Evening Star Newspaper, December 31, 1925, Page 18

18 THE EVENING STAR, WASY INGTON, D. ©, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1928. BusinessSituationFavorable For1926: LeadersStress Helpof Government sPolzczeg HEADS OF GREAT II\DUSTRIES EXPECT l’RO PERITY TO LAST Will Continue Well lnlo New Yrar, They Believe. ummary Shows Most Businesses in Good Condition at Present. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, December 31.—Pres ent husiness prosperity will continue well > 1926, nion ol \r\. d {ng bankers and indust 1 lea asts for the new vear pr executives regard fundamen iness conditions as sound, lav administration’s busi- | hopeful regard | | | in the ¢ steel Business Good the manufacturers cerne 2 eel Corpor: 1 of the than Ga the part o ,. At n preser mpre Oil Industry Unsettled. from the over crude. Pre as remained pract increase Dur ed have bevond e e ng much faster n rwv.~'r“’ gro veryhe | method | protect to de- ready hen tive t the pz th wil « thing of Electric There that the 1 Prospects Bright easons to belie wil a continu. | growth and devel sctric indust nell, president of | re Co. “The| L | of capital in sity of the uses ower may be put ’s generat- ce with the in- iectricity, so bas been ' in- | . - for meeting this seen pro is coming m upon central stations for wnds of new residences ave been wired for electricity and the advent of the electric refrigerator ana "umerous other domestic conveniences as ed the regate demana pon the centr: | cent the in the dive; h electri coun the demand ave 15try r re and more 1 d1~|1<~n'| ity genera 15 during | Secarities Stable “Most important of | all, the public | has become con { inced of the stability | securities under the present | ilation, and this public con-| e has been reflected in the| abliity of the industry to securs the| apital needed for proper developmen £ the country's power facilities. “In view of all these facts, there fs no legitimate reason why the progress| of the count trical develop- | ment should ot continus during the | coming ve | “While the electric company susceptible than terprise to sud. eral econor course, a re prosperity is less | nost any other en- en changes in the gen-| situation, there 1s, of | ationship between its own " ind the prosperity of the Natfon. ~ With the factories of the| country & at full blast, there is more mneed for power than during|d periods of depression “In view of the optimistic tenure of {v("‘nl expressions Trom the White House and the Department of Com- merce, it is reasonable to assume that whole tone of the Nation's busl- J ness will be good during 1926. This| fact supplies an additional basis for my belief that the new year will be & prosperous one for the electric in- dustry.” Auto Industry Sound. “There Is ample reason to expect that the first half of will be a period of general prosperity in which the automobile business should share,” asserted Altred P. Sloan, jr., president of the General Motors Corporation. “The latter part of 1926 is still too far | eway for one to judge with much as surance what it may hold in stor “The momentum of business recov- ery since last Summer will tend to keep business active during, at least, the first part of . Conditions are #m 2 healthy balance at present. Em- | ployment is large, pricesare relatively staple, transportation facilities are ample and efficiently operated. “Production and inventories gener- elly are well controlled, and credit conditions sound. In the light of such @ present situation, the expectation of ective Spring and early Summer busi- zess seems to be justified. “Automobile buying during the last n tho 1926 has n | “Europe i | give few good, greater models partly has been rtly as_a result of values offered by the new and lower closed car prices: a result of better agricul- mon! [ wared | tural |>\n\h4\m;: power, and partly as a of general increased ! pertty “1 expect automot general volume of the firs exceed by a f pros. the continue large s remains active. The les for ust retail automobile t half of 19 that of the ur margin.” High Levels in Copper. Agussiz, Hecla first half of 1925 R. L. met & Company and the Copper Research Association, sald It copper shipments in prove anywhere near the maintained during the first of the y 1925 will have shown new gh levels copper and abroad for lidated Unfortunately, December will not be available until well into January, hut we know enough to predict with reasonable certainty that shipments of American copper during the year will be upward 2,800,000.000 pounds, vl 00,000,000 pounds more than \ce the war. 1 in the has be. actual figures h s 2 the best year s 1 accomplishe: eign demand which tulling off since J cause of disturbed economic throughout o Europe un- questionably the weak spot in the sit- uation the mement, but we know that the need of copper +d very great and feel that soon wor g is more available, par. ticularly In Germany, the foreign situ atlor rove Amy is, of course, the back bone of American copper industry ind some idea of the increased popu- larity of copper and copper alloys at v be gained from the November, despite the falling European demand, shipments exceeded production nearly 10,000, ¥ nds. 1t also