AMERICAN PROSPERITY

Grey River Argus, 10 April 1911, Page 7

AMERICAN PROSPERITY

STO.RIAIGE OF FOOD STUiEF. AUTOMOBILES AND THE OIL TRUST.

One after another the State legislatures (writes the American correspondent of .the "Sydney Morning Herald*') are passing laws regulating the storage of foodstuffs — especially meat, eggs, and butter — and the several trusts interested are 'doing their best to unlaod upon the market at almost any price offered. Tens of thousands of dozens of eggs that were bought six) months ago at prices .averaging over 20 cents, are offered now ait 12 arid .14; and the aggregate losses of,- all such trusts this winter have Ibeen very great. The bu:|ines was a new one, and experience had to be paid for. Next time the efforts will be simply to maintain a fairly generous 'rate of profit, and to encourage consumption by a constant supply within a narrow range of nearly uniform prices. Of course, reciprocity with Canada— as a pfoanton of the future — has its share in the panic; and even if, as is possible, the Canadian supply could be controlled and handled. Mexico and South America—for meat at any rate — have yielded a loss instead of >a profit, as is reported, upon past operations, and are a problem of great intricacy and sadly intractable. Jn ithe larger business com binations political uncertainty is an ever-increasing* cloud upon the horizon ; and there is a general weedinjgr out of leaders, who are either already over-rich, or are tired of the game. A year ago the "Vanderbilts retired from; actual management ; and two days ago, in a neatly-worded letter, Mr George Gould also. said farewell to tlie one remaining corporation he controlled. Tfiese two dynasties ihave lasted respectively 65 and 50 years, land aire now hopelessly overshadowed by new and great potentates.

Even these latter, however, ! have troubles of their own ; and the great Standard Oil Trust has been forced to reduce the retail price of oil from 10 to 8 cents the gallon, because the demand of automobiles for gasoline has made what was 'bnce a mere byproduce for which a market was hard to find, or to make, a staple in excessive demand. The difficulty now. is to get rid of the <4il fast enough to satisfy the demand, for this companion product; (and 'the price of gasoline cannot be raised . further, for, in that case, it would meet the rivalry of denatured alcohol, which, indeed, is already to some degree a competitor. Yet all the immense profits of the Oil Trust are gathered from these petty percentages.

iMJDiD'LE PATH SAFEST

The "prosperity of the country as a whole, remains unexampled. At Washington, as security against gold certificates issued and in circulation, there is 925 millions worth of gwld bullion f and enough other gold and silver to make a total of- £1,500,000,---000 in hard bullion and coin. No such sum has ever before been •brought together. Wages, too, are at Migih waiter mark; ithere is not a single strike pending of more than trivial importance; and there is plenty of work for all men who have trained skill. The untrained and _the skilled, and the unthrifty ag"ed fare ill; all the worse, perhaps, because the gap between them and their wiser (brethren ever grows relatively greater. Many of the great coroporations are .now enforcing, as far as they can, compulsory insurance — or, perhaps, "coaxing" would be the better word, for usually, for every dollar set aside for a side and burial fund, another dollar is added by the employer.

As to labour organisations, the •battle is still doubtful ; for just: at the present both the National Manufacturers' Association and the Federation of Labour are boasting — and apparently each' with some justificatioai— of victories gained. Probably as in most other American matters of the pas the middle. and "he -:.;•-•. r ■*'*> v-i\ be blaze i cv f"r the famv.-r f^eSolder stands in tlv\ hiv kijrou'id to see f airplay, and with ample pow- • .• make his -cl-icisjsi.i hoit word

There is being constructed on die Clyde for a Continental line a vessel which will revolutionise shipping. The vessel is to have a speed of 12 knots, and will be 5000 tons gross, driven |by internal combustion engines, Diesel type, which have hither to only been' applied to trawlers and yachts. One hundred tons of crude petroleum, at 34s to 40s per ton, will do the work 0f, 300 tons of coal. The' vessel will require only half the usual engine andb oiler space, and one fourth the bunker space, and will be able to -dispense "with about 70 per cent of the usual number of stolcer?'. She will have no funnels. * „

In the, opinion of French critics the Young- Turks have sinned above all by abandoning* the substance of the programme with which they started, while continuing- loudly to protess its principles. Under the influence of the Salonika Committee they have sacrificed all sense- of the relative to a cult of the Jafasolute. While proclaiming* themselves to be the champions of "lOit'tomanism,'' they have in realty yespeated laiugujage nor nationality. Notwithstanding- Talaat tßey's instructions, subordinate officials carried out the disarmament of the Macedonian population with a severity which too often bordered upon inhumanity. "It is hig-h 'time," says the Defeats, "that Young- Turkeyshould 'seriously apply itself /to governing in accordance with tKe principles for the vindication of which it was created."