AMERICAN CONDITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17371, 19 January 1920, Page 5

AMERICAN CONDITIONS.

FAILURE OF RECENT STRIKES.

WHEAT OUTLOOK .IN" 1920.

Writing from New York on 'Decanter 5, Messrs. John Drain,' Son aid Co. state/—ln the industrial world events of far-reaching importance . have . occurred.The iron and steel industry. is gradually, recovering. from the strike, and. tie result may be said to be a complete victory for the employers." Owing to the fact that the leaders of this movement. represented only the most radical element in the unions and that the grievances presented . were unim- : portant, - public sympr^y,= was almost an-. ■~'." itirely. lading/ and the. authorities took a. 1 much firmer stanij than is usual in the case of an industrial struggle of this sort.. ) The, , striking longshoremen, who again almost X; : completely tied ; ; up : ocean traffic at : ; this r port for some weeks, have also' returned to 'fwork'Under; an arrangement far short ,'of ": their original demands, A >'.' • ■,fv ' The strike of the soft-coal miners',led'; . to unusual developments. When it became clear that ; there was no . chance of an amicable settlement S being reached between the operators and the men and that the country '.was in grave danger of • a' serious, fuel shortage 'the>Government stepped in and ' assumed : the : \ position of arbitrator. and took steps to insure power to enforce its rulings. r Th 6 first of these was that the men should return to work: pending an adjustment of ; their demands. To accomplish this an"' injunction •was obtained from tho federal courts restraining the* leaders from directing the strike in any way and enjoining .the use of funds belonging to the union and which, ordinarily would have' been disbursed to the men to tide them over the.period of ' enforced • idleness. Subsequent legal decisions upheld this inituudton and the Court went further, and directed that the. officers of the union should recall ~- the strike order and declare the strike .discontinued. This order was obeyed " under protest." ■"''■'. . '~''"'' These proceedings were taken by u» . Government under war-tune legislation prohibiting interference with production of essential commodities but' were also held to be legal on the broader principle ' that such strikes constitute a, conspiracy against the public ■welfare. ; Figures for foreign traded for October show exports of 601,911,000d0i and im- ... 1 ports 415,665,000d0!. Considering the de- • pressed state of foreign exchange and the , harbour strike, the volume .of exports is most surprising. Imports are iacreasing ' the tqjal for the month being tie. largest recorded, except for the month of Sep- [ tember. The total value of •exports far . the ten months to November 1, is 6 501,133,000d0l and imports for the same period 3,112,596,000d0L The excess of ex--1 ports over imports for the'ten months to ' November 1, is 3,388,53&,000d0l The prospective grain crops for 1920 ■ are already becoming the topic of interest, and while no official figures are available , reports indicate that the winter wheat crop is progressing favourably, but that 1 the acreage planted is much less than this ' year. Exports of wheat continue on an > enormous scale, no less than 78,152,000 - bushels having been shipped to Europe I since July 1, 1919, comparing with . 29;136,000 for the 'same period in 1918. 1 Shipments of. flour are also very large, ' 9.377,000 barrels having been exported 5 since July 1, and this compares with only i 1,536,000 barrels for a like period in 1918. . t The visible supply of wheat in this country as last reported stands 1 at 92,909,000 bushels, compared with 127,552,000 8 bushels in 1918 and 19.564,000 bushels in fy ' 1917. It is announced that- on December 3 15 the restrictions as to the export .and ; import of wheat and wheat flour A wih M | t removed. This may result, in importsi of t wheat from Canada, which, should they b occur in great .volume,. may ■ ,«»g^ u t Government to lower its ; »*»^ d * snnier./He^tofore^c^have^g^ ■- high enough .-to enable ■ a to pet out of/its guarantee-to : of 2.20 dollars per bushel $»*£% n This guarantee lie that there - will be an °F-< - "" ' '"" " . -~ .. . .. ■