well noting that is ned 35,000,000 re copper pounds, although that month was This ge month- e first 11 tered the with le f refined totaled nsumption than opper months of month three availabl “In the huve ward 1 suppl weeks circumstances T feel that we sht to look hopefully to- Railroads Share Growth. that ibrormal yvear, mal growth lared Carl R. Gray on Pacific system now seen, th any govern- “1 subscribe to the nio ne registeri great count dent of the U tar as can be » not threatened w in the law The problem of 1926 LUAT zealously the ad- the last five years, and ¥ every persuasive that return 1l rafl- :gh the country which will their essentinl credit and > such cire throughout the 2ic will be to bring . roads thre safeguard insu lutior body econc Buy Union’ Pac years as a resul tributed ag! leads us to expect August the tore Shipping To Be Better. Franklin, president of the Mercantile Corporation, shipping industry to do than it has this year. radually recovering,” he ns-Atlantic traffic, both passenger, should show substantial improvement during the next 12 months.” He explained that the carnings of his own company this vear might nof equal those of 1924 because of unséttled conditions in the freight murket and strikes in the Brit mpire, particularly in Australia end of the vear finds the rail on stronger than it ng time,” said W. ident of the Pennsylvania P. A. S Internat expects better in 1 said, “and freight and Th road been for a terbury, pre Railroad “The volume of traffic handled has been large. While that has been a welcome fact, it is not the most wel- come fact. The greatest cause for confidence in the fuutre is the evi- dence on every side of the desire on the part of the public to co-operate with rallroad management to improve railroad service and to enable rail- roads to respond to the need for great- er and more efficient transportation. “The recent annual message of the President of the United States, the lutest report of the Interstate Com- merce Commission and the activities of regulating authorities generally all evidence of a healthier relation- ship between government and the rail- roads. Confidence Being Shown. Phe trouble has not been so much with the actual letter of laws regulat- ing railroads, as with the spirit In which some of the laws have been interpreted. “That spirit is changing to one of Raliroad officers can feel confidence. |the strong supporting forces of public opinion backing them up to an ever greater extent. It is putting life, spirit and enthusiasm into the men in charge of the affairs of the railroads. These men feel 2 deep responsibility |to an enlightened public opinion. They feel they are trustees of vast property interests. They have a high regard |for the welfare of that great army of employes devoting_their lives to the railroad service. Their responsibility is exercised with a knowledge that its ischarge in a spirit of fidelity to all interest will be encouraged and sup- ported by the Government and the public; the possibilities of continued and substantial progress are increased beyond estimate. “The foregoinz is fundamental. Upon such foundations we can build |a railroad structure in which investors can trust and upon which the public can rely. All else is detail. The Amer- ican people have the greatest railroad plant in the world. They have a more competent and loyal set of railroad officers and_employes than any other With this railroad plant, manned by such officers and employes —al) publicly regulated in a construc- tive spirit—a service can and will be siven to the public which will consti- tute at all times a foundation of na- tional prosperity. “I am, therefore, optimistic about the railroad future.” Good Sense in Business. “Certain aspects of business in 1925 are of fundamental importance in es- timating the probabilities for 1926, asserted James S. Alexander, chair- man of the board of the National Bank of Commerce in New York. “During the first half of the year money rates were abnormally low, and although they firmed up thereafter, the year as a whole has been charac- terized by easy money. “Cheap credit might have been ex- particularly the mmer demand for while is expected to president of the Calu- Copper & Brass December average 11 months consumption, conditions | worth | the end of November | available | simply | he | preserve and FOLK WHO HAVE FIGURED PROMINENTLY IN WORLD’S NEWS OF THE YEAR No. Austen Chamberlain No. 7, William Jennings | lhvnhu Mussolini; No. 11, Pi Jardine; No. 20, Nicholas Lon lm“.