The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-01
NATIONS PROSPERITY
REVIEW FROM THE MANU-
 LECTURERS RECORD.
Notwithstanding High Prices the Export Trade is Being Main tained-The South and West
 Are Flourishing.

Baltimore. April 3o.-(Special)-Letters
 from manufacturers and other persons
 close to industrial activities in nearly
 thirty States of the Union, covering ten
 pages in this weeks issue of The Man
 ufacturers' Record. present a body of au-
 thorftative opinion about existing four
 ishing conditions of manufactures and
 trade in this country, in itself most
 gratifying reason for the faith which is
 expressed in the letters as to develop
 ments in the next year or two. The let
 Maine are Nep of sns n
 Rhode Island. Connecticut New York.
 New Jersey, Delaware. Pennsylvania.
 Maryland. Virginia. West Virginia,
 sia. Florida. Alabama. Louisiana. Mis-
 sissippi. Kentucky, Missouri. Ohio, Indi-
 ana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ten
 nessee. Iowa and the District of Colum- Prosperity is revealed in the activity of individual industries, noted by them- selves in their observations as to under.
 takings dependent upon. them or upon covering broader national and interna- tional energies. It is pointed out, for in stance, that, notwithstanding high prices
 . our export trade Is being maintained, and West and the development of terri tory recently acquired by this country are making demands for manufactured products which within the next few years must reach an enormous amount, and that the unusually favorable crop report the April report of the wheat crop prom ising banner year in that respect, with
 the probability of fair prices-indicates
 a large buying power on the part of far mers, which should guarantee another
 year of good sales in agricultural imple-
 msnts and in other aees wsh in
 traffic for the railroads. already
 doing such business with freight
 and passengers as in one instance
 American Institute of Mining Engineers for a special trip this summer to Brit ish Columbia, and in many instances to delay the receipt of raw material for manufactures on the che hand and on the other the shipment of finished products. The railroads are pushing their orders for new cars, rails and other equipment: foundries throughout the country are be- ing enlarged, iron and steel mills are sold ahead in some cases for year or more, and railroad extensions and iron and steel works enlargements, both nesd- ed to meet the overwhelming demand upon them. which in the aggregate will cost several hundred million dollars. ere under way; but even these extensions are hampered by the inability of manufac- turers to deliver machinery and mate rial as promptly as 1t is required, all pointing to enough business in sight to keep everybody going for some years. Many of these betterments will become effective shortly, but trained observer in economies in his correspondence calls attention to the fact that a vast deal of capital is being locked up in such under- takingS as canals and tunnels which can not be productive for some time to come, but which are destined to do nigh | to service to the country in the future and which involve enormous expenditures during the coming year.
 Adding to the unlimited demand for all
 kinds Of high-grade machinery, or. as 1t | and innnrnUad anhinaFv and
 methods" which, when in operation, will place this country further lthan ever in | advance of competitors. is sthe great ace tivity in building trades, reflected in the | equipment of quarries with the latest | improved, machinery paralelling the | growth of the use of labor-saving de- wees in handling coal, the better equip- l ment of sawmill and other woodworking | plants with an extension of numbering | operations. all in spite of the high prices | for building material which have prevail | ed for several months. A novel suggestion | Is made in this connection in the estimate that 1SO.000 new houses must now be built | every year in this country to meet the | need of immigration alone, as We are now 1 receiving about 800 GOO immigrants a year, while ono company concerned with the | hNtding and equipment of factories for
 the production of one important class of l building material says that now not less | than fifteen such plants are in course of
 erection, and holds that fact as proof of
 building operations, which may be taken as a fair guage of the situation. More | over, many municipalities, small and great, are providing money for improve ments, while the weekly record of the l South shows a steady progress in the | organization of new industries duplicat- | ing the earlier history of industry in
 other parts of the country.
 | A few sentences from the mass of let l ters typify the general tone. Here are
 some of them. Though extensive inn