The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-24
BUSINESS SITUATION IN GERMANY SHOWS BIG IMPROVEMENT
Financial Conditions Better and Unemployed Number Falls Off Considerably.
 Holiday Trade Good

Berlin, December 2-(Corraspondenee Af the Associated Press. )-The business |ituation in Germany has improved con- |iderably since the first month or two of The war. Outward signs of this are vis- |ble at Berlin. Christmas shoppers filled Inc big department stores; buyers still |how a tendency to make large purchases, Ind the usual attractive Christmas win ow exhibits are seen.
 There is far less complaint about un- Imployment. Many factories shut down
 h August have begun the manufacture kf army supplies of some kind Curious khanges of this nature are noted @k~talk- |ng machine factory is busy trimming Ihrapnel shells to prepare them for the xSlosive filling; piano factory makes fartridges; a bicycle factory turns out Iron bedsteads for military hospitals; a Woodworking establishment makes bar lacks to be set up where wanted to ac- ommodate prisoners of war, and a sew Ing machine factory is producing shrap- bel. Many clothing, shops are producing 3rIny uniforms, overcoats and other gar Inents for the troops. Throughout Ger |nany, too, many concerns are running exclusively on big army contracts for 1soolen goods, blankets. tent cloth and |ajncoat cloth, arms and ammunition are produced on an enormous scale.
 Nonemployment Relieved
 The improvement in business to great 3xtent has relieved the unemployment hat had assumed serious dimensions by be end of August. Already at the end Sf October the labor unions of the coun- . ry were able to report that the number I,f their members without work had Dropped to less than half the number at . lie end of August In greater Berlin | he number of persons steadily employed Eas 100000 greater at the middle of No- fember than at the first of September. The railways are taxed with transpor- |ation to their utmost capacity. Owing To the fact that more than half of the oal miners have beeen called into mill .tary service, the rate of production of Eoal has fallen off heavily. The mines Ire not able to fill orders on time and | here is a great clamor for coal Prices 1ecently have been advanced in part and l general advance is about to be made While Germany was producing more | han 1,500,000 tons of pig iron a month |lp to the end of July, the amount made In August and September was less than 10000, but October showed a rally to 7SO, GOO ons and November, it is believed, con- inued the increase. Within a month |ieveral blast furnaces and steel plants have resumed production. Prices have been raised for most forms of iron and |teel, but the first advances made just |lfter the war broke out have not been Snaintained.
 The Berlin stock exchange has re- Inained closed since the first of the war
 nd it is not possible to give. in the form
 f stock and bond quotations, any idea
 If how the war has affected securities Although there is no official quotation <f. prices, the brokers generally meet lhlily and do some trading privately, but he stock exchange committee does not |lllow prices to be quoted It is known, however, that the stocks of some com Ilanies are now higher than they were at he end of July, but rHrs IS apparently he case only with companies working 'n big government contracts.
 Foreign Exchange
 One of the least satisfactory points in | he financial situation is the high level |pf foreign exchange. Bills on most of the neutral countries range from to 10 per ent above par. This would normally |nean an equal premium on gold, or, in |pther words, that German paper money | .as fallen below par German bankers Eay the high level of exchange is due 1 o facts like the following:
 + Germanys imports have continued heavy, whereas it's exports have greatly Fallen off. Hence Germany has to pay |nore money abroad than it has to col Feet. On the other hand, nearly all the heutral countries of Europe have a mor- htorium in force, which makes it im- Possible for Germans to draw on bank balances belonging to them in those |ountries. Many payments due Germans, like interest on foreign bonds and divi- |Fends on stocks, also have been cut off; Ind this is also the case with the money hitherto paid to German shipping com |panies on freight and passenger traffic s well as the money brought into Ger |esany by travellers.
 | At the same time the Reichsbank, the entral bank of the empire is not sup Lying gold for export and thus there 5 no corrective for the high tendency f exchange. The Reichsbank could pay
 ut gold for that purpose, but it regards ' he accumulation of gold as the wiser Ohcy in view of the exigencies of war. [ continues to gain gold. Not less than 0,000, GOO was paid in it last week and k has averaged a weekly gain of more Khan $s.000.0O0 since the war began. Before the end of the year 1t probably |yir have more than $500 GOO, 900 gold in |ts vaults. In view of this fact and the
 reat success of the huge loan raised |an September, the financial authorities of The country are giving themselves no Treat concern about further financial de- elopments. The money market at Ber- l in also encourages their optimism, call |noney standing at only 4 per cent and Ehe private discount rate at 5A per cent.