- ; No. 25, Robert M. La Fo No. wort eite Aristide Bria Abd-el Krim; : No. 15, Gen, h: No. 21, Mrs, No. 26, Gerald No. No. 9, Secretary Gang A n Jacob R Nye; N Dr. Hans Luther; No. Kellogg; 4. Herr Stresemann; No. 10, Gen. Pershing; No. 11, John G. Sarg No. M. N Mrs. 3, Col. William Mitchell; N John T. Scope: riot; No. 12, M. Puainleve; 18, John W. Weeks, No. 19, William Mary T. Norton; Charles G. | ECONOMICS WIN OVER POLITICS IN 1925 POLICIES | | s ! BY The most striking bappened in the National C during the yvear 5 has been complete transformation of the Gov- ernment from the molitical to the econom ctor | in American life All the in fluences that round and follow in the ke of a presi dential campaign the bartering of political offices for support given. the | inevitable shake- | up in Government | bureaus and the| sharp and pene- | trating acts of a militant authority bent on getting back into power have been transcended by the ac- | ceptance on almost every side of the | DAVID LAWRENCE. thing that has \pital 10 ofte; DAVID LAWRENCE. icies s affecting the pocketbooks n{! the cltizens of this country and the | | future earntngs of the people of debt- | burdened countries icross the sea | ‘\ Partisanship has by no means dis- | | appeared. political intrigue is no less | | evident, but the truth is nefther is as | Important as in Yyesteryears. What counts far more today is the broad effects of governmental action, wheth- er it touches groups hitherto Repub- lican or groups heretofore Demo- cratie. Indeed, some of the sharpest critics of administration policy are in pected to tempt manufacturers and merchants to depart from the policy of caution generally followed since 1920, but they did not do so. Hand- to-mouth buying continued and ad- vances in raw material prices were resisted unless clearly justified by sup- ply and demand. Progress in the use of labor-saving methods and equip- ment, which has been noteworthy in American industry during the last few vears, was not interrupted by corpo- rate prosperity, as is too often the |case. " In short, good sense and enter- prise prevailed and industrial and mer- chandising operations were charac- terized by an absence of the specul tive spirit. “In other directions, however, credit redundancy has resulted in active speculation. Thus, although the ex- cellent earnings of many corporations have justified higher prices for their stocks, in the case of others prices have reached levels which cannot be justified on these grounds. Ample Credit Expected. “Also tmportant from the standpoint of the business outlook, is the ques- tion of whether or not building and construction, real estate speculation and the installment sales system have been unduly stimulated by low money rates. While the shortage carried for- ward from the war and early post-war period has been the real basis of the building boom, increasingly frequent reports of vacant space and declining rents seem to indicate that speculative building has overtaken supply. There is no question that there have been excesses in real estate speculation in many localities. “Although money is firmer and an early return of the very low rates which prevalled during the latter part of 1924 and early in 1925 seems un likely, credit stringency is not in sight. the outlook being for ample credit at rates neither very high nor very low. A firmer undertone, however, might well prove to be an important con- tributory factor in bringing about a moderate slackening of stock market activity, speculative building and spec- ulation in real estate. Firmer money would also be somewhat of an obsta- cle to the further expansion of install- ment sales. “The sound position of merchants and manufacturers and the improved | protectior fact that the Government by its pol- | I New York City usually Republicar a In other con d must in husiness. makes {ts head the policy groups differ political lines | More 1y speaking. tried to get has proclai fmum interfer freedom to the individual and but the ir rvention of ment in business the of the consumer has been most powerful as it specific legis- intervention ruth is the busine of the as the United States is has become =0 great at a atural function for went to pursue. Thus has been evident that economic Wask ington has superseded polit Washington. Fiscal economy, rm, combinations of business in ign fields, systematic plans for co-operative marketing of products of the farm, supervision of foreign loans and the administration of tariffs have absorbed the Government, along with problems of land and ocean transpor- tatic so that en large a sub- ject as the -American adherence to the World Court has been treated as a relatively secondary matter ex- cept as it might imply larger aspects of economic co-operation later on among the nations of the worl G tion h husiness principle and maxi with have been requiring ight n tax Deep Interest in Europe. While the cry of the politioian has been to remain #‘aloof” from Euro- pean affaire, the actual process has been to take a deep interest therein every minute of the time. America is interwining itself gradually in the economic life of Europe, and the Washington Government is watching the process with apprehension lest its political co-operation be at any mo- ment sought, economic_co-operation go beyond the bounds of reasonable expansion. All this is vitally important, not be- cause it discloses the trend of thought in Washington during the past year, but because it portends what the year 1926 and the years thereafter may bring. Officials” are not given to ex- plicit prediction. They know no more about future events than the sooth- sayers outside the National Capital. But they anaiyze cotemporaneous happenings with a knowledge of cause and effect in past experience. And the biggest single fact is the utter confidence of expansion which characterizes almost. every conversa- tion. 0ld World Improving. Everything