Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-12-04


Il y reports during the months of
October and November from
about six hundred correspondents, in
cluding Governors, Mayors, officials
of national banks, railroads, associa-
tions of manufacturers, boards of
trade. life insurance companies, State
federations of labor, trade unions, en-
ployment bureaus and charity organi-
cations, John Hayes Hammond, chair
man of the Industrial economies de-
partment of the National Civic Fed
GRAFTON, announces that business inn
provement, with an increase of pros
perity for the immediate future and
steady betterment thereafter, is the
essence of his findings.
Mr.. Hammond is not a dreamer
and when he presents to the Civic
Federation to-day his interesting re-
port it may be assumed with a con-
siderable degree of confidence that he
knows what he is talking about.
business throughout the United
States is improving and the conVic-
tion that a further advance toward
prosperity will be made in the next
few months is widespread" says
the summary of the report. I'm
provement in financial conditions
and the resumption of exports nave
been followed by signs of improve
ment in many quarters.
THE resumption of normal bust,
ness activities must be gradual and
the unusually large number who
are now unemployed Will find work
slowly. We must expect a great
deal of unemployment in the COM
ing winter months"
1t is pointed out by Mr.. Hammond
IN his analysis that 1t requires time
For financial recovery to be reflected
in factory payrolls A few cities are
entering upon additional public works
to give employment, but there is no
wild demand, as there was in certain
quarters last summer, for all man.
ner of governmental experiments.
There appears to be no doubt that
the first shock of the war has passed.
On this point Mr.. Hammond says:
Stability of mind has been estab-
lished, adaptation to changed con-
ditions is going on and business
men are hopeful of marked i'm
provement within three months
Largely owing to the railroad
situation many of the great funda-
mental industries have been for a
long period exceedingly quiet
Numerous letters refer to the
lowering of money rates that has
taken place in the last month, es-
pecially in the Middle West, and
the consequent freer movement of
trade. Another significant feature
is the improvement in the savings
bank situation. The great savings
port that business is now altogether
normal In Philadelphia and even
in Pittsburgh despite the severity
of the depression in the iron and
steel trade, the deposits of the
largest savings banks have, during
the last month. exceeded with
drawals.
Stress is laid by many correspon-
dents on the general belief that do
meStic conditions will show a de-
cded improvement after January l.
Those in position to study funda-
Mental conditions believe that we are
hear the upward turn and that nor
NAL prosperity is not far away. AS
a result of the lesson of the No
vember election legislative panaceas
and radical business regulation to the
point of exhaustion have been cast
aside by the conservative elements of
the country. Indeed, those who were
disposed to favor all manner of legis-
1ative nostrums as cure-alls for the
ills of the body polite have turned
their faces toward the more stable
and constructive policies of the ma
ton.
Right here in our own territory the
farmer is gathering the fruits of con-
ditions which developed during the
summer to his advantage. He is get
ting a better price for his wheat and
in every other way is profiting from
the situation. Railroads and indus
trial and manufacturing concerns
have been hardest hit. These will
gradually recover their equilibrium.
With the assurance of Speaker
Clark that the coming session of Con-
gress will give its attention to the
passage of appropriation bills and to
little else and with the further cheer
ing prospect of a short session of the
Legislature in this State, its efforts
being restricted to commonsense legis-
lation and mighty little of it, there is
a brighter outlook for the future and
greater hopefulness among the ha-
rassed business interests.