New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1926-12-09
MELONS REPORT
STRESSES GREAT
PROSPERITY HERE
Continued from First Page3
are available.
Prohibition Progress

:
Reporting progress" in the en-
forcement Of the prohibition law,
Mr.. Mellon declared that if given the
! Legislation requested, the treasury
feels confident that it's reorganized
force. given the essential co-opera-
/ ton and assistance of the depart
ment Of .dstice, will be able, in the
future, to achieve even greater eff
fectiveness in the enforcement of
/ this law"
He believed the recognized pro-
hibition stat under the direction of
Assistant Secretary Andrews had in
the last year effectively stopped rum
smuggling and had gained the upper
hand on the diversion of industrial
alcohol and illicit ,'istilling. He en-
phasized that the federal forces were
, centering their attention on the
/ sources Of supplies and expected To-
col authorities to reassume their
responsibilities OF law enforcement.
Pronouncing the debt situation OF
| the government sound, Mr.. Mellon
pointed out that in the seven years
since the close of the war the public
! deb. has been cut by s5,S41.2S9,S45
to s19,643,2l6.315 on last July /. A
reduction of sS72,977,57a was made
in the lat year.
1--WE have worked hard and we
have progressed" the secretary con-
tinued. During tho year commodity
prices generally have declined slight
ly and farm prices have not yet been
restored to their relative position as
compared with all prices.
Wages Are Good
There is little unemployment and
wages are good. Industry is active.
There Is a close margin between
cost, and prices which has made
competition severe, but due to the
great volume of business and guam
, tity production, profits. small In each
transactien, have been large in the
aggregate. The most notable i'm
provement has been the restoration
Of the railroads to their proper
place In the Community. The rail-
roads are one of the principal fac.
tors in tho strength Of the country"
Mr.. Mellon endorsed the princi-
pies of installment buying and the
making of foreign loans. with prop
er caution in each. Installment
value and II the payments are not
made too light in an effort to slim
ulate consumption in times OF de-
cline.
Foreign Loan. Policy
| He said the treasury was not
passing upon the soundness Of par
| ticular foreign loans, a problem en-
tirely for private bankers.
| III foreign loan Is productive
and by that / mean that the debtor
out Of the use of the money Dor
rowed can repay the principal. the
interest, and make profit for it.
self-then I think foreign loans are
sound" he said.
Warning against the trend in In
vestments and loans on securities
without q proportionate increase In
short term commercial bills, how
ever. he continued:
"Sincc 1t is the latter which are
the most easily liquidated, we are
gradually noting a decline in assets
which may be rediscounted at the
Federal Reserve banks and thus in
what may be called the liquidity of
bank assets. This trend has In no
way endangered the strength Of our
banking system. but it is a move
ment which may require care lest it
go too far"
He also suggested that there
might have been some overbuilding,
but called attention that this and
| other unhealthy situations includ-
ing the land boom in Florida" had
subsidized without serious injury.
Likewise. the bumper crop may hurt
the growers temporarily he said,
but on the other hand it will give
the textile industry an opportunity
for recovery"
Urging the necessity for main
tanning adequate tax rates until the
real measure of present prosperity
and power Of the present revenue
bill had been made, Mr. Mellon said
he had no objection to returning
this years prospective surplus by
credit to income taxpayers Of 80 per
cent on each OF their first two In
stalments next year, n proposal pre-
scented to congress by President
Coolidge.