is relative, of course, but to start with Europe as a basic factor no one here will deny that Eu- rope today is better off than the Surope of unsettled reparations; the Europe of Poincare and intolerant nationalism; the Europe of a discount- ed pound sterling in terms of an American dollar, and the Lurope of revolutionary and communistic scares of five years ago. Europe may be far from the goal, but she is better off than she was a year ago and five vears ago. American prosperity is not depend- ent by any means on Europe, but it is nevertheless affected by it and alded by economic stability rather than confusion abroad. America also is disturbed when Kurope begins to turn back American surpluses, The year 1925 has shown a vast improve- ment in American foreign trade and a distinct tendency on the part of the American Investor to risk his capital in foreign securities. This has been so pronounced that the activities of the Federal Government have risen to the point of friendly counselor with respect to large foreign loans, check- ing the abuses that might have fol- lowed the overzealous solicitors of position of the agricultural interests of the country are ample grounds for confidence in good business in 1926. It is unlikely, however, that the year as a whole will show as great a gain over 1925 as did last year over fits predecessor and the certainty of stiff competition in' many industries will call for high Initiative and economy to assure satisfactory profita.”™ » American funds. Thus the American Government is watching the opera- tions of the Dawes plan, cautioning investors and bankers to be sure of the way the transfer problem is going to be solved, urging the world to solve the question of payments in exchange [either with goods or gradual absorp- tion of capital. Hardly less vital has been the where big business, | or lest the extent of the | wlicy of nce to the depreda tions of foreign monopolies, especially ‘i" countries where governments in ef- fect suppe + »olies and s which the American mer mu ve. The possibility certain prodwcts may be held at ant es hax engaged the of ry Hoover of Department of e, who started a little trade ising the power of ring to extend their monop as to hold he fean consumer the palm of their I ‘x'nr»lgn ment_h vene just the € dc r {8 traveling arc playing an incalculable construction history this the seventh v European war, but the at Washington is determined that it | shall not be used to assist govern |ments to further extravagances if their budgets are unbalanced or to further armament and unproductive enterprise, when there are so manv ctive enterprises needing that that xort tention at the has war the ( iment abre in cate ritate .\n.u. with these the Govern- tion to inter- The American d the world part in the re- the world in since the Government ated hut obligs monopolies, s felt an v id large, the debt settlements ch the United States has endeav d to negotiate during the past year have transcended in importance any single phase of forelgn policy here, but they, too, bave been characterize by less politics and more economics than would be expected with such a varlegated political and at home. Basically, the United States has believed that an advan- tage to the credit of the whole world lay In the recognition of the Integrity of an international obligation. No nation could expect lenfency, or con- sideration even, unless such an ex- plicit recognition were forthcoming. The talk of repudiation and cancella- tion has to be thoroughly erased from the minds of all concerned. So the forelgn governments one by one in various ways have come forward to state thelr respect for the sanctity of the contracts they made when the American people extended financial ald in the distressing hours preceding and succeeding the armistice. Capacity to Pay as Policy. As for the amounts that should be paid, there a question presented it- eelf which from the outset of the ne- gotiations was Inescapable—the ac- tual capacity of foreign countries to pay their debts. On this indisputable evidence was available. Capacity to pay was a principle that had to be adopted, not only as a measure of po- litical good will among the nations of the world, but as a sound principle of economics in dealing with creditors and receiverships. Germany stood in- solvent. Indirectly the nations de- pendent upon her to pay the cost of the war stood financially embarrassed, too. America did not like the idea of tylng up payments to the United States with payments from Germany but the effect of the debt settlements which have been made is neverthe- less to accomplish that very thing. Europe is slowly but surely ap- plying the Balfour plan of collecting only enough money from creditors to pay off indebtedness to the United States. The receipts from German reparations in future years may, of course, be higher than at preserdt in- dicated, but the general impression now is that in the end oply such sums will be transferred as will meet the debt requirements of America. This may make America unpopular and may even make the course of inter- national trade and exports somewhat disturbing from time to time, but again the flexibility of the American Government may come