They were made with the railroads in free operation. Now, the roads are cluttered with loaded cars. If the stuff is manufactured, it cannot be cashed in because of the freight contortion, and that concession is blocking up the factories with finished materials. Add to this, the loss of labor caused by high wages in some industries and by undernourishment in others and one has several serious problems to solve when trying to decide what the immediate future of the stock market should bring forth. Earnings are splendid and every day demonstrates that fact. The United Cigar Stores, for instance, today announced that 1916 sales were tied up to $10,000,000 in every case of those of the previous year. National, among others, earned so much money that the common stock has been placed on a $5 per cent dividend basis. The Reading Railroad Company, being a much-needed coal mine as it is a railroad, and having its own facilities for getting its output to market, is in great favor with the Street Today the same group of operators who put it across par in at year began accumulating again. There are pools ready to take hold of every stock, but they are anxious to know what Washington will do, not only about the Germans but also about the prices for food. Washington is brittle.  To do a great deal, especially as Wall Street has taken the liberty to invent a method of doing gracefully every act of what the Federal Reserve Board warned the banks not to do. I have heard told the banks, in effect, that they should not buy British short-term notes. 