The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-31
LONDON TALKS SHORTER WAR,
 MARKET RISES
CID Head Sets That Goal As Prime Requisite tO
 Win Peace
nY o. N MAELENAN

United Prem tsafe CoweepeMaeMtl
 tondon, December Si, - (upl -- tondone financial district ls wlnd- Mg up leAa in e blAse of confidence tired hy the United Nations seizure sf the offensive on every front of Ghls glohal war and by the growing conviction that leaS or lvAA will gee Inc collapAe Of the Axis powers, While Brltlsh market men dld more talking than trading through. out the year, the gloom that per~ vaued the financial district at the start oe leAs has given way to . cautious optimism, NS witness the Steaay rise in London Stock Ex. change prices slneo mld.yeNr, , Pesslmlsts who only last January were lamenting that Britain has again become involved in . Hun. dred Years War, are now predict ing that Germany will be de. PrusslanlHed" and ''tle.NaElfled" . within the next year or two. fol. lowed by Q century of peace, IVY AHt AAVM ehOtt~WWt eVANhh&ht ess tho City of London Is Illustrated ,hy the substantial sums being wagered here that Hitler will com init suicide before November, ioaS,
 A review Of ie49 Stock Exchange prices suggests that tho turn for the better first became apparent in JlNie. At any rate, prices of the leading industrial shares, which were more or less unchanged through tho first half Of the year, rose iS per cent in tho second half.
 Even gold shares, which had been losing their popularity aa an infla- ton hedge, staged . slEable rec covery, These Issues, aS . group, lest 2l DOT cent of their market value in tho first six months Of luAa but ended the year only II DOT cent below December, ieAl, levels, Government securities, on the other hand, remained virtually begged for the entire year,
 Major factors behind the change ln the British market sentiment, of course, were tho military events ahroad--thc Eighth Armys defeat of Rommcl In Egypt, the effective Russian defense of Stalingrad, Allied landings in North Africa, and American naval successes in the Pacific. But the vast improve. menu In home front production also played on important role in this turnabout
 No statistical evidence of the im- provement in production Is avail ahlo to the general public here, but both political and financial quart CTS now say their own sources Of information have convinced them 5 that the various ministries claims Of hig quantities Of aircraft, mu. nitlcns, guns and trucks rolling off the assembly lines are substantially true.
 Many factories have established Joint production committees of executives and workers which have speeded up production ard in gen. eral ip42 was marked by much preater smashing of bottleneckS than ever before, The coal indus. try, e sore spot In British industrial hlatefy for the past century, was one Of the few lines to show only moderate progress, despite vigorous eftorts by tho miners and their leaders to increase the output,
 Supporting their contention that Britain now Is approaching the maximum war effort to which it has been building up slowly over Inc past three years, financial ob-
 civers cite the figures listed in
 Inc government budget for the iga2-a3 fiscal year. official fore- rasts call for spending ogf f5 5,280,- poo, 900 tS2i, i,i44, ,000000 That iig- lre would represent . nominal in- erease of Il per cent over the pre-. 'lous i2 months, but fl higher prices md wages are taken Into consider ,tion the rise would be only about
 per cent.
 In other words. Britain at last $ utilizing very nearly all Of its physical capacity, with only man. power limitations restricting the number of additional factories which can Dc established.
 post.war planning occupied more
 inc in the British financial world
 turing io42 than did actual mar et trading, and one of the most widely discussed topics was the
 memorandum issued by c group of 20 leading industriallsts tenta-
 lively outlining q scheme for re-
 rnanlzlng British industry nfter