into piay. U. 8. as Collector. ‘The United States will not continue a rigid collector if at the same time such process diminishes the oppor- tunity of America to do business with creditor countries. It's a question of economics that is sooner or later going to require a vital decision, but as with the Dawes plan,-so the American debt settlements are designed to meet a situation this year, and they can be modified if necessary when the occa- sion requires. For the spirit of Lo- ’ i | of his own, | 4a | situation abroad | carno in Europe It means at the political nationalisn mean ultimately the mbi ion. The idey Locarno to sweep aside the fs | of reparation me | tute therefor a dis: ,mu\u:m(n re | tton of the | tuture income abroad und is not {he When once E that it can cance interally debts ar « stimulus of United States the switch, forcing payment «l llar doliar when such T will minish the chances of American co miercial gain in the long run. Keducing the Public Debt. debt settle the United significant rise of economic nomic se huses | ognl- | ground | r resisted | nstrates part of the gaining altogeth: pe de will not be fc | at for Back of the American ments has been inside States a by no means icible po- litical factor, the need for providing dditional sources of revenue where with to pay war loans. But the re tirement of the public debt, by apply- ing annual surpluses, has been re tained as a fixed policy inherited from preceding administrations, and the re- funding operat of Treusury | Department, under the brilliant man. agement of Secretavy Mellon, have been uniformly successful. There is no use predicting today what the rev | nue possibilities of the future will be, but the drive to cut down the public debt and thus reduce annual interest charges is significant. It meens that as these fixed charges grow smaller and the revenues from taxation in- crease as a resuit of productive tax rates the American people will be in a better position 5 or 10 years hence to meet the exigencies of a European situation in which the war creditors perchance are not able to meet the annuities they promised America. The total sum involved-—about 19 billions of dollars in principal—may become a matter of five billions, for the British debt is not likely to be re- duced any considerable amount. Deal- ing with five billlons is relatively simple when once the process of cut- ting the public debt of America is well under way. The war debts will never be canceled, but their payment will be constantly postponed. The United States will always get something in return for a postponement. It's very much like the big banker in a city who has extended financial aid to en- terprises which are struggling along and making a fair return. He at least commands the use of their deposits and in many other ways profits from an affiliation which in some respects really is dependence itself. Outlook Full of Confidence. S0 the outlook for the future is aull of a confidence that one hesitates to define for fear it may sound like exaggeration. But there never has been such a feeling of assurance about the future as abounds today among the men who have studied the eco- nomic problems of the world. The look ahead is not a mere glance or a guess, but a matured conclusion based upon assets and the earning power there- of. America has an extraordinary in- vestment in the rest of the world, not merely Europe, but Latin America, which shows every sign of being mul- tiplied. Inside the United States the growth of population and the attend- ant increase in the size of industrial operations has brought forth many a predictlon that surpluses in a few years will no longer be a troublesoms factor. And when that comes the products of the farm will bring high- er return and the wages of industry are bound to be in the aggregate in- creased because there will be more people employed, and more employ- ment means more consumption. Taxpayer Demands Relief. Taxation is only a phase of the eco- nomic evolution of the past year. The insistence of the taxpayer on relief has resuited In another revision of the revenue laws. Thig will affect to a small extent the tAxpayers below $100,000 a year. Their savings on taxes will not amount to much as a whole. Indeed, the saving of $325,000,- 000, which is the amount which the Government intends to deprive itself, is not intrinsically very much. The of production and |5 | ai ||-r | comparatively | ago. 5 | last | efther suppression of | MaRY which cannot but | | shrinkage” IMMENSE TURNOVERS FEATURED 1925 IN THE BUSINESS WORLD | Rapidly Rising Prices Noted on Exchange—Auto Iny dustry Due for Boom and Increase in Rail- road Dividends Expected. BY STUART P. WEST. The general business position at the beginning of the new year Is rather mixed, but on the whole is favorable. People in clos- est touch with the automobile trade are predicting an unusual volume for the late Win- ter and Spring. The steel trade has had a substan- tinl recovery 8o far as new orders ire concerned, but ‘he average of prices remains ‘omparatively low. It has to be dem- nstrated whether the recent in- crease in forward buying which has brought mill oper- SEANT ations up to over &0 per cent of capacity will