The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-12


 mistic utterances by, such personages
 are accepted as a matter of course.
 One man has returned from Europe
 whose statements can be accepted not
 only as independent, but as based on long experience in forming sound Judgments on financial and economic
 matters. This man is John Moody,
 whose ratings" of bonds and stocks
 are now accepted all over the country
 as standard.
 MT. Moody went to Europe to find things out for himself. In America the call for information concerning European investments has increased so enormously during the last few years that Moody's organization found 1t nec-
 esary to "cover" Europe much more exhaustively than ever before. He | was in a position to supplement his own observations and investigations by khe services of his own trained corres- l pondents in the principal centers.
 Reasoning that the ,H conclusions ;..ssnas Intelligent citizens throughout this coun- l try, I sought him out and obtained l from him the following pointed state l ment:
 "The outstanding fact that impressed l me most on my visit to Europe Is that 1.-the war wounds are steadily healing. This appears especially true in France, where the Dawes plan settlement with Germany has diverted peoples attention away from the agitation which attend ed the Ruhr occupation for so long. "The typical Frenchman is now be- ginning to face practical problems more Iearnestly than at any time since the | Ilclose of the war. He has accepted the Dawes settlement and is beginning to 1 recognize that while 1t does not insure 1.-the collection of great sums from Ger
 many, it at least is bringing about an |lera of general stability. And in the |lplace of the brick throwing between |lGermany and France, which was going lon so merrily year ago, one now lily maturing plans for joint industrial lactivities between the French and Ger |Imans.
 "EngIand's election has made a pro Hound impression on the continent and lonly in France and Gesmany, but es- Ipecially in the neutral nations.
 "In short, there is a general under Flying feeling all over Western Europe |lthat an era of genuine stability is be- Hing ushered in, and that real progress |Irope to a more normal condition during lthe coming two or three years. "An Europe is watching the rehabili- Itation of Germany with profound ln- lterest and nothing seems to be develop ing at the moment of any great import ance to interfere with the program set up last summer.
 Turning to the east, large problems | still loom, such as that of Russia. But | Austria, in spite of some disappoint- ment over her progress, is unquestion- | ably holding her own, while the stabili- | zation of Hungarian finances under H Jeremiah Smith is a development of I great constructive importance. The out | look for Hungary is especially encour- H aging"
 II Cheering, is it not.
 H The one hopeless spot in Europe un- H occasionally is Russia. Badly as Brit H ain needs trade with Russia. It is sig N nificant that when Stanley Baldwin, Il the hard-headed business leader, became II minister, he found it impossible to get II anywhere with the anN-capitalist so- II yiets who are mismanaging Russia. II That Russia is likely to sink to still deeper depths of suffering and demor- Il lization is the conviction of nearly all II British and American financial and in II dl strial leaders familiar with condi- II tic ms there.
 Elsewhere in Europe, however, the ! barometer points towards fa1rer