Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-08-09
the Better NOTE IN BUSINESS.

Heat in the east and storms and bad
roads in the west were retarding in
fiuences to retail distribution last week.
Freight distribution was disturbed by
interruption of railroad traffic and
markets affected by derangement Of
temporary and confidence continued
strong. Rarely have fundamental con-
ditions been as sound as at present,
and knowledge Of this fact leads to the
conviction that nothing is likely to per-
manently check the revival of general
business activity.
AS expected. the government report
indicates material reduction in the
yield of cotton. but big crop is not
now needed and sufficient basis for ma
tional prosperity Is found in the prom
Use OF abundant harvests of grain. New
measures OF trade Improvement and
expansion are afforded by the monthly
statistics and notable among these are
the failure figures. which, instead of
showing the customary July increase
in number, disclose fewer losses than
in June. Another significant feature is
the rise IN Dun's Index Number of
commodity prices-a reflection of the
broadening consumptive demands in
various lines-while bank clearings for
the country at large last month gained
2 - 4
road earnings are always belated and
those for July are not yet available
but recently the trend in this direction
has been toward betterment- tho much
irregularity is still shown. Turning to
the iron and steel situation, which is
often referred to as the barometer of
geenral business, it is seen that the
output Of pig iron has risen to the
highest point in fully two years and
production is now at the rate of g.
100000 tons annually, against only 49,
100000 on Jan. l. So urgent have the
demands for steel products become
that the mills in some instances are
behind in deliveries. and quotations are
steadily advancing.
There are few, IL any. measures of
business conditions that possess more
real value than do comparisons of
commodity prices. Except in sporadic
cases. quotations of the leading arti-
cles of consumption advance when de-
mands enlarge and decline when buy
ing is at low epb. It is significant OF
the times that Dun's Index Number on
Aug. / rose to s125.079 against SPA
95S a month previous and only $780,
40 a year ago. The present figure is
the highest ever recorded for this sea-
son, save in the civil war period. It cost
less to purchase breadstuffs and meats
on Aug. / than a month earlier but the
reverse was true of many other pro-
ducts and this can not properly be at
tributed TO speculative influences. On
the contrary the rise was due to the
expanding requirements in various
lines, tho the foreign situation. and not
domestic developments, was mainly re-
! sponsible.
| In the list OF favorable business in
dices, the failure statistics merit a
prominent place. That the commercial
death rate has fallen about 40 per cent
since January is highly encouraging,
and it is doubly gratifying to know
that defaults further diminished in
July. when some increase Is customary.
| Such result means that the efforts OF
| the previous strain are steadily disap-
pearing, and the moderate expan sion in
| liabilities last month is of no special
significance. Numbers and not amounts
are Of most Importance in this connec-
ton, because the Indebtedness is often
distorted by a few losses of excep-
tional size. Except for May, there were
fewer insolvencies in July than in any
| previous month Of the year. and with
geenral trade activity gradually re-
| turning, continued betternent in the
failure record is to be expected. The
mortality is still considerably above
that of former years, but the differ
| ence is lessening and it is to be re-
membered that more concerns are now
engaged in business, thus enhancing
the possibilities Of loss.