stiffen the price situa- tion and allow the steel companies a larger margin of profit than they have at present. Conclusions along this line are more optimistic than they were, but th are still cautious. The steel industry is in very different shape from what it was at the beginning of 1925 and at other perfods where buvers had let their stocks run down too low. In stead, demand 18 running fairly level with supply. Ralflroad buying is on the increase, but construction buying, which was altogether abnormal last year, on the decline. The steel producers, as it appears now, can look forward to a season of moderately good earnings but nothing more. Higher Railroad Dividends Expected How the rallway situation is going to develop with the course of the new vear I8 one of the intel problems confronting Wall Street. They have made thelr writeoffs for malintenance expenditures following the period when private control was resumed. This has been showing in| the net earnings recent montt and it has indicated the lkelihood of dividend resumption or of hixher dividends where these nre now being paid. The gross traflic as shown in the monthly statements and fn the weekly figures of sadings have pointed to record-breaking helghts Now that these gurpluses are not to be expended as they were from 19 to 1925 upon repairing the (1"'(94!1 tion under Government control, th 13, | indication is that there will be higher lividends, and this is one of the thin which the market {s looking forw “m‘ to during 19826. The vear 1925 will go down In financial history as a period of rapidly rising prices on the Stock Exchange and of an immense business turnover. second, it will figure as a year when French finances have become increas. ingly precarious despite reassuring de- velopme: in Ger. it will th in appear as an American farmers. down as the result of a largely ex panded production. Wheat has gone | through o series of sensational fluc tuations with the net result to the owers about the same as it was ear. The corn crop was nearly cent larger than that of a It was above the five-ysar ave: ginning with 1920. The decline Corn prices was therefore to be pected. But it has to be rememby that corn constitutes only 10 per cent {of the farmers' cash income. The incipal factor is the maintenance of high prices for cattle, hogs and other farm animals which depend upon corn feeding. Wheat Situation About Same. The American wheat crop was down some 60,000 bushels from 2 3 'nu-re was a similarly he in the Canadian harvest On the other hand, European produc tion was generally larger and Europe’s capacity to buy was materially in creased. These were balancing forc of sufficient equality to keep the wheat price level about the same as it was vear at this time. Present fluc tuations ce little meaning because the great bulk of the crop in farmers’ hands has been disposed of and the remainder is of interest only to speculators. This situation will con- tinue until & better line can be ob- tained upon the planting and probable output for the 1926 crop and until uncertai Cotton has gone 1 there is more information than {s now | available regarding the crops of other exporting countries. At the close of 1924 the two main considerations were the extraordinary abundance of credif and the assurance of political stability Theae remain the same at the end of 1925. Business interests feel as they did 12 months 8go, that nothing is going to be done |* at Washington of a disturbing nature They also realize that the business expansion during the year along with the huge Wall Street speculation has been handled with no great appeal to | the resources of the Federal Reserve. | No Gold Inflation Ahead. The general reserve ratio is down some 8 per cent from the high of the | vear and some 5 per cent from where it stood a year ago. But around 68 it compares still very favorably with the inflationary period of 1819 and 1920. In May of the latter year it got down almost to 40 per cent. There is to be no gold inflation, which was one of the favorite subjects of dis- cussion in 1923, for the reason that the American capital surplus derived | from the foreign trade and the inter- est from the new foreign loans are being invested In Furopean enter- prises, and seems likely to be for a considerable time to come. The recovery in sterling to what was practically pre-war parity was one of the striking episodes of the year. The Bank of England did not at once declare an. open gold market. It continued to sccumulate bullion from the end of April, when the gold basis was re-established, to the begin- ning of August. With the gold total at the largest in its history, the policy was changed, and since then Great Britain has been paying out gold 000, who have felt restralned. And when capital Is restrained building operaticns, for instance, are held back and the normal expansion of the coun- try is repressed. The chief importance of the new tax law is that it will lift the 1id of artificiality and allow the pent-up influences of the commercial and business world to develop natur- ally and evenly. President Coolidge kept pace with the psychology of the times by keep- ing Congress away for most of the year. It accomplished two things— giving the country a rest from meddle- some legislation till it could catch its breath and educating Congress to the temper and mood of the country— which, after all, is economic and not political, a mood that seeks stabiliza tion and not disturbance, and wants a chance to earn more and enjoy more of the fruits of a prosperity which the war and a kind Providence big value lies in the attitude of mluw to @ fortunate America. men whose incomes are above «(Copyright. 