The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-05
PROSPERITY COMING
BUSINESS MEN IN ALL SECTIONS
 ARE HOPEFUL.
rfae Fall Trade is Expected Despite the Presidentfai Election and Manufacturers and Industries
 Are Busy.

-
 Baltimore, Sept. 4.--(speciaL)-- Twelve thousand words of special tell egrams supplemented by letters in all filling seven or eight pages of this weeks issue of The Manufacturers Record, from many of the foremost industrial concerns in the country. present an invaluable symposium on the business situation in the United states. present and prospective
 These telegrams are from such con- cerns as the Carnegie Steel Company, the Illinois Steel Company, the Ten nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Com pany and other subsidiaries of the United States Steel Corporation, the Pennsylvania Steel Company. the Re- public Iron and Steel Company, the Sloss Iron and steel Company. the Ashland Steel Company and the Inland Steel Company, large machinery build ing concerns of various kinds. con- struction companies cement manufac- turars lumber manufacturers. makers and handlers Of building material, en- gineers. contractors and others. Here Is wide range of industrial activi- ties.
 The territory covered is likewise broad-reaching. extending from New England to the far South and from Dover, N. H. In the East to Madison. Wis. and St. Louis. Chicago. and Kan sas City In the West. With but rare exceptions, tn ese telegrams indicate a very marked improvement in the busi- ness outlook evidenced either by an actual increase in orders or inquiries for materials in many lines. or by a steady advance toward resumption of normal activities with optimism as to 1909.
 This feeling is based upon unmis- takeable signs of the revival of build ing operations especially in the mid- de Vest which means a widening market for materials In many lines and indicates that the low price of materials and abundance of labor and close figuring by contractors arc be- ing taken advantage of. upon the fact that crops of different kinds are bs enough to bring business gradually up to the conditions of 1906. and up- on plenty of money In agricultural communities. the purchasing power of the farmers being not only unimphir- ed. but larger than ever.
 The movement of crops to the mar kets of machinery and implements into rural communities and of lumber. cement. iron and steel and other building materials Is expected to aid in restoring the balance In the rail- road situation. When purchasing by the transportation companies on a large scale Is resumed, when railroads are In a position to go ahead with contemplated Improvements the steel business, so dominant in American industry. will regain It's strength and vitality.
 On this point H. P. Rope vice pres- tdent of the Carnegie Steel Company. wires that the prospects for agricul- tural implement buying are the best In years, the outlook for crops Is most promising, the general business Is un- doubtedly good and that only rail- road purchasing Is needed to make the situation strong.
 The Iron and steel men of the Bir- mingham district take courage from the collapse of the coal miners strike. and President George c. Crawford, of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail- road Co.,, notes that during the de- precision the South produced more nearly its normal output in iron and steel than any other section of the country.
 The general situation Is we'll epito- mixed In a telegram from a construc- ton company of Worcester, Mass, to the effect that the promise of great crops, an abundant supply of money obtainable at low rates of interest and the certain large requirements of our great railroad systems and industrial enterprises are some Of the more prominent harbingers of renewed prosperity.
 Though the imminencs of tho pres idential election Is regarded fin some quarters as a drawback. In other quarters the results are held to have been already discounted. there is less nervousness than was the case some time back. and confidence does not seem to be materially affected by the political campaign.
 A few concerns report their August business as up to the normal. If not beyond 1t, one looks to return of good times at automo bile speed. an- other Is preparing for more business than ever before, a third believes that there Is plenty of business for those who know how to go after it and a fourth is of the opinion that concerns suffering most at present "are those who became panic stricken and went to extremes In minimizing expense by letting of salesmon. hiring cheaper labor reducing their advertising ex- pense and fguratively crawling Into q cyclone cellar"
 The telegrams present a remarkable survey of the whole business situa- ffnn af cnnnfrw