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Show ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN I UNITED STATES SOUND I JPost-Bellum 'I rade Prospects Important Factor; Exchange Situation No Longer a Menace; Benefits of Co-operation. By W. S. COUSINS, Editor The American Banker. NEW YORK. 5ept. 1:!. Economic conditions in the L'nited States at the present time may be briefly summarized as follows: General business is in a fairly satisfactory condition, with a still hetter promise for the future: money plentiful, in fact too I much idle money is now deposited in the , vaults of our hanking institutions; crop i experts in every section agree that the ! 1916 production of the five leading grain i 'Tops of the oountrv will surpass last year's record yield by over 600.000,000 I bushels, and Vhat the southern cotton crop will in quantity and quality exceed the expectations of a few months ago; i in spite of the contraband condition of the south s great staple, no hardship will be felt by the southern planters, which all goes to prove that the farmers of tais j country will have no special difficulty in keeping the wolf from the door; the out-! out-! put of iron and steel is goon and Is being disposed of at excellent prices, the de-I de-I mand coming from our own industrial and railroad concerns as well as from the European nations: a strong and increasing in-creasing demand for "war goods" from the allied nations of Europe, though In many respects it is believed that the reports re-ports of resulting profits arp greatly exaggerated: ex-aggerated: an unprecedented increase in I exports: a rather disappointing demand for lumber and other building materials: a gratifying decrease in unemployment and a growing appreciation of the virtue of thrift among the manual laboring classes: a general decrease of busings? em ha rrassments a s com pa red with other years: an emphatic strengthening of the hanking situation, rendering the hanking institutions in excellent condition to meet the necessities of legitimate enterprise. Prepare for Harvest. These facts are attested by the reliable reports of accredited correspondents in every section of the United States, and made public by a number of the representative repre-sentative hanking institutions in ' the Strategic renters, by the various mercantile mercan-tile agencies that are devoted exclusively exclusive-ly to the compilation of commercial statistics, sta-tistics, and are corroborated by the statements state-ments of the federal bureau of commerce at Washington. Business men and bankers in the United Unit-ed States regard the present time as a period of survey and preparation for the new era in world trade which will follow the conclusion of hostilities in Eurooe. Already we have learned to produce much of the raw material and to ma nu fact tire many of the commodities for which we have heretofore depended upon the European Euro-pean markets. Necessity ha.s compelled the establishment of many new Industrial enterprises, and the success which has attended these efforts has been ample justification for extensive experiments alone these iines. The dye industry !s a good example. Prior to the outhreak of the war in Europe all dyestuffs were Imported Im-ported from Germany, and for a time American manufacturers faced the nms-pect nms-pect of an uncomfortable shortage of this material. The result has ultimately been a new American Industry, the manufacture man-ufacture of dyes. and. already a S3.0QO.-oon S3.0QO.-oon plant Is under construction for the manufacture of American dyes. Similar illustrations will ocir to those who have a particular interest in anv specific line of effort. Banks in Co-operation. This naturally raises tht proposition that if American manufacturers can produce pro-duce these new products In quantity and quality satisfactory for nome consump- lion, they can also develop their facilities to such an ex tent tha t they can enter the foreign markets as well, and compete with the European manufacturers who have heretofore monopolized the export markets in many respects. Especially does this apply to the South American markets, which have already sought the co-operation of the United States in procuring pro-curing the manufactured articles which for decades and centuries have been pro-duced pro-duced by European artisans, j Tf this new avenue of trade Is to he i developed to respectable proportions, it j is first necessary t hat adequate facili t ie I he found or created for financing the np-j np-j eration. The South American merchant have long been accustomed to an exten- as long a period as nine months. It is in this particular matter that the co-operation of t ho larger A men can commercial banks will prove a distinct impetus to the opening up of these new trade lines; and the vigor with which one important institution, in-stitution, the National City bank of New York, has pursued its policy of establishing establish-ing branch banks in the larger cities of the South A m erica n republics, is an excellent ex-cellent testimony to the zeal with which our bankers are witling to co-operate with our industrial leaders in the extension exten-sion of American commerce. Business and hanking are the twin brothers of progress and enterprise, and their mutual interests are best served by effective cooperation. co-operation. Foreign Exchange Relieved. With the arrival of another "treasure tra in" bringing $50,000,000 of gold a nd securities from Europe, and with the early prospect of the conference of international in-ternational bankers on the subject of foreign for-eign exchange. Wail street's Interest in the international exchange situation has taken on more of the aspects of the commonplace. com-monplace. Sterling exchanse has almost regained its normal position, and there is now small possibility of our trade relationships re-lationships becoming disrupted because of exchange problems. While many believe that it is perhaps impossible to restore all the exchange markets to normal during dur-ing the continuance of the trade conditions condi-tions which now exist, there are steps which will soon be taken which will doubtless right the exchange market very considerably, and render it much more orderly than it has been of late. In the absence of any corrective measure. It is very probable that countries importing goods, which purchases were financed in sterling, would perforce restrict their buying buy-ing in a market where sterling bills could not be employed, except at very great sacrifice. Tt is much more to our advantage ad-vantage that we should use liberally for the maintenance of our foreign trade the vast credit resources which are now at our command than we should assume an attitude in the international money market mar-ket which would force our foreign customers cus-tomers to buy leas and less from us as time goes on. Opportunity for Gambling. The stock market limps along under the three -fold handicap of the fear of complication in the A meri. an-Ornia n diplomatic situation, of thr unsteadv position po-sition of the foreign exena nge markets and of t he iolent publi.- crttlctern that has attended the mad rush for profiis in the "war stocks." Not for many years have the gambling instincts of our get-n'ch-quiek speculators had such an opportunity op-portunity to play their fa.orit'-s as during dur-ing the past six months. For some the experience has been highly satisfactory-because satisfactory-because profitable, while for many others prospective profits have vanished before they were fairly within their grasp. The gratifying feature of the last few months has been the increase In popularity of the standard railroad and industrial issues, is-sues, many of which have assumed their proper place as market leaders. Stockholders of Missouri Pacific are nature 11 v interested in the reorganisation reorganisa-tion plans of this important property. This st a: ement bv a prominent banker is probablv the most correct summary of the situation: "Th? foreclosure proceedings pro-ceedings which have been bogun by rhe Guara ntv Trust omoariY as I rust ee for the first and refunding mortgage, mean that ;he readjustment managers and the various protective committees I hat are associated with the bankers intend, a? announced in the origin' plan, to take the property out of the hands of the receiver re-ceiver as soon as possible. Tt will be recalled re-called that It was set forth in the plan that if a receivership became necessary because of the failure of the security holders to assent to the voluntary plan, a reorganization would be taken up and car ried through as speedily as possible. The federal courts are now In favor of short receiverships. The expense of long ones has been found too great to be borne bf the properties and approved by the courts. Not onlv does a receivership Involve the expenditure of a large amount of money for fees and othr charges, but It is detrimental detri-mental to the management in dealing with the patrons of the road and in securing I-maln for it." |