1926.) ) | win esting | freely In settlement of it outside ol gations. No Boom in Bonds Expected. The opening follow the tradit s return fic agricultural regions centers. In the pa accompanied 1 buying and rising and stocks of the the present instanc is the competition of foreign’ issues put out on attractive ns. Thy loans to German enterprises have beer one of the features of the last s months. Italian borrowings, now that the Ttalian war debt question disposed of, will probably be he What France will do depends eny tirely upon the outcome of the efforts, which so far have not been success! ful to fund what it owes to t United Sta The Washington ¢ ernment has not officially state has made its mind known, th should be no further advances to cc tries which have not d 1o t care of their war inc ness. there will be the o I re-financ and mands { new for_home uses. All this tend to hold the strent rket in check. will necas- exert a de fr4r1n thy has investmeny for bondy higher grades. In . however, therq been the lin ther « dome B capital not in It or adva be a further me French 3.42 in March, $100,000,000 Ameri a powerful element it as low s n came tip oan, which wae support, even used by any nfddle ct gh (ting-off of vances. The | to whether |ance the Frenc l\\h( hrn ing | Europe Still a Problem. As the sftuation interesting its internal tto earryir Dawes plan and is fa " | expension the k ages and low ec respects it | other European | Britain has the unemploymen slowly solved liquidated irs equ s become Germ strong followin: ., bu ome down ¢ their top of t The or $100,000,0 first week « oris have hec to put th 1 gold bas from August old exp in or Some obligations T volved Af Amer others Can in the e the do! ar. s has ‘x»r\ ta ymobile Stocks Popular big the ature of |market during Septemb |1t was due to : tion greater t} rred st years. me: in ups 1t autome the @ Octob = in prod had forme of cash| It both split ould wor shareh in the 19 whe: Wall and stock to the One Jeen no suggest {but rather an ex not involving 1 quiring a capacity f the 1 It has e partic of the vea deal of out |50 it has been an affai 5 | called “inside speculators” who have | known what was going to occur witl |regard to dividends and have made | their commitments accordingly | Developments in the copper have scarcely come up to expec | It was supposed that the adoption last vear of the Dawes plan would lead t a much larger demand from Germany |and other buying countri i |antlcipations have so far not beer realized, although with the remark ble improvement in German econom | conditions, may ulfilled du: ing the coming year. went up close to 15 con then ca down. The copper panies are making money, but not like {they were in old times, when Eur | pean consumption was normal andi befors the big expansion in Soutt American output had occurred. ions Sugar Prices to Remain Low. The outworkings of the sugar ation are going to be one of the most interesting incidents of 1325. The latest estimates are for a Cuban crop of over 5,200.000 tons, which of course is_very high, considering the very large outurn of 1¢ The Cuban producers have been reporting muck smaller earnings. The outlook for the coming year for the sugar producers geems to be one of comparatively low prices. Sugar is notorfously o1 to respond than most other to the economic law which reduced _production when down. On the other hand, the sugar stocks in thefr severe decline ha done a lot of discounting of unfavor able earning results The general retail trade of country continues very large shown in the railroad tonnage figures which are well up to the top for all time; In bank clearings, and in the unusual business being done by the mail order and other merchandising concerns. There appears to be no im mediate change in prospect in this direction. What the great rise on the Stock Exchange in the Autumn was work ing up to was the varlous capital split-ups and dividend increases, many of which have been announced, and more of which are still anticipated. The capital readjustments involve the multiplication of units, facilitating higher dividends, and making it easfer for the wealthy shareholders to distribute to the public. This distri- bution will be helped by the program of tax reduction. It was commonly sald from 1917 on that the rich men could not “afford to take their profits.” With the proposed reduction in sur taxes, assuming that this will go through, there will naturally be less of a tendency to seek refuge in tax-ex empt securities and more of a tend ency to sell securities in which large gains have been mounting up. This will be one of the most important things to be brought out in the situa tion of the new year. (Copyright. 1925.) < products calls for prices the Land .