WAR AND TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 37, 12 February 1917, Page 3

WAR AND TRADE.

CONDITIONS IN UNITED STATES THE LABOUR -©.OlftJBM. _ In a circular just to hand 'front John Dunn, Son, and Co., export merchants ■of New York, some interesting statements appeai regarding the conditions. of affairs in the United States. After referring to the extreme rise in prices of all commodities, the circular con-7 tinues: "The wage situation has .een met in the iron and steel trade by renewed advances on the part of many of the large producers, and for the moment there is les3 talk of serious trouble frontstrikes. The -most serious menace lo" the country is the railroad strike situation,which threatens to again 'become acute. The so-called 'Eight-hour' (Adamson); law, which came into effect on January,: 1, has been declared unconstitutional by one of the lower courts,.and if.the Supreme Court should confirm this decision, as seems likely, in the opinion of many able lawyers, the unions threaten a tie-up of the entire railroad system of the. country. Congress is considering legislation which would make such -a strike illegal until time should be allowed for all the facts to become known through an investigation by the general government, but this-is, o_ course, opposed by the unions. Thtoy are in an ■ugly mood, and should the Adamson law be thrown out and the antUstrike legislation be enacted, there is _ possibility of serious trouble, although it "is our opinion that after considerable .luster they would finally submit. A- general • •railroad strike, even if over in a week, would cripple business for many months afterward. Another very Bre question, before Congress is that of an export embargo on foodstuffs. This'is. .-—Ot economically sound, is not favo_red by the Administration, and we belie*, will come to nothing. There is also an effort being made to embargo the export of munitions, but this has even less support and is very unlikely to result in legislation.'*