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Show LITTLE IIJEJ WILL BE fiOE DUTOFTHEWAR Indications That All Those Furnishing Supplies Will Be Held Down to Very Moderate Profits. POSITION OF THE COUNTRY SOUND Wealth of World Centered in United States; Expenditures Expen-ditures for Materials Remain at Home. By BROADAN WALL. By International News Service. NEW YORK. April 1. Money and stock are the only cheap things in the wfirM nnw, and the only problem before the Investors and traders is what etfeet the action uf congress to be taken this week will have on these things. C'na or the other must advance. As the day ap-pri'At ap-pri'At hes for congress to art, there ia less LChfidence in WuJl street that war will te declared ag.nMst Germany this week. The west and the middle-west state, whlrh rc-leced President YVJlsun because "he kept us out of war," will xert a tremendous influence through the congressmen who have been home and are j now returning after "sounrtins" their on- i stitue.ila. ' j A careful study of tho census figui es show;ng the percentage of fu retail -bcrn population in the country )s fmorcsung. The Ceorv;ihlra Magazine for Matvh ' publishes a map bringing the figures cut with startling distinctness. Whatever old -fashion 3d Americans believe, it must, be rame.Tj oared that in New York, for: Instance. m.)ie Mian luif :he pupulalion j was born in Europe. I The person interested In the securities ' mark at, therefore, must f-r 'he moment ! set aside his personal feelings and try to aptron:h the subject with Lhese facts in ndnd. l-Won if war is actually declined, there is the possibility of America's participation par-ticipation Id it being only financial. ! Prices to Be Kept Down. There is a certainty also that nobody is going to make much money out of it through increased prices. Copper producers have been compelled to furnish the metal at half the price they have been charging the helpless allies, al-lies, and it is possible that the price may be still further reduced by the government. govern-ment. Steel, oil and other raw materials will be taken on the same basis or lower. "Where articles are to be manufactured or ships built the government is planning: to furnish the raw materials to the builders build-ers and permit the builders to make a profit only on the actual labor and investment, in-vestment, in plants. If the profits then remaining amount to more ihan S per cent, the law has already provided for heavy taxes on the surplus. A still heavier tav is planned by the session of congress just convening. For the first time in history a war is "being fought in which wealth bears the same proportion of the burden as the plain citizens. The government has definitely defi-nitely settled on the policy that if it can shoot one citizen's arms or less off, it can also take another citizen's excess profit. Lloyd George introduced this principle of fair play into -warfare. Spirit of Freedom. Out of the terrible suffering of the world, there is arising a new spirit of freedom, which promises to relieve the millions of Europe from age-old oppression. oppres-sion. What has begun in Russia may extend ex-tend through Europe. For generations most of Europe's wealth and ability has been devoted to the task of upholding the "divine right of kings." What this tremendous energv will accomplish ac-complish when applied to upholding the divine right of the people it is impossible impossi-ble to forecast. These are some of the things investors must keep steadfastly in mind and particularly par-ticularly when dealing with American securities. se-curities. The world will be compelled to come to America for its material at tirst. When European society is reconstructed after the war there will be fierce com-petition. com-petition. But there seems to be nothing in t-ieht to prevent the continued flow of wealth to the United States. Thut "a large part of it will go to the government govern-ment by way of taxes is relatively unimportant, unim-portant, because governments can collect col-lect monev only to pav it back to the people. War always sets the money current cur-rent a-whirling. Under such circumstances, securities must be considered in groups and not ov individual names. The steel concerns have enough business busi-ness booked and in sight to keep them going at full capacity for two years. One year's business is actuallv on the books. OH companies are absolutely certain of increasing prosperity because the war h;is t.-j'ilu rh ytprem ad'-'ar.r.age of oil a h t ; -'. Co t. ; i tit- - p :'rJ."i ' a i n '.oxira n ' 'I:-'- fudir from ihh pur,!.c ev ftr.d are b"-mg r-r.'.-i.';f-d by rohaco (omr-3 n tor' ti.; purple v-1 1 1 hav sorri: sumular.t. Oroftf.ii of the use of ro:j;u'co is one of r.hf rnoe i as ton ' r: i ng f'-.tt n rf-s of the la c r.'.vn 'ar? C'hem :-- If, s'li'ir, p.Tr. litthf-r, ruhh.'-r and ai :ird ro be i : s -- i in t.'Ks arts and ua a fK-1 must all brii: wealth ro ':on:p iniei rsrit'.w. m them. So m'i-f a Mrorr.oo!:-s, for the a uromohile is Just getting wtrll e:nablisiird as an Institution. Insti-tution. Developments r,f the last few years point to public ownership of railroads or what will amount to that. No good purpose is ar-rved hy pertmrnng railroads to earn anvrhing more than a fair investment on their ;iecurites. |
