The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05
From Careful Observer

Real enjoyment is found in the pres entat1on of original reports of actual business conditions throughout a large stretch of country-an area that in cludes the states lying between the Alleghanies and southermore ranges and line running southwest from eastern Nebraska. The description is by gentleman of unusual experience and Widespread observation. What he has to say will prove of interest to all readers of these letters
 Outside of the steel and tron trade business in the middle west appears to be healthy. There is stagnation in steel, but the manufacturers in that line are hopeful that immediately af- ter the interstate commerce commits sion has announced a decision in the freight rate case the steel mills will be swamped with orders There Is a report in Cleveland and Cincinnati. for instance. that as soon as the freight rate case is out of the way the Penn sylvanfa railroad will place orders for $50 00O,00 worth of steel. They have a report also that the New York Cen tral lines will place very large or- ders and some large orders are ex- pected from the Baltimore and Ohio Whether these expectations are to be fulfilled or not, they exist, and so, even though the steel manufacturers oio oOihS dinoSt uO DuSlneSS now they are unanimous in expecting a very large business later in the spring or early in the summer
 Tn other lines of business the mid dle west shows a good, steady, healthy volume. Theer is, of course, no boom in any line, but there is stagnation in no line. Building operations are go- ing on, even though they are on smaller scale than usual In Detroit an addition is being built to one large hotel and ground has been broken for a new and very large hotel Tn Cleve- land, Toledo and Cincinnati building is reasonably healthy. The automobile business in Detroit, which has come to be regarded as a very god barometer of conditions, is being conducted this spring on large scale. The cheaper class of automobiles are most in de- mand, but manufacturers say that the spring trade in their line Is starting. off with a god rush and a fine average business is assured. There is almost none of the business in the middle west that we find here in New York People are reasonably busy, and if they are not as busy as they would like to be they are at least hopeful that before long they will have all of the business they can handle. The banks out there are literally stuffed full of money, and they are beginning to feel bit more liberal about 1oaning it out Loans are now being made for general business and building opera tions that would have been refused year ago. The condition of the win ter wheat crop and the good agricultural conditions generally are having a good deal to do with the cheerful spirit of the middle west, and out there, also, they have faith that the new currency law will create such easy credit con- ditions that business cannot fail ma teria11y to improve.
 Here in New York the most aston ishing trade development of the moment Is in copepr metal. We exported about 100, 100000 poupnds to Europe during March, and in spite of this almost rec ord breaking export the visible supply in Europe actually decreased about 2000 tons during the month. The Eu- ropean demand for copper metal is enor- nous. The whole worlds supply Is now down to about 104,000, 900 pounds This is the lowest supply that has been