J 



80 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



said to have reflected any war influence. In most places, the decisions 

 reached were about the same as were anticipated before the war broke 

 out. 



From a Lexington, Ky., publicist comes the observation that 



it would be difficult to say that the developing interest of our citizens is being 

 retarded by reason of attention diverted on account of the war situation. The 

 retardation certainly exists, but appears to be caused indirectly by money 

 stringency and uncertainty of market conditions. This is especially true in 

 regard to the tobacco market, activity in which is to a certain extent dependent 

 upon the interests of foreign purchasers. The very extensive tobacco crop of 

 this section is not marketed until December 1 and thereafter, but uneasiness as 

 to the conditions when the market does open is having a quieting effect upon 

 all local development as well as business activity. There is a very small 

 foreign population here, and partisan affiliations are not worthy of considera- 

 tion. This city is not at present undertaking any extensive new public improve- 

 ments and there is no present demand for improvements which would require 

 bond issues or similar obligations. 



This letter brings up a question that has no doubt occurred in con- 

 nection with the other testimony so far adduced. To what extent is 

 the difficulty of marketing bonds and therefore of undertaking improve- 

 ments, and to what extent is the demand for retrenchment and greater 

 economy of administration, to be attributed to the war; and to what 

 extent to the financial stringency and hard times that existed before 

 the war ? That the war has accentuated the difficulties of the situation 

 rather than caused them is the opinion of many students of the drift 

 of municipal conditions and opinion. 



New England's testimony is remarkably like that which comes from 

 the. Pacific coast and the central west. Only in the south does the war 

 seem to have been directly responsible for a greater stringency — and 

 that has been due to the fact that it has in the past so largely depended 

 upon a few crops, mainly cotton and tobacco, rather than upon diversi- 

 fied industries. 



I do not observe that the European war is retarding or developing the 

 interest of citizens in our community, 



writes a Portland, Maine, editor, 



nor that it has had any material effect on their partisan affiliations. I should 

 think it might hold up public improvement to some extent since, for the first 

 time in the history of the city, so far as I am aware, Portland has found it 

 necessary to sell its bonds at less than par, the figure received being $95.28. 

 Otherwise there seems to have been no visible effect upon the city; 



and Springfield, Mass., reports that 



it does not appear that the European war is detracting from the interest of 

 citizens in local improvements. It is, however, making our people conservative 

 in undertaking new public enterprises. It looks now as if various proposed im- 

 provements might be temporarily postponed. 



In New Haven, Conn., 

 municipal conditions are not affected; and, if affected at all, they are improved 



