Current Events 
U. S. A. 
W With the close of the Conference for the Limitation ot Anna- 
ments at Washington, interest in international affairs once moie cen¬ 
tered in happening's abroad. In the United States, on the othei hand, 
national politics and events in Congress concerned themselves largely 
with the soldiers’ bonus, opinions for and against such a bonus find¬ 
ing wide expression among the public. Chief objection was made 
to any increased taxation that would place further excessive burdens 
on the American people. €j[ President Harding, before a joint session 
of Congress, delivered a message on the American merchant marine 
in which he advocated ship subsidy legislation. A featuie of the 
President’s suggestion was that there should be established a loan 
fund for $ 125 , 000,000 from which shipbuilders could borrow money 
at 2 per cent. He also suggested that there should be established 
regulations providing that 50 per cent of all immigrants should use 
American ships in coming to America, While there may be a dif¬ 
ference of opinion regarding the effect of prohibition in the United 
States, two years having passed since it went into effect, Prohibition 
Commissioner Haynes affirms that in this period drinkeis of alco¬ 
holic beverages have been reduced from 20 , 000,000 to 2 , 500 , 000 , ai- 
rests for drunkenness have decreased 60 per cent, and liquor with¬ 
drawals have been cut in half.” The greatest textile strike evei 
experienced by New England affected approximately 100,000 men 
and women, half the number employed in the cotton manufacturing 
industry of that section. The complaint of the union workers was 
that their wages had been cut 42 per cent in sixteen months; the 
manufacturers replied that with hours and wages at the pi evading 
notch it was impossible further to reduce the price of goods and to 
meet Southern competition. €J One effect of the so-called agricul¬ 
tural bloc in Congress has been the passing by the House and Senate 
of the bill for co-operative marketing in order to give the farmers a 
chance to sell their products at higher prices. The bill provides that 
whatever associations are formed must be operated for the mutual 
benefit of the members. These associations are to be wholly outside 
the anti-trust laws, except that the Secretary of Agriculture may 
interfere to prevent monopoly, should occasion require. Scandina¬ 
vian co-operation is pointed to as setting a good example foi the 
American farmer. Cflln the City of New York the District Attoi- 
ney’s office began an inquiry into the financial operations of certain 
brokerage houses, complaints having reached the authorities that 
“bucketshop” methods were once more flourishing. Within the course 
of a week more than a dozen firms made assignments, although none 
of these were members of the New York Stock Exchange. 
