Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-09-02
MERCHANTS & PLANTERS BANKS FORECAST OF TRADE CONDITIONS SAYS PRESENT COTTON CROP SMALLEST SINCE 1910, AND OUTLOOK GOOD FOR FAIR PRICES Urges Cooperation Among Sweet Potato Growers to Obtain Adequate Mar keting Facilities.

The Merchants & Planters Fore cast, a monthly digest of trade condi- tions published by the Merchants & Planters bank, has the following to say or present conditions and the outlook for the future:
 The strongest single factor oper- ating for sustained business progress during the past month was the gov ernment crop report. Practical cer tainty of successful crops has been the one thing needed to make the fu ture secure and important .undertak- ings will now be prosecuted with increasing vigor. %
 The Northwestern farmers are in an era of the widest prosperity that they have ever known. Their pur- chasing power, as result of high prices paid for their crops, has in- creased enormously. But the pur- chasing power of their pocketbooks and bank accounts in the next year will be millions of dollars greater than that of the past twelve months.
 Manufacturers and merchants of every class are already benefiting by this increase in farmers purchasing power and commercial agencies re- port fair sized buying from those dis tricts. Broader purchasing power IS not confined to the farmers alone, as reports show at least one hundred thousand skilled workmen have bene- fitted during the past fortnight in wage advances in all forms of indus tries supplying so-called war orders.
 Various statistical barometers. con firm the betterment in the commer- cial and industrial situation. Figures of bank clearings, decrease Of busl- ness failures, increasing pig iron pro- duction and higher commodity prices all reflect improved conditions. Even the railroad Situation is somewhat better. A reduction of II 1893 idle cars in July over the number idle in June is encouraging, and the rate de- cision of the interstate commerce commission grants some increases in revenue, to the Western roads.
 Especially significant for the new financial position of the United States was the record breaking decline in foreign exchange. Beginning with the middle of August, foreign exchange receded to new low marks and finan- cial authorities declare that the American dollar is supplantng the pound sterling as the money standard of the world
 On August 16> the English pound sterling sold at SAGA. $1 bought 6.02 francs (French) and. GAS lira Qtal- ian). &
 United States Gold Supply Greates1
 s-@ In History.
 The United States now holds the largest stock of gold vin the world about one-fifth of the total held by governments.
 Fresh cause for optimism may bt seen in the official cooperation O Latin-American diplomats, in the nott to revolutionary Mexican leaders de manding speedy solution of the an archy existing.
 The optimism of the present afford
 an interesting contrast tb4 the fpessm ism of several months.ago. Whether
 wef review conditions ei1l$ the sagricu1 tural. Ii1dustrial. SScomniGrcialF orr fin anciai districts of the country, es.w' cannot fail, to note .the transformatiQ1 from dullness to, activity, from doub to confidence, from loss to profit. tha the .last,<ten .months have brought t ] the United States. F '