Line 6.0.0 What was wrong now? It was only old

Line 6.0.1 Europe rattling her chains. France

Line 6.0.2 was bragging of a magnificent harvest,

Line 6.0.3 and so was Mussolini. Neither would

Line 6.0.4 need much imported wheat. News of

Line 6.0.5 a belated improvement in the Southern

Line 6.0.6 Hemisphere's crops came ticking along,

Line 6.0.7 too.

Line 6.0.8 WALL-STREET SHIVERS

Line 6.0.9 Early in August another shiver went

Line 6.0.10 through Wall-street, but word of cheap

Line 6.0.11 stocks brought a fresh rush of "stags,"

Line 6.0.12 amateur speculators and investors who

Line 6.0.13 knew how well business was going

Line 6.0.14 under Hoover's presidency. As to the

Line 6.0.15 farmers, Congress had voted 100,000,000

Line 6.0.16 dollars for their relief. That would

Line 6.0.17 "stabilise" wheat and good times for

Line 6.0.18 all.

Line 6.0.19 Would it? Did it? Outside the States

Line 6.0.20 wheat markets feared that that subsidy

Line 6.0.21 would enable the Middle West to poc-

Line 6.0.22 ket contentedly, a lower export price,

Line 6.0.23 and so would cause them to unload

Line 6.0.24 slackly and soon. The drift in wheat

Line 6.0.25 continued in September and gathered

Line 6.0.26 way in October. It is now about 1.25

Line 6.0.27 dollars a bushel in Chicago.

Line 6.0.28 The rise in London's bank rate, forced

Line 6.0.29 by the attraction of European money

Line 6.0.30 into the New York boom, was depress-

Line 6.0.31 ing British markets afresh. The fall-

Line 6.0.32 ing commodity markets in other coun-

Line 6.0.33 tries told upon even American self-

Line 6.0.34 confidence. So, this week, the stock

Line 6.0.35 markets broke for the third time and

Line 6.0.36 for three days defied every effort to

Line 6.0.37 stop the haste to sell. The prosper-

Line 6.0.38 ity had been too good, too local to

Line 6.0.39 last.

Line 6.0.40 The 10,000 million dollars by which

Line 6.0.41 stocks have dwindled in market value

Line 6.0.42 are largely paper losses cancelling the

Line 6.0.43 paper gains of Wall-street profession-

Line 6.0.44 als, manoeuvring for financial control

Line 6.0.45 of big businesses. More significant are

Line 6.0.46 the losses, probably much smaller, made

Line 6.0.47 by "stags" who rushed in and have

Line 6.0.48 lost their antlers.

Line 6.0.49 These must be losses on a large scale.

Line 6.0.50 For a year New York banks have been

Line 6.0.51 trying hard to prevent their loans being

Line 6.0.52 used to finance speculation, but in vain.

Line 6.0.53 Money, once in circulation is likely to

Line 6.0.54 go wherever the demand for it is

Line 6.0.55 greatest. It has gone.

Line 6.0.56 SOBERING EFFECT

Line 6.0.57 The loss of such money must have

Line 6.0.58 a sobering effect, and luxury trades, in

Line 6.0.59 particular, may budget on less reckless

Line 6.0.60 spending. But the downward trend of

Line 6.0.61 commodity prices generally is not so

Line 6.0.62 much the effect as the cause of the

Line 6.0.63 break in speculative stock-trading. If

Line 6.0.64 New York, under the lead of the Fede-

Line 6.0.65 ral Reserve Board, can check the fall

Line 6.0.66 at a level of stock prices reflecting the

Line 6.0.67 profits likely at a commodity price-

Line 6.0.68 level corresponding with that of Wes-

Line 6.0.69 tern Europe, the world may well be

Line 6.0.70 better off as a result of the slump.

Line 6.0.71 Its occurrence shows that old David

Line 6.0.72 Ricardo of London (1812) knew more

Line 6.0.73 than Senator Owen. No monetary

Line 6.0.74 system, he said, is panic proof. But

Line 6.0.75 a wise handling of the crisis may en-

Line 6.0.76 hance the prestige of the Federal Re-

Line 6.0.77 serve System and give Americans a

Line 6.0.78 reasoned faith in their financiers such

Line 6.0.79 as they could not have in the days be-

Line 6.0.80 fore 1913.

Line 6.0.81 More important for the world at

Line 6.0.82 large is the question whether America

Line 6.0.83 will draw the lesson that she cannot

Line 6.0.84 prosper alone. Edward Filene predicts

Line 6.0.85 that within five or ten years the United

Line 6.0.86 States will be a low tariff country,

Line 6.0.87 ready to negotiate reciprocal reductions

Line 6.0.88 of duties to enlarge the outlets for her

Line 6.0.89 manufactures.

Line 6.0.90 GENERAL ADVANTAGES

Line 6.0.91 If so, the broader basis of prosperity

Line 6.0.92 that this policy can provide will be to

Line 6.0.93 the advantage of America, Britain and

Line 6.0.94 America's customers alike. Britain has

Line 6.0.95 a hand in all trade and all trade brings

Line 6.0.96 mutual benefit to the parties. If it

Line 6.0.97 did not, men would not engage in it.

Line 6.0.98 There is one consolation for W.A. in

Line 6.0.99 the falling commodity prices the slump

Line 6.0.100 has advertised. If we know how to

Line 6.0.101 admit their operation here, through all

Line 6.0.102 our knotted restrictions on trade, they

Line 6.0.103 must benefit gold-mining. Ore with

Line 6.0.104 a lower content will pay the lowered

Line 6.0.105 expense of treatment.

Line 6.0.106 On the other hand any reduction of

Line 6.0.107 American costs makes her traders more

Line 6.0.108 formidable rivals in selling foodstuffs

Line 6.0.109 to Asia where, with easy sea access

Line 6.0.110 from our wheatlands near the coast, we

Line 6.0.111 should stand to profit by every step to-

Line 6.0.112 wards prosperity.

Line 6.0.113