Germany.
Cable dispatches very recently have
pictured banking sentiment on the
other side as app%rehensive of a gen.
eral panic should the PREPARATIONS com
mission side with France against Eng
land and encourage the French to carry
out alone the drastic program set for
the premier at the London confer
ence. But so far, apart from what is
or the whole a moderate decline in
French, Belgian and Italian exchange,
the markets of the last fortnight have
not supported the notion of serious
uneasiness below the surface.
Foreign government securities have
yielded very little. the general invest
ment list at London and Paris has
been steady. and more striking still.
sterling exchange has within the last
few days sold within 2 cents a pound
of the very highest of the year. These
are symptoms quite incompatible with
alarm lest Germany drag the rest Of the
nations with her on the downward path.
German Mark May Go Lower
How the German reparations pro-
gram will eventually be worked out so
as to avoid a crisis in France and Bel
GUM is still very hard to see. But
Great Britain, not being dependent
upon German indemnity payments,
having successfully balanced her
budget and regained the credit side in
her trade with the outside world. occu-
pies a comparatively independent posi-
tion. So. even more does the United
States. where with Germany
and France together is an insignificant
part of the total home and foreign
trade. Meanwhile, no limit can be set
to the fall of the German mark now
that the German government has con
fessed its inability to meet any of it's
obligations. in gold. The German posi-
ton. to be sure, is not comparable to
that of Austria. because there has been
no such tremendous loss of territory
and resources with the former as with
the latter. Still, it is of interest and
possible significance that whereas be-
fore the wal the Austrian crowd was
worth in American money only 31a
cents less than the mark, it takes
ODD crowns at the present time TO